I've been a little too lax on getting updates posted, but that doesn't mean nothing has been going on. :smoking: My job has been a nightmare lately, so I had to defer the tent migration component of this grow to the weekend. Thankfully, I knocked that out last night. The lovely ladies are now in their new home - a 5x5x6.66 AC Infinity Tent.
The tent was a bit of a splurge, but I wanted to leverage a much more convenient space in my home for growing since I no longer have to be stealthy. The only challenge was getting ventilation out a casement window; which a very good friend was kind enough to assist me with by taking a piece of plexiglass I purchased and custom cutting it to fit in place of one of the screens. I picked up a 6" AC infinity ventilation louver which he also inserted.
Voila! From a 2x4x5 cheapie to this thing feels like moving into a mansion.
I'm a fan of the AC Infinity brand and am thrilled with the quality; from the heavy fabric, super smooth zippers, indoor pockets, windows and panel to mount my fan's control box. Three 7 gallon pots in the old tent were straight up crowded; whereas I have room to squeeze some vegetables into this one shortly. This also enables me to use that old 2x4 for a dedicated dry tent - Which I am also stoked about.
Worm Bin
I've been wanting to set up a worm bin for compost & castings for a while now. I finally got around to getting that going. I was able to get some cool little 3d printed screens which I inserted into the bottom (x4) and sides (x2) of a cheapie tote from the hardware store. I have some old potting soil ready go to go as bedding and am retrieving my red wigglers next weekend. Will update once that is all together, but the idea is pretty simple: This tote sits on top of a couple blocks in another identical tote (to catch all the worm piss).
Bedding goes inside, then worms and all kinds of veggie scraps. Then magic happens, and my plants get happier.
Plant Updates
Today is day 33, and we are moving along OK. Things feel a bit stunted with only minor (and very recent) signs of deficiency, but I think I'm uncovering why. I've always been paranoid about overwatering. Although I've read about things like the knuckle test, I've always leaned on things like weight -- or my accurate 8's moisture reading -- which I think has actually been letting the plants go too long without water. I realized this yesterday when I noticed that the last watering was 7/26 (12 days ago). Paired with a few fledgling signs of rust & clawing on 3BOG, I decided to do a top dress. The regimen I'm following prescribes one around week 2, so I'm actually a bit behind.
Each plant got ~80ml grokashi by way of top dress -- and then a healthy covering of Build-a-soil Build-a-flower and some barley straw. I watered all that in with some molasses + yucca extract and water to give each a thorough soak. Left 'em alone overnight and have come back to see that all seem happy - signs of growth, better color, and a bit of praying. Going forward, I think I'll plan to water whenever that top 2" or so of soil is dry to the second knuckle. I'll probably give them another similar treatment in a couple more weeks.
Similarly, I've been playing it pretty conservative with my lights. We're at ~400ppfd for each right now. I'm going to lower the lights an inch or two each day and keep an eye out, but I'm thinking this upgraded environment and more frequent water schedule should help them take advantage of more light.
Beyond that, I'm just employing some really basic LST. 3BOG is sprawling a bit and responding very well to the plant ties. Grapefruit is much bushier, but she has also responded well to LST and is responding with several bud sites waking up. I haven't done much with the little Northern Lights shrub. She's bushy and stocky, and there's just not much to work with. Probably gonna let her do her own thing.
Some quick photos from today. I'm foregoing the usual time-lapse, as the last couple weeks honestly haven't been super interesting. (And the old tent was just so crowded the pictures are hard to look at)
3 Bears OG:
Sweet Deep Grapefruit:
Northern Lights:
The tent was a bit of a splurge, but I wanted to leverage a much more convenient space in my home for growing since I no longer have to be stealthy. The only challenge was getting ventilation out a casement window; which a very good friend was kind enough to assist me with by taking a piece of plexiglass I purchased and custom cutting it to fit in place of one of the screens. I picked up a 6" AC infinity ventilation louver which he also inserted.
Voila! From a 2x4x5 cheapie to this thing feels like moving into a mansion.
I'm a fan of the AC Infinity brand and am thrilled with the quality; from the heavy fabric, super smooth zippers, indoor pockets, windows and panel to mount my fan's control box. Three 7 gallon pots in the old tent were straight up crowded; whereas I have room to squeeze some vegetables into this one shortly. This also enables me to use that old 2x4 for a dedicated dry tent - Which I am also stoked about.
Worm Bin
I've been wanting to set up a worm bin for compost & castings for a while now. I finally got around to getting that going. I was able to get some cool little 3d printed screens which I inserted into the bottom (x4) and sides (x2) of a cheapie tote from the hardware store. I have some old potting soil ready go to go as bedding and am retrieving my red wigglers next weekend. Will update once that is all together, but the idea is pretty simple: This tote sits on top of a couple blocks in another identical tote (to catch all the worm piss).
Bedding goes inside, then worms and all kinds of veggie scraps. Then magic happens, and my plants get happier.
Plant Updates
Today is day 33, and we are moving along OK. Things feel a bit stunted with only minor (and very recent) signs of deficiency, but I think I'm uncovering why. I've always been paranoid about overwatering. Although I've read about things like the knuckle test, I've always leaned on things like weight -- or my accurate 8's moisture reading -- which I think has actually been letting the plants go too long without water. I realized this yesterday when I noticed that the last watering was 7/26 (12 days ago). Paired with a few fledgling signs of rust & clawing on 3BOG, I decided to do a top dress. The regimen I'm following prescribes one around week 2, so I'm actually a bit behind.
Each plant got ~80ml grokashi by way of top dress -- and then a healthy covering of Build-a-soil Build-a-flower and some barley straw. I watered all that in with some molasses + yucca extract and water to give each a thorough soak. Left 'em alone overnight and have come back to see that all seem happy - signs of growth, better color, and a bit of praying. Going forward, I think I'll plan to water whenever that top 2" or so of soil is dry to the second knuckle. I'll probably give them another similar treatment in a couple more weeks.
Similarly, I've been playing it pretty conservative with my lights. We're at ~400ppfd for each right now. I'm going to lower the lights an inch or two each day and keep an eye out, but I'm thinking this upgraded environment and more frequent water schedule should help them take advantage of more light.
Beyond that, I'm just employing some really basic LST. 3BOG is sprawling a bit and responding very well to the plant ties. Grapefruit is much bushier, but she has also responded well to LST and is responding with several bud sites waking up. I haven't done much with the little Northern Lights shrub. She's bushy and stocky, and there's just not much to work with. Probably gonna let her do her own thing.
Some quick photos from today. I'm foregoing the usual time-lapse, as the last couple weeks honestly haven't been super interesting. (And the old tent was just so crowded the pictures are hard to look at)
3 Bears OG:
Sweet Deep Grapefruit:
Northern Lights:
