The Kit:
The End User will need the following:
3.8 cu ft bale of ProMix HP myco, or Sunshine #4 or Promix BX myco. Perlite can be added to the BX in order to increase porosity for indoor growing.
20-40 pounds of organic worm castings that show an NPK of zero K. (1-1-0)
A proper growing environment, basic gardening skills, 7 gallon pots and a sprayer capable of putting out a fine spray. Please note that 7 gallons is the MINIMUM size container that will perform properly. Larger containers are better.
The Products:
Drenches
Growth Energy: This product increases soil energy and provides vegetative growth energy and bulking of fruit and flowers once formed.
Transplant: This product slightly favors reproductive growth of seeds, flowers and fruit. It is used to feed the microbial colony in the soil mostly, but it also boosts reproductive growth to some extent.
Cat Drench: This product increases soil energy, highly favors reproductive growth and provides cations and the ammonia form of nitrogen, which strongly stimulates fruiting and flowering, as well as seed production.
All drenches are mixed at .5 to 1.0 mil per gallon of soil in the container. For raised beds and hose-end sprayers, use 1 to 3 oz per 30 square feet of bed. Stronger applications can be applied without harm for the “heavy feeders.”
When dunking the plants in the vegetative phase (or if you're fortunate enough to be able to dunk them in bloom) mix everything at double strength.
Foliar Sprays:
Brix: Sprayed every week to 10 days, this product encourages reproductive growth and essential oil and resin production. Brix foliar should not be skipped, even if the plants look perfect. Use 1 oz Brix mixed into a quart of water. Do not store the prepared Brix foliar. Use it up the same day it is mixed.
De-Stress: This product helps plants heal, deal with stress and provides a broad spectrum of trace minerals. This can be sprayed 1-2 times per week when there are signs of plant stress. If the plants look "perfect" there is no reason to spray with De-Stress. Also, mixed at 50% strength it helps high brix clones root much faster. DeStress is mixed at ½ oz per quart of water. DeStress can be saved in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Always smell it before using if you have stored some.
Mineral Amendments
Amendment: this product is mixed into the bale of Promix, watered, and allowed to "cook" in a barrel for a minimum of 30 days in order to get the soil ready for planting.
Re-Charge: This product is similar to Amendment, but has a few additions and ommisions. It is designed to be top dressed during the 3rd week of the bloom cycle. Outdoors, apply Re-charge when buds have set. It's best to scratch it into the top layer of soil and gently water it in to avoid soil compaction.
Roots!: This is a microbial inoculate. A light dusting on rootballs during transplanting and a small amount at the bottom of the hole where seeds are planted is the proper use for this product. One Tablespoon per transplanted cutting sprinkled in and around the hole is perfect. More can be used when transplanting from the Veg area to the Bloom containers. Water with 1/4 Strength Transplant after the first application of Roots!.
Microbes
Tea: This is a liquid humate product loaded with beneficials. It is mixed with each feeding at the rate of 1 mil per gallon of drench generally speaking.
These are the general descriptions of the products. Now let's move into the practical side of things.
Getting Started
Upon acquiring the Promix HP myco, the worm castings and enough plastic barrels to contain 60 gallons of soil:
Carefully and thoroughly mix the following:
Amendment
Promix
Worm castings.
Place the above dry mix into barrels and water with 3-5 gallons of water. Stir it, mix it, turn it over....and let it sit covered but able to breathe for one month. A thick rubber trash can with lid on is perfect. Avoid sealed containers that do not exchange air and uncovered containers. We want sweat and condensation.
Temps must be no lower than 62 degrees and no higher than 85 degrees. Lower temps can take another week to "cook" while higher temps might be ready sooner. 1 month is usually spot on.
Once the soil has cooked, it's now time to plant!
Seeds:
Using a gallon sized container of newly cooked High Brix soil, make sure the soil is still slightly moist from the barrel. Not soaking wet....but moist.
Using a pencil, or chopstick or a non-functioning vape pen, make a divot in the soil about 1/4 inch deep. Add a small amount of ROOTS! in and around this hole, in which you deposit the seed and lightly cover with surrounding dirt. Gently water with 1/4 strength Transplant if needed to keep the soil moist, but not wet.
Clones:
Pretty much the same as seeds, but use enough ROOTS! to completely dust the clone's roots and put a small amount at the bottom of the hole. Water with 1 pint of 1/4 strength Transplant drench.
Watering Tech for Vegetative Growth
Try to let the containers go completely dry between waterings. What I mean by completely dry is that the first physical signs of "wilting" are present. Droopy leaves, loss of turgor, etc. When the containers are dry as described, do this:
Prepare a tub/bucket of water such that when you submerge a dry container from above, the water level is 3/4ths up to the level of the soil. If using a drench, mix it TWICE AS STRONG AS NORMAL.
Submerge the containers and let them soak and wick up the drench for 5 minutes or so. When removing the containers from the soaking bucket/tub, tilt them this way and that in order to drain as much liquid out as possible.
The draining will draw air in from above which the plants absolutely love. This method will result in stronger stems, much better roots, shorter internodal spacing and better leaf to calyx ratio.
Upcanning of larger plants:
Vertically score the roots, dust all roots with ROOTS!, place some in the bottom of the hole, gently position rootball, fill in with soil and soak the medium with water and 1/4 strength Transplant.
Water All seeds, all newly transplanted clones and newly transplanted vegging plants with 1/4 strength Transplant
Use of Foliar Sprays:
Spray Brix and De-Stress 1 time weekly, not on the same day! De-Stress can be sprayed twice a week if the plants continue to exhibit signs of stress. Please note: if the plants are always stressed something else is wrong. Many experienced growers report not needed to use the product at all.
Mix DeStress at 1/2 oz per quart of RO and Brix at 1 oz per quart of RO, using a fine mist try to get the underside of the leaves.
Using Drenches:
Tea: All drenches are "served" with Tea, with two exceptions: The Super Drench and the Rescue Drench**
In High Brix growing, drenches do far more than feed the plant. They signal the plant to grow or re-produce, and they keep the biology in the soil happy and productive. This is where the magic happens! Water with straight water plus 1/4 strength Transplant between drenches except for the Cat Drench.
Growth Energy: This is where strong stems and healthy leaves come from. It is also used during the latter half of the bloom cycle to bulk up fruit and flowers. Mix at .5 to 1.0 mil per gallon of soil in the container.. Stronger doses can be used if needed, but generally you'll just waste product. Finishing the growing cycle on Growth Energy results in a sweeter produce.
Transplant: Should be used during the bloom phase alternating with Growth Energy. It is also used at
.5 to 1 mil per gallon of soil. Some growers have found that essential oil and resin production can be increased by using 1/4 oz of Transplant per 5 gallons of water evenly distributed to every plant with each and every watering....whether with a drench or with just plain water. Please note, this does not mean ¼ oz TO EVERY PLANT, but 1/4 oz into 5 gallons of water.
Cat Drench: This is used right when buds set. It is strongly reproductive in effect and if used at the wrong time will result in stunted growth and lower yields. Used at the proper time, unprecedented resin formation takes place.
While it is mixed at the same rate as the other drenches: .5 to 1 mil per gallon of soil in the container, it differs from the other drenches in that it is used twice in a row (no water in between applications). Using Cat Drench late in bloom may increase certain flavors and smells, but it also results in a more "gamey" flavor in produce.
These are the basic instructions for using the kit! A few pointers:
When in doubt about which drench to use, use Growth Energy.
Rescue Drench
If the plants seem weak and need a boost---almost never happens unless you made a mistake or there has been some environmental issue or circumstances beyond your control---try this:
1 oz. Transplant per gallon of water with 6 mils of Tea. Feed a solution with this composition to all the plants. It will re-colonize the roots and get things back on track. Do not do this if you aren't having any problems.
Super Drench
1 Cup (yes 8 oz) of Transplant plus 10 mils Tea per 5 gallons of water. Give each plant 1 gallon of this.
OG Drench While not part of the basic kit, some growers find this drench useful. New formulations of products are making this drench obsolete for all but a handful of strains.
1 oz OG Drench plus 1 oz Transplant plus 2 tblspn Epsom salts plus 10 mil Tea per 5 gallons of water.
Recycling Soil
After the first crop is harvested, put the soil, including the roots, mixed with fresh EWC, perhaps 20 lbs worth along with another bag of amendment back into the barrel and cook it for another month, then use as always.
After the second crop is harvested, take that soil, and add the 3rd Run Amendment to this soil, along with some leaf scraps from recently harvested healthy plants and a light sprinkling of Roots! on the leaves. Let this cook for a month and then use as always.
After the 3rd crop has been harvested from the soil, add fresh, unused Promix along with leaves and a light dusting of roots and re-cook.
I personally do not use soil after the 4th run. Others do so with good success and I suggest seeking them out and seeing if their methods work in your garden. I get my best results with the 3rd run of soil.
General Wisdom and Good Advice:
The high side of the feeding schedule works better than the low side. If you know your crop and know it is a “light feeder” start on the low side. If you know your crop is robust and likes to gobble up nutrition, start on the heavy side. All recommendations can be safely doubled, even tripled without burning the plants, but doing so often results in no obvious benefit to plant health. Exceptions are one-time applications of Rescue and Super drenches.
The “kit” gives the best results after one or two attempts. Please pay close attention to the product descriptions and the actual results from using the products and their effects on the plants. Over time, these observations will “sink in” to the gardener's psyche and intellect and will help produce the “green thumb” that we all desire.
Doc Bud's High Brix blend is not meant to be dogmatic or narrow in application! We all depend on experimentation and creativity in order to progress. High Brix soil can be viewed as a properly tuned musical instrument, the drenches and sprays and the simple “alternation” of drenches can be viewed as the first two or three songs learned by a student. Obviously, we don't want to stop there!
Learn the products, get familiar with their smell, pay close attention to the effect they have on the plants and let it all sink in. Try different things, don't be afraid to add small amounts of this or that to the soil (key word SMALL) and feel free to give your produce your own signature.
They look kinda "choked", right? Sorta smothered-looking? Like the plants outran themselves? So ... root issues. Lazy biota.
Have a great night Doc and gang!
