Let me first offer an explanation for the title of this thread. Still being a (novice) student of organics, I eagerly crafted my own "outdoor mix" to be used on 5 plants at the beginning of this summer. As it turned out, my eagerness and lack of planning had manifested itself in the soil I was so confident in. Two weeks after transplant, my plants had grown quite a bit, but were suffering badly from extreme leaf curl, impairing their ability to photosynthesize. This, in turn, resulted in stunted and stressed plants. To be sure, I fucked up. The soil was not allowed to complete a proper nutrient cycling and ended up burning my plants badly. This thread is my redemption. In response to my past mistake, I crafted what I think to be a decent mix and gave it a month and a half to "cook." The starter mix: 1/3 cup kelp meal 3 cups EWC 1/3 cup compost 1/3 cup finished mix (The remainder consists of ProMix and perlite, both of which bring the total volume of the mix to about 1 gallon) The finished mix: 1 cu ft Promix .5 cu ft finished compost .25 cu ft EWC 1.5 cups kelp meal 1 cup neem meal 1/2 cup Dr. Earth's vegan mix (soybean meal, rock phosphate, alfalfa meal, langbeinite, humic shale ore, azomite, Acadian kelp meal and greensand) 1/4 cup soft rock phosphate 1/2 cup crab shell meal The strains being used in the mix are SAGE from TH Seeds and Blue Widow from Dinafem. I plan on a tentative vegetative period of six weeks for both. Their home is a 2' x 2' x 4' 6" tent. They will be growing under a Blackstar LED and a 125W compact fluorescent. Because of issues with heat, this setup can't really tolerate much more heat output. I would love to have more power, but I am only growing my own stash and I think I can accomplish what I want with these two lights. This is my attempt at organic redemption so feel free to follow along and help me out along the way. Onward, comrades!
Woo-Hoo! Me too! MXgrower does awesome things with LEDs. You will, too! Best of luck to you, Carlo. See ya...
Thanks for hopping on board, guys As of today I have two healthy, green sprouts reaching for the spaceship!
Some outrageously exciting photos. Next time I get a chance I will snag my girlfriends D3000 for a photo shoot.
Awesome Tent of Redemption Carlo, interested to see how this all plays out... I've heard good things about the SAGE.
Thanks man. I wasn't actually planning on running SAGE with the Blue Widow, but I did some searching and it really seemed like it stood out to a lot of people who grew it. I've got high hopes for both, but I am especially looking forward to trying it.
Hell yeah dude, that wall of SAGE bud in that vertical Srog on Possum's thread was quite impressive, hope she produces abundant amounts of greatness to make up for this summers loss for you. The Blue Widow seems to be pretty nitrogen efficient, a lot of growers get clawing with her from slamming her with too much N... I like plants like this, because even tho they are hard to grow they are a pleasure to smoke when done right.
Thanks for the info. The only major N source I have in my finished soil mix is neem meal and only added 1 cup. I was planning on making some alfalfa/kelp teas so I will start applying them in a light dose when that time comes to make sure I don't burn it. Don't tease me with talk of smoke, I still have another 16 weeks to go
Hey thanks for the good vibes, man. Glad to have you along. I hope to present some big healthy plants for your ogling
Just finished a nice warm glass of rooibos/passionflower tea and a joint on this wonderful fall-like evening. I'm going to try not to fall asleep now I should be able to snag the D3000 this weekend and snap some more (outrageously exciting) photos of the young ones. They are coming along quite nicely!
Here's a little music for you guys mostly because I just feel like it. That, I am excited to brew a mini batch of compost tea for the young ones. Enjoy! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmQFwIKsU1U"]Amos Lee - Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight (Live @ Abbey Road) - YouTube[/ame]
As promised, I have some high quality pictures of some high quality plants! Today marks the end of week 2 from breaking the surface and I have to say that I am happy with the pace of growth thus far. Both plants have nicely sized leaves that are getting bigger every day. All of the foliage is a beautiful shade of green: the kind that makes you feel like you're doing something right. I drenched both plants with a EWC tea foliar that has just a pinch of kelp meal in it for good measure. I plan on applying an alfalfa/kelp meal nutrient tea soon, although it will be very diluted. I luckily have the weekend with my significant other and by extension, I get to spend the weekend with her camera In sum, the last couple days have been awesome and having healthy plants waiting for me at home only supplements the positivity. Here are a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy your weekend, blades! SAGE Blue Widow (if I should be concerned with the minor droopiness, let me know) The pair The hovering unidentified object
Nice going Carlo- you started your seeds 11 days after me and they are a few times the size! I'm taking notes!
Thanks man! The starter mix I used is listed on the first page if you're interested. I can't take credit for it but I think it is working well so far! Today I began making an alfalfa/kelp tea that I am going to let sit for a couple days and then dilute and store. I can't wait to see how that works. I also top dressed with my homemade compost today and watered it in. I want these things to start cranking!