EXPERIMENT IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE
Ok @Azimuth and @InTheShed, I guess this one's for you guys
You two led the discussion on this the other night, so I tagged you both, obviously. Great idea Azi, so as I said I ran with it. A bit of a delicate operation but I pulled it off I think.
Here's what I did in steps to achieve what you see in the picture, her final and only home:
1. Prepped the pot
2. Removed mulch from around plant
3. Wet the pot and the soil the plant was in all around so it would hold together
4. Used long bread knife to cut a circular cylinder about 8 inches across, plant in the center, all around the plant to what I thought was deep enough to clear the bottom of the tap root
5. Used same knife to cut the bottom of this cylinder so the whole would come out cleanly
6. Carefully transplanted into 3 gallon fabric pot
7. Topped the pot off and cleaned it up
My pot prep was the fun part. I invented my own prep based on what I had on hand. Here's the skinny on the pot prep:
- Bottom half of pot is straight Sohum mixed with 20% perlite
- On top of that is an amedment layer of bokashi, frass, and a little Geoflora veg, very thin, a few tbsp. each
- The top half of the pot is split in two. Directly on top of the Sohum layer is a layer of 40% FF soil blend (OF and HF)/40% Sohum/20% perlite, that fills about half the remaining top half of the pot
- Then another similar sprinkling layer of the bokashi, frass, and Geoflora veg
- Then the very top and top off layer is taken directly from the 7 gallon pot the Raspberry Parfait grew in, which is that same FF soil blend but that plant got Geo nutes, so this top layer is used Geo amended.
- Top dressed the soil surface with Geo veg and a bit of Great White
- Watered the entire medium after transplanting the plant
But the fun continued. Here's what was in the gallon of water:
- 1/8th tsp of the Blue Planet CalMag pro stuff, the powder, cuz it's high in N and she may need it
- 1 tsp. Fox Farms Microbe Brew
- 1 tsp. Fox Farms Grow Big
- 1/4 tsp. Easy Weed Seaweed supplement
- 1 tsp. Fox Farms Kelp Me Kelp You
- 2 drops 40% MSA
The supplements that are not organic are to sustain her until she works her way out of the root ball I transplanted and into the yummy stuff I just put in. In the time it will take the plant to do that, the amendments will have a chance to begin to work their magic, so when the roots start to hit the microbes they'll be humming and ready for them. The watering is simply water to 6.3 for the first two weeks, and after that it shouldn't matter and we can proceed from there as if it were an entire organic grow with just water.
So there you go. That's the skinny, and the plan is to simply put her in a spot out back right now and let her live under the exact same light conditions we had when we discussed this experiment.
What's you guys' take on what I did? Total overkill? Dumb? Never work? Might work? Who knows? Before you answer, remember that whatever happens with this plant, it's half you guys' fault. LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like Azi said, it's in the name of science. Heh.
