Fireknot farm 2016

[_tessarecting]

Thanks ya'll... the plants are between 3-4'...all plugged and inoculated...the cages come out like 8 inches

I killed probably the healthiest space monkey..lol...fuck it...there are two more out there but that strain shows the most deficiency. Sky lotus and sorcerers apprentice look the best I planted 4 and 3 of those. The other strains I did 2 of and 1 deep line alchemy #3.

2 plants broke up in the rootzone during transplant...I will watch these ones and swap them out if I have to.

I'll take pics of them all soon...the ones I took earlier came out blurry.

Home depot only had woven wire with 4"x2" spacing...fuck it...rolling with it.

Still got a lot to do....or do I....? I see the light at the end of the tunnel...or is it just my J's cherry...

 

[HillMizer]

I've seen folks use 4x2" before. I think Vital's "green wire" is 4x2. When you look for the 6x6" it's called remesh it's for concrete it's not fencing or woven wire or welded wire. It's really commonly available as it it used in almost every concrete slab. It's usually very rusty though the coating is not very good because it is not meant to be exposed. Good luck, if you don't like your material return it to HD. I guarantee there is remesh in any town that has a home depot, both my local ACE stores carry it.

 

[Stone House]

Looks like your getting things under control!
Still plenty of work ahead but it's not back breaking work.

Can't wait to see how your Space Monkey finishes, I grabbed a pack during 420 sale.

 

[Shcrews]

Still got a lot to do....or do I....? I see the light at the end of the tunnel...or is it just my J's cherry...

that depends how you look at it. your season just started...

are you all planted, or how many more do you have left?

congrats on getting all the prep work done. or most of it..? are you goin to set up irrigation? also i forgot, are you gonna brew teas?

are you goin to release predator mites? still spraying pfr97?

 

[_tessarecting]

Indeed...it has begun...
All planted, 26 remain.

I might do a drip later on. When I run out of shit to do I'll probably work on the teas in a 5gal bucket and dilute it for foliar and drenching. Compost tea at least.

No need for mites now. Broad mites and the others in the class like humidity thats why theyre worse in the winter...and in santa cruz...I couldnt see them lasting very long in these climates. The predators too they like over 70%RH. Last month I did pfr-97 every 2 days for a while and some essential oil blasts in the greenhouse at night when RH was above 80%. Pfr will no longer be effective outside. They're long since dead here and are the least of my worries.

 

[Shcrews]

I might do a drip later on. When I run out of shit to do I'll probably work on the teas

now that everythings in the ground what else do you have to do?

 

[_tessarecting]

Going to wrap up those cages. I still havent bought a weed whacker. I gotta find a used one. I'm debating whether I need to wrap my mounds in chicken wire or not...I found smart pots wrapped in chicken wire when I moved in...so I'm thinking yes, yes I do. I've been going non stop for almost a month now...so there's that lazy part of me nagging me on my shoulder.

I threw the cover crop seeds on the mounds then I watered. We'll see how that plan works out. Im thinking it should have been the other way around. I imagine I have just a few days to get those done at this point...

Then there's a massive clean up job, lotsa weeding, the other support system...water storage is probably just going to have to come later. Im looking at tanks and just going nope!

Im sure im forgetting something

 

[oct]

Bro I know $ is tight, but do yourself a favor and do NOT purchase a used weed whacker. Unless you can find a barely used one for a great deal, get a new stihl.

 

[_tessarecting]

Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

 

[theJointedOne]

Drip on a timer is cheap, easy, and saves you countless hours of work and frees up your time for other stuff.

Dripworks.com

You can setup a brewer in a Pickle barrel real easy. Or setup a badass 300gallon brewer. I'm doing a brew once a week, and inoculated the soil twice with tea before planting.

 

[oct]

Jointed care to share your 300 gal brewer design? I'm currently looking into making one

 

[TheOutlawTree]

I forgot to ask if you have ever tried Grandevo on your broads tessarecting?

Supposedly it works on broads and russets.. and its organic. Its not the same as PFR-97 its not a fungus and doesnt require high humidity to work.

I just ordered some from Vital earth to use as part of my IPM if i cant get my brix high enough.

 

[plantingplants]

Don't underestimate broad or russet mites man. If you have the money I would definitely take precautions. I've seen and heard of them in dry summer.

 

[_tessarecting]

Good morning... I would rather work for hours than spend money right now. Hence why I ammended my entire garen by hand...and my hands still hurt. I might change my mind in July. Im sure I will. I want to dig trenches for irrigation on the mounds after more aggregrates have formed. I noticed the spiral mounds worked better than the booblike ones.

I had russets on my outdoor 2 years ago in butte. They died after 1 spray. I havent seen them in two months. If I can beat an infestation that was killing plants in a matter of days...that people on icmag say growers cant do...you have to move...(look at King Klone) etc... they really dont worry me one bit. Never tried that other stuff so I cant say. They vaporize at the slightest touch of essential oil. And applied in rotation every two days they will not survive. It just takes persistence and understanding.

Spectrum extra and pepzyme will work until I can figure out the compost tea thing. I know its better to do it before but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Lets see how much of this chicken wire I can get done today. Maybe pics later...I have a feeling those two plants I fucked up will need to be replaced but we'll see once I head up there. They were the only ones still drooping last night while I was spraying manganese.

 

[jbarsk8]

Plants look good tess!

 

[leadsled]

Looking good out there!!
Props for doing all that work by hand.

I noticed some of you mentioned making a compost tea brewer. Ever heard of compost extracts???

Ideally we want diversity in the soil to make sure nutrients are being cycled. A compost extract is an excellent way to help get things moving. The spectrum extra and pepzyme work well but does not contain protist, nematodes, etc that are critical for nutrient cycling.

I posted up short tutorial on how to make a compost extract for both drench and foliar.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=7468695#post7468695


The compost pre-treatment also works well as a top dressing.

Happy growing!!

 

[HillMizer]

Looking good out there!!
Props for doing all that work by hand.

I noticed some of you mentioned making a compost tea brewer. Ever heard of compost extracts???

Ideally we want diversity in the soil to make sure nutrients are being cycled. A compost extract is an excellent way to help get things moving. The spectrum extra and pepzyme work well but does not contain protist, nematodes, etc that are critical for nutrient cycling.

I posted up short tutorial on how to make a compost extract for both drench and foliar.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=7468695#post7468695


The compost pre-treatment also works well as a top dressing.

Happy growing!!

I second the compost extract. It takes minutes and no real special equipment. The biology is cultured naturally in the soil, almost eliminating the possibility of making a bad brew containing malicious flora.
The process is quick and cleanup is quick making it easy to do more often.
I stopped making aact few years ago. I didn't trust my science.
http://livebiologic.com/recipes-information/
You're rocking it dude, it's going to be a good season.

 

[FoothillFarming]

I think its a myth that people are making bad teas........ If it smells bad, it's anaerobic. If it smells good, then it's aerobic. Pretty simple.

Here is what Teaming with Microbes has to say about Compost Extract:

Page 148-149

"Compost extract is what you get when you soak compost in water.....The end result is an anaerobic soup with perhaps a bit of aerobic activity on the surface. The loss of aerobic microbial diversity alone (not to mention the risk of it's containing anaerobic pathogens and alcohols) suggest that compost extracts are not worth the effort. We don't consider it safe or advisable to use them."

Teaming with Microbes on AACT's:

Continued from page 149

"Modern compost tea, on the other hand, are aerobic mixtures. If the tea is properly made, it is a concentrate of beneficial, aerobic microbes. The bacterial population, for example, grows from 1 billion in a teaspoon of compost to 4 billion in a teaspoon of actively aerated compost tea.

THen from the same chapter, page 161

"If you are still worried about E. coli

We find it hard to believe that e coli, an anaerobic organism, can be found in a properly aerated tea......Still, some folks remain concerned about the possibility of e coli growing in their teas.


An ACT is far superior to a compost extract for many reasons. Making a bad AACT is hard to do, keep the dissolved oxygen above 6 part per million and having a pump that supplies at least .05 cubic feet of air per minute, per gallon of water. Easy peasy.

 

[HillMizer]

I think its a myth that people are making bad teas........ If it smells bad, it's anaerobic. If it smells good, then it's aerobic. Pretty simple.

Here is what Teaming with Microbes has to say about Compost Extract:

Page 148-149

"Compost extract is what you get when you soak compost in water.....The end result is an anaerobic soup with perhaps a bit of aerobic activity on the surface. The loss of aerobic microbial diversity alone (not to mention the risk of it's containing anaerobic pathogens and alcohols) suggest that compost extracts are not worth the effort. We don't consider it safe or advisable to use them."

Teaming with Microbes on AACT's:

Continued from page 149

"Modern compost tea, on the other hand, are aerobic mixtures. If the tea is properly made, it is a concentrate of beneficial, aerobic microbes. The bacterial population, for example, grows from 1 billion in a teaspoon of compost to 4 billion in a teaspoon of actively aerated compost tea.

THen from the same chapter, page 161

"If you are still worried about E. coli

We find it hard to believe that e coli, an anaerobic organism, can be found in a properly aerated tea......Still, some folks remain concerned about the possibility of e coli growing in their teas.


An ACT is far superior to a compost extract for many reasons. Making a bad AACT is hard to do, keep the dissolved oxygen above 6 part per million and having a pump that supplies at least .05 cubic feet of air per minute, per gallon of water. Easy peasy.

Great work on the citation. Aact is super effective, folks I know using it have amazing plants and the green up effect is really rapid.
I'm basing my decision off of the words out of the mouth of a biologist that sells brewers and looks at samples for a living. I also made the decision after having root disease issues in a commerical orchard and cannabis farm after using aact for years.
It's money out of his pocket for all the people who don't buy a Brewer. Ian Davidson of Biologic Systems told me that just because an organism is aerobic does not mean it is "good". I could not tell you any more than that. He used to recommend analyzing a sample of aact after any change in recipe, equipment or operating conditions.
So I'm rocking elastic paint strainer bags from the hardware store. I can have my helper whip up extract in 10 minutes and if they get lazy and don't wash out the bag I just chuck it. Endless ways to skin this cat.

 

[plantingplants]

Don't get too cocky about your bug fighting skills. Mother nature will humble you