Bob's Journey into Hybridisation and Genetics - For Dummies

[Bob's Auto's]

Have you noticed any compaction in the bottom of the trash can storage and cooking?

I do, but that's almost always the bottom 2"/5cm layer, the rest is nice and mixed...(read on)

I like to turn my media often to keep plenty of oxygen in the mix.....old habit from making tons of compost at a time. My covered back porch is lined with totes with media. LOL! Totes just make it way easier to turn .

I do to. But my back doesn't like that so much. I usually lay a tarp down, put the soil in the center and spread it out to the outsides. Then I take one corner at the time and pull it up real hard. This throws the soil back to the middle, I do this for all four corners and then, rince and repeat until I'm satisfied with the mix. Now, my back problems..."He who is lazy has to be smart"... So I make use of worms. I now have four kind of worms inside the mix. Two which are used for making compost and two who are used for fishing. The compost worms stay at the top layer and the fishing worms go deep into the soil. Both keep everything well aerated

 

[WildBill]

I do, but that's almost always the bottom 2"/5cm layer, the rest is nice and mixed...(read on)


I do to. But my back doesn't like that so much. I usually lay a tarp down, put the soil in the center and spread it out to the outsides. Then I take one corner at the time and pull it up real hard. This throws the soil back to the middle, I do this for all four corners and then, rince and repeat until I'm satisfied with the mix. Now, my back problems..."He who is lazy has to be smart"... So I make use of worms. I now have four kind of worms inside the mix. Two which are used for making compost and two who are used for fishing. The compost worms stay at the top layer and the fishing worms go deep into the soil. Both keep everything well aerated

Well that's good to hear.
I need to take what's on the porch and combine it all, mix it and take a sample to have it analyzed and then amend and cook. I have a BIG tarp from my 'tree in the living room' ordeal in Nov to do all the mixing. I'll have to lay it out next to the rear roll up door in my shop to keep it out of the elements until the test results come in and the amendment arrive. That will be a great time to buy and add the pumice I'm switching over to for aeration.
I've been putting it off, but I've got about 60+ days to get it done and cooking before my photo run starts

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Today I received my order of Insect Frass. 5kg of compressed pellets, ready to be mixed into the soil.
Slow release and good food for the bennies and protection of the plants. I have about 400L mixed soil and 400L more in the greenhouse to be mixed with the previous one. So I'll be adding 800gr of pellets to the total soilmix of 800L. This will be quite the job, but this weekend rain is forecast, so the temperature inside the greenhouse will be alright. I hope I have enough to fill all my pots as there's quite the list of plant's that will want a place into some nice black gold...

All but one sprout have emerged from the soil. So I'm calling this day 1

Neather needed help in getting their helmets loose, which is just perfect. No fiddling with my thick shaky hands...

The Mephisto's Wedding x Forum Stomper had one sprout not emerging. If it still does, I will cull it right away. No room for slow plants in this amateur breeding attempt

Both Double Grape x Toof Decay are up and running.

All four regular sprouts have surfaced and are A-ok Let's keep our fingers that there's at least one male, but more is just fine

I'm also going to install an automated watering system in the greenhouse...
I'll be running a water hose (low pressure from an IBC on the outside of the greenhouse) on the circumference of the greenhouse's interior. From this line (a low budget 3/4" garden hose) will run smaller 1/4" driplines. These will go to a solenoid valve displayed in below schematic.

50cm above the garden hose I'll hang an insulated 3 core 1,5mm² cable, suited for outdoor use. There won't be running 240AC through the strands, but rather 12V, 5V and Ground. All three can easily be fed by the wires from an old computer power supply. This way I don't have to run 240 through the entire greenhouse and I don't have (low pressure) water in the vicinity of "live" connections, as shown in below schema, but rather a max of 12V which can cause a short. Safety first people The 12V is for the solenoid valves and the controllers (read on...) and the 5V is for the sensors.

My setup contains two parts...
-The sensor part, which are all independent WIFI capable measuring devices. Each sensor measures moisture in the soil and can trip a relay (explained further on).
-The solenoid valves controller. Also WIFI capable and can switch four solenoid valves independently, each channel can be switched based upon the values measured by one of the sensors, making automatic watering a reality.

I've ordered enough parts to build 16 sensors and 4 controllers, total cost...137€. The cable I have from doing some electrical work around the house and the computer PSU I also have lying aroung and the IBC is doing nothing in my backyard for years. Only needs to be cleaned out and it's good to go. The connections for the IBC and driplines add up to another 97€

Anyway, to few hours in a day, need to get some sleepzzzz.....


Regards,


Bob

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Today had a cleanup in and around the greenhouse.
I filled the IBC tank, no leaks so far
And put the block of coco in the wheelbarrow and filled it with water so it can soak over night and hopefully by tomorrow, turn into mush.
Meanwhile I transferred the bins, filled with the living soilmix beside the greenhouse, so tomorrow I'll be able spread a tarp inside and mix the contents of everything I have gathered (approx. 800L) one final time before I'll fill the pots.

This year the canna plants will be grown in the fabric pots as I have selected the Floraflex Matrix to use with my automated watering system and those Matrix plates I bought, over two years ago, are round. I have ten for the 7gallon pots and two for the 10gallon pots. Think @BCBudlady asked me about these a very long time ago, but I could be mistaken So yeah, I'm finally going to use them

 

[Bob's Auto's]

So today is a busy day. Painting the kitchen and while I'm waiting until everything dries for another coat, I mixed the soil in the greenhouse. Boy-o-boy, that was an amount of soil, I tells ya!!
Started out with the coco that had been soaking in the wheelbarrow. This got spread out and got another good spraying with the hose. Guess she didn't apply the lotion...hehe...

When I was satisfied that the coco was washed enough I added 800gr of the insect frass pellets. These can take up the excess of water inside the coco and expand in the next days...

Next, one bin filled with the live soil.

Followed by a bag (70L) good quality soil.

Next, a sprinkling of perlite (10L)

The above steps, except for the coco, got repeated three times until all the bins, bags of soil and perlite where dumped on the pile. This got mixed as best I could and then closed up as best as I could. Would love to keep the worms inside the mix.
This is by far the largest amount of soil I've ever mixed up and to be honest, I don't think I can add any more without tearing the tarp or my back...

Now, I have an hour to smoke one and rest up, before I need to do the walls a second time and give the ceiling a ground coat
See you later guys

 

[Sawney_bean]

Happy painting mate.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Happy painting mate.

Thanks mate!! Glad I did the soil mixing yesterday. I can't raise my hands above my head...But the wall and ceiling are done.
Tomorrow I'll do the baseboard and the door and then I'll still have one day off work to enjoy and do what I want...Probably use that to fill pots in the greenhouse and discover I still have not enough soil, lol

I did receive my AFN Sticker from High of the Tiger Today.

Home | High of the Tiger

www.highofthetiger.com

And meanwhile every sprout has emerged from the soil. So the seeds that hatched all made it to the surface!! One healthy crew ya'll

MW x CMD, all four are looking similar in growth. They will all get their own 3.5L pot.

MW, these two will probably be planted together in one pot. I can choose later on which one to keep....

MW x FS, last seedling is really looking super healthy. A remarkable difference to the other two.

DG x TD, these two girls can go into one pot, just like the MW a couple of pics up, I can choose later on which one to

I'm keeping the soil nice and wet with the plant sprayer. Just enough to moisten the surface layer actually. And before I return the lid onto the tray I spray the inside as well. This will help in keeping that humidity high, just like these little ones like



Regards,

Bob

 

[Bob's Auto's]

So yesterday the missus felt sorry for my aching shoulders and started painting the baseboards. I couldn't let her work alone so I painted the door and we finished yesterday evening around 9 o'clock. This morning though, I could barely move, so spent the entire day on the couch only raising my butt only for the most necessary tasks... A good day to do some edibles
Only when my youngest started practicing on his trumpet after school, did I get motivated enough to do something...So I went to the tent and transferred the selected seedlings to the 3.5L pots.

Some of 'm got put together, we'll see if they get it to a bigger pot or not...

Each potential male has received it's own pot. These will go with the rest to the greenhouse in a couple of weeks. And as soon as they show sex, the males will be transferred back to the tent.
The females can stay, that way I have something to taste as well

A time lapse has been setup, so that won't be long before I can share that with you guys


Regards,

Bob

 

[R Wayne]

So yesterday the missus felt sorry for my aching shoulders and started painting the baseboards. I couldn't let her work alone so I painted the door and we finished yesterday evening around 9 o'clock. This morning though, I could barely move, so spent the entire day on the couch only raising my butt only for the most necessary tasks... A good day to do some edibles
Only when my youngest started practicing on his trumpet after school, did I get motivated enough to do something...So I went to the tent and transferred the selected seedlings to the 3.5L pots.
View attachment 1591782

View attachment 1591783

Some of 'm got put together, we'll see if they get it to a bigger pot or not...
View attachment 1591784

View attachment 1591785

Each potential male has received it's own pot. These will go with the rest to the greenhouse in a couple of weeks. And as soon as they show sex, the males will be transferred back to the tent.
The females can stay, that way I have something to taste as well
View attachment 1591786

A time lapse has been setup, so that won't be long before I can share that with you guys


Regards,

Bob

Things are looking great And I hope you get some more recovery/edibles in ya over the next day or two

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Things are looking great And I hope you get some more recovery/edibles in ya over the next day or two

Thanks mate!! No edibles today...Have a doctor's appointment in a couple of hours..."Blow in the tube sir, no no, blów in the tube"
I did fill the pots with soil...Took my time this morning gathering all the materials I needed in the greenhouse for a longer stay...Coffee mug, small tray with smokewarez, phone, lighter... Oh, you know what I mean

I did get to fill every pot I had in the greenhouse and then some...Have a look
The square pots are 15L/3.9gallon, ten pots...
The large fabric pots are 75L/20gallon, three pots
The small fabric pots are 26L/7gallon, eight pots

The bin (front left) is 70L/18gallon and is what is left because all the pots where filled, lol. And the tub behind that is 50L/13gallon.

The two pots in front are 35L/9.25gallon and the tub behind that is 50L/13gallon.

So, that's it for now! Glad I got to fill everything and happy to reuse all the soil inside the mix. It's been quite the job to get everything inside the greenhouse and mix that entire pile, but I'm confident I did a great job in mixing it thoroughly.
Not all the pots are going to be used for my canna hobby. The larger pots will be used for some tropical plants, if I ever get my seeds here and some other greenhouse plants to smirk things up and make it look I'm not only growing weed in that thing, hehe...

Inside the tent everything is going as expected. The two seedlings that were looking so sad are still looking sad and will probably not make it. Only the strong will survive, at least if you take me out of that equation
The other ladies are enjoying their stay under the light, which is set at only 10%. This will turned up in the next days. First wanna let the roots settle in their new environment

Regards,

Bob