SOME INTERESTING SATIVA GROWING HINTS FROM "THE REV" UPDATE
Hi everyone. I found some of Rev's notes on making sweet water for sativa's especially. I'll be using the process with my LC-18.
Growing Sativas Well by The REV
Feeding & Fertilization Techniques
This is, in my experience, the number one issue that causes most peeps to fail with growing sativas well. Unlike when growing most hybrid varieties of cannabis, sativas are especially sensitive to sudden availabilities of nutrients. Sativas are also more sensitive to possible longer-term negative effects of fertilization. Overfeeding, especially using higher P fertilizers in flowering, is the number one issue. As I see, in many a garden.
It is FAR better to feed your sativa plants over a longer time period—
in way smaller dosages—than to goose them every two weeks or whatever, with a tea, or other nutrients. Top dressing is a great way to accomplish this. Using something like alfalfa meal as a top dressing, used in smaller amounts more often works great.
Using liquids, like living teas and/or bottled nutrients, you have to be
VERY careful! And this is really a game of PPM monitoring. You need to keep a “
sweet-spot” PPM range and never wander significantly out of that range. With most soils, I have found that keeping my PPM range between 45 to 65 works well. So, if your water is normally 50 or 60 PPM, you wouldn’t ever want to go higher than say 70 PPM, regarding a living tea. Growing sativas well isn’t at all about cramming food into them. I never use classic teas.
Rather than dose my sativas with fertilizer, in dosages, like every 2 weeks or whatever, I use the constant nano method. I just make sure my water has good things in it, like calcium and magnesium, etc. And I use just enough fertilizer, like fish aquarium water, and/or worm farm leachate, with my water every time I water, throughout their lives, until the last few weeks of flowering. With food in it, my plant water PPM runs about 65. During the last 2 weeks or so before harvest, I remove all the extra food and use my water which runs about 50 PPM.
I use top dressings kind of the same way. About every other, or third watering, I apply a small amount of top dressing, like alfalfa meal and crab meal—one of my favorite combos. When I say small amount, I am talking like 1 teaspoon per dosage, in a 4-gallon container or so. I stop these additions 3 or 4 weeks from harvest. Growing sativas well, involves stretching out your additions of anything over time. This keeps things consistent, changing slowly. Sativas especially dig this ????
Using too much nutrient value too fast is bad, but over time it can cost you too. If you run your PPM levels a little too high, your plants will likely grow awesome, until about ½ way into flowering. At this point, extra mineral salts have built up to a toxic level around the roots
There are a couple of other things that need particular attention when growing sativas well. Environmental issues, like very high heat, or very cold temperatures. Now, depending upon the sativa’s geographic location of origin, some strains are better equipped for different environmental events. Strains that originate in say, South Africa. These will normally have high tolerances to heat and drought. South East Asian types can normally handle lower pH ranges and overwatering better; as 2 examples.
The fact that sativa dominant, and pure sativa lines especially, flower for up to 20 weeks, can also be problematic for many growers. I love sativa dominant types that take around 12 weeks or so to flower. So, that’s 3 months in the same container—
it’s a tad daunting to be sure. Just keep things as consistent as possible. Sativas are super good at working with the soil life, to feed themselves. A light touch by you is all that is needed here
The Secret H2O Shit
Good quality soil, combined with just using spring water, can result in harvests that will seriously blow your mind. Large enough container sizes are also needed here. If using say a 1,000-watt light, harvesting 4’ to 5’ plants. I would use 7-gallon containers—
minimum 6-gallon. Bottled spring water—like Arrowhead for example—will pH at just about 7.0 and have a PPM value of around 50-ish. Groundwater, may also fall right around these marks for pH and PPM. Spring water after all, is really just groundwater—
wink.
With sativas especially … but including many sativa dominant varieties as well, there lies true magic; totally in my opinion of course. Growing sativas well, is the first step in truly appreciating sativas. Sativas and sativa dominants are frequently trickier to grow; and fussier about things. Trickier to grow than a lot of other hybrids.
Longer flowering times are a biggie here. You need some growing skills to keep a plant in the same container for 3 or 4 months. It’s easy to get discouraged after flowering a plant for so long, to have it turn out just okay, or shitty even.
Dominant traits tend to come from olden sativas. Like long inbred lines, heirloom/landrace/cultivar sativa types. Growing sativas well, hinges upon a few basic guidelines when growing. A light touch is required, sativas don’t usually handle things changing fast, very well. Like pH, temperature ranges/extremes, and fertilization dosages. They adapt pretty quickly (10 days or so) to their environments, and as long as you keep everything consistent, they thrive.
Growing Sativas Well
Feeding & Fertilization Techniques
This is, in my experience, the number one issue that causes most peeps to fail with growing sativas well. Unlike when growing most hybrid varieties of cannabis, sativas are especially sensitive to sudden availabilities of nutrients. Sativas are also more sensitive to possible longer-term negative effects of fertilization. Overfeeding, especially using higher P fertilizers in flowering, is the number one issue. As I see, in many a garden.
Growing Highly Exotic Sativa Dominants Well Looks Like This
It is FAR better to feed your sativa plants over a longer time period—
in way smaller dosages—than to goose them every two weeks or whatever, with a tea, or other nutrients. Top dressing is a great way to accomplish this. Using something like alfalfa meal as a top dressing, used in smaller amounts more often works great.
Using liquids, like living teas and/or bottled nutrients, you have to be
VERY careful! And this is really a game of PPM monitoring. You need to keep a “
sweet-spot” PPM range and never wander significantly out of that range. With most soils, I have found that keeping my PPM range between 45 to 65 works well. So, if your water is normally 50 or 60 PPM, you wouldn’t ever want to go higher than say 70 PPM, regarding a living tea. Growing sativas well isn’t at all about cramming food into them. I never use classic teas.
Rev’s Sativa Feeding Tips
I Have Always Just Loved That Sexy Sativa Profile
Rather than dose my sativas with fertilizer, in dosages, like every 2 weeks or whatever, I use the constant nano method. I just make sure my water has good things in it, like calcium and magnesium, etc. And I use just enough fertilizer, like fish aquarium water, and/or worm farm leachate, with my water every time I water, throughout their lives, until the last few weeks of flowering. With food in it, my plant water PPM runs about 65. During the last 2 weeks or so before harvest, I remove all the extra food and use my water which runs about 50 PPM.
I use top dressings kind of the same way. About every other, or third watering, I apply a small amount of top dressing, like alfalfa meal and crab meal—one of my favorite combos. When I say small amount, I am talking like 1 teaspoon per dosage, in a 4-gallon container or so. I stop these additions 3 or 4 weeks from harvest. Growing sativas well, involves stretching out your additions of anything over time. This keeps things consistent, changing slowly. Sativas especially dig this ????
Using too much nutrient value too fast is bad, but over time it can cost you too. If you run your PPM levels a little too high, your plants will likely grow awesome, until about ½ way into flowering. At this point, extra mineral salts have built up to a toxic level around the roots (rhizosphere).
Growing Sativas Well Using a Perpetual Flowering Tent
Growing Sativas Well
Environment & Longer Flowering Times
Use Thermometers and Hygrometers with 24 Hour Memory – Essential Tool
There are a couple of other things that need particular attention when growing sativas well. Environmental issues, like very high heat, or very cold temperatures. Now, depending upon the sativa’s geographic location of origin, some strains are better equipped for different environmental events. Strains that originate in say, South Africa. These will normally have high tolerances to heat and drought. South East Asian types can normally handle lower pH ranges and overwatering better; as 2 examples.
The fact that sativa dominant, and pure sativa lines especially, flower for up to 20 weeks, can also be problematic for many growers. I love sativa dominant types that take around 12 weeks or so to flower. So, that’s 3 months in the same container—
it’s a tad daunting to be sure. Just keep things as consistent as possible. Sativas are super good at working with the soil life, to feed themselves. A light touch by you is all that is needed here.
Growing Sativas Well
The Secret H2O Shit
Good quality soil, combined with just using spring water, can result in harvests that will seriously blow your mind. Large enough container sizes are also needed here. If using say a 1,000-watt light, harvesting 4’ to 5’ plants. I would use 7-gallon containers—
minimum 6-gallon. Bottled spring water—like Arrowhead for example—will pH at just about 7.0 and have a PPM value of around 50-ish. Groundwater, may also fall right around these marks for pH and PPM. Spring water after all, is really just groundwater—
wink.
If your groundwater has a pH of around 7.0 (
6.9 to 7.2) and a PPM value greater than 40, but less than 70 PPM, then your water likely kicks ass just like bottled spring water would. The 7.0-ish pH tells you there is likely a good mineral balance of calcium and magnesium, along with many others. Groundwater always has a wide array of trace and secondary nutrient values. If this water is city tap water, you will need to remove the chlorine (
Monochloramine) using activated carbon filtering. Good water is literally all you need here. I mean, of course,
Mother Nature’s definition of good
Rev’s Sativa Finishing Tips
Growing sativas well is only the first part of your adventure. Enjoying exotic sativas and sativa hybrids that are actually done well, is indescribably enjoyable. You need to make SURE there is no available nitrogen during the last 2 to 3 weeks before harvest. This is HUGE! Many peeps don’t think sativas are actually that potent—silly humans—because they have never actually smoked any that were grown with excellence all the way to a fully ripened harvest.
Most peeps fuck up during the looooong flowering period (11 to 20 weeks), forcing them to be harvested before they are actually ripe. A big mistake! About 50% of the potency is acquired in the resin during the last couple of weeks; I would even say, the last 10 days. Basically, you’re screwed if you have to take them early.
Smoking a legit sativa or sativa dominant, grown by someone who knows how to grow sativas well, will fully impress any hard-core smoker. These exotic cannabis plants can rip your f’ing head off, spin it around and put it back in place. Sending you on intense inward trips filled with dark energies. Many sativas I find to be powerful muses. Some are very socially oriented and super fun at parties and whatnot—no sleepy-time smoke, heh heh. L8r G8rs…
Rev’s Water Formula at Present
You have to watch some sativas regarding levels of epsom added
Let me just open the show today with my water formula. I keep my water I use for my plants at between 40-70 PPM (approx.) and my water is composed mostly by Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium), along with somewhat less S (sulphur); let me say
loudly, you do not want to overdose your soil with any of these elements! Mg is the worst and will likely end in ugly death after a period of sickly looking slow growth. It is, in my experience, almost impossible to come back from an Mg overdose. S is a much faster killer of plants if an overdose occurs; it will take the soil pH down hard and fast, locking out many elements and killing (
or possibly making dormant) a vast majority of the soil bacteria. Fungi that love these conditions often become invasive and basically takes over the container staying massively dominant … which is bad. A Ca overdose is usually easily fixed using a thorough good old-fashioned flush.
Get a TDS meter – period
In the context of this article I am talking about overdosing with these elements when they are totally dissolved in water and using a TDS meter so you can read the PPM (parts per million) of those elements in your water, in total. Plants have always relied upon, to some degree on ground water—there are a few rare exceptions like air-plants—since they arrived on this planet, for access to readily available mineral elements dissolved in that water; fairly consistent levels of those elements, in fact. Consistency of your water’s PPM and mineral make-up are very important to the plants, and they adapt quickly to exploit (
and often store) these elements very efficiently. I wanted to tell you these things before I whip out my water recipe, to help avoid any potential errors for you if you want to give it a try. I use living soil in containers indoors, and this is info I have gleaned from my long-ass growing experience. So, with that being said … it is
most important, if using my
guidelines here for “designer water for living soil” yourself, make sure that if you run higher PPM levels than I advise do so by raising it in very small steps and waiting 3 weeks (closely observing plants for issues) to make sure it is all good.
REV’S DESIGNER WATER FOR LIVING SOIL INDOORS IN CONTAINERS
I recommend running around 30-70 PPM water if your soil is custom built to be very powerful, like my custom TLO (True Living Organics) soil mix. If you are using commercially available bagged soil mix, I would make my water more like 50-90 PPM. Alrightythen, here we go…
I start with reverse osmosis filtered water that has also been dechlorinated. I add back to this pure filtered water enough of the “waste water” (also produced by the water filter) to end up with a PPM value of around 20 PPM. That’s step 1 and I do this to enhance the diversity of the elements in my water, and since I filter city tap water to start with, my filter’s wastewater is just high PPM dechlorinated ground water basically.
As step 2, I use a “mineral tea” I make as another additive and that is basically made just like a compost tea would be made and is also an actively aerated tea; using just an air-pump, air-line, and an air-stone. I make these in one-gallon plastic pitchers, starting with pure reverse osmosis filtered water, using about ½ teaspoon of FAST ACTING dolomite lime, and about a coke-spoons’ worth of (garden grade) Epsom Salts per gallon of water and I let it bubble for 24 hours and this mineral tea ends up being about 60-80 PPM. I add this to my 20 PPM water in levels that result in ending up with around 50 PPM water for my plants, give or take. If the mineral tea seems a bit much for your dynamic, simply add water from a good healthy well or spring to attain the desired PPM value for your water.
You must be very careful with the Epsom additions, using too much of this will go very badly. Also, make sure you use
fast acting dolomite lime here, powdered or pelletized both work fine.
------------------------------------ -------------- --------------------------------------
So this designer water part is something I've half assed. I think I'm going to get a more proper container and air stone going for this grow and give it a try.
And today
@Jon this is what I was talking about. ^^^ 
Which pot model did you decide on?
I'm not a linear thinker all the time and she is. That confuses her.
,what size is your fill tube, the inside diameter? and have you had any issues with them . And can the clear tube be extended if SIP pots are taller ? 
. PB recommendations don’t work with these plants. But what a massive growth potential they have. And I love that high. lol CL
starting my new day with 4-5 good hits with my Coffee 
️ n newspaper. I sit out on my deck and listen to the birds 
and chill with a 
eating grin. CL
