Weasel Forges Ahead

[The Celt]

@bluter , if you are having good results at the pH you shoot for, I wouldn’t jump on trying to get it down to 5.5. As I said, PT Horticulture supplies major growers who have greenhouses/nurseries with thousands of plants. They don’t have the time to check every plant and fine tune things like we do. 5.5pH is likely the balance point to satisfy the majority of their customers, growing 100s of different species of plant.

We, on the other hand, are growing a single species and have time to fine tune things with each individual plant. 5.5 is not necessarily the “sweet” spot for us or our plants

 

[Weaselcracker]

Thanks a lot for the info. Staring at that Mulder’s polygon thing is giving me a bad headache but I am going to look a bit longer anyway.

In my alleged side-by-side experiments that I keep saying I’m going to do soon, I am going to try doing some pots in higher ph- raising the ph of the Promix a little bit with oyster shell.

The plant that I grew where I dumped a whole bunch of oyster shell in the pot, actually grew pretty nicely. It wasn’t perfect but it was good.

Almost missed this bit

Lime is extremely good at buffering solutions, whether it be for plants or in the lab. Likely due to Calcium being a highly reactive alkaline earth metal , much like chlorine (occupying a similar position at the other end of the table) is a highly reactive gas.

I think what I was thinking about in that post, and I thought maybe @Shaggn was talking about too- is the idea of a ‘ph swing’ as the pot sits in the days after feeding. The alleged ph swing thing, which people talk about -where the pH in the pot changes over time, usually rising, and allows better uptake of nutrients.

But when I do a slurry mix with promix or SM -it just quickly adjusts to whatever pH it’s buffered to. Seems pretty happy to stay there. Can anyone confirm that pH changes after that?

I guess I should just look all this stuff up myself instead of making you guys do all the work? But this is so much easier

 

[Joe Brewster]

The plant that I grew where I dumped a whole bunch of oyster shell in the pot, actually grew pretty nicely. It wasn’t perfect but it was good.

Try course ground oysters shell for aeration in your new homemade soil

 

[Weaselcracker]

Never thought of that -thanks for the idea. Maybe if I crush the oyster shell w/o burning first. When they’re burnt they just crumble into dust super easily. But unburned they last forever. Hundreds of years.

Someone I was chatting to tonight in Taiwan was asking about my grow so I thought I’d post a couple more pics of the current grow, for Jason.

Went and stared at the plants just now and I still feel good about things. The victims in flowering seem to have managed to choke down the latest chemical swill without too many screams of anguish this time. Good girls!

Veg

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Flowering

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

My Zamaldelica and Kali China seeds cracked

 

[Weaselcracker]

a variety of colour tones, which is always comforting to me - shows that plants are just getting what they need to express themselves. That how it seems to me anyway.

Somehow I managed to completely miss this post until just now Amy. Twas a busy day and I have barely even caught up with the forum, let alone a bunch of emails and phone calls that happened while I was at work.

I never really thought of it that way but I totally know what you mean about the variety of colors. Like a garden. I used to grow in scrog screens.I didn’t have a good reason why. It was just something I fell into. It was @Spitz and his photos of untamed natural plants of all different colors and varieties that converted me away from scrogging. The power of jealousy

 

[Spitz]

Are those CMH or do you have a filter for pics? You’re plants put mine to shame in every way. Im far too lazy to compete with the ladies you throw down. That said, I may have found a recipe to compete with you that works with my style. MegaCrop might be my solution to everything. I know you have had mixed results with it, but it seems to works with my methods. I follow a lot of the lessons learned on the forum,,

My recipe...
Water coco like dirt (every 3 or 4 days)
Make sure to leave a little water in the saucer (keeps the roots cool!)
Only flush between harvest! (I paid good money for those unused nutrients!)

Running a couple autos in DWC and going on a methodical slow Blueberry pheno hunt. Love your garden brother. Peace!

 

[dr.h00k]

...hey Spitz!... ...cheerz......h00k...

 

[Weaselcracker]

I have a filter Spitz. Just a little blue cellophane thingy that clips over my phone camera. I have to do some editing as well to get pics to even look half decent. It’s why I don’t take many pictures in flowering because it’s just not really possible to get good ones.

Your method sounds odd but perhaps I will try it.
Do you have to check the pH of your feedings in that coco?

I don’t really believe you about my plants being better than yours but whatever I just remember growing a bunch of boring scrog screens and always seeing your nice single cola beauties in your tent, and being jealous.

But yesterday I had some occasion to go to the first page of my journal and I was jealous of my own plants back then too! So I’m coming to realize more and more how borderline my plants have been over the last year. It’s a wonder anyone even comes by here anymore ha ha.

I’m excited to be getting back to my roots and planting a couple Ace strains again.

Going to go grab that Carnival to harvest now.

 

[Spitz]

The beauty with Megacrop isn’t really in the NPK + micros and/or their ratio/availability for me. For whatever reason, it works with my tap water flawlessly. Ive never bothered to weigh a mixing. I stick 3 fingers in the bag and throw it in my 5 Gal bucket. It buffers to my water at exact 5.8 PH and stays there forever. 200ppm to 1200ppm... locks in at 5.8. Let the feed bucket sit on the ground a few days and the brown settles out (ph still 5.8). Check the coco runoff (yeah.. I know, I know) and yep... 5.8. My DWC buckets stay at 5.8 for about 10days before the bottom falls out to 5.7. This dummy may have found dummyproof.

Im guessing they’ll change the formula again. Worse yet, I probably have a discontinued batch. Lol

BTw... I had a screen over my last batch. I felt soooooo dirty about it. Lying fetal in the corner of the shower type dirty. I just couldn’t get clean.


Edit***
I just read that post again. No! I’m not going to check my PH meter!! At least this way, I have plausible deniability.

 

[Joe Brewster]

a tumbleweed blew in and got stuck in my intake fan but I got it out. So that’s good...

good thing it wasn't a “Neptune ball” might have blocked it solid

 

[Weaselcracker]

Got some Blue Dream in the mail from a friend and smoked a bunch of that this afternoon I like it a lot- it got me up and buzzing around doing stuff- which is generally the kind of weed I like the most. It compelled me to take the Carnival for a little walk in the forest by my house just for a little change of view in the journal ha ha.

Kind of fun and I might do that again since I plan to start growing more small plants. Take them on little walkabouts. Like some people do with garden gnomes.

Got some BD seeds too, and stuck a couple in to sprout.

Finally a fairly decent plant to harvest. Even with a few nutrient issues over the last weeks/ they’re definitely way improved since I stopped the Mega Crop.

I am too stoned and lazy to reduce the number of pics.

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

 

[Skybound]

WOWZA! She's a beaut, that's for sure!

 

[Joe Brewster]

Got some Blue Dream in the mail from a friend and smoked a bunch of that this afternoon I like it a lot- it got me up and buzzing around doing stuff- which is generally the kind of weed I like the most. It compelled me to take the Carnival for a little walk in the forest by my house just for a little change of view in the journal ha ha.

Kind of fun and I might do that again since I plan to start growing more small plants. Take them on little walkabouts. Like some people do with garden gnomes.

Got some BD seeds too, and stuck a couple in to sprout.

Finally a fairly decent plant to harvest. Even with a few nutrient issues over the last weeks/ they’re definitely way improved since I stopped the Mega Crop.

I am too stoned and lazy to reduce the number of pics.

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

Carnival

• Weaselcracker
• Jan 31, 2021

did you bring her back alive?
Sounds like something out of a psycho movie took her out to the Woods
took down one of my blueberry autos tonight
smells like blueberries and barbecue lighter fluid

 

[Weaselcracker]

I did but that was her last, and only, walk in the forest I’m afraid... There is forest right next to my house and actually I have a variety of other interesting backdrops I could photograph my plants against, but usually I’ve been growing large heavy plants so just stick to the yard and don’t tend to go wandering off in the bushes with them so much. And also hadn’t smoked the Blue Dream... I was just looking for a nice mossy backdrop and then I went deeper and deeper into the forest, carrying my plant around, until I was way out there, thinking ‘I guess I must be pretty stoned‘...

 

[Graytail]

Nice job on the Carnival!

I'd hit that!

 

[VetSmoke85]

Wish I could take a plant for a walk around the woods . Sounds and looks amazing. Congrats.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Thanks! And I’m going to take the plants for walks more often, now that I know how fun it is

 

[VetSmoke85]

I love the mental image of you baked carrying a plant around the woods.

 

[bobrown14]

kelp and seaweed for K...no shortage of it where he is...cheerz... ...h00k...

This ^^^^ Dont forget some hardwood ashes. always a good addition specially if you can get some black chunks of charcoal to go with. Prolly can find some decent wood to burn near the sea. Start a fire ... pot-ash FTW.

@Weaselcracker congrats on your harvest.

Regarding soil pH

7pH is on the high end. Any higher you start getting lockouts.

I use just straight up CSPM - its cheaper and better IMO and its acidic which is fine when you amend with Ca which you should be doing in the soil mix.

The reason for soil pH to be lower or slightly acidic is this.

As the soil organic matter breaks down the pH naturally rises during the break down process. In nature that gets TCO's by acid rain. Rain water will always be acidic.

You can temporarily help the soil pH if its high by adding some acid to your water. Not THAT acid an acidic source like ascorbic acid.

So the reason to get started with acidic soil is that over time the pH rises. Longer than 1 grow (I recycle my soil). But it always rises.

Adding fresh CSPM will help as well.

On the acid rain thing. It's been a thing before hoo-man. Our atmosphere was sulfuric acid at one point that's pretty acidic and why our planet is 10% sulfur. The acid in the atmosphere much of it comes from natural geologic processes on the earth surface both under sea and on the surface via volcanic activity. You will see a lot of sulfur coming out of volcanoes. Its an element, give it some heat (plus 400C) and vola acid rain.

Acid rain breaks down the rocks formed by volcanic activity, creating clay that contains minerals and nutrients from the rocks. Rivers move the clay .... and round and round we go.

Clay is very important to horticulture. Its basically rock dust that has compacted and chemically bonded to create clay particles waiting to be broken down further by bacteria and fungi that help grow plants. Round ball... heat up the clay and sand create more rocks..... Then there's the sedimentary rocks. lol

BTW glad I stopped by interesting discussion.

@Weaselcracker with that forest in your back yard, just go get some leaf mold and some worm castings. You got GOLD in dem der hills brother. Why you messing with mega crop??

 

[Weaselcracker]

Thanks Bob. I’ve been scattered in all directions and still have unfinished business here and there. I like to at least give a good try at digesting the stuff you guys post here, and some I have to shelve and come back to later. Like that chart Celt posted....

Not much going on here. Wresting with ideas about my nutrient routine and how to improve it, and playing with Hydro Buddy. Working on my fauxmix which I added lots more peat to and seem to have got balanced to around 5.8 now.

The site isn’t letting me add photos now though.

Edit. Attachments are still working.

The Kali China sprout went through two surgeries to get her helmet off but survived, amazingly.

I’m over drying some bud to rehydrate later and then try to cure. I did this experiment once before and the overdried/rehydrated bud did eventually regain much of its goodness. I just want to do it a second time to see If I can replicate it.

I was looking at Vanstank’s journal today. Which looks like a great journal by the way. And he’s got a really nice looking bunch of plants and a fancy soil recipe which I’m going to post here. This is exactly the kind of organic soil recipe which looks amazing, but always turned me away from organics in the past. Because it just didn’t make sense for me to try to find and order all these ingredients.

So I’m happy to see there are simpler recipes out there too. I’m hoping funds will come through soon for a little grow shopping.

Stank Soil recipe. Found my notebook so here goes!

This batch will generally yield around 50-60 gallons of finished soil depending on the brand of soils, EWC, Coco or Promix you use.

Base items
(2) 1.5 cf bag soil (I use Roots Organic but have also tried Nectar of the Gods as well)
(1) Bag of Coco (2 cf) or Pro Mix or Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss
(1) 30 LB Bag of Earth Worm Castings
(1) .5 cf Bag of Humus (I Use Ancient Forest Alaskan Humus)
.5 cf of BioChar (lots of brands out there or you can make your own...see the tube)
(1) Cup Neem/Karanja Cake (Been having a hard time finding this so feel free to substitute straight Neem Seed Meal)
(2) Cups Crap Meal
(2) Cups Shrimp Meal
(2) Cups Bio-Live (great general use fertilizer as its a combination of several things and is from the brand Down to Earth)
(2) Cups Fish Bone Meal
(2) Cups Langbeinite
(1) Cup Azomite
(1) Cup Alfalfa Meal
(1) Cup Bonemeal
(2) Cups Bio-Fish (from Down to Earth)
(2) Cups Soybean Meal
(1) Cup Glacial Rock Dust
(1) Cup Basalt
(2) Cups Gypsum
(1) Cup Fish Meal
(1) Cup Blood Meal
(3) Cups Greensand (They recently shut down the only Greensand mine opened in the USA, but supposedly Brazil has a mine that is filling the requirements.....but its still tough to find locally but available through the zon)
(1) Cup Seabird Guano
(1) Cup Bat Guano
(2) Cups Feather Meal (Great slow release N that won't burn plants and great for top dressings)
(2) Cups Oyster Shell Flour
(2) Cups Kelp Meal
(.5) Cup Rock Phosphate
(.5) Cup Dolomite Lime
(1) Tablespoon Humic Acid (powder)
(2) Tablespoon Azos (beneficial bacteria....can substitute with whatever is available)
(.5) Cup Mykos
(1) Cup Insect Frass


Doesn't really matter the order you mix anything....just get it good and mixed up. That amount will require about 5 gallons of water to get the cook going properly. Make sure to cook in temps above 70 degrees F for at least 30 days (I prefer waiting 45 when possible). Once cooked....store properly and keep damp and off any concrete floors (Set on pads of foam or something else to insulate from the cold suck).

This will generally get you start to finish with water only if the soil is cooked properly. I keep harping on that because that issue was the culprit in all troubles the last two winters. Soil just wasn't cooking properly down in the basement.

I have eliminated that issue this year by just picking up everything needed to make 200 gallons of our Stank Soil and getting it cooked up this week. Yes its heavy on amendments....too heavy in some people's minds, but when its cooked properly and being used in good environmental conditions, its a top notch soil that will yield heavy and produce top notch flowers.

I don't pH anything or even own a pH pen. All I use when I water my plants is water (rain water is the absolute best) and SNS-209 (systemic treatment against pests...basically just rosemary oil into soil drenches). Occasionally I will also add 1 Tablespoon of Hydrolized Fish/Seaweed Fertilizer (2-3-1) into a 5 gallon bucket of water if I am keeping the plants in small pots for a while. I am a huge fan of most any fish based fertilizer...the plants react immediately when I water it in.

Cheers!