How not to be a salt farmer or a wasteful grower tips

[budnoob3]

Jeff Lowenfels has a bunch of good books. If you really want to know whats going on in soil they are all great reads.

His Teaming series is fantastic. It's pretty deep stuff but he makes it understandable, just have a nice quiet place to read it, it's a lot to wrap your head around, but for how deep he takes you he makes it very understandable. Go slow and digest what he tells you until it sinks in.

I believe Teaming With Microbes, then Teaming with Nutrients, then Teaming with Fungii, and finally Teaming with Bacteria, is the order to read them in if I recall. Check the copyright dates and read them in order if you can.

They are all available as e-books too if you like digital readers, and quite possibly as audio books, but it's pretty deep for audio, as there are many parts you will re-read and rereference to later on, so being able to bookmark the areas that you need to go back to during future grows or other reads is priceless.

If you are really serious about soil it's probably the best place to start.

Then when you read other material that isn't as explanatory you will be able to determine the shit from the shinola.

What you WILL find is that there are a few authors that generally agree on it all, but they also argue and conflict each other, and if you read Jeffs stuff first you will see that the arguements mostly arise because of application differences, so seeing that you can decide which application route works for you. Tilling, no tilling, that sort of thing.

Be warned tho lol, soil may sound boring, but it's likely the biggest rabbit hole you will ever go down. It's a gateway rabbit hole to a world of rabbit holes, and once your in and read a few others works it doesn't take long to realise that what makes healthy soil also makes healthy people, and a lot of what you believe to be correct right now will become wrong, and that has real implications in how you view the world, and the damage we have done to it, and how it ties to our health, which will lead to both anger and despair, but eventually freedom when you realize you can escape it all simply by growing your own food at a really high level and being responsible for your own health to avoid the system.

Soil biology and human biology are intimitely tied thru plants, and a lot of microbial stuff and nutrient balance that applies to soil applies to us too.

If you chase brix in soil, and I recommend you do, it doesn't take long to realise you can "raise human brix" too, for lack of a better way to say it.

Finally you will come to the same conclusion as Bud has said all along, our Grandparents and those before us did everything correctly, yet now we don't. What happened, and you will likely feel the need to help others find what you did.

Once you see it, it's hard to not want to share it.

Advice: after learning it don't be hard on synthetic growers, just show them a way out when they get to a place on their own, and ask you for guidance. Also have a couple years to dedicate to it. If you apply it all to growing weed 1st, that will keep you interested and soon it will spill out into your yard and your life.

We really are what we eat, and soil is where our health really begins.

Welcome to Nerdville

Extremely well said Gee, kudos on all points!!!

 

[budnoob3]

Update on crispy clone my buddy had. That’s right, had. She was confiscated this morning with his blessing lol. So for starters, got her back and put her with the bean bonanzas by the dog corral then started her on a 10 ga flush of rain/stream water from collection barrel. Now she’s still flushing at a slower pace than the first 10 gallons until I see completely clear run off. This will ensure that I’m back to a clean slate for feedings and top dressings. Just going to give her rain after that for at least a couple more days and then I will start her back up with 1/4 cup of ewc, light sprinkling of unbleached flour (added unbleached for clarification because that’s my preference organicallly), about a boson (haha auto correct - tablespoon) of bone meal, a cup of seaweed tea, and a very small dose of molasses , 1 tsp or about a cap full diluted in 1ga rain to get the top dressing blended in for a fresh start while she’s already flowering. Very stunted and crispy should at least start to respond positively within 4 days and hopefully start to get back on schedule

And here’s crispy just before the flush

 

[budnoob3]

And thanks for the reading recommendations to you both, I will be joining the rabbit hole as soon as real winter hits and I’m done with all the remodeling activity with my son!

 

[Scottay]

We only eat preemie humans around these parts

We only eat preemie humans around these parts

 

[budnoob3]

Another point of info to help clarify some misconceptions about purpling of leaves. There are many causes including P deficiency but if your plants have been healthy all along then it’s more likely natural causes. Found a snippet on we that elaborates way more eloquently:
The veins of leaves turn purple in the fall as the glucose from the fading chlorophyll becomes trapped in the leaves. The shorter days and cooler nights mean there's less energy for food-making, and the trapped sugars change chemically into anthocyanins, which appear red and purple.

For me, and probably me alone this translates to a significant drop in feeding for remainder of grow when this starts happening with the exception of my final molasses super feed when pistil color has stopped changing - 2ga per pot of 4tsp diluted molasses in my case.

 

[budnoob3]

I did laugh out loud all by my lonesome on this one

 

[budnoob3]

A little sound advise for those of us eager for harvest time:

 

[Azimuth]

I believe Teaming With Microbes, then Teaming with Nutrients, then Teaming with Fungii, and finally Teaming with Bacteria, is the order to read them in if I recall. Check the copyright dates and read them in order if you can.

Here's Keff's suggested order:

Yes and no, according to the author the best way to read them is to go with:

Microbes, Bacteria, Fungi, Nutrients in that order. I also recommend that order because Nutrients gets really dense and it’s very useful to understand how everything works first. I originally started with nutrients and had to read it twice then go back and read it again after the other three

Here’s a video you really need to check out if you’re interested in organic growing (shoutout to @seaofgreen18 for the updated video):

If you chase brix in soil, and I recommend you do, it doesn't take long to realise you can "raise human brix" too, for lack of a better way to say it.

Oh, great. It's hard enough getting sap from leaves, now I have to start cutting off fingers to test my blood?!?? Crap.

 

[Gee64]

Here's Keff's suggested order:




Oh, great. It's hard enough getting sap from leaves, now I have to start cutting off fingers to test my blood?!?? Crap.

you got 10.

If you get your brix over 12 they will grow back automatically, honest.

 

[budnoob3]

Off topic but a little funny. I was reading one of the wife’s magazines the other day due to boredom and came upon a story that said the average healthy couple on a global level has relations 3-4 times per week on average. The article continued on to say that the avg can be deceiving because the highs and lows vary dramatically. For instance, they said that in Japan the avg is closer to 3-4 times per year! As I contemplated all this I couldn’t get past the fact that after all these years, I never knew I was Japanese!

 

[StarkRaven]

Off topic but a little funny. I was reading one of the wife’s magazines the other day due to boredom and came upon a story that said the average healthy couple on a global level has relations 3-4 times per week on average. The article continued on to say that the avg can be deceiving because the highs and lows vary dramatically. For instance, they said that in Japan the avg is closer to 3-4 times per year! As I contemplated all this I couldn’t get past the fact that after all these years, I never knew I was Japanese!

Poor guy

 

[budnoob3]

Ok, if you’ve been following and happened to see my post somewhere about the 2 times PM kicked my butt due to problems related to being away for work, once indoor in MN and once outdoor in NC; you may have noticed I alluded to an auto irrigation failure in NC which killed all my babies. NC was first place I introduced auto irrigation because of my work schedule at the time which relied upon electrical connection to run my pump and timers that a storm had taken out while I was away. I’m happy to report that today I received a solar based system from that evil place beginning with a T for under $20. I’m also happy to report that I set it up for my bean bonanzas and the confiscated clones and ran first successful test. Since the dog corral is nowhere near my 10,000 lb (exaggeration) rain bins I had to fill a 5ga bucket with rain water to use as intake for pump. It worked great and watered all 4 plants with about 4 ga on the first feed on a 20min every 12 hour schedule so I still need to refill the 5ga bucket daily with rain water after first feeding. My initial desire was to go directly from 55ga drum and that is still my goal to reduce maintenance so I also am lining up a couple more at least 55ga drums. I have a hookup for that and can expect them by next week. There’s a lot more to share on this topic on how I had multiple setups so I could accommodate feeding and watering using different schedules using multiple timers and sources but I will at least show you where I’m at and where I plan to get along the way the solar I believe will be a lifesaver provided no storm blows away my panels more to come tomorrow.

 

[budnoob3]

 

[budnoob3]

Well I lied, got tied up with things and didn’t get around to pics or updates regarding the solar auto irrigation. For now I can say it’s working great for the 4 pots delivering 1.25 gallons ea per day on a 20 min every 12 hour schedule. Ordered 2 more so far to add for indoor areas over winter. They say they’re rated and sold as supporting up to 15 pots but I’m pretty much maxing out with 4 for what I want them to get daily, at most I’d do 5 per controller/pump in flower and possibly up to 7 in veg on a 48 hr schedule.

 

[budnoob3]

Ok, my buddy hooked me up with one of those collapsible rain bins he had to save the day so here is what the solar auto irrigation looks like :
Before awning and after awning + output drip feeds

 

[budnoob3]

@Bill284 i can’t even begin to tell you how much I love you right now, my wife is actually jealous so let’s just leave it at that
So even after the 20 ga flush and continued auto rain feed only the crispy girl that was confiscated is showing very little sign of improvement!
For those that don’t know what’s going on I give clones away and try to help whomever learn that wants to. This clone was given in that fashion with bills layering method but with my soil and perlite instead of Coco.
Also for better understanding of why some crazy person would be happy that one of his girls isn’t improving much; all I did was use bill’s method with my stuff and giveaway got all crispy and I was blaming my buddy for not listening ! The fact things aren’t going as well tells me that my soil, compost etc are through the roof in health that I haven’t ever realized because they haven’t been working near to their full potential till now. In short I know by at least 95% now that I can reduce all of my inputs by at least 75% to start. Think about that - even if I’m doing OTC organic or even synthetic with soil or coco etc, just by layering I can reduce costs by 75%. That’s effin huge my friends!!!!

 

[Bill284]

@Bill284 i can’t even begin to tell you how much I love you right now, my wife is actually jealous so let’s just leave it at that
So even after the 20 ga flush and continued auto rain feed only the crispy girl that was confiscated is showing very little sign of improvement!
For those that don’t know what’s going on I give clones away and try to help whomever learn that wants to. This clone was given in that fashion with bills layering method but with my soil and perlite instead of Coco.
Also for better understanding of why some crazy person would be happy that one of his girls isn’t improving much; all I did was use bill’s method with my stuff and giveaway got all crispy and I was blaming my buddy for not listening ! The fact things aren’t going as well tells me that my soil, compost etc are through the roof in health that I haven’t ever realized because they haven’t been working near to their full potential till now. In short I know by at least 95% now that I can reduce all of my inputs by at least 75% to start. Think about that - even if I’m doing OTC organic or even synthetic with soil or coco etc, just by layering I can reduce costs by 75%. That’s effin huge my friends!!!!

Thank you so much my friend.
Means a lot
I’m just glad to be able to help a little.


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[budnoob3]

Thank you so much my friend.
Means a lot
I’m just glad to be able to help a little.


Stay safe
Bill284

I love your modesty my friend! If just a few people notice this and share with a few others, within a few years at least 50 people will have tried and shared it as well. This is what it’s all about!

 

[budnoob3]

Little pic update, all going well - not worried about yellowing at all at this stage

 

[budnoob3]

Note, girl with most yellow was the unfed clone for a time - lesson, you must feed accordingly or she will fall behind as expected