my 1st grow journal/5fem bb from seed.

[flyfishinrock]

This is way interesting, gotta give ya some reps!!
did I miss the make-up of your medium?
just occured to me you should call this method the down under lol

[notreallyhere]

nice plants- mutants always make things interesting- my current mutant is flowering under 18hours of life and has the weirdest stem ever...

good growing!

[creamm]

Thanks for the kind words all and cheers for the reps Mr Fish, the soil mix at the moment is just a light mix from biobizz with added perlite as for feed all im useing is seatea,i was going to make some compost tea but ill wait till i do another journal and maybee explain a bit about it as ive not seen any posts regarding compost tea on this site yet.Im just hopeing that the pred mites do the tric with my other 2 plants cos if i cant save them ill have no crop for the christmas peroid and this means ill need to start these on 12/12 if and when i decide the battle is lost, so my training plan will go right out the damn window : ( but the good thing is i wont let thrips get a hold ever again so all is good
ps.ill try get some pics up later today after me thrip hunting party
regards...creamm

[McBudz]

Have you tried Safer's Insect Soap? And Hot Pepper wax to keep em away?

What do you do with predator's once its time to harvest?

Do thrips fly? If they are just crawling insects I've heard you can put white lithium grease around the trunk near the bottom to prevent them from crawling up the plant. They get stuck in the grease and eventually die. Good luck mate

[flyfishinrock]

I was learning how to make a good tea from "down to earth" soluble organic ferts by a guy at the grow store, but he was fired for fraternizing too much!!!!! I got a new store now. I would like to try it in my hydro set-up as the main nutrients, but worried about the learning curve and ph drift. Am very intrigued about the beneficial micro-organisms that thrive in teas, as I think they could help keep the powdery mildew in checkjust not sure............guess I'm scared of change lol

[creamm]

McBudz the preds die when there food source runs out bassicly m8 and Mr Fish bear with me please mate ill put some info up regarding compost tea and what it does etc.....
best regards...creamm

[creamm]

Hi all,3 days have past since the last shots so i thought i would give you an update as im also about to repot...



and now for some picys of the mutant








im about to repot so ill post some pics and info on the soil etc later today.
regards...creamm

[Bee23]

That's so wild! Looking great creamm.:)

[creamm]

Ok ive just repoted them and here they are in there new homes.......


Im still unsure whats going to happen with the 2 plants that have thrips in another grow i have, so at this point i wont be training them again unless i can salvage something worth haveing from the 2 other plants and if that looks unlikely i will move these straight into 12/12 when i make that decision....
regards..creamm

[McBudz]

Sorry about the thrips. Hopefully you'll kick their asses.

That weird growth is crazy. Looks like the branch split open and grow tips are busting out. Very curious what is going to happen over time with that. Plants look great man.

[creamm]

Hi again all and thanks for the comments.
Now for some info on compost tea for Mr Fish and anyone else whos interested.

What is compost tea?

Ok as the name says compost tea is made from steeping compost in water and then useing it as a foliar spray or a soil drench.

why not just use compost instead of going to the trouble of brewing tea?

There are a few reasons for this basicly compost tea makes the benefits of compost go farther.When sprayed on the leaves compost tea helps suppress foiler diseases,increases the amount of nutrients available to the plant and speeds the breakdown of toxins.

How often should I use compost tea?

Beneficial insect presence is a good indicator of your garden's health. If you don't have good levels of beneficial insects in your garden, then spray at least once a month, or as often as once every two weeks. Start when plants have developed their first set of true leaves.

Some technical stuff


The soil is full of microorganisms that aid plant growth and plant health—bacteria and fungi, which are decomposers, and protozoa and beneficial nematodes, which are predators. But there are bad guys, too—disease-causing bacteria and fungi, protozoa, and root-feeding nematodes. Our goal as gardeners is to enhance the beneficial microorganisms in this soil foodweb, because they help our plants.
The bad bacterial decomposers and the plant-toxic products they make are enhanced by anaerobic, or reduced-oxygen, conditions. By making sure the tea and the compost itself are well oxygenated and highly aerobic, you eliminate 75 percent of the potential plant-disease-causing bacteria and plant-toxic products. To take care of the other 25 percent of potential diseases and pests, you want to get good guys into the soil and on at least 60 to 70 percent of your plants' leaves. Good bacteria work against the detrimental ones in four ways: They consume the bad guys, they may produce antibiotics that inhibit them, they compete for nutrients, and they compete for space.
Plants themselves don't use all of the energy they make through photosynthesis. For example, 60 percent of a vegetable plant's energy goes to its root system, and half of that energy is exuded into the soil. Of those exudates, 90 percent are sugars; the rest are carbohydrates and proteins. When you think about these ingredients as food, they're the makings for cake. This is high-energy stuff. Why is nearly one-third of a vegetable plant's output going into the soil as energy-rich food? To feed the good bacteria and fungi.

When we human beings kill off bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and other organisms, whether by polluting the air or by spraying pesticides or even by using chemical fertilizers, we're reducing the population of critters that plants feed. That's why one of the simplest and best things you can do for your garden is to spray your plants with compost tea, to bring back organisms killed by chemicals.

hope that info helps some Mr Fish, and ill post how to brew it shortly matey.
best regards...creamm

[creamm]

Ok so how do we make compost tea?

Lets start with the compost........

To make good compost tea, you need actively managed, mature compost; that is, compost that has been turned a few times and allowed to heat adequately so weed seeds and pathogens have been killed. Worm compost also makes excellent tea, without the hassle of turning or checking the temperature.You can manipulate compost so it's dominated either by bacteria or by fungi. Which one you want depends on what you're growing and what kind of soil you have. You always want a bacteria-dominated compost tea for use as a foliar spray, whatever the plant. Bacteria-dominated compost is also best for applying to the soil before growing vegetables and herbs. Fungi-dominated compost is good for mulching around berries and fruit trees. But research has shown that a foliar spray of bacteria-dominated compost tea is extremely useful to prevent the foliar diseases that plague most gardens. Thus, most of us need only be concerned with making a bacteria-dominated compost tea.For bacteria to dominate, compost should be made from a preponderance of green materials. You need a mix of 25 percent high-nitrogen ingredients, 45 percent green ingredients, and 30 percent woody material. High-nitrogen materials include manure and legumes, such as alfalfa, pea, clover, or bean plant residues. Grass clippings from the first two or three cuttings in spring, when the blades are lush and tender, qualify as high-nitrogen; the rest of the season, they're simply green material. Green material includes any green plant debris, kitchen scraps, and coffee grounds, which, although brown in color, contain sugars and proteins that bacteria love. Woody material includes wood chips, sawdust, paper plates and towels, and shredded newspaper.

Ok so we have the compost we need what next?

Once you have fully mature, nice-smelling compost, it's time to brew tea. You will need a 5-gallon plastic bucket and a few aquarium supplies: a pump large enough to run three bubblers (also called air stones), several feet of air tubing, a gang valve (which distributes the air coming from the pump to the tubes going to the bubblers), and three bubblers. You'll also need a stick for stirring the mixture, some unsulfured molasses (preferably organic), and an old pillowcase, tea towel, or nylon stocking for straining the tea. An extra bucket comes in handy for decanting the tea.
Don't try to make compost tea without the aeration equipment. If the tea is not aerated constantly, the organisms in it will quickly use up the oxygen, and the tea will start to stink and become anaerobic. An anaerobic tea can harm your plants.Also, keep in mind that tea made using this bucket method needs to brew for two or three days and then be used immediately.
If you're useing tap water, run the bubblers in it for about an hour first, to blow off any chlorine. Otherwise, the chlorine will kill all those beneficial organisms you've gone to the trouble of raising.
Once you have safe water, fill the empty bucket half full of compost. Don't pack it in; the bubblers need loose compost to aerate properly. Cut a length of tubing and attach one end to the pump and the other to the gang valve. Cut three more lengths of tubing long enough to reach comfortably from the rim to the bottom of the bucket. Connect each one to a port on the gang valve and push a bubbler into the other end.
Hang the gang valve on the lip of the bucket and bury the bubblers at the bottom, under the compost. Fill the bucket to within 3 inches of the rim with water, and start the pump.
When it's going, add 1 oz. of molasses, then stir vigorously with the stick. The molasses feeds the bacteria and gets the beneficial species growing really well. After stirring, you'll need to rearrange the bubblers so they're on the bottom and well spaced. Try to stir the tea at least a few times a day. A vigorous mixing with the stick shakes more organisms loose and into the tea. Every time you stir, be sure to reposition the bubblers.
After three days, turn off the pump and remove the equipment. If you leave the tea aerating longer than three days, you must add more molasses or the good organisms will start going to sleep because they don't have enough food to stay active. Let the brew sit until the compost is pretty much settled out, 10 to 20 minutes, then strain it into the other bucket or directly into your sprayer. You'll have about 2 1/2 gallons of tea. If you want, this is the time to add foliar micronutrients, like kelp or rock dust. Use the tea right away, within the hour if possible.
You can put the solids back on the compost pile or add them to the soil. There are plenty of good bacterial and fungal foods left in them.

But always remember.........

With any form of compost, solid or tea, bad smells mean bad business. Healthy, adequately oxygenated compost and compost tea should smell sweet and earthy. Never use a smelly compost tea on your plants. The true bugaboo is alcohol, a product of anaerobic decomposition that destroys cell walls. Roots tolerate only 1 part per million alcohol. That's a very small amount, and human noses aren't good at detecting it. Instead, we can detect all the other smelly compounds that go with anaerobic production of alcohol.
If your compost tea smells bad, add a second pump with more bubblers, and stir it more often. Aerate it until the smell goes away. Likewise, if your compost pile smells bad, turn it more frequently.
hope this helps some Mr Fish or anyone else for that matter.
regards...creamm

[flyfishinrock]

wow that's very thorough, thank you. I hope to make good use of this info soon, I'd like to do a soil hydro side by side comparison.

[mistakeith1]

Hey man looks good. I'll be keeping up with this one. Very strange on the stems...

[creamm]

3 days have passed since the last shots and there due a train so a few picys before and after


and heres a few after i got the chains on them


ow and last but not least.. some wierd growth shots....

i cant stop looking at this one

anyways thats about it for tonight i think
regards...creamm