The ladies have all settled into their beds by now and seem to be thriving after a few weeks despite some minor transplant shock and rust spots on the edges of the lower leaves on a few of the plants. I think this might be a very slight calcium or magnesium deficiency but am only guessing from limited experience and from what I’ve seen of pics online. If you have any insight please share, I’m here to learn.
This is the Peach Puree. She just decided to Top herself one day and split herself into two apical stems. I’ve never seen a plant do this before, is it normal?:
This is Sherbert x Irene showing some signs of transplant shock (I think):
some slight deficiencies on the auto’s? It’s probably nothing. New growth looking good:
I tied the auto’s back in order to expose them to more light. This technique worked very well for me last summer. I tied the bottom of the stalk to one post and the top to the opposite post like as if the top was tied to the North pole the bottom is tied to the South pole. This seems to open the plants up to the sun moving across from SE to NW (roughly).
I also found what look like tiny eggs on the underside of some of the leaves, I’m pretty sure this ust comes with the territory of outdoor growing:
I started my IPM sprays and scouting daily as soon as I saw them. I am spraying with Safer’s insecticidal soap and will continue to spray weekly or semi weekly depending on what I find on the plants and leaves.
All the above photos are from roughly a week or so ago.
As of today the insecticidal soap seems to be working as I wasn’t able to find any more tiny eggs. I’m sure this will be a continuous struggle and battle all season.
I’ve incorporated a weekly compost tea into the feeding regime. It’s a 5gal mix of filtered water consisting of 1.5-2 cups of earth worm castings, 1 tsp granular humic acid, 1 tsp kelp flour, 1/4 cup molasses and EM1 (4ml/gal) bubbled for 24hrs. I only use the EM1 every other feeding, so once every two weeks. I’m going to also incorporate some alfalfa meal and insect frass into the teas I’m just not super familiar with it all just yet. I’m thinking I’ll rotate the nutrients bi-weekly. One week I’ll do kelp/castings and then the next week EM1/alfalfa meal/insect frass… something like that.
I just learned about the benefits of Sprouted Seed Tea (SST) so I’m going to start incorporating that into my feeding schedule also on a weekly bases starting today. If you’re unfamiliar, a sprouted seed tea utilizes the enzymes within the sprouted seed and is fed directly to your plants. It’s extremely beneficial (google it if you want to learn more). I am using mung beans and alfalfa seeds. I soak them for about 6-12hrs (depending on which seed) then let them sit in my seed sprouter for about 24 hrs until the tails start poking out from the seed slightly. I blend them with a small amount of filtered water then add it to a 5 gal bucket and feed the plants right away.
As of today the plants have shown a good boost of growth. In retrospect I would have liked to LST the auto’s about a week earlier. It looks like they’re not going to branch out much but they may still surprise. These Mephisto genetics are bonkers and have impress many.
Double Grape:
Sour Stomper:
Sherbert x Irene (topped at the 6th node):
Peach Puree (fascinating growth pattern… took off really tall then decided to split the main stem. I did not top this plant, it just naturally started growing this way. It is now bushing out quite nicely:
Stand by for more!
