Dean West’s Debut Into True Living Organics Spring 2021

[Stunger]

Glad to have you along , I really like the sounds of what you are doing , would you say you are doing a no till big pot type situation? They guy at my local grow show started with the revs book and slowly moved to large beds large worm populations and has pretty much created a complete soil food web in his pots , I would like to dabble into something like that but I don’t have the space to commit to that. Maybe one day when we are in a bigger house who knows I would love to see some photos of what your doing , I will have to stop by and check your stuff out .

I am growing in 50L (13gal) and 30L (7gal) containers. In the 'off season' I have been previously tipping my soil out so I can re-amend it, mix it, and let it cook/settle for growing in Spring time. Next grow I might go no till as I feel I probably now have a lot of good stuff in the soil already. I may just re-amend and lightly mix into the surface and just let the soil and the odd bit of rain mix it around. I have a resident worm population in my containers. The nutrient spikes that Rev suggests sound interesting, maybe that is a easier way to no till, to have some sort of refillable spikes to avoid disturbing the soil. My current big girl (a Godfather OG) was on water/worm wee only up until a few weeks ago, but even in a 50L (13gal) my feeling is that is too small to sustain that plant with water only so I relented and gave her a top dressing.

 

[DeanWest89]

I am growing in 50L (13gal) and 30L (7gal) containers. In the 'off season' I have been previously tipping my soil out so I can re-amend it, mix it, and let it cook/settle for growing in Spring time. Next grow I might go no till as I feel I probably now have a lot of good stuff in the soil already. I may just re-amend and lightly mix into the surface and just let the soil and the odd bit of rain mix it around. I have a resident worm population in my containers. The nutrient spikes that Rev suggests sound interesting, maybe that is a easier way to no till, to have some sort of refillable spikes to avoid disturbing the soil. My current big girl (a Godfather OG) was on water/worm wee only up until a few weeks ago, but even in a 50L (13gal) my feeling is that is too small to sustain that plant with water only so I relented and gave her a top dressing.

You seem to have pretty good results what what your doing . But I use the spikes and I feel with proper layering and spikes and a few compost teas you can pull off a water start to finish in a 5-7 gal pot start to finish, but I feel like starting plants in final pots isn’t ideal , I feel like letting the root ball fill the small pots and transplant before the roots circle , up pot small increments to get roots to interact with as much of the medium within that container without being spread out, I want to maximize the nutrient uptake smd give more root surface area within the medium ,l big roots big fruits , when transplanting into my final put there is a nice dense root ball without circling the previous pot , ( of it circles the roots will just keep circling and not spread into the new medium as well as we’d like hence why some have to score the roots , to break that pattern and creat new directional growth . But I transplant up so I don’t know if I can legit pull a final pot size start and grow start to finish, I really don’t know if I’d want to start in a final big pot , I feel like plants grow faster in smaller pots with proper transplanting at the right time , cause of as little stress as possible . But I am able to do all my veg without re amending and , now I will be working on my first true Tlo flower . I did all the spikes and layering blends , I will pick 1 or the two identicle clone gelatos and leave one without amending until harvest and the other I will do as I plant amd see if gelato 1 is able to make it to harvest without any re amending ,
I would like to try this out thoe and test the theory ,

but with the no till I think the spikes are the only option to get things down into the medium affective and let them sit for 20 days to cook if you want , put 10 of them in the medium once if you wanted as long as their pre cooked into the medium , i feel like 10 would be enough to cause things to get hot and would be very bad for fresh roots to tap into I use 4 without cooking in my pots when transplanting for a little reserve doesn’t the road if the plants need it’s d @ 4 I feel like it doesn’t get hot on me

 

[Stunger]

You seem to have pretty good results what what your doing

As a child my parents grew organically in substantial home vegetable gardens, so my bias is to grow organically, but it has very much been stumbling along and trying to learn from my mistakes where ideally each grow is an improvement over the previous grow.

But I use the spikes and I feel with proper layering and spikes and a few compost teas you can pull off a water start to finish in a 5-7 gal pot start to finish,

I think one thing to bear in mind with organic living soil, is that it is all very well to have a water only approach, but to my mind it depends not just on the container size but also how long you veg for and how big you grow the plants in veg. I tried to do that this year with my Godfather OG which is growing in a 50L (13gal) container, some folk suggest that to grow with water only, you need to have at least a 30gal container. Because you are following the Rev's TLO approach with the nutrient spikes I assume you would be able to get more to the soil and roots when the soil nutrients are getting used up.

But one thing I realise for folk who grow indoors, that usually from size or time restraints they do not grow their plants as long in veg as outdoor folk may do. So on that basis it seems to make some sense that someone doing a shorter veg period in a smaller pot will be able to do so fine with water only. But in the same sized pot if you instead veg for 4 or 5 months then it is very possible/likely that you would need to top dress or else grow in bigger containers if you want to be water only. But the spike approach is a very interesting way to supplement the soil with extra nutrients during the grow. It'll be really interesting and I am sure very informative to watch your approach as you seem to really be going all out to make it a comprehensive success (you'll have to now, as you've got Emilya watching! haha).

but I feel like starting plants in final pots isn’t ideal , I feel like letting the root ball fill the small pots and transplant before the roots circle , up pot small increments to get roots to interact with as much of the medium within that container without being spread out, I want to maximize the nutrient uptake smd give more root surface area within the medium ,l big roots big fruits , when transplanting into my final put there is a nice dense root ball without circling the previous pot , ( of it circles the roots will just keep circling and not spread into the new medium as well as we’d like hence why some have to score the roots , to break that pattern and creat new directional growth . But I transplant up so I don’t know if I can legit pull a final pot size start and grow start to finish, I really don’t know if I’d want to start in a final big pot , I feel like plants grow faster in smaller pots with proper transplanting at the right time , cause of as little stress as possible

One thing I realise with growing cannabis is there are a lot of different approaches that folk use where they still get great results. I have read of those who feel certain that up-potting to grow the root ball is the best way. And I think only last week I saw a post where someone had grown out 3 of the same cuttings in 3 different pot sizes with the result that after 1 month there were 3 different plant sizes (the biggest grew in the biggest pot), that poster stated they were adamant that from then on they would not up-pot in future. I don't know what is best, to me it seems similar to the defoliation or the no defoliation approach, something which I am still unclear on which is better, the arguments seem to have some basis either way you look at it. But when I see some big plants that have been grown in the ground without up-potting it makes me wonder if it is necessary. But of course when growing indoors I can appreciate there are other considerations that effect the approach people take.

But I am able to do all my veg without re amending and , now I will be working on my first true Tlo flower . I did all the spikes and layering blends , I will pick 1 or the two identicle clone gelatos and leave one without amending until harvest and the other I will do as I plant amd see if gelato 1 is able to make it to harvest without any re amending ,
I would like to try this out thoe and test the theory ,

I imagine re-amending will come down to the volume size of the pot and the desired length of vegging time. I tried to do that with my Godfather Og but it became clear her leaves were lightening and would only get worse if I didn't step in and give her a top dress. But it is very interesting what you are doing with the layering and spikes. I look forward to watching the progression of your grow, it is really good stuff what you are doing!

 

[Emilya Green]

But when I see some big plants that have been grown in the ground without up-potting it makes me wonder if it is necessary. But of course when growing indoors I can appreciate there are other considerations that effect the approach people take.

Exactly right... we don't uppot trees. We uppot plants in closed containers so as to be able to get close to the amazing root systems that can develop naturally in the soil outdoors. Think about how deep a tree's roots can go... always roughly the same shape and height as the plant above... and the same thing happens in our weeds if given the chance.

 

[DeanWest89]

As a child my parents grew organically in substantial home vegetable gardens, so my bias is to grow organically, but it has very much been stumbling along and trying to learn from my mistakes where ideally each grow is an improvement over the previous grow.

I think one thing to bear in mind with organic living soil, is that it is all very well to have a water only approach, but to my mind it depends not just on the container size but also how long you veg for and how big you grow the plants in veg. I tried to do that this year with my Godfather OG which is growing in a 50L (13gal) container, some folk suggest that to grow with water only, you need to have at least a 30gal container. Because you are following the Rev's TLO approach with the nutrient spikes I assume you would be able to get more to the soil and roots when the soil nutrients are getting used up.

But one thing I realise for folk who grow indoors, that usually from size or time restraints they do not grow their plants as long in veg as outdoor folk may do. So on that basis it seems to make some sense that someone doing a shorter veg period in a smaller pot will be able to do so fine with water only. But in the same sized pot if you instead veg for 4 or 5 months then it is very possible/likely that you would need to top dress or else grow in bigger containers if you want to be water only. But the spike approach is a very interesting way to supplement the soil with extra nutrients during the grow. It'll be really interesting and I am sure very informative to watch your approach as you seem to really be going all out to make it a comprehensive success (you'll have to now, as you've got Emilya watching! haha).


One thing I realise with growing cannabis is there are a lot of different approaches that folk use where they still get great results. I have read of those who feel certain that up-potting to grow the root ball is the best way. And I think only last week I saw a post where someone had grown out 3 of the same cuttings in 3 different pot sizes with the result that after 1 month there were 3 different plant sizes (the biggest grew in the biggest pot), that poster stated they were adamant that from then on they would not up-pot in future. I don't know what is best, to me it seems similar to the defoliation or the no defoliation approach, something which I am still unclear on which is better, the arguments seem to have some basis either way you look at it. But when I see some big plants that have been grown in the ground without up-potting it makes me wonder if it is necessary. But of course when growing indoors I can appreciate there are other considerations that effect the approach people take.

I imagine re-amending will come down to the volume size of the pot and the desired length of vegging time. I tried to do that with my Godfather Og but it became clear her leaves were lightening and would only get worse if I didn't step in and give her a top dress. But it is very interesting what you are doing with the layering and spikes. I look forward to watching the progression of your grow, it is really good stuff what you are doing!

You have a very good and valid point you are begging with the sun and it’s a much longer period then what I am doing, don’t get me wrong if I notice anything starting to change I won’t hesitate to top dress accordingly , I used to just use Gaja green all purpose and power bloom and with thoes I was amending 3 tbs per gal and then top dressing 2 tbs per gal every 20 days and even then I was struggling all the time , so I haven’t had much success growing at all really , I have had decent turn outs but always chasing some kind of issue, so. I really haven’t had much success , I think with what your doing and how long things are vegging you don’t have a choice but to top dress and that’s okay.

also sometimes when things start to change it may indicate the life in the soil isn’t as happy and when this happens a compost tea can be used to boost microbial life , also in Canada I can purchase a product called raw npk microbes , they make a grow(veg) version and a bloom version , and in a pinch this stuff has saved my ass big time, but with my old approach I was having to apply a lot cause I was killing my microbial life by ph’ing my water and using tap water well over 350 ppm which is not good for container soil growing .

I think growing in the ground is a whole other ball game , even outside i container grow , my soil is terrible at my suburbial hell , I have been composting on the planned future garden beds for 2 years so hopefully this year I can make things nice and lush but as far as growing cannabis in the ground . I have a buddie who does it without adding any amendments but he gets sub par results.

the one thing I love about this site the most is. Everyone is growing cannabis and not to many people are doing the same thing and a lot of people are getting respectable results . Like they say theirs more then one way to skin a cat ! but if you take advice from everyone skinning cats and take the best of what everyone is doing and turn it into your own little system possibilities are endless .

I only started this rout after fallowing @Emilya for a couple years watching her pull off show stopping harvest after harvest , and getting advice from people and still doing what I thought was right and I still failed . So I literally forgot everything I knew about soil because I was not understanding , stopped growing and studied for 4 months before starting back up with what I felt the winning ticket I had to take into consideration of availability of things locally aswell I had the soil I’ve been composting into , so I didn’t have to change much to adapt the revs style, now in the future I may change things as I better understand things but for now I’m following it to the t, as far as soil and amendments and procedures .

 

[Stunger]

also in Canada I can purchase a product called raw npk microbes ,

There are several products I've seen mentioned favourably on the forums. I hope here in NZ we eventually get access to them too as they sound great.

I think growing in the ground is a whole other ball game , even outside i container grow , my soil is terrible at my suburbial hell , I have been composting on the planned future garden beds for 2 years so hopefully this year I can make things nice and lush but as far as growing cannabis in the ground . I have a buddie who does it without adding any amendments but he gets sub par results.

One thing I feel I have noticed over successive grows, is that puny soil grow puny plants. As I progressively supported and built up my soil more, the resulting plants grew with more vigor and size, while worms live amongst their roots.

the one thing I love about this site the most is. Everyone is growing cannabis and not to many people are doing the same thing and a lot of people are getting respectable results . Like they say theirs more then one way to skin a cat ! but if you take advice from everyone skinning cats and take the best of what everyone is doing and turn it into your own little system possibilities are endless .

That is the lovely thing. Everyone documenting and sharing their experiences where you can suck and see what may work for one's own situation. That is super enriching!

 

[DeanWest89]

04/04/20

JOURNAL UPDATE

hey everyone just wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter.
I also want to share one of the best views I take for granted, I see this every morning before I start work .

60 stories over downtown Toronto

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

My view every morning before work . Some people go to the office, I build it

A lot has changed since the last update. I gave the girls a compost tea a week and a half ago prepping for flower , I used the revs vegging tea recipe , this tea is used up to 10 days before flower begins , I wanted to give these girls a big boost to fill their new finish pot size prior to the flowering stage
This tea was applied on march/21/21 it was diluted by 100% of distilled water with 20 ppm of spring water added to the distilled water prior to making the tea . Doing this makes it so I don’t need to supplement that cal mag with the distilled water and the ppms are low enough I will never run into a salt issue
NOTE: you will notice a relatively large amount of amendments being thrown into the tea . THIS IS NOT FOR NPK VALUE . these amendments are added with live compost and worm castings ( store bought castings aren’t as alive as what’s in your worm bin) to try and target culture that fungi and bacteria that eat what I’m putting into the tea . So for example if I only provided blood meal in the tea all the other bacteria and fungi that don’t eat blood meal or nitrogen , will get outnumbered and out performed and the species that breaks down the nitrogen will be victorious . I am trying to culture a vast array of bacteria and fungi to add DIVERSITY . This is the word of the day folks , this is the goal of true living organics . When I do apply the tea each plant gets an equal amount of left over material , it will go under my mulch and the fungi and bacteria that break down the mulch are very nitrogen hungry and they will leach nitrogen from the soil , I I try to keep all life happy so no one is fighting for each others food . In the future I will be charging my shredded bark mulch with a high nitrogen fish emulsion like they do with biochar so it doesn’t leach nitrogen from the soil.

Standard tea for vegging

• 3/4 tbs (MAX) organic molasses
• 1 tsp kelp meal
• 1/4 tsp cold pressed 100% organic seaweed extract
• 1/2 tsp high N guano ( seabird) in my case
• 1/2 tsp feather meal
• 1/4 tsp blood meal
• 1/4 tsp all purpose Gaja green 4-4-4
• 1/8 tsp micronized Azomite
• 1/2 tsp ground oyster shell
• 1 tbs insect frass
• 1/8 cup live worm castings ( try to remove the worms)
• 1/8 cup mushroom compost

I added my air stones and then my distilled water then molasses and seaweed extract got it all to mix nicely then I added everything right into the water and stirred it until nothing was floating .Now I don’t have a microscope yet but I suspected after 23 hrs the tea was at its peak and at that point I added 1 gal of distilled water to my 1 gal of tea , with all material and all in it I vigorously stirred it that added some to a plant then stirred it again and watered it in so each plant got an equal amount of all the material in the tea, and I let the microbial life take care of the rest
The perlite in my tea was from my worm bin I use perlite to air ate things in the bin so pot worms don’t dominate the situation . But I’ll get into that more when I do a post on managing a worm bin.

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
All my dry amendments to feed my microbial life I’m going to be reproducing ...

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
Here I am starting my first compost tea for these girls , I do not use any during veg...

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
Just starting my tea , the perlite is in there because I use it in my worm bin to keep...

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
So example if I’m growing with rock phosphate I want to use rock phosphate in my tea to...

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/25/21

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/25/21
The next day it’s coming along nicely
, I did not use a bag I just added my air stones...

Compost tea

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/25/21

Since the compost tea I have been slowly working this tent into 12/12 adding 30mins each day to the dark cycle until I get down to 12/12 . As soon as my timer hits 12/12 I will be hitting all of these girls with the second of 3 teas they will receive in their entire life cycle. Will get into that on the next one
NOTE: my timer is currently set to 13 hrs lights on and 11 hrs off , I have notices since I have been at 10 hrs dark things have started to slowly change . I have been slowly working then into flower they are slowly building up the hormones to promote flower and I am starting to notice some stretch on a few plants . Have they build up enough hormones to start now ? Prior to 12/12 in 48 hrs she will receive her 2nd of 3 teas to put some life in there, I will change ratios of tea so there aren’t as many nitrogen hungry bacteria. Fungi . Bring on the flowers baby

FLOWER ROOM !! But still in veg
So first off I decided to toss the gelatos , they did not have the vigour I am after , considering all the other clones that we taken at the same time and planted same time were triple the gelatos height, OFF WITH THEIR HEADS. This has made room for new genetics and some growth space for the plants I have now . I will start using my 2x3 to bring any new plants up to snuff for the flower space . The birth of the perpetual grow

I have also figured out why I was starting to see some powdery mildew on 2 of the plants my fan would stop running during lights off and my tent was actually hitting the dew point amd wasn’t getting enough air flow during the lights off stage , I am now heating the 4x8 more efficiently and I turned the smart controller off on my ac infinity and am just running it on 8 24/7 now the tent is not hitting the dew point and maintaining lots of airflow when lights are off.this is what happens when you assume ROOKIE MISTAKE ON MY PART. Even people growing for multiple years bone out on some very important factors . Do diligence here people monitor your environments before plants are running , get them close and when you do fill it you’ll have to dial it in again , but once you do it’s all gravy. White a checklist down before every run and do your perimeter checks

let’s get into the photos , as usuall I have a descriptive info on all photos

GELATO- here are the 2 identical gelato clones , the original seed was feature in my last grow but then I rant into the salt issues prior I had given a clone away , and when I started up the OGKZ , gelato, hash plant were all from my previous genetics I grew . The hash plant and gelato never made it to flower and the gelato never will unfortunately

Gelato 1

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
First off these gelatos have not kept up with the rest of my genetics , I wanted to...

Gelato 1

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21

Gelato 2

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
Same thing identical clones of the gelato and they just don’t have the right...

Gelato 2

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21

Gelato 1 and 2

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21both plants were pulled to make room for prime genetics .

OGKZ- this pheno is AMAZING awesome growth and nice pretty purple flowers, and the last time I ran it I didn’t have my shit figured out so I’m excited to see she will do for us this time . All these photos were taken March 28/21 so there has been

OGKZ

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
Started low stress training to flatten her out for flower , super happy with this...

OGKZ

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
Here is my OGKZ clone growing real strong and healthy

HASH PLANT- she has been doing very well , not a vigorous as the OGKZ but I am super excited to grow the classic indica dom hash plant .

Hash plant

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
Here is the hash plant , I am super happy with how things are going right now

Hash plant

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
I started low stress training and let her veg out a few days , then I got rid of all...

GODS 8 BALL- this girl is something I am super excited for , it’s a cross between a prized pheno of Barney’s farms 8 ball kush x Jordan of the isle’s god bud , bang on combination she has been slowly been trained into her shape she is now , in the next 10 days this tent will transition into flowering. Game on
March 26/21

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/25/21
Rolling strong preparing for flower , got about another week or 2 before the flip , I...

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/25/21
Now she is ready for flower with all colas spaced out nicely , I will let her grow 8”...

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/25/21
Such a beautiful plant

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/25/21
She pretty much takes up 2x2’ at this point , I wish I just started 2 of these to fill...

after this I decided to get rid of all the nodes that I didn’t want growing and Lolly popped the lower portion of the plant that later on will get ZERO ligjt resulting in a waste of energy . I do this weeks before going into flower so she is well healed and now focusing growth to the mains . She is now as wide as I want now it’s time to get here some vertical growth

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/23/21
This girl has just been on cruise control , I finally got her trained into the shape I...

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
I am super happy with this girl , a lot has changed since these photos . I have also...

Gods 8 ball F1

• DeanWest89
• Apr 2, 2021

03/24/21
She complexity fills the 2x2 photo staging tent ,

So I’m place of the gelatos I have decided to pop a new seed , I started it Thursday in tlo soil and went away for the weekend and came back to a nicely popped seedlng 1” tall now , perfect success . SET IT AND FORGET IT . as growers we defiantly can tend to OVER care for our plants in turn resulting in us downing and killing our plants. Especially with seedlings . Once you plant your seedling your should be confident in what your doing , never dig it back up, if it’s been more then 10 days it was probably a dud , I used to do soak in water and paper towel and I have had more success just placing in pre moistened organic tlo soil with mycorrhiza, and 2 worms and let it be until it pops and it’s been nothing but smooth sailing , my biggest problem was over caring for my stuff you will find out later what seed that was , it’s supposed to be a showstopper
I have also been gifted 8 new strains including a 30:1 cbd:thc strain so I will also be sharing these on the next one , and who it came from.

DIY CALMAG+PHOS
I cannot take credit for this one I followed one of @Emilya ‘s amazing tutorials , you can check them out through her signature.

I took 500ml of ground roasted eggshells and about a half dozen un roasted and mixed each 250 ml of eggshells with 1500ml of organic apple cider vinegar in their own jars so I did 1 part roasted eggshells and 6 parts organic apple cider vinegar added the eggshells to the jars then slowly added the viniger , next time I would use a 10 gal barrel this stuff reacts big time , I’m glad I listened to emilya and did it in the sink , and it smells just as bad when the vinegar starts to burn it up , woah
March 21/21

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

March/20/21
I’ve taken 75 eggs and crushed them and fried them until light broth and black , I...

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

March20/21
DIy calmag+phos raw unfiltered apple cider viniger

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

March/20/21
DIy calmag+phos raw unfiltered apple cider viniger

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/20/21

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/20/21

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/20/21
When adding the apple cider viniger it will fizz and be messy and stink do it in the...

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

03/20/21

March/27/21

DIy calmag+phos

• DeanWest89
• Mar 27, 2021

March/27/21
You can see the mixture changing colour and breaking down the organic matter with...

I will keep you posted on the progress of this in the next one

Have a happy Easter guys enjoy your loved ones.

 

[Stunger]

Great update Dean!

 

[DeanWest89]

Check out the wood wide web , yes wood .

 

[LizardMate]

That plant looks insane man. The soil is doing wonders

 

[DeanWest89]

That plant looks insane man. The soil is doing wonders

Hey thank you very much, welcome aboard.
This soil is 4 years old now and going strong.

Great update Dean!

thanks brother . Hope your enjoying the nice weather , spring is here

 

[DeanWest89]

I have been thinking about pre charging my mulch with fish emulsion has anyone tried this ? I want to provide the microbes that break down the mulch layer to have everything they need to get going , or would one say a light dusting of a high nitrogen blend be enough to feed everything north of the soil level

 

[Stunger]

I have been thinking about pre charging my mulch with fish emulsion has anyone tried this ? I want to provide the microbes that break down the mulch layer to have everything they need to get going , or would one say a light dusting of a high nitrogen blend be enough to feed everything north of the soil level

From time to time I would add fish hydrolysate and kelp extract to the plants watering onto the mulch layer but I didn't 'pre-charge' it as such. The worms in my soil love the mulch layer too so I always felt they settled in under it pretty quickly and started breaking it down.

 

[DeanWest89]

Can anyone guid me to some good info on how to use potassium bicarbonate for PM and neem , some research says to offset oil applications to the PB . Some say to use both . I trust the people here more then google when it comes to my plants , any suggestions or pushes in the right direction

 

[Stunger]

Can anyone guid me to some good info on how to use potassium bicarbonate for PM and neem , some research says to offset oil applications to the PB . Some say to use both . I trust the people here more then google when it comes to my plants , any suggestions or pushes in the right direction

Hey Dean, sorry I can't help directly with your question but @InTheShed has a spray mix he uses for PM here if it's of any help.

 

[DeanWest89]

So the nuclear option came to all phenos that weren’t resisting pm in my grow space the hash plant is the only soul survivor , the pm wasn’t bad but I wasn’t getting a handle on it ans once it’s in the grow it’s hard to get out , so I’m on the fence on what I’m going to do here either I clean everything and hope for the best .or throw out all tents ans fabric material and start new . Research shows pm can live dormant for up to 3 years and once thoes ideal conditions hit booom . This goes to show if you let your vpd Into the optimum stage for these pathogens and spores will grow once it’s in there it’s wild fire , so for me huge learning curve , it doesn’t matter how much effort you put into everything else if you let your environment slip , you’ve lost . I will be bleach cleaning everything too to bottom , I will also be investing in proper environmental controls , and try thing again with using a integrate pest management program . I have lost more in harvests in the last 2 years then it would to constantly keep up on a ipm program.

all soil involved in this grow will be tossed into the garden and not back into my recycled soil tote , do not want anything carrying on to the next cycle

rookie mistake not keeping my environment dialled in . Lesson learned

 

[BakedARea]

Hey Dean. I meant to comment here last week. Forgot to do that but managed to remember to hit that watch button.

I'm officially starting my TLO soil. It started cooking yesterday. It is my hope as well to have that ultimate quality! I have never tried any flower grown in the TLO method.

using high in mineral salt content water

This is my concern. I tested the water last week and I'm riding under 1000ppm out of the tap and over ~400 after a cartridge filter to remover chlorine and sediment. Looks like I need to start lugging water into the garage until I can find the right RO system.

there are a lot of similarities considering we are working from the same book, but your brutally honest and your no beat around the bush ways really helped me get to where I am, and I respect the hell out of that Your journals, writing skills and overall positive attitude and willing to help anyone who asks the right questions has been my inspiration, thank you very much

Agreed! Having @Emilya on the side line is a good thing! I have learned loads from journals, responses, and messages. Trying to retain it all...well that's for another brain I think.

yeild is not my main goal, which is nice, but I am after quality

Absolutely and positively 100% my goal!!!

I have a resident worm population in my containers.

That's another goal! I get so excited when I see worms in my garden and especially in various containers that have anything from fruit trees to veggies. Next goal is to have them in my containers inside the grow tent too!

trying to learn from my mistakes where ideally each grow is an improvement over the previous grow.

Definitely should be our perspective until we die. I enjoy learning and admitting our mistakes and admitting to ignorance has been my personal way of improving.

so I haven’t had much success growing at all really

Me neither man! Seriously frustrating but driving my inner competitiveness to have success.

Even people growing for multiple years bone out on some very important factors .

I have to remind myself of this because I can hammer on myself for the stupidest stuff which doesn't help me. Learn...and move on!

it doesn’t matter how much effort you put into everything else if you let your environment slip , you’ve lost . I will be bleach cleaning everything too to bottom , I will also be investing in proper environmental controls , and try thing again with using a integrate pest management program . I have lost more in harvests in the last 2 years then it would to constantly keep up on a ipm program.

This whole post made me sad. I can read and feel the wind knocked out of your sails. Sorry Dean. I would never just throw everything out. How did the PM get so bad in between the last updates? What kind of environment controls are you lacking?

I too have lost more in the past 2 years to pests and mold. Had I been better/consistent with my treatments then I know it would have been a different story.

I hope you're doing well. Blessings!

 

[HillBillyHerbGrower]

Just wondering if you were able to solve your PM woes? I've been fighting it indoors all winter and I see it's already problematic outdoors. I've tried using Postassium Bicarb but it always ends up burning my plants. I think the neem was causing the potassium bicarb to stick to the leaves more and cause burn. I'm still trying to figure out how to use potassium bicarb effectively for PM control.

 

[Old OZ]

Glad you bumped a abandoned grow journal @DeanWest89 that led me here. Have been playing with organic growing and permaculture principles for awhile…still learning. I would love to follow along even if I am a bit late and a bit of reading to catch up .