~[Kief Junkie & Q.K.] 250w Organic Soil NGB style MediCab (perpetual, var. strains)~

[K.J]

~[Kief Junkie & Q.K.] 250w Organic Soil NGB style MediCab (perpetual, var. strains)~

We're at it again! And not a moment too soon (actually, quite a few moments too late as we're out of our last harvest already!).

It's been some time but we're back in action with our 250w NGB style MediCab. This time we managed to finish the light traps/ventilation between the veg and flower rooms, so hopefully if all works correctly, we'll have our cab up an running in a perpetual system. We also did a redesign of the doors/front facing, and added an additional 4" hole in the wall separating the flower chamber from the utility chamber, both of which should increase and improve airflow throughout the cab.

Those who have followed our last 2 journals (linked in my sig below), know about our method and our hand built NGB inspired cabinet. Those who don't can check out all the details of our grows and the cabinet in those other journals, but to give a brief synopsis of our method:

The soil recipe we used is as follows. It was combined and mixed well in a large Rubbermaid tub for a total of about 25 gallons of medium:

6 parts Sunshine Mix #4
2 parts chunky perlite
2 parts earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 1 cups per cubic foot of the soil mix

Dry Ferts (per cubic foot of soil mix):
1/2 cup blood meal
1 cup bone meal
1/2 cup kelp meal
1/2 cup Jersey Greensand

All dry ferts were added to the soil mix and then the entire mix was stirred thoroughly. After stirring, the mix was whetted with a solution consisting of 1 tablespoon of Liquid Karma, 1/4 teaspoon Mycogrow Mycorrhizal fungi in one gallon of water.

Here are the dimensions of our design-

Overall cab dimensions:
4.5' tall x 5' wide x 2.5' deep

Individual room dimensions:

Veg/mother/clone room-
2' tall x 2' wide x 2.5' deep (5 sq. feet) [25 watts per sq. foot]

Flower room-
4.5' tall x 3' wide x 2.5' deep (7.5 sq. feet) [33.3 watts per sq. foot]

Utility room-
2.5' tall x 2' wide x 2.5' deep

The cab will consists of three rooms; veg/mother/clone, flower and utility. The veg room will be lit by a 125w cool CFL under a batwing reflector and the flower room by a 250w HPS in an air cooled Super Sun II. Ventilation consists of a 256cfm Canfan pulling through a CAN33 carbon filter. The veg and flower rooms both have a total of 3 1" PVC pipes bent to 90 degrees (at 2 points so as to block light from entering) for fresh air intake. The wall between the veg and flower rooms has the same type of PVC pipes (2 @ 1" ea.) connecting the two for airflow from veg to flower. From there the air flows into the Super Sun through one end and out the other via ducting, going from there into the utility room where it gets pulled through the carbon filter and out the 6" muffler connected directly to the hole in the back wall.

So far we have 7 little seedlings going in our veg room in rockwool cubes placed under a cloner dome. They are all TFD's Pure beans. It was one of the strains we did in our first grow and I really liked the results we got, so I decided to go for a full blown grow with these since we had the beans on hand. If all of these don't turn out to be female, we'll add either a few clones of another strain, or pop a few more beans from our small seed bank (we can only fit 6 pots in the flowering room at one time). The seedlings have only just barely (as in, most of them this morning) broken the surface of the cubes, so they still have a good 4-5 days before they'll be going into small 4" AirPots with non-ferted LC's mix.

Speaking of our soil, we currently have about 10 gallons of non-ferted LC's mix waiting to be used with the seedlings. The other 25 gallons of ferted LC's mix is in another container, cooking away in preparation for the transplant into the flower room. Unfortunately we couldn't find any powdered dolomite lime locally, so we had to order it online and are still awaiting its arrival. So for now, the soil cooks without much lime (I had maybe 2 tablespoons on hand, that I added to it already). I should get it in the next few days so we'll add it just as soon as we can.

We're using the 3 gallon Smart Pots again, as we rather liked the results we got from them last go-round. I wish they were a tad more sturdy, but if you pot them right, they're sufficient (just not good if you plan to do lots of LST, because the pots themselves are useless as tie-downs). We aren't doing any LST with these ones (we hope we aren't forced to, anyway), so that shouldn't be a problem. We're going to let them grow mostly naturally, with some trimming thrown in for good measure (I like to take off the bottom 6" before putting them into flower, to create a kind of grow line and to prevent the plant from using its energy on what will be mostly useless miniature flowers down that low where the sun don't shine).

I'll put up some pics soon. I hope to keep this updated as much as I did the last grow, but we'll see...sometimes life gets in the way. Either way, there will be regular updates. And of course as we add more strains and get into a perpetual groove, that will all be noted here. I figure one thread for a perpetual system is better than a bunch of threads for different strains.

I hope you'll all enjoy! Thanks for stopping in.

 

[StealthDragon]

sweet a new K.J. thread! best of luck, I'm subbed and lurking!

 

[K.J]

sweet a new K.J. thread! best of luck, I'm subbed and lurking!

Thanks for dropping in StealthDragon!

 

[K.J]

First pics of the girls

First pics of the girls

So I finally got a few pictures taken for you all to see. Not much to look at right now, but nonetheless. I took one shot upclose so you could see all 7 of the girls; they've all sprouted! There is one in the front though that is a bit weird. It came up later than the rest and always looked a bit different. As you can see in the pic, it has coty's, but no secondary set of leaves yet, like all of the others do. You can see little white bits deep inside the folds of the cotty's, but I'm not sure what they are. I'm thinking this little runt might be off to the slaughter...we'll see.

The rest are looking rather good and healthy. Very vigorous! They're getting tall and a few even have a tap root coming out the bottom of the cube already. It looks like they'll be ready to go into non-ferted LC's mix next week (or this weekend?).

Speaking of LC's, I hope to get the remaining ingredient today: dolomite lime. I'll add it to the already cooking soils as soon as possible. The ferted stuff will cook for a while longer still, but since the non-ferted stuff is needed shortly, I'm hoping the addition of fresh dolomite lime just a few days prior isn't a problem for the little ladies. If anyone can enlighten me, or ease my concern, please do!


All 7 sprouts (Pure); (1/8/10)

 

[K.J]

We have yet to receive our lime! Ugh! I'm praying it will be here tomorrow, then we can finally get this soil on the right track. I just got done stirring both soil containers, and they're both looking and smelling great. Hopefully it won't be an issue that we added the lime so late. VerdantGreen told me in another thread that adding the lime late shouldn't be a problem, especially in the non-ferted seedling soil.

And all of this concern is because the girls (we hope!) are getting very close to being ready to go into their small 4" Air Pots for some first round vegging. About half of them already have multiple roots coming out of the bottom of the cubes; I expect the others will be showing more than one soon too. They're doing really, really well so far (except for the runt, who still hasn't grown a first set of true leaves).

The temps are staying in the 70-72 degree range with the lights on, and down about 10 degrees with them off (there's also a seedling heater mat underneath the cloner tray, but it only marginally raises the temps...it's mostly good for evaporating the water in the tray to create humidity in the dome). This is great! I had worried a bit that we might have temp problems in the veg/clone/mom room...hopefully this temperature luck holds out once we turn the big fan on and start sucking tons of air through the cab.

Stay tuned!

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah KJ i once added a teaspoon of fresh dolomnite lime powder to a cup of acidic water. it had neutralised it within 2 hours so im confident that it works straight out of the bag

good luck with the new grow - ill be checking in from time to time

when you get used to the organics you should try germing the seeds in the light mix instead of rockwool as soil is much more pleasant

cheers

V.

 

[K.J]

yeah KJ i once added a teaspoon of fresh dolomnite lime powder to a cup of acidic water. it had neutralised it within 2 hours so im confident that it works straight out of the bag

good luck with the new grow - ill be checking in from time to time

when you get used to the organics you should try germing the seeds in the light mix instead of rockwool as soil is much more pleasant

Thanks for dropping by and imparting yet more good advice. I just might try germing them in the LC's mix next time (I won't have the lime problem next time...I made sure to order way more than I need right now).

 

[HerbGlaze]

You know I am always along for the ride K.G!

 

[K.J]

You know I am always along for the ride K.G!

Thanks for stopping by Herb! Glad to have you onboard.

 

[K.J]

Good news, bad news...

Good news, bad news...

So the good news is that the lime finally came and was added to the soils last night. Mixed in REEEEAAAL good, too. Then we spent some time preparing our 4" AirPots, filling them with soil, and transplanting the little ladies over (6 of them anyway, the runt that wouldn't grow its first set of true leaves was culled). So they finally were in soil and looking all good and happy. That's the good news.

The bad news is this morning when I peeked in on them, nearly every one was leaning over a bit or had wilted leaves to some degree. Some looked like they just needed some water, but others looked much worse off. I can only hope that it's simply a combination of not enough water, transplant shock, and a bit of shock from being under the CFL unprotected for the first time and that it'll all go away soon. I watered them a bit and shut the light off to give them a few hours of rest (they've been on pretty much 24/7 since they sprouted, because I've not yet set up the timer).

I'm about to go and check on them shortly, so hopefully they're doing better and looking happy again. I'll snap a picture either way.

 

[K.J]

Pic of the transplanted ladies

Pic of the transplanted ladies

I spent some time last night getting the cab all put back together. I put a new pre-filter on the carbon filter (if anyone knows how to actually use the tightening bands that come with a replacement pre-filter for a CanFan, please enlighten me, as I can't figure out what good those useless clips that come in the package are and there are no instructions). I also reattached the fan muffler and set up the filter/fan and powered it up. Then I did a light bleach wash on the interior walls and fixtures of the flower room, just in case the mites and their eggs are still hanging around. Cleaned up the HPS light bulb and fired her up...all is well there. And last but not least, I installed fresh filters on each of the passive intakes. She's working like a charm now!

The only thing we need to fix at this point is the light leak between the rooms. We finally added the ventilation/light trap pipes between the two rooms, but we still need to add another curve to help block the remaining light that shines through from the veg room to the flower room (hopefully one more curve will do the trick). We also need to do something new for the locks on the veg and utility room doors...they're just too difficult to lock and don't work very well. Other than those two items, I think this cab is about as good as I care to get it right now. My ultimate plan is to start drawing up blueprints for a new and improved MediCab and begin construction sometime next summer; there are a ton of little changes I'd love to make. We'll see how ambitious life allows me to get with it.

The ladies perked up after their watering and lights out, but they still look a bit worse for wear. I snapped a shot below. Maybe someone here can tell me what the crinkle/wilting is all about? I'm assuming it was mostly lack of water combined with more intense light which caused it...just bad timing on having them under-watered. But maybe the pic tells a different story? I have a feeling that at least 4 of them will recover just fine...it's the crinklier two I'm worried about.

All 6 seedlings transplanted and vegging (Pure); (1/12/10)

 

[K.J]

I just took a peek at the girls to check up on them and they don't seem to be doing too well, still. There are two that seem to have grown a bit and look pretty good in comparison to the rest. But the other 4 still look pretty sad and don't seem to have grown at all (you can spot them in the picture above; they're the worst looking ones of the bunch).

I'm getting a bit worried that they haven't sprung back from the transplant. Does anyone out there have any ideas on what might be going on, or what I could do to turn them around?

I gave them all a bit more water, though only one of them looked like it needed it (the top of the soil was dry, whereas all of the others had damp soil on top still).

Do they need food maybe? Most of the cotty's are still green, though one or two have started to yellow (and one of them had cotty's wilted so bad from the first downturn, that I wonder if they're feeding that plant at all).

Any pointers you all might have would be much appreciated!

 

[K.J]

STILL not looking too good

STILL not looking too good

Well, things still aren't looking so hot in the veg cab for our girls. Not sure why they aren't bouncing back better from the transplant shock/direct light/low watering situation, but they just aren't. A few look like they'll make it, but 4 of them are looking sorry and at least 1 looks like it won't make it too much longer. Just the vibe and visual I'm getting, not sure how accurate I am. Maybe they're still coming back?

I figure they need food soon, so I'm thinking of transplanting them this weekend. But for now, I'll at least water them with some LK added and possibly some molasses too. Maybe that'll perk em' back up.

Any ideas on what more/less I could do to save these girls?

 

[hisser]

Did you try superthrive? It's famous for its reviving capabilities

 

[K.J]

Did you try superthrive? It's famous for its reviving capabilities

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't currently use Superthrive (is it organic?). I did however use some Liquid Karma, which really seemed to help. I'll provide an update later today on where things are at.

 

[hisser]

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't currently use Superthrive (is it organic?). I did however use some Liquid Karma, which really seemed to help. I'll provide an update later today on where things are at.

Yes its natural, it only contains hormones and vitamins, lots of organic only growers use it, but please note that using it with auto-flowers before sexing might give more percentage of males, other than that its great, a drop or two per gallon is all you need.

Best of luck!

 

[K.J]

Another update

Another update

So I did the transplant into the 3 gallon SmartPots the other day. Well, not entirely true, as only half of the plants were transplanted. Let me explain.

So I had done the first two plants and they seemed not quite ready but okay enough to survive it (the roots weren't really coming like crazy out of "rootball", which really at this point was mostly soil). But then I got to the third one and I accidentally crumbled away a huge chunk of the soil to reveal the side of the rockwool cube. To my surprise, there wasn't much in the way of a root system. Don't get me wrong, I knew at this early stage it wouldn't be much, but I expected a lot more than this.

It was painfully obvious that it was too early to transplant them. I thought I had no choice as the cotty's seemed to be dying back quick and I knew they needed food (don't have any liquid ferts to give them right now). But now I can see that they would have done fine another week or more in the smaller non-ferted pots.

So I stopped transplanting halfway through. This means I have 3 in the 4" pots and 3 in the 3 gallon pots, with 2 of the transplanted ladies and 3 of the non-transplants in the veg room and the other transplanted girl all alone in the flower room (the veg room wasn't made to hold these larger pots).

As you can imagine, I prepared for the worse. I expected to wake up the next morning and see the transplanted girls lying over on their sides. But to my surprise, they looked just fine the next morning; no apparent changes at all.

Since then the girl in the flower room seems to have gotten taller and the leaves are spreading out wider. The plants in the veg room that were transplanted look pretty much the same as before, so I take that as a good sign that they're doing just fine. And the non-transplanted girls are doing REALLY well; they're outgrowing all the others (not as a result of not being transplanted; they were the strongest 3 of the 6 to begin with).

So for now, all is well. I put off transplanting the other 3 just in case I ended up killing the transplants, but now that things are going well I'm starting to plan a time to transplant these ones too. I think I'll give it until the end of this upcoming weekend and asses how they're doing then.

I'll take a pic and post it later.

 

[K.J]

Update w/ pics!

Update w/ pics!

Sorry about not getting the pic posted last night...got a bit busy. I just now took the below pictures. I should have taken them out from under the lights, but oh well. Unfortunately you can't see the runt too well; the picture just didn't turn out. The others faired a bit better.

As you can see, things are looking up. The girls in the veg room are still going gangbusters (likely transplant them Sat.) and 2 of the others are starting to perk up and make progress. It's just that one runt I'm worried about. She doesn't seem totally stalled, but damn close. Nothing to lose though, so I'll just keep her going until she either perks up or gives up the ghost.

Enjoy!

Vegging in the veg room (Pure); (1/21/10)

The runt vegging under the 250 (Pure); (1/21/10)

2 of our girls vegging under the 250 (Pure); (1/21/10)

 

[banjobrain]

Did you try superthrive? It's famous for its reviving capabilities

Guess who's back!

Superthrive IS good stuff and does work. However, if you're going to use it on teeny-tiny babies like this...I might suggest using just a teeny-tiny little bit (maybe 50% strength at best).

Hope your babies survive. I'm not an experienced cannabis grower, but I do have a green thumb, and well - cannabis is a plant, too.

Try not to transplant when those guys are so small. Regardless of plant, when they're still shooting out their teeny root hairs a transplant can be quite stressful - almost more detrimental than positive!

Good luck, KJ - and for whatever it's worth...I just threw some seeds in gro-dan mini blocks last night. I believe you could then transplant the block in it's entirety into whatever medium you choose to grow in.

I plan on going into netpots full o' hydroton, but that remains to be determined. For now, I just wanted to get something started...

This'll be a test run on my cab with all sorts of new goodies and a 250w MH/HPS combo. Glad to be back here...I'll be perusing your previous posts and threads for more infomation.

Thanks!

 

[K.J]

Try not to transplant when those guys are so small. Regardless of plant, when they're still shooting out their teeny root hairs a transplant can be quite stressful - almost more detrimental than positive!

Welcome back Banjo!

Yes, we're moving towards not transplanting them so soon. The only problem we have right now is that we're using non-ferted soil for the sprouts, so when the cotty's die back, it's time to feed them and we don't yet have a liquid solution we're working with to feed them, so we had to move them over into ferted soil. From here on though, we're going to use a liquid vegetation (organic) fertilizer to feed them after the cotty's die so that we can leave them in the veg room much longer before we have to transplant them into ferted soil and place them in the flower room.