Mimed’s Perpetual Thread

[Kanzeon]

Eh, life is pain, right? The weed just makes it more bearable.

I've been thinking about eliminating peat from my mix altogether. Perlite, coco, mushroom compost, ewc, lime, and amendments.

 

[Moshmen]

This is funny, because I've taken the exact opposite approach to transplanting. They'll stay in those little 3x3 pots WAY longer than most people would think of, then get rootbound and pause growth for a bit. Some stress flower or herm at this point (inducing this is part of the point), they get tossed in the garbage. Most of my plants get held like this for a while until there's room to flower.

When they do eventually get flipped, the growth is explosive. Going from one cup of soil to 2 gallons of it, the roots just kind of bolt out in all directions and they're ready to flip in a couple weeks.

I do it quick like that mostly cuz I’m still not good at reading the plant and feeding - new soil every now and then makes thing easy- I’m sure as my skill grows I will modify my techs - I practice in small pots all the time someday I’ll be able to do a solo grow ! Lol

 

[MIMedGrower]

Eh, life is pain, right? The weed just makes it more bearable.

I've been thinking about eliminating peat from my mix altogether. Perlite, coco, mushroom compost, ewc, lime, and amendments.

so amended coco rather than peat. Seems all the rage lately.

May I ask why?

 

[Kanzeon]

so amended coco rather than peat. Seems all the rage lately.

May I ask why?

Peat isn't a super sustainable resource, and both times I've bought it, it had bugs. I also find that it doesn't really seem to serve a purpose in the mix besides to take up space and maintain an acidic pH. It's there for that, soil structure, drainage, and possibly negligible humic/fulvic levels (which doesn't matter to me because I supplement both), right?

Peat started off being like 1/3 of my mix, now it's 1/8, the difference replaced by coco. It's also a bitch to get that giant bag and try to return it if it has bugs, then to carry another one in, just to use 2.5 gallons of it in a 20 gallon mix.

Mushroom compost is all kinds of renewable, especially if sourced locally. It's 3 dollars a bag here. One bag makes me 40 gallons of soil. It's hard for me to believe that it's that big of a switch. If I filled in the difference in volume with earthworm castings, the cost doubles- so I need a filler.

Perlite and coco cover structure and drainage wonderfully, obviously. But I want to encourage bacterial life with a lot of humus, so I add earthworm castings. Lime for pH, organic dry nutes because duh, and that's it. Give the plant what it needs and don't get in the way.

ONE DAY I'll be growing enough edible and magic mushrooms to just use the spent substrate. But I'm still too chickenshit and broke to take on that whole world right now.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Peat isn't a super sustainable resource, and both times I've bought it, it had bugs. I also find that it doesn't really seem to serve a purpose in the mix besides to take up space and maintain an acidic pH. It's there for that, soil structure, drainage, and possibly negligible humic/fulvic levels (which doesn't matter to me because I supplement both), right?

Peat started off being like 1/3 of my mix, now it's 1/8, the difference replaced by coco. It's also a bitch to get that giant bag and try to return it if it has bugs, then to carry another one in, just to use 2.5 gallons of it in a 20 gallon mix.

Mushroom compost is all kinds of renewable, especially if sourced locally. It's 3 dollars a bag here. One bag makes me 40 gallons of soil. It's hard for me to believe that it's that big of a switch. If I filled in the difference in volume with earthworm castings, the cost doubles- so I need a filler.

Perlite and coco cover structure and drainage wonderfully, obviously. But I want to encourage bacterial life with a lot of humus, so I add earthworm castings. Lime for pH, organic dry nutes because duh, and that's it. Give the plant what it needs and don't get in the way.

ONE DAY I'll be growing enough edible and magic mushrooms to just use the spent substrate. But I'm still too chickenshit and broke to take on that whole world right now.

i went almost 7 years with different brands of peat mix and never saw more than a few gnats from overwatering.

Peat is an aquatic plant. It is under water or drenched while growing. It does not sustain the kinds of bugs that are common to gardens.

Dirty growers and poorly managed grow stores however attract all kinds of bugs. But there is no food for bugs in a bale of peat. Unless its amended that is.


as far as a sustainable resource. They keep farming it i feel i can grab a few bags a year.

 

[Kanzeon]

i went almost 7 years with different brands of peat mix and never saw more than a few gnats from overwatering.

Peat is an aquatic plant. It is under water or drenched while growing. It does not sustain the kinds of bugs that are common to gardens.

Dirty growers and poorly managed grow stores however attract all kinds of bugs. But there is no food for bugs in a bale of peat. Unless its amended that is.


as far as a sustainable resource. They keep farming it i feel i can grab a few bags a year.

Yeah, that's fair. There's nothing to say that the bugs didn't come from the storage conditions.

Even still, as far as sustainability, we can do better.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/peat-moss-gardening-1.5411539

 

[chemistry]

When you got to the recycle points with wood, branches, trees, it's sent off and either used for chip board, or composting, this is where most of our modern potting composts derive from, and the assortment of bugs. And while the packaging says bug free, the end product is in the hands of the operatives that make it, targets have to be met, and at this point, quality goes out the window.

 

[Frankster]

Eh, life is pain, right? The weed just makes it more bearable.

I've been thinking about eliminating peat from my mix altogether. Perlite, coco, mushroom compost, ewc, lime, and amendments.

I've kinda noticed that as I recycle my soils, I'm constantly getting more root like material as it goes along, I remove the bulk of it, but the fine roots always remain. I kinda figure they've got good mojo in them, so why not. Except over multiple grows, it eventually changes the composition of the soil mixture and has too much of what I consider a peat type quality to it. The soil loses some of it's cohesion. Usually I just dilute it by mixing in more fresh soil. Mostly been using FoxFarm Frog, or Ocean when the other is not available.

The sad part is, I've got all that soil up in the mountains, and I haven't used any of it yet. (although, I did a small grow up there last year) I got a feeling that soil up there is better than anything I've used to date. 12 acres of pristine old growth rain forest with a glacier fed spring running in the center of it, and several other seasonal springs. (a seasonal one in the video running under that tree) Several species of mushrooms get really prolific during certain times of the year. The underside of the canopy is filled with fiddle back ferns and literally ton's of lichens hanging from the trees and underbrush, some chunks of earth (when dug up) are filled with mycococonaze in certain spots, sometimes a foot or so thick and extending out in all directions.

7 acres of the land directly north of me quite literally "fell' off the mountain during the winter rains, it got super saturated back in 2014 when it rained for 2 weeks straight, after people clear cut the forest in those spots. (This happened 2 days before notorious Oso landslide in Washington State. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide) Essentially, it's a clay base, made from ground up glacial rocks covered with decomposition of the fauna. They are in essence very fragile, massive ancient glacial clay cauldron's, or bowls. (acre sized) filled with debris of the last 10,000 years. Some spots are about 8-10 feet of this peat like material, other spots like in the video, the clay is only a few feet down. When it rains, the forest floor soaks up whatever makes it though the tree canopy, and it's got little underground springs running everywhere down the slopes, where the underlying clay meets the top layers of soil. We get 73 inches of rain, and it rains almost 200 days a year, with about 160 days of sunshine.

The soil is very much alive in this place. I think the pics were taken in the early spring. I'm thinking early March, after the snow melt, so the dead materials are from the previous year. Sorry about rambling, but I'm truly amazed at the circle of life, in the soil of this area. It's a true micro-climate worthy of study, and an extremely delicate balance of varying climate conditions.

 

[707finisher]

Got any new pics ? :)

 

[Gingercat]

I guess after 5 years of perpetual growing and more than 35 years smoking herb and in the industries black market its time i start my own thread.

I grow a small but productive medical garden with mrs. Mmg and i allowed up to 24 plants. We both have realized health benefits from weed and have strived for top quality in the garden over yield or money.

Greed is the killer when farming in my opinion. Patience and details are key.

For now i just want to post some pics from last night when i entered the flower room at lights on.

I just love it when things are going well (of course) and had to take pics of the garden waking up.

Each plant is from a feminized seed and is a different strain/cross/pheno staggared about 10 days apart on average for a continued variety of flowers.

I did this also to remain in plant count with a higher output and space management per month while keeping to the rediculous 2.5 oz per patient rule of weed on hand allowed.

The house has appeared to be in full compliance the whole time.

With rec now legal i may monocrop in a new 4x8 tent and actually take some time off. I have gardened every day for 4 years in a row.

I have health issues from birth that prematurely ended my sales management carreer and now work more often. Lol.

Sorry. I will shut up now and post pics.

View attachment 860397 View attachment 860398 View attachment 860399 View attachment 860400 View attachment 860401 View attachment 860402

Presently these are all CH9 seeds. I have tried many different seeds and we tend to like ch9 best. Almost 100% germination after hundreds of plants and fantastic old school effects combined with strong medical effects. And bred from some of the best genetics ever available in my opinion.

I will still mix in other genetics as I go.

Hope that was a good intro. I will try to update often and all other growers are welcome. Except for trolls. Lol.

How long do you veg, I had a veg of 30 days and my plants are way bigger than I wanted

 

[MIMedGrower]

How long do you veg, I had a veg of 30 days and my plants are way bigger than I wanted

depends on openings in the flower room but with hybrids usually 5-6 weeks from seed 4 from clone.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Got any new pics ? :)

me? Nothing much new to see yet but i will get some up soon.

 

[Gingercat]

depends on openings in the flower room but with hybrids usually 5-6 weeks from seed 4 from clone.

Yeah mine was 30 days from being put in 3 gal, so roughly 44 days might drop it down a week or so

 

[MIMedGrower]

Yeah mine was 30 days from being put in 3 gal, so roughly 44 days might drop it down a week or so

My plants are flowering in #3 plastic nursery pots and are trained to be 30” tall above the pot max. Although some get very wide. Just telling you for size reference. I keep 18” between the tops and the glass in the reflectors. Any closer and the hps tends to burn terps and maybe potency.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Here are some girls flowering now.



Chocolate Diesel 1

Girl Scout Cookies 3

Chocolate Diesel 2

91 Oranges 2 (osmocote plus test)

 

[MIMedGrower]

The HSC seeds all taprooted in a warm moist coffee filter around 20 hrs. Fast! And all sprouted a day after planting. These are good vigorous viable seeds. I am excited to see the plants progress. These are feminized seeds by the way. And packages are dated for freshness. Very professional. So far I am glad i got a nice variery of the HSC seeds.

we got 2 10 day old Bigfoot Glue’s got their stems buried last 2 days and watered. Up front in the red cups. A Humboldt Sour Diesel is planted under the little dome next to them.

i have stopped filtering my well water but am not sure if i should continue or not yet. Sorry useless information. ;-)

Back left is an OG Kush about 2.5 weeks old and on the right in the other 1 gallon is a Caramel Cream a bit younger.

They are all growing fast in the ocean forest /perlite mix.

 

[MIMedGrower]

The 2 Bigfoot Glue seedlings sure do look the same. The breeders do advertise uniformity.

 

[dire wolf]

This is funny, because I've taken the exact opposite approach to transplanting. They'll stay in those little 3x3 pots WAY longer than most people would think of, then get rootbound and pause growth for a bit. Some stress flower or herm at this point (inducing this is part of the point), they get tossed in the garbage. Most of my plants get held like this for a while until there's room to flower.

When they do eventually get flipped, the growth is explosive. Going from one cup of soil to 2 gallons of it, the roots just kind of bolt out in all directions and they're ready to flip in a couple weeks.

Hey k , I can see this working fine also , it's not exactly up potting , in a timely fashion , but it definitely up potting , so personally I wouldn't call it " the opposite " of what we're talking about ...
What I don't like is when new grewers drop seeds into 1 , 2 , 3 , or 5 gallon containers and run into watering issues ......
Your technique seems fine , maybe a bit more stressful , but your going from a tight developed mass into fresh medium .... That seems good to me ...
I get the stress part , normally I wouldn't go that far , but I can see it for certain reasons ...

 

[SSgrower]

I float seeds 1 day in Hydrogen Peroxide 2% 1 cap full to a cup of water, day two into moist paper towels folded onto the seeds, I usually "pop" 4 seeds hoping two are female and make it to the 3 gal material bags. This is day four of Pro-Mix starting mix.

 

[shitwinds]

sub'd...........or should i say, watching