Shouldn't really matter and 8 is a perfectly normal reading for that age. 
I think you have the technique down. Did it need calibrating?
I think you have the technique down. Did it need calibrating?
Plant Alchemy With KNF: Korean Natural Farming And Jadam
- Thread starter Azimuth
- Start date
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Nice! 8 is a great start for 21 days. Its coming together nicelyTopped the new Blueberry CBD seedling at 21 days to get it ready for quadlining and took a reading. 8 Brix, although there wasn't a lot of sap from the top leaves so it didn't completely cover the plate. Not sure if that matters though.
. One step at a time you are acheiving your goals
- Thread starter
- #903
Only marginally. I'll have to redo the others and see if I get a different reading. They'll be headed to flower in about a week.Shouldn't really matter and 8 is a perfectly normal reading for that age.
I think you have the technique down. Did it need calibrating?
johnehazeharvester
Well-Known Member
I made a half gallon of LAB and my outdoor grow is flowering nicely so I will make sure I use it. Thanks.
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- #905
The twins will get flipped in a couple of days and both look quite good, likely among the best plants I've sent to flower with the fewest bug issues. I'd say that's probably due to me spraying them with water twice daily, and using a thin soap spray a couple of times a week.
So far, both mixes have grown great plants but the real test will come in a few weeks as many of my trials have looked great through about week 6 or so (4 weeks of veg + two weeks after flip) so we'll have to see how things look past that milestone.
I will say though that the compost version has gotten the plant through veg just fine. It's not drinking anywhere near as much as the coco version but since it looks fine from above I'm not going to sweat it. So far no signs of N deficiencies from 'not quite finished compost' stealing it from the mix to finish processing.
Quite pleased with both plant atm.
So far, both mixes have grown great plants but the real test will come in a few weeks as many of my trials have looked great through about week 6 or so (4 weeks of veg + two weeks after flip) so we'll have to see how things look past that milestone.
I will say though that the compost version has gotten the plant through veg just fine. It's not drinking anywhere near as much as the coco version but since it looks fine from above I'm not going to sweat it. So far no signs of N deficiencies from 'not quite finished compost' stealing it from the mix to finish processing.
Quite pleased with both plant atm.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
A good veg tea and a topdressing will help push you through stretch.
Then, in small pots, you need to stay ahead. Feed today for what you think will be needed in 2 weeks. If in doubt feed again.
Once you are in flower you never want to chase. Nutrients are consumed too fast. Get ahead now. Don't be afraid to over tea them.
Its better to dial it back next grow to hone in on perfect than it is to chase it. More rounds of tea are better than strong infrequent ones.
Remember, low calcium up top can bring on a nitro deficiency. Top dress that in ahead of the curve too.
You want to feed as much in stretch as the plant will use so the nutes currently in the pot are still there after stretch.
What you have in your pot after flower begins should be what you strive to still have in the pot at harvest. Its your emergency battery, dont run it down.
Record it all. If you make it then you know how much it took. You can incrementally dial it back growing forwards until you find exactly how much each strain needs.
Check your brix until you cant afford to remove any more leaves. Once its above 12 you don't theoretically need carbon in the pot as the air provides enough through proper photosynthesis (you are now sequestering carbon) so if you get there and stay there, then next grow you can add a bit less soil carbon leaving more space in the small pot for food.
As you reduce soil carbon and add nutes your brix will get more solid. Over 16 and you have earned a buffer.
A higher phos and mag input in the top dressings and teas once stretch is almost over will show you a great benefit.
Not a huge increase, just an increase. The mag is needed more by the plant so give it that, and a little bit more to sway the cal to mag ratio towards mag, but only a bit, it will slightly tighten the soil to slightly reduce nitrogen right when you need less.
Dont lower calcium to sway the ratio or the soils ec will drop right when you need it. Up the mag.
Nitrogen is aminos, one of their major roles is to create mass. Once stretch is over you need less nitrogen but more photosynthesis, and now minerals to produce trichomes and terpenes becomes the game.
You still need nitro, just less. And you need more mag, so nature has a way here.
Once you perfect it you can experiment with just letting calcium drop, but overkill is easy to dial back. Catching up is hard.
Deficiencies in flower are directly related to yield, smells, and tastes.
Figure out what it takes 1st, then get economical. It takes more than you think in small pots because they are small. You cant add too much at once so it must be done through repetition. Get ahead now.
Keep a good journal.
Things will happen quickly. If a deficiency pops up on day 40, then next grow you need to fix it on day 26.
If you start 1 plant every 2 weeks then when a deficiency starts on the oldest plant its time to fix it today on the 2nd oldest plant before it arises in 2 weeks.
Rinse and repeat.
Put that in your mental picture book.
Then, in small pots, you need to stay ahead. Feed today for what you think will be needed in 2 weeks. If in doubt feed again.
Once you are in flower you never want to chase. Nutrients are consumed too fast. Get ahead now. Don't be afraid to over tea them.
Its better to dial it back next grow to hone in on perfect than it is to chase it. More rounds of tea are better than strong infrequent ones.
Remember, low calcium up top can bring on a nitro deficiency. Top dress that in ahead of the curve too.
You want to feed as much in stretch as the plant will use so the nutes currently in the pot are still there after stretch.
What you have in your pot after flower begins should be what you strive to still have in the pot at harvest. Its your emergency battery, dont run it down.
Record it all. If you make it then you know how much it took. You can incrementally dial it back growing forwards until you find exactly how much each strain needs.
Check your brix until you cant afford to remove any more leaves. Once its above 12 you don't theoretically need carbon in the pot as the air provides enough through proper photosynthesis (you are now sequestering carbon) so if you get there and stay there, then next grow you can add a bit less soil carbon leaving more space in the small pot for food.
As you reduce soil carbon and add nutes your brix will get more solid. Over 16 and you have earned a buffer.
A higher phos and mag input in the top dressings and teas once stretch is almost over will show you a great benefit.
Not a huge increase, just an increase. The mag is needed more by the plant so give it that, and a little bit more to sway the cal to mag ratio towards mag, but only a bit, it will slightly tighten the soil to slightly reduce nitrogen right when you need less.
Dont lower calcium to sway the ratio or the soils ec will drop right when you need it. Up the mag.
Nitrogen is aminos, one of their major roles is to create mass. Once stretch is over you need less nitrogen but more photosynthesis, and now minerals to produce trichomes and terpenes becomes the game.
You still need nitro, just less. And you need more mag, so nature has a way here.
Once you perfect it you can experiment with just letting calcium drop, but overkill is easy to dial back. Catching up is hard.
Deficiencies in flower are directly related to yield, smells, and tastes.
Figure out what it takes 1st, then get economical. It takes more than you think in small pots because they are small. You cant add too much at once so it must be done through repetition. Get ahead now.
Keep a good journal.
Things will happen quickly. If a deficiency pops up on day 40, then next grow you need to fix it on day 26.
If you start 1 plant every 2 weeks then when a deficiency starts on the oldest plant its time to fix it today on the 2nd oldest plant before it arises in 2 weeks.
Rinse and repeat.
Put that in your mental picture book.
- Thread starter
- #907
Thanks.
Not sure how I'd fine tune the Mag as my extracts are generally broad based. I'll have to go have a look and see if there are any plants heavy in that one element.
How do you fine tune it in your organic grow? The single thing I think that has made the biggest difference is that I've been upping the amount and frequency of my castings top dress so maybe I can go even heavier there.
My castings are amended with various meals and minerals but I've just started adding my crumbles to them, but it's 6-8 months before they finish so that's more of a next year thing.
Not sure how I'd fine tune the Mag as my extracts are generally broad based. I'll have to go have a look and see if there are any plants heavy in that one element.
How do you fine tune it in your organic grow? The single thing I think that has made the biggest difference is that I've been upping the amount and frequency of my castings top dress so maybe I can go even heavier there.
My castings are amended with various meals and minerals but I've just started adding my crumbles to them, but it's 6-8 months before they finish so that's more of a next year thing.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Im in 10gal pots so I don't need to topdress to the same degree. EWC is fairly mag sufficient, but in small pots like 2gals or less everything gets exaggerated.Thanks.
Not sure how I'd fine tune the Mag as my extracts are generally broad based. I'll have to go have a look and see if there are any plants heavy in that one element.
How do you fine tune it in your organic grow? The single thing I think that has made the biggest difference is that I've been upping the amount and frequency of my castings top dress so maybe I can go even heavier there.
My castings are amended with various meals and minerals but I've just started adding my crumbles to them, but it's 6-8 months before they finish so that's more of a next year thing.
Its just information to have going forwards. A lot of people don't realize that nitrogen at the wrong time, or more to the point EXCESS nitrogen, is a main attractor of bugs. It pulls in too much water to the tissues and the plant gets too weak from its sap being watered down.
In veg you are bigger every day so that nitrogen gets used up constantly. In a small pot all your soil nitrogen will be gone for sure so it has to come from the air.
A lot of synthetics in flower have very little or no nitrogen. In nature the calcium in the ground has moved down and the soil tightens. People usually need to lime their lawn in August to bring the green back, as a good example of it.
So as you evolve your potions keep that in mind. You also need more mag in flower so its a twofer.
For now as you are still diagnosing, just keep rolling along and see if you get farther in, or even too the end. You made some foundational changes to progress the grow and it seems to be helping, and you have put a lot of dilligence into your potions already so you may nail it this grow anyways, but if it doesn't quite make it, or more to the point, if brix crashes and bugs come rushing back late in flower, this is a spot to investigate at.
- Thread starter
- #909
Ok, I think I'll try it the way it's going, at least mostly. Last grow I fried the leaves early in flower by adding too much of my potions so ironically that was good as I now know it is possible to overdo it.
I'll at least be starting flower looking really good and then, like you said, we'll see how far I get.
Do you think castings bring too much nitrogen once I get past stretch?
I'll at least be starting flower looking really good and then, like you said, we'll see how far I get.
Do you think castings bring too much nitrogen once I get past stretch?
Gee64
Well-Known Member
No, not unless its not finished. Most of that nitrogen, if not all is now in amino form. The mag in it will help things too. Watch the brix. It will lead you. Things fry easily in small pots. Less more often is the key.
- Thread starter
- #911
A flowering they will go. Both got flipped this weekend.
Its unusual for me to flip two together so this will give me something interesting to watch, that being the effect on the plants from different light spectrums.
My flower box is setup up for a perpetual grow. I have 3 rows of 6 light vanity strips as my light source and use screw-in LED lights in them. I generally start a plant on the right side under cooler 5,000k lights and then move them left into the warmer 3,000k side later on.
5,000k is said to produce frostier buds, while the 3k does something else (though I forget what) and is the more standard spectrum to use in flower.
I could just change get out the lights but I won't. May as well see what we see.
Its unusual for me to flip two together so this will give me something interesting to watch, that being the effect on the plants from different light spectrums.
My flower box is setup up for a perpetual grow. I have 3 rows of 6 light vanity strips as my light source and use screw-in LED lights in them. I generally start a plant on the right side under cooler 5,000k lights and then move them left into the warmer 3,000k side later on.
5,000k is said to produce frostier buds, while the 3k does something else (though I forget what) and is the more standard spectrum to use in flower.
I could just change get out the lights but I won't. May as well see what we see.
- Thread starter
- #912
I'm starting a new batch of LAB. Did the rice wash water a couple of days ago and now am waiting for the microbes to populate the liquid. From there I'll add it to some milk or heavy cream to isolate out the lactobacillus and then mix some with molasses to make it shelf stable.
I'll use that for digestion issues as well as gardening hacks like compost starter and the like.
Also made up a new batch of swamp juice. This run is:
40% FAA (Fish Amino Acids)
20% Comfrey
20% S Nettle
10% Seaweed JLF
10% WCA (Water Soluble Calcium)
And those percentages are based on potency since the JLF and the FAA are used at two very different dilutions. 1:30 for JLF and 1:1,000 for KNF stuff like FAA.
So, yes, there was some math involved.
I'll use that for digestion issues as well as gardening hacks like compost starter and the like.
Also made up a new batch of swamp juice. This run is:
40% FAA (Fish Amino Acids)
20% Comfrey
20% S Nettle
10% Seaweed JLF
10% WCA (Water Soluble Calcium)
And those percentages are based on potency since the JLF and the FAA are used at two very different dilutions. 1:30 for JLF and 1:1,000 for KNF stuff like FAA.
So, yes, there was some math involved.
- Thread starter
- #913
Flip +14 for the twins and both have begun flower. The Backyard Farmer Edition (compost) is looking great with good color, though is drinking a bit less in its SIP than the World Traveler Edition (coco). That one though is starting to show some yellowing leaves.
Both got their weekly top dressing of worm castings at 1T per gallon and malted barley at half that, plus some of my Swamp juice (half veg mix and half flower).
I was hoping the compost version would hold up relatively well compared to the coco one but so far it is appreciably better. But, it's early yet so we'll see how things progress from here.
@Gee64 's been
Also took the cloning branches off the new Blueberry CBD plant and stuck them, and up-potted the mother to a 2G SIP to prep for flower. I also flipped a Northern Lights 5 clone still in its 1L container since I want to see how this new soil mix works in a smaller container.
I didn't plan this very well and the flower box will be super crowded when the Blueberry CBD gets flipped in a couple of weeks. Oh well, my new cloning success will enable me to better plan things out starting early next year.
Finally, I started processing/screening my latest compost batch which is looking much better and more finished than the earlier rounds so I may spread the old stuff I've been storing in a barrel onto my garlic bed and replace my storage pile with this more finished stuff.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Is it possible that the yellowing of the coco one could be that its too wet? Coco has a good water retention quality to it. Feel if its wetter.
- Thread starter
- #915
Ok. I test the water level in the SIP each day with a dipstick and only give it what it'll drink in a day or two. I can let it dry out a bit this week and see if that improves things.
I also should mention that I added a top dressing of eggshell powder to my old mother Strawberry CBD plant. That one's starting to fade and since it got upgraded with the Blueberry CBD I won't be taking any more cuttings nor will I flower it out so it seems like a perfect candidate to experiment with.
I topdressed it at 1T per gallon and misted it in. There may not be enough time for the calcium to get processed much but I mostly want to see if there is any deleterious effect. If there's no downside, I may try it on my other plants that have a longer expected lifespan and see what it does, if anything.
- Thread starter
- #916
That should read 1t per gallon. I haven't noticed any impact to the addition so I'm going to try it on my newly up-potted NL5. Both it and the Blueberry CBD seedling look super healthy but when I brixed the bigger one it came in only at 8 with a fairly obvious shade line rather than a zone so I'm wondering if upping the calcium with the eggshells might help.
I was thinking my castings would take care of it but, even though the plants look super healthy and happy, the numbers don't lie. At least I don’t think they do. I did take a class in college called "Lying with Statistics", but I think they were referring to something else. Lol.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Calcium needs to be adequate throuout the entire pot and it always moves down, so EWC up top only replaces what falls to the bottom. You need a boost up top. A calmag feed will help. It needs to be both cal and mag to work quickly. It will add nitrogen too. Doing it once will only help. Those egg shells added to your mix at cooking, now thats good stuff
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- #918
But by adding it regularly to the top I should get some sort of regular "flow" as some of the older stuff falls, right?
Gee64
Well-Known Member
yes, but what is globally in the mix sets the condition of the soil, what you add up top maintains that conditioning. If you have a global deficit you need to fix that AND maintain from above. Not saying you have a global deficit, but if you do you need a boost and you need maintenance.
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- #920
Ah, OK. Makes sense. I do incorporate castings as 10-20% of my mix so there is some globally, but maybe that gets dissolved more quickly than say lime or eggshells would?
I've never been too focused on Ca, but am paying more attention after following you around for a while.
