Dr Bob Comes Home With Fruit Punch & Lemonista Aid - So Please Don't Be Critical

[Lady Cannafan]

Your plants are looking good bud. The deficiency you have there looks similar to mine. I gave them plenty of water last night with calmag, but this morning they look a little worse. So maybe I have a potassium deficiency as you suggest and not a calcium deficiency as I thought.

Will feed them again tonight, and bump up the bloom portion a little to see if they respond well.

EDIT: I just had a look again at the deficiency chart and i definitely have a calcium deficiency. Maybe I'm being a little impatient.

Mine take a couple of days to recover when I give them the Cal/Mag for sure. I would say give it some time. ;-)

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Nice update Bob!
I am really loving the look of the lemon. It even has a lemon color to the buds. How perfect is that??


I can't help with any suggestions on the phosphorous def. The only thing I've really dealt with on deficiencies in my grows has been calcium, mag and nitrogen. :-(

 

[Dr Bob]

Pee Jay's soil is amazing! My veg tent smells incredible, like an actual garden vs a kinda sterile smell with just ProMix. And, even more importantly, the two Fruit Punches already look better. I always see a bit of a droop after a transplant but these did the opposite. They perked up and seem really happy.

Kudos to Denise and PeeJay! And the felt pots are simply fantastic and thanks to Cannafan for those. I am so glad I came back!


Bob

 

[Dr Bob]

Nice update Bob!
I am really loving the look of the lemon. It even has a lemon color to the buds. How perfect is that??


I can't help with any suggestions on the phosphorous def. The only thing I've really dealt with on deficiencies in my grows has been calcium, mag and nitrogen. :-(

If those Lemon Kushes fill out they will be great. My fingers are crossed! They smell really nice.

I may just feed them a almost full dose of Tiger Bloom as they just got a full flush. We will see. That stuff just burns so easy I will be glad to get away from it.


Bob

 

[TheBlaze]

Mine take a couple of days to recover when I give them the Cal/Mag for sure. I would say give it some time. ;-)

Thanks ma'am!

 

[Dennise]

The top dressing, i was considering specifically to keep gnats from laying eggs. While it does muddy up more then sand, i figured it could still dry out faster then 2in of FF. No longer have a gnat problem but was still curious. Also thought maybe itd add some good rock minerals to the soil.

Thanks

Easiest gnat get ridder I have found is Broke Ass's recipe... a cap full of peroxide, a spray bottle full of water and one drop of dawn.... spray the plants leaves top and bottom well and drench the top of the soil... do it daily for up to 3 days... I have never had to do it more than twice... Fox Farms is notorious for having gnats and I get them in the ProMix too.... it really does work extremely well and I have tried several things... none worked better....

 

[Dr Bob]

I didn't know about the gnat/FFOF relationship. I sure hope I didn't end up with any.

My light is on the truck for delivery today!!
Bob

 

[Dr Bob]

And with a knock at the door the final piece fell into place for this grow!

My new Mars 400 arrived very nicely packed straight from China. The outside was barely scuffed. Here she is packed inside.

The light now has switches for bloom and veg. It is very well put together and comes with wire hangers with clips.

Install in my case was a snap as I was pulling out a TOP 3w reflector of almost exactly the same size. It did give me a chance to clean up hangers and other junk I didn't like in the upper tent.

The light is noticeably brighter and less purple in hue. It looks like pure sunlight in the tiny 2x4 tent now. This makes just at 400w of real draw for 8 square feet making 50w per square foot.

I am really excited to see what the extra light will do for the girls. More to come!

The 100w reflector that came out of the flower tent went into the veg tent.

Eventually the goal is to have 3 of these in here with 2 400s in the flower tent. The girls are really perking up in the Pee Jay soil.

Thanks to Sara for a fast delivery once I made up my mind and a very nicely put together product for the price. I really like how it brightens up the place!


Bob

 

[TheBlaze]

It's always nice to get new toys. Congrats bud!

Your tent is looking good.

 

[DankWolf907]

Easiest gnat get ridder I have found is Broke Ass's recipe... a cap full of peroxide, a spray bottle full of water and one drop of dawn.... spray the plants leaves top and bottom well and drench the top of the soil... do it daily for up to 3 days... I have never had to do it more than twice... Fox Farms is notorious for having gnats and I get them in the ProMix too.... it really does work extremely well and I have tried several things... none worked better....

Thank you dennise! I too found H2o2 to work (undiluted, not on mj) and never shared my stories. Youve reminded me. So i updated my
journal

Great news about the lights bob! Happy day happy day

 

[PeeJay]

I think it will get really interesting when it comes time to start rejuvenating the soil to use it over and over.

Bob, I don't typically reuse my soil for cannabis since I have loads of other container plants that love the used dirt. The LOS snobs scorn me for that, and because I don't mess with ACTs (bubbling buckets of futility) or their other (usually potassium heavy) sprouted seed juices and voodoo concoctions. I don't ever throw the dirt away, but that doesn't seem to deflect the poo-pooing and derisive glances in my direction... When I harvest I get excited that I can do things like root prune an agastache that was in a five gallon pot, divide it, and make two 7 gallon agastches. Perennials do really well in the used dirt for a couple years without feeding.

That said, if I was going to reuse the soil for mj I would just add some Yum Yum to the mixes, and perhaps a scosh of high P guano to the flowering mix. There are plenty of minerals left over after even a couple of runs, I'm sure. Keep in mind that like most LOS soils you see here it is a peat based mix. Peat fibers are great because they don't break down quickly but they do break down. The fibers break down into a very fine dust that fills the pockets of aeration amendments like perlite or lava rock and limit O2 in the soil. Simply adding more aeration amendment to the soil doesn't cut it because the peat dust just fills in those gaps, too. That's why many avid container gardeners like things such as Al's Gritty Mix for perennials in containers.

I would guess the soil is good for about three runs before peat decomposition will begin to negatively affect performance. Just recharge it with about 1/4 cup per gallon of Yum-Yum for the veg and flower soil and a TB per gallon for baby dirt.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

You have just answered a question here that I was ready to ask you PeeJay.
I'm about to start harvesting, and I want to reuse that soil mix we concocted, I needed to know what to add to it.
Dang, I gotta get some more of that Yum Yum. LOL

 

[PeeJay]

Your dirt is doing pretty ok this run, Canna! Canna's dirt has a lot of things in it that were on-hand or scavenged from around her property. Bob and Denise are growing in dirt that is very similar to what I use. Both Reg's and Canna's dirts are tailored to their unique situations and differ pretty significantly. All of them use Yum Yum to fuel a robust and diverse soil community.

It would not hurt to add some castings to the soil between cycles as well.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Your dirt is doing pretty ok this run, Canna! Canna's dirt has a lot of things in it that were on-hand or scavenged from around her property. Bob and Denise are growing in dirt that is very similar to what I use. Both Reg's and Canna's dirts are tailored to their unique situations and differ pretty significantly. All of them use Yum Yum to fuel a robust and diverse soil community.

It would not hurt to add some castings to the soil between cycles as well.

The soil in my current girls' pots have worm castings in them, plenty of it. But, do you think it would be good to add more for the first re-use of the soil? I don't really know how long it takes for the castings to become fairly useless.



Edit: Was just thinking...I was training the girls this morning....something was scurrying about in the ceiling just above my head. It was a mouse. Grrrr....
After looking around on shelves and such, I have plenty of mouse turds I could add to the soil.

 

[PeeJay]

Or you could bury dead mice in your soil bins...

 

[Dennise]

Ok that's a little more organic than I need ....

 

[Dr Bob]

It's always nice to get new toys. Congrats bud!

Your tent is looking good.

Thanks! The toys are always fun the day you get them and then they keep on giving!

Thank you dennise! I too found H2o2 to work (undiluted, not on mj) and never shared my stories. Youve reminded me. So i updated my
journal

Great news about the lights bob! Happy day happy day

Thanks for the info on that. I am learning all about gnats this week and how to fend them off.


Bob

 

[Dr Bob]

It's always nice to get new toys. Congrats bud!

Your tent is looking good.

Thank you dennise! I too found H2o2 to work (undiluted, not on mj) and never shared my stories. Youve reminded me. So i updated my
journal

Great news about the lights bob! Happy day happy day

Bob, I don't typically reuse my soil for cannabis since I have loads of other container plants that love the used dirt. The LOS snobs scorn me for that, and because I don't mess with ACTs (bubbling buckets of futility) or their other (usually potassium heavy) sprouted seed juices and voodoo concoctions. I don't ever throw the dirt away, but that doesn't seem to deflect the poo-pooing and derisive glances in my direction... When I harvest I get excited that I can do things like root prune an agastache that was in a five gallon pot, divide it, and make two 7 gallon agastches. Perennials do really well in the used dirt for a couple years without feeding.

That said, if I was going to reuse the soil for mj I would just add some Yum Yum to the mixes, and perhaps a scosh of high P guano to the flowering mix. There are plenty of minerals left over after even a couple of runs, I'm sure. Keep in mind that like most LOS soils you see here it is a peat based mix. Peat fibers are great because they don't break down quickly but they do break down. The fibers break down into a very fine dust that fills the pockets of aeration amendments like perlite or lava rock and limit O2 in the soil. Simply adding more aeration amendment to the soil doesn't cut it because the peat dust just fills in those gaps, too. That's why many avid container gardeners like things such as Al's Gritty Mix for perennials in containers.

I would guess the soil is good for about three runs before peat decomposition will begin to negatively affect performance. Just recharge it with about 1/4 cup per gallon of Yum-Yum for the veg and flower soil and a TB per gallon for baby dirt.

Great write up! I have never made teas or anything like that in the past literally have no idea about them. Funny that you mention voodoo concoctions because they have a giant vat of the stuff constantly in a vortex at my local grow store. Totally looks like the witch doctors corner.

Adding Yum Yum and some castings was what I had in my head. Truth is that your feedback on Pro Mix may be the real gold for me. I literally have a small greenhouse full of the stuff that has been used once and is now in big totes. My thought on that was to rinse it just in case it is holding salts and use it as the pro mix for the MJ soil. I didn't know about it turning to dust over a couple uses but that makes perfect sense. I am thinking it will run through the indoor garden once, then out into beds and other potted stuff all about the house.

We have lots of flowers and other containers everywhere in the summer too so there is an unending supply of uses for second run soil around here (and third...)

Big thanks!

Bob

 

[Dr Bob]

Your dirt is doing pretty ok this run, Canna! Canna's dirt has a lot of things in it that were on-hand or scavenged from around her property. Bob and Denise are growing in dirt that is very similar to what I use. Both Reg's and Canna's dirts are tailored to their unique situations and differ pretty significantly. All of them use Yum Yum to fuel a robust and diverse soil community.

It would not hurt to add some castings to the soil between cycles as well.

I should read ahead sometimes, I was wondering what you thought on castings!

You have just answered a question here that I was ready to ask you PeeJay.
I'm about to start harvesting, and I want to reuse that soil mix we concocted, I needed to know what to add to it.
Dang, I gotta get some more of that Yum Yum. LOL

I found mine at High Country Gardening I think? Online and shipped way up to AK I think was $35 for a $25 bag. Not too bad from what I saw around.


Bob

 

[Dr Bob]

The soil in my current girls' pots have worm castings in them, plenty of it. But, do you think it would be good to add more for the first re-use of the soil? I don't really know how long it takes for the castings to become fairly useless.



Edit: Was just thinking...I was training the girls this morning....something was scurrying about in the ceiling just above my head. It was a mouse. Grrrr....
After looking around on shelves and such, I have plenty of mouse turds I could add to the soil.

Or you could bury dead mice in your soil bins...

Ok that's a little more organic than I need ....

Ok, we need a mouse grow. Dwarf varieties, in one of those PC case grow boxes, and fed by collecting bunches of tiny mouse guano. A real micro grow! Although I am not sure I want to smoke anything that was fed exclusively on mouse droppings.

Now I will go vape the image of lots of piles of mouse dropping out of my mind.


Bob