1st journal, 6 russian girls

[KGB30]

How does Alfalfa help the ladies? Puff

 

[puffnstuff]

allfa meal, or fresh from the bail in my case is 2.5-0.5-2.0 . In a tea it is pretty fast acting N. as a soil additive it is considered a medium speed N. I am useing it as just a tea with these girls, they are in MG 3 month feed so they shouldn't need much N but they are really stretching right now and they seem to be eating it all up, and getting a little defficiant. I am makeing up my own soil mix for the next crop and have added alfalfa at 1 cup per cuft. of mix, along with a hundered other goodies. It works WONDERS as a foliar spray, hit your plants with this stuff in veg and watch what they do, I like to spray them 3 times in one day, once a week. Give it a try and see what I mean.
puff


edit: i have read a couple places that alfalfa is one of the secret ingredients in superthrive, dont know if its true, but it is SUPER stuff.

 

[puffnstuff]

had the girls out for a spot of tea and managed to talk them into a group photo. They always argue over who gets to sit in front. As you can see I am loseing some lower leaves, If they dont perk up in a couple days I'll have get out the commercial ferts......
puff

 

[puffnstuff]

ya' see, Its like this. This is my 4th or 5th grow and I have ALWAYS over fertilized. Soooo....on this one I wanted to try to avoid over fert so I have kinda starved them on purpose, well not starved but I have only given them 1 dose of real fertilizer so far, 1/4 strength 10-52-10 bloom bust from expert. Then I gave them a weak guano tea, alfalfa tea and now this stronger guano tea. I probaly shouldn't have tried the tea's at all with these girls and stuck to commercial ferts but I want to get some experience with them for my upcoming conversion to organics. Now I think I may have starved them too much, really cofused and worried at this point. I dont want to over do it or under do it, know what I mean?
puff


edit: and when the ### #### ####### #### did I become a senior member? I've been here for like a month or two, dont believe everything you read folks, I'm a NEWBIE.(gdfh)

 

[KGB30]

allfa meal, or fresh from the bail in my case is 2.5-0.5-2.0 . In a tea it is pretty fast acting N. as a soil additive it is considered a medium speed N. I am useing it as just a tea with these girls, they are in MG 3 month feed so they shouldn't need much N but they are really stretching right now and they seem to be eating it all up, and getting a little defficiant. I am makeing up my own soil mix for the next crop and have added alfalfa at 1 cup per cuft. of mix, along with a hundered other goodies. It works WONDERS as a foliar spray, hit your plants with this stuff in veg and watch what they do, I like to spray them 3 times in one day, once a week. Give it a try and see what I mean.
puff


edit: i have read a couple places that alfalfa is one of the secret ingredients in superthrive, dont know if its true, but it is SUPER stuff.

I have super thrive.. Where you buy the TeaAlfalfa?

Thanks Puff

 

[KGB30]

I wait three days to water or when the soil is dry from the heat.

 

[puffnstuff]

mom wanted a cup of tea too, sooooo...here she is, looking pretty hot for only 17....inches
puff

 

[KGB30]

Good looking. lol

 

[puffnstuff]

Yeh KGB watering depends on a lot of things, these girls can go 4 days if they need to but CAN be watered again in 2. The alfalfa I gave them was real strong and I only gave them 2 cups each, soil was still real damp from the weak tea the day before, i watered them real heavy with that cuzz they was dry. The soil was still real damp when I gave them the tea today, too early really, I got runoff after only 1/2 gallon of tea but soaked them real good anyway. I wanted to make sure that they had tea through out the root area. I probaly washed away some of the alfalfa but it was so strong that it had me concerned about burning the roots. dont know if it would have really been a prob but better safe than sorry. Anway i am not worried about over watering at this time, dont think it will be a concern cuzz they drain well. And I wont water again for 3 days, then i will look at the color again and decide if they want more or if they are ok.

I make my own alfalfa tea. I have raw alfalfa in bails and in little compressed blocks about 1.5"x1.5". You can also buy it in pellets. easy to get, any pet store will have small bags for rabbit food. Farm supply stores will have small bags of pellets, blocks, bails, and meal. We have critters around here so we have a variety. You can probably get some for free!!! go to any farm store and ask if you can pick some up off the floor for your kids pet mouse. they will probably let you scoop up all you want off the ground around the pile of bails, less they have to sweep up and throw away. just go out back and ask the guys working with the stuff(loading it in peoples cars and trucks) They are the ones who clean up too. I worked at a large farm co-op a few years ago in their water pump department so I know what I am talking about. Look for the guy with the cowboy hat on and he'll ALWAYS be helpful(goes with the hat). Anyway back to the tea, just put about 1/2 cup to 1 cup per gallon of water in a bucket with an airstone in it. Let it brew over night and then strain it through the ol' ladies nylon's or any cloth and use it to foliar feed or water the roots. The tea I made the other day was a 3 gallon bucket filled half full of alfalfa with 2 gal of water, really really really strong. Be careful when brewing teas, they tend to foam up ALOT. adjust the airflow to keep this foaming under controll or use a bucket that is several times the capacity you intend to put into it. The leftovers from the tea can be used to topdress your plants(I dont do this) or feed your worms(they love it too) or add it to your compost pile. If you used meal to make your tea I suppose you could add it to a soil mix as well after makeing tea out of it, will still have goodies in it. You dont want to use large chunks of alfalfa in a soil mix, it is too hot and will burn the roots.
puff

ps I hope that was everything.....too stoned right now


edit: spellin' again

 

[puffnstuff]

Oh yeh, I knew I would forget something, TONS of micro nutes in alfalfa. Alfalfa is so strong that it can kill animals if they eat too much. gotta love it
puff

edit: and growth hormons

edit phase 2: spellin' AGAIN

 

[Mr.Wakenbake]

puff ... losing lower leafs like that is normal. Due to the canopy getting thicker and penetration being a problem. Unless it starts spreading reapidly you don't have a deficiency. By rapidly i mean more yellowed leaves over a week or so. Anyways, nice grow, nice plants.... don't overbaby em. They are nice and healthy.

 

[Mr.Wakenbake]

Also.... organics can be far far far easier than making teas. Metanaturals offers a 100% organic fertilizer line in a bottle form. Much easier than teas... stores easy, and did i again mention its' much easier than teas?Start with a good organic soil or soil mix... or coco peat/coir, and get some organic nutrients. Organics is that easy

 

[thebest]

they are looking crazy nice man!

 

[KGB30]

Is the airstone the one you put in fish tanks or what is it. lol ...

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

great looking plants! really healthy, keep up the good work man.

 

[puffnstuff]

Thanks guy's

yeh KGB same as fish tank, I use a clamp to restrict airflow.

Mr. Wakenbake, Thank you for stopping by. These are kinda test's(testing me mostly) as far as the tea's. My next grow will be the real stuff. I have some good store bought ferts around here too. Just haven't opened any yet. I have pbp grow and bloom and neptunes harvest fish, seaweed and fish and seaweed combo. So My backup plan for these girls is to use one of them if I get lost. But I am hopeing to finish them out with just the tea's to prove to myself that I can doit. I know to expect to lose some leaves but they are just makeing me worry, lightening up so fast, this is the point were I usually go overboard with the ferts and hurt my babies, trying to reform now, so NO MORE FERTS for awhile to see how they do. Might have to have the wife lock up my bottle's....fertaholic....

puff

 

[lucky left]

those pics are BEAUTIFUL man

 

[KGB30]

Thanks on the tea RCPT Puff....

 

[thebest]

I think i might try that tea recipie. Just for kicks. See how successfull it is.

 

[puffnstuff]

Try it guys, You dont even need the air pump really. You can just let it set overnight and it will still work, just works better with the air.
puff