P.S. a reminder to everyone including myself, @LouDog420 is going to have some fresh crosses coming up soon on the Beans for St Jude fundraiser so get those donations ready, I’m thinking sativa AK-47 x Violeta (or just both!) and the Violeta F3(?)s and probably the Bubblehead and OG Chem/NYCO #3
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We’re gonna see! I did my best to dust it around with a brush on all the flowers in the bag, then sealed them and bellowed the bag around a bit to shake it in there. Left them for half an hour then sprayed everything down
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Honestly if I hadn’t found some Regalia my plan was to DIY it, it’s just giant knotweed extract, which is a common enough Asian nutraceutical:
But it seems like the science says that Trichoderma Harzianum is really the way to go with botrytis, from what I’ve read, maybe worth trying both as foliars? You can get TH powder cheaply on the internet, I also see a lot of science about using food grade citric acid, that’s another inexpensive one. And bacillus amol… I don’t know how to spell it but that one, Arbico has a good page of products:
https://www.arbico-organics.com/category/botrytis-control-grey-mold-bud-rot
In my tents I depend on PureCrop1, which is honestly not terribly expensive at the solution rate, and there’s a DIY recipe on OpenSalts, but I haven’t tried it yet.
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Finally got the cryovials and storage boxes I ordered a month or two ago, dunno what happened there (EDIT turns out I ordered them from China direct which is why they were like $8 each, Walmart Marketplace is where it’s at) but I can finally start making my seed storage compact and cataloged easily. I’m planning on dropping breeder Eppendorfs into these if they have them, or unpacking coin flips and baggies. I might leave Lacons the way they are and just do a card catalog of them in a food storage container since that would be pretty easy.
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@ElGalloBlanco and anyone else into biocontrols and mycology generally, I found this incredible open data site for coordinating genomic research of fungi that folks would really like, take a look! It’s called Mycocosm and it’s run by the Department of Energy labs:
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I like your style! I’ve been wanting do this for some time now. Great way to stay organized and more compact. Would you put any rice in the vial with the precious cargo?
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That’s my plan, I’m going to gently bake half a cup of Arborio beforehand and put a few grains in each vial from an airtight container as I pack them. I was going to get silica beads but some packs have them already in the tubes or Mylars (which I plan to catalog to shout out all the breeders who go the extra mile on archival packaging). Rice should be fine, I’m extra broke right now and working with my unemployment check which ain’t much.
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Sounds like you should have some interesting seeds to search through in a bit! Thanks for the tip on trichoderma harzianum, will have to get some of that and see if it helps any. I have a really old grape vine on my property and on occasion would see this silvery mold on parts of it towards the end of fall and I was wondering what the hell it was, well, it was likely botrytis so it sounds like I may be battling this thing on a number of fronts. Thanks again for the tips and information links!
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Sure thing! This looks like an easy to find and cheap product that’s based on TH from a reputable company: Mikro-Root 2 oz. - Microbial Applications, Inc
Rootshield WP looks like a good product but it seems to only come in very expensive three pound bags, unfortunately.
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@ElGalloBlanco here’s the recipes for DIY Regalia and PureCrop1 from OpenSalts if you wanna get it done cheap and well use both, they’re different modes of action. I plan to make and use both of these this summer outdoors.
“DIY Regalia As A Biostimulant And For Pm
Regalia from Marrone Bioscience is a biostimulant and systemic fungicide for powdery mildew. All species of knotweed are active and it’s very simple to make.
Load up your soxlet to capacity with any ground part of the knotweed plant (Leaves, stems and especially roots) with 95-97% alcohol. Let it run for 4-8 hours. Put in your rotovap to recover solvent. Dilute to 50% with water and add 12.5g/l citric acid as a stabilizer. Use at 3-6ml/gallon with water drench or foliar.
Alternately, soak all knotweed parts in alcohol for a month. Evaporate completely and add 50% water, 12.5g/L citric acid. It’s probably a slightly higher dosage than the first method.”
“ Pure Crop 1
80% glycerin
15% corn/soybean oil
2% insecticidal soap (SLS, Dr. Bronner’s)
2% aromatic oil (vanillin, rosemary, thyme)
0.5% guar/xanthan gum
0.5% citric acid
Heat everything through and stir to incorporate. Add aromatic oils while cooling and incorporate.
Use @ 1-2 oz/gallon. Spray until beading on leaves.”
http://opensalts.wikidot.com/ipm-recipes
This study lists Regalia as the most effective biological (sample #15) that doesn’t contain cinnamon,garlic, or thyme oils. So I guess those really do work, but then we don’t want their smells in flower.
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Uuuuuugh I fucked up last night- been nursing a thrown out lower back the last few days and not moving around much and I forgot to close up my flowering tent before lights out. Worse, I had the LED bar on outside the tents all night. Hoping to not get too much bullshit hermies or revert from this but I’m pissed at myself about it
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Yikes. One day shouldn’t be bad I guessing. Pretend it was an exceptionally bright full moon.
And hope your back feels better. You can’t escape a hurt back. Hurts in every position.
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Thanks @imstinky , now that I calmed down some I’m not as worried, it sucks but it could have been worse, I only left the door flapped open at the top and the bar is slightly to the side so it’s nothing like leaving the HLG in the tent on, but still not great. I’m just gonna have to keep a close eye on everything for the next few weeks, but it helps that I have tall and stripped down plants this time around to see all the nodes. I guess this is my once a year ooopsie that I have to forgive myself for.
The back sucks but I have had this injury before, I hate it but know what to do about it, which is mostly a bunch of stretching (especially Cat-Cow) and heat and good lumbar support for a few days. Back when I was a bread baker it was a lot worse, some days you just wake up and can’t move, all your lower back muscles just refuse to work until you slowly engage them all. This time I think it’s a combination of spinal compression from my heavy backpack and sitting slightly twisted in train seats to stay out of the butt divot.
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Back still pretty fucked but better today after I went to PT for my shoulder and she helped me work on my back a little too. Wildly frustrated with my Dad, who’s truly become an ornery old man who’s not listening to or considering anyone, but thankfully I’m done for the weekend there. Got my C99 bucked down into a Grove bag tonight, which weighed in at seven ounces so probably 5.5-6 after stems and trim get removed when I have the time, very decent yield off a 7G pot for me. Looks like that last grow was probably around a pound of top quality, nice!
I checked the pollinated branches tonight and IG definitely took, I think the other two did as well but not much. Still, the BX with the Icy Grape was the #1 goal and it looks like there will be some quantity of seeds in the future of Icy Grape F2 (Purple Skittles pheno) x AKBB Black Domina BX. I did a little digging and found that the initial cross from Crickets and Cicadas that AKBB worked to this must have been the Black Muddy River from 3-4 years ago:
And some Day 30 flowering tent:
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A few things I’ve been using in the garden that I don’t think I’ve mentioned in my log here:
#1. Stoned Dust: a reclaimed rock flour product from drilling igneous granite in eastern Massachusetts, pretty inexpensive and nice and high in Ca and Mg with respectable K and Fe and some other bits and bobs, I’m relying on this, along with AgSil16H and the gypsum and pumice in my soil mix for general liming and silicates. Fun name, ok price, diverting waste into a local product, it’s a winner for me.
#2. Barley malt powder from Ground Up Grain: organic diastatic barley malt from the newest and best mill in New England, I bake bread and pastries exclusively with their flour now, you can get it mail ordered or drive to their new Holyoke mill for pickup. These folks started as a malthouse to supply local breweries that wanted it, and expanded to milling multiple wheats, Danko rye, barley, spelt, and now heirloom corn. All grains from New England and upstate NY. Their current suppliers are:
Oechsner Farm- Newfield, NY
Buck Farms- Mapleton, ME
Morrill Farm- Pennacook, NH
Seneca Grain and Bean- Penn Yan, NY
Granite Grains- Amherst, NH (heirloom open pollinated Wapsie Valley cornmeal that GUG malts a little then mills fine- crazy good corn cakes/muffins)
Worth the order if you’re a home baker and I’d be happy to talk more about any of their products here if people have questions but I’ll say that their malt is very nice and one of these days I’ll get the hand cranky mill to start using their whole grains but for now the powder I bake with works great to my eye and waters in very cleanly, it’s super finely milled with almost no sludge in the can, I mix it with a little sugar or molasses to give the girls a snack sometimes.
For you homebrewers (or professionals!) here’s their parent company Valley Malt:
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Dude I can relate, we had some health issues pop up this past summer with my dad, ended up in the hospital for a while and just spent a lot of time with him compared to how much I’ve seen him for years leading up to this and man is the change in him apparent. Very stubborn, argumentative, unwilling to listen or do what’s necessary to help himself, etc. etc. a lot of what we saw with his father as he slipped into dementia etc. we’re not there yet with him but it was stark to see how different my old man is becoming from the man that raised me in a lot of ways. Sorry for your troubles dirt, both with your pops and your back. I started trying to make an effort to not fight with him and try to be a bit more of a bridge since him and my sisters just go at it like cats and dogs but it’s challenging to see a parent start to struggle late in thier life. 
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Veg tent got potted up on Day 21 from seed to the new tall two gallon fabric transplanters from 247Garden, this is my new, revised system. Scuff and soak seeds, peat Jiffy puck, tall slanted square plastic seedling pot, 2G tall fabric transplanters, then 15G final pots. I’d consider a 5G transplant if necessary but I don’t think I need more than three pots through the life cycle. The biggest issue will be veg space for the 15G as they root out, in order to keep the 4x4 mostly flowering and not doing much pre-transition other than the week I give them to adjust to the R-Spec light. Still, I can definitely squeeze 4-6 15G pots into the 3x4 if I have to.
Flowering tent looks good at Day 31, I’m monitoring them closely for signs of intersex expression from the light cycle stress the other night but so far so good. I expect Blue Tara to give me the problems if any do because that is just one strange-ass plant, it started that way and it is still freaky with weird mutated leaves and a super-thin lead expression overall for an indica hybrid.
Blue Tara:
@LouDog420 Sour Chem tall:
LDSC short (all my shorties love that hot bright middle in a Quantum Board tent, she’s doing great there just like @SCJedi Blackwater x Apollo did):
Icy Grape F2:
@Tonygreen and @LouDog420 Sowah Grapefruit:
AAAAANNNNNNNDDDD after like a month of promising all my loyal readers seeds, I finally got the wherewithal together to pack up fourteen envelopes to address tonight and drop in the mailbox tomorrow morning. Thank you all for bearing with me, and I hope everyone enjoys this late Christmas/Boxing Day/New Year’s gift from me.
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OxiClean tote? I’ve got a bunch of those.
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Sprouting: Jiffy 7 peat pucks soaked in Mr Fulvic and Sea-K soluble kelp
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Jiffy-36mm-Biodegradable-Peat-Pellet-Refill-36-Count/689616417
Seedling growth: 3.5” deep square hard black plastic
Veg growth: 2 gallons, 12” tall by 7” diameter
Final pot: 15 gallons, 21” tall by 14.5” diameter
And then:
I appropriate these along with milk crates of various sizes (single/double milk, Coca-Cola crates, other soda and wine transport stuff) for a very clean tent setup all very scrubbable and bleachable, food delivery material handling stuff is the best, along with sheet trays and hotel pans. And I can’t forget my favorite stainless dirt paddle from a cafeteria steam kettle.
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