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I'm launching my first 100% organic grow with some Gorilla Glue [HASHTAG]#4[/HASHTAG] Autos from Expert Seeds. I popped 5 beans on 3/7/2019 and I'm really going to try hard to be better about updating this journal! The soil is a mix I made up that follows many of the recommendations from KIS Organics. I tried to incorporate most of the inputs KIS uses in their "water only" biochar soil. The mix has been sitting around curing for the past 90 days or so before I added it to the pots. I'm using four 5 gallon fabric pots and one 3 gallon fabric pot. I wanted to see what differences I get with the smaller pot and it made space a little easier. My plan is to feed only water, biologicals like Recharge and a variety of teas and I'll top dress during flower. If I run into trouble I will use an organic nutrients but I'm hoping I can avoid it.
I've added red wiggler worms to all the pots and 3 pots will have a cover crop of clover. Two pots (1 5g and the 3g pot) will have a mulch on top. I'm trying to get as close to "living soil" as I can without going to a single large bed. I have a couple different tents and I'd really like to keep the mobility of the individual pots for right now as I'm going to be starting other plants for the outdoor garden soon. Eventually, when I get my system and methods more figured out I'll transition to a single large bed. My ultimate goal is to grow organic regenerative cannabis; but it's a learning process
To start my seeds I soaked them in RO water with a little splash of hydrogen peroxide added and they stayed in there for 24 hours on top of a warm cable box.
Then, I moved them to RO water with House & Garden Root Excelurator, Super Thrive and Mammoth P for 12 hours. Phosphorus is key to a healthy and vigorous seedling and Mammoth P recommends its use on germinated seedlings. I use it regularly in the first couple of weeks. By the 18th hour of soaking there were tap roots poking out.
Next (today) I put them into paper towel moistened with the amended water. They are folded into the paper towel and inserted into a small plastic baggie that I leave slightly open and place between 2 saucer plates that sit on top of a warm cable box. This keeps them moist and in the dark but nice and cozy warm as they (hopefully) grow tap roots to about 1/2"-3/4"
Then, they'll go into Root Riot cubes after the tap roots are sprinkled with Great White mycorrhorizal fungi. I also pour some Great White into the holes of the Root Riot cubes to insure early inoculation. In order to make the tap roots easier to insert without any trauma or damage, I poke a straightened piece of coat hanger (cleaned with hydrogen peroxide) into the top hole and almost to the bottom of the cube. This makes it easy to fish the tap root into the rooting cube so that the seed hull is about 1/4"-1/2" below the top. Next, I sprinkle a little moistened peat moss into the top of the hole, to tuck the seed in and keep it in the dark. I prefer this over using my soil mixture or potting soil because if a piece of pumice (or perlite if that's what your soil has) gets in there it can prevent the seedling from pushing its way past! These cubes are placed into a tray with a cover (to maintain high humidity) and set on top of a warming pad set at 80ºF. Seeds will remain in the tray until they emerge and I see the cotyledon leaves - the little round ones that appear first, before you see the first set of "true" leaves that have the usual serrated edges (margins).
(I'll post pix when I get here!)
As soon as the cotyledon leaves appear I move the seedlings to their final home, in their fabric pot. However, they DON'T go directly into my regular soil mix. Even with bagged soil, I don't place these newborn seedlings into regular soil. So, I'm going to digress into how I prepared my bags for this grow..... The soil I built for this organic grow, like most bagged soil, is simply too strong for a newborn cannabis seedling. Sure, some seeds will do fine; but others will be sensitive to an abundance of nutrients and it can easily stunt or even kill them. Particularly autoflowers because they are especially sensitive and we don't have the time to overcome plant stress. Autos are on a predetermined schedule and if we set them back we don't have the option to simply "veg" them longer until they recover. The best yields your genetics can produce will come from those seeds with the most optimal, stress-free start you can give them. So, to achieve this goal, I provide my seedlings with a "light" soil that has very little nutrient capacity but has those things that will give it a early boost in terms of HEALTH and growth. In this grow, as I usually do, I create a 'core' of light soil that's prepared and kept moistened with the same amended water I soaked the seeds in plus some additions. It contains RO water, House & Garden Root Excelurator, Mammoth P, Super Thrive, EM-1, 1tsp insect frass and a 1/2 dose of BioAg Full-Humix. I used some FoxFarm Light Warrior soil (their seed starting mix) but any "seed starter" mix will do. Are all the water amendments necesarry? No but they sure are helpful and I have them anyway. I would NOT skimp on the H&G Root Excelurator, Mammoth P (samples are free and last a long time!) and the Super Thrive though.
Once I have the seedling soil ready, I fill up a typical red solo cup with the 'light soil' and I dig a hole in the center of the fabric pot (that's filled with my main soil mix) and I bury the cup, to the top edge, in the hole and fill in snugly around it.
Then, with a twisting motion, pull the cup of light soil out - revealing a perfectly shaped hole.
Next, after making sure that the light soil in the cup is nicely moist and slightly packed in there, turn the cup upside down. Give it a gentle shake or a tap on the bottom and a perfectly shaped plug should drop into your hand....like this:
With a little care, flip the core over and drop it into that matching hole in the center of your pot. This gives you a perfect core of your light, seed starter soil surrounded by your nutrient-rich soil. Your seedlings have plenty of the low nutrient soil it prefers as it starts out but allows the plant to access more nutrients at the pace that...and this is IMPORTANT...the plant chooses! I use toothpicks to mark the outer edges of the core. This dividing line may not be visible after a few days and it makes certain that I place the seedling cube in the middle of this core.
When it's time for the seedling, in the Root Riot cube to move into the core, I dig the proper size hole for a cube. I want the top of the cube to sit just below the surface of the soil. This way, when I replace the soil I removed to make room for the rooting cube, I can place it over the top of the cube and bury just the tiniest (1/8"-1/4") of the stem of the seedling. Especially if the seedling stem got a little long; because it will make the stem a little more sturdy.
(I'll place a picture when I get here)
This first post is pretty long and includes some steps I'm not at yet as I'm initially writing it but it's my standard seed starting method and I thought that having it all in one post might be helpful, at some point. I hope people won't mind. I hope that this run turns out well and I look forward to learning things either way!
. Nice detailed start to your journal buddy 
. Good luck with your grow!
