SativaHaze
New Member
TanR it's good to hear from you again as well, I just commented to graytail he had been commenting as well as you on my other journal, but I never was able to get im to start one, this is awesome!!!DB
Graytail's Cupwinners in High Brix Soil - 4x4 - 600W HPS - Perpetual
TanR it's good to hear from you again as well, I just commented to graytail he had been commenting as well as you on my other journal, but I never was able to get im to start one, this is awesome!!!DB
Subbed up graytail. That jamaican looks tasty.
Excellent!
Here's my brix testing protocol.
I test when I prune, twice in veg, twice in bloom. I choose only healthy leaves. If there is nutrient burn and the leaves are dehydrated, brix will be artificially high. Choose vibrant tissue for readings!
One healthy fan leaf with petiole
One apical meristem with entire flower structure, including stem.
I crush these up with modified vice grips, drip 3 or 4 drops on the calibrated lens, and take a reading.
I can now predict brix merely by looking at my plants. When the top petioles are purple....10 or less. When the undersides of the upper petioles are green and all the leaves are perky and happy...11. Green petioles on the upper half of the plant and really sweet looking foliage....spectacular good looks.....12, 13. Crazy resin, green petioles, crazy resin, bright green stems and really swollen calyxes, with reflective shine on leaves.....15 or higher.
I've never gotten higher than 17. On the other hand, I've never had issues with pests or disease for many cycles now. So, it's working for me!
Here's my brix testing protocol.
I test when I prune, twice in veg, twice in bloom. I choose only healthy leaves. If there is nutrient burn and the leaves are dehydrated, brix will be artificially high. Choose vibrant tissue for readings!
One healthy fan leaf with petiole
One apical meristem with entire flower structure, including stem.
I crush these up with modified vice grips, drip 3 or 4 drops on the calibrated lens, and take a reading.
I can now predict brix merely by looking at my plants. When the top petioles are purple....10 or less. When the undersides of the upper petioles are green and all the leaves are perky and happy...11. Green petioles on the upper half of the plant and really sweet looking foliage....spectacular good looks.....12, 13. Crazy resin, green petioles, crazy resin, bright green stems and really swollen calyxes, with reflective shine on leaves.....15 or higher.
I've never gotten higher than 17. On the other hand, I've never had issues with pests or disease for many cycles now. So, it's working for me!
- Thread starter
- #24
Great to have you here, shotta!
I couldn't recommend the Jamaican Dream more highly. The genetics are indica dominant, but if you dig deep you find out that the high is all sativa. So it's quick, gorgeous to grow, and it's still a sativa. The aroma is mildly skunky like an actual skunk in the middle of the road, kinda dry smelling, mixed with citrus and pepper. The buzz is trippy and chatty for a half hour with no anxiety, then fades to easy relaxed. The best so far. Northern Lights isn't really what I like - too much indica - so I'll be eager to cure the Jamaican!
- Thread starter
- #25
Thanks for sharing your procedure, Doc!
You should try the multiple readings sometime - I'd like to know what you get. I'm not sure how to interpret the rise in brix level as I recrush the wad each time. On the one hand, more cells are being ruptured each time, but they also include fluid, so why are earlier crushes reading lower? If I thoroughly masticated a wad in a mortar and pestle, and then crushed the whole soggy mess, would that be a "more accurate" reading? I even wondered at first if it was time dependant, because I was testing the plants in series, so the second reading would be 20 minutes later - maybe the wad "cured". But no, even when I test one wad 5 times in a row, the last reading will be as much as 60% higher. I've gotten a reading as high as 25.
This disturbs me because, after all, it's called high brix, and if the refractometer readings are just vague ranges, that makes fine-tuning foliar methods a bit more difficult, and makes the actual brix number less important.
You should try the multiple readings sometime - I'd like to know what you get. I'm not sure how to interpret the rise in brix level as I recrush the wad each time. On the one hand, more cells are being ruptured each time, but they also include fluid, so why are earlier crushes reading lower? If I thoroughly masticated a wad in a mortar and pestle, and then crushed the whole soggy mess, would that be a "more accurate" reading? I even wondered at first if it was time dependant, because I was testing the plants in series, so the second reading would be 20 minutes later - maybe the wad "cured". But no, even when I test one wad 5 times in a row, the last reading will be as much as 60% higher. I've gotten a reading as high as 25.
This disturbs me because, after all, it's called high brix, and if the refractometer readings are just vague ranges, that makes fine-tuning foliar methods a bit more difficult, and makes the actual brix number less important.
They're not vague ranges....just sample the same way every time. Multiple Shmultiple! Take your first reading and be done with it. If your plants are uber healthy, with all the waxy shine and bright green resinous buds, and YOUR readings are 12....no problem. When you have a 10, you'll see the difference.
As the soil improves over time the numbers are easier to achieve. But the whole point of this is healthy plants. Brix measurements are a way of objectifying the health of the plant, but those readings are often best applied taking into account the individual garden they came from. My 17 might be your 13....etc. We mean the same thing but for what ever reason our sampling method is producing consistent, but lower, results.
If you wanted to do this across the board perfect, agree to take certain leaves, maserate them completely in a mortar and pestle, squeeze some of this juice through a filter so solid don't get through and take that reading. But as long as you're consistent in how you take your readings, the data is useful.
your plants are looking good!
SativaHaze
New Member
Good Weed Graytail!!!
- Thread starter
- #29
Ok, now we come to the whole point of this journal. I'm going to be running Doc Bud's soil kit for the next group of plants.
You see, I don't particularly like nutes. To me, that's treating a living plant like a car engine, something mechanical. I don't like to force living things - I prefer to guide them. I don't like gardens with clear straight lines and uniform plantings. That just seems to violate the entire point. A guy might as well buy really nice artificial plants if that's what he wants. For me, the joy of gardening is in watching the plants do their thing, helping and guiding them to be whatever they will be. Mainly, I try to do no harm. That doesn't mean that I have no respect for hydro and nute regimens and defol, etc. It just doesn't appeal to me - not rewarding. So, the idea of creating an ideal soil environment for a plant fits my growing philosophy, and what Doc has uncovered is a very interesting way to create that ideal environment. (Besides, sheesh, look at his plants).
I have three plants in Doc's kit now with another 2 seedings a few days old. The first one is a Kerala x Skunk#1. This will be an interesting one to grow. It's one of the freebies I sprouted the first week in June - it's 80 days old today. This poor thing has been through the wringer. It was originally one of the two seeds I planted to be sure I'd get a female. I started it directly into a Solo cup, and when I watered it, apparently it dislodged and set itself along the rim of the cup, unnoticed by yours truly. When the other one sprouted and several more days went by, I assumed it was a dud and stuck another seed in the middle of the cup and watered that. Uh huh, both sprouted. So, I dug it out and put it in its own cup. But I already had 2 Keralas, so when it was time to put them into 12/12, I left this one in its solo cup, just in case both of the others were male. Well, they weren't. So now I had this leftover Kerala. What the heck. Ok, I thought, let's see what it is. I had 5 seeds, 2 of them are female - the third one would give me a sense of what the 2 unsprouted ones might be. So I stuck it in 12/12 in its solo cup and it stretched to about a spindly foot and it showed female flowers. Jus' swell - what now. Heck, it was alive, so I put it back in veg - hacked it off at the 6th node and stuck it in a gallon trade pot under the lights. Here's what it looked like when it got left behind at 25 days old:
Here it is at 61 days, a week after it showed flowers and got pulled from 12/12 and topped.
And this is last Sunday, just before going into 12/12 again. It's interesting - it had two lower branches that were almost as tall as the new shoots at the topping, so I trained the tops outward and let the lower ones catch up. Now it has 4 equal tops. It also took to the high brix soil very well. I was afraid it might have been stunted by its first 2 months of life, but it looks like a good prospect now.
This will be a fun one to watch, and a good contrast with the two that have been in mineralized soil. What do y'all think? Is it likely to be more, or less vigorous than normal?
You see, I don't particularly like nutes. To me, that's treating a living plant like a car engine, something mechanical. I don't like to force living things - I prefer to guide them. I don't like gardens with clear straight lines and uniform plantings. That just seems to violate the entire point. A guy might as well buy really nice artificial plants if that's what he wants. For me, the joy of gardening is in watching the plants do their thing, helping and guiding them to be whatever they will be. Mainly, I try to do no harm. That doesn't mean that I have no respect for hydro and nute regimens and defol, etc. It just doesn't appeal to me - not rewarding. So, the idea of creating an ideal soil environment for a plant fits my growing philosophy, and what Doc has uncovered is a very interesting way to create that ideal environment. (Besides, sheesh, look at his plants).
I have three plants in Doc's kit now with another 2 seedings a few days old. The first one is a Kerala x Skunk#1. This will be an interesting one to grow. It's one of the freebies I sprouted the first week in June - it's 80 days old today. This poor thing has been through the wringer. It was originally one of the two seeds I planted to be sure I'd get a female. I started it directly into a Solo cup, and when I watered it, apparently it dislodged and set itself along the rim of the cup, unnoticed by yours truly. When the other one sprouted and several more days went by, I assumed it was a dud and stuck another seed in the middle of the cup and watered that. Uh huh, both sprouted. So, I dug it out and put it in its own cup. But I already had 2 Keralas, so when it was time to put them into 12/12, I left this one in its solo cup, just in case both of the others were male. Well, they weren't. So now I had this leftover Kerala. What the heck. Ok, I thought, let's see what it is. I had 5 seeds, 2 of them are female - the third one would give me a sense of what the 2 unsprouted ones might be. So I stuck it in 12/12 in its solo cup and it stretched to about a spindly foot and it showed female flowers. Jus' swell - what now. Heck, it was alive, so I put it back in veg - hacked it off at the 6th node and stuck it in a gallon trade pot under the lights. Here's what it looked like when it got left behind at 25 days old:
Here it is at 61 days, a week after it showed flowers and got pulled from 12/12 and topped.
And this is last Sunday, just before going into 12/12 again. It's interesting - it had two lower branches that were almost as tall as the new shoots at the topping, so I trained the tops outward and let the lower ones catch up. Now it has 4 equal tops. It also took to the high brix soil very well. I was afraid it might have been stunted by its first 2 months of life, but it looks like a good prospect now.
This will be a fun one to watch, and a good contrast with the two that have been in mineralized soil. What do y'all think? Is it likely to be more, or less vigorous than normal?
- Thread starter
- #30
I also have two Jamaican Dream cuts in high brix soil, and these are going to be interesting, too - a couple more abused plants.
I took the cuts on June 30th, 56 days ago. They started just fine in their peat tabs and after 10 days looked like they wanted to go into soil. Doc's kit hadn't finished cooking, so I put them in a little Black Forest soil I had - looked fine, peat based, etc. Big mistake! It almost killed 'em - they went all yellow and ugly. By the end of a week I knew it had to be the soil, so I filled a solo with half-cooked soil and hoped for the best. Here's what they looked like 12 days later at 29 days old:
Ugly, ugly, ugly! I was pretty sure they wouldn't be worth fooling with, but I transplanted them into 6 gallon pots of fully cooked soil and hoped for the best. Since they were tall and spindly, I decided to top one of them at the 4th node and LST the other one, bending it over at the 4th node, too - a good experiment. Here they are at 37 days old.
JD1 - topped
JD2 - LSTed
I thought the LSTed plant would grow more vigorously, but in this case, it was the topped plant that showed more vigor - interesting - I thought topping was more stressful.
I also did something cool with the topped one. I twisted the top pair of branches counter clockwise and the next pair clockwise, and got 6 equal tops. You can see the beginnings of it in this pic at 43 days old:
Here it is a week later at 50 days:
Pretty nice recovery in 3 weeks! Here's the LSTed one at 37 days:
And at 43 days:
And at 50 days:
The topped plant is clearly bigger.
So, anyway, they don't look much like stunted, abused plants after 3 weeks in high brix soil, do they? These will be going into 12/12 on the 25th.
I took the cuts on June 30th, 56 days ago. They started just fine in their peat tabs and after 10 days looked like they wanted to go into soil. Doc's kit hadn't finished cooking, so I put them in a little Black Forest soil I had - looked fine, peat based, etc. Big mistake! It almost killed 'em - they went all yellow and ugly. By the end of a week I knew it had to be the soil, so I filled a solo with half-cooked soil and hoped for the best. Here's what they looked like 12 days later at 29 days old:
Ugly, ugly, ugly! I was pretty sure they wouldn't be worth fooling with, but I transplanted them into 6 gallon pots of fully cooked soil and hoped for the best. Since they were tall and spindly, I decided to top one of them at the 4th node and LST the other one, bending it over at the 4th node, too - a good experiment. Here they are at 37 days old.
JD1 - topped
JD2 - LSTed
I thought the LSTed plant would grow more vigorously, but in this case, it was the topped plant that showed more vigor - interesting - I thought topping was more stressful.
I also did something cool with the topped one. I twisted the top pair of branches counter clockwise and the next pair clockwise, and got 6 equal tops. You can see the beginnings of it in this pic at 43 days old:
Here it is a week later at 50 days:
Pretty nice recovery in 3 weeks! Here's the LSTed one at 37 days:
And at 43 days:
And at 50 days:
The topped plant is clearly bigger.
So, anyway, they don't look much like stunted, abused plants after 3 weeks in high brix soil, do they? These will be going into 12/12 on the 25th.
SativaHaze
New Member
Good Weed Graytail my Staunch friend!!! Excellent grow!!!
- Thread starter
- #32
More pics:
Here are the Jamaican Dream cuts at 57 days
JD1 - 57 days
JD2 - 57 Days
And here are the babies - this is White Panther - 6 Days old
And Caramelo - 4 days old
Kerala3 is looking good
Here are the Jamaican Dream cuts at 57 days
JD1 - 57 days
JD2 - 57 Days
And here are the babies - this is White Panther - 6 Days old
And Caramelo - 4 days old
Kerala3 is looking good
Are the pictures immediately above this post in High Brix soil?
- Thread starter
- #34
Yes, this is all your kit. These also got a dose of Energy and Tea today - they had Transplant/Tea 2 weeks ago, and they've been getting Stress once a week and 2 sprayings of Brix over the past 2 weeks.
I'll post pics of the older, mineralized batch later.
I'll post pics of the older, mineralized batch later.
They look really nice. Make sure to really let them dry out between waterings.
- Thread starter
- #36
Yeah, I learned the over-watering lesson decades ago. In fact, I've had to remind myself to water before things go limp - caught a saggy plant in the room twice in the past 3 months.
I've seen you mention watering before you add drenches. That seems like a good idea to me - better distribution of the nutrients - less chance of concentrations. Are you sticking to that? When I add drenches, it's only in a quart of water per pot, which certainly doesn't get all the soil wet. But that also reduces the risk of over-watering. The next watering for the cuts will be when the 6 gallon pots go completely dry. At this stage I want well-aerated roots.
I've seen you mention watering before you add drenches. That seems like a good idea to me - better distribution of the nutrients - less chance of concentrations. Are you sticking to that? When I add drenches, it's only in a quart of water per pot, which certainly doesn't get all the soil wet. But that also reduces the risk of over-watering. The next watering for the cuts will be when the 6 gallon pots go completely dry. At this stage I want well-aerated roots.
Nice looking girls graytail.
- Thread starter
- #38
Thanks shotta! When do you start your kit grow?
SativaHaze
New Member
They look awesome Graytail, and you know I don't know if it's the warnings or what, but I wait 7-8 days to rewater my 5 gallon smart pots and the plants are thriving!
- Thread starter
- #40
Good man! You know how insistant I am about not watering, heheh.