Mephisto Genetics Cosmic Queens in not quite living soil

[calliandra]

Meanwhile, Woozy is chugging along at day 80

Silhouette, showing her structure

Canopy all oblong to fit in her bit of closet space

Budness front, and actually getting a bit of a fade on, which Sissi kind of skipped

and back

Main top

Secondary branch that usually sits under the NLH

And on the other side, where Sissi has been

She's added grapes to her basket of fruit, and today - not coincidentally, the last fruit juice contained some - had a whiff of peppery mango to her too. She's maintaining all of her different aromas too, making you just want to sniff your fingers all day long without getting bored LOL

Oh, I forgot to mention: dried, Sissy has settled into an incredibly sweet haziness for now, more flowery than fruity. Unwashed Motorcycle guy seems to have left the building, I think I don't mind that lol, though that note was quite intriguing too!

Woozy's getting left in peace until day 88 for sure, then we'll see

Cheers!

 

[johnp540]

I forgot to mention if your worried about burning your butter you can always use a double boiler. That way it's not directly on the heat source, some people add water to the butter and then let it seperate, I found the Double boiler to be just as effective. That's what works for me. Sometimes I don't even bother with that and just go straight into the pan. Lol It's easy once you get used to it, though, I was also a lot less intimidated by making butter and oils than I am hash.

 

[calliandra]

I forgot to mention if your worried about burning your butter you can always use a double boiler. That way it's not directly on the heat source, some people add water to the butter and then let it seperate, I found the Double boiler to be just as effective. That's what works for me. Sometimes I don't even bother with that and just go straight into the pan. Lol It's easy once you get used to it, though, I was also a lot less intimidated by making butter and oils than I am hash.

Have you made oil in the double boiler too?
Last time we were making oil I thought of that, but was doubtful it would still get hot enough?
I'd definitely make butter that way!

 

[johnp540]

Have you made oil in the double boiler too?
Last time we were making oil I thought of that, but was doubtful it would still get hot enough?
I'd definitely make butter that way!

No just butter. I agree, I'm not sure myself. I might try a little without cannabis just to see what happens.
Also my last batch I made I only cooked it for 30-40 minutes the high to me was better, and it didn't give me a weed hangover lol I guess that's what you'd call it. I usually cook for an hour to hour and a half, it's always good and strong but It last forever. Something I'm going to play with on the next batch. But I would eat a cookie or something around say 6 be or 7 pm and I'd still be high at noon the next day or just really really tired. Lol

 

[Rogue Chief]

Everything is looking really great! You can use bubble hash as well but you need to let it dry afterwords, where as dry sifting is well, already dry.

 

[water farm]

contratulations @calliandra !! what beautiful cosmic queens you have here your Sissi looks just like mine did and I can say that you are in for some wonderful flavours and experiences with her one of my favourite plants ever

that haze looks awesome kudos putting one in a closet like that I have done the same thing it is a lot of fun haha and good luck with her !!

 

[Roasty McToasty]

Hey Calli, I got a question about microbes. Do you inoculate the soil? Or just count on the compost to deliver it? Just purchased some EM-1 that has 6 or so strains of bennies in it. Hoping I can reuse the soil as is no till with it. Maybe?

 

[calliandra]

Hey Calli, I got a question about microbes. Do you inoculate the soil? Or just count on the compost to deliver it? Just purchased some EM-1 that has 6 or so strains of bennies in it. Hoping I can reuse the soil as is no till with it. Maybe?

hey Roasty, indeed, I inoculate with my compost, and am also thinking of adding biology via plant material I bring from walks out in (hopefully not all too damaged) nature more, since my composts aren't quite what I need them to be yet. Ever since I began learning to assess the biology with a microscope, I have lost the ability to count on a compost to be what I need it to be - I must look the stark truth in the face and learn to make my own haha

You need to be aware that EM does not bring you the soil food web, it is an inoculum of facultative bacteria.
What does that mean.
Facultative means they can live in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. So they walk the line between survivable and non-survivable conditions for plants.
In anaerobic conditions, the wrong (wrong for our purposes, not inherently evil or anything like that haha) set of microbes is active, making enzymes and substances that are harmful to the plant, volatilizing nutrients, and thus disrupting nutrient cycling. Aerobes have little chance of thriving under the low-oxygen conditions this set of microbes promotes, so they will not be successful at nature's strategies of displacement and outcompetiton. Just adding compost, oftentimes will not suffice to turn things around in such situations.

It is here, and only here, at this single point along the sweeping scale of succession, that facultatives have their moment of stardom.

Out in the wild, that would be in highly compacted soils, growing mainly opportunistic weeds with any higher-successional plants weak and sickly, so nigh to barren landscapes.
They come into the anaerobic conditions and flourish, and with their activity start displacing the extreme anaerobes, shifting conditions more and more, until the aerobic community can take hold and in turn evolve.
Then, as the truly beneficial microbial community takes over, aerobic microfauna starts cycling nutrients in the way plants need them, and the facultatives will fade into the background, and only reappear in tiny pockets of the soil where needed.

So if your soils are in such dire conditions, EM inoculation will benefit you, assisting in the transition to better conditions.
But you still will need to introduce beneficial soil life in the form of complete communities:

• with diverse microflora -
  bacterial and fungal populations in the proportions suited to the successional needs of the crops you want to grow, mining the nutrients from mineral and organic matter in the soil and storing them in their bodies. Building microaggregation with their glues, strung together into airy, water retaining structures by fungal strands and thus continually improving conditions.
  
• And with a good diverse microfauna -
  flagellates, amoebae, bacterial, fungal, and predatory nematodes - that will eat the bacteria and fungi and release excess nutrients into soil in perfect microamounts and forms the plant can take up.

It takes all of these groups for the real magic of living soil with all its perks to happen.
But even on the way there, benefits will start to show. The soils I have my plants in for example. I check them regularly via microscope so I know the ecosystem is fragile, and too bacterial. And yet, I also know the conditions to be fully aerobic, and in the process of shifting, if slowly, in the right direction - and my plants are already rather healthy even in this suboptimal-but-improving setting. It just gets better as it evolves further

All that said, I hope it makes sense to you when I say EM probably isn't going to do for you what you are hoping..
But who knows, maybe your soil is pretty dead after all?

If you do use EM, make sure to follow it up with some good compost - I think I've already ranted about good compost and how we can go recognize quality without a microscope, at least in general terms that can prevent us from acquiring compost that will introduce disease-causers and worsen things, somewhere in this thread. It's still a bit of a game of roulette, but it's worth playing
Because that's what's ultimately going to bring you the set of microbes needed for those lovely carefree healthy-plant-growing terpene-heaven-bringing no-tills!
Cheers!

 

[Roasty McToasty]

hey Roasty, indeed, I inoculate with my compost, and am also thinking of adding biology via plant material I bring from walks out in (hopefully not all too damaged) nature more, since my composts aren't quite what I need them to be yet. Ever since I began learning to assess the biology with a microscope, I have lost the ability to count on a compost to be what I need it to be - I must look the stark truth in the face and learn to make my own haha

You need to be aware that EM does not bring you the soil food web, it is an inoculum of facultative bacteria.
What does that mean.
Facultative means they can live in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. So they walk the line between survivable and non-survivable conditions for plants.
In anaerobic conditions, the wrong (wrong for our purposes, not inherently evil or anything like that haha) set of microbes is active, making enzymes and substances that are harmful to the plant, volatilizing nutrients, and thus disrupting nutrient cycling. Aerobes have little chance of thriving under the low-oxygen conditions this set of microbes promotes, so they will not be successful at nature's strategies of displacement and outcompetiton. Just adding compost, oftentimes will not suffice to turn things around in such situations.

It is here, and only here, at this single point along the sweeping scale of succession, that facultatives have their moment of stardom.

Out in the wild, that would be in highly compacted soils, growing mainly opportunistic weeds with any higher-successional plants weak and sickly, so nigh to barren landscapes.
They come into the anaerobic conditions and flourish, and with their activity start displacing the extreme anaerobes, shifting conditions more and more, until the aerobic community can take hold and in turn evolve.
Then, as the truly beneficial microbial community takes over, aerobic microfauna starts cycling nutrients in the way plants need them, and the facultatives will fade into the background, and only reappear in tiny pockets of the soil where needed.

So if your soils are in such dire conditions, EM inoculation will benefit you, assisting in the transition to better conditions.
But you still will need to introduce beneficial soil life in the form of complete communities:

• with diverse microflora -
  bacterial and fungal populations in the proportions suited to the successional needs of the crops you want to grow, mining the nutrients from mineral and organic matter in the soil and storing them in their bodies. Building microaggregation with their glues, strung together into airy, water retaining structures by fungal strands and thus continually improving conditions.
  
• And with a good diverse microfauna -
  flagellates, amoebae, bacterial, fungal, and predatory nematodes - that will eat the bacteria and fungi and release excess nutrients into soil in perfect microamounts and forms the plant can take up.

It takes all of these groups for the real magic of living soil with all its perks to happen.
But even on the way there, benefits will start to show. The soils I have my plants in for example. I check them regularly via microscope so I know the ecosystem is fragile, and too bacterial. And yet, I also know the conditions to be fully aerobic, and in the process of shifting, if slowly, in the right direction - and my plants are already rather healthy even in this suboptimal-but-improving setting. It just gets better as it evolves further

All that said, I hope it makes sense to you when I say EM probably isn't going to do for you what you are hoping..
But who knows, maybe your soil is pretty dead after all?

If you do use EM, make sure to follow it up with some good compost - I think I've already ranted about good compost and how we can go recognize quality without a microscope, at least in general terms that can prevent us from acquiring compost that will introduce disease-causers and worsen things, somewhere in this thread. It's still a bit of a game of roulette, but it's worth playing
Because that's what's ultimately going to bring you the set of microbes needed for those lovely carefree healthy-plant-growing terpene-heaven-bringing no-tills!
Cheers!

Whoa, head spinning a little. Thank you for answering, though a bit over my head. So basically it will help the herd a little, but not altogether without quality compost? I have no way of checking the soil either. Was kind of hoping that the EM would help break down the old root zone into healthy food for the next run. But it seems I'll need to replace all the spent nutrients as well. Guess I better read up some more on the subject. Really appreciate the help sister.

 

[johnp540]

Whoa, head spinning a little. Thank you for answering, though a bit over my head. So basically it will help the herd a little, but not altogether without quality compost? I have no way of checking the soil either. Was kind of hoping that the EM would help break down the old root zone into healthy food for the next run. But it seems I'll need to replace all the spent nutrients as well. Guess I better read up some more on the subject. Really appreciate the help brother.

This should help, Im Learning too, lol
https://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Facultative_anaerobe
It helped me better understand, anyway. Hope it helps.
I'd go with a worm castings tea with some molasses. That will bring some life to the party. There's also some really good compost you can buy for $20 or less to help get you started.