The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It

[Azimuth]

Here is a brix pest chart, inside or outside. Different bugs can handle different brix levels.

Thrips and mites are considered sucking insects, correct?

 

[Gee64]

Ok. Thanks. I'll have a reread of The Rev's recipe since it sounds like I'm going to be making it a lot.

Is this an every water type thing, an every top water thing if I do that once per week, once every other or third, other?

I just went thru it with my Gaia 1.0 mix and I use it roughly once a week. It seems to be enough to sustain a pretty large plant in a 7gal container. I give it 2 litres a shot and it works well. There really is no set schedule as every soil mix is different and every plant is different, but you will learn to recognize early on and use it as needed. @StoneOtter has it mastered for sipping. He uses calmag every watering. If he has a ppm tester he could tell you the ppm he uses when he mixes it, then you could mimick that.

 

[Gee64]

But if you mix the other stuff heavy and then dilute it down why wouldn't the same be true of the powdered form? Too readily available?

I'm not sure why but it is very strong. I have only used it in soil mixes, not liquids, and it causes problems so I stick with prilled.

 

[013]

Ok first I admit that mushroom compost and rice hulls are foreign to me, but I think I understand them. So here goes.

EWC and Mushroom compost are both organic matter, so 25% of the mix. I would go 2 parts EWC and 1 part 'shroom dirt to make the 25%.

Used soil, I like 50% of the mix. You built those humates last grow, may as well use them again, not to mention the myco spores in it.

Coco coir I like to add 10% of the mix.

Biochar I would use 5%.

So now you are at 90%.

Rice hulls, for a practical comparison, are a combination of perlite and coco in function that slowly degrades into carbon and organic matter but it is slightly less carbony than coco and slightly less areationy than perlite. It is however diversity from both and that has immense value. So 10% rice hulls.

Toss in your ammendments, mix the daylights out of it, then add in perlite. Perlite is inert. Don't count it's volume in your mix, you add it after the mix is created. So 10 gallons of mix turns into 13 or 14 after perlite is added, then cook it.

I like 30-35% perlite overall. Used soil brings perlite in so I use a half gallon of perlite for every gallon of coco added, and a half gallon of perlite for every gallon of EWC added, and that gets it close. Then after a good mixing I add a bit more by eye to get it where I like it.

I would use all of those ammendments you listed except epsom salts. I have only experienced grief with them. Others swear by them but I cannot for how I mix my soils.

What you haven't mentioned is calcium.
You should have dolomite to properly set the CEC, gypsum for the sulfur and ph stability, and oyster shell flour for slow release.

I like 1.5 cups/10 gallons of soil of dolomite before perlite is added, .5 cups gypsum before perliting, and .5 cups oyster flour before perliting.

Here is my favorite soil recipe before perliting. It's a strong mix because Cropking Durban Poison seeds can handle it. You can lower everything by 25% if you have a light feeder, or cut it with more used soil. I mix a tub of high strength and cut it down with used soil if needed. It simplifies life.

20 gals recycled soil
2 gals coco
3 cups prilled dolomite
1 cup blood meal
.5 cup bat guano
.5 cup glacial rock dust or .5c rock phos
3 cups feather meal
3 cups bone meal
1.5 cups greensand
.3 cups SRP
2 cups organic basmati
1 cup gypsum
3 cups kelp meal
2 cups alfalfa meal
1 cup oyster shell flour

Add spikes and you can grow from seed to harvest with water and fish ferts and EWC. It is designed for zero ppm RO water. Spikes are just topdressing in a hole.

It's a high brix recipe that from what I have discussed with Doc's followers, gets higher brix on the refractometer than his foliar system, which is good, as that was my goal.

Brix consistently over 20, almost always 21 or 22, and I hit 26 once. Over 20 and brix becomes strain dependant. Some strains photosynthesize better than others, it's a DNA thing that can't be overcome.

I hate bugs, they bug me.

I also use 1tea application per grow for sure, at about 3-4 werks from sprout, and quite often a 2nd tea at flip, but not always. It depends on vigor and brix at the time of flip.

So theres some good stuff to help you figure a mix. Talk it out in here if you like, and everyone join in or stop the conversation please if you get lost. Your mix determines your outcome so this is where a good or mediocre or bad experience is created.

This is where you should speak up if you are a lurker and still unsure. We can talk about this for weeks if needed, I don't mind at all. Get the mix right and the rest gets easy.

013 spoke up. .

Wow Gee, Thank you for the detailed write up, this will get me rolling!

Forgot to mention but for slow release calcium I’ve got crab meal & oyster shell flour. For sulfur I normally use Langbenite aka sul-po-mag but I’ve always treaded lightly since it’s both sulfur & mag. Best part is I’ve got the prilled dolomite & gypsum en route!

Hopefully pumice will do the trick instead of perlite?

I’ve got to get my ducks all lined up, won’t be long before it’s time to transplant.

 

[Gee64]

Thrips and mites are considered sucking insects, correct?

They are yes.

 

[Azimuth]

I'm not sure why but it is very strong. I have only used it in soil mixes, not liquids, and it causes problems so I stick with prilled.

And, same for the soil input? I bot a lifetime supply of the powdered stuff sold for lawns. No Bueno, or can I use that as one of the amendments in the soil mix?

 

[Gee64]

Wow Gee, Thank you for the detailed write up, this will get me rolling!

Forgot to mention but for slow release calcium I’ve got crab meal & oyster shell flour. For sulfur I normally use Langbenite aka sul-po-mag but I’ve always treaded lightly since it’s both sulfur & mag. Best part is I’ve got the prilled dolomite & gypsum en route!

Hopefully pumice will do the trick instead of perlite?

I’ve got to get my ducks all lined up, won’t be long before it’s time to transplant.

I only tried pumice a couple times a long time ago, then switched to perlite. I can't remember why now, so I would google both to find the differences and go from there. It's likely similar but maybe different ratios?

Either way, build your soil with your amendments per gallons ratio as per the recipe, then add your areator. If your recipe is for 20 gallons of soil, thats 20 gallons before areator is added unless the recipe says otherwise.

If the recipe is for 20 gallons of used soil, then it allows for the fact that some areator will be in the used soil so follow it, then add more afterwards to get it where you want.

 

[Gee64]

And, same for the soil input? I bot a lifetime supply of the powdered stuff sold for lawns. No Bueno, or can I use that as one of the amendments in the soil mix?

I don't like it in mixes. Most recipes call for prilled. I always end up too calcium rich when I used it, no matter how much I reduced it's volume. I'm guessing it's just too available. It burns tips, things like that. It looks like nute burn every watering.

 

[Gee64]

How'd it go @Keffka ? You get them all bent over yet? It must be crowding up in there.

 

[Gee64]

@Gidorah how are your TMSC Ladies coming?

 

[Gee64]

TMSC - Day 6 and 54 of Flower.

Right after I took this picture the 2 clones got 3" risers under them. It's time.

Iklwa is fully into senescence now. Her smell changed today, she smells like lemon pinesol. The sweet is now pine.

She has stopped drinking and her brix dropped to 10. I scoped her trichs and they are still clearish, but milky is creeping in. Not a single amber one yet. 9 more days is her advertised 9 weeks and I think it will be spot on. Her bids are hardening up.

Mutey is still brix 15 and a fuzzy calcium line. Very fuzzy. The dolomite water works very well. She is yellowing now too but about a week behind Icky, so likely closer to 10 weeks til she is done.

The clones are both brix 14.5 and very fuzzy calcium lines. Their brix should be higher, but clones don't process P for 56 days before flip so lower brix is what it is. Just gotta keep them over 12 is all.

 

[Jon]

yes and yes, but synthetics wont build brix, I mean it can under expensive high maintenance conditions, but not really, you need soil biology to make it work. So if it's organic, brix is a thing, if synthetic.... not so much.

Thanks. House plant. Organic. I’m gonna measure her tomorrow. I get it on the Brix measuring with chem plants. Learned that first thing. It’s easy. Don’t waste your time, it’s a useless measure.

 

[Gee64]

Look at the skirt around Ikky's mains. I should have delarfed her but I wanted to see her canopy at least once.

She is so branchy. Next time I will prune her out heavily and chase the apex colas.

A manifold of 8 will work for her really well. Her flowers are very different from the DP I usually grow, but her overall structure and cola structure are very similar. The pine smell is really piney. Like 1984 Humbolt County California Redhair.

I can't wait to dissect her rootball.

The larf skirt.

A main cola.

A larf cola.

The Shaggy Mute. What a weird plant.

The main shaft is chunking up quickly. There is actually a ton of nugs in there. 4 feet of nuggy cola under all the shag. Times 2.

Her smell changed too. She is earthy, and by that I mean a dry sandstone smell. Very earthy. No other smells mixed in. Almost obnoxious but also very enticing.

It doesn't smell great but you can't stop smelling it. Like blonde hash when you heat it to crumble it into a spliff. Interesting for sure.

Like a Mutants armpit

#3 Has grow 3" since flip.

#1 hasn't grown at all. Thats odd but she looks healthy. Her branches are growing, just not her overall height.

Number 2 is going outside into the ground in my garlic patch. June 21 she gets planted. I think I can harvest her before frost. The one I harvested at 6 weeks has a great buzz so I'm not worried if I have to take her early.

I may grow #4 outside too in a 20gal pot. I don't really need a mother. A pound or 2 from the clones and Mutey should be enough.

Not to mention what Ikky yields.

Worms are getting excited

 

[Gee64]

Thanks. House plant. Organic. I’m gonna measure her tomorrow. I get it on the Brix measuring with chem plants. Learned that first thing. It’s easy. Don’t waste your time, it’s a useless measure.

Every plant has a different expected average brix. If you google that plant you should find info on it, and likely a chart with tons of plants and their brix.

Some plants simply can't photosynthesize enough. Lettuce for example is a shallow rooted plant. It's rootball to leaf ratio isn't enough to brix high. Too much foliage for tiny roots.

 

[Jon]

Also, Gees mixes and top dressings are much more effective because of his EWC and his microbes. His EWC, microbes, and the soils he uses are all part of a system he has been building for years. That means when he top dresses his mineral mix, his microbes have evolved and adapted to specialize processing those specific mixes in his environment.

When you run a controlled environment with the same inputs that you recycle yourself you create a grow with highly efficient and highly evolved microbes. This is why I am so insistent organic growers compost or vermicompost. You’ll never reach the highest levels otherwise





I’ve got half of em done and the other half will be done tonight. As long as the buds stay under 3 feet long we should be okay

Wow is that ugly. Lol! Just kidding @Keffka. You just gave me a lightbulb. My Yoda tells me his soil is priceless and he’s used the same soil for almost 20 years. I know he only speaks truth, so I know it’s true. But I’ve never been able to understand why it’s so great. I believe you just explained it. Thanks.

 

[Gee64]

Wow is that ugly. Lol! Just kidding @Keffka. You just gave me a lightbulb. My Yoda tells me his soil is priceless and he’s used the same soil for almost 20 years. I know he only speaks truth, so I know it’s true. But I’ve never been able to understand why it’s so great. I believe you just explained it. Thanks.

Plus he has built his humates to run his CEC to a really high degree. Add that to what Keff said and I bet his brix are off the chart. His terps must be incredible. Old growth forest incredible. I'm jealous lol.

 

[Jon]

Look at the skirt around Ikky's mains. I should have delarfed her but I wanted to see her canopy at least once.

She is so branchy. Next time I will prune her out heavily and chase the apex colas.

A manifold of 8 will work for her really well. Her flowers are very different from the DP I usually grow, but her overall structure and cola structure are very similar. The pine smell is really piney. Like 1984 Humbolt County California Redhair.

I can't wait to dissect her rootball.

The larf skirt.

A main cola.

A larf cola.

The Shaggy Mute. What a weird plant.

The main shaft is chunking up quickly. There is actually a ton of nugs in there. 4 feet of nuggy cola under all the shag. Times 2.

Her smell changed too. She is earthy, and by that I mean a dry sandstone smell. Very earthy. No other smells mixed in. Almost obnoxious but also very enticing.

It doesn't smell great but you can't stop smelling it. Like blonde hash when you heat it to crumble it into a spliff. Interesting for sure.

Like a Mutants armpit

#3 Has grow 3" since flip.

#1 hasn't grown at all. Thats odd but she looks healthy. Her branches are growing, just not her overall height.

Number 2 is going outside into the ground in my garlic patch. June 21 she gets planted. I think I can harvest her before frost. The one I harvested at 6 weeks has a great buzz so I'm not worried if I have to take her early.

I may grow #4 outside too in a 20gal pot. I don't really need a mother. A pound or 2 from the clones and Mutey should be enough.

Not to mention what Ikky yields.

Worms are getting excited

I would argue that the picture of the cola is a two headed bud.

 

[Gee64]

Wow Gee, Thank you for the detailed write up, this will get me rolling!

Forgot to mention but for slow release calcium I’ve got crab meal & oyster shell flour. For sulfur I normally use Langbenite aka sul-po-mag but I’ve always treaded lightly since it’s both sulfur & mag. Best part is I’ve got the prilled dolomite & gypsum en route!

Hopefully pumice will do the trick instead of perlite?

I’ve got to get my ducks all lined up, won’t be long before it’s time to transplant.

@013 the most important thing is balance. With your amendments and calciums, compare them to the recipe I posted, do a bit of research on each input, and try to sub in what you have to replace things in the recipe until you find balance. I hope that makes sense.

Some of your amendments may not be on the recipe but may be a great substitute for something that is on the recipe that you don't have.

Then you have a cool custom blend. Write everything down so you can adjust next grow if a problem pops up. It's a great way to learn.

 

[Jon]

Every plant has a different expected average brix. If you google that plant you should find info on it, and likely a chart with tons of plants and their brix.

Some plants simply can't photosynthesize enough. Lettuce for example is a shallow rooted plant. It's rootball to leaf ratio isn't enough to brix high. Too much foliage for tiny roots.

Ok thanks I wouldn’t have thought of that. This one has big tuber type shafts that hold water like a cactus. Her roots are as thick as a pencil. I had to trim them by five gallons when I put her in the 30 she is in. She’s in FFOF with only water and kelp and very occasionally I hit her with fish and EWC. Check her out:

 

[Gee64]

Ok thanks I wouldn’t have thought of that. This one has big tuber type shafts that hold water like a cactus. Her roots are as thick as a pencil. I had to trim them by five gallons when I put her in the 30 she is in. She’s in FFOF with only water and kelp and very occasionally I hit her with fish and EWC. Check her out:

Thats a cool plant. It looks like something from Jurrassic Park.