4th cycle in no till Earthbox

[7munkee]

JUNE 29
Late June my jars began to run low. What started out in the beginning of May as 14 ounces of frosty Bruce Banner and 3 ounces of Knows Candy became 4 ounces of Bruce Banner. As I was looking through my seed collection, I noticed a pack of Banna Daddy fem photos that I didnt know I had. It's a cross between Banana Hammock and Grand Daddy Purple. I soaked some peet pods and planted 4 seeds in them.

I have been using the same 2 EarthBoxes for the last 3 cycles and have added nothing to the soil except 1 cup of seed meal and 2 cups castings at the beginning of each cycle. The pods go directly in the soil when the seeds pop.

JULY 3
Seeds popped and pods planted in EarthBoxes with some mycorrhiza. I added some seed meal that I made from organic heirloom corn and organic heirloom barley that was germinated until the root was about 1/2 inch long. I also added 2 cups of worm castings and then watered with some compost tea (made directly from my cold compost pile) to activate it with a plethora of microbes.

JULY 11
All four plants are growing, however the one in the back left seems to be having a small issue. It's quite a bit behind the other four and has yellow edges on a couple leaves. This one was planted w/o mycorrhiza because I forgot to add it to its hole so there is that.

JULY 14

Growing rapidly, even the back left has started to pick up a bit more steam

JULY 27
Just about big enough to add the metal trellis I made out of fencing and this will be the first time I fill the resevoirs. Each is an 18-gallon SIP with a 3-gallon reservoir...2 cubic feet of soil in each.

JULY 29
Adding the trellis today and will begin the daily tucking.

JULY 31
The back 2 plants are a bit shorter than the front. This may take a bit longer to fill the trellis that i had originally thought. I was hoping to have it full in 30 days. But it may go 33.

Remember, this is the 4th cycle in this same soil and I've added nothing but home-made seed meal and worm castings before each cycle. Water only from germination to harvest. Their health is exceptional, and the growth is explosive for being only 28 days old.

The trellis is 6 inches above the soil if you were wondering.

And the whole tent is lit by a 300-watt Maxsisun on 75% for 18 hours (average 575 ppfd) and air is circulated by 3 small clip fans. I also run a humidifier on medium to keep the humidity at like 65% for a tolerable VPD of ~1.06. with my temps running about 78-degrees freedom units.

 

[Bilber]

Looks great.....

And sounds like a nice strain....I usually run 1 GDP auto.....

Awesome net setup....

Kinda cool reusing soil...I was looking into worms, but I believe that I'm not gonna try it.....

For sure I'll be watching your grow....

 

[Greenjourneyman]

I tried to do a soil reuse, but ran into depletion problems. The containers are 3 gallon you say?
very cool.

 

[GanjaJack]

I've been looking to do this outdoors..... I tried to start some seeds just scratching the soil and broadcast seeding but it didn't work.

We had a weather related issue here that killed the seeds off I think.

However the ones in my tilled garden are going along good.

 

[7munkee]

I tried to do a soil reuse, but ran into depletion problems. The containers are 3 gallon you say?
very cool.

The containers are 18 gallons. 15 gallons of soil + 3-gallon reservoir. I add a cup of seed meal at the begining of each cycle so depletionis not problem.

All the food goes on top and the water stays underneath. The plants can drink all the clean water they want without being forced to feed.

 

[7munkee]

Looks great.....

And sounds like a nice strain....I usually run 1 GDP auto.....

Awesome net setup....

Kinda cool reusing soil...I was looking into worms, but I believe that I'm not gonna try it.....

For sure I'll be watching your grow....

The net is a 3x3 piece of stiff wire fencing. Your local hardware store should cut you a piece for under $10. 3/4" PVC pipe for the frame.

When the plants are done I will hang it one piece trellis and all in my walk-in closet with my AC on. The same way I did the last one, even thought it was only 1 plant (60 day veg)

 

[Bilber]

The net is a 3x3 piece of stiff wire fencing. Your local hardware store should cut you a piece for under $10. 3/4" PVC pipe for the frame.

When the plants are done I will hang it one piece trellis and all in my walk-in closet with my AC on. The same way I did the last one, even thought it was only 1 plant (60 day veg)View attachment 2016879

That is awesome!!!

I try to hang whole plants when I can, but this brings it to a totally different level.....

Same soil, just amended....very interesting....

I use 50ish/50ish peatmoss/perlite mix...peatmoss is kinda not the greatest for our environment.....I've looked into coco a little...

Coco is like autos....it has its time and place...

Thank you for the thread!!!

 

[7munkee]

I set my timer to 12/12 tonight and did a bit of tucking. It's surprising how quick they recover and stand right up!

I'll defoliate a bit tomorrow, and probably give them a foliar feeding of fulvic acid. I spray it on my tomatoes each week to promote blooms.

After several years of failures and middling success with synthetics, I can finally now grow fire! I'm very happy with the vibrant health of these girls! And you couldn't ask for an easier growing experience. I can't thank Jermey Silva enough for introducing me to EarthBoxes!!

 

[7munkee]

I skipped the foliar and went out to my compost pile this evening and got a scoop of worm castings from the bottom for some tea. My compost pile has tomatoes growing out of it!

I'm gonna give my girls some supercharged tea tomorrow so they have a nice hors d'oeuvre for the stretch.

 

[trustyagut]

Very nice. I will follow along. I'm running a similar set-up. First trial indoors now and all is going pretty well. I made my Sip set-up to wick water up from the 25L + of water in the tub below. I'm using 20gal fabric pots. I was shocked to see the godfather plant drinking it dry it only 2 days now she's a few weeks since 12/12.

 

[7munkee]

Very nice. I will follow along. I'm running a similar set-up. First trial indoors now and all is going pretty well. I made my Sip set-up to wick water up from the 25L + of water in the tub below. I'm using 20gal fabric pots. I was shocked to see the godfather plant drinking it dry it only 2 days now she's a few weeks since 12/12.

During my last 3x3 scrog, each of my 2 SIPs were going through 3 gallons of water per day during the stretch period.

 

[trustyagut]

During my last 3x3 scrog, each of my 2 SIPs were going through 3 gallons of water per day during the stretch period. View attachment 2018857

Looking good! Do you ever give them a drink from above?
I decided to give a hand watering yesterday and once a few days ago. Just seems so dry ontop so thought would be good to get things moving around up there again.

 

[7munkee]

Looking good! Do you ever give them a drink from above?
I decided to give a hand watering yesterday and once a few days ago. Just seems so dry ontop so thought would be good to get things moving around up there again.

I do. I like to give an aerated compost/casting tea on top every couple weeks. Kind of similar to Recharge from Reel Growers (DGC). I do this between reservoir fill ups.

 

[trustyagut]

I may look to add that to my process next run, it would be easier than adding any dry top dressings, due to my mulch layer needing to be removed and put back on.
I'm interested to see how everything goes this run though, using only straight water with no amendments or top dressings.
What is your process for the tea?
Do you aerate your reservoirs? I've got an airstone in each of mine. I may possibly trial no stone and use EM1 instead but prefer not to if possible as I don't like the smell much haha

 

[7munkee]

I may look to add that to my process next run, it would be easier than adding any dry top dressings, due to my mulch layer needing to be removed and put back on.
I'm interested to see how everything goes this run though, using only straight water with no amendments or top dressings.
What is your process for the tea?
Do you aerate your reservoirs? I've got an airstone in each of mine. I may possibly trial no stone and use EM1 instead but prefer not to if possible as I don't like the smell much haha

For the tea, I have the Tealabs Bubblesanke. It cost like $40. You also need a compressor, and they are like $50 and made to run constantly for large fish aquariums. I take 2-3 cups from the bottom of my compost pile (cold compost that has sat for 3 years) and put it in a mesh bag. I mix a couple tablespoons of darkstrap mollasses in a cup of hot water and mix that into 2-3 gallons of tap water and put the whole works in a 5-gallon bucket and bubble for 18 hours.

And no, I don't aerate my reservoirs simply for the fact that if the air-stone fails, the plant will suffer and probly die because it has been used to the constant air. Plus you are dead on about the smell. I like to keep that stench IN the box!

 

[trustyagut]

For the tea, I have the Tealabs Bubblesanke. It cost like $40. You also need a compressor, and they are like $50 and made to run constantly for large fish aquariums. I take 2-3 cups from the bottom of my compost pile (cold compost that has sat for 3 years) and put it in a mesh bag. I mix a couple tablespoons of darkstrap mollasses in a cup of hot water and mix that into 2-3 gallons of tap water and put the whole works in a 5-gallon bucket and bubble for 18 hours.

And no, I don't aerate my reservoirs simply for the fact that if the air-stone fails, the plant will suffer and probly die because it has been used to the constant air. Plus you are dead on about the smell. I like to keep that stench IN the box!

Cheers, Well it looks to be working for you that's for sure. I'm finding I like this sip growing style and think I will probably use it for my next grow aswell, mainly due to the easy watering.

 

[7munkee]

I've had 3 full nights of 12/12 and I'm still tucking. I'm running out of convenient holes in my screen and will have to resort to doubling flower sites up in some holes.

I went through the whole reservoir in these last three days and had to refill tonight. I am assuming I will have to fill it again soon.

I cleaned up the bottom a bit and turned my light up just a little. It's at about 80% now and 18" above the canopy.

I am using the Maxsisun MG3000

 

[trustyagut]

What's your ppfd at the moment?

 

[7munkee]

What's your ppfd at the moment?

500 in the corners and 900 in the center. I'm at about 80% power. Its a decent light and goes up to 1100+ at full power.

 

[trustyagut]

500 in the corners and 900 in the center. I'm at about 80% power. Its a decent light and goes up to 1100+ at full power.View attachment 2019357

Cheers. I need to keep trying to bump mine up, one of my strains doesn't like going over about 520ish in the centre at the moment. I'm a week or so behind you so would love to get that up a little though, I'm only at 60% on the dial but also only 13/14" from the light.