SOIL Grow journal 📓 2021

[amy24]

SoOrbudgal Sorry for not listening to the advice, but decision made. The clones went in the totes. Would have agreed with you and moved them if my clones didn’t arrive today. I used these totes last year, and had been dumping coffe grounds, eggs shells, etc on them all winter, just like my garden. Tilled up the totes, breaking any chunks and really breaking down any chunks of roots. Ended up with really nice soil with a bunch of egg shells mixed in. 👍🏼 Then I added some compost, worm poo, a bit of peat moss just to get some extra stuff in there. At the very bottom, mixed up a banana, some wood ash, cardboard and a couple dandelions with root (very mini version of my garden trenches) and made sure there were a few worms in the totes to eat that stuff. Did the Myke again, making sure it touched the roots of the clones.

More proof that I have waaaay too much time on my hands, haha 😆 fingers crossed the little ones make it but at least I have these for back up. I sure saw what you all meant by not waiting long enough once I saw how big the clones got in their red solo cups! 🤦‍♀️

 

[amy24]

I wish I could like comments, thank you for all the knowledge! It’s one of our favourite vegetables so can’t wait!

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I know you'll be careful and watch over those little ones. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[amy24]

Thanks 😊

 

[amy24]

Ok to any readers on here... LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS don’t get too excited! I think my little babies are going to be OK, but I sure wish I had paused, waited for a response, and listened. They were having such great growth and they were/are definitely vulnerable now. But starting to perk up!

The “bigger” little was ok but the littlest one got a bit beat up. I saw a few bites out of it right away and examined my garden and saw a big trail of ants - which in hindsight could totally be a result of trench composting? Not sure but maybe the ants loved all the extra stuff hanging around. I read to use cinnamon and that really worked. I looked over the garden and anywhere that looked like the beginnings of an ant hill, I put cinnamon and now no more ants!

I also realized... why did I think sun then rain was good for them? I had nothing to back that up, I just got excited haha. In hindsight, I think a nice cloudy stretch would be the best. The rain wasn’t so hard on the ones in the ground - I did end up covering the little one because the rain was splashing back up at the plant and I think it appreciated the coverage. But having sooooo much rain seemed to stress out the clones in the totes. They just got droopier and droopier and now there is also some discolouration. They were suuuuper dark green when I got them and they were also under lights before and now outdoors so I think they are just kind of adjusting to their new home? But does anything look like I should be worried? They seem to be perking back up now that they’ve had some dry days.

Thanks for everyone’s help! I promise not to go rogue again haha.

 

[amy24]

The ones in the ground are super happy, still doing well...it almost looks like one of them was topped but I haven’t done anything to it- it’s growing out in a Y shape and looks like it’s developing two dominant stems now. Not sure what happened there? So last year my plants in this spot got reeeeeally tall I made a post to see if it was too late to top them, so this year was thinking of trying to train them to grow horizontally, not totally, but just encouraging them to get their lean on. Has anyone ever done this? When is a good time to start training a plant?

The clones look mostly healthy except for some weird discolouration but I still think maybe that’s just from the shock.... but wondering if it looks like there is anything to worry about? Should I just remove the damaged leaves?

Thinking of starting a weakened down organic liquid fertilizer tomorrow morning, it’s called tomato bloom and it’s 7-3-5. Also last year I started experimenting with mulching at the end of the season after visiting this site https://homesteadandchill.com/how-to-feed-cannabis-organically/ and also read a good read on here last night.. https://www.growweedeasy.com/mulch-organic-growing thinking of starting that up again... my friend recommended building a bit of a moat around the ones in the ground so the liquid fertilizer stays in that zone, was thinking of doing that filling the little moat with some mulch?

Anyone else like mulching? Any other advice or stories about organic outdoor grows? Going to get the diatomaceous earth finally this week, and need some soil for my last tote, saw fox farms ocean forest soil for sale from the same place, anyone else use this?

Happy Growing! ❤️

 

[Canuck147]

I like mulching but cannabis plants don't.

 

[DeadlyFruit]

I think the leaves look pretty good. The brown discolouration may be just a bit of shock but watch it to make sure it isn’t getting much worse. Indoor grows are easier to control for every factor and people obsess over every little spot and change trying to maximize return but the truth is the plants have been surviving outside in the wild for thousands of years and a few damaged leaves haven’t stopped them yet. I wouldn’t pluck them if they are not mostly dead or shading something out - they should still be photosynthesizing. If you meant the bit of purple colour in the leaves that is genetic and usually a desirable trait. Your plants being outside may be bringing that on - they say warm days and cool nights (relatively cool not frost cool) helps them develop colour. Indoor people often turn the heat down during the dark hours to help this along.

 

[DeadlyFruit]

I wish I could like comments, thank you for all the knowledge! It’s one of our favourite vegetables so can’t wait!

You can actually like comments if you want but it is a roundabout way to do it that isn’t intuitive. Just click ‘latest activity’ at the top of the thread and it splits out the comments so you can like them. As I said, it is a bit roundabout.

 

[amy24]

Awesome thanks DeadlyFruit I appreciate the feedback, glad to hear they look good

Canuck147 - really??? There seem to be a lot of posts about it being good, even one on this site? Have you had a bad experience with mulching?

 

[Canuck147]

well - mulch here is mostly cedar a nd lots of plants don't like cedar mulch.

 

[amy24]

Canuck147 oh yeah I’ve read that about cedar, you should check out those links above if you’re into organic growing, they are more about creating your own mulch. I’m thinking about chopping up some borage, dandelion greens, and mint for a little “top dressing” green mulch idea...

 

[amy24]

I’m experimenting but in a calculated, after reading lots of stuff, kind of way. I like the saying “the more you grow, the more you know,” so adapted some stuff from last year. Made a moat of fox farms organic soil around the base of the plants, sprinkled a TBSP of Gaia green 4-4-4 a mixture of basically everything I’ve ever read on here: alfalfa, kelp, bone, blood, feather meal plus rock and sand and good stuff then sprinkled a TBSP of neem meal, mixed those both into the top layer of soil inside the moat. They both recommended a lot more but I just wanted to do a tiny bit since I’m also doing the mulch. I then sprinkled diatomaceous earth around the edge of the moat and filled it in with my mulch (following the mulch lead from homestead and chill link in above post) a combo of chopped up dandelions, borage, mint, lemon balm, and oregano - all things I needed to thin out anyways. Loving the organic life cycle of my garden! The mulching article on here said to do greens during veg and browns during flowering - greens make bacteria and browns make fungi, super cool Science. Like you all have mentioned, almost no need for this when they are in the ground but I’m crazy and love a project! Also did the same thing to the clones in the totes.

Next project is starting LST to try to get these not too tall, and bushy and big instead! Read Nebula Haze’s article on here, will follow that plan.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I sure hope all that work is going to reward you with mega roots and heavy fruits.

 

[amy24]

Haha thanks, I love that rhyme! Even if it doesn’t at least I had a job for the day haha I just can’t sit still these days!

 

[amy24]

Asparagus seeds are planted! Should be eating fresh asparagus in about three years 😉

 

[amy24]

I was supposed to get a clone from a friend a couple weeks ago, but didn’t so was anxious to get another plant going in my last tote. Just took a clone off my biggest plant, I patiently waited for six nodes, then chopped down to the third node, leaving a little bit of the stem poking up. I was reading about natural ways to clone and read about cloning with aloe the night before and when I went to the store yesterday morning they were selling big stalks of aloe! So... I put some purified water and aloe pulp in my blender, so it was ready for my cutting. As soon as I cut the clone I put it straight in the water. And then I trimmed off excess fan leaves and bottom nodes and put it back in the water/aloe mix. I let it soak over night then this morning made a red solo cup full of a light airy mix of fox farms soil and extra peat moss. Then, I did a couple very light incisions (more like scratches) on the side going along the stem, then stuck it inside the aloe frond pulp moving it back and forth. This is supposed to scratch up the outsides of the stem to stimulate root development. Just to be safe, I did a tiny dip in pro-mix stim-root 1. Afterwards, I thought how I should have mixed a bit of the powder into the soil but oh well! Hopefully it appreciates all my love, I really want to get it established ASAP as a back up plant. 🤞❤️

 

[amy24]

Question... should the clone stay outside or come inside at nighttime? I thought inside for warmth so brought them in with my zucchini seeds, but then was thinking it won’t get the first few hours of sun...

 

[amy24]

So my original clones are going into flower... 😭 the guy I got them from said how did the same thing and he just popped off the little buds and gave them lots of nitrogen...what do you all think??

 

[amy24]

So my original clones are going into flower... 😭 the guy I got them from said his did the same thing and he just popped off the little buds and gave them lots of nitrogen...what do you all think?? Or maybe I should do that to one and not the other and have an experiment? 😉