🪴 Back to Growing After Decades Away — With a Little Help from AI Coaching

[ChairmanFester]

Also why landrace fanatics have a point; these strains lasted for a thousand years through empires before writing lol.

 

[cpurola]

Also why landrace fanatics have a point; these strains lasted for a thousand years through empires before writing lol.

BUT, they have evolved in a particular environment and me trying to grow them in a totally different climate means, no go.

 

[ChairmanFester]

BUT, they have evolved in a particular environment and me trying to grow them in a totally different climate means, no go.

As a counter point:

 

[kenb]

Day 8 Flowering

 

[kenb]

Day 9 Flowering
Having a little trouble with the vent tube for the humidifier. It's just not rigid enough for my liking and getting the correct height and angle is challenging. I'm going to capture the vent tube in pvc so it is upright, can't kink, and is adjustable.

Other than that, the ladies are looking good - leaf posture is nice except for the runt on the right. I will probably rotate that pot clockwise to get it on the periphery of the light since it's the thinnest but with a tall leader that doesn't have many shade leaves.

 

[kenb]

Flowering Day 11

This morning's tent entry was one of those "holy sh*t" moments. The stretch is so wonderful to watch. This hobby is infectious. I'm already planning for the next indoor grow, and outdoors next year.

Climate holding very steady with temp, RH, and VPD. Undercarriage airflow is great, and the structure of the stems seems to be fully ready for heavy flowers. Yo-yos and defoliation coming soon.

Does anyone use insect frass with top dressing? Is it worth it?

 

[kenb]

Day 12 - Flowering

Three things struck me this morning.

1. There was a STRONG aroma blast when I opened the tent like nothing before;
2. The amazing growth, and;
3. The watering bases were low again in just 24 hours (half empty - all). Root colonization is at full speed since they are drinking almost entirely from the bottom wicking system.

Terpene synthesis has kicked into high gear
The canopy is very even and vigorous
The Cap Junky and Ginger Kush are both now producing early preflowers
Internode elongation (buds rising above the net)
Leaf blade expansion
Stacking points forming at EVERY node
Each cola defining its vertical dominance

This is the peak stretch window, and we're right on schedule.

Next up: defoliation, top dressing with Gaia Green All Purpose, Gaia Green Power Bloom, fresh local worm castings, and frass (this is a living soil grow), and then turn up the light intensity once they have settled down from defoliation.

 

[ChairmanFester]

I have a feeling adding castings mid grow (I do as part of soil mix) might work better if you got some room between the bag and current soil, then sifted it down in there. Then you get a tea-soak effect all over instead of top down. I'll try it one day but I suspect a paint stir stick would do it.

 

[kenb]

I have a feeling adding castings mid grow (I do as part of soil mix) might work better if you got some room between the bag and current soil, then sifted it down in there. Then you get a tea-soak effect all over instead of top down. I'll try it one day but I suspect a paint stir stick would do it.

Thank you. Your feedback and experience are appreciated! The original medium was Pro Mix and fresh, local worm castings, and the plants seem to love it. Since it's almost time to top dress again, adding more worm castings (with the Gaia additions) should feed them through the end of stretch and beyond.

I couldn't find frass locally but the ladies seem content and vigorous so it's all good. I'll blend the ingredients and gently sift it into the top .5-1" of top medium with a light watering. It's a whole new world out here since the 80's and I'm loving the learning!

 

[ForestSpirit]

Flowering Day 11

This morning's tent entry was one of those "holy sh*t" moments. The stretch is so wonderful to watch. This hobby is infectious. I'm already planning for the next indoor grow, and outdoors next year.

Climate holding very steady with temp, RH, and VPD. Undercarriage airflow is great, and the structure of the stems seems to be fully ready for heavy flowers. Yo-yos and defoliation coming soon.

Does anyone use insect frass with top dressing? Is it worth it?

I'm almost certain that the humidifier will have a negative impact on the LEDs.

 

[kenb]

I'm almost certain that the humidifier will have a negative impact on the LEDs.

You're right. And the tube was too close to the plants too. The vent tube from the Thermocloud was getting kinked and the shutting down. I moved it yesterday.

 

[kenb]

Day 14 - Flowering

The ladies were top dressed and top watered yesterday with Gaia Green All Purpose, Gaia Green Power Bloom, and worm castings. A new S9 fan has been installed at floor height blowing slightly upward on level 1 to keep air moving down below. They seem to be happy and were looking great this morning. The second trellis will be going in this weekend, if not before.

 

[ChairmanFester]

You can spread that a bit and avoid pruning. Over all lookin good. I'm recovering from a little cold spell on my end, they're angry but not damaged, I had to get a space heater. A smart call would have been anticipating that and bumping up K in the feed. For the record, made-for-tv usb neck warmers don't help.

 

[DrDankHands]

Looking really nice ken I've been using AI as well to improve the grow and hit maximum performance and output check out my grow diary if you get a chance, it's nice to see someone else is using the tools available to them and is seeing beneficial results.
I've said it once and I'm sure I will say it a thousand times AI like any tool of human creation is only as good as the person weilding it.
If your ever unsure of the AIs response ask it to cite it's sources for it's reasoning, this usually nips any hallucinations and errors in the bud as it's able to tell you, actually this isn't confirmed or this is presumed or straight made up and this is backed by data ect.
Using this method I've managed to double the recorded known yeild per sq ft and yield per watt average and am producing for one tenth the cost of commercial operations.

Good luck with your current grow the only refinement I would recommend is use living soil, you will see the products I recommend for it in my diary.
This will increase nutrient uptake and availability and will minimize the energy the plant uses to send roots in search of what it needs as the mycelia and micology deliveries what the plant needs in exchange for things they need meaning more energy to flower development

 

[ChairmanFester]

Looking really nice ken

I use it, more for spot discussion but it can even examine your own logic and that helps.

 

[kenb]

You can spread that a bit and avoid pruning. Over all lookin good. I'm recovering from a little cold spell on my end, they're angry but not damaged, I had to get a space heater. A smart call would have been anticipating that and bumping up K in the feed. For the record, made-for-tv usb neck warmers don't help.

Same. I'm in western NY and we're in full-blown Winter now. My tent is in the basement and not very far from the coldest wall (west) in the basement. Although my light is on 6pm - 6am, I was getting big VPD spikes. So I added 2" of faced foam insulation board under and behind the tent, and that settled it down a LOT.

 

[ChairmanFester]

I knew it was coming so... Oh well. As long as it recovers and that male didn't spooge.

 

[kenb]

Looking really nice ken I've been using AI as well to improve the grow and hit maximum performance and output check out my grow diary if you get a chance, it's nice to see someone else is using the tools available to them and is seeing beneficial results.
I've said it once and I'm sure I will say it a thousand times AI like any tool of human creation is only as good as the person weilding it.
If your ever unsure of the AIs response ask it to cite it's sources for it's reasoning, this usually nips any hallucinations and errors in the bud as it's able to tell you, actually this isn't confirmed or this is presumed or straight made up and this is backed by data ect.
Using this method I've managed to double the recorded known yeild per sq ft and yield per watt average and am producing for one tenth the cost of commercial operations.

Good luck with your current grow the only refinement I would recommend is use living soil, you will see the products I recommend for it in my diary.
This will increase nutrient uptake and availability and will minimize the energy the plant uses to send roots in search of what it needs as the mycelia and micology deliveries what the plant needs in exchange for things they need meaning more energy to flower development

I agree, AI is just another tool. For me, it's been very valuable for research, documentation, and learning about transpiration, VPD, RH, etc and how they all work together. But the grower has trust his/her instincts and remain in control of the grow.

I will check out your diary for sure!

These four ladies started life in a humidity dome and were moved to the tent on 10/23, into 5-gallon fabric pots of Pro Mix +, worm castings, and Gaia Green All Purpose. They get most of their water from the wicking watering bases under each pot now. They are drinking heavily.

 

[cannafarmer420]

I send a pic of the girls each morning and night with my temp, rh, and vpd numbers and just ask, "how are they doing?" It examines the picture closely and provides feedback on the environment, the medium moisture level, the condition of the plants, and suggested next steps (if any). It also remembers my history (grow tent specs, accessories, pot size, medium used, etc.) and factors that into the feedback.

I'm getting convinced that these AI tools have the ability to dial in our environments and make sound suggestions. For example, this morning it suggested that I cut out a couple of shade leaves to give the lower nodes more light. It even provided a diagram of leaves suggested for removal. And let me tell ya, the plants are responding really well to the tweaks. It's hard to believe that these clones were only moved to the tent 13 days ago

I wouldn't trust ai, its not real ai yet its an LLM. Lots of errors. Use the humans on here

 

[kenb]

I wouldn't trust ai, its not real ai yet its an LLM. Lots of errors. Use the humans on here

I totally get where you’re coming from. I don’t treat ChatGPT like a human grower, and I don’t follow anything blindly. It’s not a grower, it’s a research assistant.

It can’t smell plants, it can’t touch soil, and it doesn’t replace real-world intuition — but what it can do is organize information, explain the ‘why’ behind grow science, help troubleshoot, and keep my notes, timelines, and environmental data extremely consistent.

I still verify everything with my own observations and with advice from humans here. The combination of both gives me better results than either one alone.