Thanks for the good words guys...Lovin the experiment trying to develop my green thumb!

Purp, my lights are about 12" above the canopy. I had some light leakage for the first 20 days of 12/12 before I found out, so they stretched about 18" (Yikes)...about 6" more than planned/expected...

I put some blocks under the 2 shorter plants to maintain an equal canopy..next time, I am definitely going to try the mainlining process like GR...seems like it will be a good match for these lights...

keep rockin!

ICB

Hi all,

Time for my weekly update..sorry it's a little late. The ladies are moving along nicely now that the light leakage problem has been solved. I am at day 38 after 12/12, but only 18 days with absolute darkness...so.. like Happy, I am thinking that the calendar is really no longer relevant to me this time around, and am going to need to keep a close eye on them and have a significantly staggered harvest...kind of like tomato plants....Temps are ranging 80 (lights on) to 66 (light off)...and RH from 45 (on) to 50 (off)...

I am looking at different tea recipes now...want to start them asap...any recommendations? There are sooo many out there.

My CBD Critical Mass, the only hybrid I have, (80/20 indica) has just exploded..really showing its' sativa genetics....the main cola is over 2' wide, and filling in to what appears to be about 1' long!! This thing is absolutely dripping, so sticky and stinky! It's total flower heaven, with about 30 smaller flower sites about 1.5 *3 inches!! I wish we had scratch and sniff, you wouldn't believe how sweet it is, honey/fruity...salivating as I write this (also a couple of fingers are sticking to the keyboard LOL)..




My other three girls are all 100% indicas, and you can see that the light leakage has seriously slowed their development down. The Blueberry and the Northern Light Blue are starting to fill in, and the White Rhino is beginning to get frosty too.




Welcome any thoughts or feedback as always!

Thanks,
ICB

Curt,

On the compost tea issue, yes there are very many recipes out there. Yrs ago I took the Soil Food Web classes on composting, compost tea making, basic Bio, and a microscope class. It was the most eye opening education I have every had. Fun and very well taught by Dr. Elaine Ingham. Any way you should check out their website, great info on organics.

I am not sure what your plans are for the tea, but you cannot go wrong with this formula. This is a basic build the microbe's brew. Once in the soil they will do their magic. I am planing on using vermi-compost about half way through flower, then two weeks prior to harvest will be nothing but compost tea till harvest.

Here is a simple but great formula.

Per gallon of water (Rain,RO, well, De-chlorinated public water (watch the ppm solids in this water, mine is 6 -700 ppm out of the tap, I won't use it).

.25 pounds - quality compost, vermi-compost if you can get it (good source of calcium). Don't buy a bag of compost or mulch from Wally World or whom ever, not good stuff. Not sure where you live but you can find actively aerated compost that is properly made, that is the key.

1 tablespoon organic molasses, unsulfered

Now comes the fun part, aeration!

In a very clean container mix the water, compost and molasses. Add one or two air stones attached to a good aquarium pump. Aerate the tea for 24 hours, strain using a paint strainer or cut one of the legs off your wife's panty hose, they love that, and use as soon as possible.
The molasses food source is depleted at this point and the microbe's will begin to die out without a food source, like what will be available for them in the soil.

You want as much air as you can get. I have a number of air pumps from when I made CT for my golf courses. Sold the commercial unit when I left California, that state has a great organic compost program.
Remember you cannot have too much air. The more air the better the brew.

You also want the water to be rolling with the bubbles of air, not splashing or violent water movement as that will damage the hyphae of the good fungus in the tea.

I hope this helps, I know it works I used it for 15 years on my golf courses and it not only helped produce a great produce but save us a lot of cash over the years.

Got any question please ask.

Peace out,

GR

Personally, I like this recipie better for indoor cannabis but YMMV...

post3054.html?hilit=casting%20tea#p3052

"Beneficial Bacteria Tea" recipe

Supplies:

5 gallon bucket /w lid
2 gallons water
Sock or other filter
Handful of earthworm castings
1teaspoon brown sugar or molasses
1/4 teaspoon myco powder
Air stone, hose, & pump


Instructions:

Clean the bucket.

Add water to the bucket.

Grab the earthworm castings with the sock over your hand, then invert the sock and tie it off to form a nice bag filter with the castings inside (others use coffee filters stapled closed... you can get creative). Throw the sock into the bucket.

Add brown sugar or molasses. I have always just shaken "enough" brown sugar into the bucket, straight from the box.

Add myco powder

Place the air stone in the bucket and allow it to bubble vigorously with the lid closed.

Temps around 75 degrees F will promote rapid growth, but temps between 65 & 80F will give you usable "tea" within 24 hours.

Now simply add ~12oz of the solution for every 5 gallons of reservoir water every reservoir change, or every 3 days. Whichever comes first.

SisterMaryElephant wrote:Personally, I like this recipie better for indoor cannabis but YMMV...

post3054.html?hilit=casting%20tea#p3052

"Beneficial Bacteria Tea" recipe

Supplies:

5 gallon bucket /w lid
2 gallons water
Sock or other filter
Handful of earthworm castings
1teaspoon brown sugar or molasses
1/4 teaspoon myco powder
Air stone, hose, & pump


Instructions:

Clean the bucket.

Add water to the bucket.

Grab the earthworm castings with the sock over your hand, then invert the sock and tie it off to form a nice bag filter with the castings inside (others use coffee filters stapled closed... you can get creative). Throw the sock into the bucket.

Add brown sugar or molasses. I have always just shaken "enough" brown sugar into the bucket, straight from the box.

Add myco powder

Place the air stone in the bucket and allow it to bubble vigorously with the lid closed.

Temps around 75 degrees F will promote rapid growth, but temps between 65 & 80F will give you usable "tea" within 24 hours.

Now simply add ~12oz of the solution for every 5 gallons of reservoir water every reservoir change, or every 3 days. Whichever comes first.

SME,

I personally would not use brown sugar and most of it is processed and harded to break down. IMHO!

Refined granulated sugar would even work but molasses is probably better.

SME, What do you think about using CT during your flush. The microbes in the tea will surely clean up the soil help rid it of toxins, fert, chems etc.
I think a good drench a few week out from harvest and every time you water in between. I would not be worried about the tea at all and don't believe you would need to flush with clean fresh water.

Just a thought! That is my plan anyway!

GR

I'm not a fan of flushing much, with or without the tea but watering with tea (between feedings) isn't a bad idea and many soil growers do water with tea in soil. Some use tea every-other watering, some every watering and some just occasionally. That said, you can add mycorrhizae and worm castings directly to soil and the beneficial will be there from day one even without the tea. If you didn't amend your soil to add those then tea will help more but you can still top dress with castings too. The tea added to hydro reservoirs would help a lot too.

REMOVED

pH is not Phosphorus, that would just be P, as in NPK. Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. That said, pH issues can cause nutrient lockouts of phosphorus and others so it could be one caused by the other.