Shwag's Indoor Organic Perpetual Medical Garden Adventure.

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
Wassup with ladies boss?! Been wondering bout ya?!

Everything graavy?! :joint:
I stopped using AACTS and I'm just using straight oxygenated water and ACTS for awhile. Something is amiss and I need to straighten shit out. Yields and density is not where it should be.

I've had 5 or 6 plants in a row that have not been of the health I've grown to expect. Their yields and quality have suffered. I can't exactly put my finger on why so I'm going back to the basics and things appear to be semi ok now. I will try to get some pics up this weekend. I'm starting to think that my SS is uber hot, and the strong AACTS may be a bit too much for them. My yields are down 50% and I'm using more wattage than I was this time last year :O

Strictly ACTS with subcultures, mollases, fish and seaweed for awhile to see how they respond.
 

Sincerely420

New Member
I stopped using AACTS and I'm just using straight oxygenated water and ACTS for awhile. Something is amiss and I need to straighten shit out. Yields and density is not where it should be.

I've had 5 or 6 plants in a row that have not been of the health I've grown to expect. Their yields and quality have suffered. I can't exactly put my finger on why so I'm going back to the basics and things appear to be semi ok now. I will try to get some pics up this weekend. I'm starting to think that my SS is uber hot, and the strong AACTS may be a bit too much for them. My yields are down 50% and I'm using more wattage than I was this time last year :O

Strictly ACTS with subcultures, mollases, fish and seaweed for awhile to see how they respond.
Yeahhh damn that's no good bro!
And what are subcultures? You need either compost or some soil to introduce microbes in #s to the AACT.
Uless subcultures are microbes, I feel like that tea recipe won't cut it bro.The Molasses and Neptunes harvest on't help add to those numbers! The NH should a nit, but the molasses is just a food for the microbes..

Haveyou checked the soil ph? Most likely you pushed it outta wack some how.
What about the nutes youve added to the soil and the nutes they need? Do you have everything they need covered?

And how have you been using the AACTs bro? Which ingredients have been going into yours?
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
Yeahhh damn that's no good bro!
And what are subcultures? You need either compost or some soil to introduce microbes in #s to the AACT.
Uless subcultures are microbes, I feel like that tea recipe won't cut it bro.The Molasses and Neptunes harvest on't help add to those numbers! The NH should a nit, but the molasses is just a food for the microbes..

Haveyou checked the soil ph? Most likely you pushed it outta wack some how.
What about the nutes youve added to the soil and the nutes they need? Do you have everything they need covered?

And how have you been using the AACTs bro? Which ingredients have been going into yours?
Yoyoyoyoyo what up playaaaaa.

Yes subcultures are beneficial microbes. These are what I use.

General Hydroponics Subculture B

General Hydroponics Subculture M

For my AACTS, I've been using the following:

Dry Ingredients - Worm Castings and N Guano, occasional lime and or epsom salts. Sub B and Sub M now and again.
Wet Ingredients - Buddha Bloom

The plants I have in super soil cut with pro mix seem to be responding well. At least the light feeders do so far. I'm doing some experimenting with the remainder of my subcool mix to see what's up. Since I stopped using Co2 everything has gone to hell.

I may still use some AACTS moving forward, but I don't think I need to use them with the frequency I was. Once every two weeks would probably be fine with a super soil, maybe alternate weekly with microbial teas.

RE the soil PH. I have a cheap ass tester for the soil, but those things are absolutely worthless. I have not collected runoff, filtered it and PH tested it, no. I'm not about to flush all of my plants, so if the PH is out of whack its out of whack because of something I put into it. Basically I'm going to stop putting shit into it except mostly water more or less, then I can start to experiment with a smaller sample if I want to change things, rather than start pouring shit to everything in my tents. Just makes more sense to me.... After I did it bass ackwards lol. Honestly I'm just not that experienced with teas, and I feel like I'm feeding them too much.

But you're probably right, the PH is probably out of whack from something I've put into the soil or teas. Pretty likely since I march to my own beat and tend to get carried away with trying shit lol. Time to get back to the basics for me.
 

Sincerely420

New Member
I think your prob comes in not using compost or soil in your AACTs bro! The source of compost you add is the most important thing to the tea bro.
The General Hydroponics M won't do anything in your teas as mycos need roots to establish them reproduce them in an AACT bro! And the subculture B is bacterially dominated which is idea for veg rather than flower!

I think that's your prob man! I could be wrong, but it seems very logical!

And IMO, a little lime goes a long way boss! Go be you pH a little high man?! But why not just get a bag of compost lol?! And an exhale co2 bag to hold you over?!
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
I will occasionally use my super soil in my AACTS, usually 1 cup per 8 gallons with the castings in a nylon sock. Mostly just vermicompost as its a bit cleaner and makes less mess. I must admit that although I love the concept of tea, its fucking messy and I'm going through 8-12 gallons of water per day with these skanks lol. I don't dig the dry ingredients. I use lime about once per month either in tea (1/2 cup per 8 gallons) or top dressing on plants 3 Tbsp per 8 gallon container for plants halfway through flower or more. I don't think I ever really need it which is another reason why I shouldn't even use it lol.

For AACT I feel like this is a decent recipe, and the last one I applied. I usually apply every 5-7 days, subcultures are usually every other tea application:

8 gallons of well water
1-2 cups Vermicompost aka worm castings
2/3 cup N guano
1 cup Roots Organics Buddha bloom (2 tbspn/gallon)
Subculture B
Subculture M
Molasses 15ml/gallon
Neptune's Harvest 15ml/gallon


This is brewed for 48-72 hours with a 320 GPH air pump with 2 ceramic airstones which produce foam to the top of the container.

I only added the N guanos when the KF started yellowing.....But something is out of balance, that's for sure. My KF will end up yielding maybe 1.5 oz in an 8 gallon container, about 30-40% of what I think is her yield potential. I should be able to achieve that with bag soil. I have been eyeballing Ancient Forest or Alaskan Hummus as an additive, but again I'm not a fan of using dry ingredients so I'm seeking something cleaner and easier. A nice compost would be nice to know that its even more diverse.

Buddha Bloom

Ingredients: Bat Guano, Worm Castings, Soy Protein Hydrolysate, Kelp Extract (Ascophyllum Nodosum), Molasses, Yucca Extract.

Also contains: 0.25% ..... Humic Acid (derived from Leonardite).

Subculture M

Subculture M.jpg

Subculture B

Subculture B.jpg

I can bubble the Buddha Bloom by itself and it makes a nice looking tea. I used it on my first grow in FFOF with nothing but lime and cal mag occasionally and it performed with amazing results.

My logic is that the sub b (diverse bacteria and trichoderma fungi) and m (Mycorrhizal fungi), liquid kelp, neptunes harvest and molasses should be plenty microbial influence to just help break down what's already in the soil and assist in nutrient uptake. Considering I've been adding plenty of additional nutrients via AACTS into the soil, which is already packed with organic nutrients while my yields are declining, perhaps AACT's are not the way to go for me until I know what's going on in the soil.

I will pick a ripe plant and water with PH water to get some runoff and test PH levels and PPM tonight. Probably a good idea to see if there are any indicators. Thanks for making me think it through S420!

Further comments welcome!
 

Sincerely420

New Member
That's wassup bro! Check out @cannabication The Compost Tea Brewing Manual! Some AMAZING information abound bro!

And looking at that recipe I think you need to rethink it just a bit bro.

the vermicompost is full of microbes yeah, but mainly bacteria fixing microbes, while regular compost has a fuller array.
Using worm castings as a tea base is now more of a veg thing as far as I've learned, you need some compost during flower!

Also the bhudda bloom. It's 100% solube, so I'm not sure that it has a place in the AACT bro...There's nothing to break free from it's binding within that liquid right?? And I've learned that the mycos can turn the tea into like a slime, so they should be added at the very end of the brew. They needs to come into contact with the roots to germ, so there's no reason to really apply it to your AACTs.
And you're using everything liquid in the teas, which presents less surface area for any fungi to grow from on bacteria to grow on!
That's what some of the solids are for in the teas boss...Surface area for microbes.

I think it's just the ingredients your choosing and how your using them bro. And I know you're not a noob so I'm CERTAINLY not talking you down, as I look up to you....Just throwing some thought out for ya

Hit that Compost Tea Brewing Manual up and Teaming with Microbes one more time!

And if your just mixing them to get them into the soil, maybe just aerate your water and then use the bhudda bloom and subcultures as instructed, or how you were the first time around?! :joint:
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
That's wassup bro! Check out @cannabication The Compost Tea Brewing Manual! Some AMAZING information abound bro!

And looking at that recipe I think you need to rethink it just a bit bro.

the vermicompost is full of microbes yeah, but mainly bacteria fixing microbes, while regular compost has a fuller array.
Using worm castings as a tea base is now more of a veg thing as far as I've learned, you need some compost during flower!

Also the bhudda bloom. It's 100% solube, so I'm not sure that it has a place in the AACT bro...There's nothing to break free from it's binding within that liquid right?? And I've learned that the mycos can turn the tea into like a slime, so they should be added at the very end of the brew. They needs to come into contact with the roots to germ, so there's no reason to really apply it to your AACTs.
And you're using everything liquid in the teas, which presents less surface area for any fungi to grow from on bacteria to grow on!
That's what some of the solids are for in the teas boss...Surface area for microbes.

I think it's just the ingredients your choosing and how your using them bro. And I know you're not a noob so I'm CERTAINLY not talking you down, as I look up to you....Just throwing some thought out for ya

Hit that Compost Tea Brewing Manual up and Teaming with Microbes one more time!

And if your just mixing them to get them into the soil, maybe just aerate your water and then use the bhudda bloom and subcultures as instructed, or how you were the first time around?! :joint:
Thanks again S420, your input is very appreciated. I can see you've been doing ALOT of reading lol. Why read when I have you to offer input ahahaha.

You're right, the Buddha Bloom is mostly soluble nutrients, but it seems to still bring beneficial microbes to the table through its ingredients. The idea behind it was to provide some soluble nutrients as well as beneficial microbes to assist in breaking down the heavy supply of nutrients in the soil with a single additive. Which is why I don't feed with it with a high frequency. I know a lot of guys that use bag soil use tea for every feeding. That's too much cleaning and mixing for me after using super soil for a couple years lol.

You're exactly right about the mycos, they can be added just before application, but I've never noticed any sludging or anything from it. I'm going to take a break from teas for a minute and then come back with a re-formulated recipe and run it by you to see what you think. They will most likely only be occasional from here on out due to time constraints in conjunction with the issues I've had lately.

Any way I look at it whatever I'm doing is hurting my quality and yields. Considering I had better results without any tea, what I'm doing isn't even necessary, so a break is good. Its time to get back to what I was doing a few months ago and just crank dank, then slowly introduce a new recipe to see if it improves anything. I have too many uncertainties right now as far as my next soil mix and modifying my tea recipes, I need to straighten things out then I'll start making some small changes again.

Have you ever used or heard of ancient forest?

SB
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
OK, so i couldn't help but go and meter a plant I chopped yesterday still in soil. I just did the following processes.

Watered with PH 6.0 160ppm with runoff.
Collected the first 64 ounces or so of her runoff.
Agitated the runoff.
Filtered the runoff with a coffee filter and metered.....

PH = 6.7
PPM = 1850

The soil is still plenty hot and the PH is high like we thought. This is from a plant that's been flowering for 8-9 weeks. PH is not so high that it should cause any significant issues. I don't really know if this tells me anything valuable, perhaps I should meter some super soil and see how it comes back lol.
 

Sincerely420

New Member
First off, I just picked up a bag of ancient forest recently and I'll keep it on deck as long as I can't compost my own!
I picked up a bag and mixed it in with the latest soil mix that I made last week!
During the veg stage I'll use EWCs as a base for my teas tho, rather than compost.
Once I flip to flower I'll start transitioning to the compost based teas..

But basically maybe your not really making a tea ya know?! Seems like it to me so far...
I feel like you have to use vermicompost or compost as a base since that's where the brunt of the microbes will come from.

Everything else you add to the tea will serve as food different microbes. Different foods serve different purposes ya know?!
So you gotta be selective in choosing them. The bennies feast on the food you give them and mulitply.
They hold a percentage of what they feast off of and release the rest of it into the tea in plant form ya know?!

So you really gotta pick and choose what you use!
Just seems like it's gotta be something to do with what your using ya know?!
And the pH is right on if it's 6.7 so hmmmmm :confused:

Maybe just back track to doing what you did ya know?! Find out what went array and when!
I keep a note of all the subtle changes I make in the routine so that I've always got a culprit for the issue lol!

You'll be good tho bro! #Cannabication is there for ya haha
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
Well I put in 6.0 and it came out 6.7. That leads me to believe the root zone is somewhere in the mid 7 range or so, higher than I'd like it to be. I'm going to leech my flowering plants and water them with a heavy dose of 6.0 to meter them and see what the results are over the next couple weeks. The ppms of my medium were high enough for me to just stop with AACTs altogether and concentrate more on just microbial growth for the time being. A plant that's finished and still meters at 1850 ppm is some hot shit lol.

You're right about the subculture B, its mostly bacteria except trichoderma. Most of the bacterias are not directly helping to uptake nutrients or break down organics, rather populate the root zone and fight against pathogens while enduring environmental stress. Good things, but I'm going to diversify the microbial populations with some some super soil in small amounts and brew this batch up. The super soil has all of it in there, just waiting to be brewed up. Thanks for the discussion boss, its helped me get my bearings again!
 

Sincerely420

New Member
Ahh ok about the pH lol! Shows my ignorance in that! I thought that 6.7 would have been the pH :confused: Lol.

And all good brother! It just talking to somebody else that helps you see things you didn't before lol. Like I'm sure you already knew everything or most of what I was saying, you just didn't think about it in that way i guess lol. That's why I LOVE this sight man! I'm trying to look out for ppl that I know will look out for me and are doing their thing ya know?!

That way when all this dust clears, I already have a nice network haha! But in the mean time, it's just good to have knowledgeable ppl thinking for ya you know?!

But I'm about to call it a night early tonight! Roll something up and catch up on Walking Dead then KONK OUT!

Take it easy brada :peace:
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
& The verdict is lol?!

Hope all is good with you brotherman :peace:
What's up guy? Things are looking a little better. I upcanned some shit last night into super soil and cut it about 25% with pro mix and a little extra perlite. Just going with water now and ACTS now and again. I used super soil and castings for dry ingredients, and the other stuff we were talking about for wet. It made a nice looking tea with some more clarity than the AACTS.

No decision on the soil but I need to make one soon b/c I'm down to about 15 gallons of SS and I need to get some shit cookin'.

I have some plants ready to come down and no time to trim them lol.

Jackberry (throwing a few male flowers) Kevorkian, AK47, Lemonhead are all ready. Too much work and no time for gardening. Kevorkian looks pretty nice, the JB not bad, but the AK and Lemonhead have some crispy foliage like I've been seeing on some recent harvests. I think the plants in lightened SS are looking better. I've been PH adjusting my water with lemon juice down closer to 6.0-6.4 once it comes to room temp too, so improvements could be attributed to a few different adjustments.

Less feeding, lower PH and lighter flowering mix basically.

On Deck for flower - AK47 (always keep them pumping through), Lemonhead, El Monstre.

Recently added - AK47, Super Lemon Haze.

Querkle bush is coming along nicely, although the Q I put in previous looks great for node spacing and frostiness, its not bulking yet so I hope it starts adding weight soon. Sorry for the lack of pics, time is thin :( This is why I never started a journal! lol
 

Sincerely420

New Member
Lol! I'm over here like damn what's goin on with Swag?
But yeahh man, prolly could guessed working hard..

And nice that everything is coming back around man! And that you started using the supersoil to make teas!
That should help you out a lot right there. Make sure you smell them during different stages of the brew as well! The smell is a good key to the liveliness of the tea bro!

And let me know how things go as far s pHing with the lemon juice. Def. intereted in that! I'll stand by for pics tho lol. Just had to bump this as I haven't heard from ya, or seen any dankness lately :leaf:

And sucks about the male flowers man...Beech said he got BALLS right now damn! I'm looking like sensi and nothing but atm!
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
Lol! I'm over here like damn what's goin on with Swag?
But yeahh man, prolly could guessed working hard..

And nice that everything is coming back around man! And that you started using the supersoil to make teas!
That should help you out a lot right there. Make sure you smell them during different stages of the brew as well! The smell is a good key to the liveliness of the tea bro!

And let me know how things go as far s pHing with the lemon juice. Def. intereted in that! I'll stand by for pics tho lol. Just had to bump this as I haven't heard from ya, or seen any dankness lately :leaf:

And sucks about the male flowers man...Beech said he got BALLS right now damn! I'm looking like sensi and nothing but atm!
Thanks for checking in brother :joint:

I will share soon even though it doesn't look that great lol.

Not too worried about the flowers, but not happy about them either. I finished this one once without any notice of them either which is weird. Just a few here and there so I'm just letting them fly for now. Might have a few seeds here and there from fucking the neighbors but shouldn't be too bad.

My veg boxes are jammed full so i need to put these ladies into the afterlife asap!

Lemon juice works great dude. I'm done with the PH down. I just get the squirt bottles and use enough until I get where I need to be.
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
Interesting you feel that lemon juice is a good long term PH down/ never thought their was any validity to that and aren't you concerned about the acid affecting your beni bac/fungi colonies?? or are you constantly inoculating the soil?? Sulfur is a good long term organic ph down BUT will also not play nice with the beneficial bacteria. In the end if it works for you, go for it

Girls look great brother!! .................ah that ASS!!!lol
 
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