7 gal Compost, Gaia G, EWC grow (with issues)

[Stuntzii]

I have not been overly scientific about my watering other than recording how much I give and how long it takes for the pot to become “dry”. So far it has been working but as time goes on I am becoming more about precise about measurements in comparission to when I first started gardening! Just eyeballing everything lol

Plants are stretching and growing faster. I bumped up the heat and light intensity and growth really took off. I was vegging on the cool side and I think that is what slowed growth a bit.

Maybe I am over anticipating problems but what do you guys think about adding a tiny bit (lets say 1/4 dose of recommendation) of potassium sulphate during the next top dress? Ive read on a few accounts that Gaia G runs often have a bit of potassium deficiency. I do have compost and bunny manure in soil but compost could be too slow to keep up with the K demands of this rapidly developing plant. Again this might be overthinking it and trying to fix something that may not happen.

Also potassium sulphate can be organically sourced, but does it really matter for the home grower? I think it is more to keep up with standards set by governing bodies for organic produce. From what I have read small amounts of potassium sulphate shouldnt hurt soil life but is dubious as a truly organic amendment.

also two of the healthier fivestar have a bit of leaf tenting/funkiness going on. Maybe sensitivity to the nutrients. Seems to be a more temperamental strain, which is how it is described by the breeder. The fivestar in the back of the tent with the chickmagnets I will probably chuck as it has become an abomination lol

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I have not been overly scientific about my watering other than recording how much I give and how long it takes for the pot to become “dry”. So far it has been working but as time goes on I am becoming more about precise about measurements in comparission to when I first started gardening! Just eyeballing everything lol

Plants are stretching and growing faster. I bumped up the heat and light intensity and growth really took off. I was vegging on the cool side and I think that is what slowed growth a bit.

Maybe I am over anticipating problems but what do you guys think about adding a tiny bit (lets say 1/4 dose of recommendation) of potassium sulphate during the next top dress? Ive read on a few accounts that Gaia G runs often have a bit of potassium deficiency. I do have compost and bunny manure in soil but compost could be too slow to keep up with the K demands of this rapidly developing plant. Again this might be overthinking it and trying to fix something that may not happen.

Also potassium sulphate can be organically sourced, but does it really matter for the home grower? I think it is more to keep up with standards set by governing bodies for organic produce. From what I have read small amounts of potassium sulphate shouldnt hurt soil life but is dubious as a truly organic amendment.

also two of the healthier fivestar have a bit of leaf tenting/funkiness going on. Maybe sensitivity to the nutrients. Seems to be a more temperamental strain, which is how it is described by the breeder. The fivestar in the back of the tent with the chickmagnets I will probably chuck as it has become an abomination lol

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I hope you didn't pay much for that potassium sulfate. It's pretty cheap. I wouldn't worry about if it's organically sourced or not personally. I don't think it would really make a difference besides being able to say it's all organic but whatever. I'm not seeing any signs of K deficiency yet, but a little extra wouldn't hurt. I add it to my top dress mixes but I've also added it to water. How much is 1/4 dose of recommended?

 

[Stuntzii]

I hope you didn't pay much for that potassium sulfate. It's pretty cheap. I wouldn't worry about if it's organically sourced or not personally. I don't think it would really make a difference besides being able to say it's all organic but whatever. I'm not seeing any signs of K deficiency yet, but a little extra wouldn't hurt. I add it to my top dress mixes but I've also added it to water. How much is 1/4 dose of recommended?

I found some at a somewhat local place online. It’s organic certified and comparable to most prices I have seen up here in Canada organic or not, 14 bucks for 1kg. If I bought in bulk could be cheaper but it’s not too bad.

Most sources say apply after consulting a soil test but I have seen everything from 1tsp top dress, to 1-5 tbsp (buildasoil) per gallon of media. The website I purchased from recommends 5-10 millilitres per gallon of media for a top dress (even though it’s in powder form). Gaia has K and so does the compost so I don’t want to over do it. How much do you use typically?

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I found some at a somewhat local place online. It’s organic certified and comparable to most prices I have seen up here in Canada organic or not, 14 bucks for 1kg. If I bought in bulk could be cheaper but it’s not too bad.

Most sources say apply after consulting a soil test but I have seen everything from 1tsp top dress, to 1-5 tbsp (buildasoil) per gallon of media. The website I purchased from recommends 5-10 millilitres per gallon of media for a top dress (even though it’s in powder form). Gaia has K and so does the compost so I don’t want to over do it. How much do you use typically?

I've added it a few ways. I add it to mixes. So if I was to use Gaia Green Bloom I would probably add 1 1/2 TBLS per cup. That would make it approximately 2-8-8.6. I've also top dressed it by itself or mixed into a tiny bit of EWC just to distribute it more evenly. If it's clumpy you can blend it to mix it up really good and get rid of any clumps. I've also mixed it into water at 1-2 tsp per gal.

I've never had my soil tested but I knew it could use more. I've also used it when I saw a K deficiency beginning due to the fact that I added too much Mg from the langbeinite. The K in potassium sulfate is one of the more easily leached nutrients so I feel safe adding a bit extra. Build a Soil's amounts seem kinda high unless you really need a bunch. I would start on the lower site since you can always easily add more.

 

[Stuntzii]

The chickmagnet strain is stretching pretty intensely, long stems and wide gaps between nodes. I think this is typical of the strain but there is a pheno that is compact and doesnt have the same unruly side branching.

The one five star is still looking funky, it has been weird from the start. Somebody said nutrient burn and that could be. I have it tied espalier style up against the back wall of the tent. I am curious if this plant would have a increased chance of herming out, because of its stressed nature. Also hard to check on it at the back of the tent, Is it worth keeping do you think?

 

[Stuntzii]

Damm I think I just found male flowers on one of my “girls”.

I pinched them off, the plant looks otherwise healthy and is in 3rd week flower. They are tiny, and something similar was on another node, same plant. Say it ain’t so….
Should this plant get the axe ?

And if it is so, it would be a true hermaphrodite and more of a genetic trait, rather than a mixed sex plant sprouting nanners

 

[I Care]

I’d just rub all those little spots off of there around where you did your pruning. Just rub all spots off with fresh washed hands. Looks like that’s been happening to a lot of fems; the spots that have gotten attention.

 

[I Care]

Mainlining is known as something different now, but what I know as mainlining. Which was the practice of never topping or training as far as I am aware. I think that’s going to be the way to go with the more feeble fems.

 

[Stuntzii]

Mainlining is known as something different now, but what I know as mainlining. Which was the practice of never topping or training as far as I am aware. I think that’s going to be the way to go with the more feeble fems.

This is the plant I almost snapped the main stem in haft with my “training” technique lol . It healed over into a nice knuckle but stressed the plant no doubt. Also I turned the heat up recently, I keep it around 25 now but it went up to 27+ before I dialled it in.

Maybe this stress brought it out. I’m wondering if the plant is salvageable, it’s otherwise a nice plant but I don’t want to risk the other plants. Not even sure if they are male flowers but I think so…

 

[Stuntzii]

Maybe it wasn’t male flowers , I dunno. I’m still a newb and freak out over every little thing I’m keeping a close eye on that plant however.

Here is a better view of the chickmagnet phenos. One is stretched right out even after topping and lst. The other is well behaved and stays in this nice shrub form. Things are chugging along, I’ll top dress with a bit of bloom nutrients and compost next week, so far so good I think. Just started wk 3 flower.

 

[Stuntzii]

So the one plant definitely is sprouting some male flowers! Just a couple spots in the lower canopy, so far nothing in the upper canopy where to bud is. How concerned should I be about this?

I have read to just to pick them off (if they are few) and watch vigilantly for more. I am also curious whether a true hermaphrodite plant with seperate male and female flowers will/can also sprout “nanners”?
I would’nt mind getting some points of view or sharing of experiences.

It is a nice plant and it is a shame to cut it down, but also how much of a risk is it? Also the bud itself looks a little strange to my eyes, a few orange hairs already poking about. Thanks for the help

 

[Slebban]

Hey Stuntzii,

what a bummer with the pollensacs. I had plants doing this, just one or two, lower branches and then nothing more. And one time, kept one plant that continued throughout flowering which was just a ton of stress and work looking out for those sacs and still got some seeds. After this I always cut plants growing sacs because I dislike the work of picking them.

The risk could be that the other plants in your growspace might end up pollinated as well as the ‘herming’ one. If the plant throws a lot of them the risk is high. Also to consider is the work of spotting for sacs and nanners under the next couple of weeks. Guess it as well depends on what you plan with the final flower is. For your headstash a couple of seeds might be okay. And then you can check the plant for the upcoming days for more sacs to make a decision. If they continue to pop up and it becomes too overwhelming to hunt them, let the plant go.
It's freaking hard to cut down a fine looking plant.

For the orange hairs I have no suggestions. It could be pollinated but hard to tell if you picked the sacs. The nanners in bud structure are often easy to spot in their bright yellow. As I understand it's one day to week 4 and the strain could be turning orange. This picture of Chick Magnet is on growdaires at week 5:

Quite a count of orange hairs.


Wonder what the reason is? Maybe the Thai genetics or sensitivity of something that triggers the duality.

All the best,
S

 

[Stuntzii]

So far no more pollen sacks and it seems to be isolated to that one lower branch in a couple spots. I have been off work after a minor surgery so I have had tons of time to micro-manage my garden lol.

It was the one Five Star that had the pollen sacks, so far the Chickmagnet variety has been problem free except for maybe some light stress. The very end of the leaf tips are a bit burnt/yellow. Also some slight interveinal chlorosis in some major fan leaves. Especially the one phono of Chickmag has shifted to a lighter and bit more yellow hue of green. Maybe nothing major, but you notice these things when you don’t have much else to do! I am thinking about putting the exhaust fan outside the tent as I am maxed out on light height, 600w is about 16” or so from top colas. @ around 800 ppfd, so it’s not crazy high light intensity.

 

[Stuntzii]

I have a question about water ph and organic soil.

From my current understanding is water ph does not need to be adjusted (for organic soil) as long as it is close to the ballpark range of 6-7. However, if your water has abnormally high ph because of dissolved minerals (usually calcium carbonates?) then this may override your soils ability to regulate the ph. I would imagine abnormally low ph water would do the same.

If you continually water your organic soil with a wildly out of range ph it may end up causing your soil ph to drift and lock-out certain nutrients.

Now my own situation I am using rain water mixed with spring water. It is a local spring somebody piped out of the ground, it is for public use and I have no idea the contents of the water, other than lots of people swear by it and drink it straight up ! Reason I don’t use the house water is it is well water with softener (sodium) and no way to bypass.

So here is where I am at and what I am trying to figure out. I am using rain water cut with the spring water. It is my understanding that rainwater is like distilled water , it lacks almost any mineral content, it is often naturally low ph. Some say that this may lead to soil ph lowering overtime. Hence the mixing of the other water source, I am trying to buffer the RW with the minerals from the spring water (albeit blindly).

Even with mixing the water sources, RW and the spring water, the ppm reading is 50 ish, so this would make the reading off a ph metre not overly reliable. (RO and RW do not give reliable readings on ph metres) Would ph litmus drops be more accurate? How can I check my water ph accurately in this situation?

The advice I have seen given is to get the ppm number up with nutrients to get a metre reading that can be worked with, but with living soil or dry top-dress amendments you may not want to add anything more to your water source. Any thoughts on how to get a reading on rainwater and low EC , low ppm water sources?

I have seen some signs of something going on, changes in leaves I don’t think should be happening yet. Mid 4th week flower that may go to 9 weeks (a little early to be yellowing no?) Not sure what it could be, thinking it could be a soil ph issue. It would be hard to do a slurry test as the top layers are compost and dry amendments mixed together and it would be hard to get soil from the rootzone.

Ps sorry for the long-ass essay :/

 

[Stuntzii]

A little update….

Nearing the end of week 6 and the plants are fading and getting some nice color in the leaves. Five star is suppose to be an 8 week finisher and Chickmagnet 9 week approximately.

For feeding I used Gaia Green 444 all purpose and GG bloom, homemade compost, earthworm castings and dried rabbit pellets.

I repotted (into 7 gallon fabric ) right at 12/12 flip when the plants were about 12-14” tall. Top dressed at start of wk 3 (5 tbsp bloom and 1 all purpose + about a cup and a haft of ewc and compost mixed). Rabbit pellets were fed weekly as a crushed up top dress, about 10 turds lol. The feeder roots seemed to rise up out of the soil to latch onto to the rabbit manure, they loved it!

I then fed again mid week 5 w/ 3 tbsp bloom and some compost top dress (no more manure). Just plain water with ph drifting from about 6.4-6.8. Used lemon juice to drop ph of water.

The varieties: Both are super pretty plants. I especially like the old-school look to Chickmagnet. I think I lucked out with the phenos with Chickmagnet, one especially I am fond of. Long and lanky with pinkish buds, very unique! The Five star is nice too, very robust and a nice smell, like pine resin/bubble hash. Only problem with that is one hermed on me and the another one was very sensitive to nitrogen and has curled gnarly leaves (but the buds are still huge chunks on that one). The remaining Five star pheno is great, frosty dense buds, compact thick branches very sturdy.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the pics. Sorry about the long winded posts haha. I wanted to share what was happening as a record for myself and for anyone else who is interested. Thanks!

 

[Stuntzii]

Some of the flowers.

Chick magnet


Five star

 

[Slebban]

Really nice to see the flowers coming to a harvest! Looks tasty
Any thoughts of the grow, like methods or adjustments to change for the next?
All the best
S

 

[Stuntzii]

Really nice to see the flowers coming to a harvest! Looks tasty
Any thoughts of the grow, like methods or adjustments to change for the next?
All the best
S

Hey man thanks!

I think I will use bigger pots next time. The 7 gal worked pretty well but would sometimes dry out quickly at inconvenient times. I am thinking 2x 15 gal and just do more training to get a wide canopy.

Also looking to get away from perlite so I can recycle the soil back into the outdoors. Building a wood box for now where I can store used soil. Maybe add dolomite lime and a few things to re-charge the soil for reuse, any thoughts/tips on recycling soil?

Couple more weeks til these come down a think..

 

[Slebban]

Heya,

Sounds good with the bigger pots. I've been leaning for the same conclusion too. the only thing that's against it is it fun to grow more individual plants. But the 15 gal seems solid. Two plants could also be a good start for learning automatic irrigation like bluemat as well.

Was a great grower here on icmag before called heady blunts, who shared lots of information about living soil and blumats. Lil bit tricky to sift out the best information in all the posts tho.
https://www.icmag.com/threads/heady-blunts-living-soil-extravaganja.237170/
https://www.icmag.com/threads/heady...umats-and-the-wicked-lobstah-soil-mix.307883/

You mean no perlite because it breaks down easily?
I have tossed perlite in my pile, but yes the oldest pieces kinda easily crumble between the fingertips. Now I use pumice and clay pebbles instead. Also have a lot of decomposing wood chips in different sizes, thinking that the structure will create air pockets. wondering if biochar could store air as well.
In the pile, trimming and plant parts goes, also add household compost and half composted wood chips.
The pile is stores on top and under tarp.

For mulch I’ve kept planed wood scraps in the forest for one year. Some kind of local mycelium colonized it. Seems to work for something.

For young plants or seeds the composted soil seems to be a little bit to living. Seeds will germinate but with a higher rate of rot than in a root cube.
Perfect for the final pot with amendments.



All the best,
S