SoilBible · Episodes · Ep 015

Ep 015: How to Defoliate, Clone and Top Dress Before Flip

· Jeremy walks through a heavy pre-flower workflow day on the 10x10 no-till project: he takes two-to-three clone cuttings per plant from the lower branches, soaks them in aloe and RootWise, then defoliates the lower half of each plant (cleaning the legs up) to focus energy into the top. He chops the removed leaves into the mulch, top-dresses every container with Craft Blend and worm castings, and waters in the compost tea brewed the day before — supercharged at application time with RootWise BioPhos and RootWise Enzyme. He also addresses one overwatered Branson's Royal Revenge, demonstrates that topping is not his normal approach, and explains the rationale for staging work rather than flipping to flower with a dirty, leggy canopy.

Topics

taking multiple clone cuttings per mother plant to hedge failure rates · using aloe and RootWise as a soak medium instead of sterilizing · defoliating lower half of plant before flip to flower · chopping removed leaves into the mulch layer as plant-feeding-itself practice · Craft Blend plus worm castings top dress workflow · adding RootWise BioPhos and Enzyme to finished compost tea at application · earth box as a forgiving self-feeding container · recovering an overwatered plant with tea rather than pulling it · staging work so no-till pre-flower is not rushed · genetic differences between Branson's Royal Revenge and Halitosis · timing the flip to 12/12 relative to cleanup and recovery

Sections

0:00 — 2:00

Intro — Day's Workflow and Compost Tea Ready

Jeremy introduces episode 12, points to the compost tea he has been brewing for 24 hours and says it is ready to use. He walks into the tent and lays out the day: take clone cuttings, defoliate and clean up lower branches, top dress with Craft Blend and worm castings, and water in with the finished tea. He flags that the back right plant is massive while two front plants are sitting below the screen, and announces the intent to flip to flower within two days.

  1. 1. Check compost tea — small foam left, 24 hours of brew, ready to use
  2. 2. Enter the 10x10 tent and survey plant size variance
  3. 3. Plan for the day: take cuttings, defoliate lowers, top dress, water with tea
  4. 4. Target the flip to 12/12 within the next two days (Friday)
2:00 — 4:00

Why Take Multiple Clones Per Plant

Jeremy explains that clones can fail even for experts, and that different parts of the plant carry different hormone concentrations, so taking two-to-three cuttings per plant hedges against loss. He notes that over-cloning lets you pick the healthiest, most uniform individuals; if he needed 10 to run, he would take 20 to 30. Genetics variance between Branson's Royal Revenge (pickier, larger leaf, uniform) and Halitosis (branchy, easy, not finicky) is previewed.

  1. 1. Decide backup target: at least one healthy clone per keeper plant
  2. 2. Take two to three cuts per plant when you only need one keeper
  3. 3. If building stock, take 20–30 for 10 final mothers
  4. 4. Label each plant by number (Branson's Royal Revenge #12, etc.)
4:00 — 13:00

Taking the Cuttings — Branson's Royal Revenge #12

Jeremy demonstrates cutting three clones from the lower branches of Branson's Royal Revenge #12, explicitly rejecting the need for alcohol, gloves, or razor blades — he uses hands and scissors. He walks through identifying branches that are too low, too small, or buried beneath the canopy, and selects ones with usable nodes. He strips the lower leaves, optionally scrapes the stem with scissors to encourage root break-out, and trims upper leaves down to make the cutting fit a dome without creating moisture pockets. All cuttings for one plant go in a single cup with the plant tag wrapped around the stems, soaking in aloe and RootWise with a little seaweed extract.

  1. 1. Skip alcohol sterilization, gloves, and razor blades — use hands and scissors
  2. 2. Identify branches too low or too buried beneath the canopy that won't make yield
  3. 3. Pick branches with usable nodes, coming from deep in the plant
  4. 4. Reach in and cut at the base so no broken stub is left behind
  5. 5. Strip the lower leaves off by hand or with scissors
  6. 6. Optionally scrape the stem lightly with scissors to open root sites
  7. 7. Some growers split the stalk for root exit — Jeremy skips this
  8. 8. Trim upper fan leaves to avoid them dragging on each other in the dome
  9. 9. Drop finished cut into a cup of aloe + RootWise soak
  10. 10. Take plant tag and wrap it around the stems of that plant's cuttings in the cup
  11. 11. Soak cuttings 1–24 hours max; refresh water if going beyond 24 hours
  12. 12. Put soaked cuts into cloning puck or dome before the 24-hour mark
13:00 — 18:00

Defoliation — Cleaning the Legs Up

Jeremy defines his defoliation rule: remove everything from the stalk up to roughly the halfway point of the plant, one branch at a time, starting from the bottom. He contrasts his method with the tomato-style approach of leaving the fan leaf and only removing the sucker — he removes both. The removed leaves go directly into the container as mulch, to be chopped up, layered with Craft Blend and worm castings, and watered with compost tea so they break down and feed the plant. He does not overdo defoliation because stretch will continue and more passes will happen — do it in stages.

  1. 1. Identify one branch at a time; work systematically up the plant
  2. 2. Starting from the bottom, remove everything from the stalk up to ~halfway
  3. 3. Remove fan leaves along with suckers (not tomato-style)
  4. 4. Drop removed leaves directly on top of the soil in the same pot
  5. 5. Do not strip more than halfway — save the upper fan leaves that catch light
  6. 6. Expect to repeat the defoliation pass one or two more times during stretch
  7. 7. Rotate the plant and inspect airflow and shape when done
  8. 8. Call this 'cleaning the legs up' — it increases airflow and reduces PM risk
18:00 — 19:00

Mulch Layer, Chop and Drop

Jeremy chops the freshly removed leaves in the pot with his scissors so they don't mat and block water penetration. He explains the BuildASoil 'use the plant to feed itself' philosophy and says the chop-and-drop plus Craft Blend plus worm castings plus compost tea will kick off the first two weeks of flower stretch. He admits this isn't generally recommended indoors but it is the BuildASoil way.

  1. 1. Chop the freshly defoliated leaves directly in the container with scissors
  2. 2. Goal: prevent them matting into a water-blocking layer
  3. 3. Leave chopped leaves as a fresh mulch layer for next step
  4. 4. Plan to add Craft Blend and worm castings on top before watering in tea
19:00 — 21:00

Recap — Finished Defoliation, Cuttings, and Overwatered Plant

Off-camera Jeremy completes all remaining cuttings and defoliation. He calls out one Branson's Royal Revenge that he overwatered earlier when rushing end-of-day watering and cites his own 'five percent rule' as the thing he violated. He will try to recover it with compost tea and careful watering rather than pulling it. He also notes he topped only one plant in the whole run — not his normal practice — because it was so big that topping let the side branches catch more light.

  1. 1. Finish remaining cuttings off camera
  2. 2. Finish defoliation pass on all plants
  3. 3. Identify the overwatered Branson's Royal Revenge (one leaf acting funny)
  4. 4. Plan recovery via compost tea and careful watering — don't pull
  5. 5. Note that one plant was topped to redistribute to side branches
21:00 — 27:00

Top Dress — Craft Blend and Worm Castings

Jeremy top-dresses every container with Craft Blend (his favorite 15-ingredient go-to with alfalfa, karanja, crustacean, gypsum, oyster shell, minerals) and worm castings. He prefers Colorado Worm Company castings (harvested fresh per order) or fresh from his own worm bin, but uses an already-open bag of BuildASoil castings today. He calls this 'lasagna layering', works the mix gently through the mulch with his fingers (not tilling), and explains that worms in the container will pull the amendments down. Earth boxes get the same treatment and he notes they are forgiving 'like a stomach' — a concept he credits to Alan Atkinson.

  1. 1. Measure ~one cup of Craft Blend per plant (half cup acceptable, do more later)
  2. 2. Sprinkle Craft Blend over the freshly chopped mulch layer
  3. 3. Add ~one to one and a half cups of worm castings on top
  4. 4. Work it gently through the mulch with fingers — not tilling
  5. 5. Ensure Craft Blend and castings make contact with the soil surface
  6. 6. Repeat for every cloth container
  7. 7. For the earth boxes, apply Craft Blend and castings on the top layer same way
  8. 8. For the 3x3 take-and-bake, lighter dose (soil tested high, good nutrient load)
  9. 9. For the big bed, half a cup per plant side-dressed around the base (not on stalk)
23:00 — 33:00

Brewing/Boosting the Compost Tea at Application

Jeremy explains his compost tea recipe is the simplest BuildASoil version: worm castings and molasses, brewed for 24 hours. He warns against brewing RootWise products inside a tea — they should be added right before watering in. He switches from earlier RootWise mycorrhizae to RootWise BioPhos (phosphorus-mobilizing bacteria) plus RootWise Enzyme because the plants are moving into flower. He adds roughly a half tablespoon of BioPhos and ~15 ml of Enzyme (label says 3–5 ml/gal) to the finished tea in the Chapin sprayer (nozzle removed to handle particulate) and applies it.

  1. 1. Brew simple tea: worm castings + molasses, 24 hours
  2. 2. Do NOT brew RootWise products inside the tea
  3. 3. At application time, pour finished tea into Chapin sprayer with nozzle off
  4. 4. Add a half tablespoon of RootWise BioPhos to the tea
  5. 5. Add ~15 ml of RootWise Enzyme (label 3–5 ml/gallon)
  6. 6. Shake to mix — compost tea does a good job agitating the additions
  7. 7. Apply — aim for well under 5% of soil volume per container
33:00 — 35:00

Watering In — Saturate Mulch, Not Earth Box Reservoir

Jeremy waters the tea into the top dress on every container. For the cloth pots, he saturates the top and gives a little into the root zone — conserving tea to make sure every plant gets some. For the earth boxes he pours the tea on the TOP layer, not down the reservoir tube — the reservoir gets plain water. The overwatered plant gets an extra dose of tea as an IV-style pick-me-up since root wise nutrients are immediately water-available.

  1. 1. For each cloth pot, saturate the entire top of the soil plus a little in root zone
  2. 2. Stay under five percent soil volume in water per pot
  3. 3. On the earth boxes, apply tea to the top surface only
  4. 4. Plain water goes down the earth box reservoir tube, not the tea
  5. 5. Give the overwatered plant an extra tea dose as direct IV-style feed
  6. 6. Only refill earth box reservoir when completely empty
35:00 — 36:33

Wrap — Recap and Flip Plan

Jeremy recaps a dense episode: defoliation, taking clones, top dressing, watering earth boxes, brewing compost tea, and recovering an overwatered plant. He reiterates the plan to flip to 12/12 on Friday (two days out) if the plants look good, otherwise delay until the following Monday after the weekend. He closes with a 'day one of flower' teaser and asks viewers to subscribe.

  1. 1. Let plants rest overnight after heavy defoliation and feeding
  2. 2. Check next day for turgor and recovery (especially the sick plant)
  3. 3. If vibes are good, flip to 12/12 on Friday
  4. 4. If not, keep on 18/6 through weekend and flip the following Monday
  5. 5. Mark the day of timer change as day one of flower

Notable quotes

"You can just rip them off with your hands, use scissors, whatever you want. I take clones all the time and I never really have a problem."

Rejecting the 'alcohol, gloves, razor blade' dogma around cutting sterility

"All I need is one slightly healthy clone that I can keep as a mom plant."

Explaining why he takes only two or three cuttings per plant as a hedge

"We call this cleaning the legs up."

Naming his pre-flip defoliation pass

"I don't like to overdo the defoliation because it's kind of a bit much and then the plant will tell you where it needs to be next."

Rule of thumb on staging defoliation across multiple passes

"The BuildASoil way is to use the plant to feed itself."

Justifying dropping chopped defoliated leaves directly into the container as mulch

"It's like a stomach — Alan Atkinson turned me on to these earth boxes."

The core earth box metaphor

"If you keep putting this off and saying I'll flower next week and keep putting off cleaning — that's where you can have those rounds that just aren't as healthy."

Warning against delaying pre-flip cleanup in no-till

"Don't rush it, just crush it."

Quoted from crewmate Daniel when Jeremy almost forgot to add RootWise to the tea

Glossary terms from this episode

aloe soak for cuttings · bonsai mom · candelabra plant shape · chop and drop / plant feeds itself · cleaning the legs up · cloning dome · Compost tea · cutting / clone · defoliation · earth box as stomach · feeder roots · five percent rule (watering) · flip to flower · kashi / bokashi · lasagna layering · microbial enzymes · mom plant / mother plant · Mulch layer · no-till living soil · node · phosphorus mobilizing bacteria · powdery mildew (PM) · rooting from hormone distribution · rooting puck · seaweed extract for cloning · side dressing · stem scraping / wounding · stretch · Top dress · topping

Products mentioned

BuildASoil Craft Blend · EarthBox self-watering planter · Straw mulch · BuildASoil Worm Castings · RootWise BioPhos · BuildASoil Light (soil) · Colorado Worm Company Worm Castings · RootWise (aloe + RootWise soak) · RootWise Enzyme · BuildASoil Take-and-Bake (3x3 bed) · Compost tea (BuildASoil simple recipe) · Kashi Blend (local) · GrowKashi · Chapin tank sprayer / watering can · 7.5 gallon soil in 10 gallon container · 3x3 bed · Big bed (in tent) · Grossmart humidity dome insert · Rooting pucks · AgSil (potassium silicate)