I’ve got a small sample bottle of it that this thread has me convinced to get out today and paint up a set of ProCal 1g with, I’ve got a bunch but switched to 2G fabric transplanters for veg, would love to get those back working for my spring seed pops and the Vortex run I’ve got coming up, I’ll need a lot of smaller pots for that and have to keep them healthy, I’m hoping hard pots with MicroKote will make the watering regimen easier with that small volume. Will post updates later today.
Happy Spring to all, it finally hit the Northeast hard and this week has been all running around finding soil mix components and other stuff, I got more Espoma Lightning Lime and Bio-Tone Starter, and a few bags of some really nice and cheap ($7/bag) composted cow manure from a company in CT that keeps the whole farm-compost-bagging-sale chain local since they get their poop from CT dairy farms and I get it from the local pet and garden co-op that stocks up hard for the spring on pallets for some three-plus bag discounts and 3-for-2 deals.
I’m about to mix up 4cf of ProMix moisture control (the red compressed mini-bale from Walmart $13.50 for 2cf, organic yellow mini-bales are supposed to be $11.50 but nobody had them in stock yet) with a bag of that manure, lime, EWC, soldier fly frass, a bag of Espoma Raised Bed mix, some Bio-Tone Starter, DTE Bio-Fish, and some Dr Earth 4-4-4 for good measure. Once plants are maturing in their pots I’m gonna top dress with some Osmocote Plus 6 month, since most of these will go late in my sunny valley spot and some will overwinter on the sunporch or living room bay window.
Thanks for all the soil mix tips, @OldUncleBen ! We don’t always see eye to eye 100% but I value your agricultural/nursery approach to things generally, especially mixing up soils and using the good stuff from commercial ag suppliers for IPM and the like. My local little grow shop is run by a couple who bought it from the founder about five years ago as a retirement business, and they’re former Florida and New England orchard/nursery folks, with a splash of “probably used to run some big room with a few dozen lights back in the day” from one of them. They’ve held my hand along with the better forum members here since I started growing a few years ago, and the advice to stick to the organic basics instead of product lines has been great for me and my plants. It feels like I’ve spent a ton of money on five and eight pound boxes and bags of inputs, but when I think about how much it would have cost to buy the couple hundred gallons of excellent soil I now have, it doesn’t seem so bad. And sticking with the farm and garden products has meant that they all go in my yard and veg garden too, and I give them away to friends, family etc because they’re so cheap. It’s nice to be the organic wizard with a couple pill bottles and ziplocks full of secret sauces that you can share with someone and say actually it’s not a secret it’s just back to basics and it’s really cheap! Or just as much I say here’s a spice jar full of Osmocote Plus, this little thing will make all your houseplants boom with just a few tablespoons, which is like magic, pure ag science magic, especially that the slow-release coated salt fertilizers play nice with organics, which is the middle road I’m starting to explore, fully healthy organic soil food webs juiced up with a safe salt like Osmocote for maximum performance with no ideology behind it.
And @Oldjoints since you’re here- thanks for doing that Blue Tara F3, I’ve got one finishing right now and it is such a beautiful plant, much thinner leaved and long-maturing than I expected, did you select toward the Blue Moonshine sativa phenos?
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Am finding more macho males, guess that’s what pure indicas do. Out of 10 indicas started since Nov. 2021, only 2 have been females.
Been in 12/12 for 7 weeks. Think I’m going to do the chop this weekend.
