New Grower "GodAmJT's Perpetual Greenery"

[GodAmJT]

In an effort to streamline my growing process, I figured it was only right to try a couple different growing media to explore what the plant is capable of doing in certain environments as well as to learn what I'M capable of doing, given the right configuration of elements.. So, I bring to you, my first organic grow.. I'm trying to see these through to the end.. I made a super-soil recipe that is similar to subcool's, but had a few tweaks to it..

• 6 bags x 10-gallon (35 pounds or 1.5 cu. ft.) Roots Organic Soil (Total of 210lbs)
  
  
• 2 bags x 50L (35 lbs) Biobizz Light-Mix soil (Total of 70lbs)
  
  
• 2 bags x 30 lbs Organic Earthworm Castings (Total of 60lbs)
  
  
• 1 box 6 lbs Fish Bone Meal (3-16-0) Note: 3-15-0 or 3-18-0 can also be used
  
  
• 1 cup Dolomite Lime (“prilled” if possible)
  
  
• ½ cup Azomite (0-0-0.2)
  
  
• 1 box 5 lbs Blood Meal (12-0-0)
  
  
• 1 bag 4 lbs Happy Frog Bat Guano (0-5-0)
  
  
• ¾ cup Epsom Salt
  
  
• (Optional) Up to 25% Perlite (for extra drainage)
  
  
• 3lbs Diatomaceous Earth

That's the recipe I used, although I only made a half of a batch.. It cooked for nearly 3 months, as I started it in February, when we had a warm-up and all the snow melted.. I filled the 22ltr pots w/ approx. a 1/3 of this soil, and then topped off the rest of the pot with a mixture of a 3:1 of Roots Organic and GO Ancient Forest. The seeds are WoS NLxBB.. I started 4 of them, and 2 of them are destined for the top-feed hydro. They were all started in rapid-rooters, and are all working on their 2nd set of true leaves.. My goal is to be able to sort of, "set it and forget it", so that if I had to go away for work for a week or 2, I could trust the wife to water the soil plants, so that in the event I'm gone for an extended period, she could at least salvage them.. I'll be using a Heisenberg tea recipe, and from what I gather, will be using that about every 3rd watering, or say maybe once a week-ish.. I am not too sure I'll get into top-dressing or foliar sprays just yet, but I may give it a shot on one of the plants to see if it makes a difference..

I think I finally have my grow area set-up how I want.. I got a 2nd MarsII 400w LED panel, and tossed it in about 2hrs ago.. In total I was running 2x MarsII's, 1 KingLED and 1 UFO.. Total, I think it was close to 500w actual power consumption, but my new air scrubber is NOT up to the task.. Temps were up to 86F, and the smell of bud is still present in the house; that's with a BRAND NEW carbon filter and fan.. I need to bump it up from the 190cfm to maybe the 300+ arena.. I didn't think the area I built grew THAT much, but apparently I added an additional 10cf+ of air-space.. I turned off the UFO to see if I can drop the temps.. I didn't want to leave the doors open, but I may need to.. I re-directed the room air away from the area, so maybe that will also help..

Some pictures..

 

[Chester]

22L pots !!! You're gonna be growing trees ...

 

[GodAmJT]

Thanks Chester!!!!!! I'm a little nervous; sorta like when I first started, but not quite as neurotic!!! I'm not checking on them every 5min... In fact, I've only gone down twice in the last couple hours, but only to check the temps inside the cabinet.. I think killing the UFO and re-positioning a small fan at the intake to draw in more cool air may have helped.. Because I have stuff in full-on flower mode, I don't want to fire up the humidifer, but if I did, I bet the temps would drop a couple degrees..

When I wanted to start soil growing, I wanted to go with a simple approach.. I really liked the idea of the soil tabs that you use because you don't have to do much maintenance, and you've proven quite a few times that all you really need to do is water it and love it, and you'll get big buds!!!

Only time will tell!!! When I tested the super-soil pH a couple days ago, I got a 6.5, 6.4, 6.4 and a 6.6 on consecutive tests, so I feel the pH is exactly where I want it to be!!

 

[GodAmJT]

Trying to get better pictures of the new plants, as well as the growing ones w/ my phone is making me crazy.. I've tried white balance adjustments and such, but my phone is limited and my actual camera won't utilize the flash anymore, so this is what you and I get.... Pure.Shit.CELLPHONE PICS!!!

The soil plants look pretty healthy!!! My Jack Herer look as though they are on the upper end of the Nitrogen spectrum, so I will probably cut most of the Part A of the GH 2-part system, and just throw in a few mL's of GH Micro to offset the trace minerals..

Got most of the veggies/fruit outside for this week because it's supposed to be sustained 70+ during the day.. Almost killed my pepper plants because they were dry and sorta wilted this morning.. They seem to be bouncing back with some coaching and de-Cl'ed tap water..

One of the Jacks will get cut down tomorrow.. Of the 4 seeds I started from that Jack Herer plant, 3 of them appear almost identical with their characteristics/phenotypes, however the one that's getting chopped tomorrow is a lot faster than the others.. I'd say almost 20% amber trichs, and the rest are mostly cloudy, if not completely cloudy.. I figure the other plants have another week or 2 as most of the pistils are still white.. Almost see a little foxtailing going on; not that I care as I'm smoking/vaping ALL of this bud.. Bag appeal is great, if I was back on the street buying bud.. So long as I can do my thing with it, as well as make some brolic extract, I'll be happy..

 

[Chester]

Nice plant ... Was that Jack grown in soil or hydro ...

 

[GodAmJT]

The Jacks were all grown in rockwool mini-cubes, and rockwool starter blocks.. It's only been a week, but I really like the way these plants are moving in soil, thus far!! I hope I can keep the pace.. I'm considering topping one of them to see how the plants react.. I'm also going to ponytail one, and do a side-by side.. I want to try and gain some foliage on these plants.. The Jacks all smells sorta peppery, heavy floral.. Similar to last time, but this time, the smell is overrunning my brand new carbon filter, so i just had to order a larger fan/filter combo.. What a pain in my ass!!!!

 

[GodAmJT]

Chester: here's a shout-out to you!!! Pony-tailed both of the soil plants.. They are growing quickly and I must admit, these are the healthiest looking/smelling/feeling plants I've ever grown!!!!! Another funny thing about this is that I haven't had to water these things since I first transplanted them, probably about 2 weeks ago!! The soil is holding moisture quite well and the plants are showing great vigor!!! I was considering watering them this weekend when I finally get a day off, and using the Heisenberg tea to start moving them along a little better.. Once the pony-tailing starts to take a little better effect, I'll start tying some stuff down..

I think I'm going to practice topping the hydro plants because honestly, when I popped the seeds, I got 2 different phenos, so I went with the stronger ones in soil, and the hydro ones are just barely eeking along!! Not sure if they're going to explode into growth or what..

Unfortunately, for the Jacks, they all started fox-tailing, so now I'm wondering when the fuck I'm gonna harvest them!!!!! The odd pheno of the 4 is probably the closest and I swear it will be chopped by this weekend!!! No white pistils really, maybe a handful.. Trichs are about 80% cloudy, ~2-4% amber and the rest clear, so I feel solid about that.. The most odd part is that the 3 that share very similar characteristics, the elder is not as far along as the other 2!!!! I really hope they dry heavy as I'd like to get a quap out of these 4, w/ maybe a total of a Z of trim/popcorn buds for oil.. I've got a new trick for oils.. NOT trying to sell anything, but if you guys haven't checked these guys out, then you should!! It's call "Connoisseur Concentrates" and their big selling point is that you need HALF as much solution to generate a stronger oil mix that can be used with e-cigs and e-vapes, and it's not as messy.. I can PM people some links if they're looking to try it.. They sell disposable vape pens at a wicked cheap price, so I'm gonna try it.. I have had a couple G's of concentrate from my first couple grows that I kept in the freezer and I can finally use them!!!!!

 

[Chester]

Looking good G ... I'd be interested in the links you mentioned ...

 

[GodAmJT]

Got up early this morning because it's one of the few days off I have until July.. For some reason, even after buying a new carbon scrubber, my basement still smelled like I had about 2 dozen plants growing without abatement.. The new box that I'm growing in is indeed, quite a bit larger, but I thought the 190cfm fan w/ companion filter would've done at least some damage to the smell.. Not.at.all.......

So I upgraded to a 400cfm fan w/ a 440cfm scrubber.. The wife and I are going to some family stuff today, so I'm hoping that when I come home, the smell may be reduced a bit.. I figure, after a couple days, if things are working right, then I'm good.. I'm also considering getting some Ona tubs and just tossing them in the basement to help with the musty smell anyway.. Strangely enough, I figured my basement would have a much higher RH than it does, but it hasn't moved much above 50%, which has actually proven to be a challenge when I am vegging plants, as I have to run a humidifier!!! I want to continue to reduce my electrical footprint so I'm also looking to build a DIY COB LED panel, with some influence and coaxing from Atulip and Pop.. Seems simple enough, and I've got a little bit of an electronics background, so I'm not reluctant to dive right in.. Besides, I'd like to lose the pink hue that does come from the grow area, as it draws some additional, unnecessary attention.. A normal colored light probably wouldn't be as much of an eye sore..

With all of that said, I snapped a couple pictures with the lights off to get a better idea of the health of the plants, and to get some better quality images.. My organic plants are hands-down, the healthiest I've ever grown, thus far, so I'm trying to keep it that way!! I literally just watered them the 2nd time, and they've been in the soil for over 3 weeks!!!!! I believe I'll be watering them more often, soon, but for right now, I'll take it!! I just use de-Cl'ed tap water w/ an EC of 0.2-0.3 on the 0.5 scale (or approximately 90-110ppm). Didn't even check the pH.. Both pots took about a total of a gallon of water..

The Jacks........................ Where do I begin?? I loved this strain when I grew it last time, and I loved the taste, strength, quality, etc.... However, these plants are TAKING FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! I'm at day 107 right now, and they literally still have about 2-3 weeks left.. I'm getting impatient as I have 2 other NLxBBs that I wanted in the hydro set up, but I may just say, "fuck it," and throw the rockwool cubes into some soil and grow them that way.. I'm gonna top them, and see how it turns out. I didn't have time earlier, because I'm under a time crunch and already had the plants confused w/ the lights on an extra 2hrs to get the fans squared away.. They are still showing some N-tox, but it's not TOO severe as I haven't got any clawing; just super, deep green leaves.. The one pheno that is different than the others has shown deficiencies the entire grow, but seems to have some of the better bud structure and is actually closer to being done than the others..

Here are some better, non-pink pictures........

 

[Chester]

Very nice ...