Amy Gardner's First Journal - Outdoor - Critical Cure & Chaos In The Forest

[Radogast]

1 x Money Bush (Feminised - Heavyweight, freebie from Herbies), Indica dominant 80%/20% | THC 21%/CBD3% | this is going in an experimental location, to see if it's a viable spot. The strain doesn't particularly excite me, but it was free which is great and it will do a great job for me testing this spot.

Hopefully you will be surprised by your Money Bush!
It's listed as afghani x Critical Mass - that makes it 80% Afghani indica and 20% Mexican and Columbian sativa in the Skunk #1.

That sounds pretty good to me. Should be a good yielder.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Rad's right of course.

Eggshells take forever to break down - if they are in your own compost, as they are in mine, that'll do the job.

Out here in green no-where, I have no access to commercial additives. I make two teas - Horsetail Fern is brilliant for silica. Strong plants are healthy plants and healthy plants are more disease and predator resistant. And a simple nettle tea is full of nitrogen, particularly useful during the veg stage.

In both cases, fill large containers with the gathered Horsetails and Nettles. Crush 'em down and top up with water. Cover (stops mosquitoes and midges breeding and helps with the smell). After a week or two it will stink. Which means its ready. Dilute one part tea with 10-20 parts water. Feed immediately after a regular watering (so you're in no danger of burning the roots).

Also a kelp foliar spray is great during veg - full of micronutrients. I like living up a mountain in the forest near the sea.

I'm almost too tired to post (big day, launching a journal) but couldn't let this one go buy.

Welcome Teddy I'm honoured, man.

Horsetail Fern - I was just texting that to my gardening partner after reading Rad's post, so now I can ad that extra bit of info thanks! And thanks Radogast too.

The tea guidance is well appreciated too. This is just the kind of growing I want to do. I can grow all of that and the seaweed fresh from the sea is a 15min drive. Up a mountain in a forest near the sea sounds kinda perfect to me

 

[Flubbedgrower]

Hi Amy. Subbed for this one. I got an outdoor grow going in organic soil mix. Haven't got that grow on here yet. I'll post this evening when I repot.
I am looking forward to watching.
I've got the lazy boy pulled up and a scoob rolled

 

[SweetSue]

I'm here! I'm here! It was such a loooog day yesterday that the only thing I did on site was my late post. Sorry to be late here Amy. Let me jump back and catch up while I fix my breakfast canna omelette.

Edit: All caught up, and haven't you gathered a delightful crowd to help with the journal.

Morning everyone.

So..... The only thing I wanted to add was that coco has more surface area than other medium components used for aeration and thusly will support a more vibrant biosphere. Rad already told you about the coffee grinder for the egg shells. If you can get malted barley grain it also makes a powerful tea that can be used after simply sitting for a few hours. No bubbling necessary.

I'm excited for you girl. Make this place your own. Thank you for inviting me to tag along.

 

[Conradino23]

I'm checking in

 

[Doc Bud]

Welcome Rad :rollout:

Very glad to have you - that's heaps of nuggety wisdom, thanks (again). I'll definitely do that percolation test in the spots where I'm considering going into the ground, that's great . And noted about the Myco - it is pretty happening round here!

They live here too. One actually has a little snake in it's mouth which you can't really make out in the pic unfortunately. But yeah, snakes are one of the potential surprises an outdoor seasonal grow harbours in these parts!

I'd be thinking of the local clay as an amendment of sorts so not very much of that would be in the mix - and I need to find out more about it's composition yet. Also found a source for a form of Basalt I've just learnt about called Palagonite, so things are looking good for a fairly simple set up.

When amending clay soil, don't think "large pieces of organic material will increase drainage." Rather, think "mineralization will increase tilth."

Add some gypsum to your clay soil a little at a time and pretty soon you'll notice a difference. How much to add? I can't tell you that without a soil test, but I'd start with a cup of gypsum for every square yard. Scratch it in, water, and keep checking back to see if your soil is still sticky when wet.

Dolomite will make it worse, BTW. Calcium will improve it.

 

[GROWant]

Hey Amy, You may want to check out HugelKulture that may be your best bet.
There are different set ups and styles of this. I have never tried this method and only recently became intrigued.
It's basically digging a big hole for potting then filling that hole with wood logs. Then more soil then you plant. The wood slowly decays providing nutrients and minerals for years and years.

 

[LionFromZion]

Subbed

 

[bignstrange]

Oh I can tell this threads going to teach me a lot :3 I'm gunna soak up what I can and maybe apply this all to a future grow.

All this talk of natural sources of food has me thinking about my own back yard, the Pacific west coast rainforest! I'm going to start making notes and mapping out my new nutrient sources once understand what your doing a bit better!

Thanks for having me along Amy! I can already tell this will be a lot of fun :3

 

[MerryAnna]

Caught up, *phew*, nice read!
Hi all, how's it going? Great job on the (hope this is the right word) grow statement & explanation! Feels like i'm right there in the garden with the Gardners (hehehe). (Sorry, had to be done).
Anyway, seriously good advice thus far. It pretty much covers a lot i haven't gotten to on my journal, because real life keeps interfering with my passion. A few thoughts:
1) like you, i'm also (cursed + blessed) with clay soil. I'm fairly certain that's why i've never really bothered with the minerology (?) aspect if the soil - it's so rich in minerals, i don't need to worry about it. Not a great attitude, i know, but there's only a finite amount of memory left in my brain, and i need that to remeber where i left my car keys. I ammend heavily with compost - but i cook for a living, and i generate far more kitchen scraps (organic veg) than the average household. Therefore i have oodles of compost to expend.
2) bear with me for this eggshell *pro-tip* : do you have a blender / food processor with blades? You actually sharpen those blades by "blending" eggshells. It sounds ridiculous, but it works. I have many, many generations of departed fowl casings stashed in the soil, so i tend to ignore the fact that they don't work immediately & just keep adding them. Note: the coffee grinder would probably give a finer powder than the blender.
3) nettles, weeds, horsetail ferns, FPJ & teas: i love people who love the same things i do. I really do. You guys are AWESOME.
I don't want to play off compost teas against fpj's, but (yeah, you knew that was coming) having brewed both, the fpj stinks WAAAY less and ferments quicker. Anyone who has experienced yucky maggotty larvae paddling away at the top when you hopefully open your container of tea that's been cooking away, might wince in sympathy when i say i used to throw up in my mouth alittle. No joke. I have never used the 2 in comparison, and if anyone knows more than i do (very likely with this audience), they are more than welcome to correct me, but i see results IMMEDIATELY (next day) with fpj, and i find it's quicker to brew when you have LAB ready. (Ps, how did yours turn out, Amy? Quick & easy? Moderate? Excited to hear about curdled milk, if my high school teachers could see me now...)
4) bush grow! Yeah! (We also don't really have forests, it's bush & paper mill plantations all around, i laughed so hard at that "translation" of yours). Also, bring on the 'roo poo! (Please see comment about cudled milk at previous point. Insert poo iso curdled milk).
5) this feels an awfull lot like hijacking your thread, so will aim for shorter posts in future. Awesome job, Weed Mafia!
✌&❤

 

[Amy Gardner]

Hi Amy. Subbed for this one. I got an outdoor grow going in organic soil mix. Haven't got that grow on here yet. I'll post this evening when I repot.
I am looking forward to watching.
I've got the lazy boy pulled up and a scoob rolled

I love a good scoob! . Welcome Flubbedgrower . Nice to have another outdoor adventurer in the mix. There's a few of us (southerners) here now. Be sure to PM me once your journal is up.

.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Hopefully you will be surprised by your Money Bush!
It's listed as afghani x Critical Mass - that makes it 80% Afghani indica and 20% Mexican and Columbian sativa in the Skunk #1.

That sounds pretty good to me. Should be a good yielder.

I'm here! I'm here! It was such a loooog day yesterday that the only thing I did on site was my late post. Sorry to be late here Amy. Let me jump back and catch up while I fix my breakfast canna omelette.

Edit: All caught up, and haven't you gathered a delightful crowd to help with the journal.

Morning everyone.

So..... The only thing I wanted to add was that coco has more surface area than other medium components used for aeration and thusly will support a more vibrant biosphere. Rad already told you about the coffee grinder for the egg shells. If you can get malted barley grain it also makes a powerful tea that can be used after simply sitting for a few hours. No bubbling necessary.

I'm excited for you girl. Make this place your own. Thank you for inviting me to tag along.

Hi Sue! So glad you could make it (I did notice you having a big day yesterday!) Thanks for the tip about the coco - the soil blend is developing... a few experiments with water in the garden to come (inspired by Rad and DocBud) and I'll be close to mixing it. Which reminds me, I'm buying a small cement mixer remember? (investment in the future - I can't be mixing soil manually) I keep forgetting to order it, better do that today!

I'm stoked with the turnout and excited about the upcoming season. I'll be doing my best to rise to the occasion!

I'm checking in

Now it's really a party! Welcome Conrad

Hopefully you will be surprised by your Money Bush!
It's listed as afghani x Critical Mass - that makes it 80% Afghani indica and 20% Mexican and Columbian sativa in the Skunk #1.

That sounds pretty good to me. Should be a good yielder.

That's true, thanks for redirecting my attention. I foolishly hadn't really thought about the parentage - i got distracted by the 'blurb', which was just all about appeal for commercial growers and I let that put me off a bit (thinking it had been bred for volume not quality). What you noticed is what I need to look at: the genetics! And you're right, they're pretty nice. I am going to be looking for something with good painkilling and/or sleep aid properties so it could be a candidate there. The spot I'm testing it in might be dappled light sometimes so I'm not sure how it'll go. Experimenting... we'll see won't we!?

 

[Amy Gardner]

When amending clay soil, don't think "large pieces of organic material will increase drainage." Rather, think "mineralization will increase tilth."

Add some gypsum to your clay soil a little at a time and pretty soon you'll notice a difference. How much to add? I can't tell you that without a soil test, but I'd start with a cup of gypsum for every square yard. Scratch it in, water, and keep checking back to see if your soil is still sticky when wet.

Dolomite will make it worse, BTW. Calcium will improve it.

Hey Amy, You may want to check out HugelKulture that may be your best bet.
There are different set ups and styles of this. I have never tried this method and only recently became intrigued.
It’s basically digging a big hole for potting then filling that hole with wood logs. Then more soil then you plant. The wood slowly decays providing nutrients and minerals for years and years.

Great - we employ an approach from HugelKulture practices to deal with some of our forest management 'waste' and some non toxic 'rubbish'. We have a 'hill' that is constructed of various large cuttings, logs, concrete bits, prunings, dirt, you name it! It's becoming part of what screens us from the neighbours on one side. It breaks down over time and becomes a thriving little hill that things grow out of (we're just striking some native creepers to set loose on it - it's been 'in construction' for a few years here). So it's an above ground version. Last season a large snake was observed using the ramshackle structure as a device to remove the skin it was shedding. And it's full of birds and other going on! I hadn't thought about that approach for any planting sites, might do it for one spot his year with some stuff that's already breaking down - once I determine a couple of spots that may be permanent, I can do it more 'proper' like!

Subbed

Lion - there's plenty of weed being passed around, be sure to indulge ... Or, if you prefer Thanks for coming over.

 

[Radogast]

Here's a post on garden sized hugelkultur

Radogast's Non-420 Garden Creation Thread

 

[Amy Gardner]

Caught up, *phew*, nice read!
Hi all, how's it going? Great job on the (hope this is the right word) grow statement & explanation! Feels like i'm right there in the garden with the Gardners (hehehe). (Sorry, had to be done).
Anyway, seriously good advice thus far. It pretty much covers a lot i haven't gotten to on my journal, because real life keeps interfering with my passion. A few thoughts:
1) like you, i'm also (cursed + blessed) with clay soil. I'm fairly certain that's why i've never really bothered with the minerology (?) aspect if the soil - it's so rich in minerals, i don't need to worry about it. Not a great attitude, i know, but there's only a finite amount of memory left in my brain, and i need that to remeber where i left my car keys. I ammend heavily with compost - but i cook for a living, and i generate far more kitchen scraps (organic veg) than the average household. Therefore i have oodles of compost to expend.
2) bear with me for this eggshell *pro-tip* : do you have a blender / food processor with blades? You actually sharpen those blades by "blending" eggshells. It sounds ridiculous, but it works. I have many, many generations of departed fowl casings stashed in the soil, so i tend to ignore the fact that they don't work immediately & just keep adding them. Note: the coffee grinder would probably give a finer powder than the blender.
3) nettles, weeds, horsetail ferns, FPJ & teas: i love people who love the same things i do. I really do. You guys are AWESOME.
I don't want to play off compost teas against fpj's, but (yeah, you knew that was coming) having brewed both, the fpj stinks WAAAY less and ferments quicker. Anyone who has experienced yucky maggotty larvae paddling away at the top when you hopefully open your container of tea that's been cooking away, might wince in sympathy when i say i used to throw up in my mouth alittle. No joke. I have never used the 2 in comparison, and if anyone knows more than i do (very likely with this audience), they are more than welcome to correct me, but i see results IMMEDIATELY (next day) with fpj, and i find it's quicker to brew when you have LAB ready. (Ps, how did yours turn out, Amy? Quick & easy? Moderate? Excited to hear about curdled milk, if my high school teachers could see me now...)
4) bush grow! Yeah! (We also don't really have forests, it's bush & paper mill plantations all around, i laughed so hard at that "translation" of yours). Also, bring on the 'roo poo! (Please see comment about cudled milk at previous point. Insert poo iso curdled milk).
5) this feels an awfull lot like hijacking your thread, so will aim for shorter posts in future. Awesome job, Weed Mafia!
✌&❤

Hey - share as much over here as you like. You know i'll ramble on over at your place! And not that what you posted was rambling at all, it's all good. Heaps of this is all new to me in terms of practice so I'm really just going to be taking the first steps of making this happen outdoor in this environment this season. Mmm - might pull that old blender out of the shed and sharpen it up on some eggshells! Great tip thanks.

So, what's FPJ please? Anything that works visibly and is less likely to make me gag is most welcome I could look it up of course, but this having a journal and folks to engage with takes a lot of energy (I'm discovering!), and I'm energy deficient so I have to ration - in this instance I'll just ask you to explain it to me!

My LAB is still conceptual unfortunately - I have to go away for a week in 2 days, so that's delayed everything. Which is for the best actually - I need to move slowly, and while I'm away I can formulate a plan for mixing my soil and contemplate ways to get the bush sites secure from critters, and order my soil amendments etc. So the LAB will be started when I return, along with everything else. It's going to be a lovely trip away too - family that I like and adorable niece&nephew so it'll be a real treat and in the evenings I'll formulate my plans Best part is now that I have a vaporiser, there's no need to go without for the week due to the obviousness of smoking. I can happily have a medicinal low temp toke or two during the afternoon like I always do, and then a recreational hit when I retire - all in the comfort of my room without any impact on the household except my own well being (it's not a Volcano though, that'd be hard to hide! I have an Arizer Solo )

Feels like i'm right there in the garden with the Gardners (hehehe). (Sorry, had to be done).

It did! and I'm glad it was you

here... while I've got you ... glad to have you here - it's very grounding

 

[Amy Gardner]

Phew so first day of the journal was pretty eventful in here! I have a bit to digest already - thanks everybody. I'm so happy to have decided to re-engage on 420mag and benefit from all the companionship and guidance. I don't have many outlets to share my love of cannabis so this place is becoming really special to me quite quickly. And I've seen that happen to many others while I've been a lurker!

There are still invitations I haven't sent out which may have to wait - I need to chill and spend some time just reading and gazing at plants in other rooms for a while. I'm so glad people have made it here and subbed regardless!

Just one little update before I sign off, I won't be growing Horsetail fern - in an invasive weed in these parts (I knew the name was familiar when I read it). Having been involved in lots of bush regeneration in my life there's no way I could grow it (it has double barrelled propagation behaviours - it's a virulent invader!). BUT - because of this there are certainly 'infestations' in nearby locations so it'll be easy to find out where they are and collect!

I'll be back when I've assimilated some of all this info - I need to start building a notebook, or folder or something on paper. I currently have notes in about 4 different kinds of formats. Just one will serve me better i think!

Stay well/high/medicated... however it works for you

 

[MerryAnna]

Hey - share as much over here as you like. You know i'll ramble on over at your place! And not that what you posted was rambling at all, it's all good. Heaps of this is all new to me in terms of practice so I'm really just going to be taking the first steps of making this happen outdoor in this environment this season. Mmm - might pull that old blender out of the shed and sharpen it up on some eggshells! Great tip thanks.

So, what's FPJ please? Anything that works visibly and is less likely to make me gag is most welcome I could look it up of course, but this having a journal and folks to engage with takes a lot of energy (I'm discovering!), and I'm energy deficient so I have to ration - in this instance I'll just ask you to explain it to me!

My LAB is still conceptual unfortunately - I have to go away for a week in 2 days, so that's delayed everything. Which is for the best actually - I need to move slowly, and while I'm away I can formulate a plan for mixing my soil and contemplate ways to get the bush sites secure from critters, and order my soil amendments etc. So the LAB will be started when I return, along with everything else. It's going to be a lovely trip away too - family that I like and adorable niece&nephew so it'll be a real treat and in the evenings I'll formulate my plans Best part is now that I have a vaporiser, there's no need to go without for the week due to the obviousness of smoking. I can happily have a medicinal low temp toke or two during the afternoon like I always do, and then a recreational hit when I retire - all in the comfort of my room without any impact on the household except my own well being (it's not a Volcano though, that'd be hard to hide! I have an Arizer Solo )



It did! and I'm glad it was you

here... while I've got you ... glad to have you here - it's very grounding

Awww, thanks, sweetie! ❤❤❤
FPJ/E: Fermented Plant Juice / Extract. It's a way of quickly breaking down vegetable material into "bite-size" chunks for your lovely green friends. Hyper-speed composting, someone i know referred to it as microcomposting, but i haven't researched that aspect of it.
Essentially, you take a weight of beneficial plant material. Nettles, h/t fern, comfrey, kelp, beetroot, whatever (i'll explain how to pick one in a sec).
Then, mix 1/2 that weight of crude-as-possible sugar with the chopped veg matter, stick it in a container, 30ml LAB , cover with about 5 cm of water, stopper container loosely, stick in the shade for a week.
Say you use comfrey: 250g comfrey + 125g crude sugar + 250ml water in blender (which you handily just sharpened with eggshells ).
Grab a rinsed 2l cola bottle, funnel chunky plant gloop into bottle, rinse funnel with your 30ml of LAB, fill with water to about 1l mark. Stick in the shade (trust me, you're in Aus, it's summer, cool, cool shade) for about a week, loosely capped. (I'll tell you about the Incident with Exploding Beetroot FPJ before i'd had my Morning Coffee another time. It was tightly capped.)
All the 'net-info says to wait until the bubbles have stopped before use. At first, you'll imagine a bit if bubbling, then wonder if that's it. It's not.
You'll KNOW when it bubbles, and when it's stopped. I burp mine once a day to get rid of gassy build-up (Beetroot Incident. It went everywhere. I looked like Gorbachev's bald bit for 3 days.)
When the bubbling has stopped, strain out the chunky bits. Reserve liquid, store in a well-sealing container in a cool, dark place. Use this liquid at 10ml per liter for foliar feeds in veg, early flower, 30ml per liter as a soil drench.
Notes on method etc:
*You use LAB because it's a known, beneficial anaerobic bacteria. This ensures that the juice ferments with good bacteria, and you don't poison your babies with a nasty, lurking spore or something.
*the tinier you chop the veg matter, the quicker it breaks down. Great big palm fronds would take +/-700 years to decomp if you tried to use them whole, whereas blended soft veg matter takes about 7-10 days.
*Korean Natural Farming & Dr Cho speaks of using things like cucmber shoots, which grow rapidly, to encourage rapid growth in cukes & other garden plants. It also encourages using only 1 type of plant per batch of fpj, eg only comfrey not that + lucerne (alfalfa) + cukes + radish. I have a very long list of plant ppm values ito N, P, K, etc, and above makes sense when the ppm's of the plants differ greatly. I'm scared of them working against each other somehow, but i'm a bit paranoid for some reason. Tell me if i should detail this more later.
* choosing plant matter: i've been trolling forums & the net for years, so i forget where i learned some stuff, but SUPER simply: green leaved "superplants" = good for N feeds, coloured fruit & veg (mostly orange ones like pawpaw & carrot, also beetroot) = good for K (flower). A bit too tired to remember P beneficials right now.
* crude sugar- the osmotic pressure gets better the cruder the sugar is, so white will work, but not as well as muscovado sugar. You can use molasses iso sugar, but because it's a liquid, not crystalline, again, osmotic pressure (she says as though she has the slightest clue as to what osmotic pressure is.. No effing idea, but it does something important).
* great plants to use: seaweed /kelp stimulates growth, has ooooooodles of nutes in. Beetroot: sugar boost plus lovely vitamins & minerals. Comfrey: N + trace minerals from deep within the soil. Alfalfa/ lucerne: massive N boost. Banana peels: K + sugar boost. Pawpaw: nice growth hormones + sugar + beta carotene.

Sorry, hun, i want to keep going, but it's 1 am & i have to be up at 5 for a site job again, catch up later!
✌&❤

 

[SweetSue]

Anna......

 

[Amy Gardner]

You rock MerryAnna! That's superb

And a lovely synchronicity at play too because earlier today, around the time you were here in fact, I finally finished off my first publishable blog entry, which is a collation of your 'LAB starter' guide from your current journal. I finished that, arrived here, and lo'! The adjunct! Here's my blog entry if anyone ever asks you for your recipe, and for anyone here who's interested too.

MerryAnna's DIY LAB Starter


Now I'll have to blog the FPJ too but later. Too much screen time, turning off devices. You ought to, however, repeat that post in your own journal. I deserves to be there as well

You had a late night - I'm having an early one

 

[LionFromZion]

Thanks for the warm welcome .. Ill just take a hit and pass it along

Iv been growing organicly now for the past 4years and it was the best change iv ever made.. Makes everything more interesting, healthier and just allround tons more fun and flavor. If you looking to gain some good knowledge on "no til organic growing", take a look at brownguy420 - the daily grind on youtube
The dude and his team in my opinion are doing an awesome job and im really impressed with their operation.
Would 1day like to get to that level when things get legalized on my side of the world.

I'll b around to spread some of my knowledge when needed.. And definitely some love
Happy growing