the evolution of an organic gardener

[Boyd Crowder]

nice bro, id love to find some decent blueberry

 

[Bmac1]

This next run is all about finding some nice blueberry terps. Not sure if I mentioned yet but the seedlings are 6 of Bodhis blue sunshine, 1 of Bodhis blueberry hill and 3 of a cross a buddy did that was a dj blueberry male to the riri cut of sour diesel. Hoping for about 5-6 females plus I can get this blueberry cut. Havent had a nice blueberry flavor in a while so fingers are crossed.

 

[Bmac1]

Seedlings are looking just fine today. Even perked up. I hope they fill these pots out quick so i can get them into the 5 gal fabric pots and get this show on the road.

If i were to put some worms in each pot, about how many per pot would be good?

 

[Bmac1]

The plants are doing very well. Vigorous growth and no burning etc, they are loving life at this point. Roots starting to shoot out the bottoms of the pots and I have my first confirmed female, its a blue sunshine. I am hoping that the rest show sex at some point this weekend so i can get the girls into bigger pots. I have not given them a tea yet either. Just tap water that i pit some dirt in and let sit a few minutes.

 

[Green989]

Really interesting, thank you for sharing my friend!

 

[Bmac1]

No problem. The plants are now 2 weeks into 12/12 as of tomorrow and loving this mix. They are the picture of health and getting quite big. Hopefully they finish stretching this week. I may get an alfalfa and kelp tea going here this week as well.

 

[bigbadbiddy]

So i got it all wetted and mixed and god damn, i need a bivger pool or mix smaller batches, lol. My back is feelin it.

I feel ya.

Here's an idea that worked for me:
Do you know those things that look like your kitchen "staff" mixers that they use in construction to mix mortar etc. ?

Get one of those. Mixing soil by hand is a thing of the past, works really well. You basically "blend" the stuff together like you would in the kitchen. It's just bigger. And since it is constructed to mix mortar and the like, it can even handle wet soil mixes.
You do need a fitting tub though that is thick/sturdy enough that it won't break if you hit the walls/bottom with your oversized blender.

And regarding clover:
I had a big N deficiency with my plants and EWC slurries helped over those in late veg but in flower, my lower leafs were all yellowing and dying off.
I remedied that by adding 5-20 worms to each 5 gallon pot along with a generous topdressing of EWC. Directly into the top-dressed EWC, I threw a hand full of clover seeds in each pot.

Now it is hard for me to say if one of these things was what did it, but the clover sprouted, grew rapidly and great and I like to believe it helped in fixing the N deficiency (which I no longer have).
The clover is growing a bit tall though, trying to reach for light I believe which results in it being "smushed down" every time I water. They usually prop back up but I think they will eventually die off and I gotta see if they will grow back then.

It does seem to help.

/Edit
Regarding soil mixes:
I run coots mix as posted here on IC with some slight adjusted over the last years so it currently looks like this:
1 part = 5 liters
Base mix:
3 parts buckwheat hulls (instead of perlite)
3 parts EWC
4 parts Peat moss

Amended with:
1 cup each of:
- Kelp
- Bloodmeal
- Oyster Shell flour
- Neemseed meal
- Epsom Salt
2 cups each of:
- Bonemeal
- Dolomite Lime

And more or less all the rock dust I can spare

The only issue I had so far was N deficiency. This is likely due to 2 factors. 1) buckwheat hulls apparently leech N from the soil mix which I wasn't aware off and didn't compensate and 2) my bloodmeal is pelleted and therefore releases slower than the plants need.

I have since remedied this in the current round by the top-dressing with EWC and clover cover seeds (and worms) as mentioned above.
For the next soil mix, I simply doubled the amount of bloodmeal I added in, hoping that this won't make the mix "too hot" or anything.
I also ran out of EWC and needed to top-dress the current veglings (they are in the old mix which is N deficient still).
Solved the issue by taking some of the new soil mix and adding some more pelleted bloodmeal to it and topdressing with that mix.
Fingers crossed it won't be too much

I want to furthermore add this:
With this soil mix, be it in the current or future form, I have and continue to successfully grow and get great results from seed to finish with only adding water.
I have cooked this mix for as little as 1 week and planted things as fragile as seedlings and clones directly into it with no negative effects whatsoever.
I do notice from time to time and plant to plant that the soil mix is better for some phenos than for others. I have encountered some clawing here or there or the odd coloration on this or that leaf and it is noticeable that some phenos look healthier/happier than others. But to me this only means I would have to adjust my soil mix or top dress something if one of the less happy looking phenos turns out to be a keeper and I want to grow it more often.

I really do believe in this soil mix and was especially taken aback by 2 factors after my first harvest:
The smoothness of the smoke directly after hang-drying (cure really becomes optional. it does get even better from curing but you can really smoke it straight after hang drying) AND the pronounced and loud terpenes. You really need an elite clone, grown to perfection in hydro or whatever to even get close to competing with even the most averagely grown organic herb. At least that was my impression. It really changes the whole ballpark/league in terms of terpenes/aromas/flavors.

 

[Bmac1]

Dank Frank had noted my mix was lacking a fast nitrogen source and I am seeing it i believe. The plants veggerd very well but by week 4 of 12/12, one of the blue sunshines was showing a N defficiency and yellowing. I started feeding it some fish emulsion and it is slightly slowed the yellowing if at all. Now approaching 6 weeks of 12/12 another blue sunshine is sbowing the same signs. I am thinking maybe another tea could help as it certainly wouldnt hurt its just the air pump is so loud its hard to keep a tea discrete. With feather meal and alfalfa in the mix, i am hoping more of that is available for a second round. I think, i should have added a little composted poultry manure.

 

[bigbadbiddy]

I can really recommend the top dress with EWC. I believe it was the catalyst in fixing my N deficiency and it also gave a great layer to plant the clover seeds.

 

[Bmac1]

Dank Frank had noted my mix was lacking a fast nitrogen source and I am seeing it i believe. The plants veggerd very well but by week 4 of 12/12, one of the blue sunshines was showing a N defficiency and yellowing. I started feeding it some fish emulsion and it is slightly slowed the yellowing if at all. Now approaching 6 weeks of 12/12 another blue sunshine is sbowing the same signs. I am thinking maybe another tea could help as it certainly wouldnt hurt its just the air pump is so loud its hard to keep a tea discrete. With feather meal and alfalfa in the mix, i am hoping more of that is available for a second round. I think, i should have added a little composted poultry manure.

Got another run growing in these same pots right now. 3 gg4 and 1 of the blue sunshine phenos from last round. Wednesday will be 3 weeks since flip. The veg was healthy and fast once again but i am again seeing the yellowing on all plants but more for the glue. She has showed me that she needed more mg which isnt uncommon for glue despite having what should be good amounts of mg in the mix.

When they were repotted they got an inch or two of fresh mix on top and have a healthy cover crop of clover. I would hope that the nitrogen sources in the mix should be giving up the goods by now but im kind of baffled as i dont believe this is a weak mix.

I am kind of stumped. This round has had 2 teas already which consisted of 1.5 cups ewc, 1/3 cup bsm, 1 cup alfalfa and 1/4 cup of kelp flour in 4 gals water. I wonder if it is the 630w cmh making them use up nutes more quickly of if the mix is weak. Particularly on N.

 

[bigbadbiddy]

Interesting.

I too have similar issues under a 630w cmh ...

My theory was that all the N issues can be tracked back to the buckwheat hulls.

I don't have enough drainage now in my soil and have to be VERY conservative with watering and the yellowing has not completely stopped either.

I think next round I will mix perlite into the soil mix for better aeration and add lots of bloodmeal and EWC to the mix again. Hope that will fix it.


But I do note that under the 315w cmh (blue spectrum bulb) the issues look a lot less pronounced.

 

[Bmac1]

Figured I'd give this a bump as I am about to mix another batch of soil and have switched over to LED.

 

[Veggia farmer]

How big are your pots? Im still growing in beds, same soil for some years. Like the Beatles, It`s getting better all the time.

 

[Bmac1]

Ive used 3 and 5 gallon fabric pots and I've used a 25gal tote as a SIP. I do want to move to beds but have at least one more run in front of me till I am able to do so.

 

[Veggia farmer]

Whats SIP?

Re using soil I guess? Beds are great in some cases. Very stable. Saw in another thread you this boxes you have, cool.

 

[Bmac1]

SIP is Sub Irrigation Planter if i remember correctly. It is a really great way to grow in my opinion. I do find that the smaller the pots, the less far water only goes.

 

[Veggia farmer]

Giving water from underneat the container? I find this big beds I have use a lot of moisture just being alive

 

[Jayded]

I'd add more dolomite lime as will need the extra cal/mag if under led's.I've been adding oats to my mix as well for the mag and still have to use Epsom salts regularly through flower to keep them happy.

 

[Bmac1]

Thanks for that heads up Jayded. I will add some to the mix.