Slammy Pajammy's Indoor Organic Supersoil Ladies, 2019! 2nd Ever!

[Slammy Pajama]

The plants look good. That soil is beautiful!!

You’re going to be a happy guy soon

Thanks mate!! I'm sure hoping so! They definitely need something at the moment... they've slowed down and are twisting their new growth a little, as well as a little lightening around the edges of older growth. I may need to try and get some more CalMag into them, or maybe another potassium tea? Only time will tell. I'm just hoping we don't get evacuated.... fires are getting pretty serious, and drought conditions are only getting worse and exacerbating the problem, so there's a lot of serious talk of it happening...

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Was starting to clear up earlier today, then I looked out and saw the haze rolling in (that is NOT the kind of haze i was hoping for!!)

This is what the east coast of Australia is looking like right now (can you see that little blue dot in the middle of all the red?? Yea I guess we picked the wrong place to move... haha)

Fires are starting to converge all around and cutting off most highways out of the city... this is literally like something out of a movie...

 

[Silverfox125]

Wow that’s crazy. Are you safe?

ps cool looking property

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Wow that’s crazy. Are you safe?

ps cool looking property

Thank you, my friend! Unfortunately is a rental property, not our own. But the original owners planted rose bushes all around the perimeter, so in spring time it blooms so beautifully! Until temps skyrocket and lack of rain dries them all to a crisp... haha

They've managed to control the fires that have popped up around the city pretty well so far, but being so much dry bushland all around, it's only a matter of time...
We have been spending most of the weekend getting our emergency supplies and bags ready, but I can't stand to think of what will happen to my plants and growing equipment if we do have to leave in a hurry :'(

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Today's Update:

Temp: 27-34
RH: 37-47%

Time to get a tea brewing! Today's tea has some malted barley, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, and coconut meal for a nice balanced tea

Ground it all up

And added my EWC

Before into the molasses water we go. I tried something a little different this time and added my CalMag solution straight to the tea water (mainly out of laziness haha). So we'll see how that goes!

Ladies are looking good though!

Growth seems to have slowed a bit, but they're definitely bushing out and sharing growth among multiple tops now, so that could be playing into it a bit. Hopefully the smoke isn't bothering them too much!

Rocky

Chubby

Speedy

Cookie

Wonky

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Today's Update:

Temp: 25-30 degrees Celsius
RH: 42-50%

Tea was looking good and foamy at 24h, so I managed to get about 6L across all 5 ladies with barely any runoff. Feeling nice and heavy now! Let's see how they appreciate that in the coming days

Loving that beautiful green colour green the new growth. Little lightening around the edges of the old growth on a couple, so I'm hoping the CalMag ferment or coconut meal (for potassium) in the tea will fix that up (thinking it looks more like potassium deficiency than anything else)

Rocky

Chubby

Speedy

Cookie

Wonky

 

[Silverfox125]

Looking beautiful

green and healthy

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Today's Update:

Temp: 25-30 degrees Celsius
RH: 42-70%

Ladies look terrific!! Tea definitely seemed to help, so I think I'll brew up another balanced one that includes another potassium source once they are ready for another watering

Temp and humidity has also been in a much better range. I've had to be keeping the doors to the cab open though, as I've robbed the exhaust fan and carbon filter (air quality has literally been the worst worldwide, with an air quality index 2-2.5x as bad as China's air quality at its worst....) so I pulled the fan and filter to run it in sections of the house to purify the air and make it breathable for us; sorry plant friends, but if I die, you'll die! We've literally been wearing our paint respirators around whenever we're outside . Still haven't been evacuated, but we've got the truck loaded up with travel packs and everything we need to sustain ourselves and the cats for a while just in case we need to up and leave!

Cranked up the lights a little bit; they're currently at about 40%, and I'm going to see incrementally how high I can go before the ladies start to stress, as i want to see some faster growth now that I've got the potassium deficiency on the way to being sorted out

Rocky

Chubby

Speedy

Cookie

Wonky

 

[Silverfox125]

Looking great. I love the idea of upping the light. They are ready for the big time!

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Yesterday's update:

Temp: 25-31 degrees Celsius
RH: 42-65% (.... how did that happen?)

Plants are still looking good! There is still a little bit of chlorosis around the edges of older growth on most of them, so I will definitely give them another tea with a K source next watering just to be sure they are getting the K they need, as that definitely could be causing the slow down slowing growth I've noticed

But they are also putting a good amount of energy into branching out! Probably will start tying down Rocky and Wonky to the sides of their pots, as i don't think I'll be able to up-pot from these fabric pots very gracefully, so they will likely be their final containers

Lights got bumped another little bit so we are at about 50%. I'll give them a couple days there and then see if I can get away with another 10-15% increase, and keep going that way until they're stressing. Temps should be on the way back down in Canberra in the next couple weeks anyway, so I may not have to worry so much about the light heating up (although this one doesn't actually heat the cab that much at full blast, runs much cooler than the Viparspectra)

Love that beautiful green!

Rocky

Chubby

Speedy

Cookie

Wonky

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Quick morning training/bending session to keep any one cola from out-competing the rest, and maintain a nice even canopy! Pots are starting to feel pretty light, so i might look into getting a tea brewing a little bit later today.

Definitely a little leaf tacoing happening today as well, so i raised the lights up to like 800mm (I know, way higher than I should, but if they don't stretch and start growing sparse internodes, then it should be all good, right?)

 

[Emilya Green]

Can you give me a close up of some of the tacoing?

 

[Slammy Pajama]

Can you give me a close up of some of the tacoing?

Hey Em! Thanks for stopping by to help out! Based off of the lightening just around the edges and the folding of the leaf serrations, I'm suspicious it has more to do with them still crying for potassium than the light intensity. May just have coincided with turning the lights up a touch yesterday, because of the role potassium plays in photosynthesis

I think the burnt-looking tips on the girl scout cookie can also be a sign of potassium deficiency, if it's not an excess of nitrogen (which is possible, but I don't think so)

Can't wait to hear your opinion!! Your advice is always a godsend!

Cookie (This one definitely looks more like potassium crinkling than heat/light stress I think)

Chubby

Speedy

Wonky

 

[Emilya Green]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I concur with your tacoing diagnosis and agree that most of this curling of the leaves looks like physical heat damage, not nutrients. The curling burned looking tips, that I agree looks like a potassium deficiency.

 

[Slammy Pajama]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I concur with your tacoing diagnosis and agree that most of this curling of the leaves looks like physical heat damage, not nutrients. The curling burned looking tips, that I agree looks like a potassium deficiency.

Thanks! I'll keep tracking along with the potassium teas and see if we can get that fixed up. Do you think I run the risk of potassium locking out other nutrients with living organic soil and teas, or is that less of a problem when we aren't feeding the plant directly with nutrient salts?

Not much I can do at the moment about the heat. I was hoping we would be alright staying under 32 degrees (90 degrees F) but I pulled apart my AC and found it moulded up inside (Damn this old mouldy house!!) So I've had to retire it and don't know when I can get another one :'(

 

[Emilya Green]

That damage isn't just heat, it is too much light intensity... pull the lights back a bit. Since potassium is easy to bring into the system in an available form and used in great amounts by our plants all through the growing cycle, as long as you don't overload the soil with it, you should be ok. If you do get too much of it it will be obvious and it will start locking out practically everything important but iron and manganese.

 

[Slammy Pajama]

That damage isn't just heat, it is too much light intensity... pull the lights back a bit. Since potassium is easy to bring into the system in an available form and used in great amounts by our plants all through the growing cycle, as long as you don't overload the soil with it, you should be ok. If you do get too much of it it will be obvious and it will start locking out practically everything important but iron and manganese.

Ahhh, ok. Do you think I am better off with the lights further away but higher intensity, or closer with lower intensity? I may have to play around with the light and these plants to find the sweet spot. I just raised the light from 26" up to 30", but maybe I need to dial back the intensity instead

Awesome! I might add some coconut meal to my tea recipes more frequently from here on out. On my last run of plants, you'd recommended a banana peel extract or ferment, so I might troll through your posts again and look into that as well!

As always, thank you so much for your help and input!! it has helped to bring me so far on this journey!!

 

[Emilya Green]

Ahhh, ok. Do you think I am better off with the lights further away but higher intensity, or closer with lower intensity? I may have to play around with the light and these plants to find the sweet spot. I just raised the light from 26" up to 30", but maybe I need to dial back the intensity instead

Awesome! I might add some coconut meal to my tea recipes more frequently from here on out. On my last run of plants, you'd recommended a banana peel extract or ferment, so I might troll through your posts again and look into that as well!

As always, thank you so much for your help and input!! it has helped to bring me so far on this journey!!

I think you need a light meter. None of the LED lights work like any of the others do, and you pretty much have to treat each one as its own unique situation. It is all about coverage area vs PAR that can be delivered to the canopy... too much and you fry your plants... too little and they are less than they would have been.

 

[Slammy Pajama]

I think you need a light meter. None of the LED lights work like any of the others do, and you pretty much have to treat each one as its own unique situation. It is all about coverage area vs PAR that can be delivered to the canopy... too much and you fry your plants... too little and they are less than they would have been.

Righto! I've been tempted to get one after a little research into the right kind of light meter for growing with LED's, but held off as it seemed more of a luxury than a necessity. I guess that is proving to be an incorrect assumption! Thanks again!!

In the meantime, I'll see if the manufacturer has any graphs or charts to go off. You're the best!!

 

[Silverfox125]

Happy Saturday @Slammy Pajama

hope you’re safe my friend