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They ain’t jealous til they smell us

antheis

Active member
Veteran
The time has come to do my part on making icmag great again.
The goal of this grow journey is to showcase flowers and eventually put seeds up on the seedbay server fund. Both crosses that I make and seed increases of old seeds that I have. However, I have been having one hell of a time germinating seeds and keeping them alive lately and all that will be included in this journal.

I am growing in two boxes I built out of 2x4’s and 5/16” plywood. Earlier this month I converted one of them into a sip, or sub-irrigated planter. These were built without plans and are far from square but they get the job done. I used insulation spray foam when screwing on the plywood to ensure an airtight seal.

The lights are leds which I also built following the ledgardener’s design. I used 12 2 foot strips wired in parallel driven by a 240 watt driver. The total growing area is just over six square feet and the headspace is 40”. The drivers are remotely mounted on the top of the box and the lights are static. I’ve never had the need or desire to lower them.

First up is my sip box. Today was the first day of flower for the twelve cuts that are in it. 7 cjsb and 5 pole dancer. This is the first time I’ve flowered either cut.



Cjsb





Pole dancer (+1 cjsb in the back)




Unfortunately when I was taking these pictures I saw two fungus gnats. While they are little more than a nuisance to mature plants growing they can inflict damage on seedlings and it sucks to have bugs flying around the house. I just had a brief outbreak on my vegging plants and quickly treated them with a thick top dressing of diatomaceous earth to suffocate them. Knowing that if they got into this box it would be hard to kill them off. I’m not sure what I’m going to do to kill them now since all that is in that box is moist decaying organic matter.
 
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LouDog420

Well-known member
Tagged, always fun to watch the cjsb ;)

I usually just deal with gnats, but recently ran into an issue with pythium and they're a vector for it. Mosquito dunks will knock them out for a bit, but it seems to need reapplication otherwise they return with a vengenace. Both crumbled on medium and in reservoirs. Have heard good things about gnatrol but haven't tried myself. I would think with a sub irrigated planter you'd have very good luck top dressing with a layer of perlite or DE to make the top layer inhospitable.


Good vibes, pass the bong please
 

antheis

Active member
Veteran
Box 2

Box 2

Box 2 is still a conventional bed with the same dimensions.


In it are six cuttings of pole dancer at day 50 of flower





At the beginning of the year I had started a pack of these but never got them out of solo cups and they began to flower due to being root bound. I tried giving them more root space but couldn't get them back into veg. As a last ditch effort to save them I took seven cuts from 3 females and they all rooted. I was surprised and since I didn't label them I just saved the biggest one with the most roots as my mother.




These two look similar enough to call them the same. They have smaller buds and the smells didn't kick in until a week ago but look to be a solid 60 day strain. The fade started a 2 - 3 weeks ago.





The two in the foreground of these pictures are also similar enough to call the same. They are making very thick Buds and need help staying upright. The plant in the middle back looks like them as well but I didn't get a picture of it. You can see the wire I have helping hold it up.

The one in the back on the second picture had narrower fingers and deeper serrations. It also just started fading in the past couple of days. I believe (hope) this is the one I saved since I'm pretty sure I took at least two cuts of every plant that had branches to cut.
 
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antheis

Active member
Veteran
Thank you, gents, for popping in.

I am unsure of how well DE will work if it gets wet. I think the wick might be too big for this box because the top of the medium is always moist. I think what I am going to do is put down strips of panda film in between the plants an then put on DE.


I like to talk about my growing philosophy. I pop whole packs when I grow a strain. This is so I can see it all at once. If I crack just three or five and they all suck, I'm less likely to fool with the rest of that pack. Likewise if they're all great and I can't choose a keeper so I go and pop the rest thinking I'll get something like I did before, but then that's when I find all the duds, or males.

I also do this so that I can make increases of seed. Cannabis seeds, rightly or wrongly, are expensive especially for a hobby. I put in ten, or fifteen, or thirty to get the most genetic inputs as possible. That's another reason why I built these to be as airtight as possible - to keep pollen contamination down.

Now lately it has been biting me in the ass because all I have been doing is killing seeds. I just popped a pack of useful's chocolate diesel S1's and verdant green's c4dd and only 4 and 1 survived, respectively.

It hurts my heart and my wallet. So I'm putting all bought seeds on hold until I get my survival rate above 90%. Fortunately I have thousands of seeds that I made and a few freebies.


Lou! Quit hoggen the bong, and pass that shit!
 

antheis

Active member
Veteran
Thats hot. I need more dollar bills.
Don't we all?

I think all in I spent just under a grand and I bought enough led strips, drivers, and aluminum to build three lights. I need to get in that third one, but lumber is so damn expensive right now I'm trying to wait it out.
 

antheis

Active member
Veteran
I harvested one ppd on Wednesday (day 51) then the three big ones one Thurs. They finished much faster than I expected. The slowest one is looking like it'll be done in 60-65 days.

The ppd needs more veg time than I've given it the past two grows. It at most doubles in stretch. She starts making flowers and pistils by the second day of uninterrupted darkness. All of the purpling is showing up on the inside of the buds. Like a geode. Smells are developing, but banana, black berry, pineapple juice ferment is dominating today. I has been a sweet milk/cream with nutmeg and pepper.

The sip is moving along nicely.

Fifth day of flower

Cjsb side






Ppd side






I put plastic down to deter the fungus gnats. Seems to have worked because I've only seen two gnats since I did it on Tues/Wed.


Lastly, I messed up seeds again (bad dawg genetics freebies) . I started trials to see what I can do to become consistent in popping seeds. I'm using jiffy pellets and recycled soil in paper cups. Either will be a success if the seedling lives for a week after breaking ground.
 
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thailer

Active member
i really like this seedling soil recipe. i was having some problems getting them to break ground once they got in the containers after being germinated in a cup of water i set on a seedling mat. sometimes the soil would dry out and when i watered i would push the seed down. i tried this recipe and have had a lot better luck. it stays moist on a seedling mat a lot longer so they can break ground before needing watered again. the soil doesn't get a crust preventing them from coming up. if you don't have good luck with this trial, i'd try it out.

Using a 2cup measuring cup as a 'part':

9 parts (18 cups) Sphagnum Peat Moss
1 part (2 cups) EWC
2 parts (4 cups) Perlite
1/4 cup kelp meal
1/4 cup lime

that's a pretty cool sip box you built! i am using totes and its set up with a gravity fed reservoir.
 

antheis

Active member
Veteran
i really like this seedling soil recipe. i was having some problems getting them to break ground once they got in the containers after being germinated in a cup of water i set on a seedling mat. sometimes the soil would dry out and when i watered i would push the seed down. i tried this recipe and have had a lot better luck. it stays moist on a seedling mat a lot longer so they can break ground before needing watered again. the soil doesn't get a crust preventing them from coming up. if you don't have good luck with this trial, i'd try it out.

Using a 2cup measuring cup as a 'part':

9 parts (18 cups) Sphagnum Peat Moss
1 part (2 cups) EWC
2 parts (4 cups) Perlite
1/4 cup kelp meal
1/4 cup lime
Thanks for the mix. It may come in handy.



that's a pretty cool sip box you built! i am using totes and its set up with a gravity fed reservoir.
Thanks, I used the design from albo peppers on you tobe.
The box is far from perfect but it works. Sip is going great except I'm on high alert with fungus gnats.



You gravity feed the rez for your sips? That must give you a couple months worth of water? That's a reason I'm doing sips. It's the most consistent way to water plants long term.
 

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
Boutique Breeder
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
mold on organic soil is pretty normal, i get it growing in my soil bin.


Fungus gnats are a pain ! recently i found a new product called 'Tanlin' (nilnat) by a company called CX . some kind of inert crystal that the larvae eat and it kills them. Seems to work. expensive for a small bottle but used at only 2 drops per gallon and postage would be cheep.


The other thing would be a nematode treatment- which works well.


The plastic on the soil might reduce oxygen and cause things to fester after a bit.... soem people use a layer of perlite.


if you want to try something easy with seeds, just plant them in soil after soaking for a few hours.. about 1cm deep. i never pre-germinate seeds and get very good seedling rates.


VG
 

VerdantGreen

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Boutique Breeder
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for seeds i use:
3 parts peat
3 parts perlite
2 parts ewc


5g dolomite lime per litre of soil (20g / gallon)
5g seaweed meal per litre of soil (20g / gallon)
 

antheis

Active member
Veteran
I think I'm going to get rice hulls and use those as a mulch for the sip. I found a place kinda local and can get 50 pounds for $45
I know mold is normal, but cobweb mold kills seedlings quick.

Since this is a test and these seeds are more likely to be seed sprout tea than flowers - straight back to the soil bin.

I'll figure it out. This is just a hiccup. Will get some of that starter mix made up. I think I have everything except kelp.

I need to start a worm bin.
 

VerdantGreen

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Boutique Breeder
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rice hulls should work.. as long as they don't start breaking down.. some people use sand - just a case of creating a dry barrier.


any kind of decent compost is fine to use.


I use capillary matting/wicks to water my plants when i go away for a week or so. They work well but as you say, they keep the soil a bit too much on the wet side without allowing the soil to dry out on the surface at all... and that's when the gnats tend to move in. i have had a problem with this over the last couple years on and off.
One thing you could do is to hand-water the beds from the top and then you will be able to let it dry out a bit inbetween waterings.. like you say, with recycled soil containing a lot of decaying plant matter, the gnats can become a problem.


GL



VG
 

antheis

Active member
Veteran
Shout out to Shmavis for asking the question to get this gem.






The protocol I use is pretty simple.



5% bleach in autoclaved, distilled water with a couple of drops of Tween-20 per liter of solution. I sterilize the water in Duran jars (loose lids) in a pressure cooker @ 20 PSI for 20 minutes, and then allow the jars to cool under my flow hood and tighten the lids when the water has cooled. This is probably overkill for most purposes, but it's a variation of the protocol I use for sterilizing explants for tissue culture, and it seems to work with minimal contamination. You can get away with a drop of dish detergent instead of the Tween, I just have the tween-20 in the lab so I use it. If you are going to be doing a lot, you can order a few ml of Tween-20 on Amazon if you like.



First I rinse the seeds in a tight mesh strainer to remove any leaf debris that might be harboring bacteria or spores. These seeds were a little dirtier than most having been field grown, so you definitely want to wash away any superfluous materials. This can be up to a 5 minute rinse in lukewarm water. Cannabis achenes have a lot of little crevices where spores and bacteria can hide, so a thorough rinse is a wise step. Then I take the seeds and drop them in maybe 100-200 mls of the bleach/Tween-20 solution in an Erlenmeyer flask, but any clean glass vessel will do -the seeds should be fully immersed, maybe 2x the volume of water as seed.

You want to keep stirring and swishing the seeds around gently to ensure the current is washing away any contaminants. After a minute of swishing I remove the bleach and strain the seeds from the liquid and start again. No more than 3 minutes total, and if I see bleaching on the small test batch (always do a test batch to seed how the seeds react), sometimes I'll only do 2 minutes.

The next part is key. Immediately rinse 3-5 times (for 5 minutes per rinse) in the same sterilized distilled water (baby water / distilled water from Walmart or the local pharmacy is fine), again using a tight mesh strainer, or simply rinse the seeds in a different vessel with the same volume of water, at least 3 times to ensure the bleach is removed. I use a labratory orbita shaker, but you can do it by hand it's just a little tedious. Once the rinses are completed, soak the seeds in the distilled water as before, for 2-24 hours depending on the age of the seed and the medium you will be growing in.

Sometimes I'll use agar plates, but most often I'll just sprout them in paper towels and transfer to a light dirt (like Light Warrior for you Americans) or surface sow on a .peat based planting substrate. You can use whatever medium you prefer, it's not that big of a deal as long as the seeds remain moist.



HTH, -Chimera
 
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antheis

Active member
Veteran
Just got done giving them in the sip box a good looking over. The cjsb is nice and branchy. It looks like stretch is almost over. The main selling point for 12/1 veg light schedule was hearing that it can keep stretch down. After a year of doing it I think it does that a little too well.

the girls are getting funky early. Very ammoniated and smelling of catpiss. This is more a Casey Jones thing than sour bubble, right?
 

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