Bloodmeal

[Eleven11]

Yep, amazing growth spurt after using this stuff. Looks like the last dosing is winding down again though.

[attachment=0:27oq4k56]2.20.12 Water tests.JPG[/attachment:27oq4k56]

[Eleven11]

Captain's Log... 2.27.12

It would be interesting to compare the growth with and without bloodmeal but here are the results I've had "with".

This is from February 14:
[attachment=4:11fe54dw]2.14.12 Bed3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

This is the same bed today.... February 27:
[attachment=3:11fe54dw]2.27.12 Growbed 3.1.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

Update March 1 after tasting some of the different types of lettuce... very tasty
[attachment=2:11fe54dw]3.1.12 bed 3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

Update March 4
[attachment=1:11fe54dw]3.4.12 Grow Bed 3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

Update March 10 - I've been harvesting from this bed, otherwise it would be fuller looking. Also, some of the tomato plants were pulled because they were malformed with no new growth.
[attachment=0:11fe54dw]3.10.12 Grow Bed 3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

[urbanfarmer]

Your plants have more color than you. I'd say they're doing alright!

[davidstcldfl]

Your plants have more color than you.

It's not nice to make fun of those poor yankees....

[Eleven11]

So how did your blood meal experiment go David?

I'm planning on holding off on supplements for now and see how it goes. All the plants are looking healthy as hell now. The peppers and cucumbers are still slow growing but have nice color.... yep way more color than me

Your plants have more color than you.

It's not nice to make fun of those poor yankees....

[davidstcldfl]

So how did your blood meal experiment go David?

Not as dramatic as yours....
The systems I added to are mature systems and pretty large in volume of water ( a few thousand gallons). I only added a 1/2 to 1 cup in each, depending on the gallons.

[Eleven11]

The only other thing I did was add the iron chelate which was about a teaspoon to each grow bed and a bit of hardwood ash which I added on the 11th or 12th I think.

You can see that the nitrogen readings went back to being low after the initial spike and remained low. I would have added more blood meal but I was waiting for the nitrite level to return to blue but it still hasn't returned to blue.

Hopefully the system will be able to sustain itself like this without any supplements. I'll see what happens.

Here's a link to the Iron Chelate that I used...

http://www.amazon.com/Grow-More-7451-2- ... B004G1GDK0

[Eleven11]

I added a small amount of blood meal to half of the line of bell pepper plants and they are now noticeably larger than the other half that didn't get a dose. Instead of just adding the dose under the water spout, I decided to add some right next to the plants that were lagging. I dug down to the water level and sprinkled it there and then moved the grow media back.

I added some more today, to dose the rest of the pepper plants. Here's the Nitrite test of the fish tank water before adding the next dose of bloodmeal today... I'll be checking it again for the next few mornings.
[attachment=1:30m1k5vu]3.10.12 Water test - fish tank 2.JPG[/attachment:30m1k5vu]

Current pix of Bell Pepper Plants... Can you guess which spots the blood meal was previously added? Hint: Not on the right side
[attachment=0:30m1k5vu]3.10.12 Bell Peppers.JPG[/attachment:30m1k5vu]

[Eleven11]

Captain's log 3.11.12...

Today's water tests look good. Nothing to see here... move along... move along

[attachment=0:27ek76a5]3.11.12 Water Test - fish tank.JPG[/attachment:27ek76a5]

[Eleven11]

I added some strawberries to the beds yesterday so I figured I'd sprinkle a few more tablespoons of BM around and wash it into the media with some water. Looks like just a touch of ammonia and nitrite in the fish tank water today.

[attachment=0:3u4goszx]3.12.12 Water test - fish tank.JPG[/attachment:3u4goszx]