Plant Alchemy With KNF: Korean Natural Farming And Jadam

[Azimuth]

I started in on next year's compost pile with a leaf mowing. I'll continue to mow and leave them on the grass until next spring when I will rake whatever's left and use it to build my pile.

Also started screening this year's pile using 1/2" hardware cloth. Man, this is pretty good stuff for basic compost. Next year I'm going to snazz it up like I've done for my castings by adding my comfrey, nettle and dried flowers to the mix. May even add a bit of eggshell.

 

[Azimuth]

I didn't plan this very well and the flower box will be super crowded when the Blueberry CBD gets flipped in a couple of weeks. Oh well, my new cloning success will enable me to better plan things out starting early next year.

Welp, that's not going to work out. I had planned to flip the Blueberry CBD this weekend but it will be way too cramped in the flower box so I'll have to move on to Plan B.

Instead, I'll just treat it as a mother and get some clones going and flip one of them once the twins finish. I prepped a bunch of branches tonight including the ends from each of the four mains and I'll stick them tomorrow.

Also took a brix reading from the trim and got 13! Pretty psyched with that. The calcium line still looks pretty well defined so that's something that I'll work on with my eggshells. I spread what I had in my compost and old soil bins so I'll make up a new batch this weekend.

As for the twins, the compost plant still looks great and the coco version is still struggling. Yellow leaves all over the place. Gee though it might be too wet so I let it dry a bit this week and that did seem to help but now I'm on another round of yellowing leaves.

Both will get their weekly application of worm castings, malted barley and some swamp juice, and I also plan to top off the compost mulch.

 

[Gee64]

Welp, that's not going to work out. I had planned to flip the Blueberry CBD this weekend but it will be way too cramped in the flower box so I'll have to move on to Plan B.

Instead, I'll just treat it as a mother and get some clones going and flip one of them once the twins finish. I prepped a bunch of branches tonight including the ends from each of the four mains and I'll stick them tomorrow.

Also took a brix reading from the trim and got 13! Pretty psyched with that. The calcium line still looks pretty well defined so that's something that I'll work on with my eggshells. I spread what I had in my compost and old soil bins so I'll make up a new batch this weekend.

As for the twins, the compost plant still looks great and the coco version is still struggling. Yellow leaves all over the place. Gee though it might be too wet so I let it dry a bit this week and that did seem to help but now I'm on another round of yellowing leaves.

Both will get their weekly application of worm castings, malted barley and some swamp juice, and I also plan to top off the compost mulch.

I would say your compost is better than coco. next time try both and see where that fits in.

 

[Azimuth]

I would say your compost is better than coco. next time try both and see where that fits in.

I would agree. It might just be that I'm not treating the coco properly but whatever it is the compost version is much better suited to me. I do have both in my Blueberry CBD that I was going to flip this weekend. When I mixed up the soil batches for the twins I had some of each left over so I combined them together when I up-potted.

Honesty it was just to use it up. Given the apparent success I'm having with the compost conversion, I plan to spend some rounds working with that input mostly. Coco's not my thing for a variety of reasons so if I can get things to work with my compost, I'd prefer that.

 

[Gee64]

Compost is definitely better than coco. Coco is just a carbon input. Compost is an everything input. If you keep your brix over 12 you don't need near as much soil carbon. I'm glad your working out a recipe that works for you, You have definitely put the effort in.

 

[Gee64]

So in your coco mix, what are you using for organic matter? is it a lesser amount of organic matter than the compost mix? It sounds like the coco plant is hungry.

 

[Gee64]

What is the brix on the coco plant?

 

[Azimuth]

So in your coco mix, what are you using for organic matter? is it a lesser amount of organic matter than the compost mix? It sounds like the coco plant is hungry.

Yes, the main differences between the two mixes is a 20% part of either coco or compost, and different aeration components (perlite vs. Hydroton) though I don't think it's the aeration part.

The coco version has 20% organics, while the compost version is 40%. And the compost wasn't even finished compost. My next rounds should be better as the compost I'm screening now is more broken down.

So..... I'm going to try two slightly different mixes as follows:

World Traveler Edition -Coco
20% Old soil from prior rounds
20% Organics (10% worm castings, 5% aged leaf mold, 5% compost (fines))
20% Carbon (coco)
30% Aeration (perlite (large) grain of rice size)
10% Biochar

Backyard Farmer Edition -Compost
20% Old soil from prior rounds
40% Organics (10% worm castings, 5% aged leaf mold, 5% compost (fines), 20% compost (mids))
40% Aeration (30% hydroton clay balls (small marble size), 10% Biochar

The main differences from previous rounds are an extra 10% aeration, hydroton vs perlite, and whether or not the carbon component can be satisfied from that in the compost. I've read a bunch on composting now and it seems like the material left in the pile after the heating phase is carbon in various stages of breakdown.

It is recommended to used "aged" compost of a year or more but the best I can do is about 3 months (although part of that is a lot older than that). I am trying to speed up the process by using JMS, but we'll see if at least some of the carbon is available for the microbes.

 

[Gee64]

Yes, the main differences between the two mixes is a 20% part of either coco or compost, and different aeration components (perlite vs. Hydroton) though I don't think it's the aeration part.

The coco version has 20% organics, while the compost version is 40%. And the compost wasn't even finished compost. My next rounds should be better as the compost I'm screening now is more broken down.

Do you think the coco plant is hungry? Maybe add compost?

I usually add all my cooking ingredients, which is largely organic matter, let it cook, then go 20 or 25% EWC at potting time, so likely overall I'm at around 35-40% organic matter.

The extra areation is needed for extra compost, so although it will make a difference, I think its your inputs not your areation.

You quadrupled your compost input so the comparison isn't really a fair one. The compost pot has a lot more food in it.

Try that compost mix again but compare it to itself with coco added and see which is better, then pick a path.

That will verify your carbon one way or another. Once carbon is adequate then fill the rest of the pot with food. Not enough carbon will screw you, too much takes up food space.

 

[Azimuth]

You quadrupled your compost input so the comparison isn't really a fair one. The compost pot has a lot more food in it.

Wasn't meant to be fair.

You had suggested coco as a carbon source when I was thinking compost so I thought I'd compare the two. My thinking was that (mostly) finished compost had a good amount of carbon in it but also food plus microbes, so that's what I was testing. Mostly to see if I could get around the need for coco at all.

When I originally was testing base inputs to see what I might be able to use to replace CSPM, I ran some tests using coco, CSPM and my leaf mold, and found the leaf mold better than coco in some respects ( Experiment post here ).

So, if the compost can supply the needed carbon but also has other properties as well, it would seem to be a much better input in my situation especially in small containers. Plus, it's local to me and I can control the inputs. Plus, I can produce it in a matter of months rather than years it takes for the leaf mold. Plus, it has a much more varied source of inputs, including leaves for the minerals, but I can also add my comfrey, nettles, flowers, and calcium to it. It should be much superior to leaf mold with all of those additional inputs plus a wider variety of microbes all while providing good humus to help with tilth.

Plus, plus, plus. What's not to like?

Try that compost mix again but compare it to itself with coco added and see which is better, then pick a path.

If I can get it done without coco at all, that's what I want to do. So, I'll see how far I get with the twins and then see how I want to tweak things from there. I'm currently thinking about getting rid of the aeration component altogether and replacing it with soil worms just like Mother Nature does. That would allow me to put even more compost and maybe old soil into the pot to extend the time frame before I have to supplement with my extracts, though I have been doing that weekly.

That will verify your carbon one way or another. Once carbon is adequate then fill the rest of the pot with food. Not enough carbon will screw you, too much takes up food space.

The twins are a good side-by-side experiment since I will see what the time difference the extra 20% compost makes before the leaves start yellowing. So far it's been about two weeks.

 

[Azimuth]

Finishing up week 3 of flowering for the twins and I'm just now starting to get some lightening of the lower leaves on the compost plant. I've been feeding both my fish ferts for about a week or so so hopefully they'll kick in soon.

Since the compost mix had about 20% more compost than the coco version and made it 3 weeks longer before showing deficiencies, that would suggest if I could add another 20% volume of compost I could theoretically get through 3/4 of flower from that mix in my buckets if it's a linear relationship (which it may not be).

In any event I think I'll try that on my next run and replace 20% of the aeration portion with that much additional compost, and add some soil worms as a carbon offset.

 

[Azimuth]

Found some open male flowers on the lower limbs when I was taking some cuts to try cloning from a flowering plant. Likely means seeds.

 

[RedskinnedRhino]

Finishing up week 3 of flowering for the twins and I'm just now starting to get some lightening of the lower leaves on the compost plant. I've been feeding both my fish ferts for about a week or so so hopefully they'll kick in soon.

Since the compost mix had about 20% more compost than the coco version and made it 3 weeks longer before showing deficiencies, that would suggest if I could add another 20% volume of compost I could theoretically get through 3/4 of flower from that mix in my buckets if it's a linear relationship (which it may not be).

In any event I think I'll try that on my next run and replace 20% of the aeration portion with that much additional compost, and add some soil worms as a carbon offset.

I bought abig bag of EWC with worm eggs in it from the 'zon. Dunno if they'll hatch, but it was a hell of a selling point, and it won me over easily.

 

[Azimuth]

I bought abig bag of EWC with worm eggs in it from the 'zon. Dunno if they'll hatch, but it was a hell of a selling point, and it won me over easily.

You should get between 3 and 7 or so worm from each cocoon. Bagged castings usually come from farming red wigglers which are a leaf litter/manure worm, so surface dwelling. Instead of those, I'm going to use soil worms from my garden as those should be better adapted to digging around below surface.

 

[RedskinnedRhino]

You should get between 3 and 7 or so worm from each cocoon. Bagged castings usually come from farming red wigglers which are a leaf litter/manure worm, so surface dwelling. Instead of those, I'm going to use soil worms from my garden as those should be better adapted to digging around below surface.

I've been told the same thing about red wigglers, but I've added them to the soil before and then looked for them later, they were no where to be found in the top 2.5 inches of dirt. When I recycled the dirt, most of them were found in the outer edges about mid depth. They may be surface dwelling when there's leaf litter available, but burrow deeper when there isn't?
Dunno, but it's cool to have them in there though.

 

[Azimuth]

Welp, that's not going to work out. I had planned to flip the Blueberry CBD this weekend but it will be way too cramped in the flower box so I'll have to move on to Plan B.

Instead, I'll just treat it as a mother and get some clones going and flip one of them once the twins finish. I prepped a bunch of branches tonight including the ends from each of the four mains and I'll stick them tomorrow.

That Blueberry CBD mother plant is looking too good not to flip so it's on to Plan C. She gave up enough cuttings that I have confidence I'll get a few really strong clones from her and the clone nodes have rooted, so I'll pot up the best of those today and then flip the mother.

In order to make room in the box for another 2 gallon bucket I'm going to lasso the branches on the Strawberry CBD twins to confine their spread to the buckets' footprints. That should give me enough room to add the Blueberry. Still going to be tight in there until the others finish in 4 weeks or so, but I can't wait to get it started. I'm excited about this strain and think it's going to be the main meds in my stable so if I flip it now it'll start off the new year in good order.

Since it was a mother plant I topped all of the four main branches and have nice thick stubs with super healthy growth coming off them so that may be my new modus operandi. But I'll see how I like it in flower. That might be a great addition to the quadlining I do; get the four mains out to the pot edge, top them each there and let the next set of nodes grow out to give me 8 tops and trim everything else out.

I'm a little concerned that since those 8 tops would be getting all the nutrients that they would grow too tall which is why I usually let a bunch of other branches grow to try to spread the hormones out making each a little shorter through flower. But, because I took all of those cuttings I have a different growth profile with this plant so it will give me something to compare to how I've generally done things.

The Blueberry CBD is about 6 weeks in veg and I'd have to do some serious hacking away if I were to keep it in the veg box.

So, Plan C it is!

 

[Azimuth]

I also should mention that I added a top dressing of eggshell powder to my old mother Strawberry CBD plant. That one's starting to fade and since it got upgraded with the Blueberry CBD I won't be taking any more cuttings nor will I flower it out so it seems like a perfect candidate to experiment with.

I topdressed it at 1T per gallon and misted it in. There may not be enough time for the calcium to get processed much but I mostly want to see if there is any deleterious effect. If there's no downside, I may try it on my other plants that have a longer expected lifespan and see what it does, if anything.

About a month later and that plant looks like it's gained new life! I can't necessarily attribute it to the eggshell top dressing but I can say it looks like it didn't hurt so I'm going to add it to my other plants at 1t per gallon.

Toward that end I made up a new batch of eggshell powder this weekend as I used up all my reserves adding it to my compost. I'm not sure what my frequency of application will be yet, but I'll probably start off monthly and see how that goes.

I've been letting the small SIPs dry out a bit between waterings and I'm getting healthier looking plants so I'm going to experiment with some different approaches to watering, feeding and top dressings .

 

[RedskinnedRhino]

About a month later and that plant looks like it's gained new life! I can't necessarily attribute it to the eggshell top dressing but I can say it looks like it didn't hurt so I'm going to add it to my other plants at 1t per gallon.

Toward that end I made up a new batch of eggshell powder this weekend as I used up all my reserves adding it to my compost. I'm not sure what my frequency of application will be yet, but I'll probably start off monthly and see how that goes.

I've been letting the small SIPs dry out a bit between waterings and I'm getting healthier looking plants so I'm going to experiment with some different approaches to watering, feeding and top dressings .

I've found a dryer SIP to be more efficient as well.

 

[Azimuth]

I've found a dryer SIP to be more efficient as well.

I'm wondering if it might be better to treat it as a normal plant with a little extra on-board reservoir until late veg, and then turn it loose.

Could be my mix though as it's denser and holds more water than the typical recommended soil mix. But whatever it is the plants look healthier with a bit less constant water.

 

[JoetheChro]

I'm wondering if it might be better to treat it as a normal plant with a little extra on-board reservoir until late veg, and then turn it loose.

Could be my mix though as it's denser and holds more water than the typical recommended soil mix. But whatever it is the plants look healthier with a bit less constant water.

Spare the rod and spoil the child.

A little bit of droughting is good.