Stunger's Organic Soil Stealth Balcony: Landrace Mulanje & Other Sativas

[bobrown14]

Hey @bobrown14 , can you weigh in with your thoughts on the meals added to the Coot's Mix, specifically regarding pest control? (I know they also offer some nutrient value, N I think).

My understanding is that, when added to an organic soil mix, the neem and karanja are taken up by the plant and work as systemic insecticides much like some people foliar them on to control bugs, and the crustacean/crab meal works to grow the microbes that produce chitinase which dissolves the chitin in the crab shells, but which is also found in the exoskeleton of things like thrips and mites. So that process is similar to the way a true soap works, dissolving the exoskelton and killing the bugs that way.

Do I have that essentially correct?

I tagged you on the original post, but then edited it and I think that invalidates the tag some how so you may not have seen it.

The neem cake has an active ingredient in it for pest control as well as many other benefits for soil.

It's called azadirachtin.

The active ingredient for pests in Karanja Cake is Karanjin.

Azadactrin is systemic meaning it is taken in by roots and is passed into the plant and is weakly systemic in leaves according to Oregon State extension service.

These 2 amendments I use more for the soil building properties the pest prevention thing is a side benefit.

I've had some pest pressure from aphids last year and started to amend my older soil with a 1/4 cup of neem/karanja cake per cubic foot of soil. I've not seen an aphid for a while now without any intermediation on my part (IPM). Probably cause I'm lazy. So far so good knock woody.

 

[Stunger]

Update - 22nd day of Mango Sherbert's droughting cycles - bud n trichome pics

Greetings 420 enthusiasts!

The forecast run of dry sunny weather has been turned on it's head with likely arrival of ex-tropical cyclone Fili on it's way with 100kph winds and rain. It looks like it'll just be for couple of days so I'm hoping it will pass thru without damage. As the weather is likely to be challenging to take pics, here are some from this morning.

Mango Sherbert

Here is a pic of her yesterday evening, her 21st day before a rescue drink.

Mango Sherbert 21st day droughting, just before a 'rescue drink'

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

She is now 22 days since I initially stopped her waterings, and since then I have just continued to repeat the cycles of wilting and rescue drinks. Here she is this morning on her 22nd day with some bud and trichome pics.

Mango Sherbert 22nd day

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

MS

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Apr 10, 2022

Thanks for dropping in, keep safe, and may your gardens be blooming!

 

[DV8]

How much longer for the MS mate? Sorry for the repeated question, on pics alone she looks lickable, a tasty looking girl. Looking as close as she ever has. Any chance of describing her smell?

It sounds terrible, but I mean every word.

 

[Skottelgoed Spons]

Damn she is a fighter stunger. Looking lovely as always on the balcony

 

[Stunger]

How much longer for the MS mate? Sorry for the repeated question, on pics alone she looks lickable, a tasty looking girl. Looking as close as she ever has. Any chance of describing her smell?

It sounds terrible, but I mean every word.

Hey DV8, I grew a MS last year and harvested it on the 16th April, just 5 days away. She is not far away, some of her sugar leaves have quite a few amber trichomes and look ready now, but the main buds still have more clear and cloudy left than I'd like, not many amber yet. I would say 1-2 more weeks, I'd like to stretch it out for 2 weeks if possible and weather permitting.

She is supposed to smell of mango. But to me, the strain descriptions are like those of wines, I just cannot pick up 90% of what they describe. To me, she has some sort of vaguely fruity smell combined with a hint of fuel/diesel.

Dman she is a fighter stunger. Looking lovely as always on the balcony

Thanks Skottel! Soon the Mango Sherbert will be done, then I will have the 2 sativas for a little longer until they're ready.

 

[Timhomegrow]

Do you notice a difference in tricome density/amount between MS and the non-droughted plants?

 

[Stunger]

Do you notice a difference in tricome density/amount between MS and the non-droughted plants?

Hey Tim, the short is no, not really, the droughted MS just looks more 'gnarly'. I have put a some posts up showing trichome closeups on all 3 plants, but of course the 2 sativa are probably 3 weeks behind the MS, but still I don't feel there is anything major to see visually as a difference. What do you think?

 

[Timhomegrow]

It was hard to tell from the pictures, bit it did seem like the sugar leaves on MS had a bit more tricomes then the other two.....but looked the same on the buds.

I'm really curious to see your smoke report

 

[DV8]

Hey DV8, I grew a MS last year and harvested it on the 16th April, just 5 days away.

Yeah I vaguely remember you saying that. Not a bad time if they can finish that early.

She is not far away, some of her sugar leaves have quite a few amber trichomes and look ready now, but the main buds still have more clear and cloudy left than I'd like, not many amber yet. I would say 1-2 more weeks, I'd like to stretch it out for 2 weeks if possible and weather permitting.

Sounds good to me mate, I like the idea you might get to go deep with her harvest.
Its funny as the weather turns, what might have been only a week ends up longer than say a month ago. Shes on the home stretch though, and I knew youd be giving her a good look over.

Its why I hesitate to give an answer when people say " Is this ready?". My ready, your ready, the buds ready, might all be different times.

Looks like shes passing into the late 80% done for mine, just on pics, ruffled feathers or not, purely on bud pics.
Gotta say Im all about those Sat girls too, that white on green is just lovely fella.

She is supposed to smell of mango. But to me, the strain descriptions are like those of wines, I just cannot pick up 90% of what they describe. To me, she has some sort of vaguely fruity smell combined with a hint of fuel/diesel.

Puts me in the ballpark mate. And I agree about strain descriptions.

 

[Jon]

Yeah I vaguely remember you saying that. Not a bad time if they can finish that early.

Sounds good to me mate, I like the idea you might get to go deep with her harvest.
Its funny as the weather turns, what might have been only a week ends up longer than say a month ago. Shes on the home stretch though, and I knew youd be giving her a good look over.

Its why I hesitate to give an answer when people say " Is this ready?". My ready, your ready, the buds ready, might all be different times.

Looks like shes passing into the late 80% done for mine, just on pics, ruffled feathers or not, purely on bud pics.
Gotta say Im all about those Sat girls too, that white on green is just lovely fella.


Puts me in the ballpark mate. And I agree about strain descriptions.

Interesting discussion guys. I love that you both (and me too!) agree that strain taste descriptions are like wine descriptions. I'm a wine guy. I worked in restaurants for decades. Been to umpteen wine tastings. Very well educated on the topic. But come on....currant? What the hell does that taste like? Dark cherry? I don't taste any dark cherry. Oak? Maybe I taste something woody now that you say it, but who the hell could narrow it down to oak? Lmao. Strain descriptions when you read them from the breeder are exactly the same way. Ok, I get diesel. I get fruity. I even get sour or sweet. But hints of vanilla bean mixed with coriander and a hint of pepper? Who has that weed? Not me. Notice whenever I do strain reviews, in the taste section, you'll see me say things like "it's supposed to taste like mango. I can taste something vaguely fruity, but I wouldn't exactly say it tastes like mango." 90% of the time that's pretty much how it is. I don't know if it's because of smoking cigarettes for long enough or what. You want to really go crazy? Check out the Humboldt Seed Company website, pick any strain, and watch the video on it (they have one on every strain I ever checked out). It's their head breeder telling you why you should buy it, and he always talks about the tastes in the same way we're talking about. I listen to these and get all psyched (I'm a big HSC fan, grew tons of their genetics) and then I buy Mango Vanilla Cupcake Strawberry Lemon Banana Pound Cake Gas and I don't taste ANY of those flavors. I end up going "did I cure it wrong?" "did I dry it too fast and kill the flavor?" etc, etc. It's so funny. I'm growing Fruity Pebble Cookies right now. Where do you suppose my expectations for taste are on that? Or the Watermelon WeddingCake? I want the cereal and I want to be spitting watermelon seeds out. But it ain't gonna be like that.



Just give me sweet, or sour, fruity, and DANK. It can be Haze dank, OG dank, diesel dank, or I don't care what dank, just DANK.

 

[BakedARea]

Hey Stung! Looking amazing as always...well as amazing as a stressed out plant can look. Right there with you but at least yours is on purpose and you're close to the finish line! It's been an amazing ride for us all.

Thanks for dropping by, keep safe and well, and wishing your gardens good health too.

That's why we are all here man! Your vibes and positive attitude. Thank you! Another justification for that GJotM!

It's getting to that time to start looking a bit more closely at what the trichomes are doing.

I was going to remind you about the discussion about letting them longer than we would expect when grown outdoors. Cannot measure the same amber % than indoors. I honestly cannot remember if you already go by that or not. Haa haa.

As gardners, growers, we have to rely on the pioneering spirit, and the data where it exists. The rest, well thats up to us.

Everything about that statement, I love!

Do you notice a difference in tricome density/amount between MS and the non-droughted plants?

I have a tendency to lean toward the theory that trichome density are not necessarily what happens to the plant. Nor do I think they get smaller...initially. I believe that the intensity of the terpenes is what is occurring. Similar to how simmering a sauce to intensify its flavor. The flowers sole purpose is to create an intriguing and alluring aroma for pollinators. It would make sense to me that at the very end of the plants life, it is going to pump everything it has into a more intense aroma as possible. It's last ditch effort at survival. Naturally, toward the end of the season in some habitats, the rain stops. I am inclined to believe that we are recreating an evolved and natural outcome of exactly what the plant is supposed to do. We always focus on having pretty fruit at the grocery store. We have been programmed to believe that is the best fruit. Ever had a tree ripe apricot, freshly picked, and compared the amazing intense flavor to one from the store? How about vine ripened tomatoes? How about some of the ugliest tomatoes around having the best flavor? Those last moments of the season, the plants/trees are pushing all the sugars into their crop and we reap the rewards! That's my take on it anyway.

My ready, your ready, the buds ready, might all be different times

Amen to that! One of the reasons why we need to focus on varieties we like and grow them several times. Each time focusing on making it better. One variety we may prefer within a certain harvest window. Another variety with a completely different terp profiles, we may want to let go another few weeks. I think I'm too much of fly by the seat of your plants kind of grower and want to grow a bunch of different stuff. Then have a basic harvest, dry, and cure methodology to keep things consistent no matter what I grow. It seems most people prefer growing like this. Commercial growers seem to focus on several varieties and get them dialed in to their needs and stick to a SOP for that variety moving forward. I suppose we could create SOPs for ourselves.

 

[Stunger]

Update - Mostly pictures

Greetings 420 enthusiasts! After much warnings, so far the storm hasn't arrived, altho it looks on the rain radar that it is about to start pouring any moment now. However, sunny weather is forecast ahead so hopefully it passes over quickly.

Mango Sherbert

She's on her 23rd day of her droughting process.

1

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

2

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

3

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

4

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

5

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

6

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

7

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

8

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

Thanks for dropping in, be safe, and I hope you're enjoying some fine buds.

 

[tangwena]

That Mulanje x Malawi/Ethiopian is going to be one sticky bud and a trippy ride to go with it. They are all looking great from the pics.

 

[Stunger]

That Mulanje x Malawi/Ethiopian is going to be one sticky bud and a trippy ride to go with it. They are all looking great from the pics.

Thanks Tang! From the visuals, it is sure promising something special I reckon!

 

[Stunger]

Update - Mites on the Mango Sherbert - buds & trichomes

Greetings 420 enthusiasts! The feared deluge of rain never happened, some fell overnight but I don't think it was a lot. However, today we're getting hit by strong gusts of winds.

Mite treatment on the Mango Sherbert

The Mango Sherbert is now 24 days since I started her droughting process. She's been bearing up well to repeated cycles of wilting and rescue drinks. And in spite of all 3 plants doing very well against pests, this grow has had the least I have seen of them. Perhaps it is the climate this year, but I am inclined to think the extra Neem meal and dried shrimp that I amended their soil with this year may have assisted.

But in spite of that, some mites were making use of the drought stress that the Mango Sherbert has been under. The overnight temps are dropping and I don't think the mites are that comfortable. So I thought yesterday afternoon was a good time to give a treatment for mites that could later get washed off after the treatment was done when the evening rains came. For that, I used @Skottelgoed Spons 'family' mite termination treatment recipe below. From overnight it seems to have helped a lot where I was unable to see any live ones today. The only thing was, that the 'bits' clogged up the sprayer, so I tipped it all out and quickly filtered it thru a sieve before pouring it back into the sprayer which worked well. I thought this was an ideal time to check this approach out, as only thru experience does one gain confidence. Hopefully that and the falling overnight temps sorts them out without needing any further application before her harvest.

I just want to give a home made remedy for spidermites and gnats which can be made from products within your home. I have noticed that this plant got spidermites and fungus gnats in the early stages of veg. What i have done to eliminate them was a teaspoon of crushed garlic, half an onion chopped into small bits, 2 drops of dishwashing liquid mixed with 500ml water in a spray bottle. Within 5 days I have noticed that the plant had no spidermites and gnats on it. This is my tip I can give to those that does not want to use shop bought pesticides. It probably is already been given as a tip on this site.

Cheers Skott!

Mango Sherbert

At this point she's been 24 days of 'droughting'. I don't want to kill her, but I feel she has weathered a lot of stress and it shows with her worn tatty leaves, by now she should have had her 'survival response' triggered. So I am not looking to be as 'hard' on her for the remaining 1-2 weeks until I harvest her. It is hard to tell from the pictures what the droughting has done to her. Personally I am not sure there is any obvious difference other than perhaps the look of a plant that is being allowed to flower fully.

In spite of the overall 'gnarly tatty look' of her, when I look closely I feel that the underlying buds are nicely coated with trichomes and appear quite promising. I am quietly confident that she'll produce some lovely potent smoke!

1 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

2 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

3 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

4 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

5 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

6 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

7 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

8 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

9 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

10 MS

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

She is still in 'early flowering', building some nice big colas, but still immature compared to the Mango Sherbert.

11 Hon/Pan

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

12 Hon/Pan

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

She is the most delicate of the 3 girls, but she has a very appealing 'candy like frosting' to her that promises a nice time when it comes to testing!

13 Mal/EthxMul

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

14 Mal/EthxMul

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

15 Mal/EthxMul

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

16 Mal/EthxMul

• Stunger
• Apr 12, 2022

Thanks for dropping in, keep safe, and all the best for your gardening!

 

[stinker]

Those are some sticky buds. Great job.
Do you think droughting played a part in the mites appearing? I think I see some web on No. 8.

Are those seeds I see?

 

[Stunger]

Those are some sticky buds. Great job.
Do you think droughting played a part in the mites appearing? I think I see some web on No. 8.

Thanks Stinker! Yes and no. I think because the plants are outdoors and open to the environment, that any and all insects are naturally free to visit and roam on the plant. It's like viruses, a few helps our immune system to get stronger but an overwhelming amount can do us in. The problem is when some want to make a home there! I haven't seen a real infestation this time, (I have in the past), but I would guess the stress of the plant getting droughted would have 'opened the door' to the pesky little buggers. But having said that, I feel Skott's remedy has had an excellent result from my initial cursory check. I had been concerned about using Neem in the past, more recently I tried Rosemary oil which seemed to do something but I wasn't sure. But now, I think Skott's approach might suit me much better!

 

[Carcass]

I think that MS is going to knock you on your butt, Stunger...looks like some very potent stuff!

Be mindful that spraying garlic on the buds will give them an awful taste (and smell) if sprayed close to harvest- I used some years ago, and had to wait an extra week to harvest- took that long for the garlic smell to go away- washing it off worked, but not completely, so I had to wait for it to biodegrade the rest of the way.

 

[Stunger]

I think that MS is going to knock you on your butt, Stunger...looks like some very potent stuff!

Be mindful that spraying garlic on the buds will give them an awful taste (and smell) if sprayed close to harvest- I used some years ago, and had to wait an extra week to harvest- took that long for the garlic smell to go away- washing it off worked, but not completely, so I had to wait for it to biodegrade the rest of the way.

Cheers Carcass! I That is a very good point and one that I am being mindful of. That's why yesterday afternoon when it was looking like we were going to get an all night downpour, it seemed a good opportunity to spray then let nature hose it off a few hours later! We probably only got an hour's rain but that's probably washed most off after it had done it's job and hopefully anything else biodegrades between now and harvest. I couldn't take the risk of doing nothing and it was a great opportunity to try out Skott's approach.

 

[Skottelgoed Spons]

Hey stungs. Your plants look beautiful and stiiiiickyyy af!! I'm glad my family remedy helped you out with those pesky mites.