1st time back to soil in several years Feb 2025

[amneziaHaze]

The autos will stay in the 2x4 tent which is my veg/clone tent on an 18/6 schedule. I'll move the DWC bucket to the 5x5 for flowering when it's time.

If I remember correctly, and that's not likely , I was calling hydro soulless. I think I was just mechanically growing in hydro for a while and wasn't feeling particularly connected like years before.

I've made big changes in my life over that last year or so, for the better, and going back to soil was a natural progression in my gardening.

So far, the DWC experiment has been fun. I'm not sure I'll do it on any significant scale, but it has been interesting.

I was back in soil for a week and same week i got trips and gnats haha i allsoo hate the guessing of the whats in the soil is it just enough or too much... but yea hydro is more of a siencebased shit tone of thinkering and settings.

I will be following your diary o e of yours looks like a little sativa its gonna be fun to watch it grow.

Ever done chilly indoors? In hydro they get 1000 flowers but you have to help it get polinated

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

I was back in soil for a week and same week i got trips and gnats haha i allsoo hate the guessing of the whats in the soil is it just enough or too much... but yea hydro is more of a siencebased shit tone of thinkering and settings.

I will be following your diary o e of yours looks like a little sativa its gonna be fun to watch it grow.

Ever done chilly indoors? In hydro they get 1000 flowers but you have to help it get polinated

Chili peppers? No, but sounds fun. I'm looking to have some more space in the house soon and my plan is to have a 5x5 for indoor veggies and herbs.

 

[amneziaHaze]

Yea chilly pepers few years ago i made a hybrid from rowit and bullet it was hot and painfull one had ehite flowers one purple and crossbred got white flowers that half way turn pink.and chilly will grow whole year it becomes like a little bonzai

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

C'mon with the suspense.......geeze

@Magnumsmydog

Pics! The 5 skunks femmes are happier than a tornado in a trailer park. Not much else to say about them except that aside from some strategic defoliation, they're virtually untouched. No training, topping, etc. It's a lazy grow for sure, and I'm enjoying it.

The 3 Nigerians are finicky, it seems. Deficiencies combined with a little nutrient burn, in appearance. They're in the same soil as the others, but clearly are bipolar! They're bushy (I removed a lot of leaves), squatty, and their stalks are thick. Two of them were topped. Good news is all three appear to be female. Two for sure, and the other one is leaning that way (nearly crossed stipules).

The GG4 autos? I broke off the top of one, and the other is lagging in flower production. Good fucking riddance! No more autos for me. Out of 20 of those seeds, I got about 30 different phenos.

The DWC plant is responding well to the change in pH, and has grown nearly 2 inches in 36 hours with a new set of leaves. But, overall it's squatty and mad about life like it's siblings in the 5x5 tent (Nigerian Poison). A fun experiment, but I think going forward I'm going to try my hand at either tomatoes or peppers in DWC (and setup in the living room or something) to keep learning; floor space being at a premium and all.

I've put a couple more irons in the fire than I probably should have with this grow, but that is indeed the story of my life. It ain't boring!

Spain Skunk Femmes (right side):

Nigerian Poison regulars:

Here's the GG4 autos and the DWC Nigerian:

I'll be changing the DWC solution either next Monday or Tuesday, unless something happens to warrant an earlier remix. I should up the EC a bit when I do.

 

[Magnumsmydog]

Loving it bobcat rolling right along

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Loving it bobcat rolling right along

 

[Galgrows]

Looking good in the hood

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Looking good in the hood

Thank you, darling!

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Updates:

Yesterday I nixed the DWC Nigerian because 1. It's growing like the others that are in soil (squatty, bushy, pale), and 2. I'll save some time and work by not keeping up with daily measurements and weekly solution changes. Another time, and for sure another cultivar for DWC... Especially when I acquire more grow space hopefully later this summer. I got my feet wet with it, so mission accomplished, and my hydro experience easily carried over to DWC growing.


Also yesterday, I removed the sunflowers from the 5x5 - they're going outside to finish. I love the flower in its beginning stages!

Wicked edit:

This gives me a little more room in the 5x5 so I can flip it to 12/12. The 3 Nigerians are on the left (2 of which are showing to be female), and the 5 on the right are Spain Skunk Femmes. Everyone got watered yesterday.

But, before I flip the tent I'll take cuttings from the Skunk plants and maybe a few cuttings from the Nigerians. Maybe, because I'm not jazzed with how they're growing (squatty, bushy, pale), but thinking a few cuttings may be prudent in case they stretch into total fucking rockstars.

All successful cuttings will likely go into 1 gallon pots once they've rooted (as space will be at a premium) and when their donor plants mature in flower, I'll save the clones from the best of the donors and go from there.

I won't be starting any more Nigerians, any time soon (if at all), so I'll have to spin the wheel and see what I start from seed next when the time comes. Exciting!

 

[jimbochicago]

Back in the mid '90s I started growing indoors 100% organic in soil. Over time I've migrated over to soilless and hydro. Somewhere in another thread this morning, I made the comment that it may in fact have been soulless, instead of soilless. At least that's how I've been feeling the past couple grows.

Today I'm starting a grow and getting back into soil. While this will not be purely organic, at least it's a step in the right direction. To get my feet wet, or I mean to get my feet dirtier, I'll be growing my last four GG4 autoflower seeds. This grow will definitely be transitional, not only by getting back into soil, but also getting away from autoflowers and going back to regulars.

Facts for this grow:

• GG4 Autos
• 5 x 5 tent
• Fc6500 LED panel @ 24/7 schedule
• Fox Farm Happy Frog & Ocean Forest soils
• GH trio, humic/fulvic, & whatever else I currently have on hand that I may need
• Hand watering! I'll be using my ebb and flow bucket system simply to evacuate runoff. The resulting runoff will be collected in the reservoir and will go to outdoor flowers and other wild vegetation around our property.
• In the meantime, I'll be investigating auto-watering techniques and systems. I will likely be rolling my own, so to speak.

This isn't going to be a whiz-bang grow. I don't want to waste these last four autoflower seeds, because free smoke! This will give me a chance to get back into soil and do some learning about The Fox Farm soils I've chosen, and get back into hand watering, and being closer to my plants in general. In other words, put my soul back into it instead of it being a mere mechanical endeavor. Might there come a day when I no longer need my fancy pH/ppm meter?

I've had good results with Ocean Forrest growing outdoors in large containers. I think this season I will add some manure or compost and vermiculite.
Last season, the roots spread really well through the entire soil medium. When I lifted up the stump, the entire contents of the 20-gallon pot came out in one piece!

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

I've had good results with Ocean Forrest growing outdoors in large containers. I think this season I will add some manure or compost and vermiculite.
Last season, the roots spread really well through the entire soil medium. When I lifted up the stump, the entire contents of the 20-gallon pot came out in one piece!

I'm loving it so far, too. Going forward I think I'll either do 70 OF/30 HF or 100% OF. I can definitely see the need for perlite, however.

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Yesterday I took 8 cuttings from the Spain Skunk females, and 2 from (what appears to be) a female Nigerian Poison. I'm using GH Rapid Rooter plugs for the clones in a large humidity dome. These ladies are rooting in the 4x2 veg tent with those 2 janky-ass autos.

The paper on top drops PPFD down to a good level for the clones... Nice and low tech.

I'm thinking about potting up the clones, when they're ready, to 1 gallon pots. Space will be at a premium, if I even have any spare room! Taking those cuttings was probably a bit too much, but what the fuck. I may end up with another tent soon, anyway.

------

Today I flipped the 5x5 to 12/12 and set it to come on at midnight, then out at noon. This is in preparation for summertime heat of the day. Let the games begin.

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Yesterday I did some defoliating and LST on 4 of the 5 Spain Skunk Femmes. One of them isn't growing as tall as the others, but now the canopy is more even and ready for the stretch. I'm on the lookout for signs of hunger as it is about time for the soil to near depletion. These plants are just beautiful and have been growing perfectly in the FF mix of HF and OF... They love the lights, too. I'm glad I took cuttings in case they flower as good as they grow vegetatively.

The 3 Nigerians are crazy bushy and defoliating them is like swatting flies... Kill one fly and 3 more appear. I swear every morning when I peek in there's dozens more leaves on them. And the stems are woody and stiff (giggity). These little shits do not seem to love the soil or the lights, and are prolly just a whack cultivar.

Today I'll be watering nearly all of them... Pots are nice and lightweight again.

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Just peeked in... I love it when you tie down your ladies and the next day they perk up and beg for more!

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

2 of the 3 Nigerians are showing lady parts. The third has crossing stipules, which is often characteristic of being a female. Could I have been so lucky to hatch 3 females?!

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

No real updates on the grow... Everyone's happy except those damn autos.

But, I have an update on, well.... ME. I made a video for the farm yesterday. I'm posting two versions... the video was shot in 8K and I rendered it down to 4K. One version is 8K cropped to 4K (or zoomed in, if you will), and the other version is not cropped so you can see the full frame as it was shot. Same video, one cropped to 4K dimensions, one uncropped. I hope you enjoy it!

BobcatBranch 8K -> 4K -- FULL FRAME

BobcatBranch 8K -> 4K -- CROPPED

 

[Tumbleweed375]

Looking good Bobcat! I'm excited to see what these ladies do

 

[Glomus]

depending on what your soil has in it, you could try no drainage or run off. very light waterings. hard to get it right but the least disturbance to the soil is best imo. If your going for a full on fungal microbe rich soil. Let the plants get root bound to stress them in late flower.

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

Weekend update!

After breakfast I wanted to get into the garden and see how everybody's doing, especially in the flowering chamber. I needed to grab the pots and see if they're light enough for watering. They were all pretty lightweight, but can go until tomorrow.

This was before -- 5 skunks, 3 Nigerian Poisons:

But, during my cuddle time up close with them, I found 3 males of the 8 plants in there.

Male Skunks:

Odd thing is, two of those were supposed to be feminized. So, 3 of the 5 so-called feminized seeds are male, and 1 of the 3 Nigerian Poisons is a male.

I'm not mad, in fact I was hoping for a handsome stud or two, anyway. The two Spain Skunk males are vigorous and love the soil, lights, and nutrients. Good for pollen chucking, for sure.

The Nigerian male is compact, bushy, and tight. Could be a fun one to throw at a sativa-heavy cultivar.

 

[Bobcat.Branch]

8 becomes 5