Ep 028: I'm Back: Day 30 Flower Audit & Cocktail Feed

0:00 — 1:00

Return welcome and day 30 status

Jeremy opens episode 23 announcing he's back on day 30 of flower after being gone 17 days. He thanks AJ for covering the series (AJ's first time on camera) and thanks the audience for being receptive to the guest host handoff. He's filming in the morning instead of the usual afternoon because he needs to catch up on neglected work and has already watered quadrant one before rolling camera.

1:00 — 3:00

Quadrant one — earth box audit and lower defoliation plan

Quadrant one is in earth boxes which self-run from the reservoir tube — the crew just filled the tube when empty. Jeremy notes feeder roots popping up through fresh material, suggesting they top-dressed a bit. He explains the slightly lighter green hue on the earth box side is a normal signature of having clean reservoir water plus top nutrients, which some growers swear by for a better fade and smoke. He plans to strip the lower branches now to stage harvest work and reduce later trimming burden.

1. 1. Check earth box reservoir tube — refill when empty
2. 2. Check top of earth box for feeder roots and fresh material indicating top-dress activity
3. 3. Observe leaf color — lighter hue is normal on reservoir-fed earth boxes
4. 4. Remove lower branches and larf now to reduce harvest trim burden later

3:00 — 9:00

Quadrant two — light leak, fan vortex and isolated pollination

Jeremy compares halitosis (longer hairs, smaller tighter calyxes, more stretch) against branson's royal (fatter hairs, swollen teardrop calyxes, shorter cush-cookie shape). AJ found a pollen sac on both genetics traced to a back corner light leak — a 6-8 inch opening above where employees were staying late during the season. The exhaust-to-intake air path creates a vortex directed at one trellis spot, where receded hairs and burn-rubbed leaves cluster. Crew patched the leak with cardboard. Receded hairs mean viable pollen hit; the rest of the tent is clean so it's isolated. He explains the corn-silk analogy: each hair goes to one ovule.

1. 1. Inspect under canopy for pollen sacs and nanners on both genetics
2. 2. Trace receded hairs to spatial cluster — look for local cause
3. 3. Check for light leaks in the top flap and back corners of the tent
4. 4. Map exhaust-to-intake air flow and find fan-created vortex points
5. 5. Patch any light leak with cardboard as emergency fix
6. 6. Continue monitoring — do not abort run if contamination is isolated

9:00 — 11:30

3x3 bed vs 10 gallon container nutrient dynamics

The take-and-bake 3x3 bed with four plants has excellent turgor, no discolored leaves and needs only water plus root wise biological and thermex 70 wetting agent today. The 10-gallon containers (only 7.5 gallons of soil) are showing faint lower-leaf yellowing because the plants are big for the container, top-dress real estate is running out, and soil biology can't liberate nutrients fast enough. Jeremy frames this as a buffet running out of lobster — the plant is asking for water-soluble supplementation to maintain balance through the rest of flower.

11:30 — 27:30

Mixing the organic flower cocktail feed

Jeremy mixes roughly 3.5 gallons of 10-stage-filtered water in a bucket for the chapin sprayer. He walks through each ingredient in order — thermex 70 wetting agent first so everything else disperses, build-a-bloom (micronized soft rock phosphate), big six micronutrients (humic acid carrier chunks settle, that's fine — decant off top), build-a-soil pure protein dry freeze-dried fish hydrolysate for water-soluble amino nitrogen, gypsum for calcium, seaweed extract for potassium and hormones, and root wise biofoss for flower biology. He stresses you can use any brand equivalents; the goal is a cocktail buffet not a single-nutrient fix. As a beginner alternative he recommends blue gold fusion flower — a one-part microbial-alive syrup with wetting agent, micronutrients and NPK already included.

1. 1. Run tap water through 10-stage filter — about 3.5 gallons in the bucket
2. 2. Add a few drops of thermex 70 wetting agent first and stir to soapiness
3. 3. Add build-a-bloom — about half a tablespoon per bucket
4. 4. Add big six micronutrient blend — roughly a quarter teaspoon per gallon
5. 5. Add pure protein dry amino acid — about a half tablespoon (quarter of recommended)
6. 6. Add gypsum for calcium — around one teaspoon, max one to two tablespoons per bucket this size
7. 7. Add seaweed extract — a small teaspoon; water will turn dark immediately
8. 8. Add root wise biofoss — slightly under a tablespoon for the whole bucket
9. 9. Stir thoroughly and let humic acid chunks settle; pour off top into chapin sprayer or bucket
10. 10. Apply to 10 gallon quadrant — about 3.5 gallons across four plants, less to the smaller rear plant

28:30 — 34:30

Quadrant four — indoor tomato failure and salad garden pivot

Jeremy admits he's been neglecting the vegetables. The peppers are coloring nicely and nearly harvest ready. The full-sized tomato has flower drop and bottom-end rot from inconsistent watering in a 3-gallon container — the nutrients are there but small containers exacerbate watering inconsistency. He proposes chopping the tomato and switching to a cherry tomato for abundance and daily harvest reward, and asks viewers to comment on whether to chop or transplant-up. He'll keep the kale and pepper, plant radishes for fast salad greens, refill with lettuce, and start sprout cups on the side for fresh food very quickly.

1. 1. Observe pepper color — red and nearly ready to harvest
2. 2. Diagnose tomato flower drop and bottom-end rot as a watering-consistency issue in small container
3. 3. Chop struggling indoor tomato rather than fight it
4. 4. Replace with cherry tomato cultivar for indoor prolific fruiting
5. 5. Keep pepper and kale; harvest around them
6. 6. Plant radishes for fast salad turnover
7. 7. Refill empty zones with lettuce
8. 8. Start sprout cup seedlings on the side for near-immediate fresh food

34:30 — 38:00

Quadrant one deep defoliation — strip everything below the screen

Jeremy returns to quadrant one to defoliate under the timber cob lights. Rule: strip everything below the trellis screen that isn't reaching the top — airflow plus avoiding worthless-to-trim larf at harvest. He leaves the top canopy untouched because the colas are evenly spaced. He hand-pulls most leaves but uses scissors on thicker branches to avoid kinking. Low branches with tiny underdeveloped flowers still get cut because he doesn't want to waste trim time on non-finishers. He'll also take the defoliation pass as an opportunity to re-inspect for nanners and hermie traits.

1. 1. Under cob lights, identify everything below the trellis screen that's not reaching top light
2. 2. Hand-pull healthy leaves off mature branches — quick and clean
3. 3. Use scissors on thinner branches to avoid kinking
4. 4. Cut low branches even if they have small flowers — not worth trim time
5. 5. Drop trim into bucket to feed to the worm bin
6. 6. Scan for nanners or hermaphrodite traits during the defoliation pass
7. 7. Leave the top canopy untouched where colas are well-spaced

38:00 — 39:14

Closing — FAQ solicitation and series momentum

Jeremy thanks AJ again and reflects on maintaining business-friend relationships with former employees. He asks viewers to drop FAQ questions on this episode since it's been a while, and flags that many recent comments were basics already covered in early episodes — pointing new viewers back to the archive. He frames this run as the first of many planned, asking for likes, subscribes and instagram shout-outs for momentum.