$martie's Outdoor Arjans Strawberry Haze

Greetings friends, how y'all doing? 👍 Few, had very busy week finishing the planters and the shade/misting house but proud to announce that all my babies are out the house and on their own 😎 Today was a perfect planting day, bit cloudy but that helped in making everything look nice dark green, bonus.. Planting went smooth and she looks so much better already.. I'll share a very detailed recipe below and pictures of the soil-making process are posted in week 1 of Jack's diary 😉 As you can see, I modified a tomato ring to hopefully kill 2 birds with one stone: 1) give a structure to train main and secondary branches on 2) give working space at soil level (2-3 inches) without pegs/wires interfering with the topdressing. So the idea is to train the main stem 'between' the 2 rings and us those 2 rings (in combination with ties to the planters, or even across to the other side of the ring) to tie down secondary branches to. Instead of a million pegs at soil level I will use the tomato ring as my virtual soil level so that should create the necessary working space below the ring. Ideally I would like to have more space in between rings but this is what I had to work with 🤷. The moment I see she's recovered from today I will start to prune the secondary growth that she has so far. I want to keep the center open so secondary branches will be pruned until she reaches the ring or already in it. Hopefully I have the tomato ring finished by next week's rendezvous 😂 I would love to stay and chit chat but I'm outie 🤣 Thanks again for checking in on us, we love yous too!! 👏✌️ The soil recipe (long read ahead 😂): - 1 part Worm Castings - 1 part OGS Spagnum Peat Moss - 1 part OGS Premium Aeration Mix: Premium Aeration Mix is perfect to keep your soil aerobic. It is composed of Pumice (55%), Rice Hulls (40%) and Zeolite (5%) to bring fantastic air-filled porosity, room for microorganisms to live, additional cationic exchange capacity and slow release Nitrogen and Silica to your soil. Then following products were added at 1/2 cup per cubic feet (7Gal) : - Kelp Meal: Kelp Meal is an excellent source of NPK along with over 60 micronutrients. It has many complex carbohydrates such as Alginic acid, Mannitol, as well as plant plant hormones like Cytokinins, Indoles, Auxins and Gibberellins. These hormones are involved in a variety of process's from enhancing vegetative growth and flowering, all the way through to reducing shock from transplanting, over watering and heat-shock. It is rich in amino acids and minerals which enhance microbial life enormously, helping to ensure a better crop. - 22% mineral content overall - 50% Carbohydrates - 6% Amino Acids - 2% Sulfur (Helps ensure you get the tastiest, most terpene rich harvest possible) - Neem Cake: Neem Cake provides a great source of NPK with values of 4-2-2 respectively and is commonly used in soil mixes and topdressings to provide adequate nutritional support to your plants. On top of this neem has phenomenal Integrated Pest Management (IPM) properties, which occurs through its production of molecules such as Azadirachtin, Salannin and Nimbin, which act as an antifeedant for over 200 species of insects. - Oyster Shell Flour: Oyster Shell Flour is a premium Calcium source that takes longer to break down than other Calcium sources. This means by using Oyster Shell Flour you significantly reduce the risk of lockout issues arising when compared with alternative Calcium sources, which can be completely broken down in a few weeks in an active enough rhizosphere. - Fin 'N' Feather Meal: Fin 'N' Feather Meal contains several components that will provide an abundance of N-P-K to your soil over time. It is long release and will not burn your plants! In microbial rich soil it is an excellent way to quickly provide nitrogen to your garden. Fin 'N' Feather Meal has a superior N-P-K profile and benefit to feather meal since it contains higher levels of calcium to help mobilise the macro-molecules it is accompanied by. I normally would add Crab Meal or Crustacean but the guys from OGS told me to add more Fin 'N' Feather Meal and use their OGS Water Supplement (Hydro Frass): By providing in an easily soluble form of an abundance of minerals, complex sugars, natural plant hormones, amino acids, humic acids, fulvic acids and azomite in the appropriate ratios, Organic Gardening Solutions 'All-In-One' Water Supplement works to alleviate plant stress and promote vigorous growth of both the plants and the microbial populations present in your garden. Components: -Dehydrated Coconut Water: Coconut powder brings to the mix an abundance of cytokinins and auxins which are essential hormones that work together to regulate apical growth and root growth, promote cytokinesis (cell division), and have been shown to slow down senescence by preventing the breakdown of proteins. Also present are amino acids, macro-nutrients, micro-nutrients and other auxin analogues to assist in seed development and flower development, and several mono- and polysaccharides which promote microbial growth. -Dehydrated Aloe Vera: Aloe Vera powder is rich in Salicylic Acid, which plays a role in plant growth, photosynthesis, ion uptake and transport, as well as in the resistance to pathogens through the production of pathogenesis-related proteins. -Humic & Fulvic Acid: Humic and Fulvic acids are organic polymers which co-ordinate and chelate macro-molecules/metals, and assist in facilitating their uptake. They also act to neutralise soil pH, allowing trace elements once bound in the soil to become available to the plant. Fulvic acids have an oxygen content over twice that of humic acids and as such are much more chemically reactive, with an exchange capacity more than double that of humic acids. Because of their small size, fulvic acid molecules can enter plant roots, stems and leaves, carrying trace minerals from plant surfaces into plant tissues. When humic and fulvic acids are applied to soil, increased root growth rates are observed. -Kelp Meal (soluble): Kelp Meal is high in K, and is a source of trace minerals, amino acids, plant micro-nutrients and natural plant hormones. -Azomite (soluble): Azomite is a trace element source, conditioning agent and helps plants better absorb nutrients from soil. The rare earth elements present in Azomite enhance nitrogen fixation by Azotobacter species, which bind atmospheric nitrogen and release it as ammonium ions into the soil. Furthermore, the Azomite present in our 'SuperSoil' acts to reduce stress caused by drought by enhancing Abscisic acid (ABA) production, in turn minimizing the water lost by a plant in transpiration. -Chitosan (Soluble Chitin): Chitin is a potent immuno-modulator within the plant, resulting from stimulation of the SAR (systemic aquired resonce) pathway, which stimulates a variety of benneficial process' within the plant. These range from increased terpene and flavinoid production, greater heat bug and stress resistance as well as a greater uptake of nutrients. Chitosan is your secret wepon to providing an unparalled harvest. As you can tell I mulched the Emperor with a bit less than an inch of Alfalfa Meal: Alfalfa contains the naturally occurring growth hormone triacontanol which improves the root system, develops root mass and enhances photosynthesis via secondary messengers which overall results in larger crops. Triacontanol can improve yields by 50% !!! 🤯🤯🤯😂😂😂