Stunger's Organic Balcony: Growing Daughters Of Mulanje: Watering Via Root Aeration Chambers

[StoneOtter]

Hey SO, I'm going to try this with oyster shell flour too this Spring. Can you please let me know how you make out?

Any tips or tricks you find would definitely be appreciated to start me off solidly.

I went to a net recipe and a 10 to 1 vinegar solution that I stir twice a day or more. After a few days it stopped bubbling so much when I stir. It said to go for two weeks. That's volume so 1 inch of shell flour to 9 inches of vinegar for instance.I like Azi's all in recipe though with way more shell material so as much as possible gets used.

 

[Emeraldo]

Thanks Carcass! I was having to rush as I was being repeatedly told to hurry up, but my posting on it is a mess to read. It even messes with now. I was hoping someone might grasp what I was trying to do and shine a light on it.

Cheers Stinker! That sunshine has been quite rare too, but apparently we have some more coming. It'll be welcome.

You are right, previously I would just carry out a dry top dress every now and then. No pH or ppm's for me.

Compared to the indoor folk who are very knowledgeable on giving direct nutrients and keeping everything in great balance, I have only ever given pretty much dry amendments, and in particular for 'yellowing leaves' I'd always reached for an amendment with Nitrogen in it. But what changed it for me, was a post by @Gee64, I cut n pasted within an earlier update (it's highlighted in blue text for quick access, haha) --> here. Before reading this, I probably would have given the Mulanje HP a Nitrogen amendment, but I immediately wanted to try it because it seemed to me that it could be quite probable it's a Calcium deficiency that was causing Magnesium to lock up the Nitrogen, it was there but not available to the plant. When I read this it was like when I heard about SIPS, it only sunk in when @Azimuth mentioned about the air gap in them, so similarly when Gee explained this I felt I had to try it out.

Now I don't have a ppm reader, I have never seen one. But I understand the ppm can be calculated from molecular weights. I last did that in high school and I have long forgotten it. But going on the statements of others who remember how to do it. 1 gram of dry Calcium Acetate contains approximately 253mg of elemental Calcium, which when diluted in 1 litre of water would be 253ppm. I only need around 1/5 of that (which would give me 50.6ppm).

Gee suggested, When I add calcium to water I like to be in the 50-60 ppm range. I would start there.

This seems very useful especially for growing in living soil.

So how much of my Calcium Acetate solution do I need to add to 1 litre of water to give 50 - 60ppm without a ppm reader?

Lets assume that the reaction was complete and all vinegar is used up. In reality I could still taste/smell it in a very very faint soft watery way. So maybe it was 98%, who knows, lets assume it fully used up all the vinegar component when it reacted with the egg shells, so 100%.

My vinegar was stated to be between 4 - 4.2% Again, let's say it's 4%

I used excess shells to ensure that there was excess for the vinegar component to be all used up (or thereabouts)

Its been given that 1 gram of dry Calcium Acetate contains approximately 253mg of elemental Calcium, which when diluted in 1 litre of water would be 253ppm. I only need around 1/5 of that (which would give me 50.6ppm).

So if my vinegar was 4% in concentration, and it was all used up. And the Calcium atoms each bonded with 2 Acetate molecules until there were no more left, the reaction stops, no more bubbling. Which means if fully completed my resulting Calcium Acetate would have a concentration of 2%.

So working backwards (I am probably tripping badly and don't know it), if my Calcium Acetate was 100% pure (it'd have to be dry for that of course) then it would give 253ppm if 1 gram was added to 1 litre of water.

So how much is 1 gram of Calcium Acetate salt by volume? I going to guess at 1/4 teaspoon as being thereabouts.

As mine is only 2%, 1/4 tsp added to 1 litre would give 1/50 of the above 253ppm of 1 gram pure, i.e. 5.06ppm

So how much do I need to add to 1 litre of water to get around the lower of the range? 10 quarter teaspoons (or 2 and half teaspoons) gives 50.6ppm, so that's probably a good starting point. Altho, I am probably way off, it is good I rechecked, I said twice as much before.

Well congrats if you made, it's probably rubbish, it's all ballpark'ish until someone points out where I am mucking up.

Here are a couple here, as you can see from the others pics, the plant (well all of them have had a few yellow leaves, but they are now 4 months 1 week since sprouting so some leaves dying off isn't too unexpected. But the Mulanje HP, while overall she looks green, she has more yellowing leave than I'd like her to have. Hence, I feel I that I have to do something.

Here are a couple of the underneath and closer from above, they mostly are more central (older?) and throughout the central column area it seems. Not particularly all lower or anything.

1. Some yellowing on the Mulanje HP in it's 5th month, still vegging

• Stunger
• Feb 6, 2023

2. Some yellowing on the Mulanje HP in it's 5th month, still vegging

• Stunger
• Feb 6, 2023

Well it's a mess Lerugged, stoned, being hassled and in a rush. Now it's 1:30am and I'm brain dead, probably making a similar effort this attempt too. Let me know if you see me doing it wrong, it probably is, too late now. Cheers!

It's not the totally yellowed leaves I'd be concerned about. Those are expected. Your plants have been through a lot lately. Lack of sunlight, even. So those blank yellowed are just being discarded for lack of use. But in the first photo the other leaves, yellow in between the veins, there's your cal def, right?

 

[Stunger]

Your math is probably correct but personally I never guess with calcium.

Too much causes damage, especially in elemental forms. Its powerful stuff.

Thanks Gee, the need for sensible caution is noted.

Since I have tried a quarter tsp of my Calcium Acetate once a day for 4 days which I have roughly calculated as being only 5.06ppm, and I haven't noticed any difference. I will probably try a half way amount to what I calculated, like a litre at around 25ppm, just to see.

You can find out if the vinegar has been neutralised by putting a small amount in a shot glass and adding a pinch of baking soda.
If it reacts, the vinegar hasn't been neutralised.

Thanks Mel, I just tried that. It was hard tell if anything was happening, I wasn't sure if there were little resting bubbles or if it was just the fallen baking soda on top and sinking into the teaspoon of my solution.

So then I tried it on some of the bottled vinegar and the expected immediate and violent reaction occurred, where most notable was the audible sound of the resultant fizzing. So I think my solution the vinegar has mostly been consumed.

Are all the yellowing leaves on shaded parts of the plant?

To me, they seem to occur fairly random from bottom to top.

I like your approach to making it! I'm a few days away from a small batch of an oyster shell flour soak in white vinegar being done.

Thanks Otter. It should work well I'm guessing. I'll be interested in what ppm yours comes out at, that is if you have a ppm reader/meter to check.

t's not the totally yellowed leaves I'd be concerned about. Those are expected. Your plants have been through a lot lately. Lack of sunlight, even. So those blank yellowed are just being discarded for lack of use. But in the first photo the other leaves, yellow in between the veins, there's your cal def, right?

Thanks Emeraldo, yes that was what I was thinking. While not a lot thus far, but I'm guessing if nothing is done they'll get worse.

 

[StoneOtter]

Thanks Gee, the need for sensible caution is noted.

Since I have tried a quarter tsp of my Calcium Acetate once a day for 4 days which I have roughly calculated as being only 5.06ppm, and I haven't noticed any difference. I will probably try a half way amount to what I calculated, like a litre at around 25ppm, just to see.

Thanks Mel, I just tried that. It was hard tell if anything was happening, I wasn't sure if there were little resting bubbles or if it was just the fallen baking soda on top and sinking into the teaspoon of my solution.

So then I tried it on some of the bottled vinegar and the expected immediate and violent reaction occurred, where most notable was the audible sound of the resultant fizzing. So I think my solution the vinegar has mostly been consumed.

To me, they seem to occur fairly random from bottom to top.

Thanks Otter. It should work well I'm guessing. I'll be interested in what ppm yours comes out at, that is if you have a ppm reader/meter to check.

Thanks Emeraldo, yes that was what I was thinking. While not a lot thus far, but I'm guessing if nothing is done they'll get worse.

I plan on checking ppm and ph. I'll let you know.

 

[Stunger]

Update - Addressing a potential Calcium deficiency, refining my calculations regarding volume

Greetings 420 enthusiasts! I have changed the value of one the factors I was using for calculating the ppm. I had taken a punt on Calcium Acetate salt as being similar in weight by volume as table salt, because I wanted to know the amount as a volume. I had made the assumption that 1 gram would occupy 1 ml similar to table salt. I looked at the density of Calcium Acetate to see if I was around the ballpark or not, in order to make some accuracy at least for that. However, it was far denser than I'd assumed and therefore 1 g would occupy less than 1 ml.

So I have recalculated the ppm of my solution and what volume I need to add to water to achieve a desired ppm of about 40, and based on these revisions, today I gave my (recalculated) 40ppm to each plant. 1 litre to the one with most yellowing, 500ml to the next, and 250ml for the least. All 40ppm.

Again, I am going to go thru my reasoning, as I want to log what I have done so I can look over it if need be. So don't anybody feel bad about skipping this, fully understand! But if you do read and see something wrong don't hesitate to chime in. Because at the end of the post I will be asking the question, what next?

I assume that giving 40ppm will be cautiously helpful, but how much and how often, I don't know. Do people give Calcium at their desired ppm with all their watering quantity, or just a limited quantity like 1 litre, I would imagine so? Of course I will be looking for visual improvements as a validation that it is working, probably need at least a week, but if the plants are looking happy tomorrow, do I give them the same dose again or do I wait ..?

Just to state the things that I am taking as a given

density of water 1g/cm3 or 1g/ml

density of Calcium Acetate 1.5g/cm3

PPM when 1g of 100% Calcium Acetate added to 1 litre of water will give 253ppm

Things that I am assuming

My shop bought vinegar is 4% (they state 4 - 4.2%)

My Calcium Acetate is 2% - it may be slightly less if all the Acetic Acid was not entirely used up, which if so, would mean my calculation of concentration (at 2%) would be a little bit weaker in reality, but that would help err on the side of caution, so all good.

So...

From the above densities, I'll view Calcium Acetate as being 50% heavier by volume over water.

So, if 1g of water occupies 1ml, then 1g of Calcium Acetate would occupy approx. 2/3rds or 0.666 of 1 ml.

As 1g of pure Calcium Acetate in 1 litre of water gives a ppm of 253, I am wanting about 1/5 of that.

The quantity of my Calcium Acetate 2% solution needed to make 1g of pure 100% Calcium Acetate would be 50 X 2/3rds of 1 ml), which would result in about 33.34ml and would then give a ppm of 253 if added to 1 litre of water.

Therefore to get around 50ppm I will need to divide the above 33.34ml by 5, which gives about 6.67ml and add that to 1 litre of water to get about 50ppm.

But in the interests of erring on the side of caution, based on the above, a single quarter teaspoon of my approx. 2% solution when added to a litre of water will give nearly 9.5ppm but I want to aim for about 40ppm, so I added 4 quarter teaspoons to 1 litre of water to achieve that. Maybe in reality if my solution concentration is less than 2% then maybe the ppm as calculated above would be closer to 35ppm. I am just saying, and wondering the result of that to the plant.

The plants

Recalculating what I gave all 3 plants, each day for the previous 4 days, was 700ml at 12ppm.

Mulanje HP; she is showing the most yellowing from a suspected Calcium deficiency. Today I gave her 4 quarter teaspoons or about 5ml of my 2% solution added to 1000ml of water (1 litre) which by my reckoning with 2 or 3 drops extra would be about 40ppm

Mulanje ME; she is showing less yellowing. I gave her 500ml of water at 40ppm.

Mulanje Sherbert; is showing the least of all and she has darkest leaves of all. I gave her 250ml of water at 40ppm.

So where to now brown cow?

I think I have erred on the side of caution, if anything I think it is probably weaker than I have calculated. I assume any visual improvements will take a week or so to see.

Looking ahead, I don't imagine I will give any more to the Mulanje Sherbert as she is already pretty good.

The Mulanje ME I think I probably could give her some further doses, but if still at 40ppm if not a lot is happening? Or bump it up to where I calculate, say, 55ppm? And then how much quantity? The Mulanje HP is the main one that concerns me and I assume I will probably need to give her further doses but at what ppm? How much and how often?

It has been fun wrapping my head around this whether I have got close to correct answers or not. I have never considered things like ppm before, but I've seen it mentioned many times. I always felt glad that I didn't have to labour on calculating all those things.

Worms/worm castings

And as Gee showed, that using some liquified worm castings also adds some great Calcium. I could probably very easily do that, as I have a couple of home worm farms. But I don't know if my worm castings are particularly high in Calcium, or at this moment if Gee purposefully feeds his particular food with this in mind, I will go check. Mine mostly get fruit and banana skins, I do occasionally sprinkle some oyster flour or rock dust a bit of grass clipping and dry leaves, cardboard, and even a bit of chook poop and sawdust. but I have no idea if mine are good or not for Calcium. I can see that liquifying it is an excellent way to get it into the top of the soil where it can drop down. Last year when I amended my pots with worms castings, it was all from the very bottom which is only supposed collect the 'worm wee'/leachate, but after a few years it clogs up... So it was like sludge and 'sat' on the top of the soil for weeks until it got crusty. So liquifying makes a lot of good sense. One can only try of course. Altho for now, I will focus on the WCA/Calcium Acetate solution. So any thoughts, much appreciated!
And once again, congrats if you read this far! Thanks for dropping in.

 

[Emeraldo]

Do people give Calcium at their desired ppm with all their watering quantity, or just a limited quantity like 1 litre, I would imagine so?

I've had Cal def, usually just after stretch in early flowering showing in the mid-level leaves. But not lately since I started
doing this a different way... I use organic fertilisers containing a good amount of Calcium, like crab shell meal and oyster shell, combined with a good amount of malted barley flour which contains an enzyme that helps break the shell material down and make it accessible. I learned about that from a 420 member, I think he's still around here somewhere... always experimenting with new ways to grow, his latest has something to do with "root aeration"... Ah, yes, here's his name... just a moment... @Stunger

 

[Stunger]

I've had Cal def, usually just after stretch in early flowering showing in the mid-level leaves. But not lately since I started
doing this a different way... I use organic fertilisers containing a good amount of Calcium, like crab shell meal and oyster shell, combined with a good amount of malted barley flour which contains an enzyme that helps break the shell material down and make it accessible. I learned about that from a 420 member, I think he's still around here somewhere... always experimenting with new ways to grow, his latest has something to do with "root aeration"... Ah, yes, here's his name... just a moment... @Stunger

Haha, I never considered the benefits of Calcium when I use malted barley. I do remember you mentioning it now I think about it. I didn't see it's importance then. And now, earthworm castings are good for it also, which I hadn't appreciated. I add the worm wee/leachate every day to their water and have done so for years, I don't know if it helps or hinders but I feel they like it.

But back to Calcium, I would love to see some positive change in the plant from the WCA/Calcium Acetate solution. I can easily liquify some worm castings and as you mention, give more dried shrimp, malted barley and oyster flour which their pots got in the 'off season'. I have or I can get all those things if need be. But I am planning giving an organic local bloom Fert topdressing in a couple of weeks or so, and I can add a little of the others too. But I'd be rapt to see something positive from this homemade Calcium water. I am not really expecting to see any difference at all tomorrow, and then if another dose is given, low like today (1L at 40ppm), then maybe see something the following day, or then just bump up the calculated ppm further, try 55 - 60ppm?

 

[Azimuth]

The worms excrete their castings covered in a calcium carbonate slime which dries to what we know of as castings, so if you've got castings you've got calcium. Whatever else they have going for them depends on what you feed them.

Your fruit and banana skins are really good inputs for flower with higher P and K. I have been doing mostly kitchen scraps in mine but recently switched to adding in all of my plant nutes and ammendments as well as shredded leaves to help bulk them up.

If you have malted barley, that can really help break down the other stuff with the enzymes and the worms love it so I add some of that weekly.

Here is an interview you can read that Clackams Coot did with Kis Organics where he talked about malted barley and castings among other things.

 

[InTheShed]

I'm a little confused why you're trying to add Ca for a problem of yellowing between the veins, which is an Mg deficiency. A Ca deficiency would be the leaf going directly to rust spots.

 

[Emeraldo]

Haha, I never considered the benefits of Calcium when I use malted barley. I do remember you mentioning it now I think about it. I didn't see it's importance then. And now, earthworm castings are good for it also, which I hadn't appreciated. I add the worm wee/leachate every day to their water and have done so for years, I don't know if it helps or hinders but I feel they like it.

But back to Calcium, I would love to see some positive change in the plant from the WCA/Calcium Acetate solution. I can easily liquify some worm castings and as you mention, give more dried shrimp, malted barley and oyster flour which their pots got in the 'off season'. I have or I can get all those things if need be. But I am planning giving an organic local bloom Fert topdressing in a couple of weeks or so, and I can add a little of the others too. But I'd be rapt to see something positive from this homemade Calcium water. I am not really expecting to see any difference at all tomorrow, and then if another dose is given, low like today (1L at 40ppm), then maybe see something the following day, or then just bump up the calculated ppm further, try 55 - 60ppm?

@Stunger can you apply your solution as a foliar application? I was in the garden store yesterday and picked up a .5 L bottle of something called Calcium Plus. Can be used in watering or by spraying on the leaves. Have you tried that yet? Foliar usually works right away, whereas getting your plants to absorb it through watering may take longer.

 

[Stunger]

Here is an interview you can read that Clackams Coot did with Kis Organics where he talked about malted barley and castings among other things.

Thanks Azi! I have read that interview before, but Jim Bennett's knowledge is always so interesting to read. So with a few distractions in between I have done so again, many thanks.

The worms excrete their castings covered in a calcium carbonate slime which dries to what we know of as castings, so if you've got castings you've got calcium. Whatever else they have going for them depends on what you feed them.

I completely forgot about this!

I'm a little confused why you're trying to add Ca for a problem of yellowing between the veins, which is an Mg deficiency. A Ca deficiency would be the leaf going directly to rust spots.

I recently referred to a post by @Gee64 , where if Calcium is running low in the living soil that Magnesium then tends to bind with Nitrogen, so I was having a little foray into exploring that with some homemade Calcium solution. A few weeks ago I gave about 1/3 teaspoon of magnesium dissolved in water to each of the 3 plants, so at present I am a little reluctant to apply more at this point in case I start chasing 1 nutrient too much. But let me be clear here, I am bumbling, but hopefully cautiously bumbling!

@Stunger can you apply your solution as a foliar application? I was in the garden store yesterday and picked up a .5 L bottle of something called Calcium Plus. Can be used in watering or by spraying on the leaves. Have you tried that yet? Foliar usually works right away, whereas getting your plants to absorb it through watering may take longer.

Yes of course, it would be easy to apply as a foliar. Altho with Calcium being non mobile I thought (newbie) that it would be better on/in the soil. But I am out of my depth on this, being more of a 'feed the soil' type of guy, so with this I am trying to be cautious with what I do.

This morning on opening up the curtains to the balcony, I thought they all looked good, fresh and improved, but I think that is probably more likely because they are recovering from their recent supercropping, but they certainly don't look worse.

I am tempted to give another 1 litre at about 40ppm to the Mulanje HP but I am not sure at this point to do so again today or to wait longer.

But on re-reading the Clackamus Coots/Jim Bennett interview that Azi posted above, it probably makes more sense for me to simply apply some liquified worm castings which I will probably start doing regularly with applying a small amount liquified as small top dressings. I recently added Kelp and Neem. I need to go get a couple more bags of kibbled malted barley!

Yesterday I meant to mark a single leaf to photograph and follow how it looks, but I forgot, will do it today.

 

[Stunger]

Update - From WCA/Calcium Acetate solution to worm castings

Greetings 420 enthusiasts! Today I felt the plants looked quite bright and happy, a bit more so than yesterday, but I think it was probably due to them still recovering their limb orientation after their recent supercropping.

In regard to my investigating the use of homemade WCA - Calcium Acetate solution to address the yellowing of some leaves mainly on the Mulanje HP, and to a more minor extent on the other two girls. I think the pictures show that it is not a major concern at the moment.

Emeraldo reminded me of the various helpful organic amendments that I'd ordinarily look to. And Azi chimed in at the perfect moment to remind me again of Clackamus Coots/Jim Bennett's work around worm castings and malted barley. I had completely overlooked that worms castings have high amounts of Calcium in them. Thanks very much guys!

Dosing the plants with liquified worm castings

So, I decided today to give the plants some liquified worm castings. For the WCA/Calcium Acetate solution, I will leapfrog it's use to a house plant to observe how it responds, I'll probably also attempt to make a Cal/Mag solution for it, and that way if I get that right I'll have more confidence on the plants that really matter!

I figured my 3 tier worm farm would have some worm casting sludge in the bottom level, I was not wrong. I scooped up about a cup, there was loads of worms amongst it but when added to water, it stirred to a very nice thick brown soup consistency. I then poured half a bucket of water thru the lower level to clean it out a bit where probably a cup of worm castings were coating the inside. That gave me half a bucket of nice thin solution of liquified worm castings that I can use in the coming days, and not necessarily on my cannabis plants, only if it seems that there is a benefit to do so.

It was very tricky trying to pour the liquified worm castings directly on top of the soil under their canopies because their canopies extend out so far and impedes the long spout watering can from pouring. I gave about half of it to the Mulanje HP, and 25% each to the other two. What I could get onto their soil cover, I ended up pouring it directly into the canopies from above and dozens of worms ended up hanging off the leaves! Oh well, there are already worms in the pots and I couldn't be buggered taking them out. They can do a runner if they want.

Some pictures from today

Because I have been addressing the leaf yellowing, I just want to state that I have made no adjustments or enhancements to the pictures, they are just as they were from the camera with the exception of the addition of some labels. But in saying that, colours look different depending on lots of things as can be seen just from the differences of these.

1

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

2

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

3

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

4

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

Here is a pic of the under-canopy of the Mulanje HP

5

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

Budset has arrived for one!

This week my eyes have registered budset as showing on the Mulanje Sherbert, but not yet on the other two.

6

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

7

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

8

• Stunger
• Feb 7, 2023

Thanks for dropping by, I hope your own gardening is going very well and smoothly!

 

[StoneOtter]

YAY budset! It's a good day! Good luck with the cal work!

 

[Emeraldo]

How much indica genetics in your Mulanje Sherbet?

 

[Stunger]

YAY budset! It's a good day! Good luck with the cal work!

Thanks Otter! Just trying to avoid screwups.

How much indica genetics in your Mulanje Sherbet?

The mother was the Mango Sherbert which was said by the Humboldt Seed Company as being Indica dominant, but what percentage I don't know. However this plant must now be Sativa dominant.

 

[Emeraldo]

The mother was the Mango Sherbert which was said by the Humboldt Seed Company as being Indica dominant, but what percentage I don't know. However this plant must now be Sativa dominant.

It takes just a small % of indica in a hybrid for her to to flower earlier than your pure sativa Mulanjes.

 

[Stunger]

Update - Incoming storm provides an ideal time to top dress

Greetings 420 enthusiasts!

Bad weather on it's way

We are getting advisories to prepare for a cyclone that is currently rated a category 3 coming from the Coral Sea off Australia. They are forecasting strong winds up to 150 kph, and up to 300mm of rain. Here is a live link to the Cyclone heading our way!

The weather this summer has been unreal, it hasn't been like a summer! This is the first time in 22 years that my grass hasn't turned brown and crunchy by now. We have had so many wet days that the lawn is very green and happy, but wow, call it a summer, nah, it feels like no better than autumn so far!

Checking and securing the recent supercropping

The coming strong winds are a concern of course, but thus far on previous grows my balcony plants have always survived. Yesterday, I inspected some of the recent supercropping which appears to mostly have set very well at nice right angles, but I secured a few cropped limbs with training wire that were starting to pop up a little bit - I don't want them whipping around in the coming winds.

My mind has been on the recent leaf yellowing

I have recently been putting some focus of the yellowing/liming of the leaves. It's not bad yet, but it's happening. I have compared pics that I have taken each day, and concluded that it is a Nitrogen deficiency when comparing to deficiency tables. On all my grows with living organic soil, I amend the soil and cook it in the outdoor 'off season', yet I have always found after 3-4 months of growth that the soil will run 'out of puff', and the plants start to develop yellowing leaves.

1

• Stunger
• Feb 10, 2023

I amended with Magnesium

I gave a careful 1/3 tsp of Epsom Salts, to each of the 3 plants a couple of weeks or so ago. I didn't particularly notice any improvement, and so I don't feel they need more Magnesium.

I amended with Calcium

As I posted previously. I tried amending with Calcium over 8 days, and I did this in case there was a deficiency of Calcium that was causing Magnesium and Nitrogen to get locked out, as it made good sense that there was no point in adding more of those 2, if it was there in the soil but locked out by another deficiency.

I amended cautiously with Calcium over the previous 8 days but saw no improvement

Mulanje Sherbert Mulanje ME Mulanje HP
Day 1 700ml@12ppm WCA/Calcium Acetate solution to all 3 plants
Day 2 700ml@12ppm WCA/Calcium Acetate solution to all 3 plants
Day 3 700ml@12ppm WCA/Calcium Acetate solution to all 3 plants
Day 4 700ml@12ppm WCA/Calcium Acetate solution to all 3 plants
Day 5 250ml@40ppm 500ml@40ppm 1000ml@40pm
Day 6 1 cup of fresh wormcastings liquified and shared between all 3 plants
Day 7 1 cup of fresh wormcastings liquified and shared between all 3 plants
Day 8 No apparent improvement observed, the yellowing appears to continue

These plants are now in their 5th month, and 2 are still vegging

When plants are grown for 3 months or less, top dressing is quite possibly not necessary. But these plants are now almost 4.5 months old. They all measure 4 feet or more across.

Every year it happens where I neglect top dressing because the plants are looking good and I don't want to tip them over the wrong way, and then they yellow. As a reminder,next grow I will look to top dress around 3.5months!

Growing plants in LOS setups with water only, need far bigger containers than I am using (2 x 50L(13gal) and 1 x 30L(8gal).

For this year's grow, I was unable to obtain some of my previously used amendments, and I decided to take a punt on a local product called Herbi's. It is organic and made up of lots of different raw inputs which all look great and many are ones that I have used individually, while others like feather meal or insect frass have been previously impossible to find here on their own. For insect frass I had been using dried shrimp from the Asian food shops, soaking and rinsing the salt out first.

It is now time to top dress

So far in the grow, I have only carried out 1 topdressing of my Herbi fert products, and even that was erring on the side of caution. They recommend doing a top dress every 2-3 weeks, hmmm... I had never used a pre-made product on its own, so I was a bit reluctant to do so at that frequency in case I over did it. I wanted to start cautiously.

2

• Stunger
• Feb 10, 2023

The coming cyclone rainfall can help water the top dressing in

Now with leaf yellowing occurring, it is clear that just like all my previous long veg grows, the soil, or my soil at least, always runs out of puff after 3-4 months. I need to top dress. And with this cyclone soon coming with lots of rain, I figure this is will be a great opportunity to carry it out and it will ensure that my topdressing gets nicely 'top watered' in while the rain and wind causes me to be unable to open the doors to access the plants, or is that because of the wife?

Nitrogen deficiency

As far as I can make out, when comparing the pics of the leaves over a succession of days to various deficiency chart/pictures, it clearly looks to me as a Nitrogen deficiency. Neither the Epsom Salts or Calcium water has showed any improvement of the yellowing. Which is what I feel I haveseen in my plants on all of my previous grows after they having been vegging for this long.

Previously I have used Blood n Bone as a yellowing leaves 'fixer', but because I amend with the pre-made ferts, for the 50L pots they recommend 1.25 cups, but I will just add half a cup but include, other things like Neem that gives Nitrogen but is very supportive for plant health against pests. Plus, Diastatic Malted Barley and Blood n Bone.

For the 2 sativas, which are both in larger 50L pots, they are not yet but almost flowering, I am giving them a mixture of Bloom & Veg ferts.

Going forward, for all 3 plants I will look to give regular 'top up' topdressings, perhaps every 2-3 weeks like it suggests on the packet!

Herbi's recommend for both veg and bloom ferts, to topdress with half a cup per 20L

4

• Stunger
• Feb 10, 2023

3

• Stunger
• Feb 10, 2023

Mulanje Sherbert

8 tbsp Herbi's Bloom fert - half cup
4 tbsp Malted Barley - quarter cup
3 tbsp Neem Meal
2 tbsp Blood n Bone


Mulanje ME

8 tbsp Herbi's Bloom fert - half cup
2 tbsp Herbi's Veg fert
4 tbsp Malted Barley - quarter cup
4 tbsp Neem Meal
3 tbsp Blood n Bone

Mulanje HP

8 tbsp Herbi's Bloom fert - half cup
2 tbsp Herbi's Veg fert
4 tbsp Malted Barley - quarter cup
4 tbsp Neem Meal
4 tbsp Blood n Bone

5

• Stunger
• Feb 10, 2023

That's all done now! Rain is predicted to start to fall later today. Hopefully in about a week we can see an improvement to their yellowing. Thanks for dropping in, be well folks!

 

[VetSmoke85]

Maaaaaaaaate! Those bushes are crazy! Loving it.

 

[Stunger]

Maaaaaaaaate! Those bushes are crazy! Loving it.

Thanks Vet! I only get to do this once a year so I am just trying to have fun.

 

[InTheShed]

The plants are looking terrific even with a few yellow leaves in the dark underreaches, but I wish you luck with the coming weather and the top dress!

a category 3 coming from the Coral Sea off Australia.

Australia again? Tell them to stop sending you their crap.