Man, those plants reached epic heights. I love the way the plants are competing with the tree canopy above for sunlight. It is surreal to see those plants towering above the farmer. Those monsters are easily twelve feet tall, and their trunks are built to take the weight of that buddage.
Hey everyone,I'm CC,I'm a late 50's MA outdoor dude who's been at it since 19yrs old.You guys seem to know what's up,concerning g.hogs,here's what I do,grab a lb. or so of Habanero peppers,half them,boil in a gallon of water,wear gloves and take outside to let cool(vapors are nasty),when cooled mash them through a strainer back into the pot,discard,pour pot liquid through a strainer,you canadd another 1/2 gal to gal of water to make a gal and a half,wear gloves for all this process.Pour finished liquid into a spray bottle and spray plants weekly or as needed.Result,nothing touches or FKs w/ your plants,also you can add gentle soap(I use Murphy's hand soap no phosphate w/lemon verbena)and spray at dusk for insect repellent preventively also.If I see bugs I'll add pyrethrine once during late summer,1-2 wks into flower I add BT to my soap/pepper mix and no bud worms.I took these pics yesterday of an ECSD in my new bed that was attacked hard by a groud hog 4-5 weeks ago and I wrapped another cage around it but neglected to do any defoliation on the plant and left it to neglect until yesterday when I was doing work in that area.
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this is how the progression of the leaf spot looks when it's neglected in my swampy plots.
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once it gets on the tiny bud leaves the rot spreads to the inside and then in 7-10 days I see 2-3 day rain spell where the plants never dry and it's game over.
gotta remove the dead tissue as soon as you see it the spores are there and the rain spreads them.
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the tops still look ok but it starts out invisible and I suspect they will fail shortly.
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I have a couple others that I kept up with near this plant and they are still looking decent...
I wish I was smart enough to guide you. @Chunkypigs is the member that has guided me on this journey of mineral balancing that I believe started with a member named Slownickel and his using much higher levels of minerals than most especially calcium. I believe Slownickel also created the soil test I got with spectrum analytical (K3), that tests in the way that the soil book recomends to get more accurate levels of available nutrients. For me it started with this book I posted at the bottom that you can download for free. There are classes that chunky took from https://www.crescivesoil.org/ that help you understand plant uptake of nutrients among other things but especially give you access to the calculators needed for amendments as well as an online community to help. Currently my ass is puckered as its that time of year so thanks for the luck. Happy growing and hopefully you get where you want to be this year. Good luck to you@OG_NoMan
Just got my soil test back...
I’ve just got mine back but no idea how to amend any deficiencies. I’ve got two batches of Coots mix in soft sided demo dumpsters I’ve screened and amended with added perlite. Two of my nearest local hydro shops closed up and they were a really great at listening and offering help.
My only thought is to try a local nursery for help. My tests were done thru a local university extension service. They did attach a generalized worksheet to help. I don’t have enough basic knowledge to confidently amend my medium.
Any suggestions?
I got into this mess by reading The Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon after watching a Build a Soil video. I always wanna crib or shortcut my way to success and I KNOW that’s a big reason I struggle. Maybe most growers just figure it out on their own. I’m not lazy just a perfectionist……..
Perfectionism leads to procrastination and paralysis they say lol
Nice looking plants and good luck this season
Thanks man
I am thinking PROBLEMS without any algebra at all!!! I am also thinking “old and impatient guy who wants easy answers and perfect plants……”Why am I thinking algebra word problems? View attachment 19005349
It was my first year with it. It did very well considering the amount of rain I had last year. It needs lots of staking and a decent leaf stripping for flower. I got covid last year right when i should have been doing that work so I was chasing my tail the rest of the season. Gonna try and stay ahead this year as it's still in the stable. Tilling next weekthat headband pic up there lookin good howd she do outside? got blueberry headband cross outta emerald triangle suppose to be real resistant to the bs and is some funky fresh smoke im hoping so