Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

greenpower000

Active Member
UB,

Here's a plant that I can't figure out. I've included photos of the mother (4.0) and the clone (4.1) They are robust and a good color, but the leaves twist along it's length and the edges curl up. This came from a hybrid indica dominant batch of seeds that a long time grower developed. All the other seeds developed normally and look fine. It received the same nute package as the others but consistently puts out the weird leaf. Sorry for the photo of 4.0 under HPS, but it shows the leaf distortion pretty well. I added a photo taken under incandescent so you can see better.

I'm planted in Ednas Best potting soil and fertilize with each watering a mixture of Fox Farm's Grow Big (6-4-4, 1/2 strength), Maxi crop (1/2 strength) and Super thrive (1/2 strength).

Any ideas?
I 've notice that colder temps will do this to leaves........ just throwing my 2 cents in the jar.....

happy growing !
 

surfhead

Well-Known Member
Ub ,what an awesome thread. Quick ?.if you dont mind .are jacks nutes good for a hempy grow ! i've always grown in soil with very little ferts used .but thought i would try a new style to help maximize my small grow space. Or is there any other readily available nutes you suggest for hempy.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Ub ,what an awesome thread. Quick ?.if you dont mind .are jacks nutes good for a hempy grow ! i've always grown in soil with very little ferts used .but thought i would try a new style to help maximize my small grow space. Or is there any other readily available nutes you suggest for hempy.
Jack's Classics are great for pot. They are designed for soil.

Glad you're enjoying the thread!
 

surfhead

Well-Known Member
ub thanks but i was refering to the hempy growing method / soiless iam growing in all perlite that was my ? because jacks is readily available here. hey if not and its just for soil, what do you suggest ?
 

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
It works good for soil, I've heard of people using it for hydro too. I don't see why it wouldn't work in hempy method. It depends on how strong you mix, so start low and see how they handle the salts.
 

surfhead

Well-Known Member
ya , thanks i start at 1/4 and go up see how they handle it .or ill start with some 5 1 1 alaskin fish fert in veg any other thoughts !
 

Short Bus

Active Member
Damn, finally done. This was a great read, thanks UB and friends. It's pretty rare to see science and weed in the same place. I like it! Got a copy of Mel Frank's book on the way for $4 and change, too. I grow indoors in dirt that I mix by hand, mostly just use plant foods for young'ns and deficiencies. I added a little alfalfa meal to the soil mix after reading this, can't wait to see how it works out. Again, great stuff, thanks for sharing your know-how.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Damn, finally done. This was a great read, thanks UB and friends. It's pretty rare to see science and weed in the same place. I like it! Got a copy of Mel Frank's book on the way for $4 and change, too. I grow indoors in dirt that I mix by hand, mostly just use plant foods for young'ns and deficiencies. I added a little alfalfa meal to the soil mix after reading this, can't wait to see how it works out. Again, great stuff, thanks for sharing your know-how.
Welcome to the thread. Yep, Alaska makes a good food. If that's Mel Franks MJ Insiders Gardeners Guide, you got a steal and one of the best out there regarding sound, not hokey plant culture. You're gonna luv it. That was during the days when real men grew pot without all the gimmicks and snake oils. :clap:

Although not pot, my organic methods still apply regarding increasing yields - I just got thru planting "seed" potatoes, half of them now, half in a couple of weeks - reds, golds, and russets. Turned each spot with a fork, hand dug the holes 6" deep, dropped the seed in, backfilled with pure horse compost, drenched the hole with MycoApply SolubleMaxx and took a rake and raked the area smooth. Same organic principles would apply to cannabis, reason why I'm mentioning it. The earthworms are gonna have a ball, and me and Aunt Benita are gonna have a feast in a few months....with a nice after dinner smoke LOL. (Couple of truffles and a glass of Port might be fittin' too!)
 

Short Bus

Active Member
Yeah, it's the Gardener's Guide, found it used on Amazon for 80 cents and the rest was shipping. Sweet! I downloaded a pdf version after I saw everyone recomending it here, and it was good enough that I figured I needed a copy for the bathroom :lol:. Really well written, straight to the point, thanks for keeping that out there.

Sounds like the garden's shaping up. I'm from a long line of organic veggie farmers, horse shit is the shit. I've seen my aunt and my granddad battle back and forth with their 100% horse poop ammended gardens (Granny boards horses, still, even in her 80's) my whole life, I'm talking zucchini the size of your arm, giant sweet ears of corn, beans, squash... I love to garden, pot or not. I have an ancient thread in the non-weed section of the forum for veggie enthusiasts, not many responses but lots of dedicated folks who make their own food, from the ground up. I wasn't able to get horse shit this time around for my soil mix, so I went with cow, which is new to me but I'm guessing pretty similar. Except it goes through 4 stomachs. Anyway... I was wondering if you had any recomended reading on that hormone in alfalfa that stimulates veg growth? Always interested in the physio side of things.
 

bigman4270

Well-Known Member
Yeah, it's the Gardener's Guide, found it used on Amazon for 80 cents and the rest was shipping. Sweet! I downloaded a pdf version after I saw everyone recomending it here, and it was good enough that I figured I needed a copy for the bathroom :lol:. Really well written, straight to the point, thanks for keeping that out there.

Sounds like the garden's shaping up. I'm from a long line of organic veggie farmers, horse shit is the shit. I've seen my aunt and my granddad battle back and forth with their 100% horse poop ammended gardens (Granny boards horses, still, even in her 80's) my whole life, I'm talking zucchini the size of your arm, giant sweet ears of corn, beans, squash... I love to garden, pot or not. I have an ancient thread in the non-weed section of the forum for veggie enthusiasts, not many responses but lots of dedicated folks who make their own food, from the ground up. I wasn't able to get horse shit this time around for my soil mix, so I went with cow, which is new to me but I'm guessing pretty similar. Except it goes through 4 stomachs. Anyway... I was wondering if you had any recomended reading on that hormone in alfalfa that stimulates veg growth? Always interested in the physio side of things.

Hey SB, here is a good read on Alfalfa. Hope it helps. https://www.rollitup.org/organics/93764-triaco-what-its-found-where.html


Big
 

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
Something I hadn't heard about until these master gardening classes is horse manure having herbicides from what the horses eating. I guess if the grass has a Broadleaf herbicide it will remain in the manure for years. They said unless you know the horses never ate that grass to avoid it. I assume you would know all about that, but was wondering what you do. They mentioned trying to start seeds to test it.
Daniels
 

Short Bus

Active Member
That alfalfa thread's an interesting read, suprised it hasn't gotten more attention. I'm gonna try adding it to some worm castings for a tea sometime soon. For anyone out there doing the tea bit, Weedblock makes an awesome reusable tea bag.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Something I hadn't heard about until these master gardening classes is horse manure having herbicides from what the horses eating. I guess if the grass has a Broadleaf herbicide it will remain in the manure for years. They said unless you know the horses never ate that grass to avoid it. I assume you would know all about that, but was wondering what you do. They mentioned trying to start seeds to test it.
Daniels
Yep, had some real bad experiences with that one. If you see horses grazing on that perfectly green, grassy field, most likely it has been sprayed with a herbicide that contains something like picloram, which stays active for years. Plant a tomato or pepper as your canary using the suspect manure added to your soil mix. I get my horse manure from a clean source.

OLD archive of mine with questionable links, but here goes....

Triacontanol Links:

http://www.rdrop.com/~paul/alfalfa.html
You might want to try using alfalfa tea on your roses. Alfalfa releases triacontanol, an alcohol ester compound that acts as a growth stimulant. The alfalfa is not a food in the sense that nitrogen is, but it makes the uptake of nutrients more efficient. You'll have a dramatic increase in both growth, bloom, and overall vigour of the plant.

2 cups Alfalfa pellets or meal.
2.5 gal. water.
steep for 2-3 days covered.

Apply about a half gallon on your minis and a full gallon on your larger bushes about every 6-8 weeks. This is something that can be done in the garden at any time of the year without the usual concern of stimulating growth at inappropriate times, as you would with fertilizers.

http://www.minerva.at/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=view&VdkVgwKey=/data4/laser/search/KO/htmldata/LSNr_305296/01676903_21_130417.html

The effects of a long chain aliphatic alcohol 1-triacontanol (TRIA) on the photosynthesis and membrane properties of mesophyll protoplasts and chloroplasts isolated from pea leaves were studied. In vitro treatments of isolated protoplasts caused a large enhancement (166 percent) of the CO2-fixation rate after 60 min of TRIA (10 ^-6 M) application as compared to the control. An enhanced photosynthetic response was observed in vitro treated leaf pieces. Application of octacosanol (OCTA) under the same experimental conditions did not result in any stimulating effects. In vivo treatments of pea seedlings also resulted in a significant increase of the net CO2 uptake to 109% and 119% in 10^-8 M and 10 ^-6 M TRIA-treated plants respectively.

http://www.healthy.net/library/journals/naturopathic/vol1no1/sativa.htm
Medicago sativa (alfalfa) also contains a plant growth stimulating substance identified as Triacontanol. When applied to crops it increases the growth and yield of several species. Applying 117kg of Alfalfa to a hectare of tomatoes increases yields by 10 metric tons per hectare.

http://www.bmi.net/roseguy/fbamend.html
Alfalfa - While at first glance it would appear that nitrogen is the big benefit from alfalfa (Meal: 5-1-2; Pellets: 14-4-8), with a good dose of iron and trace elements, the real benefit comes from a fatty acid alcohol called triacontanol which occurs naturally in the waxy surface of the plant’s leaves. Triacontanol is a root stimulant which, when used in small quantities, can increase yields in garden plots by 30 to 60%. It can be applied to roses straight out of the bag or box, or applied in an "alfalfa tea."

For direct application, sprinkle up to a cup of pellets, a half cup for miniatures, around each bush and water. The pellets then swell up and break apart. Then scratch the alfalfa into the soil or cover with mulch. If you leave the alfalfa on the surface, it will mold, and, when it dries, it will turn hard and crusty…work it in. Don’t use more than a cup, or its effectiveness will drop.

For alfalfa tea, add 10 to 12 cups of alfalfa pellets to a 32 gallon garbage can, add water, stir and steep for 2 or 3 hours to a couple of days. You can add 4 to 6 cups of Epsom salts and 8 ounces of fish fertilizer as a "fortifier", if you wish. Apply a gallon per bush, 1/3 gallon per miniature. Stir often to keep it mixed. You can pour the slurry on the bottom of the garbage can onto some of the roses, or add it to your vegetable garden.

50 lb bags can be purchased at farm & feed stores. Use once or twice a year.

http://www.vioryl.gr/products/agroactive_list.html
Check out “Gigamix” in their listing:
GIGAMIX EMULSION FOLIAR PRODUCT (11-1-1)+trace elements
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
That alfalfa thread's an interesting read, suprised it hasn't gotten more attention.
Surprised? You can't be serious. Perhaps it hasn't gotten more attention because some of our local village idiots can't wean themselves off Humboldt, Advanced Shyster, Canna snake oils.
 

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
I think I better get some alfalfa meal for my next batch of soil. Add it to my new time release humic acid additive.
 

Short Bus

Active Member
Surprised? You can't be serious. Perhaps it hasn't gotten more attention because some of our local village idiots can't wean themselves off Humboldt, Advanced Shyster, Canna snake oils.
Yeah, I always forget that "organic" just means a different bottle of crap to some. Damn kids. Organic means "derived from an organism," for any biology-challenged heads out there. That means poop or body parts from animals or any kind of plant tissue. Bottling not necessary.

Man, I'll tell you guys something here. Many times while reading this thread, I thought to myself, "Damn, I'm in the wrong side of this gardening thing. I oughtta be buying up all the mineral salts I can and having the local water co. print my analysis labels. That and some food coloring, plus a catchy name like Farmer Fuck-Ass' Mega-Mega Weed Everything Juice, and I'd be rich. I'll just charge a hundred bucks a quart so people think it's good." I was in the local garden store recently, picking up a special order of powdered humic acid ($6 for 5 pounds vs. $25 for 8 oz of liquid containing 1 oz of, guess what, powdered humic acid) and heard a kid come in, ask for a price on a liquid root accelerator, get told $80 a quart, and watched him leave instead of just getting something cheaper. I'm newish to weed gardening, more used to veggie gardening and landscaping, so I don't really get the whole mystique thing. Thanks for all the info, UB and Big, I'll keep ya posted on my results.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Man, I'll tell you guys something here. Many times while reading this thread, I thought to myself, "Damn, I'm in the wrong side of this gardening thing. I oughtta be buying up all the mineral salts I can and having the local water co. print my analysis labels. That and some food coloring, plus a catchy name like Farmer Fuck-Ass' Mega-Mega Weed Everything Juice, and I'd be rich. I'll just charge a hundred bucks a quart so people think it's good."
.....or peeing in a bottle and calling it Ben's Sunshine Tonic. Reminds me of pranks we'd pull in my teens - unscrewing a beer cap, peeing in the bottle, screwing it back on and placing back in the fridge.....sitting there in a circle come beerthirty watching one of our friends exclaim, "man, this beer sure is great!" We were awful heh!

Yeah, you nailed it. That's what these companies are doing and they're using the counter-culture as a cash cow. They preach from their money pulpit and like manna from heaven, the dollars rain down. In general, I hate the a nanny state and government regulation, but this is one industry that really needs it. For example, some folks are jumping on the Bushmaster bandwagon here and are buying it on the "he says she says it works" mantras, not knowing what's in the stuff. It's just plain stupid. Would you buy and consume something not knowing what's in it? I have friends who are so anal about the contents of their food that they won't eat grocery beef because they don't know what's in it. Instead, they consume wild game, raise a calf to butcher, garden and harvest fresh eggs every morning from the coop.

I was in the local garden store recently, picking up a special order of powdered humic acid ($6 for 5 pounds vs. $25 for 8 oz of liquid containing 1 oz of, guess what, powdered humic acid) and heard a kid come in, ask for a price on a liquid root accelerator, get told $80 a quart, and watched him leave instead of just getting something cheaper. I'm newish to weed gardening, more used to veggie gardening and landscaping, so I don't really get the whole mystique thing. Thanks for all the info, UB and Big, I'll keep ya posted on my results.
Regarding humic and fulvic acid, peat moss and compost contain extremely high amounts. Don't buy the bottle or bag, just amend your soil.

Danielsgb, hope I'm not offending you (in case you're trying such products) but it offends my sense of integrity when I see what an incredible freakshow the cannabis scene has become. Wasn't this way 20 years ago, although the Dutch hopped on board with their seedbanks stuff. If it wasn't for the breeders out of northwest, the Dutch would still be sniffing tulips.

Good luck,
UB
 
Top