Yeah, I used that same Alaska fish emulsion.
The fish sauce is for food, and was only a joke about how my office was smelling. 
But seriously tho, how long does it smell after application?
BTW: Looking forward to a fat BBM J before bed tonight 
thanks again!
I guess it depends on how much you like fish 
You will get use to it. I only use it outside. I use tiny amounts like 1/4 tsp per gallon, max 3/4 tsp per gallon full veg. I use it with regular nutes. It won’t burn your plants!!! Smells like Ass!!!
BBM is great at night. 
You will sleep good tonight “dreaming your a fishing boat captain”
I’ll be dreaming about returning to land 
Set up the seedlings in the shed with the heater mat and a super loose space blanket, my trademark “tek”
I set up a second shed to house all the decorations and kid stuff, making me think maybe I should just make a grow area in there for the winters. Plenty of room in there now 
They will be greener tomorrow. 
You will need a space if you want some cuts of these I got going when they mature.
LOL I may be pheno hunting ShiskaBubble 
After a solid night’s rest for the first time in a while, I’ve decided to go the MAP route so I can use the gypsum to address my cation problem, with readily soluble SO4 - as opposed to the Ag Sulfur which will take a few months to finish it’s work. The result should the best balance of minerals/nutrition that I can achieve from my starting material.
The MAP will arrive Monday so that’ll go in after work tomorrow. Today, I’m preparing a double batch of my ammendment regimen that’ll get split: 50% to the container soil mix tarp, 15% small veggie bed, 35% large veggie bed. I think I’ll mix it throughly on a small tarp to get a nice blend going on, and portion out the mix among the beds.
40lbs of Wiggle Worm castings
10lbs of Montmorillonite clay
1.5lbs of HuMic soil conditioner (65% humus, 35% humic acid)
400g of Diamond-K gypsum
30g of FeSO4
80g of MnSO4
20g of ZnSO4
10g of CuSO4
6g of Borax
Once the MAP arrives, I’ll apply that in the same proportions: 50:15:35 across the beds. 500g total, so 250g:75g:175g. From then on, I’ll be “by-the-book” organic. I don’t sell anything so I’m not hung up on being labeled organic or not, it only matters to me the sustainment mechanism, which will be organic and sustainable. And obviously, I want my veggies and herb to be the best it can be this season and years down the road.
I have about 1/4 of a bag of rootwise left (~1oz), and I’ll pick up a new package of myco product to innoculate with after things get settled and I mix again and move the soil into pots and get cover crop planted. I expect the EWC to start some new activity today. Moving on from soil reading to microbe reading this week.
Pics to come this evening. Whether you want 'em or not; I want to be able to look back at exactly what I did and when should this thing fly off the rails
I greatly appreciate all the advice to this point and look forward to listening more. It’s difficult to absorb everything at once, I suspect even more of what I’ve read to this point will make a lot more sense only months from now. But hey, you guys are taking the ride with me. Thanks again!
I forgot to add: Alaska Fish Emulsion is available in natural and deodorized varieties. I got the natural one not knowing there were two versions. They didn’t smell as bad this morning, and I may move the seed starting “ghetto tent” out to the shed full-time anyway. The babies will get some more natural sun today, which is easier when they are out there.
my nose is pretty good, and yeah, it stinks. doesn’t last terribly long, i don’t think. my plants tend to reek, and it’s carbon 25/8 for me, so…
on the upside, the stuff works. 
you’re being modest. 
i get the feeling you love getting your teeth sunk into this stuff. are you surprised about all the things you’ve learned just growing a weed? 
I think it’s gonna be your best grow yet. 
Just waiting on the MAP and some rest for my back now. Damn. I’m worn out, this raking and shoveling is a lot of work.
Here’s the supplies ready to go:
The big stuff (castings, clay, humic, gypsum):
Micronutrients weighed out to the 1/10 gram:
Micronutrients sprinkled onto the already mixed big stuff:
Thoroughly mixed. Beatiful pile of ammendment in person.
Some 2 hours of back-bending labor to get all the beds done.
The result:
Front veggie bed:
Suprised? Not really I guess, I just didn’t think I’d get this deep this season. I did guess it’d be a tad more incremental than a truckload of learning all at once. Figured soil test would come back moderately balanced and I’d be adding fertilizer in an appropriate ratio. DID NOT bargain on having to understand [feel like it’s still surface level] soil pH, and cation/anion balance, exchange capacity, micronutrients, etc. I absolutely do LOVE getting my teeth into something. When I’m on the brink of mentally grasping something I have a really hard time stopping. It’s an addiction too, just a fairly productive one. At least it has been, generally. Sometimes I wish I had more control over my thoughts and could guide them more efficiently. With time, I’m still a young whippersnapper.
We’ll see how this goes. I hope it is the best yet. It’s had more energy: physical and mental, invested than any other attempt I’ve made, that’s for sure.
Great work man. 
Alrighty. Applied the MAP and spread some mixed cover crop over the beds. I’ll cover crop the 50 gallon bags once they get potted up in a few days, when I have some extra time and energy after I get home from work. Creeping thyme seeds are expected to arrive anyday now and I’ll chuck some of those in too, thanks for the recommendation @MissinBissin
Anyway, here’s my final ammendment schedule and test summaries, fully applied as of today. I feel like I just barely passed my Chemistry final exam in college 
Here’s the beds:
And the magical herb pile:
I gotta say, whether it works well or not, this has been quite a learning experience and looks like beautiful soil to me. Definately changes the relationship with it to put this much effort in. Hopefully the plants like their new homes.
Unfortunately, the plants have been getting perhaps a little too much of the LITFA while I fuss with the dirt. They spent some significant time outside after their dose of Alaska fish sauce, the weed seemed to take it well but the pumpkins not so happy about it. Good acclimatization I guess. Things are doing OK I think, older leaves were dying anyway because of the N deficiency a few days ago. Thoughts?
Any advice on those [hopefully] ladies? IBG top row, 907 middle, Panalawi bottom.
Anyway, onto microbes. What’s the best innoculant? I assume I want to apply that in a tea, after the cover crop sprouts so there is root life ready to go.
There’s Mykos, which seems popular (and @ColeLennon recommends): https://www.xtreme-gardening.com/mykos-mycorrhizae
Roots Organics has a few but I’d probably pick this one of their options: bio-force — Aurora Innovations
Great White: Mycorrhizae Trichoderma Inoculant Powder – Plant Revolution
And Rootwise Mycrobe Complete (this is what I used last year): Rootwise Soil Dynamics | MYCROBE COMPLETE
I know my localish shop has all of these, although they were out of the Mycrobe Complete last week when I went. Need to go back anyway to get some feathermeal for through the season, another bag of EWC (I’ll probably spring for the fancy ones for AACT) and whatever microbe solution I wind up using.
I’m getting through the “Teaming with Microbes” book and damn. Crazy stuff going on in the soil I’ve never put much thought into. I’m maybe a third into it. There’s some mixed messages in there, some specific microbes are beneficial, there’s a ton nobody seems to know yet, this is another rabbit hole maybe deeper than the soil chemistry. Any thoughts on nematodes?
Cheers guys, thanks for helping me get to this point. In a couple weeks we’ll be plants outside in new soil! 
Speaking of which, weather is looking pretty nice here:
All those are good. I should use Root’s since their local. 
Your May looks better than mine.
For sure! Foliar is great. I did quite a bit of it during the summer. A trick I learned from @AzSeaindooin420 was to add some aloe. It helped a lot! Especially with the veggies, the tomatoes and peppers were a little frail compared to the herb.
I like that spray bottle with the nozzle bend. May grab one of those just to have it, but I got a fancy sprayer for Christmas last year because I was constantly ranting and raving about the cheap plastic 1 gallon pressure sprayers, now I’ve got an all stainless steel real-deal machine. Supportive family 
Between the vegetables and the medicinal garden I go through an entire gallon of kelp/aloe blend on foliar spray evenings. I did it for anything that had problems, neighbors trees with heat stress, my new apple tree that had a hard time.
I’ve been using Age Old Kelp which has been good, the grow shop recommended that after I blasted through the first bottle of Kelp Me, Kelp You. 8mL/gallon with a 1/4 tsp of aloe concentrate.
Damn, your evenings are still getting cold! I wish we had more rain, but our temperatures are, at least at this point in the season, pretty nice. Not particularly looking forward to the 100+ days of midsummer.
Have a great day!
I’m still putting them in the 30 gallons by the end of the week. I will just foliar feed and have the helmets on ready like last year.
That Precipitator looks great! My brain exploded with the simplicity of the design, that’s brilliant! I’m about to buy myself one of these for the tents, the design is perfect but the model number really sealed it for me, they know:
I wanna get one of those and one of these:
Seems like a perfect combo for my couple small tents to get around in there, I’ll have to get a Precipitator also, thanks! In the yard I just use my cheapie HD 2 gallon pump sprayer but someday I’ll get a Chapin tank, likely an old one I’ll refurbish. For this summer I just treated myself to their hose end doser, which is very nicely made for under $30, might be a good one for you, @FieldEffect
Yeah, I like the fact they have different sizes of the Precipitator. I like the looks of this Solo. They would be better for a tent. I go thru a couple each year. with my outdoor.
are they still mostly under that dome? how long are you hoping to hold off transplanting?
have only used the xtreme, done well with it. i just stick it in the transplant hole on top of a little food, then water-in like normal.
every time I listen to a podcast featuring “experts” there’s often a fair amount of
http://images.shape.mdpcdn.com/sites/shape.com/files/u874/seth-rogen-shrug-gif.gif
I do the same with the Extreme. I water it in with 2 tsp per gallon of Bushdoctor Microbe and 3 tsp per gallon of Big Bloom, 1/4 tsp Kelp Me Kelp You…
After that I feed my normal nutes. I try and put it on the root ball also.
My 30-gallon pots sit out all winter though. So I do it recharge them.
Here’s the sprayer the fam grabbed me: https://www.homedepot.com/p/VEVOR-2-Gal-Stainless-Steel-Sprayer-Pump-Sprayer-with-20-in-Wand-Handle-3-ft-Reinforced-Hose-Suitable-for-Gardening-PWQBXG8L000000001V0/320182687?
I like that hose sprayer @Dirt_Wizard! Get 'er done! I had a very similar (to the 301) one-hand sprayer I used last year, but the lack of the extension and angle made it a PITA to spray the leaf undersides. I wound up putting a fuel tank clunk (brand new one of course, clean) on a silicone hose inside so it would always pick up liquid at whatever weird angle I was trying to hold it. But the bend wand on my new one is going to be really helpful. That 420 looks like a nice update with the mini wand - I’d get that over the 301 anyday. But that has it’s perks too I guess, it’s easy and light. Never thought I’d be discussing the nuances of handheld garden sprayers with anyone, but I have my opinions
They haven’t been under the dome for probably 10 days or so. The 10% humidity here is probably a contributor to their slow progress, but they’ll need to get used to it sooner or later. I’m thinking they’ll probably go outside this weekend, I’ll continue to acclimate them Friday-Saturday-Sunday and if they’re good, I’ll put them in. I think regardless of whether they go outside this weekend or not I’ll put them in bigger pots. Also thinking about doing a bubble-wrapped tomato cage, so they don’t have as much direct sun, and cut the wind a tad. Ease them into the outdoor situation. No top, just a cylinder of bubble wrap. They held up pretty well last weekend when they were airing out the fish sauce, gave me some more confidence maybe it’s time for them to leave the nest.
Sounds like between @ColeLennon and @noknees the Myco choice is going to be Xtreme. I think that plus regular EWC AACT the microbes will be set to start in full force. Maybe worms later. It’s a whole rabbit hole, just like dirt is. I can go as deep as I want and time allows.
I get you on this one. There’s some really insightful folks, and plenty of less-than-helpful ones. I’m happy to have learned enough to be able to differentiate a lot of the nonsense vs real information. Certainly not always the case, but sometimes it’s just like “nah, onto something else”
Have a great evening guys!
I ordered one of the Solo’s. That gives me 2 Precipitator 360’s and a Solo. That stainless steel 2 gallon is more than I need for The Gauntlet.
