Dream Berry BRIX/ROLS Newb Contest Entry

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Sea Crop and why you should use it

Sea Crop and why you should use it

what I love most about this product is that it's manufactured about a 1-2 hrs drive away in Willapa Bay. Farmers around Washington have testimonials on their website raving about yield improvement, microbiology improvement, and more harvests! The first pic of the strawberry that is not ripe is the first harvest while the berries that are red are the second harvest of the season. this product speeds up flowering times and increases Brix levels noticeably.

It is used when making kombucha, wine, bread and yogurt to improve the bacterial and yeast functions as the trace minerals and sea water derived carbon organics improve their ability to do what they do.

It's always rewarding to get more yield, but it is even more exciting to realized that anyone eating these berries will be getting the benefit of numerous trace and ultra trace elements that are known to enhance the body's natural ability to ward off most of the common illnesses of our society, especially cancer.

Tomatoes ~ 300 acres 6 gallons of Sea-Crop per acre split at plant, drip and foliar.
Result: Higher sugar levels and a 20% increase in yield.

Peaches ~ 10 acres 2 gallons of Sea-Crop per acre split foliar application.
Result: Increased color, increased brix, greater size and a 10% greater yield.

check out their website for more testimonials and info. you can even feed this to your animals and there's research on improvement in milk quality. www.sea-crop.com

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

fpe/fpj Fermented Plant Extracts or Juices to utilize PGR and nutrients

fpe/fpj Fermented Plant Extracts or Juices to utilize PGR and nutrients

http://permaculturenews.org/2013/07/08/korean-natural-farming-fermented-plant-juice/

The above video I watched and had this great idea! So how you make FPE is by taking the new tips of plants to utilize the concentrated hormones that accumulate at night when the plant is growing before day when the plant sucks all it's juices down back to the roots to help with photosynthesis. They're said to be amazing and it's concentrated as well. You can use alfalfa to get TRIA which increases yields.

So my amazing idea! Granted the hormones produced by plants is kinda mind boggling as to when and what and we are still trying to understand the process. So why don't I make FPE from the growth tips of the pot plants (during veg)?!?! It would use the concentrated hormones that the plant is producing naturally. Has anyone done this or do you think this is wise? couldn't hurt, right since we're already going to be doing some topping anyways? I like a bushy plant with lots of colas.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Natural sources of nutrition for your plants and how to use them

Stinging Nettles: You can find this in any woodsy area and on the sides of roads. They’re an excellent source of Nitrogen, Magnesium, Sulfur, and Iron.

Horsetail: Great source for Silica and when planted in beds can bring Si while removing heavy metals and collected within the plant. This should probably be a planted and grown way to provide nutrition since the plant stores the heavy metals.

Comfrey: Medicinal herb for healing and cell expansion/growth. Full of many nutrients for teas and extracts. Don’t plant this because it is invasive, but you can collect it outdoors.

Alfalfa: Great as an extract and good for teas as well. Provides nitrogen and TRIA growth hormones. Good source of food for you microbes.

Dandelion: Calcium and Potassium filled leaves can be gathered before the flower forms. Can be made into a plant extract and tea.

Yarrow: Plant that grows on most roadsides that is medicinal with inflammation relief and filled with antioxidants. Best benefits can be obtained by companion planting. For a long time, people would plant this in their herb gardens just to increase essential oils of their herbs. It will fill you soil with Ca, P, and Copper.

German Chamomile: Adds Ca, P, and K to the soil while tilling deep with their roots and can be used in teas to drink and to feed your plants. Also can be mulched into the ground.

Basically any new growing tips from younger plants will be filled with natural growth hormones and nutrients. You can brew these in a compost tea for your plants or make a fermented plant extract to get every little piece of goodness from the plant. These can be applied foliarly or can be used at the roots in a drench or feeding. this is very versatile and cheap to gather.

When using these as a cover crop, many agricultural farmers let clovers grow in between the rows of veggies and then plow the clover at the end of the season, use it as a green mulch right where it was planted and then they grow the next years crops in the place the clover was to use the enriched soil and then the clover row becomes last years row. The cycle repeats each year so soil doesn’t get depleted.

I hope to use these concepts indoors. With using Sea Crop, these natural plant hormones and nutrition, cover crops like yarrow and german chamomile to enrich and till soil with their extensive roots, adding some red wiggler worms and using brix, sap ph, soil ph, and ERGS meter testing, I hope to obtain the genetic potential of my crops.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Week two feed schedule and updates on Dream Berry

Week two feed schedule and updates on Dream Berry

So this grow has been going on for two weeks. Since this thread contains a lot of info on growing and the info and updates on Dream Berry can get lost in the posts, I'm doing a recap.

Week one: Bought clone and transplanted into a 1 gallon smart pot in a 50% peat perlite and 50% FFOF mix. Gave one feeding of compost tea containing 1/2c alfalfa meal, ewc, homemade simple syrup, yucca, and Neptunes Fish at 420ppms and 5.8 pH. Tea was brewed in a dark Rubbermaid tote with an airstone and 170 gallon air pump. Foliar sprayed twice with Nitrozime. Dream Berry though did not survive after her first feeding and transplant. she got over watered because I don't think there was enough perlite or maybe I am a bit heavy handed. lol She was replaced quickly the next day by another cut which had a much better root base from growing a week since their arrival. They received two feedings of the tea and one feeding of ewc, yucca and fulvic. all amounts given were on the bottle unless given. Neptunes Fish was given 3 oz to 6 gallons of water, then I went to 3 oz to 3 gallons of water for the next tea. Then they got their ewc, yucca, fulvic tea which is used instead of waterings.

Week two: I gave them 5 oz per six gallons Neptune's Fish in 6 gallons water, 1/2c alfalfa meal, handful of oatmeal, yucca, EWC, Alaskan GH humus, 1/3c EJ hi-brix molasses and 1 tsp calcitic lime to raise pH and provide calcium. brewed until 5.8 pH then the girls really needed some water so I just gave it to them. I am trying to find the amount to use without going over. They will be getting a foliar feeding of Nitrozime and yucca today when the lights go off to take advantage of the humidity which is what makes the stomata open increasing nutrient absorption. Then They will get a watering of ewc and yucca. I think I will skip the Fulvic every other week in the soil and use it instead foliarly so it skips each week but is applied weekly in some way. Peat moss which is the primary base of my soil is has fulvic acid already and I'm concerned about organic acids effecting my microbes but am still a little confused on why this is bad since I hear humic and fulvic acids are good. so we're going halfsy

These plants have been run on a gas lantern routine with 12 on, 5.5 off, 1 hr on, then 5.5 hours off completing a 24 hour cycle reducing your light bill and taking advantage by keeping them in a vegetative state by receiving a high dose of light for an hour in the middle of the dark period.

Isn't she beautiful?!?! here she is after a week of teas and foliars.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Yarrow companion planting and cover crop

Yarrow companion planting and cover crop

DREAM BERRY IS AT 10 O'CLOCK

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Then I transplanted them still in their smart pots into the soil that is still cooking. I top dressed the containers with half humus/half ewc and then spread the cooking soil on top about a half inch. I'm hoping that they will explore the fabric pot and it will take time for them to push thru the fabric lining. Since the air isn't meeting the sides of the container, the roots should grow thru as their website suggests to reduce transplant shock. I will be going to buy an alfalfa bale soon to use as a mulch to reduce humidity, provide extra nitrogen to the plant and microbes, and increase yields using naturally derived TRIA. I am hoping the combination of nitrozime and alfalfa will give me all the hormones used for veg to help increase growth rates naturally. This way I don't have to use the calcium nitrate and kool bloom like the original recipe suggests.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

how i made my first FPE

how i made my first FPE

gathered plants early in the morning selecting the top tips and leaves of varieties that are vigorous like tomatoes, morning glory, some marijuana tips, clovers, dandelions, etc. and put them in a jar layered like a lasagna with brown sugar. make sure there is more sugar than plant material so the osmosis process works correctly. apply pressure to make sure material has contact with sugar. put a lid with a small vent hole to let gas escape. bam! plant hormones in extract form.

 

[tleaf jr.]

No water needed?

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

No water needed?

nope. you want it to be dry so the sugar can pull moisture (plant extract/juice) out of the cell membrane/stalk/stem/leaves of the material. this will form a liquid which you can strain off of the material and add water to. I need to find out what the dilution rate is but this process takes a week so I thought I would get it started now.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

he starts talking about it right here in the video. I didn't mulch up my sugar like he did though cuz I'm lazy. http://youtu.be/anU-2rIslrI?t=19m40s

he says in the beginning you can do it either way.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

also, your plant material should look shriveled and like its reduced in weight to make sure the osmosis process worked. if it looks plumper than it did the day before, add a lot more sugar. the sugar content NEEDS to be more than the plant material. I'm thinking the more the merrier!

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

WANTED TO SHARE A POST ON ICMAG

WANTED TO SHARE A POST ON ICMAG

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5975321&postcount=30

it has a pic of how I feel

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

found this awesome video on how to use your refractometer to diagnose plants and how to increase your brix.

http://vimeo.com/6689994

also, it was suggested that I read the bobblehead brix thread which I have found some great gems of info like the above video and this:

"Chances are good you'll see a lower brix in your chem room because nitrate fertilizers pull lots of water into the plant. Part of the increased growth in plants fed synthetic ferts is water weight.

The brix moving with soil moisture is as simple as osmosis really. Leaf sugars are suspended in water, a lot like human plasma which consists mostly of water. An over-hydrated plant will have dilute leaf sugars, and a lower brix. A slightly dehydrated plant would have a higher concentration of leaf sugars and less water.

Over-watering and dehydration will both have a negative impact on brix... But you can also see normal fluctuation depending on soil moisture levels.

PS- you can also read Ca levels by seeing if the line in the refractometer is fuzzy or not, and just how fuzzy it appears. A clear line indicates low Ca levels.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

was watching a video and the ol' man was talking about different scenarios when taking your brix and pH readings so I thought I'd share.

#1 plant reads at 12+ brix: this is what you want. keep doing what you're doing!

#2 Low brix & low EC & low pH: ions are missing and may be to lack of microbial action. elements that act as carriers such as nitrogen and phosphorus, may be lacking as well as potassium or sodium. look for soil compaction indicating mag/cal ratio out of whack.

#3 low brix and EC but pH high: ions are not complexed. may be to lack of microbial action. may be lacking in nitrogen and phosphorus. also phosphates, sulfates, acetates, or humic acids.

#4 low brix with high EC and pH: ions are not complexed. elements or ions like nitrate nitrogen are at excessive levels and are not being complexed. may be lacking sulfates, magnesium, or phosphates. don't have enough acid elements to give a good balance to the soil.

#5 low brix with high EC and low pH: ions are missing and may be due to a lack of microbial action in the soil. acid producing elements are at excessive levels and not being complexed. may be lacking cal, mag, potassium, or sodium. high slat fets may have been applied.

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

calcium nitrate foliar spray substitute

calcium nitrate foliar spray substitute

found a calcium that isn't a nitrate!! sprayed my plants today with it, some yucca, and ful-power fulvic acid and they LOVED it! leaves perked up some giving me a noticeable difference. so thought I'd share it and it's not terribly expensive ($20 or so)

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Bruce Tainio chart for plant sap pH

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

if your brix "backs up" or does not fluctuate throughout the day your boron levels are inadequate. boron helps things move around in the plant. the o'l fart in the video suggests flushing with magnesium sulphate to restore the correct mineral balance int he soil. not sure how this fixes your boron levels though. he says it will flush out whatever excessive mineral is blocking it but doesn't really explain much else.

he also says that you will also have less shrinkage of produce. I'm hoping that means better final cured weight

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Bought a bag of red wriggler worms to put in my beds! $10 for ten worm but I got at least 50. Placed them on top of my bed and covered them with ancient forest humus. Then I planted some German chamomile around the yarrow too. I also fed them some tea too around 450 ppm truncheon. Same recipe I use. They're growing like crazy to and Dream Berry is the tallest of them all at about 6" or 7". So about 2.5" in one week or so!

\uc0

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

Also:
my plant extract has juice in it already and everything is looking like it working. can't wait to foliar spray it compared to my marine extract product Nitrozime. I'm personally betting on Nitrozime but I can see how the plants like the extracts.

so the salts help with osmosis when foliar spraying and that is why the chem ferts work better than the organic fert foliars.

tleaf explains it like this:
Originally Posted by tleaf jr.
so after seeing what DD is doing with her fermented plant extracts , I have been thinking a lot about diffusion solutes through solvents and the passing of molecules through membranes of cytoplasm, very interesting. I came to the realization of the importance of salts in relation to organic cells. Also what has peaked my interest is the manufacturing of proteins , they have labs that have synthesized small beads the same size as ribosomes that can attract proteins from bacteria that they have grown using what we know as bacterial compost teas ..SHITS CRAZY!!. the proteins begin to form crystals in side of these molecular beads through certain process. I imagine the proteins present in our nutes go through a similar process , hence the crust around the top of your nute bottles

but osmosis can also happen when you use sugar and sugar applied foliarly helped with intake and mobilization within the plant (if I remember the glucose foliar thread right). So maybe the plant extracts will work rather well since I used brown sugar to extract the good parts that are beneficial. I'm really thinking this could work well as I think about it...and of course thanks to tleaf for helping me connect the two together.

EDIT: throwing out the foliar idea but definitely feeding it to them in a tea.

 

[Bmac1]