re: Brightlight's Strain Fest - Organics & LED
You got that right about calcium. Don't ya hate them bronze edges on leaves? Keepem Green
Switching to RO caused the spots & bronze until I added the Kelzyme. 35% Ca. Maybe good for your low Ca water too?
That's some great info, I'll have to check out that Kelzyme. I consider Ca to be the single most important element to get right. Absolutely critical if you are growing haze crosses and sativa doms.
Sourced from ancient seabed so plenty of good minerals in Kelzyme too. Micronized version dissolves better than other powdered Ca sources I've used. Not expensive. Worth a look CS.
Glad i found your journal lots of good info to read up on in here im sure.. looks like your latest post is pure gold too. I agree calcium is very important and i have a few questions.. first would you suggest i get rid of my nitrogen derived calmag and solely use the liquid bone meal and epsom salt i have? Thought the calmag would be good for veg but if the other two are better in your opinion i will not use it for my cannabis plants. Second how much liquid bone meal do you use in veg then flower? Third i have all these nutes with the edta crap in them do you suggest i not use them and what would be better to take their place? Been thinking hard about trying to go full organic this grow but i need to learn more before i dive in and spend the money. I am willing to throw out like $60-70 worth of nutes too if it means the smoke will be better. The bud ive been smoking this past week is leaving my throat a little raw feeling and ive been coughing up a lot more stuff it seems. Thanks brightlight, better late then never!
Some good questions & points toasted. Most liquid Cal Mags also have a little Fe. Fe is fine, but if you put Fe in solution, EDTA or some other chelating agent has to be used to keep it in solution. I try to avoid any non-organic chelating agents. No use to waste your CaMg but watch how you use it in flower if it is nitrate formulation. I use ~4 tbs/gal. liquid bone meal in mid flower, less before & after mid flower. Sorry I may have misled you a bit...that liquid bone meal is only 1% Ca. Picture has a couple other Ca sources I have around. The GO is organic CaMg but in carbonate form & 5% Ca. The Demeters is 4% Ca in phosphate form. No Mg in it. If organics interest you, start learning about it & switch over as feasible/practical. No use to throw out what has been working for you unless you're really fed up w/ synthetics.
Before retiring I used to hit up dispensaries near work at lunchtime. They were still allowed to use "organic" label then, no more. Was this fine grower/vendor w/ best strains who was hydro grower. Loved his work but usually came with chest tightness & even headaches the next day. Never happened w/ the organic offerings. That's when I decided to move my own gardening to complete organics. The flavor & terps. are hard to beat. I've found most breeders are now organic in their work too. Just my preference & no knock on other styles.
I find this really interesting about the additional calcium. I have a little bonemeal added to my compost this summer and I didn't use it last summer so I'm keen to see if there's a difference. I'm certainly going to read up more on it though. I see people adding cal mag but I'm not even sure if that's available in the UK as I've never needed it. I usually add some sulphate of pot ash to my flower pots and use a PK booster for flowering as well and I also use blackstrap molasses and the occasional dose of Epsom salts but yet to use a proper calcium boost. Definitely going to look into this today as I want to fine tune everything prior to inducing flowering.
Ca might be called the "4th" nutrient behind NPK. Necessary but how much is up to you. My tap had high Ca levels & helped me grow good herb. The tap had to make way for RO due to the high bicarbonate level that reeked havoc w/ my pH. My high Ca usage works for me, but your water & soil may call for something different. Ca bonds so well w/ other elements to promote healthy, strong, pest & mold resistant plants. No known toxicity.
Trichomes are said to be ~65% Ca. Mineral dense flowers are said to the most medicinal. My current focus is working on boosting the medicinal qualities of my herb.
Thanks for the friendly kick in the pants Skunk.
Drive bye. BTW that Tahoe Star got alittle leggy growing under our ' Fine Oregon liquid sunshine' So I had to prune it back abit. I use Elmer's glue or wax to seal the cuts, to help keep out them molds and bugs.. Keepem Green
My Tahoe Star is about 4" from the light.
I think she's still going too, couple more inches.
Good info guys....not surprised. The Cali Tahoe grows easily 6+ ft. outside & Sensi Star isn't far behind. Plus you guys use pretty big pots inside. My indoor Tahoe & recent SS were tall even in 2 gal.
I curious for these answers BL. The flower fuel has molasses in it I think I read so does that mean dont use any more "molasses" in flower??
Toasted id hate to throw away $60. of stuff too and is one reason I dont change. I think about switching from ff though when I get to the last of a bottle.
Ive been using the Cal/Mag as a foliar too and wonder if anyone else does?
Happy Sunday.
Sorry 4D....not familiar with "flower fuel". Molasses is microbe food, not plant food. Even if you run synthetics, you have some microbe population, just not as dense. So not wasted.
Doesn't get any better than those gems, they are stunning and look tasty as can be. I wanted to get something similar from IHG, but shied away due to the Animal stability. I've got my eye on a couple things from them though.
I'm also Cookied the hell out
Not sure if it's just me, but I built a tolerance to it pretty fast, while the Chems seem to hit me much more consistently.
Be nice to see you throw some classic cuts with new twists.
Cookie strains have much to like....heavyweight punching power, great terps., & colorful flowers......BUT NOT really motivating or uplifting (at least not the from the Cookie side). Had to dive in & see for myself. Still have a few more to look at but the recent "Cookie Tour" has ended. The AC is very popular w/ the Cookie crowd & was worthy of a grow.
Nice update BL. Tasty looking buds too.. Sorry about the hermie, makes it tuff when they make buds like a keeper. Even IH recognized this strain as unstable and doesn't run her anymore so if someone does find a stable cut, it will be something special.
Also out there that the Animal Cookie male was too dominant, but likely your explanation is real reason. I knew what I was getting into, but still wanted to check out the AC.
Beautiful buds man.. itd be tough so say no to growing those again! Do you guys actually do research on finding the best strains or is it more word of mouth? Assuming the latter.. do you guys go for the most potent flavorful type strains or something that will give you a good yield on top of the two? Obviously everyone wants plants that give you lbs and get you high as ever lol cant wait to see what the two plants that i bought from bonza will do for me. Recently ive been seeing where some people dont use freebies cause of mix ups are more likely and what not.. but what if that freebie is better than anything you bought? Idk if the strains i bought are any good honestly lol but we will find out!
Strains are addicting for quite a few of us toast. Like my sub hobby to my growing hobby. Yield, while a nice plus, isn't a factor at all in what I grow. It's all about the genetics, lineage, & breeder. Sometimes a freebie will make it into one of my grows, but not often. IHG had some spectacular freebies though. Too busy growing the seed packs I choose to buy. Can't even get to those fast enough. Some of us end up in seed rehab. Be careful brother.
