TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - New Strains & Toys!

[TheRoach]

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2 - William Shakespeare



Hello guys, it has been a while and I have missed you all terribly!
I am back with some new tricks, strains and toys I would love to share with you all.


What strain is it? Sweet Afghani Delicious, Cream Mandarine, Kalashnikova, Aurora Indica, and other strains yet to arrive.
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? Mostly hybrids
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? It is in the vegging stage
If in Veg... For how long? Around 4-6 weeks
Indoor or outdoor? Indoors
Soil or Hydro? Organic Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Rice hulls, peat moss, worm castings for the base, amended with oat bran, kelp based organic fert, chitin based organic fert, lentil meal, grounded rabbit food, epsom salts and lime.
If soil... What size pot? 7 liter fabric pots
Size of light? 600W HPS/MH dimmable
Is it aircooled? No, it is not aircooled
Temp of Room/cab? 73-90 F
RH of Room/cab? 43-70 % RH
PH of media or res? Not checking ph
Any Pests ? Had a spider mite issue but it has been eradicated.
How often are you watering? Every 2-3 days, as often as necessary
Type and strength of ferts used? Fermented dandelion & alfalfa fert for veg, fermented fruits for bloom. 1-4 ml per liter.

 

[SweetSue]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks, Strains & Toys!

Oooo...... First seat.

 

[Weaselcracker]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks, Strains & Toys!

Oooh! Second seat!

Best seat in the house, next to Sue.

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

Hello guys!!!! Good to see you two here!
Wow that was fast! Good to see you Weasel Cracker!!! It has been so long! I promise I will not go missing like that again.
Let me put some pictures in here

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

I will post more pics and a detailed explanation of my grow tomorrow. Thank you very much for visiting my journal.

 

[SweetSue]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

I will post more pics and a detailed explanation of my grow tomorrow. Thank you very much for visiting my journal.

Wow! You don't mess around buckaroo. I almost ordered Sweet Manderine today. Went with Red Poison instead.

Good to be in your garden again, my friend.

 

[Weaselcracker]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

Very fancy setup Mr Roach! A watering system too. Will those high temps be easing up at any time soon?

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

Wow! You don't mess around buckaroo. I almost ordered Sweet Manderine today. Went with Red Poison instead.

Good to be in your garden again, my friend.

Thank you Sue, I have so many pictures to upload! The Sweet seeds strains where a gift from a friend! I may receive some extra free seeds by the end of the month! I am expecting Bubble gum, Lemon Kush, Super Skunk, green poison, cream caramel and black jack. Im so excited haha

Very fancy setup Mr Roach! A watering system too. Will those high temps be easing up at any time soon?

Thank you Weasel, I have a back injury so getting in there to hand-water the plants in the back is a pain, hence the drip irrigation.
About the temps, I should be getting a 12,000 BTU A/C by the end of the month, but I also have been thinking of upgrading the ventilation system,

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

Did I mention I learned some new tricks?
This is how I made my Lacto serum:

It all starts with a cup of rice

Then you add tap some water and stir

Drain the liquid and put it in a glass jar. Dont throw away the rice we used to get the wash, we will need it to make Beneficial Indigenous Micro-organisms!

Let it sit in a dark, warm corner of your house for three days. You will see three layers form, a top layer proteins, some clear liquid in me the middle, and a layer of byproducts in the bottom. We will use something to extract the middle layer only. We can discard the other two layers.

Take that liquid you extracted from the middle layer and mix it with 10 parts milk (raw milk is better, but you can even use powdered milk) I used only 4 parts milk because I already have lacto serum, I just made some for the sake of the tutorial.

Cover it with some breathable cloth and a rubber band

It is important to use a breathable cloth so gas does not build up inside, after a while you should see solids forming on top and a yellowish liquid in the bottom, thats our lacto serum!

Drain the liquid and use the solids to feed your pet, they are full of probiotics, or put it on the compost pile or worm bin. Put the serum in a jar and label it. We can preserve our lacto culture by adding an equal volume of molasses or sugar cane honey, otherwise, just put the unmixed serum in the freezer and it should keep for up to a year

Now you have lacto serum! Let me copy here some of the benefits it has:

What to Use it for and How

Before using, first mix 1:20 with water. 1 part serum to 20 parts water. Then follow instructions below:

Odor Reducer:
Add mixture to animal’s water at 2tbsp/L. You can mix it more or less, there are no rules here, just how we typically do it.

Apply to places where there is odor buildup. The harmless bacteria “eat” the odor causing germs and the smell is gone!
Indoors: reduces foul odors, including animals like cats, dogs, mice, other pets. Stinky shoes? Wet clothes from being outside? Gym clothes that haven’t made it to the wash yet? Smoker in the house? Kill these nasty smells!
Outside: use to control odor in pens – pigs, cows, chickens. In barns, around the yard, etc



Household use:

Clear clogged drains: dump mixture into drain to clear clogs. Exact amount depends on the clog, haha. A few tbsp to 1L works well. For semi-clogged drains (like kitchen sink draining progressively slower), use at night and allow at least the night for microbes to work.
Keep septic clear. Tired of having your septic system drained? Add lacto! Depending on size of your system, pour a few tbsp. to a few L into the toilet every few months.
Houseplants: Mix 2-3tbsp per 1L water and use that to water them.



Animal Bedding:
Mix 2tbsp to 1L water. Mix with animal bedding to reduce smell and increase longevity. In natural pig farming we use at least 1 yard deep of bedding so there is plenty of space for microbes to work. Bedding consists of organic substrate like rice hulls, wood chips, sawdust, wood shavings, shredded corn cob, any other high cellulose, high lignin material. Natural pig farming is a future topic on this site. Spray until bedding is slightly damp but not wet. How much you spray really depends on your climate. If you are in a very dry climate you can spray a little more and mix in evenly. Wetter (more humid) climates use a bit less. Mix into the bedding evenly where necessary (in many cases, like with pigs and chickens, they’ll mix it themselves). How much you use is all relative. These guidelines are for pigs and chickens. More extreme smells, just use more! Want to spray less often, use more! As we notice a smell we spray. Thus, as pigs grow bigger, make more poop, we spray more often! Dosage/frequency is relative and will depend on your situation.



Animals – Digestive/Growth Aid:
Mix 2tbsp to 1L water, then add that mixture to animal’s water at 2tbsp/L(so the animal’s water contains little less than a quarter tsp/L of lacto serum). But this is very flexible. The Lacto serum is not harmful, so its just about adding enough to be effective, without wasting it.

Improve digestive efficiency in humans and animals alike:
Improves how you feel after meals, particularly meals rich in meats. It’s awesome. After eating, mix 1-2tbsp lacto with a cup of water and drink that. Makes you feel so much better after! Lessens that afternoon lull, gives you more energy!
Aids digestion in animals. This is critical. You can raise animals on less food, and see the same and greater growth rates. Amazing results in pigs . The principal is that the microorganisms help digest the food coming in – better digestibility means better nutrient absorption. Save on feeds, better feed to growth conversion ratio!

TIP: If you really want to boost growth, mix 2tbsp to 1L water and soak the food in this solution for a few hours to a few days. Food is pre-digested when animals eat it, AWESOME!

Great results in livestock and poultry.



Plants – Growth Aid:
When added to water for plants, nutrient uptake efficiency is increased, which increases growth!

Improves growth of plants when applied as foliar spray and soil drench. Improves their efficiency in uptaking nutrients so naturally, growth is enhanced. With the use of these microorganisms, the nutrients you spray or drench to feed your plants become more bio-available and easily absorbable by the plants. Technically, you can say that plants do not use organic nutrients directly. Microorganisms convert organic nutrients to their inorganic constituents which the plants utilize. Utilizing microbes, you will notice better plant growth and health.



Disease Resistance:

This is a consequence of the increased efficiency of nutrients. More nutrients available at smaller metabolic cost.
Lacto suppresses harmful bacteria in food/water that animals consume, enhances their gut flora so that line of defense is working optimally, etc.


Aid Compost:

Mix 2tbsp/L and spray on compost pile to improve decomposition. This is a huge topic that will be expanded upon in another post.



Aid Organic Fertilizer:
Add 1-2tbsp per gallon water-nutrient solution. Lacto consumes organic nutrients making them bio-available to plant roots.

Plants don’t use organic fertilizer! Microbes break it down to inorganic constituents, and plants take those up. This product makes that process more efficient.



Aquaculture:
Lacto works in aquaculture just fine if you don’t have BIM available. Add lacto at roughly 1L per 700m3 of fish-containing water. Example: you have a pond that averages 20m wide by 30m long by 2m deep. So, 20 x 30 x 2 = 1200m3. In this case you would add roughly 1L of BIM or Lacto

Microbes digest fish wastes, cleaning up water and improving water quality.
Allows fish to grow larger due to digestive efficiency
Allows higher population of fish in the same amount of water! Literally, increases the carrying capacity of your body of water! This is awesome for aquaculture setups

 

[SweetSue]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

The digital gremlin won't let me give reps, but when it does you're getting hit with some for that!

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

This is how I made the BIM, Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms:

We cook the rice we saved from the previous preparation. Dont add oil, salt or any seasonings. Just water.

Cover it with some breathable cloth and a rubber band

Put it in a larger container

Pour some homemade worm castings, leaf mold or natural soil on top. It should cover the container with the rice completely. Now let it sit in a dark, warm place for 3-5 days.

After three or four days you should seed a colony of fungi and bacteria. The fungi should be mostly white, black or green spots usually are pathogens growing in the rice. Discard if it has many black/green spots. The black particles you see are just worm castings that fell through the cloth.

We take a wide mouth glass container and add an equal part (by weight) of molasses and infected rice.

Dont over mix, just add the rice and stir a little bit. Put it in a warm, dark place and let it sit 4-5 days

After 4 days, you should see some foam forming on top. You may also see a white layer of fungi. Thats fine!

It looks like some arroz con leche I once forgot in the freezer for over a month!
It should smell sweet and a little bit fermented.

Strain, bottle and label.
Now you have your own homemade BIM, Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms!

Let me copy here what they are used for:

How to Use:
This is a powerful tool in the natural farming arsenal, with a myriad of applications! It’s a microbial inoculant, so it can be used wherever you are trying to increase/establish populations of microbes – the most basic level of a healthy ecosystem!

Add 1-2tsp per gallon of water.

Plants

Apply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Greatly enhances growth and health of plants by establishing a healthy population of microbes in the soil and on leaf surfaces. Check out the benefits:

Transports food to roots
Builds a healthy ecosystem from the ground up. This is an invaluable job and the greatest benefit of this serum.
Aids disease resistance – fights pathogens, occupies spaces that could otherwise go to harmful bacteria/molds.
Aid composting – massively enhances compost – there will be a whole separate post on this concept
Aid organic fertilizer. Add to your nutrient solution, microbes break down organic nutrients into bio-available forms that plants can utilize directly. Another key feature

Animals

This can be used the same way as lacto, but it is a more diversified solution.

Boost growth by enhancing digestion
Inoculate farmyard (spray ground) where animals occupy to maintain healthy microbial system.
Aids disease resistance. Fight the bad bacteria!

In aquaculture

Add 1L BIM per 700m3 of water containing fish(pond, lake, aquaculture tank, etc). Lacto works in this application also, though not quite as well as BIM(less diversity).

Example: You have a pond that averages 20m wide by 30m long by 2m deep. So, 20 x 30 x 2 = 1200m3. In this case you would add roughly 2L of BIM or Lacto (you can dilute the 2L in a larger amount of non-chlorine water if you want more even application). No need for exact measurements, more or less won’t affect it (to a point obv)

Benefits are built by the microbes:

Microbes digest fish wastes, cleaning up water and improving water quality.
Allows fish to grow larger due to digestive efficiency
Allows higher population of fish in the same amount of water! Literally, increases the carrying capacity of your body of water! This is awesome for aquaculture setups

 

[TheRoach]

re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

The digital gremlin won't let me give reps, but when it does you're getting hit with some for that!

Thank you very much Sue, having you here is awesome

 

[Weaselcracker]

Re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

No gremlins lurking under my rep button. Thanks Roach!

 

[TheRoach]

Re: TheRoach Is Back With New Tricks - Strains & Toys!

No gremlins lurking under my rep button. Thanks Roach!

Thats kind, thank you!

 

[TheRoach]

Now that I posted how I made the lacto and BIM serum, I wanted to share with you how I made the fermented plant and fruit extracts I will be using for my grow.

The Vegging fert:

I made it by fermenting one part of vegetable matter with a another part of sugar/molasses/cane honey.
In this case I used Dandelion leaves and rabbit feed (alfalfa, molasses, yucca schidigera extract, among others) as my nutrient source.
Panela (raw brown sugar, rounded block in the picture) was used as the sugar source. Because the panela block weights 600g, I used 300g rabbit feed and 300g dandelion leaves.
I added some water to the rabbit feed until it dissolved into a paste, and chopped the dandelion in pieces. Then dissolved the panela block to obtain a thick syrup. If you use molasses there is no need to dissolve. Mixed the sugar source with dandelion and rabbit feed paste in a plastic container. Added some water to make it cover the leaves.
To this mix I added a tablespoon of BIM (beneficial microorganisms) and a table spoon of lacto serum, Then I covered the containers with cloth or a loose lid, much as I did with the lacto serum. Let this ferment for 7-15 days depending on your local temperature (with warmer temps speeding the process), then strain two or three times with a cloth, bottle and label.

The blooming fert:

For the flowering fert I followed the very same steps detailed above, except I used a mix of banana, papaya (with seeds) and pumpkin seeds as the nutrient source. Did you guys know that pumpkin seeds contain very high levels of P and also good levels of K besides other minerals? I was amazed when I learned this fact.
With these soft fruits it is easier to just blend everything together until it turns into something like a smoothie. You can add some water if it is too thick. At the end you have to mix with the same volume (by weight) of molasses or brown sugar. After fermentation is over, I like to strain two or three times with a cloth, because I use drip irrigation. When done, this fermented fruit extract has a sweet and fruity aroma, with a hint of vinegar and alcohol.

I used 200g of each.

This is how they look after fermentation is over. Dont close the lids too tightly during the first few days after bottling, as some gas continues to bubble from the mix.
You can use up to 4 tablespoons per gallon with the vegging fert and 2-3 per gallon with the blooming fert, but as always, start with a lower dosage and work from there to see how your plants react. This ferts will not burn your plants, but their low ph may be a problem if used in excess.
If you use BIM and lacto serum, the fermentation process should be almost odorless, I fermented my ferts indoors, in a spare room next to the kitchen and there was no smell at all (unless you put your nose to the bottle of course)
I applied some veg fertilizer yesterday. I will wait another 24 hours to seed how they look. Let me go and take a pic of how the plants look now. Be aware these plants have been grown using only water and composted soil with amendments, so these will be their first feeding.
Thank you very much for visiting my journal, all your comments are welcome.

 

[SweetSue]

Very thorough. What a resource you've given us.

 

[TheRoach]

Very thorough. What a resource you've given us.

Im glad you like it Sue! During the last couple months I have been reading about homemade fertilizers and it looked easy enough for me to try. I was supposed to take pictures yesterday but fell asleep while watching a movie with my wife. I shouldnt have loaded the vaporizer a third time
I took some pics a few minutes ago, the plants were on their dark period and I have noticed the leaves are not pointing up as they do during lights on. Is that normal?

Sweet Afghani Delicious F1 Fast version by Sweet Seeds of Spain, what a long name. I understand the feeling, I have two names and two last names

Some Aurora Indica clones

Kalashnikova is a cross of white widow and AK

Cream Mandarine F1 fast version by sweet seeds of Spain

Left side of the room

Right side of the room

It is hard to capture all plants in a single shot because the closet door is a little narrow

The Aurora Indica #5 clones finish flowering at 7-8 weeks with very little stretch, and produce dense and fragrant buds that remind me of Northern Lights

 

[SweetSue]

Yes, it's normal for the leaves to be droopy during dark hours it's a sleep mode. When you turn the lights on they wake up and reach for the light. Plants need rest too.

They're beautiful plants. They must have tremendous energy.

Quiet in this room. I wondered where you where so I came looking. Wherever you are .............