Sweetsue's First Grow - Stealthy Trio of Autos Under CFLs

[nivek]

karma sent sue,,

love the lights in the power bar idea, one of the things from the cfl tutorial i liked,, your garden is lovely,,

 

[NuttyProfessor]

looking great Sue

 

[SweetSue]

karma sent sue,,

love the lights in the power bar idea, one of the things from the cfl tutorial i liked,, your garden is lovely,,

I'm glad you're enjoying that tutorial nivek. I learn something every time I visit.

Karma received.

 

[BubbaHoTep]

Looking great, Sue! Your journal has been very helpful as a fellow CFL grower. I never would have thought to plug CFL's directly into a power strip...might have to give that a try when I flip to flower.

 

[akisunni]

Sending you some positive energy...

 

[SweetSue]

Looking great, Sue! Your journal has been very helpful as a felow CFL grower. I never would have thought to plug CFL's directly into a power strip...might have to give that a try when I flip to flower.

Thanks Bubba. It sounds as though you missed out on one of the gems in the grow journals - Tulip's timeless tutorial on CFLs. Allow me to share the link. Priceless information that was instrumental in my understanding and control of my CFLs.

https://https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/cfl-light-tutorial.111680/

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Oh, awesome! Thank you so much, Sweetsue. You are a true gem.

If you start a thread I will definitely come over to support you and share what little knowledge I have

 

[Radogast]

Re:

I thought this year was going to be calmer than last. WTH?-

Full moon, mercury retrograde, super bowl madness, candlemas... they all come to an end soon, and the wheel of life keeps on turning.
I am really sorry for the life challenges and pain you are facing.

 

[Sorenna]

Callanetics?! I havent heard that word from anyone but me in a VERY long time. I love that exercise program.

Im really sorry to hear about your woes and I, too, am sending you and yours lots of love and positive energies.

I really hate frosting, except in this context. Congratulations!

 

[Graytail]

I don't mean to sound like an evangelist about the High Brix kit, but it costs roughly $200 for 50-60 gallons of soil and the necessary drenches and foliars for a year or so. The cost doesn't get mentioned much, so I wanted to point that out.

I love following your grow, Sweetsue! I'm learning stuff all the time.

Glad you posted Tulip's CFL tutorial. It was one of the first threads I read and studied.

 

[SweetSue]

I don't mean to sound like an evangelist about the High Brix kit, but it costs roughly $200 for 50-60 gallons of soil and the necessary drenches and foliars for a year or so. The cost doesn't get mentioned much, so I wanted to point that out.

I love following your grow, Sweetsue! I'm learning stuff all the time.

Glad you posted Tulip's CFL tutorial. It was one of the first threads I read and studied.

Interesting you should bring this up Greytail. I was studying your journal the other day and got to thinking about the similarities between your High Brix and our LOS. After much searching I wasn't able to find a list of just what's in the High Brix soil or the drenches. I suspect we are both benefitting from the mineralization of the soil, in very similar ways, although it's hard to compare when I don't know what's in yours. Quite frankly, this was the main reason I went with LOS. I like knowing precisely what's in my soil and teas. I'm drawn to the idea that I could pull together the makings of my soil and teas on my own if I wanted to. Keep in mind that I also purchased a nutrient kit with minerals for my soil mix. Our costs were very close in the end.

Our approaches to growing are similar too, using drenches geared to increase the bio mass of the soil community and foliar sprays to boost health and growth. Where you test to get a Brix reading, we tend to simply do the drenches and sprays with SSTs and ACTs, using specially chosen components and trusting the proven system instead of pre-packed kits. I think we're two sides of the same coin. You test and we accept that this vigorous plant we're looking at is as healthy and potent as we expect without bothering to test. I think of LOS as no-tech High Brix. I'm certain that if you tested one of my plants it would get a High Brix reading.

So, how would one get a list of what's in the High Brix kit?

 

[SweetSue]

Callanetics?! I havent heard that word from anyone but me in a VERY long time. I love that exercise program.

Im really sorry to hear about your woes and I, too, am sending you and yours lots of love and positive energies.

I really hate frosting, except in this context. Congratulations!

Tell me your a Callanaddict! the most effective exercise program on the planet!

If you haven't found it already google "The Callanetics Studio" and prepared to be wowed! These women have turned the world of Callanetics on its ear. It was my defining passion before I discovered indoor gardening with LOS. I work hard to maintain a presence at both TCS and the Callanetics Challenge thread at Low Carb Friends. I don't do low carb, but I definitely do Callanetics.

Small world, eh?

 

[SweetSue]

Daily Update: Day 61 (THC Bomb Auto) & Day 60 (Buddha Magnum Auto)

I came upon the plants before the lights kicked on and it's beginning to get light outside earlier these days, so I was able to get some muted pictures. These give you a better view of the true greens in the leaves. They are so lush!

The main colas - the Bomb.....

..... and Buddha.

The view of the secondary colas on the Bomb. I may need to consider support for them before we're done. I'm thinking of Ranger's technique with twine.

The tip-top of one of them demonstrates how the pistills are beginning to turn. Almost time for Back-Bud Building.

The tops of Buddha's secondary colas look so mellow in the semi-darkness.

Throw a flash into the mix and you get sparkle!

Now take a look at that same cola from the side.

This isn't my best or clearest shot, but with the flash you get a better idea if what she's hiding behind the cloak of leaves. She's so protective.

Peeling aside the leaves we can see the interior is packed with fabulous blossoms and trichomes.

One more of Buddha's secondary colas - just for fun.

Why not another? They were all being so photogenic this morning.

Lights on! Time to get on with the rest of the day. You all have a wonderful time today. Spread some joy.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Thanks Bubba. It sounds as though you missed out on one of the gems in the grow journals - Tulip's timeless tutorial on CFLs. Allow me to share the link. Priceless information that was instrumental in my understanding and control of my CFLs.

https://https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/cfl-light-tutorial.111680/

Hey that's the tutorial I used to build my light.

The biggest thing I want to add to his work is that plants don't just use mostly red light. Blue light is very necessary, and then there are several other pigments in a plants cells that fall in the white spectrum. To fully maximize the potential of a plant you need to hit all those pigments with the needed spectrum. I have mentioned before in this thread I believe, but that is why I think its not necessarily ideal to use fluorescent lights or hps....its a pain the mix spectrums because you would need so many bulbs. Of course you can just go with red and blue, and there's nothing wrong with that. Plants will respond to those spectrums because those are the ones they use the most, but one must admit its not hitting the full gambit of pigments within the plant. For that LED becomes more ideal - only after sun light mind you.

I do think fluorescents are superior in there ability (albeit somewhat limited) to mix spectrums and allow for placement. I just think its a pertinent conversation considering that we, as living soil growers, are trying to provide as many natural elements to a plant as possible.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I'm also interested in hearing what is in a high brix set up. I've looked in the past, but haven't seen alot of information...alot of grows though.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around how it isn't just a chemically enhanced form of LSO, but marketed to the bottled organic types. It still relies on chellation, which is a bit of a no no for me at least.

 

[SweetSue]

I know ClosedCircuit. It makes me uneasy that it's marketed with a "magical " aura. It's obviously effective and marketed as organic. I guess where I'm really going here is that this is gardening, not alchemy. I personally find Clakamas Coots a bit of a jerk, but I greatly respect the work he put into developing and testing this soil mix and his insistence that he wanted it NOT to be proprietary. He encourages you to understand how the soil components work and how the soil community works as a unit, and then play with local alternatives and make your own touches. Make the soil personal.

The maintenance of the no-till couldn't be easier. You do the same waterings and drenches on a regular schedule, no matter what the stage of the plant. Remember, you're not feeding the plant at all - you're maintaining the soil. Regular foliar sprays promote plant health and growth, but there's nothing special about them. They rotate through on a regular schedule, just like the drenches.

This regularity, this letting the soil do the work it was meant to do while I do my best to stay out of the way and not impose my human will on other earthlings, appeals to me. It's so simple and it let's me enjoy the time watching the cannabis grow and losing myself in the perfumes of maturing trichomes. Mmmmmmmmm

High Brix works. There's no denying it. The growers who use it are as in awe of their plants as we are of ours. I want to know what's in it. I know what's in mine. I built it myself. I would like to do a comparison.

Before I run, I agree on the lights. The mix of lighting systems seem a wiser course. Look at what SoilGirl grows!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I know ClosedCircuit. It makes me uneasy that it's marketed with a "magical " aura. It's obviously effective and marketed as organic. I guess where I'm really going here is that this is gardening, not alchemy. I personally find Clakamas Coots a bit of a jerk, but I greatly respect the work he put into developing and testing this soil mix and his insistence that he wanted it NOT to be proprietary. He encourages you to understand how the soil components work and how the soil community works as a unit, and then play with local alternatives and make your own touches. Make the soil personal.

The maintenance of the no-till couldn't be easier. You do the same waterings and drenches on a regular schedule, no matter what the stage of the plant. Remember, you're not feeding the plant at all - you're maintaining the soil. Regular foliar sprays promote plant health and growth, but there's nothing special about them. They rotate through on a regular schedule, just like the drenches.

This regularity, this letting the soil do the work it was meant to do while I do my best to stay out of the way and not impose my human will on other earthlings, appeals to me. It's so simple and it let's me enjoy the time watching the cannabis grow and losing myself in the perfumes of maturing trichomes. Mmmmmmmmm

High Brix works. There's no denying it. The growers who use it are as in awe of their plants as we are of ours. I want to know what's in it. I know what's in mine. I built it myself. I would like to do a comparison.

Before I run, I agree on the lights. The mix of lighting systems seem a wiser course. Look at what SoilGirl grows!

High Brix definitely works...but it just gives me this funny feeling. Its like their whole marketing scheme is centered around selling you "natural" products which serve to mask the operative "organic" chelated nutrients. They use the results of the chelated nutrients to boost the claims of organic growing. I don't know what the soil requirements are for high-brix, but I would assume if there are none that their products wouldn't work so well without the "chelation agent."

On a separate High Brix site they explain high-brix refractory measurements as:

What causes light to refract as it passes through plant sap?

The amount of carbohydrates in the juice.
The amount of dissolved minerals in the plant sap.
The amount of covalent bonding.

RE measurement #1: High-Brix doesn't seem to explain to its customers that the purpose of molasses is to feed microbes in the soil - not to boost carb levels in the plant. I get the impression that some users think that molasses in booting carb levels in their plants...which I don't even think is possible since plants take up only ionized minerals. Yet, I have seen lots of Hi-brix growers buying obscene amounts of molasses (as I side note I actually use their molasses). I can't find any explanation behind molasses on the site for their users. All I have found is a vague mention of "microbial stimulant." Though, not a Botanist, I'm fairly certain the only thing that would increase Carb levels in a plant would be greater levels of photosynthesis, which in turn is dictated by the size of the plant and available light. Greater carb build up doesn't necessarily mean anything. Its well known plants can store excess carbs when they go through stress or when there is just excess carb.

Measurement #2: I assume by dissolved they mean plant available/ionized. If all the minerals in the kits are intended to be chelated its pretty easy to claim your natural grow "has more minerals" in the plant. You are force feeding your plants minerals as you see fit, not as the plant would. Id like to know what exactly the minerals available are...high counts of only NPK for instance doesn't mean crap.

Measurement 3 I'm not a molecular biologist, but just doing a little reading I have found that what makes a chelating compound or "casing," so to speak, is the ability for that compound to exchange electrons with the metal it is chelating i.e. forming covalent bonds. Source So, when taking high-brix tests are you partially just measuring the amount of chelated nutrients? How soon after feeding your plants are you taking tests? Around the time that you can get the highest measurement all those awesome covalent bonds after uptake?

It all just sort of sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy to me. Use chelated "organic" nutrients to artificially increase the presence of covalent bonds and boost plant growth, which will increase carb levels as the plant grows larger and captures more light. Then measure these things based on some flimsy proprietary metric. Then, finally, sell the user a bunch of other stuff that "boosts microbial life" to accompany these fertilizers so as to make it seem like they are participating in natural growing practices...but of course when you are feeding the plant chelated nutrients they are not relying on plant available minerals created by soil microbes. So why would you spend all that additional money on ensuring the presence of soil fauna when you aren't even going to utilize it?

 

[Dutty Panty]

High Brix definitely works...but it just gives me this funny feeling. Its like their whole marketing scheme is centered around selling you "natural" products which serve to mask the operative "organic" chelated nutrients. They use the results of the chelated nutrients to boost the claims of organic growing. I don't know what the soil requirements are for high-brix, but I would assume if there are none that their products wouldn't work so well without the "chelation agent."

On a separate High Brix site they explain high-brix refractory measurements as:


RE measurement #1: High-Brix doesn't seem to explain to its customers that the purpose of molasses is to feed microbes in the soil - not to boost carb levels in the plant. I get the impression that some users think that molasses in booting carb levels in their plants...which I don't even think is possible since plants take up only ionized minerals. Yet, I have seen lots of Hi-brix growers buying obscene amounts of molasses (as I side note I actually use their molasses). I can't find any explanation behind molasses on the site for their users. All I have found is a vague mention of "microbial stimulant." Though, not a Botanist, I'm fairly certain the only thing that would increase Carb levels in a plant would be greater levels of photosynthesis, which in turn is dictated by the size of the plant and available light. Greater carb build up doesn't necessarily mean anything. Its well known plants can store excess carbs when they go through stress or when there is just excess carb.

Measurement #2: I assume by dissolved they mean plant available/ionized. If all the minerals in the kits are intended to be chelated its pretty easy to claim your natural grow "has more minerals" in the plant. You are force feeding your plants minerals as you see fit, not as the plant would. Id like to know what exactly the minerals available are...high counts of only NPK for instance doesn't mean crap.

Measurement 3 I'm not a molecular biologist, but just doing a little reading I have found that what makes a chelating compound or "casing," so to speak, is the ability for that compound to exchange electrons with the metal it is chelating i.e. forming covalent bonds. Source So, when taking high-brix tests are you partially just measuring the amount of chelated nutrients? How soon after feeding your plants are you taking tests? Around the time that you can get the highest measurement all those awesome covalent bonds after uptake?

It all just sort of sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy to me. Use chelated "organic" nutrients to artificially increase the presence of covalent bonds and boost plant growth, which will increase carb levels as the plant grows larger and captures more light. Then measure these things based on some flimsy proprietary metric. Then, finally, sell the user a bunch of other stuff that "boosts microbial life" to accompany these fertilizers so as to make it seem like they are participating in natural growing practices...but of course when you are feeding the plant chelated nutrients they are not relying on plant available minerals created by soil microbes. So why would you spend all that additional money on ensuring the presence of soil fauna when you aren't even going to utilize it?

I'd recommend discussing this in docs high brix q and a thread. Lots of knowledge there

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I've checked it out...alot of it just confirms my worries...that this is just another bottled nutrient craze. Even Doc Bud talks about feeding plants with regard to NPK, which is not what Living Soil is about at all. He has spent alot of time developing an extensive soil recipe and then feeds them fertilizer. What's the point?

Edit: I think I was misunderstanding the higher focus on mineral adjustments as leaning towards bottled nutes. I've still seen alot of talk over there about NPK even though Doc says its not the main goal.

Still, I do think there needs to be a distinction made with Living Soil in which we want to know how biota work in our soil and not just what minerals are needed to optimize production.

 

[SweetSue]

One of the biggest shifts in mindset when I chose LOS was letting go of the idea that I could "feed" the plant. Ironically, at that same time, as a practitioner of Callanetics, I was training myself to let go of muscle tension - to relax the very muscles I was training. The whole time frame was about letting go.

After making the shift I stopped thinking in terms of teas and drenches to help the plant perform better at a particular stage and began to see the beauty of a schedule of regular drenches meant to continue a steady supply of what the soil needed to offer the plant - at the plant's request. The same way we feed the worm bin in a way that offers those additives in a powerfully useful way. Organics in action. So easy.

I agree with ClosedCircuit. I find the melding of two mindsets - feeding the soil/feeding the plant- somewhat uncomfortable.