hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
Being somewhat new here but not to the subject let me quickly ID myself. Grew up on a far West Texas cattle ranch where my dad was ramrod. When I turned 12 we moved to town so I could start junior high school. My dad was pure agriculture one way or another and opened a blacksmith and welding shop in farm country in Southern NM. Smoked my first joints of Mexican weed rolled in Zig Zag wheat straw papers a friend had rolled and given me. I was finished being raised working in that shop on farm and ranch equipment. One day a rich looking fellow came in and ordered 8 "coconut presses" to press oil from coconuts for sun tan oil. Didn't fool Pop a bit. He allowed as to how they were kilo presses going back to MX. Hmmmmm. Turns out they were as Pop asked him point blank when he came to pick them upo and the guy answered point blank. Pop wasn't against a guy earning a living if work was involved.
Started planting bag seeds all over the Rio Grande Valley and thinking of myself as Johnny Potseed. Seriously. But this was 1964, I was 14 and silly. Had a full drivers license being in agriculture but still a silly young man. Grew a lot of stuff and got ripped off for much more.
Until Pop stepped in. He was actually a part-time Sheriff's Deputy to help make ends meet. Worked his ass off all day welding, took a nap and worked the graveyard patrol in the Valley. He never addressed pot growing, my use of it or anything close. But he would say stuff like "Crazy damn kids. Planting their pot down there by Barney F's place by that old ditch. Hell you can see it a mile off. And Barney will find it sooner or later and he knows what it is!" OK if it survives no more planting by Barney's.
Life on the Texas/New Mexico/Mexico border.
I'm a medical professional now. I do not condone the use of anything illegal other than organics given us by God. He saw fit to give it to us and the government sees otherwise. I know who I will heed.
So, to pot. And my 32 years as a RN and using a lot of my experience to relate to pot or any other growing, living being, animal or plant.
The ABCs (CPR?) and plants. These are listed in the degree of importance they hold in your plants survival.
Airway:
When a person "crashes" and is dying or in distress we follow our ABCs. And in that order. It does no good for a heart to be beating if the person is not breathing. Same with plants. If they cannot exchange gasses it does no good to anything else for them. Open their airway. Be sure there is a good ventilation path in your room or grow area. Cheap little fans work admirably for this. Keep the air moving. Plants use and exchange their gasses as we do. Intake and exhaust fans are an entirely different subject here.
Breathing:
"Guys think because they dig 'em a hole and put good dirt in that old hard packed soil over by Miller's that anything they plant doesn't need any cultivation". Hint taken Pop. A 3-prong garden cultivator from Mom's garden tools and a trip that night to break up the topsoil a few inches to let the roots breathe. The improvement was noticeable in 2 days! Nowadays inside I use a simple weedpuller (with the "V") and GENTLY break up the topsoil some and push holes down into the soil whether I'm growing outside or inside.
Circulation:
Huge problems when people think they can buy a pot, dump dirt in and grow pot. Think here on a few issues. Media, container size and more than adequate drainage. Small containers? You already know. Read up here on indoor soils or growing media as I am certainly no expert on growing indoors. Nutes? Sounds like too many people are hung up on them and make it far too complicated.
Better to use a weedpuller with the "V" in the end. It is designed to grab around a weeds tap root to uproot and kill it. We sharpen our V and use it straight down, the flat bottom parallel to our plant in soil, indoors or out. Recent SmartBag grow bag tech shows the roots protrude through the fabric predictably but the 2-way weave opposing amputates roots causing them to then form 2 or more new root tips! We do that in dirt with my weedpuller and I have some other proof it works. You will feel the snap as it goes down amuptating roots. Don't go nuts! A few holes in patterns starting in the center and moving out. The holes deliver oxygen to the roots overall and help the new patients heal and multiply! You can poke new ones later. Like water - don't overdo it and see how the plant responds.
But I'm learning! My few grows indoors have been good by listening to those who preceded me and who really do know. And by sticking to my ABCs.
Started planting bag seeds all over the Rio Grande Valley and thinking of myself as Johnny Potseed. Seriously. But this was 1964, I was 14 and silly. Had a full drivers license being in agriculture but still a silly young man. Grew a lot of stuff and got ripped off for much more.
Until Pop stepped in. He was actually a part-time Sheriff's Deputy to help make ends meet. Worked his ass off all day welding, took a nap and worked the graveyard patrol in the Valley. He never addressed pot growing, my use of it or anything close. But he would say stuff like "Crazy damn kids. Planting their pot down there by Barney F's place by that old ditch. Hell you can see it a mile off. And Barney will find it sooner or later and he knows what it is!" OK if it survives no more planting by Barney's.
Life on the Texas/New Mexico/Mexico border.
I'm a medical professional now. I do not condone the use of anything illegal other than organics given us by God. He saw fit to give it to us and the government sees otherwise. I know who I will heed.
So, to pot. And my 32 years as a RN and using a lot of my experience to relate to pot or any other growing, living being, animal or plant.
The ABCs (CPR?) and plants. These are listed in the degree of importance they hold in your plants survival.
- Airway
- Breathing
- Circulation
Airway:
When a person "crashes" and is dying or in distress we follow our ABCs. And in that order. It does no good for a heart to be beating if the person is not breathing. Same with plants. If they cannot exchange gasses it does no good to anything else for them. Open their airway. Be sure there is a good ventilation path in your room or grow area. Cheap little fans work admirably for this. Keep the air moving. Plants use and exchange their gasses as we do. Intake and exhaust fans are an entirely different subject here.
Breathing:
"Guys think because they dig 'em a hole and put good dirt in that old hard packed soil over by Miller's that anything they plant doesn't need any cultivation". Hint taken Pop. A 3-prong garden cultivator from Mom's garden tools and a trip that night to break up the topsoil a few inches to let the roots breathe. The improvement was noticeable in 2 days! Nowadays inside I use a simple weedpuller (with the "V") and GENTLY break up the topsoil some and push holes down into the soil whether I'm growing outside or inside.
Circulation:
Huge problems when people think they can buy a pot, dump dirt in and grow pot. Think here on a few issues. Media, container size and more than adequate drainage. Small containers? You already know. Read up here on indoor soils or growing media as I am certainly no expert on growing indoors. Nutes? Sounds like too many people are hung up on them and make it far too complicated.
Better to use a weedpuller with the "V" in the end. It is designed to grab around a weeds tap root to uproot and kill it. We sharpen our V and use it straight down, the flat bottom parallel to our plant in soil, indoors or out. Recent SmartBag grow bag tech shows the roots protrude through the fabric predictably but the 2-way weave opposing amputates roots causing them to then form 2 or more new root tips! We do that in dirt with my weedpuller and I have some other proof it works. You will feel the snap as it goes down amuptating roots. Don't go nuts! A few holes in patterns starting in the center and moving out. The holes deliver oxygen to the roots overall and help the new patients heal and multiply! You can poke new ones later. Like water - don't overdo it and see how the plant responds.
But I'm learning! My few grows indoors have been good by listening to those who preceded me and who really do know. And by sticking to my ABCs.
