Mazar-I-Sharif

[Kind024]

Greetings everyone, I hope you and yours are in good hearts and sound minds.

 

3/6/19, With the New Moon, 3 packs of Mazar-I-Sharif from TRSC, a total of 40 seeds, were planted directly into soil in 3" square pots. The seeds were smeared with saliva and humus before being planted about a 1/2" deep. A pinch of endo mycorrhizal fungi was dusted over the planting hole and watered in with a mild aloe solution. A pinch of white clover seed was sowed in the corners of the pots along with a little more mycos.

 

Everybody's seen the water molecule test. . .it's probably the same theory for all molecules. I've been storing all my seeds like this...in a jar in the fridge. I also tape the words on the growing trays and containers. 

 

Humidity domes were used for the first 5 days. The seeds started breaking ground on the 3rd day and were all up by the 5th day. 37 of 40 seeds broke ground. One is slow to grow, a little mutated and will probably get culled. Another is a trifoliate with ruffled leaf edges. It will be left to see if it grows out of the funk. One of them I killed on accident when a piece of poly caught the top and laid it over. That leaves 34 seedlings in the lead pack.

 

3/14/19, the end of the 8th day young.

The seedlings are growing under a 1k MH in a parabolic reflector that is hanging about 6' - 7' above the canopy. The temperature is 84F - 89F during the day and it drops about 10 degrees at night to around 75F. The humidity is a little low at around 55%. Water is sprayed on the floor a few times a day to help keep it up. A humidifier will be deployed shortly when I can get to friends house to fill up with filtered city water. 

 

unconditional,

kind

 

[Bugman]

nice start

[Kind024]

3/16/19, The plants were sprayed with a light aloe solution.

1/2 teaspoon(tsp) of homemade, activated EM's (which were fed kelp meal and basalt) was added per 1 quart of water. 

 

3/20/19, Day 14. Sorry about the poor image quality.

 

3/22/19, An ACT was watered in to the soil.

4 gallons of clean water.

1 and 1/2 cups of worm castings.

1/2 cup of compost.

2 Tablespoons(TBS) of molasses.

This was aerated for 42 hours. It was not strained.

 

3/25/19, The plants were sprayed with a mild aloe solution. 

1/2tsp of black soldier fly frass(BSF) was added per quart of water. The BSF was allowed to soak in the water about 45 minutes before the aloe was added. It was strained and sprayed immediately after blending in the fresh aloe.

 

3/26/19, Everyone was transplanted into 2 gallon bags with about 1.3 gallons of soil in each. There is more soil staged along with 3 or 5 gallon bags if the plants need more room to reach sexual maturity...comfortably. The clover was chopped and smothered due to a few more thrips than are preferred. The clover was planted to bring life to the soil during the early stages of growth and it's served that purpose. A decomposing cover of some sort will be laid down shortly. 

 

3/27/19, Day 21. The plant photo is from roughly 12 hours after transplanting. After the light went off today a light neem oil solution was sprayed. 

1/2 tsp of neem oil per 1 quart of warm water was emulsified with a soap nut solution. The fan was left off till it dried.

 

The soil used was from last seasons outdoor project. The top layer from all the outdoor pots was collected before the soil was dumped into the large container. Than it was laid back over the top of the soil to help hold life overwinter. This top layer was brushed aside before collecting the soil to keep undecomposed material out of the mix. Last seasons soil was lightly amended and mixed 6:1 with more aeration (pumice).

 

Amendments per cubic foot of soil...roughly.

1/4 cup kelp meal.

1/4 cup crustacean meal.

1/4 cup alfalfa meal.

1/2 TBS of BSF.

Gypsum will be fed to the soil slowly over time with waterings.

 

. . .before the pumice was added.

 

After mixing the soil it was brought inside to warm up in a 55 gallon food grade barrel...about two weeks before transplanting. 

 

These posts will be kept brass tacks till a more user friendly device than a phone is available. 

 

I want to give a big thanks to Angus and the rest of the family at The Real Seed Company for making this possible. 

Thank You for everything you're doing for this plant, I'm grateful to be sowing the seed!

 

 

[Kingfish]

Very excited to see you work your magic with these  Mazar -I-Sharif from The Real Seed Company@Kind024. I really enjoy your documented grows as they are inspiring and show what is truly possible. You and several other members at The Lab have piqued my interest enough to give the living soil a go this year. Thank You for the inspiration and motivation @Kind024!!

 

And Thank You to everyone at The Real Seed Company for having such a passion for preserving these incredible Asian landraces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Comacus]

@Kind024 looking forward to following along!

[Kind024]

@Bugman, @Kingfish, @Comacus...  Thanks for stopping in and checking out the arbor. The support is much appreciated. 

 

I'm learning a lot from these plants and looking forward to a healthy finish.

 

@Kingfish...here's to life! Life in the soil and life on earth, Cheers!

I'm stoked to hear you want to give soil a go. Have fun and be patient. Something I always keep in mind when approaching soil. . .the soil food web. If you ever have any questions I'll be happy to give my best in response.

 

...if it's not organic, naturally cycling and alive, it's not soil...it's dirt. 

[Coastal]

Did you have a lot of phosphorus still from the previous mix?  I use almost the exact amendments per cu/ft whim I do no till, but I use 1/4-1/2 cup of either SRP or fish bone meal.. looking forward to this one, I had a nice old mazar but only ran her once, great tasting smoke!

 

 

[Kind024]

On 4/7/2019 at 6:36 PM, Coastal said:

Did you have a lot of phosphorus still from the previous mix?  I use almost the exact amendments per cu/ft whim I do no till, but I use 1/4-1/2 cup of either SRP or fish bone meal.. looking forward to this one, I had a nice old mazar but only ran her once, great tasting smoke!

 

 

 

Hi Brother @Coastal thanks for stopping in.

 

This soil was never tested so I dont know how much (P) is left. If i had to guess based on how the plants finished probably not much.

 

I try not to overdo it with available (P) and let the mycorrhizal fungi do the work. From what I'm learning plants dictate the colonization of mycorrhiza. When too much (P) is available the plant will hold off the colonizing fungus. Mycorrhizal fungi bring alot more benefits to the party other than helping to supply (P).

 

My thinking is that the plant drives the soil food web depending on what it wants to eat. Starting with the chemical exudates supplied to the rhizosphere through the roots of the plant. From there the chain goes all the way up from the single celled organisms, to the protozon and nematodes, than to the micro/macro arthropods and above soil organisms. In a natural environment everything is influenced by this cycle...including humans. The production of ammonium nitrate, GMOs and glyphosate has changed all that. Which will be short lived...enjoy the show!

 

Insect frass contains (P). This soil has a healthy population of pill bugs and centipedes.

 

The population of pill bugs can be influenced by the amount of decaying material added to the top layer. Also they are nocturnal and like to travel around the room at night. If I want to manually lower the population or capture some for frass i go in at night and collect them off the floor and sides of the pots. If there are alot of them in the soil and not much of a top layer to keep them busy and fed they will crawl up to the munch on the edges of the lower leaves of the plants at night. They will also eat seedlings. A fresh mix is made for starting seeds after that lesson.

 

The population of centipedes is influenced by the amount of soft bodied insects and larvae in the soil...which is influenced by the plant. When their food supply drops they will turn to canabolism. They are also nocturnal but aren't as adventurous as the pill bugs and tend to stay in they're containers. There are never any fungus gnats around when there is a healthy population of centipedes. They are good for thrip control too.

 

Nocturnal bugs will interface on the surface of the soil all day under decomposing layers and cover crops.

 

I put my trust in the idea that the soil food web will make up the difference in available minerals. 

 

I know you understand this stuff so sorry for the tangent. Maybe it will be of some help to others.

 

I'm glad to hear you liked the Mazar smoke. I ran a claimed landrace/heirloom Mazar a few times that I really enjoyed too. The hash was outstanding. Trying to get back to the roots.

 

[Kind024]

I had a bunch of stuff loaded and typed in here...didn't save any of it? You'll have to settle for the less enthusiastic version now.

 

3/30/19, The plants had their first day under the sun and the indoor photoperiod was shortened to 18/6. I've been trying to get them outside from 9am - 7pm. Its been cold and raining for the last 10 days so they've had to stay inside. The indoor photoperiod was aligned with the outdoor cycle...roughly. The lights come on at 6am and go off at midnight. Trying to reduce photoperiodic stress when they go outside permanently. 

 

The plants were slow to acclimate after transplanting...I think it was light related. At first it looked like the soil was short of food. There are a couple modern hybrids being treated the same as the Mazari for some sort of control. The hybrids look to have more then enough food available and are perfectly happy under kashed lamps. The new growth on the Mazari after the first few days outside told me they needed more light and/or a better spectrum. The 1k MH lamp that's over them is over 12 months old...those lamps are only good for 4-6 months. Fresh lamps weren't in the cards for a bit. Some paper was just scratched up so they will be replaced shortly. 

 

3/31/19, A strong aloe solution (maybe a little too strong) and meal worm frass was applied. 

3 cups of water.

1/2 tsp of meal worm frass (MWF).

2 TBS of fresh aloe.

This was put in a quart jar and shaken till all the aloe meat was dissolved...about 5-10 minutes. It was sprayed on the plants immediately after being strained. The lights were out and the fans were off. While the plants were still wet with the aloe solution MWF was dusted over them like snow.

 

4/3/19, The plants were moved into the flower room. There is a 1k MH and a 1k HPS over them now. Its helping a bit but that HPS lamp needs replacing too. The Mazari really want the sun!

 

4/6/19, Right after the lights went out the plants were sprayed with a mild aloe solution and dusted with MWF...similar to the last application. MWF was not mixed into the aloe solution this time.

 

4/6/19, 31 days since the sowing.

 

 

Breaking ground up on the hill.

Before...

 

After...

 

There are 14 amended plots in the sweet spot of sun exposure. There will be one or two more dug for a total of 15-16 ladies. The males will be planted directly in the ground around the perimeter and wont have an amended plot.

 

About 10 gallons of soil was dug out from each plot (a firemans axe worked well). The soil that was removed was spread around the front of the plot to make a terrace...sort of. The holes were filled with 10 gallons of amended soil from last season. A thick layer of overwintered leaves collected from the property was laid down over that. Than a thick layer of straw was put down over that..donated from an archery, free for the removal. It had been exposed to two years of PNW weather. 

 

The elk and deer have been using the trail through here frequently. I can see fresh tracks everytime I come up here. They pay no mind and trample the plots too. I have a couple of test dummy plants in tomato cages (to the left off photo) to see if they get eaten. Its been over 2 weeks and not one leaf has been chewed on. Every plant will be inside of a tomato cage. Normally little wooden stakes are used to anchor the plant cages. The fence stakes are being used in case the elk get careless. 

 

Now we're up to date. Till next time, keep it lit! 

[Kind024]

4/12/19, 37 days old. It was really nice out this morning so I decided to bring the plants out for some sun. Soon after it got cloudy, cold with scattered showers. They aren't too stoked about that. Its also been windy all day too. The Mazari will lay over like reed grass and stand right back up after a strong breeze. They are drooping here a little bit from being soaked and cold...the rains are coming back and it's time to bring them inside for the evening. They dont dig being overwatered either. This soil drains fast and the warmth indoors will help.

 

4/13/19, 38 days old. Here everyone is waking up this morning after yesterdays rain and sun. The weather looks promising outside today. The overcast is keeping things a little cool yet. Hopefully they can get out on the porch again!

 

 

[gorilla ganja]

Beautiful spot you have there @Kind024

Plants look on point as usual. When are they going in the ground?

 

Peace GG

[Kingfish]

looking awesome @Kind024

[Kind024]

On 4/13/2019 at 10:51 AM, gorilla ganja said:

Beautiful spot you have there @Kind024

Plants look on point as usual. When are they going in the ground?

 

Peace GG

 

Thanks bro, this is an incredible spot to be experiencing life. It's not mine and someday will be sold for alot more than I can afford. I get to help take care of it till then. Trying to make the best with the time given here.

 

The plan is to take copies soon after the Mazari haved reached maturity and have enough viable branches. The clones will go out when they are ready. Usually clones have a tendency to finish a little earlier than seed plants. 

 

Last season the plants were transplanted into the pots outside on 6/10/18. So far everything is a little further along then it was last year at this time. The goal is to get these out sooner this season.

[Kind024]

4/17/19, The photoperiod was reduced to 17/7 by taking a hour from the end of the light cycle. 

Also, after lights out, a mild aloe solution was sprayed with 1/4 tsp of MWF added per 3 cups. This was shaken in a quart jar till the aloe flesh was dissolved. It was sprayed immediately after being strained. Than more MWF was dusted over the plants like light snow while they were still wet. 

 

4/18/19, Checked all the plants for gender. So far there are 13 confirmed ladies, 17 confirmed males and 2 that aren't showing enough yet. One of them is showing pre flowers but they are really small and tucked away...I think it's a male. The other one doesn't show anything yet. It's rich scented and in hopes for another lady.

 

4/18/19, 44 days old. Shortly after the photo shoot a few choice leaves were removed from each plant to allow more light reach to the lower branches.

 

Ladies. . .

 

Gentlemen. . .

 

The two in question. . .the shorter one to the right is a male, I think. The one on the left is Not Sure.

 

The tall stretchy structure exhibited from alot of the plants is from a lack of quality light spectrum. The new lamps should be here Monday or Wednesday.

 

A few of the plants were FIMed over the last week to promote more branch growth for copies. Multiple copies from each plant will be taken so there are replacements around incase of any accidents. 

 

Im stoked with the turnout from these Mazari. The scents are rich and pungent. Great looking specimens from both genders. The plan was a 1:1 ratio with a total of 30 plants. The males will be culled about 7 - 8 weeks before the estimated finish time. There are more males then was planned to deal with. However I'm trying to keep as much diversity as possible and wouldn't know were to start on culling males...they may all have to go up?

[Guest Troutman]

Nice to see somebody grow these outdoors.

 

Cheers

[Guest imiubu]

On 3/28/2019 at 1:57 AM, Kind024 said:

 

What do you have growing on the right side?  I should know but for the life of me, can't recall.

 

I'll be following along.  The way you present your grows is most enjoyable.  I learn something each time

 

 

[Kind024]

Hi @imiubu, thanks for stopping in! 

 

Those are Achillea...yarrow plants.

Yarrow has healing properties, bees like it, some birds use it in their nests, it's very hardy and does well in mountainous areas and it's a bioaccumulator. It has a rhizomatous growth form and can provide a low ground cover too. It was transplanted up on the hill around the plant plots. Maybe it will help keep some of the blackberry at bay? I dont think there is much to do about the blackberrys around here...I hear goats (no pun intended) will take it out...along with all the rest of your plants.

 

 

[Guest PlantLady]

And yarrow (achillea) comes in many beautiful flower colors and is an excellent cut flower in the bouquets I sell. 

It won't keep the blackberries at bay...but if you put up a trellis for them and amend the soil, pretty much guarantees they will die off (hehe).

[Kind024]

Hi @PlantLady, yarrow is a beautiful flower.

 

I dont think I was ever much of a cut flower guy...unless that includes chopping them up for a topdress?

 

Some will be left to collect seed and the rest will go back to the soil food web. I hope it will acclimate considering it's a perennial so it doesn't have to be replanted each season.

[Guest PlantLady]

Oh, it will acclimate, no doubt about it - I think its hardy to zone 3. Then spread and spread and spread...and then for no reason it occasionally dies out.

I'm still not a cut-flower bouquet sort of gal - I like mine on the plants in the gardens, but folks sure seem to want to buy them. Its like a miracle - other folks are now paying for my flower obsession. And what a great time to become a flower farmer - just as it becomes legal to grow everyone's favorite flower! 

I can't wait to get my first grow cannabis outside...I know how to grow outside, all the important stuff is provided free (light, soil and water) and there is a LOT more room out there (hehe). Sure do wish they would let me include some of our favorite flowers in my bouquets. If I was more brave, could try the gift trick...buy this beautiful fresh bouquet for $500 and get this gorgeous dried bouquet as your free gift (like zoot's gorgeous buds pix of his 5 phenos of Huckleberry Soda)...

And wow, you got a lot of beautiful bouquet fodder going there!

[Kind024]

Hi @PlantLady, thats super cool about about your flower bouquets...you've been given a gift when you can make a living from your passion. 

 

It wont be long and we'll have coolers full of jarred flowers for sale right next to the vegetable tables...something to wish for anyways. Best we dont let corporations purchase the laws.

[Guest PlantLady]

Hi @Kind024  Well, not nearly able to "make a living" selling flowers (and other stuff)...but enough to pay the property taxes, buy garden supplies and nursery stock and go out to dinner occasionally. Each of the past three years have doubled or nearly doubled the number of bouquets sold, and ended up having 3 (this year 4) subcontractors...ladies I know that let me cut in their gardens or bring me flowers that I split the proceeds with 50/50. And my 12 yr old nephew wants to grow flowers for me this year - last year when his family went shopping for garden plants, he bought some cherry tomato plants with his own money to grow for Auntie to take to market.

So not too bad for someone who had no plans to be a flower farmer...until last fall, hadn't even planted any flowers "specifically" to sell...have just been using whatever I had on hand around the house and in the gardens planted to bring in pollinators! But last fall hit every nursery and big box store for their end of season sales and went sort of overboard...now that this bouquet thing is taking off, time to get more of my stock from my own garden!

[Kind024]

4/20/19, I noticed some two spotted mite stippling on a few of the plants as I was moving them out to the porch this morning. After a thorough examination mites were found on #2, #18, #27 and #30. I scoped some of their activity under the few leaves that were colonized...after they were removed from the plants. Only adults and eggs were observed so I'm assuming they came from the wind, the dogs or me after interfacing with the great outdoors. The affected plants were spot sprayed with a neem oil solution immediately after noticing the mites. That evening every plant in the house was meticulously inspected for pests then taken to the shower and sprayed thoroughly with more neem. It was mixed at a strength of 1/2 TBS of neem oil per quart of water. It was emulsified with soap nut solution and a little Doc Bronners peppermint soap. The plants were set on a 5 gallon bucket and sprayed underneath the leaves first. After all the plants were out of the rooms and sprayed well. The rooms were scrubbed down with a light bleach solution. I dont use much bleach except for things like this. There weren't any mites on any of the other plants in the house.

 

Up to this point the infected plants were some of the more unhappy and unhealthy. That was before they had multiple days in a row under the sun which which I'd what they really needed...weak plants have a harder time defending themselves. Even resistant plants can be infected depending on the size of the infestation. The plants health has increased and no other mites have been spotted since. 

 

4/21/19, The ladies were transplanted into 3 gallon bags.

 

4/22/19, Some "new" HPS lamps were deployed, they looked new, but I'm thinking factory defects now... This is the first time I've ordered them online. The first one I turned on shut off before it was fully lit? It came on after the ballasts power was cycled. The plants looked worse under the "new" lamps than they did under the old ones? I was in the room the next day for a few hours and both lamps shut off and cycled back on in the middle of the day. I've used these lamps for years and never had anything happen like this. Usually plants respond positively when a new lamp is turned on...unless it's too close but that's not the case. Ive never had them shut off on the middle of a burn cycle either. I put the old lamps back in and these were returned to the sender. I'll drive to the shop and pay the storefront premium. If the lamps stop running for whatever reason within 12 months of the purchase date they are replaced without question.

 

4/23/19, The gentleman were transplanted into 3 gallon bags. A cover of last seasons reed grass from around the pond was added. A heavy duty shears was used to chop it up. 

 

4/24/19, A hand stirred tea was sprayed on all the plants and soil surface. 2 cups of worm castings from the porch was added to 2.5 gallons of clean water along with 1/4 tsp of molasses. This was stirred vigorously for the first 5 minutes with a kitchen whisk.

Then moderately for another 20 minutes. It was strained though a muslin bag and sprayed with a pump sprayer using light pressure.

 

4/26/19, All the plant photos were captured today. Also, the cuttings were taken at the end of this day. 

14 (#1 - #14) Mazari Ladies.

 

#10.

 

#12.

 

#14.

 

#1. After dark when she came inside...right before taking cuttings. One of the more fragrant plants in the group.

 

18 (#15 - #32) Mazari Gentlemen.

 

#20.

 

#16.

 

5/1/19, The newest members of the summer project. 11 Cornish Cross chicks. I went to get 10 and they had 11...I'm not one to leave one behind. 

These guys will eat about 10 lbs (about 1lb each) of starter fed in the first 2 weeks before they go outside in a mobile tractor. They will eat about 14lbs - 15lbs of feed each along with a little grass and some bugs to raise them to about 5lbs (hopefully more) of chicken after butcher. They will take about 8 - 10 weeks to reach the desired weight. This is the standard meat chicken breed. Cornish cross chickens were breed for their ability to turn less protein into more muscle/meat faster then average. They didn't breed much structure into this line and these birds have a hard time holding themselves up and walking after they reach a certain weight. I'll update the chickens progress too. If this run of chickens goes well, another batch will be raised after. I decided not to raise hogs this season because of a lack of a hog sitter in case family matters arise.

 

[Kind024]

A day in the compost...

 

This is what it turned into over the winter. This mix started with straw, grasses, comfrey, horsetail and a little basalt rock dust...no manure in this mix. This mound was over 6 feet when it started. 

 

As you can see its not totally broken down yet and is still a little carbon rich. It is crawling with worms at this point and would make great worm bedding, which it will eventually become. The worms will need this summer to finish their current project on the porch first. Till then I'll try to adjust C/N ratio in this compost and make a little more in the process. 

 

I was cutting some grass for the chickens pasture. They need short tender grass tips or they cant eat it. The grass was cut and collected from the pasture the hogs used last season. There is a notable difference in the nutrient load from the manure the hogs left inside the pasture...it's a richer green and a little taller than the rest of the field. Some miners lettuce popped up in there too. About 45 gallons of it was collected.  This will be more than enough nitrogen. 

 

Some of last seasons fallen Alder leaves for more carbon. Some old chopped up cannabis stems and about 2 lbs of dried flowers that were from the '17 outdoors season were added too...they were getting a little old.

 

Mix it all up and this is what you get...the precipice for alchemical gold!

 

I like to put a tarp over it to help keep the moisture more consistent. And keeps it from getting flooded in the rain.

After this is finished composting it will become the next batch of worm bedding.

 

The worm bin...

This started with about 160 gallons (finished) of alpaca manure/bedding that was composted over last summer. It was brought it in to fill this 200 gallon pot. Than 1/2lb of Red Wigglers and 1/2lb of European night crawlers were added. 

The worms slow way down in the winter but stay active within inches of the frost level.

 

Not much more to go...

When this is done it will need to be screened for grade and the 1/8 - 3/16 inch sift will sit for another 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch. Then its shifted again to remove the adolescent alchemists. Who will go back into the new bedding to make more gold.

 

Have a grateful weekend...keep it lifted!

 

[gorilla ganja]

I like your approach @Kind024 well everything except the 2lbs of dried bud. 

I am going to start a similar project soon but on a much larger scale. What are your thoughts on using wood chips for composting?

I seen a interesting video about chickens working over a compost pile.They supposedly speed up the process by digging though it for insects and adding fresh manure.

Have you ever let the chickens on your compost pile?

 

Peace GG