Outdoor Cream Mandarine XL in Living Soil

[MasonJarOG]

After seeing what some of the other growers like @Green Goblin are doing with full organic living soil I decided to make the move to a truly sustainable soil mix and not get all caught up in baby sitting and get off the bottle all together. GG was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction so I have to give him a lot of the credit for getting me started on this new adventure. If you have technical questions regarding the mix I would ask the master GG. No good deed goes unpunished!

My plan is to not use any added nutrients for the duration of this grow and let this bitchin soil do its thing and feed the weed!

My Soil Mix is a pretty basic mix and is comprised of the following and made to be used for multiple upcoming grows so I made a hefty pile in my 45 Gal re-purposed camping tote. Sorry international brothers for the US measurements!

Live Mix
13 Gallons ProMix HP
13 Gallons Coco Coir
10 Gallons Organic Compost
5 Gallons Worm Casings
3 Gallons of Perlite
1 KIS Organics Nutrient Pack (use a respirator if mixing indoors)
1/2 Cup Epsoma Organic Lime
1/4 Cup Jobes Organic Bulb Bloom

This was mixed all together in my tote (sorry for lack of photos) and brought to field level moisture/saturation which meant if squeezed some water would drip out. I baked this in my tote for 3+ weeks, turning the soil every few days, re-checking moisture, watering and re-covering with the tote lid which didn't fit that well to begin with so It received ventilation to breath and suck in O2.

For the first few weeks (for me) when turning the mix it's pretty fishy (as warned) and continued to a point where it smells like nice garden center fresh tilled earth after rain smell. For me this only took a few weeks and think this is because of the 85-100+F outdoor temps combined with the composting behavior of the mix.


Here's the final mix. Very nice dark rich soil and smells bitchin.

I'm growing at 32N with about 14+hrs of ambient daylight currently, and about 10hrs of direct south facing sun. I also get a nice soft ocean breeze most of the time here so it helps with air circulation and strengthens the main stems quickly.

I'm using 5 Gallon MAXX Yield Airpots (knockoff from Amazon) which seems to be working excellent.

I filled the lower 4/5 of the airpot with the live soil and the top 1/5th-Center with straight Promix HP and watered it really good for two days prior to sowing my seed directly to make sure it was nice and wet all the way through.

I choose @Sweet Seeds Jay Cream Mandarine XL Auto because I was looking for a nice Sativa Dominant Fat Auto with a decent yield, do very well outdoors and has good medicinal properties. Even though Ganesh is a great logo that didn't sway me!

Today is Day 1 of the grow after 4 days to germinate directly into the soil.

 

[MickJ]

Nice intro, soil looks good. Are you planting other plants in the same pot to add nutrients, and help with the living soil?

Sent from my comfy chair.
[emoji16][emoji41] [emoji43][emoji848]

 

[MasonJarOG]

@Rollin_along
So far that's all that's all that is going into the pot with the pot. This is my first foray into the live soil so it will be a progression over time and a fun learning process.

 

[Green Goblin]

Looks good bro, I assume the temp has went down in the soil correct?Not warm to the touch other than being out in warm conditions?

I have used a cover crop from BuildaSoil before,along with mulching, which helps in retaining moisture and keeping the vital 6" or so down moist so the little guys can function properly.You don't need it, but it does compliment the system nicely..Chopping cover crop,lying it down underneath the barley mulch to break down as well as the mulch breaking down and returning organic matter back to the soil ..Several beneficial properties with cover crop including pulling nitrogen from the atmosphere.

For a first run with this system though you're right on track from what I can see..As grows go on you can experiment if you'd like once you get a feel for it..Teas,top dressings all the good stuff.

Nice man I'll be watching..I appreciate the kind words but I'm no master, I just had a very good teacher that was generous enough to give me a hand and I'm forever grateful for that so I'm just returning the favor..Let's all grow some fire power, no secrets, no competition, just becoming the best versions of ourselves..We are all constantly learning and evolving..

On that note, good luck with this and I'm here if you need anything.

 

[MasonJarOG]

@Green Goblin Thanks brother for the mentoring! Should be a fun watch on all accounts.

 

[MasonJarOG]

Day 6 Photo

@Sweet Seeds Jay Here's a photo of part of the zen garden I thought you would like...

 

[MasonJarOG]

15 Days
This one is running along nicely and the living soil is holding water very nicely. Very impressed so far (TY @Green Goblin) with the performance of this soil in the 100+ heat we're having right now. My regular organic mixed potting soil needs water 2-3x a day right now whereas the Live Organic Soil needs water every 2-3 days. I topped off the pot too this week with more.

 

[MasonJarOG]

 

[MasonJarOG]

Looks like this girl is going...

 

[Green Goblin]

Looking real nice man,noticeable difference in 3 days..She is getting ready for lift off.