The BIO-BED Thread by Ludo

[Ludo]

I was so lucky to be talked into building a 'bed' and switching to bio....bit of a leap coming from Hydro, but so far I am not one second in doubt that I've made the right choice for me and my beloved plants.....
I have several different strains this run....lookin' for some gene for my breeding project. The strains are SourJack and HappyChem(karma genetics), OchoChinqo(Mosca Negra seeds), KaliBerry(Ludo), SnowDog xC99(head) call her Snowwhite, RedHerijuanaFruitSkunk x LemonThai(indica pheno), sssdh x NL, 2pounder x NL(all three by Lalandia) and after pulling a few mles a Chockolope OJD cut made it into a corner.....
Here are a few shots of the bed..

I planted a tension meter so I can tell when it's optimal to water.....a bit hard to lift this 2,2x1m Bed......hehe So far it's been working like a charm...!!!

They all have beautiful grow patterns and huge leaves..... love the shape of this one(2p xNL)


I switched to 12/12 yesterday so I'm very excited about the time to come.....!! I'll keep the post updated, thanx for stapping by and see you soon....

 

[jaykush]

looking very healthy there!

 

[habeeb]

nutes / dry nutes used?

looking good

I love when people run one strain, but I also love when people run multiple strains

 

[spurr]

Hey Ludo,

I can't see the pics, are they uploaded to IC or an image host?

"I planted a tension meter"

Do you mean a tensiometer? If so what brand and model? What kPa are you watering at? And what is the media mix?

I ask because tensiometers are great tools that very few people know about or use, def. the best way to know when to water. The only problem with them is knowing at what kPa to water for media that is not soil; ex. peat, coco, bark based that are much lighter (less bulk density) then soil. Peat, coco, etc., mixes have much lower kPa range for ideal moisture content and easy to use water (low tension). For most loose mixes watering when kPa reaches 5-8 is a good starting range.

I have a great article on this topic (well, I have many papers on this topic but one really good one) from Irrometer, makers of the best tensiometers (IMO). If you like I could upload it; the article isn't public.

After talking to Watermark/Irrometer folks they convinced me to use two levels of tensiometers, one in the upper area of media and one in the lower area of media due to the different moisture contents of a media. Also, they gave me a great hint that when trying to figure out what kPa to water at it's best to watch the rate of kPa increase, when it's increasing fast plants are using water fast (and/or "evapotranspiration" is high) and when it slows the plants are not using water well; the point between fast and slow is a good goal of when to water.

That said, I think the best way to find what kPa to water at is using a few of the same test mixes (without plants). Once the kPa reaches 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, etc., test the media moisture content. When the moisture content is ~45% the corresponding kPa is when to water.

A moisture content of 45% is as low as we should go, and 65% (max 70%) is as high as we should go. The reason to find the kPa corresponding with ideal moisture content is each media has different kPa corresponding to the ideal moisture content of 45% to 65%.

Peat and coco mixes (with the same amendments) should be pretty close to the same kPa levels when it's time to water; but not so with soil. FWIW, Irrometer makes special tensiometers for light media such as peat, etc.

Here is how one can find moisture content of media. You can use a oven set to 105-110'C for 24 hours, or use a microwave for 10-20 mins (with a glass 1/2 full of water in the microwave) but using an oven is the simpler method):
http://compost.css.cornell.edu/calc/moisture_content.html


Looking forward to seeing your pics and hearing about your use of tensiometers. You are the first cannabis grower (besides myself) that I have ever seen mention tensiometers...I'm stoked your using one!

yrs, spurr

 

[spurr]

nrvmnd, I found your pics at imageshack. My security settings does not allow one site to load images on another site (using the Firefox add-on "RequestPolicy"). FWIW, you may want to considered only uploading cannabis pics to ICmag, then you can post them in-line in your posts.

Those pics looks good and healthy, nice job so far! I noticed the pic of your water meter, that doesn't look like a tensiometer, it looks like a moisture meter. Is it a moisture meter?

Uploading cannabis pics to a US based image host (with or without a proxy (i.e. Tor)) is not a good idea IMO. It not only exposes your IP address to the host (if you don't use Tor), but also exposes ICmag to the host. I use Tor for any cannabis stuff, so my IP address isn't linked to the imageshack pages of your pics, but anyone who views them in full will have their IP address linked to the pics if they don't use a good proxy.

Just food for thought to keep folks safer...

 

[VerdantGreen]

yep love tor/vidalia - especially with macs

those plants look very healthy indeed. kudos!

VG

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Looking great, look forward to seeing these strains kick off. Your plants look extremely happy.

Cheers
Smiley

 

[GDK]

Beds rock....you wont regret it..

Stay Safe

 

[supermanlives]

very nice i noticed the blumat sensor. are you gonna use blumats some day?. i wanna do another bed as soon as i get a few new moms

 

[guest2012y]

I ran beds for a while....they did alright. I like the overall greater soil mass benefit,it makes for a happier soil community. I forget why I ditched them,I think it was a space issue or something. Anyway,they look good...is this a organic living soil?

 

[ixnay007]

..is this a organic living soil?

Isn't that redundant ?

 

[Ludo]

Thanks a lot guys......for the kind words and for the new ideas/info. I love to learn about these lovely plants and everything that follows along with it....such as tensiometers/moisturemeters, nutes etc.

Answering a few questions......
First of habeeb: I use BAC organic fertilizer, with a few tweaks. I use House&Garden RootsExcel(great stuff). I use molassis and algemix from biobizz for spraying and the molassis also in the feedingwater.

spurr..yes hehe...a tensiometerb and yes, mine is a moisturemeter(sorry) , but I'd love to hear you have good info on meters, would love your article..!!! The one I have is from Blumat, but the range shown on the display is in psi, and it goes from 0-500. where 0 i moist and 500 completely dry. I aim for 100-150, like you said....they suddetly speed up the water intake so I'll have to learn when they are just about to do so and then water at this point...amkes very much sence!!!!! As to the mediamix, I used unfertilized peatmoss2parts pottingsoil unfert.2part perlite 1 part and kompost(mixed with some of my gardensoil to lower ec) 1part. I filled up the bed with the soil and let it sit for 5 days(warming it up and letting it colonize) before planting into it.
I'll look into the imagehosting....thanks for bringing to my attention.

supermanlives, I have thought about using them, but since I feed them liquid fertilizer there will be to many problems with clogging I believe. For watering I have a 60l(15gal) bucket in which I mix the nutes. I throw in an airstone for the night before adding nutes, mix the nutes in the morning and since I have it raised over 'bed' level I can simply water with a hose with a shower-thing on it.

Yaeh Capt.Cheese, space is def. an issue, it is not something you can move aroud very easy. I have around 900 liters of soil and the frame...almost a ton.....so where the tent is now.....it stays!!!! hehe So I hope I found the right spot.........I have a smaller version also, 1x1m veg with 400w and bloom with 1000w....swoooshh. I 'only' use 600w for veg and bloom over the larger bed.

I just shot a few this morning...here they are

it's time to mix the feedingwater........


nice dark green 2pounder x NL


yeah today I crawled under the canopy....it looks nice from there to....stems are fattening and hardening...they are thriving.....I'm so happy


So.....that's it for me for now.....again thanks for the kind word, constructive crit., and just for stepping by....!!! Good karma to you and yours.....ti'll next time....

 

[MrFista]

Beds on Wheels.

I love my bed too but it is not movable and it is too big to pick up (one side being part of the concrete foundation of the house doesn't help either). I want a moisture meter that txts me when it's time to water the plants like in science daily recently.

Beds on wheels. Get two of them you can have a race, add some decorations and enter them in your local parade. Public activism is fraught with legal difficulties, but not if your growbed doubles as a getaway vehicle.

Green transport, I hear it's the new thing.

Are you going the recycled soil route? the no till route? Or testing the water and see.

 

[redneck shogun]

I wonder if you could use sprinklers like a miniature lawn?

 

[guest2012y]

Isn't that redundant ?

I wouldn't say so. This is the organic soil forum and when I see healthy green plants I ponder the feller's soil mix. You'd be surprised at the variety of mixes that do well...or don't.

 

[3rdEye]

Very healthy looking bed Ludo. That's a big box for sure! 1 ton? Under canopy looks very happy too.

 

[Ludo]

uhhh I've been a bit occupied the last days, but here I am again.....thanks for the kind words....
Mr.Fista: I'll recycle the soil...makes most sence in my world, having the different bakteria and microbes allready present so why not just feed them and let them take care of the next batch aswell....
redneck shogun: I bet you could.....I'll probably try out different methods, right now it's just gravity helping me water, but I have a pump from hydro that I am going to clean and probably use for moving the water. And I've been talking with Toker about useing a driphose also.....but don't think my gravity setup will be enough preasure to make it work.
The 'ladies' are now 12 days into flower......not many hair yet but they are still stretching. Gave them the first bloom fert. yesterday morning, they have had only veg fert and a bit of bloom stimulator till now.



last male going.......only babes left



I'll be back in a few days with more pics....ask awy if there are questions.....I try my best to answer sane and correct........good karma to you all......

 

[Ludo]

quick pic update





Im a happy biogrower........

peace
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[Microbeman]

beds beds beds you betcha. I used stacked beds that worked great and saved light and space but you need strong!! floors

 

[Ludo]

i have neglegted you guys so badly.....i am sorry!!! So in an effort to make up for it, I have put together a little series of pics. From start flower to now....few Indicas harvested and flushing the bed for 3 days now. I decided to let the sativa's take the wheel and give them nutes a few weeks longer.
The pics start a few weeks into flower, when the first budsites appeared.

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Last picture was taken 3 days ago, and I'll be back in a day or two with an update....have to make a mense....! Thanx for stepping by.....good karma to all of you...