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MotherLode Gardens 2017

plantingplants

Active member
TOT, this is what he said:

I tried feb,march and April last season. March is best for sexing naturally but my April ladies that I used a steep hill labs sexting kit on and when straight in the ground out of solo cups hit 14 and 16 units each.
...
I put my April seed starts straight in the ground after they rooted out a 4/4. They were in the ground by the 20th of April. I used a sexing kit so I did not have to wait for the plant to show sex. They were some of my best yielding and healthiest plants.


I think I might use the sexing kit on the reg seeds this year since there are only 50 or or 60. I'll still probably veg the males butwill be able to put the females right in the pots.
 

TheOutlawTree

Active member
Well.. I guess at the end of the day, I shouldnt be choosing sides in this debate, when I've never tried starting seeds a little later.

Maybe this is the year for that. It sure would make life much easier starting a little later, and I guess there's a reason all the pro's around here suggest not starting to early.
 

Shcrews

DO WHO YOU BE
Veteran
TOT, this is what he said:
...
...
I put my April seed starts straight in the ground after they rooted out a 4/4. They were in the ground by the 20th of April. ....

the ones that go into the ground in april, how are they protected from the weather? individual hoophouse over each mound?

or does the boost they get from moving into their final homes early make up for them not being in a greenhouse

Also, anyone have a link for the steephill sexing kit?
 

Shcrews

DO WHO YOU BE
Veteran
soil test

soil test

results from spectrum lab, native soil and a mound which is mostly old coots mix
 

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orechron

Member
You could amended the native separately with micros while keeping it in that pH range (6.3-6.5) and that might prevent that weird leaf twist that pops up in some plants. I'd try to get Zinc up to 20ppm down there with at least 200ppm P. The 1:10 Zn:p ratio is a number that others here can agree is safe. Manganese with 1:1 Mn:Fe is good, probably a big factor in those large, full stacks of flowers your plants get. Copper is more debatable, I try to keep in under 10ppm because it'll be there forever if you go too high.

Old Coot's isn't looking too bad. If you go with Slownickel's method of CEC calc based on the AA8.2 numbers then you're at 82.5%Ca, 14.3%Mg, 3%K, in other words the lower range of his wheelhouse because Ca could be higher and Mg lower with his approach. I'd be really happy with the numbers and maybe only add more manganese to that layer.

By treating both soils differently you'd have luxury levels of calcium in the Coot's and increased micro availability below when your roots reach it. Or you could get more calcium down there and just spray micros all season. Either way you're not looking at a ton of amendments for a knock out season.
 

plantingplants

Active member
I saw photos on his ig of when he planted- i dont think he did anything to protect him. I was going to ask him- ill do that. His climate is important to know.

Google plant sex kit. There are cheaper ones than steep hill i believe.


Orech, slow just uses the aa8.2 value for ca and the rest m3 so that comes out to:
Ca 79.2
Mg 17.5
K 2.9
Na 0.4

Still good just a little worse. His pH is pretty high tho and S is low-- would elemental Sulfur be a good addition? Slow acting but with all the aea root drench stuff i wonder if it would help it along. How else might he address the pH?
 

MedResearcher

Member
Veteran
I plugged a good amount of seed starts last year between April 18-20, no covers. Nor Cal mountains.

Was a little skeptical but some old timer told me it was ok. They looked like shit for a while, went through a freeze or two. As soon as the night time temps raised, they took off. They sexed normally though. Paper towel > 1 gals > 5 gals > ground. Planting em early helped with them not getting bound in the 5s.

Think if you were going for record breaking size, and you have the space, soil, and extra nutrients to spare it can work well. I ran out of space. By the end of June they were huge, ready to flower. By the time they flowered, I had spent a lot of energy growing really long stems.

Big plant growing, sort of reminds me of the big wave surfers. Its really neat to watch, a crazy art even. I don't think its very practical though. If your trying to skate the limit lines it makes sense.

Mr^^
 

jidoka

Active member
For every increase in pH of 1 point Mn+2 availability decreases 100 fold.

Maybe there is some argument for a soil pH above 7 but micro availability ain't it

And you are gonna spray microbes anyways right. Do yourself a favor and spray micros with them

edit...plus look at N and EC. I would get a C:N ratio run
 
Last edited:

jtk707

Member
Reading some of these comments I find myself looking words up on google and learning so much about soil s science . Thanks for all the info
 

Shcrews

DO WHO YOU BE
Veteran
You could amended the native separately with micros while keeping it in that pH range (6.3-6.5) and that might prevent that weird leaf twist that pops up in some plants. I'd try to get Zinc up to 20ppm down there with at least 200ppm P. The 1:10 Zn:p ratio is a number that others here can agree is safe. Manganese with 1:1 Mn:Fe is good, probably a big factor in those large, full stacks of flowers your plants get. Copper is more debatable, I try to keep in under 10ppm because it'll be there forever if you go too high.

Old Coot's isn't looking too bad. If you go with Slownickel's method of CEC calc based on the AA8.2 numbers then you're at 82.5%Ca, 14.3%Mg, 3%K, in other words the lower range of his wheelhouse because Ca could be higher and Mg lower with his approach. I'd be really happy with the numbers and maybe only add more manganese to that layer.

By treating both soils differently you'd have luxury levels of calcium in the Coot's and increased micro availability below when your roots reach it. Or you could get more calcium down there and just spray micros all season. Either way you're not looking at a ton of amendments for a knock out season.
cool thanks for the input! i'm trying to figure out my amendments right now...


just got back to the farm, was gone for a few days, still selling last season outdoor. the grass is a foot taller than when i left! gonna be a lot of weedwacking this year with all the rain.

sprouting the first round of seeds this weekend with the full moon. so exciting!
 

Shcrews

DO WHO YOU BE
Veteran
Google plant sex kit. There are cheaper ones than steep hill i believe.
i see "green screen"
and the steephill test, both are $20 per plant roughly. i thought it would be cheaper. also they make you mail in the samples, i was not aware of that.

edit: i also found this, what do you guys think? it looks like an at-home test:

medicinal genomics
"FemINDICAtor™ is a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay designed for DNA based gender detection of individual medical cannabis plants. DNA can be extracted as soon as a leaf presents itself, and sex can be determined in under 1.5 hours!"
 

maxmurder

Member
Veteran
i see "green screen"
and the steephill test, both are $20 per plant roughly. i thought it would be cheaper. also they make you mail in the samples, i was not aware of that.

edit: i also found this, what do you guys think? it looks like an at-home test:

medicinal genomics
"FemINDICAtor™ is a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay designed for DNA based gender detection of individual medical cannabis plants. DNA can be extracted as soon as a leaf presents itself, and sex can be determined in under 1.5 hours!"

on my way to hopefully pick up some fresh southfork seeds.:dance013:
I will pop asap and try one of these tests, sounds like fun.
 

jidoka

Active member
Whatever other south fork seeds you get max get you some of their kush I love that stuff the bestest
 

Shcrews

DO WHO YOU BE
Veteran
Whatever other south fork seeds you get max get you some of their kush I love that stuff the bestest
south fork kush is really popular, the stuff i grew last year is long gone. I remember harvesting it, was like swimming in a pool of lemon juice and gasoline
 

plantingplants

Active member
Yea they look at the DNA i believe. Not aware of any in home tests.

A quick search found Phylos Bioscience- $15 a test, 100 for $1k.
 

maxmurder

Member
Veteran
Whatever other south fork seeds you get max get you some of their kush I love that stuff the bestest

I bought 2 packs sfk and they threw in some blue dream x chem :)
I met catayardfrmer for a second, nice guy.
if anyone in the garbs area wants seeds call wonderland nursery, they were having a seed vendor day today, supposed to have another one soon. plus they have lots of on hand daily.
707.923.2175
 
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