Here is the Rastallama grow journal... Trying for all organic and LOS. My base mix is ProMix HP:EWC 2:1 I use Tomato Tone, different Super Soils (Mass Whole) and I have some bags of kelp, alfalfa, neem... I have 2 bags of clover and barley for mulch but not too sure bout those yet indoors... I have some HeadBand from BCBD and assorted freebies from Attitude that have germinated indoor and outdoor recently... Nothing from my NYDiesel yet...
Very much looking forward to this. I like what I've seen so far Sent from my Nexus 7 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Fun day... The veggie and ganja garden are getting some sun... Planted the comfrey... Gonna put radishes and white clover in with the headband, straw mulch... Seems to be seedy... I hope they are dud seeds... not weedy seeds... Ugh... Mixed up a bunch more soil... 5 of 8 indoor seeds have sprouted, got a NYDiesel to show today... Planted a bunch of white clover and buckwheat mulch/cover in my 7 gal and 2 gal pots that are filled and waiting... Get things moving along...
Yeah... Indoors looking nice 3 days in. Rear L to R NYDiesel, 707Headband, 3 Freebies Outdoors looking happy as the sun sets... 10 days in HB and Fb Me and the Buddha smoke joints.
The 5 indoors got an aloe spray and soak tonight... I think that's their first watering... Getting ready to transplant to 2 gal buckets waiting with some mulch growing in em... I put the 2 outdoor in the ground today... It's been about 2 weeks in solo cups... I guess I could've let em go longer in there... Not sure... My crazy aunt dropped by while was napping and dropped a couple of squash plants in with my ganja! I replanted her squash and put the radishes down we had planned on "companion planting" with the Headband... All the mulch is coming up, buckwheat and clover... Next time when sowing those, I'll make sure not to cover them much/if at all... And maybe don't mulch the mulch with straw too... I did that outside... Well see if any of it grows out there... Der...
That's one good dude that comes by to help out... jon508 Finished all the walls and ceilings in both the veg and flower room... Moving things to more permanent places... Loving the layout... Gotta get fans and controllers and Mylar... Made a batch of chocolate cherry lemonade lil dankies... Friggen yum... Nice day out there... Lots of sun... The outdoors look nice... Should I add kelp/neem cake/alfalfa to my base soil mix or make teas and foliar/drench... Kelp AND alfalfa? One or the other? Prob be fine either way...
Here's what I would suggest First...ditch the "super soil." Based on 1 cu ft of your base mix: Use 1-2 cups of kelp 1/2-1 cup alfalfa 1/2-1 cup neem 1/2-1 cup crustacean meal (shrimp, crab, lobster etc...)* 2-4 cups rock dust (glacial rock dust, granite, basalt etc...)* *The tomato tone is unnecessary, but you can use a 1/2 cup if you want, it won't hurt. You're going to want to find some rock dust and I would suggest a crustacean meal for the chitin and ca. The neem, kelp and alfalfa can also be used to make some killer botanical teas that are great for foliar feeding and soil drenching. Any one of them alone, or any combo of the 3...all good. Combined with aloe, coconut water, fulpower and protekt...you've got a monster food and metabolite source. Alternate that with a pest control mixture and you'll grow without a hitch. Cover crop is good stuff. It'll take some time to sprout, but should make its way through your mulch as long as you didint pile it on too heavy. I use a mix on my indoor pots. Chopping and dropping the trimmings back into the pot is the trick to putting the nutrients back. If your seeds are inoculated with rhizobia, it'll be even more effective.
Thanks Beanus... That's all good info! Outdoors looks nice even though it's been pretty cool here lately... HB and FB outside with radishes clover and buckwheat Inside 5 doing their thing... Also chilly in here... The cheapo thermo on the wall says 65'ish... Is that HB look like it's too wet, or looking like it needs a bigger home? That NYDiesel came out ragged but straightened up nice... Did an aloe spray the other day... That was nice... Gonna do some coconut water for the pots with soil and mulch... Is coconut a fast acting nutrient or will it be available in 2 months? Werd
Looking good up in here, dude! You should grow a fuckload more buckwheat then use the hulls for making future soil mixes (awesome aeration). I also second everything Beanus said
Thanks for the love...^^^ Mixed up some alfalfa and kelp tea... Going to transplant from solo cups to 2 gal tomorrow... The NYDiesel is so odd, I heard Soma interviewed and he did say it can grow real odd but pays off big so I'll keep it and watch... Werd
@[member="cdphalanx"] when does buckwheat seed? I have a bunch outside too that I'll let go... I wasn't sure if I had to cut it and let it mulch back in to be useful like i did with my aloe... Welcome to the other folk coming thru! Found this "edible weeds" pic the other day if you're out and about looking for free fertilizers...
No idea when it seeds... i just know ive bought the hulls and use them I'm my soil. Haven't looked much into growing them yet... just saw you already had them going Sent from Mobile
Transplanted to 2gal pots with base mix and some tomato tone that cooked for about 4 weeks, 2 had clover and 2 had buckwheat on top, you can see a layer of buckwheat in the 2gal before I pop the NYD in... Sprayed and drenched with my tea, that's their first "feeding" and they look hungry! Lots of roots so hopefully I'll get lots of growth! That NYD is so funny looking, i wonder if it's me or "her"...
Honestly Im thinking the ph might be a little off just looking at the pic of all the seedlings especially the diesel, that might be the cause of the wrinklyness
That would be very interesting since all the organic forums "shun" ph since the soil is supposed to self adjust... The purple in the stems has actually retreated a bit... Maybe... That's just by eyeball... So hopefully it was just transplant and tea... Thanks for the tip!
yea Ive heard that as well, but, if your runoffs ph is off...somethings not going at full potential, organic or not
Hmmm I'd lay off of the teas, RL. Those babies are so tiny! I doubt that they need extra feeding. pH should not be an issue assuming that you built your soil correctly and it is based off of high quality living compost. I don't own a pH pen nor have I ever checked the pH or TDS of my water. I also use super high quality compost and vermicompost.
LD explaining why checking the pH of runoff is pointless, and giving you two methods of checking pH that actually matters (soil and plant) The cations/ions in a soil which affect the pH carry a "+" charge which means that it is held in the rhizosphere by the "-" charged ions, i.e. humic and fulvic acids (from your EWC and compost) as well as clay particles. This electrical charge dynamic is what holds the 6 basic soil cations/ions in place - even with flushing. Those cations (in their elemental forms) are: Magnesium (Mg++), Calcium (Ca++), Potassium (K+) Sodium (Na+) which are the alkaline cations/ions. On the other side are the acid base cations/ions: Hydrogen (H+) and Aluminum (Al+) and remember it's the Hydrogen (H) that is 'H' in pH Back to the electrical charges of the cations/ions. When you 'flush' a plant with massive amounts of water you're doing very little in removing any of the natural minerals in the soil and that's because they're held first by the electrical charge and secondly by the 'slime' that the bacteria create and envelop around humus, minerals, etc. Chemical-based products carry a negative charge - look at any of the ingredients in a chemical 'fertilizer' and check it at Wikipedia.com and you'll notice that each and every one carries a negative charge. What that means is that when you apply enough water to get some kind of run-off, the negative ions are removed from the soil. This 'run off' tells you absolutely nothing about the soil pH and even less (if that's possible) about the water's pH. It's absurd on any level - forget science it doesn't even pass the logic test. If you want to test your soil's pH then dig down a couple of inches and collect a tsp. or so of soil and make a slurry with a known water source (purity, pH, blah, blah, blah) and then measure that. At least now you'll have some basis to make whatever adjustments you feel are warranted. The real way to test the health of your soil is to remove a large fan leaf from the plant with a substantial stem from the stalk to the leaf. Take that opening on the cut and measure the plant's pH - it should be a 6.4 pH which is the same level in the saliva of a healthy person. One other thing - if you are going to grow and feel that a pH of 7.3 requires emergency action then I can guarantee you that you're in for quite a ride. Wait until insects land in your garden. Then there's the various molds/mildews that are always a lot of fun. HTH LD Anytime I see the letters "pH", I wonder if the speaker knows what pH is a measure of besides "acidity" or "alkalinity". ......The pH things gets to me lol.........