Backyard Grow Like The Pros

Hi everyone, I've been debating whether or not to have a grow journal this year. I wasn't even sure if I would be allowed to keep my garden when my county considered a ban on outdoor growing. But we won that fight and the grow will go on. Feel free to post here and share your own grows.

I'm growing
Alien OG
Holy Grail Kush
Golden Gun
Spaceballs
Kens GDP
Sour Diesel
818 Headband
Deadhead OG
Chem4OG
Cherry Sherbet

This years starts

Golden Gun

Alien OG

Holy Grail Kush

SpaceBalls

Cherry Sherbet


I feel like I have a lot of good info to offer this year. Ive been collecting knowledge from other respected growers as well as my own experience and making notes of my favorite recipes and techniques that Ive tested. Here are a few that are guaranteed to please. I encourage anyone to read these first few posts before asking questions because Ive taken a lot of time to include all relevant info about the grow.

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Seed Spout Tea
1 . Rinse and soak 1/3 cup barley seeds in water for 8-10 hours.

2. Drain and discard water because the barley husks contain growth inhibitors. The barley shouldn't have started releasing her enzymes yet, so we won't lose any goodies by dumping the soak water.

3. Leave the seeds covered with wet hemp cloth or paper towel to sprout. Keep moist until their roots have grown as long as the seed itself; about a day or two. Warm temps are beneficial to sprouting and also to enzyme production.

4. Grind sprouted seeds with warm or room temp water in a blender until fully pulverized.

5. Add your blended seeds to 5 gallons of water.

This tea can be fed as often as you like, up until midway through flower. Then I recommend backing off and letting the ladies finish naturally.

PH and TEMPS for SST
**For optimal results, seeds should be soaked and sprouted in water that has a ph between 4.5 and 6.2. The temps should remain warm but never boiling. One study determined that a 10 degree increase in temps can result in 100% more enzyme production during sprouting. No matter what though, you will love the results you get from this tea.

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Lactobacillus Serum aka Labs
1) Rince a half cup of white rice in 2 cups of warm water and shake until cloudy. Strain out rice and save the rinse water. Discard rice.

2) Let starchy rice water sit under the sink for a week or two to attract beneficial bacteria from the air.

3) Mix 10 cups milk for every 1 cup rice water, and again allow to sit for a few days, while the milk begins to curdle. This isolates the beneficial lactobacillus bacteria. The milk solids will float to the top and leave a yellow liquid in the jar.

4) Strain and discard solids. Add 50/50 molasses to yellow liquid ratio to keep the lacto bacteria active. Your serum is now ready to be stored at room temp for up to 6 months. This can be used at 1/3 cup per gallon of water when watering plants, or it can be used at 1-2 tbs as a foliar to prevent/cure PM and to boost overall plant health.

*Rice and milk solids can be added to your compost pile.

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Ready-To-Use "Fridge Ferts"
1/4 cup kelp
1/4 cup alfalfa
1/4 molasses
2 cups water

Simply add kelp meal and alfalfa meal to warm water and soak for a few hours to rehydrate and soften. Then add molasses, run it through the blender and it's ready to go. Keep this in your fridge to you have your own ready to use liquid ferts anytime you need them. Use 1-3 tbs per gallon of water. Get creative and add whatever amendments you want, using this same basic concept. Put those expensive nutrient companies out of business. This recipe can be used in veg and the first half of flowering.

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Coconut Cubes
Coconut water is full of nutrients and beneficial enzymes, but the enzymes degrade quickly when exposed to high temps. Most coconut water on the market has been ruined by heat pasteurizing. For high quality, order raw coconut water like Harmless Harvest or find fresh green coconuts at the market and freeze in ice cube trays for future use.

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Compost Tea - The Corner Stone of Organic Gardening
2 cups compost
1 cup worm castings
3 tbs molasses
1/4 cup fulvic acid (optional)

For a well balanced tea I like to use worm castings and compost, but it can be just one or the other.

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FUNGAL TEA STARTER
You may want to make your own fungal tea starter. Just scoop up a handful or two of native soil from under a nice healthy tree. Moisten it with warm water with a tsp of molasses mixed in, and top with a handful of raw oatmeal. Fungus loves oatmeal. Keep this somewhere dark and moist like under the kitchen sink for a few days and it should develop a white fuzz on the soil. This is your fungi! You then use this to brew an act tea as described above.

 

Soil Recipe 2015
For each 10X10 of previously amended soil in my raised beds I add....
1 bag manure
1 bag compost
20 cups rock dust
5 lbs kelp
5 lbs alfalfa
3 lbs guano
3 lbs rock phosphate
4 lbs bone meal
4 cups neam meal
2 cups feather meal
4 cups green sand
4 cups lime

I also added some peat and perlite this year to fluff up the soil in my raised beds and hopefully help the roots spread farther. Plus I add tons of compost materials and dry leaves to the raised beds over the winter to boost their humic content.

For Potted Plants and Indoor Starts

1 cubic ft compost
1 cubic ft perlite
1 cubic ft peat moss
8 cups rock dust
1 cup kelp
1 cup alfalfa
1 cup bone meal
1/2 cup feather meal
1/2 cup neem meal
1/2 cup guano
1/2 cup rock phosphate
1/2 cup greensand
1 cup lime

Keep moist and let sit 4-6 weeks before using. You can start with bagged soil as the base instead of the peat/perlite/compost, but you will need to cut back to 1/2 cup of lime since the bagged soil almost always already has some lime. Other than that, it really doesn't matter if you make your own base or amend bagged soil, as long as you add good compost and amendments you'll be set.

 

ORGANIC PEST CONTROL
Spinosad - Safe bacteria based pesticide

Neem Oil- Safe and natural oil based pesticide

Azamax- Neem oil concentrate

Pyrethrin -Made from flowers. Kills on contact, but can stimulate breeding in mites if all specimens aren't killed. Oil based.

BT -Safe Bacteria based. Use for caterpillars only. Won't harm beneficials.

Silica can be added to any oil based spray as an emulsifier and to boost the plants natural immunities.

TOOLS FOR APPLICATION
Hudson Electric Fogger to save money on sprays and to reach deep within big plants/better more even coverage in a finer micron drop than normal pump sprayers.

Hose Sprayer to reach high up in trees and around the grow perimeter.

Pump Sprayer for everyday easy use. I will be using all three.

 

Times are changing, that's for sure. Ive had 99% positive interaction with the local police when it comes to my plants. Just the other day my daughters bike was stolen by some local teens and while I was filing the report, the cop asked if I was still growing and if I thought they might try to target my plants. He offered to patrol the neighborhood the next night for me just incase. So cool of him.

 

Hey Lightsout, good to see you buddy. Hopefully some time away has let the drama die down around here. You should start a journal
too. Only give it as much energy as you have to spare. For me the love of growing always brings me back.

 

I'm torn. The Norcal Only thread was awesome but I think it ran its course. In the end it just lead to problems because we all wanted to get close, trade clones, etc and that wasn't allowed. Maybe it's better to go back to being more anonymous. For a few seasons we had "The Growers Challenge" that was open to any outdoor growers who wanted to show off. I'd be willing to be in on a challenge thread again.

But anyone is welcome to post here also. Share info and make this the best resource in the outdoors grows.

 

My Golden Gun from Hillbilly Genetics is beasting out already at 5 feet wide. She is going to dominate the garden. Pushing the other plants out of the way like a linebacker.

 

Ah thanks Brass. You'll be a valuable resource to have along the way. I'll try my best to keep things positive this season. So far Ive been having a great season. My last two years were pretty rough. With the rippers one year, then my new guard pup destroying my starts the next season. Im hoping to knock it out of the park this year.

 

I got some help spraying down the garden last night with spinosad. I usually do all my own work in the garden, but I've been busy doing my own stunts instead. I busted my ass pretty bad the other day roller skating with my kids class on a field trip. I felt a crunch in my tailbone when I fell, then when I stood up I straight blacked out. Pretty sure I did some good damage. I probably looked like a heroin addict, passing out on the floor and sweating bullets when I came to. I'm glad to have gotten help spraying. It would suck to have pests take over while I'm injured.

Anyone battling pests this season? So far so good here, but growers all around me are battling russets so it's only a matter a time before I get my turn...

 

Thanks man. I'm really excited about this season. Nervous and excited at the same time. I've got a lot going for me with good genetics and well aged soil. But every year here I feel like I have a bigger target on my back from rippers. And the russet mites everyone has been battling can devastate, so I'm not counting my pounds before they're hatched....err um, however that saying goes.

Things seem quiet around here these days.

 

Yeah I've seen people having success with that and Nuke Em. I'm still sticking with my basic prevention and keeping a close eye with the scope. Trying to keep the girls clean from the start. Got a nice 200x celestron scope that hooks to the computer.

 

I've officially learned my lesson. It's hard to accept getting older but it's all good. Im still the cool fun mom for a few more years.

 

Alien OG photo drop