PLEASE, help me build a No-Till mix

[elcoloan]

@Ryno_nuggs thanks for the rep! Hope you are right and i get pollen pouring from these sacs. The first batch of plucked sacs didn't give any decent amount so I threw it away, but regretted it afterwards since I realized it must have been my fault for not trying harder to extract the pollen by pressing or crushing the anthers/bananas or by letting them dry a bit more... i just shook the sacs in a colander over a black paper a few days after plucking. So, I went ahead and plucked off a new batch since several more male sacs began popping up on the high tops and rest of plant they just keep appearing. While I plucked this second batch I accidentally squeezed an anther between my finger and lots of visible pollen came out confirming my suspicion... so things should turn better then with this second batch of sacs... will report back here with results.

In the mean time, here goes a little update on some other things...

Lets begin with new news! I've already had my new HLG 200 Diablo light and AC Infinity exhaust fan in my hand for a few days buck got sick so had not had the time to set it up till yesterday. Damn lamp is freaking bright!
The mum tent now houses this light and the new exhaust fan. The light can't be dimmed below 77.8 Watts, so there is where I let it but would have preferred to set it lower at 60W.
And additionally to the new light in the mum's tent... two 1 Lt pots filled with a 1:1:1 mix of EWC, Pumice/RIce Hulls, peat. These two pots will be the sprouting home of two new Autos that will inhabit the mum's-tent and even might displace the mum from the tent for a while if they fill up the canopy as much as I hope they do: Cream Mandarine Auto and Cream Mandarine XL Auto (Sweet Seeds). Final containers for these two will be 2 3 gal fabric pots with the "no-till" mix created for this thread and that is now used in alll my current plants in both tents.

Any ways, here some pics... a pic of the new light and fan, as well as a pics of the new seeds; a pic of the mum tent with new light and the two 1 lt containers getting warmed up for when the two seeds have germinated in their paper towels; and a few pics of the old tent with the reversed clones, the clone meant to be pollinated, and the new batch of plucked sacs.

 

[DCLXVI]

Nice new toys! I hope the current round of pollen has a good amount for you.

 

[elcoloan]

A little extra update... the mix i did for the two 1 lt containers to sprout the two Autos to come, resulted with a very low pH (4.4 direct in soil, 4.5 in slurry) so I mixed mith 50% of the no-till mix. pH resulted in 5.9 pH in direct soil measure , and in slurry 6.03 and 650-670 ppms... maybe not ideal but will use it that way and see what happens.
In fact, the two seeds cracked open today (less than 12 hours in wet towel!) so I just recently put them into the 1 lt containers!
I hope to transplant these two Autos into their final 3 gal containers with only the notill mix (which has a pH now of 6.6-6.9) about a week or bit more after the autos have opened their cotyledons, so I'd also hope the initial low pH medium is then balanced out by the final container's higher ph'd medium and the tap water I'd used to water it is usually close to 7 pH.

Any how, some pics:

 

[Silver]

@elcoloan This is a super cool project bro, thank you for sharing this with us..how are you liking the soil you've made, is it something you can see using going forward?

Just looking at the soil in your last photo of the auto buckets..I wonder if there is something you can use to improve aeration/drainage?

As always, really enjoy reading your journals man

 

[elcoloan]

Hey @Silver , thanks for passing by!

how are you liking the soil you've made, is it something you can see using going forward?

I've liked it. I messed up the mix adding too much agro lime and soft rock phosphate, which put its pH above 7.0 and also a bit higher EC than it should, so I waited several months for at least pH to lower... and while waiting I got a terrible gnat infestation which is now controlled. But despite the bad things, once the pH was at <7.0, the soil (as a TLS) has been performing really well in optimal temp, RH and DLI conditions (in friends' grow rooms) and also relatively well in not so optimal contitions (lower temps and low DLI in my tents)... it does retain lots of moisture but it's only been a problem (some overwatering) when temps are below 24C / 75 F. The soil had only been used with photos until now, so my next run with the Cream Mandarines will tell how well it works with autos in my sub-optimal conditions.
And yeah, I plan keep using this soil mix in the new tent until it runs out, and then will mix a new one to get back on track and continue to try no-till which is the actual goal for which I began this thread.

Just looking at the soil in your last photo of the auto buckets..I wonder if there is something you can use to improve aeration/drainage?

Well... I still need to do more experimenting on that topic. I think my root-rot problems in the Autopot runs with coco could have been because of one of the following reasons if not because of all of them mixed: (a) not enough drainage material -> l used very little and never tried even getting close to 50-50; (b) despite its low EC, my tap water that i used with my Autopot+coco runs seems to contain biological stuff that easily results in root problems -> if I leave a glass of that tap water for a week under the sun, algae starts forming, and I got an RO filter and filtered water doesn't grow algae but I haven't gotten to use that filter watered in a coco run; (c) after recently acquiring a new Autopot tray+valve, i realized my first Autopot valve has a slight design defect that doesn't let the tray empty out as it should. I plan to do an Autopot+coco run as soon as my pollination run in the old tent is done. Will tag you in it to keep you up-to-date on my findings on that matter.

....

And since I'm here, an update:
In the old tent... reversed clone is on day around 63 of 12/12, clone to be pollinated is on its day 18 of 12/12. Yesterday, after almost 6 days of drying, I took the second batch of plucked male sacs and put them on a metallic strainer and shook it over clone-to-be-pollinated... some pollen came out but wanting to see more, I just started crushing the sacs in the strainer placed above the plant and now I started seen lots of dust flying around and landing on the plant. Feeling much pleased now. Collected a new batch of sacs yesterday, and will collect another this week and kill the reversed plant. And well, here's a pic of the old tent today... lights were off.. so the plants were asleep:

And in the new tent... mum was over-watered last week but recuperating from it like a champ. The Cream Mandarine Auto opened coty's yesterday, the Cream Mandarine XL Auto opened coty's today. These little ones are getting a DLI of 24, and temps at their height have been between 19C/66F and 25C/77F. Pics from today:

 

[elcoloan]

Quick update:

In the old tent, watered both plants with 1 lt of tap water with a bit of EWC leachate which left water at 6.6 pH. Took the chance and used the third batch of plucked polen and crushed it over the now-in-day 20 of 12/12 clone. Threw away the batch and collected anew and last one. Should be killing the reversed plant (day 65 of 12/12) this weekend.

And in the new tent... the Cream Mandarines seem to be doing fine. The older one had its leaves curled down as if overwatered or sensitive to the soil, or not liking the low RH (45-55%). So I put a plastic cup over it to increase RH and achieve better VPD and in less than a day leaves perked up... not sure it really was because of that or if it just adapted to the soil.. any way, looking good so far.

 

[elcoloan]

Update:

I did a little top dressing with malted barley to all the plants and watered them -except overwatered mum- yesterday in both tents. Used tap water mixed with a blended and freshly cut aloe leaf.

In the old tent, I also took the fourth/last batch of plucked male sacs that had been drying for about 4 days and I squished them against a metallic colander to release some more polen over the clone in day 24 of 12/12... maybe not necessary to keep throwing pollen at her but just want to make sure she gets viable pollen since I have plucked very different looking sacs. The reversed clone is in day 68-69 of 12/12, and since it still has some sacs I could pluck, I think I'll let her live a bit longer while I harvest all that remaining pollen. Here are a few pics from today during lights out:

And in the new tent the Cream Mandarine Auto (day 8) I'd think is growing at a good rate considering the temps were at max 24 C / 75 F during this weekend, but it does seem a bit sensitive to too much water... after getting 120 ml of water, her leaves drooped a bit, but go back flat after a few hours.
The Cream Mandarine XL Auto (day 7), which has a darker green but smaller-sized leaves, doesn't seem to mind the water at all getting the same amount of water and reacting in the opposite way... it almost immediately started praying to the light and has stayed that way. The cotyledons in both are dark green.
The white smudges on the Cream Mandarine Auto were from the watering... when my aloe dries it leaves a white film. Both seedlings are currently at 48 cm / 18 inch from edge of the light, not right below it but close, and are getting 440 ppfd - 480 ppfd, for a DLI of 28.5-31.4.
Here are a few pics of them today:

 

[elcoloan]

Auto's Update

The two autos seem to be doing ok. Transplanted the older one yesterday and the other one today, both into 3 gal / 11lt fabric pots with my "no-till" mix. The younger one's transplant went a little bad... I ended up tearing a cotyledon in half and the roots got quite beaten up, but I think none broke.
While they recover from any stress the transplant caused them, I placed both plants a little further away from the light than they were already.

Any how, here are some pics of the two autos from today and yesterday. Today they are 14 and 13 days old.

 

[DCLXVI]

Nice roots, nice plants, looks like it is going fine!

 

[elcoloan]

QuickPic Update

pics from the old tent on monday, last day of life for the reversed clone. and pics from the bracts that are swelling up with seeds in the pollinated clone, on day 31 today. it's under 400-500 ppfd for a DLI of 17-21

And in the new tent we have the Cream Mandarine Auto on day 18 and the Cream Mandarine XL Auto on day 17. The XL really got stunted with the harsh transplant, but seems to be moving on now. Today I brought light a bit closer (38-41 cm / 15-16 inch) for a ppfd of 520-600 for a DLI of 33.7 - 38.8. Will leave it there for now. Here are some pics from today: