Cone-head..?

This is a close up of a strange hops cone I found. It formed as the last outgrowth at the tip of the vine, and it's become a "leafy cone"..? Notice the leaves growing out of the cone..?!

There are no others I can see like this, like the growth was still comitted to vegetative tissue (leaves) as the cone 'set' in its growth around the leafy shoot tip..?

Growth gone Crazy..?

Normal cones are shown in the background

Golden Blonde and Green Hops !

This shot was taken Sep. 13 2006. Again I was trying to show the range of colouration that was appearing in the huge hops plant that has grown this year using the Advanced Nutrients products I tried. I used foliar feeding allowing lots torun-off into the soil.

I posted a shot earlier from Aug. 30, just 2 weeks before this, and the plant has continued to go-green ! The cone crop is also heavy enough to 'dangle' with dense, weight.

I have grown this same plant for over 8 years and it has never looked like this; I might have "overdone" the fertilizer inputs, or used so many growth enhancing products that these things just happen; cell growth is turned on almost uninhibitedly.

Look at the velvety, deep green on the leaf I'm holding, and the paler yellow ones that have a bleach-blonde colour. All the leaves have healthy tissue, but usually they are mostly yellow, never "all green". The cones look a little greener than normal too, but are incredibly fragrant.

I think I have overcome the (genetic?) mechanism that keeps Golden Hops the predominantly "gold" and yellow colour that is has..! We had a warm, perfect summer and this plant had experienced just one season in it's current location. I understand that this Golden Hops strain makes lots of yellow pigments that mask the green chlorophyll present. How has my rich nutrient program undone, overcome or modifiedthis genetic trait of Golden Hops..?

I used lots of seaweed extract, vitamins and the full suite of beneficial microbes made by Advanced Nutrients, on top of the 3-part Grow-Micro-Bloom base nutrient program they make.
It seemed like another wave of greening swept up the plant in mid August after I did one last feeding with Piranha, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice. I imagine this happened since a background of soil-bound nutrients was suddenly being force-fed to the plant, but who knows.

I continued to foliarly feed with Colossal Bud Blast and B52 until early September.

Early Hops Crop !

This is on September 10 2006.

My Golden hops plant has got a full crop of cones. But since I have no male hops plants around to pollenate this female has made seedless flowers. They just reek of strong German Beer when you crush one in your fingers !

Notice the way the foliage changes colours going from pale-golden to bluish-green ! That green colour keeps creeping up the plant; it's from from late season fertilizing with all my Advanced Nutrients fertilizers.

Still two weeks to go !

This was also taken September 12 2006. These grapes are going to be ready by October for sure!

Nutrient shortage ?

This is the nutrient defficiency I am seeing on my grapes. It's scattered throughout the plant but mostly on the leaves at the end of the longest vines. Leaves have green veins, and are pale overall.

I am wondering if the plant at this late-season stage is funnelling it's leaves' reserves into making fruit ?

Maybe this condition results before leaves fall off? If nutrients and reserves in the leaves and stems get directed into fruit production. So maybe this is normal ?

Advanced Nutrients makes that product called Overdrive specifically to feed the plant's high need for nutrition during the fruit bearing stage. I wonder if it prevents this from happening ? I found some reading about it here:

http://www.advancednutrients.com/advancepedia/product.php?productID=41&catID=18

Or, I wonder if this would have been avoided if I had carried on using Colossal Bud Blast and B52 for longer..?

However my fruit yield is almost insane !

Grape Explosion

This shot was taken Sep. 13 2006, showing how the grape crop I have Grown has been ripening well !.

What you can see isn't all of what's there, under the foliage it's ridiculously laden, full of bunches of grapes ! Look up to the left, it just gets thicker and thicker !

The fruit is still sour, but in three weeks I'll have to plan to make wine or juice, !

I used all my Advanced Nutrient's products onthis crop, but I think it could have been still undernourished. I sprayed foliar feedings once a week and applied all my nutrients to the roots as well.

Still, some foliage on the ends of the vines appear lacking in some nutrient; perhaps I need to feed grape plants this big with a much richer regimen.? I didn't use enough beneficial microbes perhaps..?

Deep Purple Peppers !

Sept 10 2006.

My jalapenos in close-up showing the spreading of pigments into the fruit.

It looks black almost, but this is the same purple that arose in the lowest branch points and nodes of the pepper plants after I applied Advanced Nutrients' mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria.

Apparently beneficial bacteria will live in any part of the host-plant, not just the roots. They will move all the way up the plant, causing growth to increase around them and 'upstream' of where they settle down to live. Like in those swollen, purple nodes I showed a awhile back. This 'black' pepper is growing out of a purple coloured node too.

I am amazed by the yield from all my pepper varieties !

Riddled with Hot Peppers !

Here is a photo from Sept 10 2006 of one of my hot pepper plants.

By pulling back the foliage I am trying to show the incredible load of fruit that's present; it's incredible !

This seems unusually dense with peppers, even for this variety. It appers like there was nothing that inhibited the formation and setting of flowers into fruit. Staring back in July every branch-point or node on the stem that could make a flower did, and continues to do so even in September ! This plant fell over with it's weight.

Wrestling Peppers ?!

Sep. 5 2006; the same pepper crop photographed with a flash !

Notice the purple steaks and the purple, swollen branch nodes.

I had to clear away foliage to get this clear view, but the whole understory of the banana peppers is like this.! Then there's a second crop of fruit set above this early set.

I am so impressed by the overgrowth of fruit.. ! Like it's impossible to waste any space when flowering is so dense, and fruit has to fight for space .! I have never seen this before, maybe it's not that unusual.?

I am suspecting that this over-flowering is caused by the symbiotic microbes I used in July and August; all plant growth became 'denser' and more branched or covered in flowering points once I added generous amounts of Tarantula, Piranha and Voodoo Juice.

Knots of Peppers !

This is a shot taken Sep. 5 of my banana peppers.! I have six plants like this, falling over themselves with the weight of their fruit !

Notice the purple streaking on some of them, this is showing up on all my peppers. I suspect it's the effects of beneficial microbes since this started in the nodes of stems much lower on the plant right after I used Voodoo Juice and the other Advanced microbial products (Tarantula and Piranha).

After using these products the stems got all swollen at branching points and then purple streaks formed 'upstream' of the swollen nodes. And then it seems as though the effects flowed all the way to the fruit... look at this yeild !

Curled Foliage

Sep. 5 2006

Only the Beefsteak Tomatoes have this strange leaf shape, but colour is close to normal, and leaves are expanded to full size.

I wonder if the growth straightens out at some later time.>? Or are the ripening fruits sucking out one or two elements required to grow flat leaves..?

I saw that Advanced Nutrients has a few products to assist with the nutritional needs of plants during ripening. It seems like a good idea to boost plant metabolism with assorted nutrients since the load of ripening fruit suck up water, sugars, amino acids and minerals.

"Overdrive" still seems like the most interetsing to me and my outdoor, foliar fed gardens. I like the fact that it has select vitamins, fulvic acid and minerals to increase P and K. The store clerk was trying hard to sell me on it, but I have a little Colossal Bud Blast still to finish this crop with.

The Poundage !

Sep. 5 2006... Look at the fruit ! inside the cover of leaves it's solid fruit in places ! Weighty !

I estimate I'll get 200 pounds of beefsteak tomatos by Oct 4.

But the strange leaf curl you can see has been increasing all week. Which nutrient is out of balance..? An overdose or lack of something..?

Sunset Showing Yield !

Sep. 3 2006

Sometimes the light is just right. You can see the fruit even if it's green.

Sky Bound !

Sep. 4 2006,

To contrast the buried potatoes growing underground, I have to show off my Paulonia, that now exceeds 7 feet !

I have decreased foliar feeding the whole garden, alternating with fresh water, but this huge surface area still get's it when I'm out with the dial-a-spray.


This tree makes massive fragrant flowers in the spring.

Potato Mound

Like a sarcophagus is underthere !... This photo still shows the streaks of black Humic acid powder I applied.

After it plugged up my dial-a-spray I just made a slurry of it and tried to 'throw' it evenly around the mound.

I thought I had found a cheaper solution to using extracted, liquid Humic acid, like Advanced Nutrients makes (Grandma Enggy's "H2" it's called) but no... not worth the hassle, and mess, and uneven application the powder offers. This year I chose to spend my money on the fulvic acid, but next year I'll use both.

Potato Burial

On August 30 2006 I layered peatmoss, some mineral soil, rich topsoil, and 7 bricks of Coir onto my Russian Blue Potato stems. I was hoping to induce a second crop of potatoes from the > 2foot long stems.

I built a "retaining wall" and covered the majority of the potato stems with this mix of media, and then tried to apply raw Leonardite I had picked up as a source of cheap Humic acids. I had a granular, dusty powder of "raw humates"; it was a mess to apply and plugged my dial-a-spray !

For next year, this area will be a turbo charged growing spot, as all the residual fertilizers and microbes from my foliar feeding will carry over. The soil gets warmed lot, and get's all my overspray from foliar feeding.

Photosynthesize me !

Aug. 30 2006

If only I could capture with a camera the "true" green in here..>! Sitting here makes me feel like I'm turning green too..!

CO2 is being supplemented by the composter adjacent to this part of the garden; the garden has swamped the composter

I water my compost bin as well to promote the microbial activity that makes CO2. Temperature, moisture, nutrition and soil-type are all ideal, and any 'spare' CO2 will get sucked up into that green jungle !

I was reading that Advanced Nutrients makes a product called "Overdrive" can boost photosynthetic capture of energy..? ...something called the Ascorbate-Mehler reaction discovered in the 1990's?

This stuff called Overdrive is formulated to promote the Ascorbate-Mehler reaction. Anyone tried it..? It's a "finisher" too with N-P-K low in nitrogen.

Ahhh That's Better !

Seeing this makes me feel better! Green and lush and loving it !

Apparently the male flowers of pumpkins are edible..?

This is the edge where the pumpkins escaped the battle with the potatoes, and can now free-range for foliar feeding !

Horrors !

Augist 30 2006. Powdery Mildew From Hell !

I have sprayed milk diluted in water, baking soda ( burnt some leaf edges), and earlier I evencut off infested leaves. Now it's too late to bother.

Is there even a living, photosynthesizing organism left under that ! ..? can it transpire water to the fruits to swell them up >!? This is the same variety of pumpkin as the others I have planted.

The store rep' I spoke with showed me an Advanced Nutrients product called Scorpion Juice that could be used to prevent this, but I would have had to be using all along to really exploit how it works. It induces plant immunity when you foliarly apply it, before the disease sets in. ... One for next year !

Only this one plant has proven weak enough to do that..? why ? .. the new soil and what else..? What's out of balance..?

The Powdery Mildew Free Zone !

Here is the comparison; this area is the old compost soil area. Growth is ridiculously lush and there's No powdery mildew as of August 30 2006 !

The Pumpkins have continued to grow leading out to the left of this photo, mildew free.

Imagine the joy of foliarly feeding all that !

Compare that to the next photo !

Powdery Mildew Sets in !

What a Bummer !.. This is my only pumpkin plant to give up the ghost to Powdery Mildew.

Here on August 30, 2006 you can see it has spread to about half the way down the vine. The disease started on the lower leaves and moved up the plant.

I believe it happened to this plant since it lacked something in the "new soil" it was planted in. My other pumpkins have not yet succumber to any !

As long as the vine stays intact and teh disease just covers the leaves, I hope the pumpkins keep growing !

The "Ripening" Formula

My watering and mixing station.

I was down to using just these fertilizers After August 28 , 2006.

I used the same rate, applying 1200 mS/cm EC maximum of just Bloom and Micro, plus all B52 and Colossal Bud Blast.

The Cherry Tomatoes had been ripening since August 15...

Yellow Tomato Yeild is Early !

Here are my Super Sweet Yellow Tomatoes, August 28 2006.

This variety certainly sets fruit sooner, and makes an effort to ripen faster. I've been eating these for weeks now, and some were already picked before I photographed this day.

I counted ten ripe ones when I took this photo, with some potato leaves in the way.

Beefsteaks ripen Slowly

August 28 2006; I can count 20 green tomatoes visible inthis photo, plus the one red one.

Under the foliage it looks like the previous two photos; over-burdened with ripening fruit !

I estimate September 25 before I need to start a big "harvest operation", and prepare a salsa-making-station !

In Earthly Light

The same area under the canopy of my beefsteaks; Unreal yield, I try to capture with a camera, but Green on green is hard to get !

Notice my tie-up technique, it doesn't pinch, and the branches grip themselves as I wind growth around the string.

Alien Tomatoes !?

I used the flash..! These are the fruit set on the "inside" of the plant's canopy. It's sick, massively over "hung' with fruits !!

I jumped back surprised at finding these ridiculous amounts of pale green tomatoes !

August 28 2006, and only one or two Beefsteak have turned to red; these look white with the flash !

Heavy Yield !

August 28 2006, trying to capture the fruit set.. ! This is what the outside looks like, check out what the the "inside" looks like in my next picture !

Tomato Yield

August 23 2006; my tomato patch in "new Soil".

Looking Good..! the fruit is starting to show, and those strings are taught ! When you open up the foliage and peek inside, it's amazing ! There's a frightening amount of ripening fruit !

I planted the cherry Tomatoes on the wrong side, as they cast a shadow in the afternoon onto the beefsteaks.

Pepper Yield

August 23 2006. My pepper patch, in the "new soil" area.

For perspective, I 'posed' my watering station; I set this up when I take out the dial-a-spray refill the reservoir right by my hose. The Voodoo Juice bottle was empty after this irrigation seesion.

The bottles are the same size, but the plants have gotten huge ! .. the flowers of the THIRD ! setting are showing through as white dots. These plants are held up by multiple stakes.

The photo below about "swollen nodes" was taken in this patch.

Potato Flower

August 14 2006

A picture of my Russian Blue potato flowers; these bloomed like crazy but I had hardly any blossoms on the yukon gold that grew in "old compost", it seemed strange.

But the Russian Blue potatoes are growing in "new soil" that likley has less background nutrients; maybe that's why they made a huge crop of flowers. I wonder if it is the variety difference of the nutrient difference that triggered lots of flower formation in the Russian Blues..?

POtato POwer !

August 14 2006.

I have two types of potatoes; in the foreground are the Russian Blue, and in the far corner behind the black composter are the Yukon Gold.

I buried the stems of the Russian Blue at the end of August, but all of my potatoes have been inoculated by spraying with Tarantula, Piranha and Voodoo Juice. Apparently it is common practice for farmers to use mycorrhizae on potatoes, a root crop.

Still No Powdery Mildew

August 14 2006; The pumpkin in the foreground is the only one I have that got infested with powdery mildew, but here it is still free of the disease.

Still dripping

I had just foliarly fed ...This shot shows the early fruit set; it's hard to photograph green fruit on green foliage and have the fruit stand-out. Beefsteak in teh foreground cherry tomatoes in the back

Huge Coverage !

I'm a chronic foliar feeder ! These are My gardens on August 12 2006; all the green you see was covered by one fill of my dial-a-spray.

One, 1 litre Jug of a dial-a-spray covers all this area; the "new soil" garden in the foreground, and all the background greenery, over in the "old Copmpost Pile" area near my cat.

I use 30 ml of these products in 1000 ml of the dial-a-spray, this is a 33.3 X dilution. Then I set the dial-a-spray to suck 60ml per litre of water passing through the nozzle; this is a further 16.6 dilution.

33.3 x 16.6 = 555.5 ! ... A 555 times dilution ! This is a high rate of dilution; these products I use are therefore very concentrated, as measured by EC or the look of my garden.

But I apply every 2 - 5 days depending on weather, and I use fulvic acid in most fertilizer sprays to help penetrate. There is humic acid in B52 and Colossal Bud Blast that will also act like fulvic acid, spreading, chelating, and promoting uptake.

The Smell of The Ocean

I should explain what I mean by the smell of seaweed extract. ! I spray Colossal Bud Blast on everything.

Colossal Bud Blast has a real aroma of seaweed; it's part of the ingredients.

I used to try to use a product called "Seaspray" that was a boiled-down liquid extract of Ascophylum nodosum. I tried to inject this stuff, but it clogged everything with stringy seaweed gel. I got fond of the aroma of seaweed then, since when I could smell it I knew it was getting onto the crops. If I couldn't smell it, something had plugged up.

If you get a strong concentrate, seaweed extract is really potent at promoting plant growth (auxins and cytokinins) and stress resistance ("betaines") so I was keen on using some. I bought Colossal Bud Blast since I was told it had some in it. And after smelling my garden, I'm sure it is loaded with it !

The aroma lasts only while things are wet; I spray the foliage the next day with water to wash and re-dissolve the "left overs" of the foliar spray back into the leaves and soil.

The Program

Here, on August 12 2006 the fruit is starting to show ! The strings are bearing some weight !

These tomatoes have been foliarly fed since planting June 12, using the ingredients shown here. I inoculated with Piranha, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice too.

This is the area I planted with "new soil"; I threw in peatmoss and worked it deep. All nutrition was delivered with a dial-a-spray using these products.

I used 30 ml of each product ( One Turkey baster full of each) in 1000 ml water, injected through my dial-a-spray set to 60 ml per litre.

My useage rates applied an EC of 1200 mS/cm, spraying just ONE product at a time. So for separately applying Grow, Micro, Bloom, B52 and Colossal Bud Blast, I had to spray five times... But it at 60ml/litre it goes by quick. I added 15 - 25 ml Fulvic acid to the Grow, Micro and Bloom sprays to help penetrate.

The "foliar feeding" runs off into the soil, so the plants get bathed in nutrition; the vitamins feed the soil microbes too. The seaweed extracts in Colossal Bud Balst makes it smell like the ocean!

See through Cells!

I was fooling around with the camera, and found this was an interesting shot; the sun shining through my Paulonia Tomentosa up close. This leaf is 2 or 3 times the size of my head !

A massive photosynthetic flag; sucking up CO2... pouring out Oxygen...

Imagine being able to shrink down to the size of a stomata, so you could crawl inside and hang out in this fleshy leaf ! the walls be would dripping wet, see-through, translucent green. You might see me coming with the dial-a-spray!

Unreal Foliage !

But No It's real .. ! It's so amazing to see this prehistoric size inmy backyard !

My Paulonia tree was just a 20 inch tall twig in the spring; by the time this photo was taken on August 14 2006, it was over six Feet tall !!

The pumpkin shoot "hook" that points downwards

Here is what I meant about the "hook" of the growing pumpkin shoot. A photo from August 24 2006.

This pumpkin shoot is so vigorous that it feels like a snake, it's "meaty" and thick, flexible but so "pumped" with turgidity it might "burst" if I hit it against something..! A living cord or rope that stretches 6 inches or more a day !

I have taken this photo to show the shape of the growing tip; on healthy plants it always points downward. When ever I have found a pumpkin shoot-tip that is not doing this, the vine has stopped growing. It must be a plant-hormone signal that keeps this "hook" shape and growth continuing..?

Powdery Mildew Free Season !

This photo of my backyard growing area called the "new soil" garden was taken on August 14 2006. This garden required continual feeding with my soluble fertilizers to keep well nourished. I also used my B52 and Colossal Bud Blast to supplement the basic Grow-Micro-Bloom fertilizers. All beneficial microbes were also used here.

There was a perfect point in mid August when all plants were lushly growing and not a stitch of powdery mildew was to be found, just liek you see here.

Then this one pumpkin plant succumbed to powdery mildew by August 24, and I noticed a tell tale sign showing this was happening. When the growing tip of the pumpkin shoot no longer "pointed down", it stopped growing and within 7 days the leaves were breaking out in white "dust". (see next photo)

Grapes Galore !

I like the freshly sprayed look of this shot, taken August 26 2006. Vitamins and biostimulants containing humic acid, and all essential minerals were foliarly applied with a "shot" of fulvic acid to help penetrate.

I had run out of Voodoo Juice, Tarantula and Piranha by this point, but I had generously inoculated the soil and leaves with these beneficial microbes for a month before this.

Ripening Grapes !

This photo was taken Aug 23 2006 showing my hops and grapes. The first colours of ripening are appearing in my Merlot grapes !

Notice the "greening up" of my Golden hops again !

This is an old grape plant, but I have only tended to it for two years. Last year the yield of fruit was not disappointing, but this season it has grape bunches that are at least twice the size as the ones I got last year !.. This doubling of fruit size and the abundance of bunches has me estimating about 200 pounds of grapes are going to be picked off this one plant!

Mature Hops Cones

On August 30 most of my Hops' flowers had turned into cones. Sticky and fragrant "cones" develop from little tufty, "buds" of white hairs. Such a distinctive "skunky" or musky-cheese-and-beer aroma when you squeeze a cone and crush it !

I am amazed by how "greened up" this year's growth has been; I have been propagating this Hop's root stock for over eight years ! It has never looked so Green ! compare the background green to the colour of a leaf in the foreground !

I moved to this house two years ago bringing a piece of the Hops' root stock with me. Last year I did not apply the Advanced Nutrients products I used this year; I just watered.

Although it's an "uncontrolled experiment" I am attributing the overwhelming "greening up" of my "Golden " hops to the potency of the foliar feeding I gave it for six weeks using Grow-Micro-Bloom with fulvic acid, and regular use of B52 and the seaweed extracts in Colossal Bud Blast.

Half-ripe Hops Cones

This is a picture taken August 18 2006 showing what female hops "buds" turn into when maturing. These are not fully ripe yet.

Golden Hops are typically all yellow, almost chlorotic looking; they make lots of yellow pigments that 'mask' the green chlorophyll that is also there. Look at the green shades in these leaves, the older ones are all green, hardly yellow at all.

I had been foliarly feeding this plant for weeks, and as a result the green colour began to overcome the yellow pigments. I watched the hops plant get a "wave" of greening sweep up the plant, begining from the oldest parts. This "greening up" then reached into the far ends of the vines, and if you can notice, it's just starting to happen in the leaves around these cones.

Battle of the Hops and Grapes

Another wall of green to foliarly feed ! The Hops are on the right, with the more golden foliage colour, and the "buds" of white hairs (pistils).

On August 12, my hops were still blooming, and no cones had formed yet.

I had been foliarly feeding these two plants with B52, Colossal Bud Blast ( Seaweed extracts!) and Grow-Micro-Bloom.

I used a little Fulvic acid in every foliar application of Grow-Micro-Bloom, and also fed these to the roots.

My kit of fertilizers was always augmented by mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria (Piranha, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice) which I fed to roots and sprayed onto shoots.

Hops on Grapes !

I have another experiment growing along the front of my house; a Merlot Grape vine is competeing for space against a Golden Hops plant. This is a battle of two vigorous annual vines.

This picture was taken in early August 2006; I'm holding the blooming shoot of the hops plant. The background is a grape leaf.

Hops (Humulus spp.) is so strange when it blooms. It's one-sex-plant (dioecious), so I have a female hops plant. These tufts, or "buds" of white hairs are waiting to be pollenated. They will grow into "cones" when mature.

Fulvic Acid for Foliar Feeding

Leaves the size of elephant ears love to be fed ! I foliarly feed with fulvic acid added to the sprayer.
I have ended up using 2 litres of this stuff in 6 weeks; I add 20 -30 ml to the 1000 ml volume in my dial-a-spray during every application of Grow, Micro or Bloom. Fulvic acid is a chelator /meatbolic-booster and helps cells to absorb the minerals I'm feeding.

Green Wrestling Match.. !

Or is it a Mosh pit..? .. a foliar feeding frenzy every time I spray with B52 !

Pumpkins out-grow their space...

With abandon!

This is August 12 2006, and the pumpkins have left the garden, growing around 24 feet of perimeter, swamping the potatoes; the next photo shows it too.

Blossoms like Crazy !

My experience with peppers is not extensive, but I have never yet seen such "hoards" of blossoms like I have tried to capture in this photo taken August 22, 2006.

Every overexposed white dot is a flower, and the smaller hot-pepper on the lower left kind of shows the amount of fruit I have setting.! Inside the plants are tonnes of set fruit.

I have three-teirs of setting fruit, the first is fully ripe. And there are constantly forming, new blossoms on the newest growth of all my peppers.

I am connecting this exaggerated, non stop flowering and branching to the swollen nodes that appeared three weeks earlier. This explosion of growth all began after I began to apply Tarantula, Piranha and Voodoo Juice.