Awsome!!!
I made these origami seed pots today from newspaper. Figured they would be far easier, even the autos (by my logic) can start in these, then just put the whole thing into bigger pot when ready.
Sounds good in theory. Lets see how this goes!
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Awesome, I 
Origami 
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Amazing, how clever is that.
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Just tried making an Origami pot out of newspaper. All thumbs (not green either) and total failure 
lol. But fun trying.
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I had to try a few times. don’t give up!
It helped to trim the paper so it was 11" by 22"
you can put the trim into the bottom of the pot for extra strength!
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God this was hard! I watched some of those Korean farming videos, then realised (from the recent work in the yard) that I had a wealth of Effective microbes in my own back yard. I set to making a culture. This was hugely difficult. Probably because its not so warm here yet. But I did succeed! eventually.
This jar is going to help me to ferment my own alfalfa sprouts, comfrey, worm castings and malted barley to make my garden and plants glow!!!
My recommendation is this. Buy your own EM liquid to start, then make your own from there.
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Welcome to the world little ones. Grow with confidence, your in good hands.
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So here we are at 3 weeks from the fist 2. The larger ones are the white widows. 2 are 3 weeks and 2 are 2 weeks. They went very slowly and did not look good initially. I started to worry. But I think its the seedling mix. Anyway, I topped up with some worm castings and literally, just after the equinox, they grew a load in just a couple of days.
The others are an Amnesia Haze auto and a Purple Haze photo. They are just a few days old. Im giving a couple of the white widows to a friend.
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Ok time for an update. Babies are coming along nicely. Couple of yellow patches there where I fed them some fish emulsion and it was too soon. Lesson learned. The larger ones are the white widows, bear in mind they have just been fimmed. The smaller ones are 2 autos and a purple haze, they are a bit younger but now moved outside since we have warm spring weather.
The next ones are from my garden and the work is progressing nicely. still a bit to do but I’m making progress. I have begun to spread my home made mulch as its cooked rather nicely. The others show my kangaroo paw coming into flower, lots of seedlings and babies getting ready to plant soon. Oskar is keen on my soil mix. It needs a bit of moisture and the pumice added, I’ll get to this job very soon. The larger bits are alfalfa pellets. Ill be adding some warm water and sugar to get this going shortly, but I don’t really need the soil for a bit yet anyhow.
Bonus! I was gifted an AK 47! You can see it at the back of the babies, Ive just added a slightly larger pot.
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Im trying to get the rest of the work done in order to focus on the grow. Not too far to go! I got more amendments too. Ive gone for the sub cool (later one) more or less, minus the blood and bone, feather meal. Everything else is in there, with manure, charcoal, Zeolite as well. Should make a nice tasty feast for the girls.
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So its high time for a garden update! Some successes and failures in the garden.
We went into very warm weather all of a sudden. That has meant getting all the mulch on the garden after digging more charcoal and rock dust, kelp and manure in. I thought I had another month to 6 weeks to get this done, but no. Luckily, my home made mulch was worth the effort. It looks great as well as being well composted to feed the garden. But it’s been a huge job, and I am one person. Work has also been insanely busy, so very little rest for me.
I was also planning to clean my pond. This also had to come forward. However, not before I lost all my fish. The warm weather gave an ammonia spike, alas, the fish could not be saved. A bit sad as many of my fish over 10 years old. Nevertheless, it’s all clean now and repopulated with babies.
It’s all left very little time for paying much attention to the weed garden.
Here is one of the White Widows. Ive got pre flowers, which is way too soon. I got them because they are a beginner strain, however, Im realising I will have greater success with sativa dominant strains. Even some like Super Silver haze are probably easier to grow here than most indica dominant strains.
Looks like I’m having a small harvest at the end of the year. Trial and error I guess. Live and learn.
Next comes the Amnesia Haze auto. She is bowling along very happily in her final pot. Loving the soil and and warmth!
Last but not least is the purple Haze photoperiod. Also doing really nicely!
I also harvested my first batch of worm castings. In addition to the usual kitchen scraps, my worms got charcoal, home made compost, alfalfa pellets, rock dust, and oyster shell flour. Very pleased with just how they came out.
Im germinating another White widow and Purple Haze atm. Not too late here to still get a nice harvest in May.
I went with the WW autos on my first grow. Most of them were stunted but still produced some nice bud. I see a lot of farmers having the same issue and it’s usually caused from stress when the plants are young. Now that I have a little more experience I’ll to try some more next grow season. Really like the WW smoke.
Really sorry to hear about your fish. I built a medium size koi pond (2000 gal) and have grown quite attached to them. I’ve even given them names. Besides using bio filters and adding plants one of the things I did to keep the pond healthy is to oversize the pump to 5000 gph and put in a secondary fountain pump in the deepest section. Really helps with keeping the pond well aerated and balanced.
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All coming along nicely Gromie
They look happy and healthy
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Yes I think I should have waited to plant these. I think it was still a little cool for them. Also, now that Im making such good worm castings, I can make a much better quality seedling mix. The stuff I bought was shite. Other than being small, the ww’s are happy enough. The issue I think is that Australian outdoors is not as suited to indica as to sativa. I have learned now that climate is probably the biggest indicator of how well your plants are going to go. I was watching a grow diary from a guy in Canada, he grew 4 huge plants but ended up losing most of his harvest to bud rot. So, my guess is, even if IGLM call them a more difficult grow, it could end up growing well if you have the right weather. Since I prefer sativa in any case, I now know what to go for. Im honestly not a big consumer in any case, Im doing this more for the fun of growing, and the idea of having my own organically grown bud.
Ive never had problems with my pond until now. Yes my pump is also oversized and Ive got plants and a waterfall. Plus I usually clean the filters often, and usually add a little bacteria periodically to help keep things clean. But we literally went from winter to summer in a day. I figured 10 years is not a bad innings for a fish though. They are now in the garden. It’s the cycle of life and death and rebirth.
Now that’s the garden is all pretty much finished, I can focus a little more on my plants.
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So a friend who knows more than me came to take a look. He thinks the widows may go back to veg. After all, we are having beautiful warm days and they are getting all that good light. Plus they are now in the good soil. I reckon the two I planted 2 weeks later are looking reasonable for it.
For these 2, I think the horse has bolted. I germinated another seed in any case.
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So guys. Ive been reading a bit more about mycorrhizal fungi, and how it works. According to lab studies, it doesn’t pay to add your fungi to the soil if its full of phosphates. Its an expensive amendment here, and you are paying good money for nothing if you are adding too much of it into your super soil.
Here is what I am doing. Ive added just a small amount of fish bone meal and guano to my soil, in addition to crustacean meal, alfalfa etc. Instead, I’ve made a phosphate rich top dressing which I have added a few other things to, like a little potash, kelp, rock dust etc. I’ll apply this dressing to the plants in the last week of veg, under a layer of mulch Ive been making especially for my plants.
That way, you are going to get the best benefits of both. During veg, the mycorrhizal fungi will have a chance to work on developing good strong roots, and will bring the lesser available phosphates to the plant.
It’s very hard to get amendments here unless they are low in phosphate. Our laws prevent their sale. This is due to our very delicate water table, which has suffered a lot of leaching in the past. much of the work is correcting this problem, but it makes it hard to get those products because I have to buy them online, and it makes them expensive. I also want to do the right thing environmentally, especially as our rainfall is decreasing annually and making us more reliant on ground water. The addition of Zeolite and biochar in my soil should also help retain those phosphates that are present.
Sub cool may have been famous but he wasn’t a scientist. In addition, he revised his recipe in the later years.
It’s a good job I have a friend of a friend who just did his PhD in use of mycorrhizal fungi in dry, depleted soil. But he also warned, there is no single right answer, since soil is constantly changing, which provides a real challenge for duplicating scientific research in the home garden.
I guess we will see how my grow comes out with this idea, lets see if it works! But I know people here grow some pretty impressive plants without much in the way of phosphate rich amendments.
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So I managed to get some work done in the mj garden today! I am ridiculously busy at work and this is likely to stay the case for now. Im not going to get time to do compost tea. Still, a trip to the hydro shop and I was able to get this product, which I’m using weekly as well as for transplanting.
The white widows, although small, are powering with healthy looking buds. I have 3 of these girls so there will be something nice end of the year. The weather here has been warm and dry with the exception of one or two rainy days.
Heres another white widow, 3 weeks old, transplanted today from her origami pot.
However, the real success stories have to be the haze plants. here is the Amnesia haze auto, looking very happy and showing pre flowers.
Ive put the 3 week old Purple haze into a 10 gallon pot.
Lastly, the purple haze went into her final, 30 gallon pot today. You can see she’s been super cropped but has recovered well. the photo is in a light breeze.
Im sure glad I did all that work with the soil so early on. Also that Ive made a lovely leaf mulch for when the weather really warms up. I didn’t realise just how little time I would have, especially this close to the end of the year.
There are a lot of family birthday’s this time of year and things will be really rather busy now till Christmas.
Im looking for any advice on super silver haze. its a good deal on ILGM but not recommend for beginners. I might try next year.
Ive also got some harlequin CBD seeds on the way. They are by all accounts a bit trickier to grow, but ill put mine in the ground. I’ve got a nice spot where they will get a bit of morning sun, followed by mostly shade. Seems to be what they recommend.
Hope everyone is safe well and happy.
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