Skybound's Journal

[ilikemsticky]

My original questions were about how people that regularly use foliar sprays, how's the procedure, and I spray up from underneath and how often do I need to spray to supplement the calcium? Is it something that I have to match every irrigation cycle?

on the pkg. it says all you need do is spray the underside of several large fan leaves that's enough for the plant but idk if your going to acheive what your looking for doing that because the plant will take it in as it needs it I don't think you would want to do this more than a couple times I understand that you want to foliar just after lights out I try and spray them everyday most of the time its just water a couple times a week its diluted tea of different types!

 

[Skybound]

on the pkg. it says all you need do is spray the underside of several large fan leaves that's enough for the plant but idk if your going to acheive what your looking for doing that because the plant will take it in as it needs it I don't think you would want to do this more than a couple times I understand that you want to foliar just after lights out I try and spray them everyday most of the time its just water a couple times a week its diluted tea of different types!

All I'm trying to do is widen the ratio of N to Ca more so than I can accomplish now. FWIW, my N is set to 95ppm and my Ca to 105, but I'd like it to be at 120. If I try to resolve 120ppm in Hydro Buddy with just Calcium Nitrate, my nitrate content goes fairly north of 100 which I've already found to be too much.

 

[ilikemsticky]

All I'm trying to do is widen the ratio of N to Ca more so than I can accomplish now. FWIW, my N is set to 95ppm and my Ca to 105, but I'd like it to be at 120. If I try to resolve 120ppm in Hydro Buddy with just Calcium Nitrate, my nitrate content goes fairly north of 100 which I've already found to be too much.

I need to stay out of this I don't have enough knowledge to be involved ill help when I can!

 

[Weaselcracker]

All those Doc Bud high brix guys do a lot of foliars. Not something I’ve done before personally. Whether or not they pay much attention to the science behind it - it shouldn’t be too hard to find some info at least on how they go about it. Graytail grows the way and has a bunch of high brixers on his journal. Lots of organic growers doing foliars but they’ll usually say something like spray every morning at dawn and twice on the full moon with a mix of wood ash, nettles, glacial dust, and tea made with composted newt and ginkgo extract. But they won’t necessarily be able to tell you why.

 

[Skybound]

I need to stay out of this I don't have enough knowledge to be involved ill help when I can!

I was looking for help with the most basic of the practice because despite my years growing, I've always been intimidated with foliar spraying, and because of that, have stayed far away. Now my ambitions have left me with no choice but to embrace that which I fear, lol. This is me grabbing the bull by the horns and yelling out to you guys, "what do I do next?"

All those Doc Bud high brix guys do a lot of foliars. Not something I’ve done before personally. Whether or not they pay much attention to the science behind it - it shouldn’t be too hard to find some info at least on how they go about it. Graytail grows the way and has a bunch of high brixers on his journal. Lots of organic growers doing foliars but they’ll usually say something like spray every morning at dawn and twice on the full moon with a mix of wood ash, nettles, glacial dust, and tea made with composted newt and ginkgo extract. But they won’t necessarily be able to tell you why.

You make it sound like Harry Potter and sorcery, lol. But I am subbed to most of their journals as well as the main one, and when I presented my hypothesis, I was first warmly embraced until I wasn't, lol. People I think fear change and to have some hydro nut preaching that he intends to accomplish their result in hydro, and enjoying the speed and enhanced yields of hydro I believe has left a shitty taste in quite a few mouths. Or maybe they just think of me as a nut, which is fine with me as well. I don't take any offense from people online, even if it is intended to be as such. I just want to do what I want to do and if I fail along the way, that was my choice to do, but as is now, I have already succeeded, so I am just now trying to be more successful with it. Lots of new ideas, lots of avenues and new things to learn and try out and observe. Aside from te pro mix and worm castings, I have at least 90% of the high brix ingredients, so now I just add water and get to experimenting and playing around. My goal is perfect hydro nutes, but high brix is just validation of that to a certain degree.

I just got back from the hydro shop that was a whopping 7 minutes driving, and the owner who worked at the previous hydro shop I used to get stuff from is my only other source of information outside of the internet. He sort of set me straight about foliar feeding. He suggested putting temp lenses on my COBs while spraying, spray from the underside, once weekly (or less) from late veg to early bloom. I'll have to think about how to make a lens for my fixture. Maybe I'll mount some hangers and slide in a piece of plexi for when I spray, then remove the plexi. All I know is that I do not want to risk accidentally spraying them which will quickly become catastrophic. Also, getting in their at a certain time is not practical for me. I think the happy medium for me is to turn the amps way down to 10%, put the lens on, spray and turn the intensity back to to 50-60% an hour later, or something along those lines.

Now I gotta figure out how many different sprays I'll need/want to make, or can I cram all the goodness into one? In a few days I will be ordering Triacontanol which is widely believed to be an extreme yield enhancer. I wonder how such a product would jive with high brix, or if it would conflict with it? IDK a whole lot about it, but I think of it like a testosterone steroid that causes cells to attract and retain much more water. But that's just a spitball impression.

 

[ilikemsticky]

well I don't have a program per say I just switch with different foliars I think variety is good one thing is you want them diluted, sometimes I use ful rock and basalt rock powder or various teas its pretty much proven to be a good way to feed them little bits of nutrients along the way and im not the least bit offended by you trying to have your cake and eat it to if you can figure out a way to get high brix foliar you should patent that shit cause that formula would be worth a pretty penny I wish you all the luck sky!

 

[Weaselcracker]

Well the high brix Kit thing is still just people using bottled nutes in soilless by a schedule same as me, only better nutes and with a bit more of a top down cult/religious vibe. Not going to be a lot of experimentation there. I think you’ll find more actual DIY knowledge among the organic growers- Conradino, Bobbrown and those guys. But generally speaking there aren’t really any actual knowledgeable botanists on the forum, just some good growers. And as usual I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know

 

[ilikemsticky]

Well the high brix Kit thing is still just people using bottled nutes in soilless by a schedule same as me, only better nutes and with a bit more of a top down cult/religious vibe. Not going to be a lot of experimentation there. I think you’ll find more actual DIY knowledge among the organic growers- Conradino, Bobbrown and those guys. But generally speaking there aren’t really any actual knowledgeable botanists on the forum, just some good growers.

I watch those two very closely try to soak up all the info I can another grower is @Norcaliwood hes been at it a long time hes probably forgot more than ill ever no he does grow with nutes which I don't but I can still learn from him I love what bobbrown does but I don't have the set up he does no room and conradino has his soil that just grows good weed and a lot of knowledge I no what you mean about the kit growers its a cult if your not a kit grower well I think a lot of guys don't have the time it takes to study all this so they use the kit I can see the attraction just like hydro I can see the attraction plants growing like a mf big and fast my son grows that way and he loves it im just a stubborn old man wanting the most potent finest tasting weed I can get that's all lol!

 

[Weaselcracker]

Definitely not knocking the kit or the kit growers and if I ever get it together there’s a good chance I’ll go that route too. I’m no different- never take the time for real in-depth knowledge and just want to grow some decent bud. But out of that high brix bunch it looks like most all of the experimentation already happened before DocBud bottled the stuff, and whether he’s talking - I’m not sure. Most doctors aren’t. Eventually maybe it will be Dr Skybound too but hopefully not.

 

[ilikemsticky]

skybound might like that not sure I can see the kit I have thought about it but even the kit doesn't grow every strain proper its not just cruising through a grow everytime @conradino23 is one of the masters here he is a doctor of sorts he can figure out what a problem plant needs and do it naturally I like that!

 

[Skybound]

I'm just a regular guy, and if memory serves me, I started growing about the same year Weasel did, or at least on 420 we started about the same time. And you know I fumbled around with GH and true Capn Style for many years. Only recently I ditched the GH and got into salts. How much can a regular guy really learn in 6 months? Not as much as I wished, but still, I feel a lot better than I did in my GH days. Then it was all about ml per GH product. I was TOTALLY in the dark about my NPKs. Now, I literally know every NPK/Ca-Mg-S. I then learned how to mix micros and that's about it. I still don't know the math and w/o Hydro Buddy, I'd be FUCKED!

Still, having learned the basics, I can look at EVERY bottle, including DocBud's 9 bottles and emulate the contents based on the "guaranteed analysis". I also learned that medical precision is definitely not needed. Pretty close is good enough. When I started mixing, my K was in the 150ppm range. I compared to other salt mixers from many years ago, and their formulas are about double what mine is, so we know the tolerable range is at least what's between. This reminds me that she really is a weed.

If you look at Doc's products, I have all of the ingredients except for ammonium anything. CalNite has about 7% of the N in ammonical (NH4+) nitrogen. If you study the difference, it's a pretty complex discussion, but basically, both are needed and used in the plant, but ammonical is taken in lesser QTYs and it's converted into nitrate inside the plant so it can travel to the destination, then converted back or to something else.

Weasel's right though, the kit is not much more than a soilless with hydro nutes, except a shit load of organics is added to it, and the microbes are kept plentiful. This is a practice I also use, except my focus is in the ACT use. I'm also now getting into foliar feeding which should amplify both the supplemental elements as well as organic inputs. If Doc's kit puts out 18% brix, I would be stoked to hit 10%-14% in hydro. If others get into mixing their own, I am happy to share what I know, in exchange I ask for knowledge and experience in hopes of shortening my road. I'm horrible at marketing anything and would enjoy better karma just giving it away anyways. I means, the things I learned was taught to me for free. I am just happy to condense what I learned for the next grower. Doing that I feel will serve to advance the collective knowledge which will make humanity greater in the long run. Like the guy that invented the threaded nut and bolt. Nobody know who he is, but his invention sure helped us along BIG TIME!

 

[ilikemsticky]

your a good guy sky I could tell that right off im like that to if I know something that could help someone im going to help them my problem is most on here no more than me I just have a green thumb which doesn't hurt youll figure out something I no yo will!

 

[Skybound]

your a good guy sky I could tell that right off im like that to if I know something that could help someone im going to help them my problem is most on here no more than me I just have a green thumb which doesn't hurt youll figure out something I no yo will!

Most on here DO NOT know more than you Sticky! The age of your soul shows in your humility, and the older we all get in life, or knowledge about some shit, the more we each realize we don't know, and it is then we have made ourselves ready and worthy to receive the knowledge,

that is after doing the long and grueling process of due diligence to learn the secrets.

 

[Bode]

Highya Sky,

It seems the difference you're looking for may be in the microbes. I've been studying for quite awhile about them. I do know someone was working on developing more microbes (bacteria) around the root system (but in hydro) apparently to simulate soil grows. Would this be a consideration? Looks like the other bases are covered.

 

[Skybound]

Highya Sky,

It seems the difference you're looking for may be in the microbes. I've been studying for quite awhile about them. I do know someone was working on developing more microbes (bacteria) around the root system (but in hydro) apparently to simulate soil grows. Would this be a consideration? Looks like the other bases are covered.

I brew an Aerated Compost Tea (ACT) religiously twice a week and give it to all from not yet rooted clones till flush. I start with a gallon of RO and dissolve in 3ml of unsulfured molasses, add in 1/8 TSP of fulvic/humic/kelp blend, an 1/8TSP of Great White, 2-3ml of Fish Shit, 2-3ml of Microbe Life Photosynthesis Plus and 2-3ml of ML Root Dip and aerate that with the biggest quiet pump that Hydrofarm makes. I merge all 4 ports to one air stone. Oh, I forgot, I also started adding in a bit less than 1/8TSP of Amino Acids. I brew that for 36 hours and dump about 16-20 FL Oz onto bloom plants, and respectably less on veg plants. For the Veg kids, it turns out to be a microbe flush, but in them big ass 7 gal air pots I don't get any run off. It has a very earthy and somewhat sweet scent when done. I wish to add in recirculation to the mix, but only mixing up a single gallon leaves me with limited options as a little water pump still heats the water. I have a half designed 3D printable file that I've been working on, but I put that on the back burner a few weeks ago and I'm now struggling to bring myself to get back to it. Alls I need to do is finish the design and print it, mount a small DC motor to it and viola, but laziness is my bane!

I got a fresh new box of ML samples today. I'm thinking about sending it up north to an old grow pal that's in need of some bennies.

I've only used the bottles on the left, and my bottles are still easily 7/8 full. My samples will last me a year or more. This box will collect dust if I don't gift it.

@Weaselcracker if you're interested in some free shit (I can get some Fish Shit samples too), LMK.

 

[Skybound]

Highya Sky,

It seems the difference you're looking for may be in the microbes. I've been studying for quite awhile about them. I do know someone was working on developing more microbes (bacteria) around the root system (but in hydro) apparently to simulate soil grows. Would this be a consideration? Looks like the other bases are covered.

There's an old thread on RIU from 2010 from a guy s/n Heisenberg the outlines using microbes in DWC and other hydro. My mentor (The Capn) put me onto Heisenberg and showed me a basic tea recipe. I've added to it over the years. If you got some time for a lengthy post on the topic, web search "DWC Root Slime". I'd link you to the thread, but the mods will clip this post due to cross forum posting.

 

[Skybound]

PC @49 days. About to start a short flush in a few days. FWIW, when scoping the trics with the USB scope connected to my Droid phone, the coloration doesn't appear so HPS orange. IDK what happened there? The blurryness is from my micro shakes. I scope living buds rather than snipping one off to examine in better light.

Also, when looking at the pics, I notice a calcium deficiency in a few of the leaves. This might be from my mishaps a few days ago, or that my feed overall is deficient of calcium, but either way, I'm already moving forward with supplementing calcium with foliar sprays. Last night I mixed 1 gram/Gal of chelated calcium, plus 1 TSP of Seaweed/Kelp, and a sliver of Raw Yucca I picked up from the local hydro store. Man, that Yucca stretches EXTREMELY far. 1/16 of a TSP will make 5 gallons of water soapy. FWIW, that 1/16th weights 0.1 grams, so to treat a single gallon, I had to try and weigh out 0.02 grams. I just got as close as I could. Conveniently though, 1/8 TSP will make my 10 gal reservoirs, so no weighing needed there.

I also just ordered some Triacontanol and polysorbate. I've read FANTASTIC things about Tria, and at super small doses applied at most once weekly or at least twice total, a little will go a very long way. The stuff is alleged to significantly increase yields, so let's hope so. Daniel Fernandez (creator of Hydro Buddy) seems enthusiastically convinced of this which says a lot if you're familiar with his 100 or so blog entries, ie he is very critical of most products (not brands).

 

[ilikemsticky]

that's the nice thing about taking pics of these you can examine it closely at your leisure those look healthy to me sky I would think you would expect some leaf dying or def going on everything looks green nice work bud!

 

[Skybound]

29 days in bloom with the last cut of this leggy slut PC. I am so not looking forward to that harvest. Gazillions of little buds. She's not all the frosty either. I knew I let her veg too long. I read in passing of a way to halt the stretch, but it was when researching something else so I didn't follow that tangent and now regret that. This one has several deficiencies that I don't care to diagnose. I just want her to survive till harvest and I can get her gone for good. I have 3 Gorilla GLues and an Em Dog coming along in veg, plus the thick stem pheno of PC that I will be keeping around for a while. My peeps like that PC pheno.

Here's some thumbnails of the seedlings, full size pics are going in my Herbie's journal.

 

[NorCaliwood]

Dude I found ALOT of plants that didn't impress me with bud size,,,, but were killer can came to the pipe?????????? GL she looks happy