She’s good. They all are. I’m going to be topping again here shortly. They are all moving fast.
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You starting to see the fast progress you wanted so bad? I am…new growth everyday. I know in a couple weeks it’ll be even faster but I won’t notice anymore.
I think we’re both the same, can’t wait for them to get big but in the back of our minds we’re almost scared of them (I am anyway) 
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Yeah, I need to start cleaning out the bottoms of the Purple Queens. Grizzly.
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p.s. that cover crop came in with the quickness!
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It sure did! Like I mentioned earlier, for whatever reason the No-Till Solutions brand mix did great compared to the Build-A-Soil branded mix. I used BAS for the beds because that went down first, it’s still not as lush as the 50 gallon bags I did a week later with the NTS. Could be the small amount of wind protection, who knows. The veggie beds and cannabis bags have all been treated the same, ammended the same to this point.
Very lightly watered last night so things are going to be drier than my average comfort level tonight. We aren’t supposed to get rain for more than a week so it’s time for the full-strength compost tea that I’ll feed tomorrow morning as the sun comes up. I’ve been trying to maintain a “slightly moist feel” when I stick my finger way down into things, it’s getting hot fast here - 90s yesterday. I worry I can’t go 2 full days without adding water of any kind, so I do this sprinkle watering in the evenings to keep the top at that level. I must say the cover crop helps a ton in the grow bags, which is much lusher than the veggie beds.
Went out this morning and started it up. Same recipe as planned:
20 gallons water (been bubbling/pumped 24 hours)
8 cups of the best EWC I could find in my state
~0.8 cups of sucanat
~0.4 cups of GEM Fish Hydrolysate
~0.4 cups of Age Old Kelp Extract
Tomorrow morning around this time I’ll head out and dump in some Rootwise Mycrobe Complete and was considering adding some more (2 cups more) of the GEM Fish Hydrolysate before I dispense it to the plants. The extra 2 cups would bring it to the low side of the recommended dilution (30mL/gallon) my logic being NOT that I want to fertilize, but to provide my microbe-packed tea plenty of starter food. I’ve innoculated the soil to some level with the earlier batch of compost tea and mykos dusting during transplant but I am considering this to be the principal innoculation application - I’ve got a healthy cover crop and plants to support the ecosystem better now. I’m not opposed to calling adding more fish a dumb idea and not doing it, but I’m always trying to make things better, you guys know how it goes.
It’s entirely possible that logic is terrible. In fact, it’s almost likely. My brain is mud after two weeks of work that have basically been as scatter-brained and disorganized as possible. Bunch of issues out of my control popping up and requiring immediate solutions. I try to just go with the flow but there’s no doubt some stress that creeps in. Let’s just say I’m ready for the long weekend.
Anyway, can anyone let me know if my adding 2 cups of the GEM Fish tomorrow, just prior to application is a good idea, useless idea, or bad idea? Obviously, I need an answer before tomorrow morning.
Here’s a link if it helps: Organic Fertilizer | Organic Gardening | Liquid Fertilizer
Have a great day, and I appreciate any input!
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looking back at the previous pics…everything is coming in so well, you have nice color and vigor. even despite the storm. myself, I would err on the side of caution and use a light touch in general…
GEM describes their product (I haven’t used it) as being very bio-available, and very potent. maybe time to test on a couple tomato plants at that strength first?
Organic Gem’s N-P-K is 3-3-.3. Do not be deceived by this. In studies at the University of Massachusetts, our product outperformed standard 10-10-.10 products. UMass has demonstrated that 80% of the nitrogen in standard fertilizers either gasses or leeches off - our material does neither due to the oils and collagens in the product which help lock it into the soil. That fact alone gives Organic Gem an equivalent nitrogen level of 15.
Contains proteins that remain in their natural state (strands), while those processed with acid or heat are left knotted and less bio-available to the plant.
you’ve got a very long way to go. still early veg…time to relax a little, dude!
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For sure, that’s why I asked! Thanks for the input. I’ll experiment a bit with some of the other plants, that seems very wise. I’ve pretty thoroughly scoured that site and definitely noticed that paragraph.
It seems like an interesting product altogether. It’s less processed than fish emulsion (like Alaska). I haven’t read enough yet to really understand why they make the emulsion if the hydrolysate liquid is actually a simpler process. Seems leaving the fats and proteins has real advantages in the garden. It smells much less offensive than the Alaska does, I can tell you that much.
As far as the stress - that’s work, not the plants. Gif is very fitting right now though 
A few more hours 
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I’m getting ready to hit mine Sat with good shot Alaskan fish ferts, kelp, microbe and gypsum.
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Plants are still happy, thirsty and ready for their special brew tomorrow. Pics of the girls and the inaugural run of the turbo tea machine
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Nice foam job on the tea there. Have you tasted it Plants are moving now. Looks optimum to me. 
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OPTIMUM
That’s what I like to read. Weekend just begun for me 
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Enjoy your 4-day weekend.
I’m pretty sure which IBG and Panalawi I’m going to keep - what do I do with the others (the voted off the island crowd)? Chop at the base, chop them into little bits and scatter on the soil? Same with some of the cover crop? Should I trim that down and let it just chill on the surface? I’ve seen people rake in the cover crop when it just sprouts, we’re well past that point although I could scratch it into the surface a bit.
Should I worry about the cover crop or just let it go wild until it flowers? I was going to plant some other companion plants like chamomille and echinacea.
In other good news, the tea smelled lovely this morning. I don’t know how to describe it. Like peaceful dirt or something. There’s a really faint fish/water smell maybe like forest+stream, but without the tree odors. Right after a rain or heavy dew. Reminds me of waking up backpacking, or fishing in Alaska by a river. Really, surprisingly pleasant way to open the shed this morning. @MissinBissin we definately need to come up with scent pixels for this site Applied about 3 gallons to each of the 50s, the rest among the veggie beds and planters.
There were a bunch of worms still alive and wriggling around in the tea bag, which shocked me as I only noticed one or two when I put the EWC into the brew sack. I pulled out handfuls of the saturated EWC/worms and placed it under the cover crop scattered throughout the 50s, hopefully the worms enter the soil and become part of my little ecosystem - they appear to have, they dissappeared pretty quickly and there’s no evidence they died on top. I think that’s probably pertinent to the question about what to do with the green waste of chopping some of the less-desireables. What little I know about worms is that they supposedly come out at night and make green waste dissapear faster than it otherwise would.
Hopefully these are all signs things are well, my compost teas have never smelt as pleasant as this batch and I’ve never noticed live worms afterwards before.
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I would just cut them at the base. “the voted off” and let the companions keep going. I am completely inexperienced at this though. I’ve only got to 30’s. I have to stop vapin this GG4.
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I lived in AK when I was a boy. Homer and Anchorage.
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It’s beautiful. Spent a week up there fishing 15 years ago, southwest of Anchorage. I’ll have to get back. Have thought about flying up there to see the northern lights on the north side
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Kenai river. I fished it when I was 13.
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ohhhhhh nooooooo, not ready to say goodbye to anybody yet 
I just don’t like culling plants
am curious to hear your selection thoughts tho… 
i’m curious to see how wild it gets…
gotta be a good sign
all this sounds good 
only if you bring your own northern lights to enjoy under the northern lights 
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So my first priority is stem/leaf scent. I use strips of paper because I found using my fingers makes me smell strongly like weed and it’s harder for me to tell what is what. I pinch the stem in a few places, lightly rub and smell the paper. Like testing perfume or cologne. Other criteria are the plant structure and vigor. I’m certainly not opposed to nursing along a runt if she smells fantastic - but it seems the best smellers are also the vigorous ones.
I won’t chop anything for a few more days up to a week but these are my thoughts at the moment
Panalawi A (Keeper):
Nice structure/vigor. Scents between the two are indistinguishable. Spicy, herby, weed.
Panalawi B (Suspected Cull):
Damaged structure and slower growth. That’s why there’s more than one.
IBG A (Probable Keeper):
Beatiful structure and most vigorous. Reminds me of the smell of the buds, although this is evolving.
IBG B (Potential Keeper):
First to smell like the IBG flower I sampled from @ColeLennon. Second best vigor.
IBG C (Probable Cull):
No hints of bubblegum scent, slow growth.
907 A (Probable Keeper):
Best growth habits so far. Nice smell but no blueberry hints yet. This is the biggest plant in the garden.
907 B (Potential Keeper):
Second best growth. Indistinguishable from A in smell.
907 C (Probable Cull):
Weakest of the lot. No redemption on scent, although if I didn’t have 2 others I’d be perfectly content with this.
Any thoughts on my thoughts?
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I’ve never actually grown enough seedlings out to try and make distinct choices. I got nothing. It is however time for some theme music for your Amazon grow.
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