Team Microbe's Quest into True Living Organics (2014)

[Team Microbe]

UPDATE (4/4/14)

UPDATE (4/4/14)

Critical + (indica pheno) Week 4 -

 

[Team Microbe]

UPDATE (4/4/14)

UPDATE (4/4/14)

Gro-Kashi coming to life

mycelium

Ancient Japanese/Korean farming methods have recently been brought to light in the cannabis community and there truly isn't a better place for it to be, seeing as we're using this as medicine (or most of us are at least). So if we're using this plant as medicine, we should be growing it like it IS medicine; and grow probiotically. Food grown probiotically has incredibly high nutritional values compared to food grown with GMO's for example. So imagine the potential of probiotically-grown medicine....

Gage Green Group focuses on these practices as well, and it clearly shows in their quality IMO. Overkill is underrated in my opinion as well, and following ml dosage instructions on the backs of bottles couldn't be further from where we should be as farmers - considering we're growing for medicine with good morals and not profits and greed.

 

[Team Microbe]

UPDATE (4/4/14)

UPDATE (4/4/14)

Goji OG cutting - I love this strains structure more than anything I've ever grown!

Girls veggin out

Drain to waste table - different cycles

lil babes

 

[Team Microbe]

UPDATE (4/4/14)

UPDATE (4/4/14)

DEM Lush Roots FTW - Make sure your mycos concentrate on endo's and not ecto's because cannabis only responds to endo's! Products like Great White is an example of this. These companies depend on ignorant growers to waste their money on this crap - and to top it off Great White is something like 80% filler! DEM Lush Roots is only 53% filler and my girls love it

I put my seedling beer cup and all in the pot before filling in with soil. This way I can literally cover 100% of the surface that the new roots will touch... works very well and makes transplanting less messy

Topped with Gro-Kashi (bokashi)... and now I'll throw a circle of high N fertilizer (alfalfa meal) to feed the soon-to-be high microbe population. On top of that will be a small coat of compost followed by mulch to keep everything happy underneath







NOTE:

This cycle has been full of new surprises and learning experiences; being it my first true TLO grow. I've learned that porosity is vital in living soil, and without it micro populations will diminish and even turn anaerobic if given the opportunity. Mulch is such a key factor to a TLO garden as well, I couldn't source any for a while and I saw my growth slow significantly every time my soil dried out too much (killing most life in my soil). These mistakes are lessons on what to do next run though, so I've learned to take them with a grain of salt so-to-speak. Another "whoopsies" I've done is imbalancing my soil's bacteria/fungi levels with too many compost teas dominant in bacteria. This locked out a few of my Critical Kushes and another Critical + of N mid-flower.

I'm currently working on raising my fungal populations but I'm not sure if I can at this point, any help or pointers are very appreciated.


Other than that, things are going smoothly and I've been spraying preventative foliars (DEM's natural mystic & compost teas) so nothing besides fungus gnats have been popping up in the garden. Those things are annoying but I don't know any way of killing them off without doing damage to my soil system at the same time! Again, any help is very welcome!

 

[Hmong]

I am also taking a seat here. Very good thread

I don't want to interupt, just drop some maybe viable info for the european readers on availiability of some stuff used in US lecture.

After some intensive studie into ACT and mykorhizza in coco, i finally landed in organic growing topics. So i decided to make my first DIY soil(less) on a coco base.

60% coco
20% Perlite
15% EWC
5% Biobizz Premix
3ml/L Plagron calzium kick (CaO,MgO)
7ml/L diatomaceous earth
21ml/L Seabird N Guano (local garden center)
32ml/L Bat P guano (Plagron)

I converted the ml/L variables from cps/gal I had read back then, so you're free to do the math once more

I transplanted from 3,5L coco into 7L smarts in only moist mix without additional watering. the rootzone was topdressed with neem cake and mykorhizza. Three days after transplant i applied a tea.

15 liters RO
36h brew
200l/h + 400l/h air pump with 4 air stones. (gonna get something real for now, this was just improvised)
5 hands EWC
1 tea spoon blackstrap molasses + another tsp after 24hrs
1ml/l Bio Bizz Alga Mic (kelp extract, have no kelp meal availiable)
1ml/l Bio Bizz Fish Mix (fish emulsion)

and damn it smelled good, like forest floor

this plant is 2 weeks into the mix, 1 week into flowering.
only plane water since the tea. love that s**t
after suffering big time from root aphids, its almost black now.
too bad I don't have any before pictures, but it wasn't anything you would want to photograph.

 

[Hmong]

Those things are annoying but I don't know any way of killing them off without doing damage to my soil system at the same time! Again, any help is very welcome!

never used neem before?
you have to check on ozzies neem threads, its amazing.
I am using it against RAs and it really starts to work.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=260048

 

[Rickman]

Nee-mo Info About Neem?

Nee-mo Info About Neem?

Howdy!

Since neem was mentioned I thought I'd share a little something I found researching pest-combatant products safe for use with a TLO style.

OMRI listing is nice to have on the label of your product, in fact, let me take this opportunity to share what's been an incredibly useful resource--a government website! Go figure. When considering any new product, I always search the database on Oregon Department of Agriculture's Registered Product Reference

Now, as to the Neem. I've noticed several "neem" products with OMRI listings however some contain true neem oil, while--many--others contain clarified hydrophobic extract of neem oil. One OMRI-listed (feel free to check the database!) neem oil product I've found is Neem Pro by RoT organics. Their website makes quite the case as to the difference between the two types of "neem" found in horticultural products. However much they embellish the degree of difference between the two, there's no getting around that it's both OMRI listed and neem oil itself, not the leftovers of some extraction process that took out what I'd wager are significant benefits to neem's effectiveness.

 

[Rickman]

Mulch Obliged Sir

Mulch Obliged Sir

Dude the tips above the mulching tips are golden as well, I overlooked them when first reading through for some reason. Thanks for sharing!

Probably because I am the worst at being concise! Anyhow I'm trying to keep it down to stuff that's just helpful for people trying organics rather than rehashing TLO book or overdoing it on my own grow updates.

Although, I'm actually going to take some pics and toss out some observations very soon!

Also, those pics are looking quite nice. That is one clean setup.

Cheers!

 

[Bambøø]

3ml/L Plagron calzium kick (CaO,MgO)

Nice for humic clay complex. I like your thread, need to read your pages

"french" kiss ! XD

 

[Bambøø]

And awsome Myco development!

 

[Team Microbe]

And awsome Myco development!

Thanks

 

[Team Microbe]

Probably because I am the worst at being concise! Anyhow I'm trying to keep it down to stuff that's just helpful for people trying organics rather than rehashing TLO book or overdoing it on my own grow updates.

Although, I'm actually going to take some pics and toss out some observations very soon!

Also, those pics are looking quite nice. That is one clean setup.

Cheers!

haha mulch obliged... I like it

Thanks man, I'll be looking for those pics

 

[Team Microbe]

So flowering has hit the 30 day mark, time for some bud shots! These are all of the Critical + girls I pulled outta the tent tonight:

A fungal dominant compost tea really kicked these girls into gear this week, I'm also noticing a big increase in watering needs. Not a problem bitches! You can have all the water and tea you'd like....

 

[mik']

you work is cool my friend!

 

[KeepItGrowin247]

Care to share the recipe ? and I'm really interested in using DEM products aswell been following them on IG for a lil while now. But still have alot of the amendments from mixing my soil so thats what im using now for teas..Last run just used water only but this run i'd like to get a nice schedule going for bloom to give whats in my soil an extra boost. So any input on teas and tea recipes for bloom is greatly appreciated! This thread alone is why i made an account, our setups are very similar and when i dump my 4x8 tent I will build a room exactly like yours. killer thread brother and i think youre doing good work ! Organics for the win!!!!

 

[Team Microbe]

Care to share the recipe ? and I'm really interested in using DEM products aswell been following them on IG for a lil while now. But still have alot of the amendments from mixing my soil so thats what im using now for teas..Last run just used water only but this run i'd like to get a nice schedule going for bloom to give whats in my soil an extra boost. So any input on teas and tea recipes for bloom is greatly appreciated! This thread alone is why i made an account, our setups are very similar and when i dump my 4x8 tent I will build a room exactly like yours. killer thread brother and i think youre doing good work ! Organics for the win!!!!

Not at all:

I take a few cups of good compost and moisten it after mixing it at a 3:1 ratio with powdered baby oatmeal (fungal food). I let this sit for 10 days until I see a thin layer of mycelium on the top of the compost then add into my brewer inside of a tea bag. Reason for doing so is because fungi doesn't multiply like bacteria do, so fungal dominant teas are typically hard to brew unless you're "pre-charging" your compost like this.

After this you can simply add 1 tbsp molasses per gal of water and brew for 24 hours.

I keep my flowering teas simple, if I add anything besides these two things its earth worm castings and a pinch of kelp meal but that's about it. It depends what your soil is like really... if your food is already in your soil then use this recipe like I am. If it's not and you're feeding food with your waterings then add some guano high in P and K to that compost tea and then harvest 24 hrs later. If ya have any other questions feel free

 

[Team Microbe]

I use DEM's products for teas on my plants in soilless mixes, they're amazing products. I foliar spray with Natural Mystic and Lush Roots every 2 weeks and plants have never been so healthy. Preventatives are the key to success IMO

 

[howske]

this is awesome team microbe, so much to learn here. this set up is perfect hopefully one day i can set up something as nice as this. i like the boxes over the fans to make it quieter i usually just have a tent in the room and the fan noise gets annoying when trying to sleep are they just plain card board ? and what are you filling them with to block out the noise ? could you post a pic ?

 

[Hmong]

Your thread was very inspiring Sir, regarding your advice I did some amazon shopping.

Just finished reading TLO, very very good read!

I'll stay tuned here

 

[Team Microbe]

this is awesome team microbe, so much to learn here. this set up is perfect hopefully one day i can set up something as nice as this. i like the boxes over the fans to make it quieter i usually just have a tent in the room and the fan noise gets annoying when trying to sleep are they just plain card board ? and what are you filling them with to block out the noise ? could you post a pic ?

You can do whatever you put your mind to, I remember not too long ago I was in a small 2x2 grow box lol. Passion + research & experimentation = results... you got this brother.

Thanks! I literally just grabbed some scrap particle board from my garage for the box, a mattress pad laying around in my closet for the insulation, and some hinges from Lowe's to make it so I can open/close it to maintain the fan if need-be. Not pictured are 6" ducting flanges that attach to the outsides of the box guiding my ducting straight into my fan connectors. This is unnecessary but cleans up the look and efficiency of the air flow in and out. I borrowed my friends jigsaw to cut the 6" holes. If you don't have a jigsaw then you can cut a 6"x6" box and then attach a 6" flange to create that seal. I only took one pic of the box during construction, this was before the flanges were attached. Check it out:

This runs twice as quiet as those $100 fan ducts they sell, and it's less than half the price (in this case, the cost of a mere pair of hinges). Just make sure your fan isn't touching the foam to prevent over-heating and you're good. Mine never even gets warm to the touch, it's perfect. I drill the door shut with screws when it's hanging up & in use. Let me know if you have anymore questions

Your thread was very inspiring Sir, regarding your advice I did some amazon shopping.

Just finished reading TLO, very very good read!

I'll stay tuned here

Thanks dude! Much respect, it looks like your toolbox is well-equipped for an organic garden of Eden

I'd read those in this order: TLO--->TWM--->TWN