Actually, I thought the female in that cross was just a straight Thai crossed to Apollo 11; somebody else corrected me. The Smart Move is (Lemon Thai x A11) x OMG. Still good weed, though haha. I especially liked the OMG-leaner I found.
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Bumpity bump bump watch this space I’ve got updates coming later today
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The anticipation is killing me 
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Ok guys sorry for the tease, I got stoned last night and didn’t get the post together. @minitiger @HeadyBearAdventures @BeagleZ @alwaysnoob @JoeCrowe @GREANDAL thanks for standing by.
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I’m back in my tents and growcave for the winter, got a couple things going on here, let’s get started:
Just got back from my lovely local grow store, love them folks. Reupped on my favorite dry general fertilizer, Coast of Maine Stonington, and I got some of their fish bone meal to try their topdressing feeding chart this time around:
Also some langbeinite and Azomite for recycling soil with, and some Hygrozyme to get my root zone clear and pumping, along with breaking down old root balls after harvest and speeding up the composting process. I’ve had good luck so far using LABS for that but I want to try this stuff, everyone seems to love it, soil or hydro. I didn’t really want to use Azomite because I don’t love the aluminum content, but I’ll find some rock dusts for the next time and use this in the yard. And once I finish this Hygrozyme maybe I’ll give the barley straw extract a try instead, IDK it appeals for the cheapness in me:
Langbeinite is one that I’m excited to get in the mix:
"Down To Earth’s Langbeinite 0-0-22 is a naturally mined crystalline mineral that supplies the water-soluble sulfate form of three vital plant nutrients: potassium, magnesium and sulfurs. It’s maximum chlorine content is less than 3.0 percent, minimizing the potential for fertilizer “burn,” and it’s neutral pH does not alter soil activity.
SOLUBLE POTASH (K2O) 22.0%
MAGNESIUM (Mg) 10.8%
10.8% Water Soluble Magnesium
SULFUR (S) 22.0%
22.0% Combined Sulfur
CHLORINE (Cl) Max 3.0% "
Potassium contributes strongly to overall plant health by regulating internal processes. Since potassium makes up part of the fluid of the plant, it is found throughout plant tissue, meaning plants need a strong source of potassium as they grow. Potassium deficiencies lead to weak stalks and immature roots, leaving the plant susceptible to insects.
DTE Langbeinite 0-0-22 is widely used on sensitive vegetables and fruit crops that require high fertilization rates but do not tolerate high levels of chlorine or soluble salts. This standard grade langbeinite has a typical SGN of 95 and is an excellent source of readily available sulfur, potassium and magnesium."
After potting up my first cycle of the year, I had to get cracking on breaking down the five 7g footballs from last year along with lots of sundry houseplants and culled seedling from sexing this run. I’ve got three of these bins remoistened and ready for the dry amendments:
This time around that’s going to be:
-CoM Stonington dry blend, fish bone meal, and EWC
-DtE bone meal, crab meal, langbeinite, and azomite
-Espoma garden gypsum and kelp meal
-Roots seabird guano
-malted barley powder
I might track down some rice hulls from the local brew shop when I go see about getting beer malt. I stopped adding coco after the roots in my recycled bins started dong similar things for aeration but I need more.
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In the tent, almost ready for flower time in another week after they root out some more under Big Red (my HLG 550 R-Spec) which I just switched in there yesterday, I’ve got four ladies in seven gallon felt pots, on elevators to keep them nice and dry and aerated all around. They’ve been vegging since sprout under Little Blue, my single B-Spec panel build that pushes around 155 watts cranked up all the way. They seem happy with the more diffuse and warm light from four boards running low.
This grow, I indulged my obsession with the descendents of Princess and Genius, still looking for Cafe Girl (original BG Ginger-Ale or Rosetta Stone). Others were started but none made it, so all four strains here have Princess or Genius anchoring 25%+ of their genetics. Sadly, I did not pop any of my Princess 88 beans this time through, I would have squeezed a fifth plant in for that. I doubt I’ll need it though, these genetics love to get broken over and spread out.
Back left is Nigerian Sunshine green x Apollo 11/13 OP from @SCJedi, back right is Cinderella 99 from @Baudelaire as well as his Cinderella Mix in the front right. On the front left is Smart Move (Genius Thai x OMG) from Bodhi.
NSxApollo:
C99:
Cindy Mix:
Smart Move:
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Coming down the pipeline, I’m going to be doing my first co-op run for OG, a preservation of Vortex (Romulan x Space Queen) from Subcool. That’ll take up my big tent for part of the winter, but I expect to get two or three flower rounds in too between my two tents.
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Dirt is mixed, after a week of slowly rehydrating dry root balls and pots, and watering in some Hygrozyme to get stuff breaking down. This time around I mixed 3x bins, at two cubic feet per bin, each one got:
-4 cups earthworm castings (CoM, 100% castings)
-1 cup gypsum granules (Espoma)
-1 cup kelp meal (Espoma)
-1 cup crab shell meal (DtE)
-1/2 cup steamed bone meal (DtE)
-1/2 cup fish bone meal (CoM)
-1 cup Azomite granules (DtE)
-1/2 cup Stonington dry blend (CoM)
-1/2 cup langbeinite (DtE)
-1/2 cup seabird guano (Roots)
-1/2 cup Tomato-Tone (Espoma)
-1 cup mixed rolled oats, flaxseed meal, basmati rice, malted barley powder
EDIT: also one cup each neem and karanja meals
Everything watered down with the last of my sample of BioAg Ful-Humix and mixed up nice. Might add a little molasses water next time I moisten it up, just to make sure the little guys in there are nice and active.
I’m really happy to have gotten in my groove of recycling soil and reamending with inexpensive and pure single dry ingredients. Been trying to get off the bottle and it’s going pretty good so far, especially sticking with the cheap non-hype stuff from Coast of Maine, Espoma and DtE that I can get at any garden center. No weed tax here unless I want to support my local grow store, in which case the extra dollar or two is really for their conversation.
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Do you do all that every time you recycle? Just curious. Obviously haha.
I usually only re-amend every-other grow, but after following schmarmpit’s log for a while now, the way he re-amends every grow, it’s got me thinking maybe I should, too. Of course, the way I’ve been having to toss soil and mix up new batches lately, I haven’t even needed to re-amend a whole lot haha.
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How long do you let it cook before use? Just curious. I have SO much soil to reuse. I have to keep indoor and outdoor soils separate here sadly.
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It’s been getting more intense each time I do it, but I think I’ve reached a good equilibrium between variety and common sense KISS. The first couple times I recycled it was just kelp, garden lime, and the Stonington, it worked okay but I find myself having to nurse the plants through mid-late flower a bit. Maybe it’s just the size of plants I’m trying to do in 7g pots, but I think my soil mix now is probably pretty good and hot. I might do a half-strength reamendment next round depending on how this goes. I figure everything I’m using is pretty gentle and slow, so it’s not so much burning as overfeeding I have to worry about, and I’m not growing landraces or Blueberry so that’s cool with me. I’m still using the first dirt I got, somewhere in there, never gotten rid of any so far.
New this round are the Azomite, langbeinite, Tomato-Tone, and the grains. Needed minerals, wanted to try langbeinite, I had leftover Tomato-Tone from the vegetable garden and my tomatoes kicked ass this summer. The grains are based on learning that not only are they good slow release fertilizers, and a good home for microbes in the soil food web, but also the proteins in oat and flax help feed bacteria very well. Cleaned out the pantry a bit because heck why not?
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Uhh shortest cook I’ve done was a couple weeks, that wasn’t really enough in my cool basement. Maybe if it was composting warmer. Usually I give it a month or two, basically until I scoop up a handful and smell it and I can’t smell the distinct ingredients anymore and it’s melded into a good loamy dirt smell. If the bone meal and crab meal still stink it’s not ready IMO. I have a rule that I have to mix the bins a little every time I look at them, so they stay nice and aerated, I just have to water them more often to keep it nice and moist. The best advice I’ve gotten was to maintain the moisture at the level where when you squeeze a handful of dirt it doesn’t quite make a clod but releases a drop or two of water, that’s where a lot of the magic happens.
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Actually, I just realized I forgot to add the neem and karanja meals to the soil bins. That’s one I’ve been using since the beginning too, and I think it’s helped me avoid any major pest problems in my soil. I get Ahimsa brand from this place, it’s superb quality, one of the brands BAS and KIS repackage.
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Yep. Same idea for hydrating mushroom substrate, it’s called “field consistency” 
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Oh, yeah, I’m not worried about “hotness” haha or whatever; I’ve mixed up soil and planted in it the next day no problem. Like you said, all of my inputs are pretty mellow, never worried about “cooking” my soil mix or anything. I’m gonna mix up some new soil today or tomorrow and use that as part of the flowering pots that I’ll be transplanting into later this week, not worried about it at all.
I was more just wondering about the frequency of the re-amends. I’ve always re-amended every-other grow, but it seems like a lot of people lately re-amend after every grow and get pretty great results.
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@minitiger I think that I had to amend more because of mixing in coco as aeration each time and diluting the soil even though I use buffered coco. Besides having a sorta simple and light reamendment mix. I stopped doing that because my soil has a nice texture now from the sticks and roots that composted in, but I need to add some pumice or something again soon. I might get my soil tested soon and see if I can get a little more scientific about things.
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Ahhhh, okay, I didn’t realize you were mixing in coco.
Still, I may consider re-amending after every single grow. I dunno if you follow schmarm’s log, but his plants always look unbelievably healthy all the way through.
Plus, I bought a 44-pound bag of BAS’ re-amend mixture or whatever a while back haha, might as well use it.
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Oh yeah if you got it, use it! I was being cheap before and trying to keep it too simple, it worked but I think I’ll get better density and terps with the increased mix
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