Olderfart's Dive Down the Living Soil Rabbit Hole

[Olderfart]

Lol, this threw me at first cause I thought you were using KIS Organics. Just wanted to comment that if you overwatered the soil, just turn it more frequently with a shovel and allow it to dry out. Any stinky smells should go away and the soil will be fine to use. The microbes are hardy and going anaerobic is not the end of the world. It should balance out and assuming the parent material is free of pathogens then no worries. If you think about it, we get heavy rain events in nature and soils recover just fine. Best of luck with the transition and once you dial the watering in, I'm guessing you'll like this style of growing a lot.

Pretty much exactly what I have done, plus I added heat and air movement. It is now moist, but not sopping, and the bennies should be happily doing their thing. Thanks for checking in.

 

[Olderfart]

I grew pumpkins in a little kiddie pool like that, filled with organic soil. Got 22 bowling ball sized pumpkins!

I'll be following along!

Bit late with the question, but what in the world did you do with 22, was that a typo, 22 pumpkins that size. That would keep a whole city block in pie for a month.

 

[pop22]

Not a typo! Made a lot of pumpkin soup..........lol! We froze about 30lbs, gave away many.

Bit late with the question, but what in the world did you do with 22, was that a typo, 22 pumpkins that size. That would keep a whole city block in pie for a month.

 

[Olderfart]

Well peeps, it is time to get this project going. First a few updates on what's up now that a few decisions have been made and stuff done.

I have expanded my 2x4 growdrobe into a 4x4, and will be growing in 4 ~30 liter fabric pots:

1. a multipot with two or three pure CBD girls, all Dinamed, likely at least a couple of their Auto CBD Kush, and maybe one of the Auto CBD Kush x Auto CBD cross made by @GeorgeCloney with pollen from my reversal last winter,

2. a SSSC Auto Ellephant girl from the seeds so generously provided by SSSC for a grow and show,

3. one or two Mephisto 24 Carat girls, still by far the best sleep meds I have tried, and

4. a Mephisto Fugue State girl.

All will be irrigated in their own DIY autovalve trays. My hope is for a water only grow using the soil described here earlier. Lights are 4 independently hung screw in arrays, roughly 700-800 watts total from the wall.

I will try making seeds with both the 24 Carat and Fugue State girls. One seed of each is now in its peat plug with a root starting, both should be head's up in a day or two. I plan to reverse each of these plants with CS and use the pollen on a lower branch or two of mother plants that will be started in several days. I will not be doing crosses, just making seeds of interesting strains.

That's it for now, pics will follow later. I don't have time to do them this morning, but will get some done later today or tomorrow. Maybe by then I will have a couple babys showing their stuff.

 

[Olderfart]

Hey @420Forever, could you do me a favour please? I would like to change the title of this thread to remove the KIS mention, which unintentionally confuses what I am up to with the KIS organic soil products. If you can do this for me, the new title should be:

Olderfart's Dive Down the Living Soil Rabbit Hole

Thanks for the help mate, much appreciated.

And, @KIS, my apologies for the initial confusion.

 

[420Forever]

Hey @420Forever, could you do me a favour please? I would like to change the title of this thread to remove the KIS mention, which unintentionally confuses what I am up to with the KIS organic soil products. If you can do this for me, the new title should be:

Olderfart's Dive Down the Living Soil Rabbit Hole

Thanks for the help mate, much appreciated.

And, @KIS, my apologies for the initial confusion.

done & done ppp

 

[Olderfart]

done & done ppp

You da man mate, you da man! Thanks for the help.

 

[Olderfart]

First, the new autopot trays. These are made out of scrap I had in the "inventory". This is prior to lining with two layers of 6 mil poly:

And after the liner is installed and the water distributor strips put in place:

The distributor strips are just solid scrap acrylic, the liquid will move in the space left by the right angle corner beneath the fabric pot bottom. At least so goes the theory.

And, here is the expanded growdrobe, one sheet of plywood and a heck of a lot of work later:

There are two doors on the back wall, same as the front, so I have good access from either side to take care of the girls.

The two yogurt containers on the small table are where the pollen plants will go as soon as the tap roots show up. The four computer fans will be controlled by a pwm module, and will move air in the lower canopy. There is also an overhead oscillating fan above the lights on the left, and a small space heater above the lights on the right. The heater is controlled by an Inkbird thermostatic control. The extraction fan is outside the growdrobe, the filter inside above the lights. The soil has been in the large pots for a week or so, covered with cloth to prevent extra gnats. The soil just received its second watering with BTi water. There are still a few gnats showing up, but not many, and I have never been able to find any larvae. Maybe I will keep a lid on the little buggers this time around.

And finally, the overhead view:

 

[Olderfart]

Well peeps, the two pollen plants have made it to Day 7, and it looks as though they are in reasonable condition other than a bit of initial claw which I put down to excess VPD which is now under control with a new humidifier. At any rate, they are alive which is all that these pollen plants need to keep going. Here they are:

These girls are in SS#4 with perlite/vermiculite, on MCII at ~300 EC, and these are their final pots. I intend to reverse them with CS when they are ready.

The SSSC and CBD Kush are also progressing at Day 3:

The CBD girls are on the left, the SSSC Auto Ellephants on the right. These are in a ~50/50 mix of SS#4 and my soil mix described earlier, mixed in case the soil is a bit hot for babes, and are getting water only, with some BTI to keep the gnats under control. So far so good with the gnats... Three of the CBD girls will go into one of the 30l pots, one of the Ellephant girls will go into another. One of the five germinated CBD babes was culled already, it was growing slowly, but too far behind.

Wish I knew someone local who could adopt the extras...

Happy growing peeps, and thanks for checking in.

 

[St. Tom]

Well peeps, the two pollen plants have made it to Day 7, and it looks as though they are in reasonable condition other than a bit of initial claw which I put down to excess VPD which is now under control with a new humidifier. At any rate, they are alive which is all that these pollen plants need to keep going. Here they are:View attachment 1381408
These girls are in SS#4 with perlite/vermiculite, on MCII at ~300 EC, and these are their final pots. I intend to reverse them with CS when they are ready.

The SSSC and CBD Kush are also progressing at Day 3:
View attachment 1381409
The CBD girls are on the left, the SSSC Auto Ellephants on the right. These are in a ~50/50 mix of SS#4 and my soil mix described earlier, mixed in case the soil is a bit hot for babes, and are getting water only, with some BTI to keep the gnats under control. So far so good with the gnats... Three of the CBD girls will go into one of the 30l pots, one of the Ellephant girls will go into another. One of the five germinated CBD babes was culled already, it was growing slowly, but too far behind.

Wish I knew someone local who could adopt the extras...

Happy growing peeps, and thanks for checking in.

I will be tagging along I'm doing my 1st grow in store bought sohums live soil also your off to a great start bro