Blaze's 2013 Endeavor

[Blaze]

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

If you want to retire and grow, plan to retire, then grow, don't plan on growing to retire, that never seems to work so well from what I've seen. It takes more work than a lot of people seem to think, my garden keeps me busy.

Update on the whole nutrient imbalance issue:

Pic 1 & 2: Ca/Mg foliar only.
Pic 3 & 4: Soil drench of Calcium Nitrate
Pic 5 & 6: Ca/Mg foliar and Calcium Nitrate soil drench.

To me, 3 & 4 look the best, and have had the most new growth, followed by # 5 & 6 which tells me it was definitely primarily N burn due to ammonium toxicity as I suspected.

I did a three step plan to help correct the problem, here is what seemed to work the best out of what I tried:

Top dressed with 1 cup of gypsum per 30 gallon pot and watered in thoroughly. Gypsum facilitates the leaching of ammonium by binding the ammonium to the sulfate in the gypsum, making it highly soluble, and able to flush out of the media more easily. I followed up with a 50 PPM per gallon (1 gram per gallon) solution of Calcium Nitrate. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to apply nitrogen to correct nitrogen burn but the science behind it is sound. The nitrate nitrogen replaces the excess ammonium nitrogen at the cation exchange sites in the soil, alleviating symptoms - the process is known as nitrate dependent alleviation of toxicity in the horticulture industry. I followed up the next day with a bacterial dominant aerated compost tea to encourage the nitrifying bacteria which will eat up any excess nitrogen plus it helps in general with stress and getting the soil food web back in balance.

Hopefully all the rest of the plants will respond to this as well as the 6 testers I tried it on, and get things all back on track. I am already later than I would like to see with the light dep, loosing more time would be annoying. At least we had a tasty dinner tonight: Organic Coriander cured pork tenderloin, with cherry sauce, served over wild rice, and a salad of mixed greens, Charentais melon, avocado, sunflower seeds, and feta cheese. Even got around to making a dessert today too - a blueberry peach crumble. The first of the melons and stone fruit are starting to come into season here, looking forward to cooking lots of tasty summer recipes, the frozen or out of season fruit just doesn't cut it, especially with peaches....

 

[Blaze]

Clones have all been hardened off and moved outside. All the seedlings have shown sex and are ready to go now too. Last pictures of the ladies before they go to their permanent homes. Ended up with about 40 males I have to sort through next week to make my selections for breeding. Have not done much seed production the last two years (which is unusual for me) so it's time to get back on track and make a few thousand seeds this year. Actually thinking of tossing some of my extra 5 gallon clones in with the light dep and flowering them early to use as seed plants.

Nutrient imbalance in the light dep appears to be fully corrected now. Everything is growing rapidly and no further signs of burn. No food pics this time, been too busy to cook much this week.

 

[caregiverken]

Looking Good Blaze.
Hey, When do you plan to stop your supplemental lighting?o_O

 

[Blaze]

Stopped 3 days ago on the 21st.

 

[caregiverken]

Stopped 3 days ago on the 21st.

:) Good to know... I was just now moving some out of the Greenhouse(and away from the sup. lights)
and Trying to decide if I should run a light stringer..:confused:
Im about to post a couple pics of big ones comong out ogf there 5gal buckets:D

 

[Blaze]

If you are getting 14.5 hours of light where you are at Ken you are probably fine.

 

[caregiverken]

If you are getting 14.5 hours of light where you are at Ken you are probably fine.

Thanks Blaze! :) I took the light down this morning...
The sun rise and set are about 14.6 apart.. But I think the actual "visible light" is longer still ;)
so Yeah. hopefully I will be ok o_O
I Took the Bubba's out today :)

 

[outwest]

Inspiring. Thanks for the detailed journal.

outwest

 

[royfree2grow]

That's a bud factory in the works over there dude! Every time I look at your garden man... I get the same feeling as one gets when coming up short after sneaking a peek at some other guy's at the urinal... -it's just for the sake of the metaphor btw, it never really happen to me... -Really- I've never checked someone else at the urinals... Anyways, looks like another EPIC grow, keep updating and sharing man, it's a real inspiration for all the "small pipis" such as myself.

btw;

If you want to retire and grow, plan to retire, then grow, don't plan on growing to retire, that never seems to work so well from what I've seen.

that's a solid fucking advice man, I'm keeping it...

 

[Blaze]

That's a bud factory in the works over there dude! Every time I look at your garden man... Anyways, looks like another EPIC grow, keep updating and sharing man, it's a real inspiration for all the "small pipis" such as myself.

Thanks rory. Nothing wrong with being 'small' it's the end result and the energy you put into it that really matters. I am actually quite small compared to most of the other people in our area; I always try to keep my plant numbers within a reasonable limit for what the county allows legally. There are people in the back end of our valley with massive 50' x 100' greenhouses (in some cases more than one) growing who knows how many plants. Last summer they busted a 700 plant garden on the ridge across from me. They weren't small plants either - I could actually see some of them from my house with binoculars even though it is a few miles away. I don't think 29 plants in a 12' x 40' greenhouse is going to catch anyone's eye around here ;) .

Plus the veg and light dep greenhouses are actually on a different parcel than where my full season garden is, so things are well spread out. The pics of the veg house and seedlings can be a little misleading since I always start 200-300% more clones and seeds than I want my final number to be, so I have plenty of back-ups, and so I can select out the most healthy and fit individuals to plant. Being the biggest fish in the pond is not a real good long term plan, it attracts too much attention.

 

[Blaze]

Some shots of the greenhouse from yesterday. I think it will be time to start pulling the tarp within a few days. About half of the full term plants are in the ground. A few of my beds were still reading pretty hot so I am going to wait a few days on planting those. Don't want to burn them like I did the greenhouse! Got plenty of extras though, just in case. The full term plants seem to be doing OK in their 5 gallon smart pots but that cold snap was a little rough on them. Some of my Blueberry Pies and Moonlights had their fan leaves turn blue and purple like they normally do in the fall, it was weird seeing that so early in the year. They are getting a little too big too - next year I need to start them about two weeks later I think, or upgrade to 7 gallon pots from the get-go. I did end up foliar feeding with some organic nitrogen and cal mag this week because the ones not in the ground were starting to look a little nutrient starved to me. So far all the greenhouse plants have gotten is aerated compost tea - the soil mix should provide just about everything they need for the whole grow.

 

[jaybudding]

If you want to retire and grow, plan to retire, then grow, don't plan on growing to retire, that never seems to work so well from what I've seen. It takes more work than a lot of people seem to think, my garden keeps me busy.

Ain't that the truth! Ive seen some awesome grows done by retired people!
I'm trying to be retired if this grow doesn't go right I'll have to go back to work

 

[caregiverken]

Those plants look Great Blaze! :woot:
Are you going to be pulling the Black out Tarps Manually every evening?

Ain't that the truth! Ive seen some awesome grows done by retired people!
I'm trying to be retired if this grow doesn't go right I'll have to go back to work

I dont think I would try to grow for a living...way too unpredictable for me.
My winter crop was almost a complete fail...I would have starved if not for my pension checks
Hopefully my 3rd summer will be the charm though..:D
Edit to add; My construction job was unpredictable too.

 

[jaybudding]

I dont think I would try to grow for a living...way too unpredictable for me.
My winter crop was almost a complete fail...I would have starved if not for my pension checks
Hopefully my 3rd summer will be the charm though..:D
Edit to add; My construction job was unpredictable too.

Yeah I understand what you mean. But I don't have to be at my business for it to make money so I guess Im not fully retired but I try to only work hard in my grow! So harvest right now is like a bonus!

 

[jaybudding]

Blaze in total how long did you veg for? BTW I pray for all outdoor gardens this season be careful guys!

 

[Blaze]

For the light dep plants? Let's see... They've been vegging in the dep house for 3 weeks, before that they were in the one gallons in the veg greenhouse for 3-4 weeks, and before that they were in 4" pots under t5's for about 3 weeks. So 9-10 weeks total. If I had gone right from 4" pots to 5 gallons instead of one gallons, and not burned some of them that first week in the dep house, I am pretty sure I could have shaved at least two weeks of veg time, maybe even 3. Something to remember for next year I guess: have a bigger veg space, go into bigger pots immediately, and allow my soil to cook a good 1-2 weeks longer to account for any variations. That or finally bite the bullet and buy a soil mixing machine so I can make my own potting soils by the yard.

 

[Blaze]

Those plants look Great Blaze! :woot:
Are you going to be pulling the Black out Tarps Manually every evening?

Yep, it will be all manual. Trying something a little different this year - I will be covering around 5:15 each evening, and then uncovering around 10 at night. That way I will just let the sun come up in the AM and not have to do a morning uncover. I figure being there 5 hours apart once a day will be a lot easier than being there twice a day 12 hours apart. Also, this sit does not get direct sun after about 5:30 so the heat gain on a covered greenhouse should not be as much as an issue. Plus I figure if I can not get direct sunlight for 12 hours straight, I might as well let the indirect light happen in the morning. Should also cut down on the humidity issues that happen when you keep the greenhouse covered all night. Hopefully it will work as well, if not better as the 8 am to 8 pm schedule I did last season.

The automated systems are just too damn expensive. I am not really willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on something that I can do myself. Makes me wish I was better at construction and mechanics. I more or less know and understand exactly how a relatively cheap and inexpensive automatic dep system could be built, I just don't have the fabrication skills or tools to make it happen.

 

[rollon]

lookin good blaze. really like the outdoor threads. hope u and ken both kill it. I can only check out this thread after I have had dinner because ur food shots are too much to take on an empty stomach. peace

 

[Blaze]

lookin good blaze. really like the outdoor threads. hope u and ken both kill it. I can only check out this thread after I have had dinner because ur food shots are too much to take on an empty stomach. peace

Thanks!

All the full terms plants in the raised beds are finally in the ground. The beds are 6' x 6' x 18" tall, and the 6" below the bed was dug out and amended when the first went in a few years ago. Total volume for each is 2 yards. I forked in all the amendments about 10 days ago, watered it in and let it rest for about a week before planting. I do a sort of a no-till approach in order to preserve the soil structure and fungal networks which is why I use a fork rather than a tiller to get all my amendments mixed in. What I add depends on the results of the comprehensive soil tests I get every spring. This year the tests came back pretty good, needed to add mostly nitrogen, some potassium, and micros. I use feather meal for slow release nitrogen and will top dress with high N guano soon for my fast release N. For potassium I like kelp meal and for micros I like azomite. Phosphorous was still high (almost too high!) and calcium was high enough that no bone meal was needed this year. The organic matter % (OM) was also fairly high so I only had to add about half the amount of compost and manure this year. I used year aged dairy cow manure I bought last year from a local organic dairy and some OMRI listed compost I got from a local company to boost OM and secondary nutrients. I like the aged dairy cow manure because is can boost OM to high levels without adding too much of other elements which can throw the soil out of balance. I always add some bokashi too and Mykos and earthworm castings around the root ball on transplant. The pH is getting a little high, not enough to worry about but I need to remember to take a pH reading in the fall after harvest so I can slowly adjust it through the winter and spring.

My goal has been to build the soil each season and reduce inputs while increasing production and so far it seems to be working. Cannabis is a nutrient hog and I have found it really thrives on extremely high levels of nitrogen, high levels of phosphorous, potassium, and calcium, and high levels of OM. The vast majority of the nutrients for the entire growing season is applied during this initial soil prep. Unless there is an unforeseen imbalance the plants should need no additional liquid fertilizer for the rest of the season. I will however be using small amounts of organic liquid nutrients to foliar feed periodically. I also apply compost tea every week religiously - this acts as the catalyst to break down all the nutrients stored in the soil which in turn feeds the plant. I have found this to be a very effective, and inexpensive method for growing organically. Using just dry amendments like feather meal, etc, and locally sourced compost and manure it costs me on average about $70 to amend a 2 yard bed for the entire season, not including the compost tea and occasional foliar feeding. To put it in perspective, what I used to spend in one month using liquid organic fertilizers, now provides 5 months worth of nutrients, a cost reduction of 80%.

A few shots of three of the new transplants, Guava Kush, Blueberry x Northern Lights and Lemon Jack. I like doing two plants per bed, but with some of the smaller, slower growing strains like the Blueberry x Northern Lights and Purple Zebra I like to do 4 to ensure to space gets filled:

 

[ShivaSkunkPunk]

Appreciate the in depth breakdown Blaze, trying my best to mimic your tactics some 3k miles away ;) Peace SSP