7 gal Compost, Gaia G, EWC grow (with issues)

[PadawanWarrior]

Thanks for the links, I’ll be combing through those threads between now and my next grow.

It is fun having the individual plants for sure, I can’t believe the variety that comes from seed. In the past I only used clones outdoors so this is new territory for me. The variety between phenos can be pretty amazing.

With the perlite I just meant it looks like garbage when it is tossed in a woodland setting, even though it is inert and probably doesnt harm anything. I want to try small lava rock or pumice but so far the price and availability is making it a hard sell for now.

Love the toad! and I have woodchips everywhere here as I work with trees for a living. Ive got psilocybes that pop up around here naturally. Arborist woodchips are great for the garden and soil. Ever try stropharia (wine cap) to help break down chips? They are edible as well.

Are you in the PNW? That's where I'm originally from and blue ringers grow like crazy there. As far as recycling soil keep feeding it and try to keep it moist. Cover crops help too if you're lazy like me and do no-till. Another thing I've found helpful is langbeinite and potassium sulfate. My well water has some Ca in it. It's not too bad. Around 150ppm if I remember correctly. But the Ca in the water along with Ca in the amendments can be a bit much sometimes. That's where the sulfates come in handy. Sounds like the water you're using is perfect though. But if you add too much of one nutrient like K and it's locking out Ca or Mg you can add magnesium sulfate or calcium sulfate to balance things out.

As far as pH. I've never worried about adjusting mine and my well water is around 7.8 or so. My soil is usually around 6.3 when I've tested it. Only once in 6 years has it been off (low around 5.6) and that was some old soil I added more peat too and it sat dry for awhile so it wasn't super active with microbes like my other pots.

 

[Stuntzii]

Yep, PNW, the canadian side. Love it out here.

I was/am big into psilocybes and I have some azurescens growing around the yard. I cultivated them years ago and they naturalized in with the mulch I put around the gardens.

I am really into edible/medicinal mushrooms now. Wine cap/garden stropharia are awesome, kills nematodes and builds soil out of woodchips fast. Shiitakes break down whole logs that can be tossed into the garden after, you can break the logs apart with your hands and they become like sponges.

I kept it pretty conservative with the extra amendments. I only used 1 heaping teaspoon of potassium sulphate during one top dress feeding, only because a few people told me that had a bit of K deficiencies with gaia bloom. But who knows if that little bit of pot sulph did anything. Langbeinite did catch my eye as a source of mag, but read it can be easy to over do it esp with indoor pots. I’ll try some new amendments this summer outdoors.

Sorry did you say you use well water after it has been through the softener? Can’t remember if you mentioned that, I may try and use more well water straight up, be easier than hauling jugs around.

VvV azurescens in mulch, five star getting purple leaves, chick magnet pheno #2, my favourite chkmag pheno frosting up

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Yep, PNW, the canadian side. Love it out here.

I was/am big into psilocybes and I have some azurescens growing around the yard. I cultivated them years ago and they naturalized in with the mulch I put around the gardens.

I am really into edible/medicinal mushrooms now. Wine cap/garden stropharia are awesome, kills nematodes and builds soil out of woodchips fast. Shiitakes break down whole logs that can be tossed into the garden after, you can break the logs apart with your hands and they become like sponges.

I kept it pretty conservative with the extra amendments. I only used 1 heaping teaspoon of potassium sulphate during one top dress feeding, only because a few people told me that had a bit of K deficiencies with gaia bloom. But who knows if that little bit of pot sulph did anything. Langbeinite did catch my eye as a source of mag, but read it can be easy to over do it esp with indoor pots. I’ll try some new amendments this summer outdoors.

Sorry did you say you use well water after it has been through the softener? Can’t remember if you mentioned that, I may try and use more well water straight up, be easier than hauling jugs around.

VvV azurescens in mulch, five star getting purple leaves, chick magnet pheno #2, my favourite chkmag pheno frosting up

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I'll try not to hold it against you that you're on the Canadian side, . I was born in Seattle and did my fair share of blue ringers. When we couldn't find weed we'd go pick shrooms when they were around.

Ya I've learned to only use langbeinite if you need the Mg. It can lock out K if there's too much Mg. I think most people doing organics probably aren't using enough K. My last grow was the best I've had in awhile and I think a lot of it has to do with the extra K, Mg, and S. I've never grown such frosty nugs.

And no I don't have a water softener. I just use my well water straight. I originally bought FFOF almost 6 years ago and have been using the same stuff since. I did add pumice, lava rock, and rice hulls after a few rounds. But I'm lazy so my pots have been running no-till for a few years now. I just top dress. The cover crops do help quite a bit. It keeps the soil much happier. I only started cover crops a year ago and won't go back.

 

[Stuntzii]

I'll try not to hold it against you that you're on the Canadian side, . I was born in Seattle and did my fair share of blue ringers. When we couldn't find weed we'd go pick shrooms when they were around.

Ya I've learned to only use langbeinite if you need the Mg. It can lock out K if there's too much Mg. I think most people doing organics probably aren't using enough K. My last grow was the best I've had in awhile and I think a lot of it has to do with the extra K, Mg, and S. I've never grown such frosty nugs.

And no I don't have a water softener. I just use my well water straight. I originally bought FFOF almost 6 years ago and have been using the same stuff since. I did add pumice, lava rock, and rice hulls after a few rounds. But I'm lazy so my pots have been running no-till for a few years now. I just top dress. The cover crops do help quite a bit. It keeps the soil much happier. I only started cover crops a year ago and won't go back.

Nice man I do a lot of cover crops outdoors for the veggie crops. What cover crops do you do indoors?Is this for chop and drop mulching or just soil coverage.

Got a bit of fox tailing going on, nothing major. Temps are not too bad. 24c tops daytime (75F) Light is a good distance, no bleaching. Mainly it’s on the herming five star who is relegated to living in the tool closet. Maybe too much N still left in the soil? Not overly concerned but just interested in the cause. Play spot the nanners the pic on the right :/

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Nice man I do a lot of cover crops outdoors for the veggie crops. What cover crops do you do indoors?Is this for chop and drop mulching or just soil coverage.

Got a bit of fox tailing going on, nothing major. Temps are not too bad. 24c tops daytime (75F) Light is a good distance, no bleaching. Mainly it’s on the herming five star who is relegated to living in the tool closet. Maybe too much N still left in the soil? Not overly concerned but just interested in the cause. Play spot the nanners the pic on the right :/

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I've been using the one from BAS. I let it grow and chop when it gets tall. The weed grows and blocks out the light so the cover crop kinda dies back a bit. After I chop a add more cover crop seeds.I think it keeps the soil happier and it doesn't get hydrophobic. Plus I'm sure the fungal network likes it.

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Your plants look pretty decent. I think I could only see one nanner. Could be genetics. I don't see the normal clawing that comes with too much N. Another thing I started doing lately is adding micronutrients occasionally. TM-7 or Big 6 from BAS. I add a little to top dress mixes too. I have a feeling most old soil in pots is probably low in micronutrients and K. Because when I started adding more micronutrients and K my weed has improved.

 

[Slebban]

Good morning,

Okay so that was the reason with the perlite, don't think it harms anything either. But recall that the perlite dust is quite harmful to breath in huhu.

Nice with the psilocybes, sounds like we live in similar habitats. Pops up around here too, last season was a bit poor tho. Feels a bit different to a cubensis for me.

Never heard about that mushroom before, and can't remember if I've even seen a picture of it either.
Did a quick look and seems to be available as spores in the country online. Definitely gonna check it out, thanks for the tip!

Btw do you know any wood that works better than another? Walking around in the forest it seems that birch for example gets quite mushy and wet.

All the best,
S

 

[Stuntzii]

P azurescens will grow in most temperate zones as long as the fall is cool and wet. I made a trip down the coast to Oregon way back in the day and literally brought the mycelium back and now its been naturalized here. Of course it is now widely available via spores, id definitely recommend growing some!

Its very similar to p cyanescens and prefers alder. But I have also used hazelnut and maple. Probably a lot of different hardwood chips will work. Make friends with a local arborist, a mix of hardwoods will work, no cedar tho (Thuja) edit: err maybe you were talking about garden stropharia. Recommend those too! Once established they never leave tho.


What do you guys do for recharging soil for cal and mag? I was thinking dolomite lime but read the ratio for cal mag is not the best…

 

[Slebban]

Thanks for the tips

Hmm never seen that type of mushroom either. Garden cultivation of mushrooms isn't so big here, I think it is because there's an abundance of mushrooms in the forest during the autumn. But as a breakdown helper, and for sure it would be fun to pick them in the garden hehe.

I use kelp powder for magnesium and have a big bag of garden dolomite lime containing MgCO₃. And as a extra addition use alabaster powder, a type of gypsum CaSO₄·2H₂O.
The gypsum is commercially available here as solid rock. It's easy to sculpt and sawing the stone; it breaks down to a fine powder. It's so soft that the wood tool works okay.



Have no idea of the golden ratio tho! Just adding and trying to see how the plants respond.

All the best
S

 

[Stuntzii]

I have seen gypsum sold here in little tubs for big $ at the local garden shops and in bulk in huge totes at farm supply stores. Hopefully I can find something in between.

Just a bit more info on cultivating mushrooms to improve soil; a study showing the benefits to adding wine cap stropharia to your garden. There is also a study done in China that goes way more in depth. In China they are grown extensively as an under crop for food and soil building.

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I have two varieties growing here, I call them white wine and red wine hehe



Going to chop one of the Five star in the next day or so. Looking nice and purple.

 

[Stuntzii]

Colors are really coming out; all of the plants in the 4x4 tent are starting to fade. Smelling really good, although my favourite chickmag pheno smells kind of like rubber but it is starting to develope a sweeter smell as it ripens.

Just giving them water at this point, there is still feeder roots still going through the top dressing of compost and dry amendments.

The herming weed in the storage closet doesnt seem to be ripening the same as the other five star. It is stacking calyxes and getting more bulbous. Popping bananas here and there, picked most off but probably miss a couple. Have not seen any seeds developing. Trichomes are still clear and the leaves are healthy green Just going to leave it for now.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Colors are really coming out; all of the plants in the 4x4 tent are starting to fade. Smelling really good, although my favourite chickmag pheno smells kind of like rubber but it is starting to develope a sweeter smell as it ripens.

Just giving them water at this point, there is still feeder roots still going through the top dressing of compost and dry amendments.

The herming weed in the storage closet doesnt seem to be ripening the same as the other five star. It is stacking calyxes and getting more bulbous. Popping bananas here and there, picked most off but probably miss a couple. Have not seen any seeds developing. Trichomes are still clear and the leaves are healthy green Just going to leave it for now.

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That purple/yellow fade looks like P deficiency. I always give mine a little high P guano when they do that if they have more than a couple weeks left. Sunleaves 0-7-0 Indonesian bat guano is on sale now. I think Sunleaves went out of business so I bought 2 buckets while I can still get it.

 

[Stuntzii]

Hard to say when this strain will finish, I assumed that this was normal fade. It’s mid week 8 and supposed to be 9 week ish finisher. Trichomes are 70+ cloudy, im guessing a week to week and a haft from now. Hopefully she will crawl across that finish line. But yeah the change to the leaves is coming on pretty fast.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Hard to say when this strain will finish, I assumed that this was normal fade. It’s mid week 8 and supposed to be 9 week ish finisher. Trichomes are 70+ cloudy, im guessing a week to week and a haft from now. Hopefully she will crawl across that finish line. But yeah the change to the leaves is coming on pretty fast.

Some strains do fade but with the yellowing and then purple that's happening to those it looks like they're hungry for P and stealing it from the leaves. It happens all the time with a lot of organic grows including mine.

Do you have a closeup pic so we can see the buds? You can't trust breeder times. That pic of the bud in the last pic looks close though. If it was me I'd still give that last one another 2 weeks at least but I like to wait extra long anymore.

 

[Stuntzii]

Had to borrow the wife’s phone to get the high rez pics lol. Even with that I cannot get right in on the trichomes, it distorts it a bit.

Pics of both chick magnets, purple fade and the yellow

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Had to borrow the wife’s phone to get the high rez pics lol. Even with that I cannot get right in on the trichomes, it distorts it a bit.

Pics of both chick magnets, purple fade and the yellow

I'd give them all at least a few weeks. Lots of white pistils coming off and the calyxes aren't very swollen. The last one will probably be ready first. And the purple on the first pic looks more like genetics or cold temps than P deficiency but it could be all three. The yellowing lower leaves I have a feeling is the beginning of P deficiency though. Looking pretty good.

 

[Stuntzii]

I'd give them all at least a few weeks. Lots of white pistils coming off and the calyxes aren't very swollen. The last one will probably be ready first. And the purple on the first pic looks more like genetics or cold temps than P deficiency but it could be all three. The yellowing lower leaves I have a feeling is the beginning of P deficiency though. Looking pretty good.

A few weeks! Man I never anticipated that. Take a look at the pics on the breeder site. I think the smaller fox-tail calyxes are just the way the bud is structured. The pheno with the yellow leaves definitely has the fatter bud structure.

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But yeah, I will leave them going. I last top dressed end of week 5 and went easy on the dry amendments, if I run these again I will definitely give them a bit more and also give a bit of P boost.