Blaze's 2013 Endeavor

[Blaze]

The light dep greenhouse is finally all finished except for the irrigation system which will hopefully be done by next week. I snapped a bunch of pics of the construction to show how it was put together. Total dimensions are 12' x 40' x 8.5' high. The lower frame was made all of 2 x 6s, with a 4 x 6 beam across the middle for support. The internal frame is all made out of 2 x 4's. The PVC is all 1.25" - I find it to be much sturdier than 1". The 1.25 also fits perfectly over metal grape stakes as well. AS you can see in the first shot I have 6' grape stakes set 2' in the ground which I slide the PVC over. This makes the walls more vertical, giving us more usable space, as well as strengthens the whole frame. Instead of using 20' pieces of PVC I added a 4' extension, for a total of a 24' piece. I wanted to have more room on the sides and over head this year to help with airflow and that extra 4' really made a difference. I am using 20" box fans to move the hot air through and out of the greenhouse to help with cooling, and using T12 lights for the next two week to supplement the lighting.

All the plants will be grown in 30 gallon smart pots. About half of the greenhouse will be Sour Diesel and the other half will be mostly a mix of Super Silver Haze (Oldsog cut), Purple Trainwreck, and Blueberry x Northern Lights. I will also be doing single plants of several other strains to test out how they do in light dep.

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[Blaze]

Had a good side by side test to show you guys too. Now I have often heard people state on the forums (and especially on ICMAG) that pot size makes no difference what-so-ever. Now I have always insisted this is completely wrong as the growth, size, and yield of your plant directly correlates to the size and health of the root ball. Small pot = small root mass = small, unhealthy plant. Even at this early state, pot size makes a big difference. The first three pics are side by side shots of the Blueberry x Northern Lights, Moonlight, and Mendo Pineapple. Everything about the clones was identical - taken from the same mother plants, rooted at the same time, transplanted at the same time, same soil, same everything. Only difference was that some went into 1 gallons and some went into 5 gallons. Check out what a difference in size that occured in JUST three weeks. Now imagine how big a difference container size will make over say three months. It is always beneficial to go as big as your space and budget allows with your container, at all stages of growth. Next year I want to double the size of my veg greenhouse so I can do all my plants in 5 gallons, or maybe even larger.

Fourth pic is of our sacrificial test plant for the light dep that went in yesterday. No signs of burn so I think we are all good to plant the rest of the greenhouse! I always plant a tester or two to make sure the soil is all good before planting everything. This ensures we don't fuck up all our plants for the season, which is nearly impossible to recover from if it happens. I have also been using a compost thermometer this year to test the soil temp after mixing to make sure it has mellowed enough before we plant. I usually do a very rich hot soil mix and these pots were between 100-110 when we first mixed them a few days ago. They are down to 80 now and should be good to go.

Last two shots are as usual of food. Dinner from the other night - pan fried rib eye steak with guava wood smoked sea salt, IPA braised mushrooms and onions, and wild bay leaf steamed artichokes. Final shot is of triple cream brie cheese with mango-armaretto sauce, toasted pine nuts, and proscuitto sticks.

 

[Seamaiden]

Damn. Just. Damn.

 

[soserthc1]

very informative thread Blaze this one should get exciting as the season goes on.... good info and everything is looking top notch , i love clean work when it shows..... bushy are a nice touch to hide the little ones sunning...... peace SoSER

 

[caregiverken]

Yeah Man. Very cool of you to take the time to inform folks and show how its done!
Im always ready for more of your posts..even the food photos!
I wanna learn to cook like a pro!

Been really hot here this week..
I water pots often..and Check the beds by digging a little and squeezing the soil with my hand to see if it sticks together. I think I learned that here...maybe, from you :)

If it stays clumped... Can I still water the top a little?o_O

 

[Blaze]

Been really hot here this week..
I water pots often..and Check the beds by digging a little and squeezing the soil with my hand to see if it sticks together. I think I learned that here...maybe, from you :)

If it stays clumped... Can I still water the top a little?o_O

It has been super hot here too, we have been having summer like weather all month which is one of the reasons the plants are larger than normal for this early in the year. With my 1 gallon pots I water them twice a day when it gets hot. I go by how the soil feels and the squeeze technique you mention is a good way to check. It it crumbles apart it's probably too dry. If a ton of water gets wrung out of it like you squeezed a sponge it is probably too wet. If it clumps together and you can squeeze a little bit of water out, it is probably just about right.

I find smaller more regular waterings get better results, especially with pots. As I am sure you have noticed the top often dries out before the rest of the root ball. Ideally you always want that top layer damp. The top few inches of soil is where most of the feeder roots are and also where most of the chemical and biological activity happens. This is one of the reasons I always tell people it is very important to mulch your plants and monitor your soil water content closely. Keeping your soil moisture consistent will really help a lot, if you let that top layer dry out, especially regularly, you will inhibit growth. Flooding your plants with less frequent heavy waterings will also inhibit growth.

 

[caregiverken]

Awesome info, like always, Blaze. Thanks! :woot:

 

[Blaze]

Starting to see what I am fairly sure is nitrogen burn on the light dep plants. I think I might have finally pushed the N too far this time. It's not very bad yet, but I want to make sure to stop it as soon as possible. Did a bunch of research last night and have a plan figured out how to deal with the problem. I'll post up some pictures if it works. Though it sucks they are burning a little bit I am excited to see if I can cure the toxicity, it would be a powerful tool to have in my arsenal.

 

[Mogrow]

110 degree dirt, that's gonna feel hot to the touch.
bigger pots, bigger plants, can't believe someone would argue that. someone who's never grown in anything larger than a 5 gallon bucket probably.
really enjoying the show again Blaze, your info is plain and to the point and the pics tell the rest of the story.
rock on holmes, and i'm hungry again, what's for lunch????
peace mogrow

 

[Blaze]

110 degree dirt, that's gonna feel hot to the touch.
bigger pots, bigger plants, can't believe someone would argue that. someone who's never grown in anything larger than a 5 gallon bucket probably.
really enjoying the show again Blaze, your info is plain and to the point and the pics tell the rest of the story.
rock on holmes, and i'm hungry again, what's for lunch????
peace mogrow

Oh it was very hot to the touch. I was down to 75 by the time we planted though so they are not literally burning. I am thinking the issue may be with inconsistency in the Black Gold potting soil I used as a base for the dep plants. I noticed when I was mixing it some bags seemed hotter than others and there was some difference in water retention when I watered them in. I think if the excess was from the additional N I added I would be seeing symptoms in all the plants, so far I am seeing it in 12 of the 29 I have planted. I have a feeling some of the bags were not fully composted or had an excess of something, which has pushed some of the plants over the edge.

Second opinions are always welcome though, what do you guys think? First signs showed up two days ago, which was 4 days after being planed. Ironically my test plant, that I put in two days ahead of time to prevent this from happening, looks great and is not one of the ones showing burn. I also saw some rust on some purple trainwreck clones over a week ago, which I promptly removed form the greenhouse, but maybe that is contributing to the problem as well.

Oh and a shot of dinner from the other night too: Tuscan style roast pork belly.

:

 

[Mogrow]

saliva is running out my mouth, im not kidding, wipe, wipe... pork bellies are more than a tradeable commodity.
i've had plants look like that and they seem to come out of it, i've thought about replanting when this happens but i don't. are there different strains showing the burn? is it strain specific?
i just added ground alfalfa meal to my new veg mix, was not hot enough for my liking..
enjoy the leftovers of that belly, looks like great sandwich material...

 

[Seamaiden]

Starting to see what I am fairly sure is nitrogen burn on the light dep plants. I think I might have finally pushed the N too far this time. It's not very bad yet, but I want to make sure to stop it as soon as possible. Did a bunch of research last night and have a plan figured out how to deal with the problem. I'll post up some pictures if it works. Though it sucks they are burning a little bit I am excited to see if I can cure the toxicity, it would be a powerful tool to have in my arsenal.

I would brew up a tea high in molasses, culture more bacteria and get them in there. They'll eat up (and fix) that N most quickly.

I've gotta say, though, that in absence of the dark green leaves that what you're depicting does not look like N+ to me. The leaves appear to be a normal green. Honestly, that halo + interveinal chlorosis looks a lot more like Mg- to me. Not saying you're wrong, just what it looks like to me.

 

[Blaze]

It's possible that is Mg-, visual diagnosis is a hard one to pin down. Excess potassium can also lock out Mg though which I had not though of until you mentioned the Mg thing, thanks! The burn on the tips still makes me think is is some sort of excess though. Brewing up a bacterial tea today to apply and watered in gypsum on the pots yesterday. Also applied a foliar of Cal Mag to some, calcium nitrate to some, and a few plants got both to see what works bests.

 

[Seamaiden]

I've got some pix to upload, but I have ONE plant that's doing what your plants are doing. It's not N+ as far as I can tell, it's in the same mix as all the others and it's just odd. I'm going to have to revisit hot roots.

Mg-, as well as K- will lead to necrotic margins, IME. (Should I say in my extensive experience? D'oh!)

 

[Blaze]

Unlikely our is K- unless something is locking it out, I'm still leaning towards ammonium toxicity with possible Mg deficiency. The plants that were showing signs have not gotten worse which is good. Still a little early to tell what worked best but it SEEMS like the plants that got a follow up of calcium nitrate are doing the best. Still need to watch them for a day or two to make sure.

Got vineyard mulch laid down on all the pots yesterday, all the cages are up, and the main lines for the drip irrigation are in. Really close to being 100% done with the building phase of this project. Just in time to start getting all our full season plants in too! I also added a small platform in the middle of the greenhouse over the main lower support beam so I could squeeze on more pot in and fill in the dead space in the very center of the greenhouse.

 

[reeldrag]

Had a good side by side test to show you guys too. Now I have often heard people state on the forums (and especially on ICMAG) that pot size makes no difference what-so-ever. Now I have always insisted this is completely wrong as the growth, size, and yield of your plant directly correlates to the size and health of the root ball. Small pot = small root mass = small, unhealthy plant. Even at this early state, pot size makes a big difference. The first three pics are side by side shots of the Blueberry x Northern Lights, Moonlight, and Mendo Pineapple. Everything about the clones was identical - taken from the same mother plants, rooted at the same time, transplanted at the same time, same soil, same everything. Only difference was that some went into 1 gallons and some went into 5 gallons. Check out what a difference in size that occured in JUST three weeks. Now imagine how big a difference container size will make over say three months. It is always beneficial to go as big as your space and budget allows with your container, at all stages of growth. Next year I want to double the size of my veg greenhouse so I can do all my plants in 5 gallons, or maybe even larger.

Fourth pic is of our sacrificial test plant for the light dep that went in yesterday. No signs of burn so I think we are all good to plant the rest of the greenhouse! I always plant a tester or two to make sure the soil is all good before planting everything. This ensures we don't fuck up all our plants for the season, which is nearly impossible to recover from if it happens. I have also been using a compost thermometer this year to test the soil temp after mixing to make sure it has mellowed enough before we plant. I usually do a very rich hot soil mix and these pots were between 100-110 when we first mixed them a few days ago. They are down to 80 now and should be good to go.

Last two shots are as usual of food. Dinner from the other night - pan fried rib eye steak with guava wood smoked sea salt, IPA braised mushrooms and onions, and wild bay leaf steamed artichokes. Final shot is of triple cream brie cheese with mango-armaretto sauce, toasted pine nuts, and proscuitto sticks.

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Per your observtions about pot size u r 100% on point I have said this it makes a huge differance bigger roots bigger fruits for I have done a lot of testing for every gallon in container size expect a 10 % increase in yield my testing shows exatly the same results as yours I now put clones rite into 3 gallon and go up from there ending at 75 gallon smart pots great post blaze

 

[caregiverken]

Everything Looks Great Blaze! The Plantform to use that space was an excellnet Idea..I dig those smarts pots..
and the Hoophouse and the driplines...Great work Blaze!

 

[Dunge]

Great work Blaze.
Please comment on your mulch?
Is it to interfere with insect egg laying?

 

[Blaze]

Per your observtions about pot size u r 100% on point I have said this it makes a huge differance bigger roots bigger fruits for I have done a lot of testing for every gallon in container size expect a 10 % increase in yield my testing shows exatly the same results as yours I now put clones rite into 3 gallon and go up from there ending at 75 gallon smart pots great post blaze

Yeah next year everything needs to go into bigger pots, the plants in the 1 gallons got a little root bound and were starting to get nutrient starved by the time they went into the 30 gallon. Even the 5 gallons for the full terms are proving to be a little small with the Pineapple - they need to go in the ground ASAP. I think I will have to give them a little shot of liquid nutrients to make sure they don't get starved either. They should all be in the ground b y the end of the week anyway though.

Great work Blaze.
Please comment on your mulch?
Is it to interfere with insect egg laying?

No, not to interfere with egg laying, I use it for other reasons. Mulch is really important, it is one of the simplest and easiest ways to grow healthier, higher yielding plants. It helps keep the soil and the root ball cooler, and slows down evaporation so you use less water. If you live in a very hot climate like I do, anything to ease heat stress is a good idea. Most importantly though is that it keeps that top 2"-3" of soil on top from drying out. Most of the biological and chemical activity in the soil happens in that top layer - it is also where most of the feeder roots for the plant are. All the 'magic' happens in that top layer so it is important to keep is from getting hot and dry. Otherwise you end up killing off your feeder roots along with a lot of your beneficial organisms which will impede growth and nutrient uptake.

I've tried a lot of different mulches and this 'vineyard mulch' is what I have liked the most so far. Rice hulls blow around and end up scattered all over the place, compost works pretty well but it does not protect the top layer of soil as well. Straw works well, but it provides a habitat for rodents. I have had problems with mice and voles making nests in the straw when I used it in the past. The vineyard mulch is coarse woody material that has been composted. I like it best because it is literally crawling with living activity - it has tons of fungal hyphae and other 'good guys' living in it and growing on it. So in addition to providing all the standard benefits of mulch it also acts as a natural fungal inoculant for the soil. It also breaks down over the course of a year and adds to the soil - another reason I prefer it over straw.

 

[jaybudding]

Wow very nice and my dream of retirement consists of this much work! respect all the work!