Reset And Restart Living Soil Grow

[cloudyhelads]

Sorry that last pic is out of sequence. The done looking plant up front is the Chem Og I harvested. The pic before with the two smaller plants in the foreground is the current photo.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Flower.

 

[Deke]

Good pics! What is the one that is the farthest along?

 

[cloudyhelads]

The filurthest along is a white widow towards the back of the bag. The big monster is afghan peach. It’s funny but there has always been one dominant plant in the bag that thrives more than the others. It’s not just the one that has been in longest and is the closest to finishing. Just one of the things I’m noticing as I approach 1 yr with this project/ method.

 

[cloudyhelads]

After the thrip incident and based on my past history of infestations, I’ve decided to implement IPM Monday’s. I’m rotating what I have and feel comfortable with and this is only for veg. Last week was Prf-97 and this week was grandevo. Both were supplemented with oroboost and a fresh filet of aloe. So far the plants seem to appreciate the aloe being in the mix.
I smothered and restarted my clover companion crop and I have been taking clones to try to build up my stock.
Another white widow is down and hung in the drying closet.
Last pic is a bug or two of the Tropicana cookies. I’m in a quandry with this one. The yield was strange. Small rocklike buds. Definitely frosty but not much weight. Tons of larfy shit and sugar leaves which made great hash. The heads that came off this stuff was like 2x what I would expect from one of the other strains. When I look at the trichs under to microscope they appear very round and regular and the stocks are lanky and fragile looking. I was going to ditch the genetics, and run the last one, but I think I may wait and clone. Decisions.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Growin. Big bags back up about to capacity. Afghan kush is the monster in the middle. Trying get veg cooking. Cloning a lot. Made som LAB and have been applying that. Also Mamouth P but I’m not using their schedule. I am hoping for some persistence in the bag.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Trying to get veg up to speed. This morning everything got a watering with LAB, Mammoth P, and aloe. Then veg got sprayed with Grandevo, Oroboost, and fresh aloe. I have popped three more seeds from the exotic genetics tester pack. The last ones I popped: one was a male that showed in veg (bizarre) and one grew short and frosty, but appeared to not have THC. Not sure if these seeds are all the same strain or just random, so I’m trying 3 more. Also making sure all my keepers are cloned. Busy tent.

 

[cloudyhelads]

The big afghan Kush is just about done. What a nice plant. I’ve started doing all my watering with the pump sprayer. I’ve abandoned the blumats for the time being. The sprayer really seems to be the way to go. Gets things nice and evenly wet easily. A little malted barley too dress the other day. And a purple flower from the random bean? Plant.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Got a bit of time in the garden. Watered everything with a little molasses and seaweed. Afghan kush is so close but I didn’t cut her down. The Chem Og is next and is looking solid. Some clones starting to take off. Veg is looking nice and dark green after some thrips and errors had things fairly yellow. The white widow is jarred and burping. Thinking of making self burping jars.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Nice!

 

[Deke]

Out of curiosity, what do you add to your soil( or not) to keep the good stuff in it for all those plants you rotate? I like your set up.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Yea Deke. Thanks for your interest. The thing that I add routinely is ground malted barley. About a pound every other week. I have done a full topdress with barley, kelp, neem, gypsum, azomite, alfalfa, 2x in the last year. Once when I set up and once when I was getting my tomatoes going with the same in the spring. Sometimes when I’m feeling like something needs a poke I will add a bit of liquid kelp to the water. I also have fish emulsion but just a couple drops per gal This fall I bought a small bottle of mammoth P and have been adding a few drops of that to waterings. Also I made lactobasillic (maybe) cheese water and have been adding a few drops of that. Basically, though I just feed the barley to the worms and they shit out cannabis food. Again, thanks for looking at my grow. Do you have something going I can see here?

 

[Deke]

Yea Deke. Thanks for your interest. The thing that I add routinely is ground malted barley. About a pound every other week. I have done a full topdress with barley, kelp, neem, gypsum, azomite, alfalfa, 2x in the last year. Once when I set up and once when I was getting my tomatoes going with the same in the spring. Sometimes when I’m feeling like something needs a poke I will add a bit of liquid kelp to the water. I also have fish emulsion but just a couple drops per gal This fall I bought a small bottle of mammoth P and have been adding a few drops of that to waterings. Also I made lactobasillic (maybe) cheese water and have been adding a few drops of that. Basically, though I just feed the barley to the worms and they shit out cannabis food. Again, thanks for looking at my grow. Do you have something going I can see here?

When you put all that on top are the plants in the container at that time? And the ground barley, just spread on top? You mentioned worms, how many did you add to the container? I ask because I really like this idea, and where I grow woukd work well for me, I have plenty of room. Plus I'm guessing the large amount of soil is more forgiving to over watering and too much nutes?

 

[cloudyhelads]

Yea everything on top and plants in the container. I forget how many red wrigglers I bought. Maybe 5 lbs or something. They make themselves happy and mutiply themselves if the conditions are decent. if you are interested check out Joshua Steenslands videos on YouTube. Also the mendo dope no-till video with Minnesota nice. These guys are a lot more serious than I am. I like this method because it is easy, forgiving , and cheap. Malted barley is about $1.50 a lb at a brew store. Also tinkering with chemicals does nothing for me.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Oh and also Herbin Farmer. He’s got great videos.

 

[Deke]

Thanks! One more, the soil you used, what is it, and do I need to start with high dollar organic stuff that's full of the microbes, etc. Like water only soil is.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Idid not use expensive stuff. Sphagnum pear moss, composted cow manure. Lobster compost, lava rocks and rice hulls. I also bought some growstones and some good earthworm castings to get things started. I used the soil for several cycles in pots before I did the big bag.

 

[Deke]

Ok. I was just wondering if I could just buy some orgamic soil at the nursery here to start with.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Try to get a mix without perlite. Here in the NE Coast of Maine makes a raised bed mix with no aeration that I now use for veg. Herb needs a lot of aeration, but the perlite does not lend itself to long term use and reuse. Add your own aeration. I used clay pellets, growstones, lava rocks and rice hulls. You need 1/3 total volume of container as aeration. At least thats the popular consensus. The rice hulls break down over time and become worm food. However, the worms ( by that point) should have taken over the pot and they are aeration themselves because of their tunneling.

 

[cloudyhelads]

Praise Jah