First Time Auto Grow(er) GDP and 9LB Hammer

[JaPinkman]

Hey Pinkman! It’s a labor of love brother. I hear ya!

to answer your question, I live in the Sacramento valley in California, but I didn’t switch from hydro until last fall. Temps In the cabinet were consistently in the mid eighties, throughout though. Living soil retains water better than you would think. I also use some Blumat to help keep the soil consistently moist. I do top water about twice a week to set the top dressing I use.
I never ph my water because the soil also created a natural buffer. Most on here growing with LOS don’t ph either. Some do, however. So fare I haven’t seen the need to and have grown some tasty plants already. my tap is close to 8 also. No problem for my soil.

Ah, you're in the Holy Land, everything grows great in that valley! hehe. So Iriee, would you say that if you have a good 'live' soil then you won't need to ph it? Yours is working for you and my brother does something similar, live soil with ph 8 tap (in bags). He doesn't get as much light and his plants were always stretchy with light buds. I never knew if it was the light or the ph or both. I guess if things were to go south then you could dig into the ph. Had I done that last year I wouldn't have nute-locked and dwarf one of my Big Bud plants.
Would you guess that most outdoor autos are in the ground?
Yep, it's a labor of love and I love every minute of it.
Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Hey Pinkman. Yeah, I would say most outdoor auto growers plant in the ground or use bigger pots than we are using. I plan to run two photos and two autos this summer. I will plant the autos in May sometime, and try to get two runs from them this summer. I will plant the photos in June when day hours are maximized.

I need to use pots so I can move the plants in case of company neighbors etc. it’s legal to grow indoors but they can complain if smell gets strong outdoors. I will probably use bigger pots for the photos as I think they got rootlodged in the small pots last year. My 3 gallons should work for the autos and short runs. I will get a good feel for how much less I need to water with Organic soil. It’s always about learning for me. Having fun and smoking a lot while I do it though!

good luck brother!

 

[Simplicio]

I was recently considering getting those strains, 9 lb Hammer and GDP and some others, from Pacific seed bank.
But I was suspicious, because those strains are hard or impossible to get auto versions of, so I did some research.
Turns out none of the breeders they claim to use have any google hits, which most likely means they are made up names.
There have been posts on other forums claiming that some of the Pacific strains didn't turn out to have the expected traits.
And that the seeds didn't come in breeder packs.

There could be an innocent explanation for these fake breeders, but I doubt it.
Most likely Pacific is using some basic strains, and re-labeling them as popular strains.

I hope I'm wrong, because most of those auto strains sound amazing.
I'll be watching your thread to see what happens, and might even take a chance and try one of their strains myself.

 

[Growtogrow]

Thanks guys I appreciate that yes it is a labor of love that's for sure. Lot of work goes into that I probably spend about 16 maybe 20 hours a week working with the crop from June until August. I use a t call Boogie Brew I sprayed on the crop two or three times a week it's a big help lot of super micronutrients in that. I also do a lot of composting my own soil using alpaca poop horse poop llama poop bat guano. And I make my own teas as well. I use a lot of eggs and a whole lot of brown sugar dark brown raw cane if I can get it. One thing of all my girls have is a sweet tooth they love their sugar. But anything to feed the microbes.
It's all about the microbes all day long if you can feed them they'll feed your plant. The old Story Goes you are what you eat. You can influence the flavor of your plants with the type of guano's and table scraps that you feed the microbes.
As far as Autos becoming bigger with a bigger pot if you're growing organically with Coco Cairo in your soil in a nice mix. Maybe it's not impossible. An auto needs to grow quickly . When its first starting out the roots need to be fed and need to be able to grow quickly. Fast AFAP. If they're in to compressed soil they won't grow quick or won't grow big. but if the root can go through the soil and get food at the same time. well if the root can Grow Big the rest of the plant will grow big generally has the rule Auto or photosynthesis it really doesn't matter bigger the root bigger the plant. But you can hi-ball that when you start getting outside of Organix and you start feeding chemical nutrients to them. Then that changes everything. I've grown the same Auto plants side by side with chemical nutrients and the other pants in straight Organics 100%. Using Brew tea and the hydro plant grow bigger no doubt about it.
But here is the kicker that got everybody that smoke them plants. The organic ones tasted better they had less dark ash and also in a couple of the plants they seem to have produced more trikes. But that's up to debate I can't really tell you either way. I just know that the soil did taste better than the hydro. And maybe that's what it's all about?

 

[Iriee Vibez]

I second both points, GtG. My organic soil grows are smaller but tastier than my hydro grows. I will take that trade off while I figure out how to get bigger roots and plants!

 

[Growtogrow]

I second both points, GtG. My organic soil grows are smaller but tastier than my hydro grows. I will take that trade off while I figure out how to get bigger roots and plants!

Yes I found experimentations is the best. Growing the same breed of plant with clones in different grow mediums different techniques and looking for the outcome with side-by-side comparisons it's the best and it gets all your friends and clients just so excited to do such things I even...well my wife she makes up cards with questions on them and people answering with one through 10 rating on each question pretty cool I come up with some pretty decisive information about what my clients like.
But generally the bigger the root the bigger the plant and the cool thing about growing photosynthesis is you can grow them plant's like tree's.. literally sequoias.

 

[JaPinkman]

I was recently considering getting those strains, 9 lb Hammer and GDP and some others, from Pacific seed bank.
But I was suspicious, because those strains are hard or impossible to get auto versions of, so I did some research.
Turns out none of the breeders they claim to use have any google hits, which most likely means they are made up names.
There have been posts on other forums claiming that some of the Pacific strains didn't turn out to have the expected traits.
And that the seeds didn't come in breeder packs.

There could be an innocent explanation for these fake breeders, but I doubt it.
Most likely Pacific is using some basic strains, and re-labeling them as popular strains.

I hope I'm wrong, because most of those auto strains sound amazing.
I'll be watching your thread to see what happens, and might even take a chance and try one of their strains myself.

Thanks for the input on the seed vendors. I hope you're wrong also The beans for those two strains were nearly nowhere to be found through my efforts so I was worried about that. I'll keep you posted......all the while wondering how I'll ever know at this point.

Thanks guys I appreciate that yes it is a labor of love that's for sure. Lot of work goes into that I probably spend about 16 maybe 20 hours a week working with the crop from June until August. I use a t call Boogie Brew I sprayed on the crop two or three times a week it's a big help lot of super micronutrients in that. I also do a lot of composting my own soil using alpaca poop horse poop llama poop bat guano. And I make my own teas as well. I use a lot of eggs and a whole lot of brown sugar dark brown raw cane if I can get it. One thing of all my girls have is a sweet tooth they love their sugar. But anything to feed the microbes.
It's all about the microbes all day long if you can feed them they'll feed your plant. The old Story Goes you are what you eat. You can influence the flavor of your plants with the type of guano's and table scraps that you feed the microbes.
As far as Autos becoming bigger with a bigger pot if you're growing organically with Coco Cairo in your soil in a nice mix. Maybe it's not impossible. An auto needs to grow quickly . When its first starting out the roots need to be fed and need to be able to grow quickly. Fast AFAP. If they're in to compressed soil they won't grow quick or won't grow big. but if the root can go through the soil and get food at the same time. well if the root can Grow Big the rest of the plant will grow big generally has the rule Auto or photosynthesis it really doesn't matter bigger the root bigger the plant. But you can hi-ball that when you start getting outside of Organix and you start feeding chemical nutrients to them. Then that changes everything. I've grown the same Auto plants side by side with chemical nutrients and the other pants in straight Organics 100%. Using Brew tea and the hydro plant grow bigger no doubt about it.
But here is the kicker that got everybody that smoke them plants. The organic ones tasted better they had less dark ash and also in a couple of the plants they seem to have produced more trikes. But that's up to debate I can't really tell you either way. I just know that the soil did taste better than the hydro. And maybe that's what it's all about?

You pretty much just answered a lot of questions I had
Two questions for you please:
So do you like feed your soil root systems with tea, or with soil amendments, or both?
Can you add horse or cow poop straight into soil without making it to hot?

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Thanks for the input on the seed vendors. I hope you're wrong also The beans for those two strains were nearly nowhere to be found through my efforts so I was worried about that. I'll keep you posted......all the while wondering how I'll ever know at this point.


You pretty much just answered a lot of questions I had
Two questions for you please:
So do you like feed your soil root systems with tea, or with soil amendments, or both?
Can you add horse or cow poop straight into soil without making it to hot?

Hey man! I think I have settled on the following schedule for my pots. I top dress with dry amendments and compost one week, feed with composted the next week, and just water the third week, and repeat. I also will foliar spray once per week while watering. I find the need to do this to keep the life in the soil super happy. I can’t say that I have used manure but I do top dress with bat gauno. I use sparingly at about a half tablespoon. i have not had any issues, but I will let someone more familiar with horse and cow manurechime in.

 

[JaPinkman]

Nice technique, Grow! I grew outside last year in 3 gallon pots and found the same thing watering everyday was necessary. The plants would tell me they needed water by wilting every late afternoon. I am thinking organic soil and mulching will help this year, but I am sure the plants will still require lots of watering.

Hey Iriee, Do you recommend a more standard soil mix for outdoors than a loose aerated mix? Wouldn't that slow the drying? I know that getting O2 to the roots is essential but I was going to go with a mix of about 1/2 Ocean Forest (arms) , 1/4 perlite, 1/4 coco. I am about to drop the seed and I'm really having second thoughts about the soil. I posted a new question on the new grower forum but nobody is replying to it.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Hey @JaPinkman. I hope all is well. I use a premixed soil from BAS. It has 1/3 aeration in rice hulls, pumice, and biochar. Most recipes also call for 1/3 aeration. I am not familiar with a coco and soil mix, however. I am copying a couple guys who I have learned a lot from who may be able to speak specifically to that combination you are asking about, what say you @hecno and @Eyes on Fire ?