5th cycle no till Earthbox

[7munkee]

October 4th, day 0

I chopped my last grow down, 16 ounces of Banana Daddy, on Oct 4th and I want to take advantage of the cooler weather. 3 hours after the chop I top dressed each of my Earthboxes with 2 cups of my own mix.

Munkee mix (lol)

25% worm castings
25% minerals (Azomite, gypsum, dolomite lime, oyster shell flour)
20% sprouted seeds (I used barley, corn, blackbeans, safflower seed)
10% Neem seed meal
10% kelp meal
10% crab meal

These percentages are approximate. I have a 5 gallon bucket full of the mix. Everything but the castings which I add as I use it.

After top dressing, I watered it in with fulvic acid then sprinkled on 1/4 cup of bokashi and replaced the mulch cover.

October 6th day 1

1 Alien Gorilla glue

1 Blue Widow

1 Girl Crush

0 Og Kush (didnt germinate)

2 Banana Daddy clones

I started these seedlings a week ago so I added some mycorrhizae and plopped them in. (Killed a few worms in the process) The 2 banana daddy cuttings were put in a bottle of water and forgot about for 5 weeks. Surprisingly, they were rooted in the bottle pretty good so I added them also. Set my timer on 18/6 and let them rip.


October 20 day 14


This is the fifth cycle in these 2 boxes. I may be getting near the end of their viability as far as aeration. Nutritionally they are packed...gotta be like all work castings and rock duct by now. But I used perlite before I learned about pumice and 5 grows later most of it has floated to the top or been disintegrated.

Today I removed the mulch cover as best I could, and top dressed each box with 3TBSP of seabird guano. Then gave the soil another shot of fulvic acid water and replaced the mulch covers. No murdered worms this time. They hide from me now. I set my trellis up.


October 25 day 19, day 0 flower

Set my timer for 12/12 and started tucking the growth tips under the screen. Hoping to fill this screen before the stretch ends.

I put 1 gallon of water in each reservoir. Thye each hold 3 gallons, but I never fill it the first time.

 

[clusterfucktuesday]

I just finished my first photo in an EB. Crazy

 

[7munkee]

I just finished my first photo in an EB. Crazy

I've tried 3 gal pots, 5 gal pots, a single 12-gal pot, air pots, fabric pots, auto pots... nothing can compare to these Earthboxes. As long as you set them up correctly with the proper ratio's and don't fill the reservoir until the roots reach the bottom, the growth is insane on them. Before using these my record for a 3x3 scrog was 10 ounces. Now I regularly pull a pound. And the best part is the ONLY thing you have to do to get a great harvest is fill the reservoir with clean water when its empty and set your timer to 12/12 after 2-3 weeks. I wanted to add the seabird guano for a phosphorous boost a week before flower because this is the 5th cycle. Trying to get more nodes.

 

[7munkee]

October 27 day 21, day 2 flower
I took a cut from each and stuck them in those coco seed starting pellets.

I have the 3 cuts under a 28-watt desk lamp that never gets turned off. No stress for them with only 28 watts. I have the lamp and cuts on top of an old Sony home theater receiver that also always on. That is where I germinate my seeds also.

I use the mortar and pestle to grind eggshells to powder so I can add that to my mix bucket. I do not wash the shells I just bake at 200 Fahrenheit for an hour to dry them with that mucus/film stuff still on. They are full of slow-release calcium and proteins that attract microbes. My family eats an 18 pack of eggs a day, so I always have enough for both the outside garden and inside garden.

 

[7munkee]

Prepped a third Earthbox.. This will be it's 2nd cycle. I will probly put all 3 cuttings I took in it and just veg them on low light/nuts for a few months.

 

[Natep]

I use a city picker from Home Depot. Similar type I think it’s 24”x24”. I put two gmo clones and got 11oz out of it. These little pots are pretty awesome. Check out buildasoils craft blend.

 

[7munkee]

I kind of based my mix on it...all locally sourced except the mineral mix and Kashi which I buy from Buildasoil. Jeramy is the one who turned me on to these Earthboxes. I bought one and it rocked so well I bought 3 more. One is for herbs that my granddaughter grows for her Guinee pigs.

 

[Natep]

I kind of based my mix on it...all locally sourced except the mineral mix and Kashi which I buy from Buildasoil. Jeramy is the one who turned me on to these Earthboxes. I bought one and it rocked so well I bought 3 more. One is for herbs that my granddaughter grows for her Guinee pigs.

That’s awesome. Do you make any fpj or imo?

 

[7munkee]

I forgo the FPJ, but I do make FFJ. I like to use half winter squash and half banana. Equal parts (by weight) of squash/banana and brown sugar. I let it sit for a week or so in a jar covered by a paper towel. There is VERY little solids to strain at the end. I use 5ml/ per gallon of water each week in flower.

 

[Natep]

I forgo the FPJ, but I do make FFJ. I like to use half winter squash and half banana. Equal parts (by weight) of squash/banana and brown sugar. I let it sit for a week or so in a jar covered by a paper towel. There is VERY little solids to strain at the end. I use 5ml/ per gallon of water each week in flower.

I’ve done bananas but never squash. Seems like the aloe is the best fpj I’ve used so far. I’ve tried raspberry’s, parslane. They didn’t seem to do much. Seems like the water soluble calcium seems to help.

 

[Natep]

Seems like the size of the buds greatly increased since I went organic.

 

[7munkee]

Thats an insanely long flower! Good grief! That would never fit in my tent. I only have a 3x3 and have 2 adult sons that I supply so I have to scrog. My tent is also only 6ft so I take great pains to keep them short so I can also run the filter and lights. I can have a maximum of 4ft of growth between the top of the pot and the bottom of the light.

The selling point for me on organic is the ease. No pH to worry about. No PPM to regulate. No EC to monitor. No stressing about anything other than 'does it need watered?'

 

[7munkee]

I use summer squash because it's high in magnesium and potassium and the banana also has plenty of potassium and a bit of calcium. It sems to make a more complete FFJ.

 

[Natep]

Thats an insanely long flower! Good grief! That would never fit in my tent. I only have a 3x3 and have 2 adult sons that I supply so I have to scrog. My tent is also only 6ft so I take great pains to keep them short so I can also run the filter and lights. I can have a maximum of 4ft of growth between the top of the pot and the bottom of the light.

The selling point for me on organic is the ease. No pH to worry about. No PPM to regulate. No EC to monitor. No stressing about anything other than 'does it need watered?'

This came out of my 2x3 x60. It got a bit out of control. Grew past the light. I had to keep tying it down.

 

[cannafarmer420]

I grew this in a living soil, microbes make a buffet for the plant to grab what it wants. Can't beat that

 

[7munkee]

November 4, Day 29, Day 10 Flower


Not gonna be filling out the trellis this time, not with 2 weeks of veg anyway. The Earhbox on the left has a slow leak and it affected the growth before I caught it. Gonna be hand watering this one.

All plants are covered with sex hairs, so they are definitely mature enough to flower. And the two clones are starting to crown.

 

[7munkee]

November 17, Day 40, Day 23 of Flower


All 5 plants starting to stack, the Girl Crush (back left) being the furthest advanced. I had to remove one of the branches from the Alien Gorilla Glue (front left) because it had black forming on it and was all squishy and wet. No clue what it was, and it hasn't reappeared anywhere else.

The leaky box on the left has noticeably smaller plants, even after considering I removed a rather large branch last week. Because this is the 5th cycle in these boxes, I have not and will not push them with high light. I'm at 840 PAR in the center, and 770 at the edge and I don't see the need going any higher and harming my plants.

I cleaned up the legs the other night and removed a lot of fan leaves at canopy level that was blocking flower sites. I fed the leaves/flowers back to the boxes to kinda make up for my old hole filled mulch covers. I ordered 12 new covers for less than $20

My screen is 8 inches above soil level so plenty of air flow. And no more than 6 inches of stretch...the way I like it. I am quite happy with this one,, The two clones will continue to stretch for another few days and will probly reach 12-14 inches above screen level.

I gave the last foliar spray of 5ml/gallon fluvic acid three days ago. I MAY give it some compost tea when the reservoirs are dry.

 

[7munkee]

November 28, Day 51, Day 34 of Flower

Temps are dropping outside and today we got 54 inches of snow. My heater in my lung room (my bedroom) kicked on for the first time. Temps in my tent were 66 right before lights on. This will affect how much water they use. I am hoping for some color changes with 4 different types of plants flowering. The stems are already purpling form the cold.

I'm thinking these will get chopped by New Years day.

 

[cannafarmer420]

I love earth boxes, what size are those?

 

[7munkee]

I love earth boxes, what size are those?

3-gallon water reservoir and 12 gallons for soil. Just under 2 cubic feet of growing area. And with the elastic mulch covers you can mound another 2 gallons of soil/amendments on top.