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Seeds, Soil and 16 Square Feet

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
"And so each venture is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate." T.S.Eliot

I flower my plants in a 4x4 tent, with a 1K HPS. The room is not sealed, and i rely completely on air exchange for my CO2 (no supplemental CO2). If you are looking for a large grow you will be disappointed here, since I grow only for my self.

I grow from seed or my own clones only.

My soil is recycled. It is about two years old right now, and just getting better as far as I can tell. My inputs are ALMOST all organic, with a few exceptions I will eventually discuss.

I am currently exploring Bodhi Seeds gear and have a keeper of Lucky Charms, and am sorting through four females each of Dream Beaver and Sunshine Daydream. I hope to have a keeper cut of each of these three by the end of the year so that I can explore the seeds I have for 2015 (Lotus Larry, Black Triangle, Superstitious, and Love Dawg). The only other cut I am currently holding is the HPRC cut of Ganja Rebel's Double Strawberry Diesel.

One final warning before you enter. I can be a grumpy fucker, and i have significant back pain so if i seem like a dick it's because I am one.

But I do love ganja. My goal is to grow what I like best, and I have no market to play to. I like it that way. PMed and moldy herb sprayed with godknowswhat? Not for me.

The number one reason I started this journal was to have a place to discuss soil.

I have learned a great deal from many people here at ICMag and want to make sure these discussions keep rolling.

A few days ago I posted this photo of my Lucky Charms keeper in the Bodhi Seeds info thread, it was grown from clone at 63 days flowering, water only, recycled soil. I will use it as a launch point for this thread with the promise of fresh photos to come.
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Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
My soil began as a soil-less medium, Pro-Mix HP. It was ammended with a complete dry organic fertilizer: Happy Frog Peace-Of-Mind Fruit & Flower 5-8-4, and a non-organic one: Marine Cuisine 10-7-7. I then added a bag of Buckaroo EWC. That worked well.

Using a complete dry organic fertilizer like Happy Frog or Dr. Earth is rather like using "cajun seasoning" rather than paprika, garlic, onion, thyme, mustard and white pepper. Some chefs may think that's cheating, but it works well for me.

Happy Frog Fruit & Flower 5-8-4
Ingredients: Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Hydrolyzed Fish, Fish Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Sulfate of Potash Magnesia, Blood Meal, Bat Guano, Rock Phosphate, Kelp Meal and Gypsum. Happy Frog Organic Fertilizers include mycorrhizae and humic acid.

My grandfather grew delicious tomatoes, peppers, avocados and apricots. The heart of his garden was his worm pile, which received coffee grounds, fish guts and banana leaves among other things. The product of that worm pile was his soil and his fertilizer. And the worms made good bait.

I purchased a worm farm and 1,000 red wigglers.
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My wife and I drink plenty of coffee, so a healthy supply of grounds was at hand. Other things that have gone into the worm bin include: fruit and vegetable peels and scraps, leaves, newspaper, paper egg carton, eggshells, coir, pumice, aloe vera, nettles, cannamulch (roots, stems, leaves, ashtray leavings, roaches, etc.), biochar (pecan, hickory, dogwood and mesquite), used soil, azomite, and rice hulls.

To recycle the resulting soil, which was obviously too precious to just throw away, I ammended it with a bit of Happy Frog POM and some homemade vermicompost in addition to the commercial EWC. That worked even better it seemed.

I repeated the same ammendents for the next round, and began adding significant amounts of rice hulls and some pumice each reammendment to lighten the soil which was becoming heavier. Additionally, I have added a bit of azomite and kelp meal to my regular ammendments.
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
Here is my "not-quite-organic" disclosure:

Marine Cuisine 10-7-7 Ingredients: Cottonseed Meal, Blood Meal, Earthworm Castings, Fish Meal, Shrimp Meal,
Crab Meal, Bat Guano, Seabird Guano, Kelp Meal, Urea, Ammonium sulphate, Calcium Nitrate, Ammonium Phosphate, Treble Phosphate, Potassium Sulphate, Potassium Chloride, Ferrous Sulphate, Iron Sucrate, Manganese Sucrate

Buckaroo Worm Castings (Sanctuary)
Worms fed with: composted forest humus, corn meal, greensand, azomite, gypsum, oyster shell flour, walnut meal and alfalfa meal (not certified organic)

I use Clonex cloning gel.

The Marine Cuisine is long gone, and I rarely use any commercial worm castings any more.
 

Bueno Time

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Nice thread start so far Siski, I just bought 2000 red wigglers myself yesterday to finally start some worm bins. 16 sq ft is a pretty humble size for a personal garden, mine is only 6 sq ft.

Anyway Im subbed up to see some more.
 

HatchBrew

Active member
Veteran
I grow in a tent too for just myself! Do outdoor as well. Nice analogy on ready to use spice mixes/fertilizers!

Subbed in.

Never dealt with any of the genetics you're after so it'll be educational on many fronts!
Switched to organically grown last summer, loved the results and experience.

All my soil from outdoor this year I dumped into a smart pot big bed and grew cover crops in it. Growing a lot of organic material for worms (which will help keep them warm for the rainy/cold season here) and compost bins. Keep cutting it back when it's about a foot tall. Will be amending it the spring time for use again in summer time.


Thank you!
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
Nice thread start so far Siski, I just bought 2000 red wigglers myself yesterday to finally start some worm bins. 16 qt ft is a pretty humble size for a personal garden, mine is only 6 sq ft.

Anyway Im subbed up to see some more.

Thanks Bueno, 6 square feet would be a challenge for sure. Welcome.

I grow in a tent too for just myself! Do outdoor as well. Nice analogy on ready to use spice mixes/fertilizers!
...
Never dealt with any of the genetics you're after so it'll be educational on many fronts!
Switched to organically grown last summer, loved the results and experience.

Thank you!

Discussing the strains I grow is one of the main reasons I was compelled to start this thread. Another was worms.
 

HatchBrew

Active member
Veteran
Never grown any of Bodhi's seeds, just checked their listings, wow they have a lot of choices!!

You have:
Lucky Charms = the white x appalachia (green crack x tres dawg).
Dream Beaver= dirty hippy (afgooey x snow lotus) x appalachia (green crack x tres dawg).
Sunshine Daydream= bubbashine x appalachia (green crack x tres dawg).

Dream beaver makes me laugh...and sounds like some fun stuff.

What kind of phenotypes did you see on the lucky charms? You seeing a lot of common characteristics across all three stains or fairly unique/different? because the appalacia in them.

HPRC cut of Ganja Rebel's Double Strawberry Diesel. Who/what is HPRC? is she stretchy? love me some strawberry, ran dinafem strawberry cough couple years ago, didn't find a keeper, but some decent smoke.
 

HatchBrew

Active member
Veteran
Do you perpetually flower or just load it up all at once?

Where do you veg? keep moms?

have you ever made any glycerin tinctures? just strained my first batch, it's great for body relief.

I'm just interested, not trying to critique, just a small grower as well, that tries to only spend money on electricity and occasional kelp meal or fish juice bucket.
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
Last year I read about Appalachia and I knew I had to go there. No, not the geographic region, the cannabis strain Appalachia which is "green crack x jj's tres dawg created by h&l."
In order to explore Appalachia, I ordered three packs of Bodhi Seeds from the 'bay when they appeared last fall. Bodhi's written descriptions set the hook. How could I possibly not want Dream Beaver? That name, the description "magical mammalian hybrid smells of muskrat, kitchen herbs, caramelized onion, baked garlic, animal den, she musk, pommellow, peppercorn, and pink grapefruit zest…no joke…. with a blast off sativa high that really gets you moving and grooving, and hefty yields of some of the most exotic buds
on the block."

Lucky Charms (The White x Appalachia)
Sunshine Daydream (Bubbashine x Appalachia)
Dream Beaver (Dirty Hippy x Appalachia)
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
What kind of phenotypes did you see on the lucky charms? You seeing a lot of common characteristics across all three stains or fairly unique/different? because the appalacia in them.

I chose between 2 females of LC. I chose my LC4. Some documentation here
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=6262234#post6262234

HPRC cut of Ganja Rebel's Double Strawberry Diesel. Who/what is HPRC? is she stretchy? love me some strawberry, ran dinafem strawberry cough couple years ago, didn't find a keeper, but some decent smoke.

DSD is Double Strawberry Diesel F2 clone

Double Strawberry Diesel = Strawberry Diesel x Strawberry Diesel

Strawberry Diesel = Kyle Kushmans Strawberry Cough x Sour Diesel IBL

HPRC cut of Ganja Rebel's Double Strawberry Diesel F2 (Winter 2012).

Flowering time 8-10 weeks. Usually done in 9 weeks.

Excellent yield. good smoke, distinctive flavor. easy to trim, good mold resistance. some sensitivity to fans/low rh, burns under intense light (keep at least 18" from 1K). appears to like a little extra nitrogen in the mix, yellows during senescence anyway. definitely improves and gets smoother after a few weeks in the jar. needs good support, weakish stems, heavy buds.
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Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
Do you perpetually flower or just load it up all at once?

Where do you veg? keep moms?

have you ever made any glycerin tinctures? just strained my first batch, it's great for body relief.

I'm just interested, not trying to critique, just a small grower as well, that tries to only spend money on electricity and occasional kelp meal or fish juice bucket.

It is a small perpetual system right now. I also have a Secret Jardin DR90T. The penthouse is for clones and seedlings, the larger area below is for the few mothers I keep and vegging plants. The DR90T is lit by T5 fluorescents upstairs and down.

You can get a peek at some cloning action in the DR90T here

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=278997

Never tried glycerin tinctures.
 

Siskiyou

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Veteran
Here is a look at my nursery, the top of a DR90T not very eventful at the moment, but the DB4 clones will be interesting. They were taken at 44 days into flowering (12 days ago). That will be the furthest into flowering i have ever taken a clone, but I am pretty confident they will take since they appear rooted, even though they have not yet begun to vegetate noticeably.

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In the red cups (I was out of 3.5" squares) are two clones each of the 4 Sunshine Daydream females. These were taken 16 days into flowering, since the seed plants did not branch much until then. No worries since I'm in no hurry for them.

I try to keep the humidity high in the nursery, 75% or so if possible. I do this by keeping it closed, and occasionally adjusting for higher humidity by misting with water or just leaving a dish of water to evaporate. I adjust for lower humidity by opening the door for a few minutes.


The veg room is the bottom of my DR90T.

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I keep this room less humid, 50-60%. It is lit by 6 2-foot T5s and is also the Mom room. Currently there are two mothers, in the back, DSD on the left and LC on the right. In the foreground, left to right are the next LC to flower and clones of Dream Beaver 1 & 5.

It took me longer to make the DB4 clones because DB1 and DB5 looked to be the standout females early on. Then, about five weeks into flower I began to notice unbelievably delicious smells from DB4. She is small, but fine. I can't wait to taste her. Likewise DB1 and DB5...and the 4 SDs...

I like the DR90T, since I get two rooms with one footprint. Anyone interested in this model should note that it is not quite 3'x3', it is 90cmx90cm. This matters when choosing a tray.
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
Here is the flower room, warts and all. In the front row, 4 Sunshine Daydream females at 18 days flowering, back left, the Dream Beavers at 57 days flowering. Back right, obscured by the SD1, is an LC at 30 days.

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Lucky Charms clone at 32 days flowering. I was a bit too late giving her the trimming and training she deserved.
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Dream Beaver #1 at 57 days flowering

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When the Dream Beaver seedlings got their first transplant, into 1 gallon containers, they began to show symptoms of nutrient burn. It was a fresh reammendment, and I figured I had been heavy handed with the organic fertilizer. Cutting that batch with some used soil that had not been reammended at all solved the problem, but the Dream Beavers suffered irreparable damage. They were transplanted once more into 3 gallon containers of properly ammended soil and recovered, more or less (Dream Beaver 5 more, the others less). The DB1 and DB5 clones are quite healthy, showing no damage.

This is the Dream Beaver #5 female at 57 days flowering. She looks like she wants to go 11 or 12 weeks but we'll see. Lucky Charms #3 was late to show ripeness as well, then ripened quickly between weeks 8 and 9. DB5 stretched MUCH more than the others. DB5 is about twice as tall as DB1.

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Siskiyou

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Veteran
I really should go to Blumats & beds. That style of growing certainly suits my inclinations. I have already purchased the Blumats. Once I have my select cuts of my current strains, it would be a good time to transition...

In the mean time, I use a few large rubbermaid-type plastic bins (30-40gallons) to recycle my soil.

Soil bin #1 holds the current batch of soil.

Soil bin #2 receives all used soil, as well as some homemade vermicompost with worms.

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That is one tray of vermicompost from the worm factory. Notice that some partially decomposed stems, rice hulls and bits of char are identifiable.

I use three terms to refer to the product of worm composting
-EWC is either vermicastings or vermicompost, whatever you've got.
-vermicompost is material that has been worked over by worms but has not yet completely composted, so still contains actively decomposing material as well as vermicastings.
-vermicastings are completely decomposed and finished worm castings.

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Here is my Worm Factory 360. I added two extra trays for six total. I kind of want a second unit, so that I could grow more worms, but I don't need them.
New scraps and worm food go in the top. Eventually the bottom tray can be harvested, and it becomes the new top tray.
This diagram is slightly different than the 360 but the idea is the same. I harvest vermicastings from the collection tray and vermicompost from a lower processing tray.
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
There are a few things I have learned from this method of recycling soil.

First, adding worms and vermicompost to used soil and letting it "rest" until the next round results in another large worm bin you have created. Those worms will continue to multiply as they work over the soil, adding to its life supporting properties and helping keep away anaerobic conditions in the soil with their constant tunneling.

Second, living soil grows. What started out as not quite two bins worth of soil has grown to 3 bins plus. Additions of EWC require some sort of aeration be added to the soil as well. The sphagnum and uncomposted materials in your soil break down and become finer over time, so in order to maintain a proper texture additions of rice hulls, pumice, perlite or something must be added as well. I like Rice Hulls, since the worms seem to love them and they break down slowly adding a natural source of carbon to the worm bin and silica to the soil. I also use pumice. I avoid additional perlite if possible, though it is in the Pro-Mix.

I also use straight Pro-Mix HP for cloning and seed sprouting, which then gets added to the working soil in those small increments (3.5" squares, usually).

I feed the soil...and it grows.
 

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
Here are a couple of photos of the Lucky Charms bud that is in the 1st picture of the thread after hanging for five days. It is frostier than it appears in these photos.
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You can probably tell that LC is ridiculously easy to trim.

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Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
I didn't document the early life of the Dream Beavers, but here are a few looks at the Sunshine Daydream seedlings that are currently 22 days into flower.

On September 4 I soaked 5 seeds in a shot glass of water, then planted them in straight Pro-Mix HP in 3.5" pots 24 hours later.
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On September 7 all 5 seedlings emerged.
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On September 16
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