Emmie's LSD Grow Log

[Emilya Green]

Part of the process is not being perfect. It is only by seeing what doesn't work that we can look for what does. it makes us better growers and that shows in the long haul. It also takes courage to show a yellow leaf. I hate doing it! But let me say this.

We know you are a hell of a grower Em. So it is okay if things get messed once in awhile. I feel your pain as I have been there too and still am often. But you have to remember that you are switching to a whole new nutrient style, and these lessons must come. Only by using a sharpening stone will the knife ever get razor sharp.

I would like to say...I am not sure why you haven't tried Doc's kit. It is all organic and truly amazing. I am stunned and shocked by what I am seeing using Doc's kit. I just know in my heart that you would absolutely love it too. Give it a thought. I am only halfway through flower (37 days post flip and 30 days post flower) and I know you can grow just as well if not better than I can. But this is what I am seeing with Doc's kit. Come join us in the Doc Bud crew!

Thanks guys... appreciate the kind words. Pigeon hit on it... I am trying hard to understand this new thing, and yes there is a learning curve to climb. This is twice now that I got this early flower yellowing, and I really thought I had it solved this time, but as is always the case, there was something else that needed to be learned. Yes, I am very intrigued by Doc's kit and I will eventually get on board, but as is my way, I have to understand what I am doing with it first. If I can get these basics down, and truly understand my living soil and the brewing of teas to the point that I can manage to get through an entire grow, knowing that my soil and my little microbeasties made it happen... then I will be ready to supercharge my organic grow with a kit, but as is my way... then I will be trying to figure out why these drenches work so well and I know I will be super annoying. Right now I am even starting to think in terms of Brix levels and how things we normally do (or have added into our repertoire, like foliar feeding) really do cause improvements in our grows and how using common vitamin products at the right times is also beneficial. I have given new looks toward superthrive and liquid karma because of the work Doc is doing. It is clear that Doc is brilliant and I will be excited to try his system some day soon, and it is not lost on me that so many people have seen benefits to using it that they have dedicated entire journals to showing how well it works. I will be assimilated, as soon as I understand what I am doing.

 

[Emilya Green]

Good news... the ground up into smelly thick liquid fish parts, seems to be working, and the progression of the yellowing has reversed. Tonight I am seeing some green returning to leaves that were not too far gone. The overall appearance tonight is more green and much less frightening than was the view this morning.

This, for me, is one of the hardest things to do in the garden... to decide on ONE course of action... ONE correction... and then to trust in it. It is very hard to give it a couple of days to work, without freaking out and throwing the kitchen sink at the problem.

This is good... now I know how to get the K and P in there early enough to stop this from happening again, or at least that is the theory at this moment in time. Next round will be better This round is still going strong. I remain ever hopeful of a good harvest.

Mother earth guide my hands,
Winds lift our leaves,
Fire burst forth from every seed,
Water, provide us with the dream of life,
Spirit give us the wisdom to be loving purveyors of all we behold.

Blessings from Emmie's garden.

 

[StillANoob]

That's great news Emmie, congrats on the recovery!

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Hooray Em! I remember as a kid reading the history books about native Americans planting a fish with their crops. When I was first growing we used to but fish emulsion and it was fantastic. Seems like the more horrid it smelled the better. I can smell some of that smell in the Brix foliar for doc's Kit. I always strip down to underwear to foliar the plants because it will ruin a set of clothes lol.

 

[MagicJim]

Good news... the ground up into smelly thick liquid fish parts, seems to be working, and the progression of the yellowing has reversed. Tonight I am seeing some green returning to leaves that were not too far gone. The overall appearance tonight is more green and much less frightening than was the view this morning.

This, for me, is one of the hardest things to do in the garden... to decide on ONE course of action... ONE correction... and then to trust in it. It is very hard to give it a couple of days to work, without freaking out and throwing the kitchen sink at the problem.

This is good... now I know how to get the K and P in there early enough to stop this from happening again, or at least that is the theory at this moment in time. Next round will be better This round is still going strong. I remain ever hopeful of a good harvest.

Mother earth guide my hands,
Winds lift our leaves,
Fire burst forth from every seed,
Water, provide us with the dream of life,
Spirit give us the wisdom to be loving purveyors of all we behold.

Blessings from Emmie's garden.

This is beautiful. Blessings back at ya!

 

[Emilya Green]

Ok, still fighting this, but I think I am starting to get ahead of it. Some green is returning to some of the leaves, and the leaves that make sense for the plants to slough off are the ones getting yellow the most. Hardly none of the yellowing leaves have gotten to the point that they are falling off and all of the new growth is a very healthy green. When you sit on the floor and look up through the canopy is it clear that it looks a lot greener from that vantage, looking up into the new growth.
Assuming that I am on the right track with the liquid fish, I gave everyone a between watering top drench of 2 tbl / gal of the stuff last night, hoping to get more of what is needed into the system. I will start up another strong flowering tea today for the complete watering coming up in a few days. I will get some pictures of our star again tomorrow and you will see that it is not so bad as I make out... I just like to complain.

 

[Pigeons420]

Well that's great news! I'm sure it's no worse than you're describing. I think it's healthy to come at a situation seriously and on point. This helps to ensure small problems don't become big problems.

I think some reps are in order for you girl!

 

[swwilson20]

Hey Emilya! Love the journal. I'm still going through it and I see you are a strong advocate of AACT'S, and I was wondering if you could share a simple recipe that you like. I have some EC and ancient forest material. If I used only those 2 products along with some sugars, is that a good way to give the microbe life a boost?

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Emilya! Love the journal. I'm still going through it and I see you are a strong advocate of AACT'S, and I was wondering if you could share a simple recipe that you like. I have some EC and ancient forest material. If I used only those 2 products along with some sugars, is that a good way to give the microbe life a boost?

I did share one up above, but keep in mind that I am brand new at this and that tea that I shared didnt have liquid fish in it... and it almost killed my plants by not having what they needed at the critical change over into flower. I would hesitate using me as a reference in this area. I will say though, with what I do know about it, that EWC and ancient forest make a wonderful tea together. I am sure there is a proper order to put them in there too, but I couldnt tell you what it is at my present knowledge level, but I would venture a guess that if you put a half cup of each and a tablespoon of molasses in each gallon you were going to brew, it would make a wonderful tea. If you are not going to bubble it as an AACT though, I don't think it can provide nearly as much of a benefit.

 

[fopho]

I did share one up above, but keep in mind that I am brand new at this and that tea that I shared didnt have liquid fish in it... and it almost killed my plants by not having what they needed at the critical change over into flower. I would hesitate using me as a reference in this area. I will say though, with what I do know about it, that EWC and ancient forest make a wonderful tea together. I am sure there is a proper order to put them in there too, but I couldnt tell you what it is at my present knowledge level, but I would venture a guess that if you put a half cup of each and a tablespoon of molasses in each gallon you were going to brew, it would make a wonderful tea. If you are not going to bubble it as an AACT though, I don't think it can provide nearly as much of a benefit.

Hey em, dunno if you know this or not, but I've found giving them some of what they need for flower a few weeks before really helped. I know some will disagree and say it'll ruin your plants. I disagree because your plant will store these nutrients as RNA & DNA until there needed. We store up extra nutrients, so this makes perfect sense to me. I was on the it'll hurt your plants bandwagon until I read about RNA & DNA in a few different places. Anyways just my 0.02¢.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey em, dunno if you know this or not, but I've found giving them some of what they need for flower a few weeks before really helped. I know some will disagree and say it'll ruin your plants. I disagree because your plant will store these nutrients as RNA & DNA until there needed. We store up extra nutrients, so this makes perfect sense to me. I was on the it'll hurt your plants bandwagon until I read about RNA & DNA in a few different places. Anyways just my 0.02¢.

Thanks fopho, that is exactly where my thinking has been going the last few days. I will start feeding this fish emulsion right as I anticipate the flip next time, and let the system store up P and K so that I don't get this dramatic underfeeding problem again. Last night I noticed that the garden had healed to the point that I could now discern a pattern in the room... a geographical location of the problem. It makes sense too... the plants directly under the center of the hood are getting the most light... they are also the most starving in the room. Today after lights out, I will get a good foliar feed in, centering on these center plants. This is all making sense to me now.

Also, i need to stop ignoring stuff that I read. Yes Rev... spikes will be used on this next round.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Emilya! Love the journal. I'm still going through it and I see you are a strong advocate of AACT'S, and I was wondering if you could share a simple recipe that you like. I have some EC and ancient forest material. If I used only those 2 products along with some sugars, is that a good way to give the microbe life a boost?

Wilson, I was not fair with you with my last response, mostly because I was feeling unsure about my own methods here... but that is not fair to you. You asked a good question and deserve to hear what I am thinking about my teas... and as a matter of fact, I had a revelation today that is probably going to fix things... stupid me once again, refusing to challenge my preconceptions. I will tell you about that in a minute, but first the tea that I mixed up today.

I made a few changes from what I have been doing, considering of course that my plants are starving and all. Before now, I have been making 2 gallons of tea and diluting it 100% right before watering, to make the roughly 4 gallons it takes to get my 6 plants to runoff. I give everyone permission to have a good laugh over this... starving plants, me diluting the tea... yeah yeah...

So today I mixed up 4 gallons of tea. It will not be diluted. It is straight out of The Rev's book, True Living Organics, and he calls it a Flowering Tea. I have made one change to the recipe... I am resisting having to use FoxFarm Big Bloom as he calls for. Since Big Bloom is basically an organic tea itself, I figure it simply jump starts his tea. To compensate, I will bubble a day longer, and I throw in an early handful of Ancient Forest Compost and a handful of EWC, right in the beginning.

The rest of my tea is as follows per gallon
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon Liquid Karma
1 teaspoon general organics calmag+
1 tablespoon Happy Frog dry organic 5-5-5 fertilizer
1 tablespoon Kelp Meal
1 teaspoon High N Bat Guano
1 teaspoon High P Bat Guano
1 teaspoon Liquid Fish 5-1-1
1 handful of Ancient Forest Compost
1 handful of Earthworm Castings

I will bubble this at 796 gph for 36 hours and then I will add 1/2 cup of additional EWC and AFC. After bubbling for another 36 hours, it will be tea time... full strength... after straining.

Hope this helps,
Emmie the newbie

 

[Emilya Green]

(flower, day 14)

Tonight I gave my plants their first full strength AACT. I know it was a good one because in the last 8 hours I began to get a good persistent foaming on the entire surface of the bucket, showing me that the microbeastie population had exploded. I really need to get a microscope to test that assumption, but anyway, it was what it was and I watered. I expect to see noticeable changes with this watering and a return of a more even green color.

Sitting in there tonight and clearing out the dead stuff, again it was noticeable how much greener things look from the underside of the canopy. It is a weird effect, but I convinced myself while down there that things were not as bad as I make out... but as soon as I stood up and looked at things from the top, I again see more yellowing than I like.

I will note that with the foliar feeding in the middle of this watering cycle, I was able to catch up a bit and some green is trying to return in the bigger leaves. Tomorrow night we will compare the color of tonight's shots with what should be some much better fed plants.

So tonight I took some bud shots of 4 of the girls in the tent, and a couple of glamour shots of our star, LSD. Looking at the buds it is clear that the plants have been sacrificing the color of the lower leaves to good effect... the buds look strong, well developed and already at 14 days I am seeing significant trichome development.

First, LSD, showing off her pretty new trichomes and strong bud development

And then, Royal Queen Critical:

Tangerine Dream:

And lastly, Green Crack

Cookies Kush and AK-47 could not be reached for comment... they were drinking alone tonight and somehow avoided the photographer.

Be well everyone,
Em

 

[millertm]

Pretty flowers. Yellow happens. All looks show me happy flowering. Great job Em.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[Emilya Green]

Oh yeah... that was what they wanted... full strength tea.

I did a quick run through the tent this morning as I got ready for work, and the difference in just 8 hours since watering is striking. All the yellowing leaves have taken on a much healthier green tint! Things are still not where they need to be, but I see dramatic improvement already! I will post a comparison picture late this evening at lights on so you can see too.

Somewhere in Rev's book I got the idea that it was SOP to dilute the teas. When things are not going the way you think they should, be sure to remember to challenge your preconceptions... they just may be misconceptions.

 

[Kriaze]

Hey Emilya it's great to see the garden is getting more to your liking. I'm loving the fact that your LSD is doing best of the lot The funny thing is, although my LSD has gone through hell and back she is actually bulking up the best of my plants now, bowing under the weight of her buds (of which the structure is probably the best I have ever grown) and not many branches but her recovery is remarkable. Now if mine has done that for me I'm salivating at the thought of how your healthy plant will turn out. Let's see that girl finish already lol, all the best

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Emilya it's great to see the garden is getting more to your liking. I'm loving the fact that your LSD is doing best of the lot The funny thing is, although my LSD has gone through hell and back she is actually bulking up the best of my plants now, bowing under the weight of her buds (of which the structure is probably the best I have ever grown) and not many branches but her recovery is remarkable. Now if mine has done that for me I'm salivating at the thought of how your healthy plant will turn out. Let's see that girl finish already lol, all the best

Yes, I think I agree that LSD is one of the strongest plants in the tent for a lot of reasons. I think she will be outdone by some of the others in this tent, but only because they are in larger containers. By all appearances she is going to do very well though and I am very curious about the quality of the smoke she produces.

Here are a couple of bud shots from this morning... please also note that a better overall colour is being seen after the recent feeding.

 

[Emilya Green]

Here I want to show you the difference in color that I am seeing... First from my very hungry Royal Queen Critical, a lower fan leaf that was getting alarmingly yellow. It was still firmly attached, but it was clearly being slowly sucked dry of macronutrients. Yes, they say that yellow happens... but at 2 weeks in, it worries me.

Here is our recovering fan leaf, now again storing away the abundance of nutrients left over after the new growth takes what it needs.

And here is a shot of the entire garden, which when compared to the last garden shot, shows a lot more green.

Listen to your plants... Yellowing is a cry for help this early in flower. It can be reversed. Look at the leaf just above the word Yellowing 2 sentences ago... look how the green is creeping back in. Emmie is pleased.

Oh, and our star, LSD is the middle plant in the front row in that garden shot.

 

[millertm]

Could nutes be locked out somehow? Your correct about early yellowing. Odd, I'm sure it will come around soon.

Cheers

 

[Emilya Green]

Could nutes be locked out somehow? Your correct about early yellowing. Odd, I'm sure it will come around soon.

Cheers

well sort of... The problem is that the nutes are there, but not in the form that can be taken up into the roots. Over time, the microherd can break down the components in the soil, but some of this stuff takes a long time to break down, and is the reason that we can use this soil over and over again and that it keeps getting better... more and more of the organics break down into their usuable components.
Brewing an AACT however, helps accelerate this process. Putting a lot of live microbeaties into a rich mix of organic nutrients allows them to really start breaking down a lot of this good stuff, fast. When you dump a freshly brewed tea into the plants it is not just adding nutrients (which are mostly feeding the microherd) but it is adding a whole fresh and hungry tribe of microbeasties that are ready to offload what they have digested for the roots to use, and the roots to reward them in turn for doing so.
What I believe I was doing by diluting my teas twice, I was immediately reducing by 75% the active amount of nutrients and living microherd that I could have been giving each time. Combine that with increasing my flowering lighting to an average of 800w per lit hour, and my plants needs increased, at the same time that I was limiting what I was giving them.