This one is a Watermelon Zittlez that I put behind a compost pile that I started recently made of chicken manure, pine shavings, straw, fish, and grass. I was hesitant to put it here because it feels risky, especially with all of the fish in it. The pile can attract animals and I’m worried it can blow pathogens onto my plant but we will see how she does.
The base soil is extremely sandy and also rocky. I dug a big hole, about 17 or 18 gallons then filled it with super soil and mounded more soil on top, totalling 20 to 25 gallons of my custom super soil.
I had to use the flash on my camera to take the pictures of the plant because by the time I finished my transplanting ritual it was mostly dark. Wish me luck!
It has been one full week, so I took a couple more pics. The plant has not grown much taller yet, but seems to be getting strongly established as the stalk is much thicker. Usually the first week after transplanting I don’t see much growth, but shortly after a week it begins to skyrocket. We shall see.
Yesterday I saw some bugs on it, flies actually. They looked like the same flies I saw buzzing around the compost pile after I added the fish. I did suspect the pile may draw bugs and I was right, but they haven’t done much damage, just a tiny bit. So tonight I sprayed spinosad on it and the one bug I saw feeding on it was dead as dead. Regular flies are far from the worst pest problem you can have, so things have been manageable so far. The night is young!
Of course that is okay! I’m glad somebody finds it interesting. Each of my three plants I am growing in different ways (ground, pot, and raised bed) and in different locations on the property so it will be interesting to see how they compare.
It has been one week so here are more pics. The Watermelon Zkittlez doesn’t seem to be growing as fast as Super Silver Haze but was put out a week later so maybe it will catch up. The Athena IPM and Spinosad sprays seemed to have made a big difference because this morning there were zero bugs on the plant. I was primarily concerned about bugs and pathogens with this plant, so emerging victorious over the bugs (at least for now) is a big win.
A couple days ago I gave her the first fox darm feeding. Big Bloom, Grow Big, Cal Mag, Boomerang, Wholly Mackerel, Kelp Me Kelp You, Kangaroots, and Microbe Brew. Used some pH up to balance the pH and waited until after balancing pH to add the beneficials. Last year was my first time using fox farm fertilizer and I wasn’t using pH up and didn’t have a pH meter so I caused some bad pH swings - the ground plants seemed to flush well enough it didn’t matter too much but the container plants got fucked up by the pH swings. I am thinking I will do much better this year. Growing is a learning process as it is not just our plant that is growing as we are growing right along with it. It is a mutual process in the relationship between human and plant as we seek to achieve harmony wirh the forces of nature.
Been another week so here are more pics. The fan leaves are getting huge, much bigger than my hands at this point. Very deep green coloring to the leaves, definitely well fed. Not too dark but just right.
It gets a few bugs here and there but overall the situation is under control. I use a few pest control products which I think makes a big difference.
Sorry for being a day late, had a busy day yesterday.
Here is an updated picture of the Watermelon Zkittlez. Just fed her some Roots Organics Buddha Grow, Alaska Fish Fertilizer, Medina Liquid Seaweed, Ful Power (fulvic acid), ION-14L (silicon and humic acid), fish sh!t (beneficial bacteria), and unleash (mychorizzae). Also put in just a tiny bit of buddha bloom to balance it with a little more phosphorous.
Very interesting… that is a lot of fish in a compost. @GreenJewels may be able to offer advice about planting so close t o a compost. I’m just now starting with a bokashi compost but haven’t decided on an area for a regular compost yet. I would, ideally, like to have it fairly close to where I would use it but I have a lot f places to put it.
I just read your original post about the compost. Surprised you didn’t get edited to take the ‘f’ word out. It’s frowned up on LOL
I actually am not 100% organic, I use what I csll a Synganic approaxh to get the best of both worlds. I start with an organic super soil, top dress with organic amendments / plant food, and also feed liquid nutrients which may be either organic or synthetic. The only synthetic nutrients I use are from the Fox Farm line, which itself is also a mix of organic and synthetic. I use Fox Farm about once every 10 to 14 days at half strength. So I am predominantly based on organic growing but occasional use of synthetics can provide amazing growth spurts and fine tune the NPK a little closer to what is ideal for that plants stage of life.
Sorry for not having updated this thread lately, I broke up with my girlfriend and my mental health has not been doing well. Here is the latest pic which is from two days ago.
Also here is a 15 minute tour of my garden that I recorded about two or three weeks ago
After taking the pics last night i did some heavy pruning, so next time she will look more lollipopped. I didn’t have to prune her very much compared to the others as her node spacing is very good. I have noticed plants that are directly in the ground always have nice wide open spacing between nodes. Container plants typically have the nodes scrunched together. This is because the canopy width is based on the width of the roots and if the roots sense restriction the branches won’t grow much wider but will keep producing more nodes. That causes shorter node spacing whereas ground plants grow more freely and unrestricted both at the top and the bottom. The container does not just restrict the growth of the roots. The plant grows in 4 directions at the same time and it aims to do so in a balanced way.
@GreenJewels Here are the latest pics of the Watermelon Zkittlez. Been feeding her plenty of nutes, the Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz, and Cha Ching are making the flowers go crazy. She probably will be ready in another three or four weeks. However, she is developing bacterial leaf spot so I’ll probably pull her in a few weeks. Watermelon Zkittlez has low disease / mold / fungi resistance. Last year the bacterial leaf spot ate pretty much the whole plant, although the plants were bunched close together so it developed much more quickly. I pruned her very well to increase air circulation and tomorrow i will begin using OxiDate 2.0, it is an industrial level fungicide used alot by dispensaries. It is mostly hydrogen dioxide, which is basically hydrogen peroxide on crack and it is considered okay to use until a day before harvest (id wait at least 5 days though).
She is definitely getting frosty and smells delicious. Roughly ten feet tall.
@Caligurl I took some more pictures yesterday of the Watermelon Zkittlez. I also put a couple of pepper plants out there - Carolina Reaper and Peach Ghost Pepper. I took some closeups of the Peach Ghost Pepper too.
Her white hairs are just starting to change color, so I suspect she has roughly a few weeks left. Definitely at least two more weeks. I’ll be keeping an eye on her with my jewelery loupe.
She looks amazing. I’d say definitely more than 2 weeks. y outdoor girls are normally done around mid October, but I have one 100% indicia that is just now starting to bloom so she will go down last (probably late October if not more)
I’ve been meaning to ask about your compost I see bread in it… are you adding bokashi to help break down everything? I have a bokashi bucket and literally any food waste can go in, even bones) but usually a regular compost is restricted to fruits, veggies, and brown waste (leaves, twigs, etc)
