Oh boy, here we go.....my 1st grow in nearly 30 years

[Harpua88]

Thoughts/questions.......

We talked about adding a little used/dried coffee grounds to soil, even as an topper amendment (maybe with some Doowopamobius Eart?). Of course anything can get moldy when wet.........a fan blowing around is pretty much always a good idea.....

And it was mentioned that composting things first is probably better. So what's mote composted than burning something? First I thought about roasting the used coffee grounds in the oven for a while, then I thought why not burn them to ash? What about other things? Banana peels.......I'm sure we could put together a good list of 5, 7, 10+ things that ideally would make a good amendment.......if they were broken down enough. Maybe not fully incinerated but just very burned?

 

[Novaracer69]

Ground Coffee as Fertilizer

There is an almost limitless amount of used ground coffee available to use as a fertilizer. Let’s look at the NPK analysis of coffee grounds and what that means for you garden.

groundtoground.org

This is the first thing that popped up. I didn't even consider the npk balance is real nitrogen heavy by volume.

 

[Captspaulding]

Thoughts/questions.......

We talked about adding a little used/dried coffee grounds to soil, even as an topper amendment (maybe with some Doowopamobius Eart?). Of course anything can get moldy when wet.........a fan blowing around is pretty much always a good idea.....

And it was mentioned that composting things first is probably better. So what's mote composted than burning something? First I thought about roasting the used coffee grounds in the oven for a while, then I thought why not burn them to ash? What about other things? Banana peels.......I'm sure we could put together a good list of 5, 7, 10+ things that ideally would make a good amendment.......if they were broken down enough. Maybe not fully incinerated but just very burned?

I actually make a banana peel tea, I take about 3-4 bananas worth of peel throw them in a gallon bottle, shake it up, refrigerate for 24 hrs, then let it get back to ambient temp and feed. The stuff is great .

 

[Harpua88]

What......is this shit.......on the stem!?

What IS THIS shit on the stem??

WHAT is this SHIT on the STEM!!!????



Ok so I raised the lights pretty much as high as they can go without me re-drilling new anchors up near the ceiling. I could get them up another 8 inches. Right now the lights are 6+ ft off the ground, 5 ft from the tops of the pots, and about 3ft from the canopy. This is about where I want to be. I'm pretty sure I don't want any plant to be less than 2 ft from the light all the way to the end. Anything above that 2ft cusion will get tied down. If I can keep 2 1/2 ft, even better.

Besides raising the lights I tilted the inside sides a little bit higher so more light gets towards the center of the closet.

Now I'll start slowly acclimating them to 60% power, a little bit at the end of lights on, a little more each day, probably for 7-10 days, then I'll see if they can go 60%/60% all 12hrs.

New addition......a dehumidifier will now be pointed towards the closet. This will replace the fan. Temps still in the upper 60s so I'm not concerned about it going up a few more degrees.

Elemental Phosphorus/Ph lowering will be added tomorrow to get the soil Ph below the 6.5 I'm seeing.

More clips, retying, rotating, males won't be ready for a few more days or more. Females now have plenty of room.

Additional pics of one of the timers, the fire suppression boxes above the lights, my water line, and dehumidifier.

 

[Harpua88]

I actually make a banana peel tea, I take about 3-4 bananas worth of peel throw them in a gallon bottle, shake it up, refrigerate for 24 hrs, then let it get back to ambient temp and feed. The stuff is great .

I've read about that.......I mean, I guess you're getting Potassium. Doesn't that also lower Ph a little?

 

[Harpua88]

Much better. Bringing the dehumidifier right up to the closet has brought the lights on temp up to 72 and the humidity down to 50%. I could bring down even further......

 

[Captspaulding]

I've read about that.......I mean, I guess you're getting Potassium. Doesn't that also lower Ph a little?

I’ve never had an issue using it. What’s this ph stuff everyone’s always talking about?

 

[Harpua88]

Who wants alkaline soil........? If it's out of range, then it's a thing..... I'd rather 5.9 than 6.5.

 

[Captspaulding]

Who wants alkaline soil........? If it's out of range, then it's a thing..... I'd rather 5.9 than 6.5.

Silica

 

[Novaracer69]

Who wants alkaline soil........? If it's out of range, then it's a thing..... I'd rather 5.9 than 6.5.

Honestly I check my tap water every once in a while. But it is between 6.8 to 7.1 ph and 210 to 240ppm I am growing in organic living soil. I did try to ph my water a few years back and boy did I have massive issues now I don't have hardly any ph related issues

 

[Harpua88]

Honestly I check my tap water every once in a while. But it is between 6.8 to 7.1 ph and 210 to 240ppm I am growing in organic living soil. I did try to ph my water a few years back and boy did I have massive issues now I don't have hardly any ph related issues

Ok......but of course, we're not growing in water......it might be good to geberalky know the Ph of your water, but why not check the more important Ph of your soil? I would think everyone agrees that 5.9 is better than 6.5, so why not bring it down a little?

 

[Novaracer69]

Ok......but of course, we're not growing in water......it might be good to geberalky know the Ph of your water, but why not check the more important Ph of your soil? I would think everyone agrees that 5.9 is better than 6.5, so why not bring it down a little?

I let the microbes work that out for me I have tried lowering it and I always mess that up by going too far. Then I try to raise it because I won't throw out what I already have mixed up that right there was my how about not worrying about it. It is entirely possible that I could dial it in and get a even better yield.

 

[Harpua88]

I let the microbes work that out for me I have tried lowering it and I always mess that up by going too far. Then I try to raise it because I won't throw out what I already have mixed up that right there was my how about not worrying about it. It is entirely possible that I could dial it in and get a even better yield.

This will be the first time I'm using elemental phosphorous, and I'm going to go very light. I'd rather move the needle very little than swing it with a bang. This is why I'd rather use something more natural, slower......than some quick fix. I would imagine this stuff is going to be fairly quick........I'll test it every day as I do it and we'll see how it goes.

I shouldn't be impatient. I'm at flower day 21 and I'd like to see more/faster flower production by now. Every other thing is pretty much on point.......I did have to get the humidity down, it started getting too high this past week and I took care of that. There's really only 1 thing that's out of rangrle. The Ph.

Oh, and if I hit and tear one more piece of leaf with one of these sticky tape tubes trying to swing at a gnat........I'm gonna drop a bottle of DDT in the closet and kill every gnat within 100 miles.......argh!!!

 

[Harpua88]

Males are plants too you know.......

 

[Captspaulding]

Males are plants too you know.......

Male plants lives matter.

 

[Harpua88]

Male plants lives matter.

Oh you're just getting better......

 

[Captspaulding]

Oh you're just getting better......

I’m wondering what a hippy has to do to get some of that sweet pollen. I have some old ak 47 seeds from 99 I’ve been wanting to crop. Been putting it off forever. Imagine, an all old school cross done decades later.

 

[Captspaulding]

I’m wondering what a hippy has to do to get some of that sweet pollen. I have some old ak 47 seeds from 99 I’ve been wanting to crop. Been putting it off forever. Imagine, an all old school cross done decades later.

Just like you!

 

[Harpua88]

By the way, that male is a chopped top half. It's been in a cup of plain water for the last 4 or 5 days......

Once males start flowering (after a few days, not the first little knobs you see) you can cut them down, remove most of the bottom branches, even if you only keep the top 1/3rd of the plant.......it will keep flowering. There's no need to leave it in the pot, there's no need to feed it, you don't even have to keep giving it 12 hrs of dark. Chop the top, with a few branches, that'll be plenty. There's enough pollen about to drop from this male to make hundreds of seeds, maybe more......very soon I just have to lay it on a sheet of wax paper or parchment, cover it, keep it far away from the grow room......in this case it's on a different floor......and check on it. It'll open and drop pollen all over the paper. Don't go back and forth between different males or the males and the grow room. Wash up thoroughly after collecting 1 male's pollen, clean up the area, and wait until the next day to deal with the next male. It doesn't matter if you pollinate with one on Monday, another on Wednesday, etc. The females aren't going to drastically change over 1 week. Since the males drop early (don't we all.....ohhh!!!), it's better to wait an extra week+ to pollinate anyway, when a branch will have more pistils and you can get more seeds per branch.

So by the time you're ready to pollinate, each male's pollen has already been collected, wrapped up......a little glass jar, dry, use a moisture absorb pak if need be......you've already done all the pollen collecting and all the cleanup. All that's left is to pick 1 male every other day, wheel a female out......paint a branch......do this when the lights go on.....leave the female out of the grow tent/closet for the full 12 hours, wrap a piece of parchment around the branch after you paint it, and wheel it back in before lights out. Use colored ties.....keep track of every branch painted with which male. No fans or a/c or dehumidifiers though the pollination days. No breeze at all, and don't move around fast or touch a lot of things. Keep everythjng minimal. If it's too hot turn down the light for a week. After a few days, roll each one back out, (in the same order), and slowly remove each wrapping off of each branch. Lightly mist each branch and wrapping as soon as you take the wrapping off to dampen any excess pollen and prevent it from flying around.

You can make 16 different crosses with just 4 males and 4 females. And because you're only painting a few branches, the majority of each female will still be seedless and mature on point.

 

[Harpua88]

I’m wondering what a hippy has to do to get some of that sweet pollen. I have some old ak 47 seeds from 99 I’ve been wanting to crop. Been putting it off forever. Imagine, an all old school cross done decades later.

......ask? ;)

So I'm torn. You can see the list of what varieties they are. But the names aside, I don't know if they're worthy genetically. They're probably rather generic. Whereas the seeds in my fridge, the next batch I run, and the next, are going to have far better candidates. For AK47 you may want a Northern Lights or a Hash Plant.....or maybe a Panama red or Haze......