Alafornia's 1st Time Multistrain Medical Grow

[Alafornia]

Been running all day. Just got home and ate and during the middle of this I'll leave in the middle of this to go get my boy some food.

Apparently I can't figure out the Dallas Corbin Multi-Quote so I'll do these manually:

Hey al! Everything’s looking good brother!! The bigger your plants get the more humidity they will put off, bigger pots, bigger amount of water.

Oh and congratulations on being nominated for member of the month bro!! What an honour!

Thank you again, @Backlipslide , and congratulations to you as well. I'm a little glad I don't have to imagine anymore what your name means.

Plants are looking good AL congrats on your MOTM nomination brother Backlipslide and AL!

Thank you, @irie lion .

Agreed. Congrats guys. Couldn't happen to two more deserving members, as far as I'm concerned.

Thank you, @FishEyedFool . I loved that damn show, btw.

Sorry I'm late...busy weekend! Congrats on the transplant .


Nitrogen deficiencies start at the lower leaves, and a plant of that size should be getting fed (growing runt excluded!)

I would have waited, but I would have encouraged you to slide the root ball out to check the roots before deciding.

I wouldn't call that root bound though.

Unless it's wall to wall roots, I don't score the sides when I up-can.

What irie said. With the added mention that a plant of that many nodes should be getting nutrients, half-strength probably.

That was my next concern. They looked waterlogged on transplant, so unless you just watered before you moved them, they aren't drying out enough. Wet feet will also cause deficiencies as soaking wet roots can't absorb nutrients.

I don't usually transplant until I need to water my solo cups every other day (completely dry).

LOL!

Thank you, @InTheShed . I appreciate you taking the time to try to help a first-timer like myself. I still have a lot to learn and I'm trying to learn not to put to much pressure on myself regarding this.

I have no nutrients. What would you recommend - I assume for those in between times before moving to the super soil?

I probably did overwater a tad. Still learning. Going to let these pots get good and dry before watering again. That should also help with the overall nutrient uptake.

OK. Just got back from getting food...where was I?

Oh yeah...

They are looking good congrats on the nomination

Thank you, @Itibitiguy .

Congratulations on your nomination. You are so deserving. Woohoo!

Thank you, @Newfun .

Your girls are sweet and congrats on the nomination.
Great job and good luck !

Thank you, @John Wick .

You guys are all great. I hope I didn't skip anyone. Between Shed, Amy, and the rest of you this is going to be a successful grow despite my mistakes. We're gonna make it work.

P.S. It's one thing to know something in theory and another to apply it. I'm trying to get better at both. Thanks to everyone who has, is, and will help along the way.

 

[Backlipslide]

I'm a little glad I don't have to imagine anymore what your name means

Yeah I’ll have to maybe throw that in my signature so I don’t offend anybody

 

[Backlipslide]

I just want to add, I may get in trouble for posting a non marijuana related picture. Sorry admin!!

 

[N420]

Plants looking great al and congrats on the nom

 

[Alafornia]

Plants looking great al and congrats on the nom

Thank you, @N420 . It's an honor to be named alongside those very worthy members.

 

[Amy Gardner]

I have no nutrients. What would you recommend - I assume for those in between times before moving to the super soil?

A ‘tea’ made with compost or worm castings would be good, and you won’t need much at so don’t need a heap of castings or compost.

Or, if there is stinging nettle growing ner you you can boil it up into a tea as well. As @Bobrown says, brew the tea, give some to the plants and have the rest yourself! Stinging nettle is pretty magical. I actually has everything needed in the right balances.

I’ll also throw this out there, in here, because you’re working with super soil. A very simple to make serum for adding good bacteria to your soil when you water is Lactobacillus Serum (LABs). You make it with rice wash water and milk (there’s a simple process) and then store it in the fridge. Use about 5-10ml per litre when you water to keep the microherd population, populated.

I have a guide to making it which I’ll come back and link here. I have had great success in my own soil and this serum (and stinging nettle) was a massive part of that.

Yeah I’ll have to maybe throw that in my signature so I don’t offend anybody

If you know you know

 

[Alafornia]

Thank you, Shed. I'll study that when you link.

I'll have some night pictures coming up.

 

[Amy Gardner]

This is a recipe by @bobrown14 for compost tea. You could get away with even simpler, and on the aeration thing, van stank has recommended just using a bottle and leaving it with teh lid off but putting the lid on everything now and then to shake it, over a couple of days. So there are ways to aerate without a bubbling device.

Compost teas - as much or as little as you want too. I'm @ 45-65 days of flower and just watered every day for a week with compost tea

Compost tea:
1 cup worm castings
1/4 cup coconut water
1 cup rabbit berries (poop)
5 gallons water.
bubble 24 hrs

Notice no sugars added - that's on purpose. You can add BSM instead of rabbit berries. The tea will only be good for about 72hrs TOPS with sugar added (why I don't use it any more).

To water in:
2-4 cups of the tea added to 3 - 4 gallons water and water in
Also filter and foiler spray on the plants and watch them go CRAZY happy.

Repeat and often as needed and top off the tea bucket with more water as needed - can do this for about a week (as long as no sugar) then discard on compost pile and start another batch. This can be added to VEG plants too.

You could literally just use worm castings and it’d be great, or any compost, with the coconut water or the rabbit poo. I just thought the general guide from bo was really great there too. Add 30ml of the LABs to that and you’re really talking!

Here’s one of my guides for making a LABs i posted for someone else a while back. It’s really not very complicated and very worth it if you’re doing an organic soil thing

OK, so i seem to have deleted the pics I took of the first 2 stages but I think (hope!) describing will work.

Wash rice or some other starchy grain. I use warm or hot water and the last 2 times I've let it soak for an hour or so and had better results. I usually use about half a cup of rice and about a cup or so of hot water (boiled). Swish it around a few times while it soaks. Then strain and keep the liquid. Put the wash liquid into a jar that you can cover without sealing. It needs to be protected from bugs and stuff getting in but needs to be accessible to the 'freewheeling' bacteria floating around in the air. I did this with a mason jar and some cheesecloth doubled over.

View media item 1508013
Once the ricewash is in this jar arrangement let it sit somewhere warm-ish with fresh air. Wait for anywhere from 2-5or so days - this process can depend a lot on environment. Sometimes it happens faster than others. What you will notice is that a lot of powdery looking stuff will settle on the bottom (sediment) and a very thin film will form on the top. This film should be pronounced but it is very thin, and may have some tiny mould particles in it, this is ok but if there's lots of mould you need to start again. Use your judgement here - if you think you can see a film on top, wait a day or so and you'll probably see it clearer. It should smell vaguely yeasty and sour at this stage.

The next step varies by person - some say to just strain it out, others say to siphon. The second 2 times I have siphoned using a syringe with a long plastic tube. This was much better. I got a cleaner liquid. What you're after is the liquid from the middle of the jar - not the sediment or the film.

Now add 10 parts fresh milk to every 1 part sour water - so if you have 100ml sour water, then add 1litre of milk. I use an organic unpasteurised from literally down the road but I think any milk will work (just not powdered or long-life, use fresh). This time you want to cover it so that no air can get in but air pressure can escape (that's important - imagine the explosion!).

Again, set it somewhere slightly warm-ish. And agin - the time this stage takes will vary depending on environment. Warm conditions will make it happen faster I think. At first it just looks like big jars of milk, but slowly over a few days it starts to separate. These have been 6 days in the jars and are nearly ready... (notice those lids - they're just placed on. If you use mason jars, for this stage you could use just the centre lid part without screwing it on - that's what I did last time and it worked well)

View media item 1507995
How great is that culturing!? My partner said the other night that it was really active - who needs a lavalamp - just make lacto!

Wait till they're fully separated. What you want here, is the whey - the clear-ish liquid left under the curd - that's the good stuff! I'll probably siphon it out using the syringe, because these jars are hard to scoop the whey out of. Or I might just strain it through 2-3 layers of chesecloth.

Store it in the fridge. You can keep it at room temp but only if you add sugar or molasses to it at a 1:1 ratio (for the micro-herd to eat). I did that the first time and didn't like it so much so nowadays I just store in the fridge and this seems better - the microbes go a bit dormant I think, and then wake up when you use them.

So there - apologies I deleted, or simply couldn't find, my pics of the early and middle stages. When we get blogs back, I'll do a new one and blog it for posterity (or until the next site upgrade! ). I hope that's descriptive enough to help. Holler if you're trying it and need help!

Oh and you can use this as an accelerator for your fermented plant juices, if that's the way you're going, or just add it to your feedings and/or foliar sprays - it's a great anti-fungal.

MerryAnna's guide for use is this:

• soil feed: 15-30ml /gallon of water
• foliar spray: 15ml /gallon
• compost activator: 30ml in the heap
• making Fermented Plant Juice - add 30ml to the FPJ mix, quicker fermentation and less smelly by FAR.
• Fermented fish & seaweed extract: add 30ml to yucky stinky fish mix to lessen odour

(I think i've used it a bit stronger 1:10 in soil feed and 1:20 in foliar - my plants seem happy. I've used it in nearly every feed since mid veg and nearly every foliar too. And it was used in the seaweed ferment and the stinging-nettle ferment that I made)

The LAB is an organic, anaerobic bacteria culture which quickly digests biological waste, so you can even use it to unblock your drains... I've tried it - it works. You can also use it as a diluted spray around the house to eliminate odours (it's the true odour eater!). I go though it - which is why I made a double batch this time.

 

[Alafornia]

Thank you, Shed. I appreciate you. I've bookmarked this post and will come back to study it when I have a bit more time.

 

[Amy Gardner]

It’s me, Amy, those last 2 posts - not shed, man

 

[Alafornia]

Evening update:

Outside temp: 68 Vulcan degrees

Humidity: 43%

Tent temp: 78

Humidity: ranging from 43 to the 30’s to 60% at the end. The humidifier should be here Thursday. Yay! I think it may be a good idea to turn on the exhaust fan then.

On to the pics!

First segment: it’s a beautiful evening

Before and after opening the tent and getting the towel ready for the night.

Next we’ll add some group pics and then move on the individual plants.

Back in a few with individuals. Oh, wait. Let me show you Westley first.

 

[Alafornia]

It’s me, Amy, those last 2 posts - not shed, man

My apologies, @Amy Gardner !. That's what I get for being tired (stupid alarms!) and distracted. There are worse things to be called, but still. **facepalm** **red face prior to that**

 

[Alafornia]

Next up is Westley’s sister, White Russian #2. For some reason I want to call her Nikita.

They both look pretty happy. MH 1 looks happier but we still have problems. That’s a shame because this is a fine plant. I’m wondering if the CMH light was too close because a couple of plants have some roughy spots near the top. I did move them from about 34 inches to 39” just in case. The plants were a little closer after the move.

Orange Sherbet looks happier here. Several of them are growing vertically since the move.

Light too close:too much?

Just enough room to close out on a better note with Northern Lights.

Just a couple more to go.

 

[Alafornia]

Next up is Blueberry. This is an odd little plant. She looks almost twisted. Nice plant just kinda weird.

She also has some problem areas on the top leaves. I hope I’m on the right track to fix this problem.

OG Kush CBD #2 looks pretty happy to me.

 

[Alafornia]

I’m of the opinion that I may have been trying to overthink the problem. There were definitely nitrogen and possibly other deficiencies (cal-mg?).

I’m also exploring ways to address the problem in the future (along with teas and such). One possible solution is to fill the bottom of the solo cups maybe about a quarter way with super soil. The plants wouldn’t have access to it until they grew a little and it would supply all they need. Just a thought for now.

On to the morning update!

Outside temp: 56 Vulcan degrees

Humidity: 72%

Tent temp: 79 degrees

Humidity: 23 to 39% and rising

Group pictures:

Individuals:

Westley

Nikita

MH1

Orange Sherbet

Northern Lights

Blueberry

OG Kush CBD

If these will fit they are close ups of MH1, Orange Sherbet , and Blueberry. They seem to me to be recovering from whatever malice I brought upon them.

They wouldn’t fit so look below.

 

[Alafornia]

Closer ups as promised above.

 

[InTheShed]

Is there a reason you didn't go into your supersoil when you transplanted? There seem to be a few deficiencies developing that should be adressed quickly.

I'm not an LOS grower so I use MegaCrop to feed my plants. You can get a free sample from Greenleafnutrients.com for just the price of shipping.

 

[Alafornia]

Is there a reason you didn't go into your supersoil when you transplanted? There seem to be a few deficiencies developing that should be adressed quickly.

I'm not an LOS grower so I use MegaCrop to feed my plants. You can get a free sample from Greenleafnutrients.com for just the price of shipping.

Hey, Shed. (Double checks - yeah, that's you)

I did go into the super soil. Are they beginning to look like they are recovering to you or getting actually worse? If worse, what might help? And would it hurt to wait a day to see what happens? Now I'm worried.

 

[Alafornia]

Some more pictures of the problems with MH 1, Orange Sherbet, Blueberry, and OGK CBD. I think I had overwatered them. Whatever I did they seemed to be struggling to get nutrients. They all got somewhat pale and got these spots on their leaves. They are definitely greener seemingly by the hour. That seems to make these spots easier to see. Keeping a close eye.

 

[clrwatrtom]

they look like they're coming back. Great pics.