secret of healthy soil: carbon hoarding

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
I may have screwed up my durban poison. Gave em half strength pura vida -- which is already mild (2-6-6). They sure puffed up the last couple of days! Lots of new white hairs too. Growing sativa isn't easy. I never have these problems with my indica plants...
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I feel ya, I don't get to flower my sativa strains that often. I'll just sell the clones to those fortunate enough to do barn grows. Mostly I flower cross strains. Long but fat leaves. about a foot and some inches stretch once they hit flower. Fat golf ball and egg shaped nugs that space about an inch apart along its branches. Strains that grow like that are always keepers for me. Always a solid yield with nice dense nugs but without the risk of budrot and mold that comes with the cornstalk shaped nugs. On the occasion I am taking care of one of my longer flowering girls...a healthy amount of neem meal at the beginning of flower, and fresh top dressings of compost, worm castings, and kelp at about week five seems to keep them happy through all twelve weeks. Lots of crab meal and oyster shell flour are super beneficial in Sativa's and longer flowering strains.
 

Chunky Stool

Well-Known Member
I feel ya, I don't get to flower my sativa strains that often. I'll just sell the clones to those fortunate enough to do barn grows. Mostly I flower cross strains. Long but fat leaves. about a foot and some inches stretch once they hit flower. Fat golf ball and egg shaped nugs that space about an inch apart along its branches. Strains that grow like that are always keepers for me. Always a solid yield with nice dense nugs but without the risk of budrot and mold that comes with the cornstalk shaped nugs. On the occasion I am taking care of one of my longer flowering girls...a healthy amount of neem meal at the beginning of flower, and fresh top dressings of compost, worm castings, and kelp at about week five seems to keep them happy through all twelve weeks. Lots of crab meal and oyster shell flour are super beneficial in Sativa's and longer flowering strains.
These poor plants have been through a lot. Cloned em from a sick mom -- who subsequently died. They have never looked good. Fan leaves in veg looked like pale, dried up leather. In flower about 90% of the fan leaves have just dropped off on their own. The buds actually have potential when examined under magnification. They just need to tighten up a LOT.
 

MynameisSolo

Well-Known Member
I love threads like this,, there is no secret to healthy soil. just give your soil the basics make a decent well rounded compost with lots of greens and manures have a few worm farms and before you know it.
it will out perform amended soils, I see it first hand comparing it to friends grows you know the typical amended soil vs all natural

Not only do my plants out grow them, but out yield them also , what gives
anyways got to go throw some more scraps into my fall leaf filled compost bin that should be ready for use in 7 months time next spring :) and feed my worm farms
IMG5195.jpg IMG5185.jpg IMG5198.jpg
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
I love threads like this,, there is no secret to healthy soil. just give your soil the basics make a decent well rounded compost with lots of greens and manures have a few worm farms and before you know it.
it will out perform amended soils, I see it first hand comparing it to friends grows you know the typical amended soil vs all natural

Not only do my plants out grow them, but out yield them also , what gives
anyways got to go throw some more scraps into my fall leaf filled compost bin that should be ready for use in 7 months time next spring :) and feed my worm farms
View attachment 3819485 View attachment 3819487 View attachment 3819488
looks like the type of dinner that odanksta would cook.
 

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
These poor plants have been through a lot. Cloned em from a sick mom -- who subsequently died. They have never looked good. Fan leaves in veg looked like pale, dried up leather. In flower about 90% of the fan leaves have just dropped off on their own. The buds actually have potential when examined under magnification. They just need to tighten up a LOT.
Yikes! Cloning from a sick mother is never a good start. Best to nurse her back to health and then take clones. I had a hard time with my boss hog strain, it's such a finicky plant but it produces fantastic bud. Clones off it were never strong, cause the mother was never strong. When I made my switch to organic, after a couple different tries though I finally got it right and got the mother looking healthy. Now she gives me the healthiest clones that root faster than any of my other strains.
 

MynameisSolo

Well-Known Member
looks like the type of dinner that odanksta would cook.
Don't know who you are talking about ????? I know my plants go ape shit over it including my veggie garden i make about 3- 4 yards of compost this way. mixed into sterilized top soil each spring.
Then apply one tea application to activate it all
Ad my EWC and live worms eggs and all into my own made 50 gallon air pots for green house grow IMG4808.jpg IMG4614.jpg IMG4307.jpg
 

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
Don't know who you are talking about ????? I know my plants go ape shit over it including my veggie garden i make about 3- 4 yards of compost this way. mixed into sterilized top soil each spring.
Then apply one tea application to activate it all
Ad my EWC and live worms eggs and all into my own made 50 gallon air pots for green house grow View attachment 3819496 View attachment 3819501 View attachment 3819505
Homemade compost and castings is the way to go! Nice looking garden fam! Do you mulch your garden with anything? What do you make your compost from? I've been doing leaves, coffee grounds, and rabbit manure. That mixed with the castings from my worm bin. I do indulge with some crab shell meal, kelp, oyster shell flour when I reamend my soil. I miss it in my containers when I dont mix it in. Malted barley makes it into my top dressing along with neem meal. But that's a new addition to my regimen. I'll have more data on it after a couple more uses.
 

Chunky Stool

Well-Known Member
I still haven't decided how I'll grow my next round. Coco, promix, gritty kitty, organic??? My last organic mix did not work so well. PH was too low and it didn't have enough compost/castings (carbon?)
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
Don't know who you are talking about ????? I know my plants go ape shit over it including my veggie garden i make about 3- 4 yards of compost this way. mixed into sterilized top soil each spring.
Then apply one tea application to activate it all
Ad my EWC and live worms eggs and all into my own made 50 gallon air pots for green house grow View attachment 3819496 View attachment 3819501 View attachment 3819505
those look nearly identical to chunky tool's "hillbilly" air pots.

i think i smell a real shitty sock!
 

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
i did blue/yellow corn sst's all summer it's work plain simple pain in the ass , it works real well too bongsmilie.
ground malted corn my next gro
Sprouted Corn does wonders for side branching and node spacing. I mainly use it in veg and when i first flip. Thesproutedflour.net is where i find mine. A little pricey but its nice not having to worry about it unevenly sprouting.
 

MynameisSolo

Well-Known Member
Yes i make my own Air pots , my compost consists mainly of kitchen veggie scraps.
My soil consists of sterilized top soil, i order about 6 yards per year , and mix 40 percent compost 50 percent top soil 10 percent EWC ..
I top dress grass clippings through out veg and in fall top dress potato peels for that extra P
potato peels have the most nutrients 0z per oz of anything else
i use Collected rain water only My soils take me from start to finish with no issues IMG4284.jpg IMG5144.jpg
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
Yes i make my own Air pots , my compost consists mainly of kitchen veggie scraps.
My soil consists of sterilized top soil, i order about 6 yards per year , and mix 40 percent compost 50 percent top soil 10 percent EWC ..
I top dress grass clippings through out veg and in fall top dress potato peels for that extra P
potato peels have the most nutrients 0z per oz of anything else
i use Collected rain water only My soils take me from start to finish with no issues View attachment 3819644 View attachment 3819649
nice leaves.
 

MynameisSolo

Well-Known Member
Thank you i found my curve in organic growing , and personally do not think i need to add anything as in amendments .
4th year using same concept i just add my compost and top dress mulches.
And let mother nature take care of the rest ph and microbes etc

You cannot get it any better then that
Best investment for any grower new or old is a simple worm farm i started it couple years back now have like 8 farms and millions of live worms and eggs .
I started giving away farms to other growers and Families.

. Almost thought it might be a great business idea ?? selling living worm farms and dummy instructions on how to maintain them ..
I still might try it Semi retired here.

Me and my best friend never leaves home with out me lol shot of one worm farm, cut out some old tires going to test them how they might keep soil temps warmer as well a slug deterrent..
and open compost IMG4605.jpg IMG4582mmvaKNMZOVMVLL.jpg IMG4584.jpg IMG4583.jpg
 

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
Yes i make my own Air pots , my compost consists mainly of kitchen veggie scraps.
My soil consists of sterilized top soil, i order about 6 yards per year , and mix 40 percent compost 50 percent top soil 10 percent EWC ..
I top dress grass clippings through out veg and in fall top dress potato peels for that extra P
potato peels have the most nutrients 0z per oz of anything else
i use Collected rain water only My soils take me from start to finish with no issues View attachment 3819644 View attachment 3819649
Pretty girl with flowers in her hair.

Do you do anything for aeration in your soil?
 

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
Thank you i found my curve in organic growing , and personally do not think i need to add anything as in amendments .
4th year using same concept i just add my compost and top dress mulches.
And let mother nature take care of the rest ph and microbes etc

You cannot get it any better then that
Best investment for any grower new or old is a simple worm farm i started it couple years back now have like 8 farms and millions of live worms and eggs .
I started giving away farms to other growers and Families.

. Almost thought it might be a great business idea ?? selling living worm farms and dummy instructions on how to maintain them ..
I still might try it Semi retired here.

Me and my best friend never leaves home with out me lol shot of one worm farm, cut out some old tires going to test them how they might keep soil temps warmer as well a slug deterrent..
and open compost View attachment 3819662 View attachment 3819663 View attachment 3819664 View attachment 3819666
Enough about growing, let's talk about your adorable dog for a minute! Super super cute. I want a husky sooo bad!!! After losing my last sheep dog and my boxer I didn't want another dog because I took em both pretty hard. But my wife brought home a chiuaua/pug mutt puppy that one of her bar regulars neighbors left behind when they moved out. And I was sucked into dog world all over again. Now we've got two little guys but I miss having a big dog and I want one I can take out with me in the winter. After we move this spring into a bigger place I'm gonna start looking for one that'll get along with my little guys.
 

MynameisSolo

Well-Known Member
Pretty girl with flowers in her hair.

Do you do anything for aeration in your soil?
I usually air layer my soil with dead branches so soil , then some branches.
Setting them like a scrog table putting them one way then the other then re apply soil, then more branches branches etc
I also add lots of dry leaf which gives soil even more gas exchange capacity
 
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