F | T | F Growery: Cultivating In Growpito(Cancelled Due To Pest)

At it again with an overall long road to cultivating in Growpito Sim Mix. Apologies for anyone that has discomfort using the blogs but I do not get enough comments or activity on my threads to do them. Anyways...

I have been cultivating in GSM for two years solidly and it has been a wonderful learning experience. I initially began growing in soil then coco coir until the CEO of Growpito offered me samples to test. Switching from Coco to Growpito was not the easiest as I was not equipped to run sub irrigation compared to my custom drip system for Coco. The CEO informed me of GSM's qualities and that it would save water but also fertilizer so I felt inclined to at least try it as I was going through 25 gallons a week in flower. I did a few test with it but getting a flood table changed the game while also forcing me to really dial in everything. I eventually became hooked with the impressive root structures and all of the other benefits enough so that I fully switched. My water consumption weekly during flower dropped from 25 a week to 10 per week.



Growpito Sim Mix is a stonewool(not to be confused with Rockwool) that has 86% air holding capacity while retaining and insane amount of water. It is compared of many small fibers that are hollow and also contains cubes which help house microbiological populations. It is probably the most expensive medium I have found at $55 for a 5 gallon pot or $140 for 20 gallons though it pays for itself over time as it doesn't degrade quickly and is reusable. If you're considering this medium there are some points to be aware of

• This has to be bottom fed for best results otherwise algae builds up and top watering methods do not distribute the water well at all
• It is expensive
• Works well for 3-5 gallon pots
• Check your tap water before using or use reverse osmosis - low ppm(180 or less)
• Reusable
• Needs to soak for a few hours to a few days to build microbiology and get water into fibers well
• Can use organics
• Recycled
• Uses low EC sub 1.5 for cannabis and 5.5-6.2pH
• Watering frequency is between 3-5 days unless you have something like autopots

Currently I'm in the process of reviving my mother tent that suffered from a long time fungus Gnats problem that was corrected with beneficial nematodes. Everything is small for now but I have four new cultivars growing to eventually take cuts but also clones, vegetables, and herbs in the GSM. There will be a lot going on as I am a SOG grower in the making with a tight schedule to ideally meet.



This blog will detail preparing Growpito, propagating cuttings, tending mothers, and flowering which are all very simple with GSM. I will explain my fertilizers, foliar, and overall setup. Check the other pages as I add updates as frequently as possible.

Quick run down of my entire setup and the etc. of the methods I use to not kill everything I touch. I'm a big believer in dialed in environments and the best lighting you can afford but also understanding what needs to be purchased and for what reasons. I see a lot mistakes and failures happen because these things aren't done well or even taken into consideration.

• Grow tents - 5x5 and a 4x4 give me enough space for mothers, cuttings, seeds, and rotating vegetables. All tents are subpart IMO but this is space that is available for now lol.
• Lighting - Bridgelux EB gen 2 3000k strips are the go to for my flower and veg with 480w to flower and 185-370w in veg. Great lights that I built to reach 2.5umols/j while delivering excellent coverage with decent penetration.
• Air circulation - 200cfm and 400cfm looped to both tents. I have an intake hole connected to my 400cfm that brings in fresh air at a slow rate while the air is circulated between both tents for heat and humidity. I also use two 18" box fans in flower and one in veg. Keeps everything really well circulated so stagnation and micro climates are kept to a minimum.
• Temperature - heater connected to InkBird controller maintains 82-86f. Outside the tents is an AC for the window that brings the room temp down overall as air is reintroduced back into the large room.
• Humidity - controlled by an AIRCARE 6 gallon humidifier that maintains 55+ rh year round. Humidity is produced outside the tents so the overall room humidity sits perfectly as intake air. Really helpful with full canopies and the veg room
• Water - reverse osmosis through an Axxeon system with carbon and sediment filters. Runs 2500gpd but much less for my situation. I use two 55g drums for the clean and the discharge

I do suggest renting or buying a PAR meter as that is an incredible piece of technology that I did not have a manufacturer to rely on for. DIY lights are a guessing game and to some extent so are pre built as manufacturers are prone to lying. A lux meter can be a decent second if you have the spectral distribution conversion or you have used a PAR meter already OR the manufacturer or someone on YouTube has provided it. Either way a PAR meter and a LUX meter measure two very different things like a screwdriver and wrench and one is not a substitute for the other. On to my medium and fertilizers...

• Medium - Growpito Sim Mix. That's what this is all about
• Pots - 5 gallon for flower and a hodgepodge for veg
• Base fertilizer - Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Bloom for hydroponics. I use this for everything without issue
• Additives - Botanicare Liquid Karma, Fulvic Acid, Silica, and yucca powder
• Beneficials - Growpito Beneficials and Blast are N and P fixing formulas that I love contains kelp, yucca, humic, trichoderma, myco, microbes, and enzymes.
• Irrigation system - 3x3 flood and drain table for flower and two 30g reservoirs. Otherwise I hand water the mothers...

I do also suggest a c02 monitor and a hot tip wind prove to measure more parameters.

Part of my process and receipts when I need to justify purchases involves a lot annotation in a way that I can understand quickly. In the past I've dealt with horrible fungus gnat infestations, city water, mold, etc. and the best way I've found has been creating whole galleries that are dated and specific to each cultivar and the number of times I've cultivated it. EC, pH, environmental parameters for day and night, and so on are contained but the pictures are the most important part. That's how I've fixed more of my problems on my own or been led to a solution versus being left in a state disgruntlement that my $1500 investment grows low quality bud. Always nice to know when something is my fault or faulty resources.

Anyways, several hundred pictures later and I can justify getting my mirrorless Fujifilm aps-c and eventually share high res pictures. My LG Velvet takes poor pictures and I do this enough to wish I had something dedicated. Plus good pictures get free seeds. So here are some good and bad pictures from my previous Growpito runs.

Mothers are everything for my setup. Without them I'd have to buy seeds frequently or grow autoflowers. Despite needing more space I enjoy the consistency of cloning and it has been a learning experience compared to the 'off to the races' nature of autos. Bad things happen in my grow rooms sometimes that can't be fixed in a few days. Having independent spaces brings clarity as everything has a place and a time to grow.

I'm the subsections I'll cover how I tend my mothers and clones in preparation to flower.

At this point I am currently rehabbing two Extrema by Sannie's that came from sick mothers, got a bit better after rooting then became sick again due to fungus gnats. These are in the black fabric pot along with a Bangi Congo x Panama by Ace Seeds. Training everything to begin branching and really spread out to maximize the amount of cuttings I receive.

In the gray container are four different cultivars consisting of; Karel's Kosher Kush by SSSC, Bruce Lemon Diesel by SSSC, Stardawg by Greenpoint, and Colmb.D/I-95 x New Lime. They are sharing this container while they grow for me to get cuttings eventually. All goes well these will be flowering for my fall run.

Lastly, I have my vegetables germinating along with my cuttings that are lying in wait for my next flower cycle. Vegetables will be moved to my 2x8x2 flood tables because store bought taste gross. Predominantly growing herbs and non fruiting vegetables as the latter have higher demands. There are about 16 cuttings that are ready but I'm not quite ready as the mother plants these originated from died after pruning.

It has been rough and forced me to redo a lot of things but growing the GSM is so simple problems tend to be user error. Here is a run down of everything:

• EC of .8 consisting of Pure Blend Pro, silica, Liquid Karma, yucca, and phosphorus at a 5.5-6.2ph for everything I veg
• Temps of 82-86f and humidity of 58-64
• 16/8 light schedule
• Foliar of yucca, Liquid Karma, phosphorus, and pH'ed to 3 9-5.5

What I really love but also what has been an incredibly different experience with Growpito is the way the roots grow. When I grew in Coco or rooted in an aerocloner roots would typically grow long, white, and explode from the bottom of the pots. Seeing the difference in root growth brought me some different perspective.

Rooting in Coco tended to create long thick roots with less feeder roots that would go where the water went. In Growpito it's more complicated with the sub irrigation and the expectation that the roots will go down in search of water. They do not with GSM, in fact they branch many feeder roots that connect to the fibers that are filled with air and water.

Below are examples of the root structures I've gotten and I may add more but for now this gives a general idea.



The roots go everywhere while branching aggressively creating a complex system that looks much different than Coco or soil. I do believe this creates better plants while the cubes create strong microbiological zones. It has been my experience that I will find after a full grow that several cubes have been struck by roots or a main stem and nearly destroyed.

Everything is coming along well with consistency so I'm seeing good growth on everything. I've begun training the seed mothers and filled several pots for my next run with cuttings. Five new cuttings are under the pots to root, took them from some that were getting tall and I'll take a few more later.

I don't believe I'll be ready to flower for another month. I'd really like to get some good cuttings from all of the new plants especially since they will finish faster than from seed. The routine has so far come to be watering every three to four days and foliar feeding every other day with fulvic/liquid Karma/yucca. The only place in my house without irrigation - I loathe the excess unnecessary work I have to do in here lol.

Vegetables are in the process of being transplanted so I hopefully eat less grocery store trash in the new few months.

Just the veg stage but grateful for the growth nonetheless. Currently waiting on the gray container to produce clones meanwhile more Bangi Congo x Panama clones rooting for whenever I decide to start flowering. Nothing has changed since week 1 keeping everything consistent with feeds and foliar.

Topped the older clones for new ones and not a mother in sight yet. So many new cultivars so I'm not particularly concerned with the hope of finding something worth keeping. I will be going on a one week trip so I will be completely saturating each pot in an attempt to prevent anything from drying out. We'll see how the Growpito deals with.

Also, slipped my mind but the reason Growpito works better in sub irrigation is due to its wicking and strands. Since they are hollow tubes, submerging them forces fresh air into the tubes.

Back from vacation and nothing died on me after seven days. Thankfully everything turned out and I was met with work opening the tent.

Trimmed all of the large Bangi Congo x Panama clones down for around 16 more in total. A few clones from before vacation rooted really well and were transplanted.

The large tub of mothers grew well enough for me to get 1-2 cuts per plant. I'll give them a week and some change to root then the flower tent will be ready to flower.

When I was making cuts, the Karel's Kosher Kush really stood out with an amazing aroma.

Large batch of clones brewing in the mean time I have two pots left to fill with cuttings before I begin to flower. Sans vacation and all the problems I've had for the past year this could have turned out much better. I do see the successes in the failures but it isn't on a large scale but enough to give me hope lol.

No doubt in my mind that I could pull 45oz off a 3x3 but I don't think it's easy. Ultimately I'm enjoying the challenge more than I expected. Not something everyone can do so it leaves me to learn on my own with few resources to really learn from but I also enjoy that.

Plants have been trimmed several times now to keep height short so I might get to see something cool during flower. I really do need an aerocloner in the future though to make this go perfect. Cloning in the Growpito hasn't been the easiest thing for me.

Hopefully in two weeks I'll be able to begin flowering to show off Karel's Kosher Kush and Bruce Lemon Diesel from SSSC.

I will be flowering soon and in the meantime I've transplanted everything from the grey container.

Everything has remained constant with fertigations every 3 days of .5EC/5.5-6.2ph and daily foliar feeds. Transplant was a breeze that didn't really cause any shock. After transplant they were fertigated and in 5-7 days they'll receive their first flood.

Some of the plants are still small due to me clipping clones when I could rather than all at once. They'll veg out for another week and to 11/13 ill go.

In the subsections below I will cover my flowering process in regards to SOGs and otherwise what I can accomplish with what I have. The goal is 36-45 clones per run but that isn't a constant as things can happen.

We are finally into flower and they have received their first flood a few days ago. In at a 1.0 EC and a 5.4ph using Botanicare's Liquid karma and Pure Blend Pro Bloom with fulvic acid/Growpito Beneficials for nitrogen fixing/yucca. Daily foliar and lights are at max.

Both of these plants are odd but strong. Clones in a week and no real issues. Leggy looking but flower always looks different. Discoloration on the edge of the leaves is from my foliar.

SSSC Bruce Lemon Diesel and Kosher Haze going on here but Stardawg, Bangi Congo x Panama, and Colmb. Diesel/I-95 x New Lime will be here. @Waira

Slow starter but hormones and all that...

I was able to acquire 3/5 cuts off these but I believe these are regs so we'll see how many are male. I may have to reveg any cuts I possibly get.

Overall, no issues.

There's a bit of everything in here but it gets to be chore doing pics through my phone.

Bangi Congo x Panama in the back has stopped stretching for the most part. Overall it's been an easy grow with no particular challenges so far. I do my best to make everything simple though.

Lots of progress and good growth though so it's all working out.