This week’s Homegrown Helper is AJ Ortenstone. AJ joins us from Truly Oreganic farm in Oregon where they specialize in an ocean grown style, where they harvest all of the rainwater to feed their living soil fed plants. We discuss what it’s like harvesting rainwater so close to the ocean and some precautions that one might need to take if they choose to harvest their own water.
The grow that we dive into details about at the 17-minute mark is the grow that AJ currently manages. It’s 3000 square feet of full light dep, with 25-gallon living soil pots right on the ground. AJ says his biggest struggle with being in a fully light dep facility is controlling the humidity levels, and he has plenty of de-hus (dehumidifiers) rocking in the facility. They never put anything synthetic on their plants, and try to take the all-natural bio-control approach with their IPM practices as well.
Right at 20 minutes, we discuss AJ’s tip for growing the healthiest plants, which is getting a PH meter and properly adjusting the PH of your water/feed to ensure that it’s within appropriate levels and keeping your soil PH on point as well. AJ goes on to talk about liquid/synthetic nutrients and ensuring that you follow the directions on the bottle, as well as ensuring they do actually “buffer” the PH if that’s a feature that they offer. Always test the mix before putting on your plants.
We go into how important it is to grow organically for all phases of health, including my own and my experience with Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome. I reference the article Radioactive Buds on Big Buds Magazine and AJ shares a story about a fellow gardener using rat poison around his grow and then the poison becoming systemic within the plant and causing it to fail tests in the bud.
What should growers do in order to increase yield from a limited plant count? At 29 minutes AJ suggests paying attention to your water practices. Ensure your grow media is drying out properly and allowing the roots to breathe, but not allowing your plant to wilt. He suggests picking up your plant pot every day to learn where the sweet spot is to water your plants each time.
Diving into IPM at 35 minutes, AJ strongly suggests getting a small jeweler’s loupe or a handheld microscope to identify pests within your garden. Pay attention to your plants and if you find a problem, you can pull the leaf off, stick it in a Ziploc bag and use the scope to get a good picture of it. Then use the handy dandy Google to start to identify the pest. If IPM is your thing you should listen in at 38 minutes to hear AJ’s specific bugs that he uses in his garden.
What are the character traits that AJ thinks make the most successful growers? At 41 minutes, AJ says it’s the ability to ask questions. Asking questions is really the only way to learn what other people think and different ways to do something in the garden.
AJ’s last bits of advice for all the homegrowers out there are to have persistence and open-mindedness with this process. Keep going, we’re all learning, and we’ve all had the problems that you’re working through right now. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in order to gain knowledge. Be sure to connect with AJ @ajortenstone on Instagram and follow along in his grower journey.
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Our MyGrowPass partners for this show are Harvest Mutual Seed Bank, Danny Danko and The Amazing Doctor Zymes.
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