Keffka's Recycling, KOS Blue Thai, Herbies Seeds Apple Betty, Runtz Punch

[Keffka]

Oof.. just got my electric bill since I turned my grow room off. 350$ cheaper. Yikes so there’s some changes I’ll have to make. First, no more lights on during the day. I’ll be dropping my schedule to 16/8 and will only run in the off hours, I.e. 6 PM to 10 AM.. I’ve gotta double check peak hours but I’ll also likely flower at 11/13 as well

I also will no longer grow in the winter. Those electric heaters cost me a boatload of cash by themselves having to be run 24 hours a day. I’ll be vegging during mid summer so I can use the high RH to my advantage. I will also be growing in way larger pots, 10 gallon minimum. With such large pots I won’t have to be as disciplined with the environment, plus the summer heat and humidity will help push them by itself.

I will also attempt to do one major grow a year where I stock up for the year. That will be this grow I am doing now. Once that’s completed I can mess around with clones and vegging mothers and all the other science stuff I’m interested in, but don’t need a 1000 watt light for.

 

[Keffka]

I bit the bullet and ordered Soft Rock Phosphate off Amazon. I can’t find it in any of the stores or shops around me and I don’t really like to buy stuff off the internet unless it’s on Amazon or it’s Revs seed bank (not sure why this is, I’ve never had issues with the few items I have ordered on not Amazon sites. Impressive psychological hook Amazon has). Not a terrible price and it should last me a good while.

It certainly isn’t cheap getting all of the necessary amendments together. Thankfully they should last a decent amount of time for the prices I’ve paid

 

[Keffka]

Alright @Gee64 time to chef up a recipe.. With the soil, coco, perlite, and EWC already lined up in ratios for 18 gallons of soil, it’s time to determine the amendment mix. On hand I have:

All purpose 4-4-4, blood meal, bone meal, fish bone meal, kelp meal, Dolomite lime, gypsum, greensand, soft rock phosphate, cow manure

I also have Stonington Plant Food 5-2-4 (kelp meal, alfalfa meal, crab and lobster meal, fish meal, feather meal, EWC, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate)

As well as Geoflora Veg and bloom

What is your recommended recipe?

So far what I’m thinking is:

1.5 cups all purpose 4-4-4
3 cups greensand
5 cups crushed oyster shells
2 cups prilled Dolomite lime
2 cups pellitized gypsum
2 cups blood meal
2 cups bone meal
2 cups fish bone meal
2 cups kelp meal
1/4 cup SRP
6 cups cow manure

I’m thinking of using the Stonington plant food and the geoflora stuff as layers and spikes. Thoughts?

 

[Gee64]

Alright @Gee64 time to chef up a recipe.. With the soil, coco, perlite, and EWC already lined up in ratios for 18 gallons of soil, it’s time to determine the amendment mix. On hand I have:

All purpose 4-4-4, blood meal, bone meal, fish bone meal, kelp meal, Dolomite lime, gypsum, greensand, soft rock phosphate, cow manure

I also have Stonington Plant Food 5-2-4 (kelp meal, alfalfa meal, crab and lobster meal, fish meal, feather meal, EWC, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate)

As well as Geoflora Veg and bloom

What is your recommended recipe?

So far what I’m thinking is:

1.5 cups all purpose 4-4-4
3 cups greensand
5 cups crushed oyster shells
2 cups prilled Dolomite lime
2 cups pellitized gypsum
2 cups blood meal
2 cups bone meal
2 cups fish bone meal
2 cups kelp meal
1/4 cup SRP
6 cups cow manure

I’m thinking of using the Stonington plant food and the geoflora stuff as layers and spikes. Thoughts?

I like it I think both the Stoningtons and the geoflora would be excellent as spikes, topdressings etc. If you have some glacial rock dust or azomite or basalt rock dust that will help too. The stoningtons or Geoflora may contain it already.

 

[Keffka]

I like it I think both the Stoningtons and the geoflora would be excellent as spikes, topdressings etc. If you have some glacial rock dust or azomite or basalt rock dust that will help too. The stoningtons or Geoflora may contain it already.

I was looking at glacial and basalt rock dust.. what are the major differences between those and Azomite, just the mineral contents?

Also, can I start cooking the mix up right now, pickup some rock dust next week and toss it in or should I hold off and do it all at once?

 

[Gee64]

I was looking at glacial and basalt rock dust.. what are the major differences between those and Azomite, just the mineral contents?

Also, can I start cooking the mix up right now, pickup some rock dust next week and toss it in or should I hold off and do it all at once?

You can definitely start cooking now. The real difference is the types of silicates but they all work just fine.

SRP is the important one.

I use azomite or glacial rock dust as well and haven't noticed a difference.

I hear basalt is good too so really SRP and whatever rock dust is from your area will work fine.

 

[Keffka]

You can definitely start cooking now. The real difference is the types of silicates but they all work just fine.

SRP is the important one.

I use azomite or glacial rock dust as well and haven't noticed a difference.

I hear basalt is good too so really SRP and whatever rock dust is from your area will work fine.

Very cool.. Then on the morrow we mix!

I have a dryer I don’t use

 

[Keffka]

I’m using a lot of new stuff, and manure, so fungus gnats are probably already surveilling my supplies. I’ve got one mosquito dunk soaking in 1 gallon of pure water. I’ll pour this into a 2 gallon watering can and use it to moisten the mix tomorrow.

Between the cooking, blood meal, and manure, I’m positive fg will attempt an assault. I am going to inoculate the soil with a bti drench. I am also going to smash up the second mosquito dunk until it’s mostly powder. Each of the containers I grow in will get an 1/8 tsp bit of bti powder sprinkled on top of the mulch then worked in slightly.

I’m excited to get the mix cooking tomorrow and will post the pics when finished!

 

[Keffka]

Today is mixing day! I will start with my normal soapboxing and explain my thoughts on what’s happening:

Normally, a good quality potting soil will have enough in it to last one grow in a 15 gallon pot. I can’t get a clear read on what’s in the Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil, however overall it looks good quality. The site and bag claim:

“Our most popular potting soil, Ocean Forest® is a powerhouse blend of aged forest products, sphagnum peat moss, earthworm castings, bat guano, fish emulsion, and crab meal.

Aged forest products, sandy loam, and sphagnum peat moss give Ocean Forest® its light, aerated texture. Start with Ocean Forest®and watch your plants come alive”

So, I like the SPM, EWC, fish emulsion, guano, and crab meal. However, aged forest products usually aren’t great. Aged forest products can include sawdust from felling and forming trees. “Aged forest products” isn’t a great thing to see but because I have plenty of amendments and some real good stuff for soil structure I’m not terribly concerned. The sandy loam is also pretty good. It’s a balance between the different types of soil which is what cannabis likes.

With all of this being said, yes the soil could likely handle this run out of the bag, but I’m not interested in what it can handle. Its entire purpose is to basically act as a container for my amendments, microbiology, and plant(s). I don’t want the plants to “make it” to harvest. I want them to thrive until they’re ready to chop. I’m going to push them because I know they can take it. I also want this soil to become healthier and more fertile as time progresses, we’re trying to build it up not bleed it out. Due to this, I will be heavily amending this soil straight out of the bag.

If you’re a first timer or just beginning your LOS journey I HIGHLY recommend you stick to an already established recipe mix like subcools, coots, The Rev or any of the pre mixes like KIS. We use quite a few different amendments for different purposes and they all have their roles. You can also throw things out of balance pretty easily, or accidentally nuke your entire garden if you make a mistake. If you’re really stuck on wanting to amend, use some basic stuff like kelp meal.

With that being said, I will be using my own recipe based off The Revs 2.2 soil mix, my amendment availability, my experience, and @Gee64 mentorship. I have spent probably thousands of hours just reading on plant growth, nutrients, amendments, food webs, carbon, etc. from books, forums, journals, etc. I spent upwards of 8 hours a day every day with my plants on the previous 2 journals watching how the plants react to and utilize everything I’ve given them. The choices I’ve made are grounded in science and experience.

Once I am officially mixed up, I will breakdown each of the amendments I chose and why I chose them. If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to ask them at any time or send me a PM if you’d prefer to keep it private.

 

[Azimuth]

I think as long as the aged forestry products are indeed aged they should be some really good stuff. You know, forest humus and all that.

Fresh sawdust from recently felled trees is another matter altogether. I had top dressed all my plants with a nice thick layer of crumbled up fresh and dried leaves and started to get deficiencies but, once i removed that and replaced it with a cap of RWC and compost, they began to thrive once again.

 

[Keffka]

I think as long as the aged forestry products are indeed aged they should be some really good stuff. You know, forest humus and all that.

That’s one of the bummers of the soil industry, and honestly lots of other American industries like organic food, or in marketing the word “natural”, etc. Companies can use words and naming schemes that don’t really mean anything. This specific situation for instance, aged forest products could be anything from forest humus to sawmill waste.

My hope is that since it’s a relatively popular potting mix recommended by quite a few people whose opinions I trust, and costs a little more, it will be more forest humus and less sawmill waste.

 

[Keffka]

Whew.. definitely going to be looking into a way to automate this process.. The amendments like to stick a little requiring extremely thorough mixing which is difficult to do on a tarp with a shovel at 40

A couple shots of the progress

 

[Keffka]

Finished the mix. It’s dark, fluffy, and already attracting all the life nearby. The final product came out to three 20 gallon rubber made bins filled 3/4 of the way. Right around 48 gallons give or take a bit since measurements aren’t super precise. I need to devise or purchase some sort of soil storage that rotates and can hold at least 100 gallons. I imagine this is going to cost me.

I will be running one 15 gallon and three 10 gallons heavily trained. I’ll breakdown the mix and post more pictures in the morning, I’m tired lol.

 

[Keffka]

Alright here we go. That was likely going to be the most amount of work done this grow. It’s my own fault for still thinking I’m in my 20s/early 30s. I have a dryer I don’t use that I am going to repurpose into a soil mixer if it’s larger enough. Otherwise I may have to cave and buy a compost tumbler. As it stands currently, every week or so I’m gonna have to dump three 20 gallon bins out, mix them up by hand, then rebin them just to make sure it’s all properly mixed up and cooking evenly.

While that’s not terrible right now, it will get exponentially worse with more soil.

Anyway, enough of that, here’s how it went:

The Ingredients

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

From left to right: EWC, blood meal, kelp meal, bone meal, fish bone meal, all purpose 4-4-4...

Above you can see all of the ingredients used to make this first batch. I am keeping an eye out for a deal on some rock dusts which will be added within the next week or two.

I laid out a tarp over the driveway and got to work.

I’m this next image, I took something I saw on @StoneOtter journal and splayed out my meals for mixing in a fancy way lol

Meals for mixing

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Presentation styled from @StoneOtter
Blood meal, bone meal, fish bone meal, kelp...

That is 2 cups blood, bone, fish bone, and kelp meal, with 3 cups of greensand. The greensand dominated. I’m looking for a larger tray for next time.

Minerals etc.

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Oyster shells, soft rock phosphate, Dolomite lime

Pictured above is the other amendments I have chosen. 5 cups oyster shell, 2 cups Dolomite lime, 2 cups gypsum, 1/4 cup SRP. Take a moment to think about that. In 48 gallons of medium, you only need a 1/4 cup of SRP. That’s some powerful stuff. It also stays well past the first grow so it will continue to deliver for our plants for many moons to come.

Here’s the beginning of the base mix, 3 CU feet of FFOF potting mix

Mix start

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

3 CU ft or 18 gallons of potting mix

It looks dull to me. I combed through it to see if I could find any signs of pests or trash. I found a few random bits of plastic that looked like the bag it came in. This isn’t surprising, you can find all kinds of wild stuff in potting mixes. I used to find chicken bones and pieces of cardboard and plastic in the Stonington blend super soil. No pests visible at this point, which is cool but doesn’t mean much lol.

EWC added

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

12 gallons EWC added

That is 12 gallons of EWC sitting on top ready to be worked in. I had a chance to look at the difference between the Gaia green EWC and Happy wrigglers stuff and the GG stuff looked a little fresher even with being almost 6 months old. I used 6 gallons of GG and 6 gallons of the wriggler stuff.

Here’s a shot of it being mixed in along with 9 gallons of perlite

Mix cont

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

9 gallons Perlite added and mixed in

This part was still relatively easy. Once you add perlite into the EWC and mix it in it becomes easier to mix it up. I forgot to snap a pic of the 9 gallons of perlite on top since I was stoned and in a groove lol.

Here’s a shot of 6 gallons of coco on top

Mix cont

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

6 gallons Coco added to mix

I used way less coco than I was expecting which is cool for later use but forced me to have to create another Rubbermaid bin container for holding.

Coco being mixed in

coco working in

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Mix having 6 gallons of coco worked into it

Here’s a shot of the final 3 gallons of perlite added on top of the mixed in coco

Final Perlite coco mixing

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Final 3 gallons of perlite added on top of coco worked in

At this point it still was relatively easy. Perlite makes it pretty simple to mix the base up well.

Here’s a shot of all the amendments being added to the base mix

Amendments added

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

All amendments added

You can see in the image that it already was going to be a pain in the butt. The amendments, especially the meals, liked to stick to the mix. Simply turning the soil wasn’t doing very much to mix everything in so I had to grab a rake and a spade to really mix everything together well. I rotated the soil as much as possible while pulling from the bottom and mixing left to right. This process of mixing by hand took about 30 minutes of just straight working it over and over.

Finally though I had mixed it all up and got a good looking final product:

Final Product

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Dark, fluffy, and super attractive to life

48ish gallons of high powered soil on its way to pushing any cannabis plant to its limits. Once I was finished mixing the life began swarming. There were quite a few flies that kept trying to get into the soil. Any time I would take a break at least 5-6 adult flies would jump all over it. This tells me that there is quite a bit of organic matter and potential for life in the soil.

I was able to fit the final mix into three separate Rubbermaid bins. This was one more than I anticipated.

Binned and stored

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

There it is binned and stored. It will maintain a decent temperature, above 68-70 F where it sits. This mix will likely sit cooking for about 40ish days before I use it. Probably more around 45-50 but we’ll see.

Now because of how it looked as I was mixing, I am not convinced that it is mixed up thoroughly. I could be wrong but better safe than sorry. So what I am probably going to do is every few days or so, dump the bins onto the tarp, mix them up and toss them back into the Rubbermaid bins. I’ll do this for the first week or two so I know everything is mixed thoroughly.

Going forward I would prefer if I could put it all into one large container that I can spin with a hand crank so I know that it’s all effectively mixed together, is stored well, and so the entire mix can cook together instead of in separate bins.

The final recipe is as follows:

Base Mix:

18 gallons potting mix (ocean forest)
12 gallons EWC
12 gallons Perlite
6 gallons coco (rinsed)

This base mix alone would be enough to power a plant all the way through. It would however require calmag interventions and possible rescuing depending on how well the plant bloomed. A 15 gallon pot filled with this mix would turn out some quality bud.

We’re not interested in that though. We want a powerful soil that gets better with age so we start off from the very beginning focusing on soil structure and microbiology. Here is the final list of amendments added:

5 cups oyster shell (crushed)
3 cups greensand
2 cups Dolomite lime (prilled)
2 cups Gypsum (pellitized)
2 cups blood meal
2 cups bone meal
2 cups fish bone meal
2 cups kelp meal
1.5 cups all purpose 4-4-4
1/4 cup Soft Rock Phosphate

I am waiting on rock dust and cow manure. When I went to purchase the cow manure it was the bottom of the palette and had been sitting for a couple weeks. They have a new shipment coming next week so I will purchase it then so hopefully it is fresher.

Next full post, I will explain the different amendments used, and why. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

 

[Keffka]

@Gee64 what is your total volume of spike mix for each spike in a 10 gallon?

 

[Azimuth]

I don’t use that I am going to repurpose into a soil mixer if it’s larger enough. Otherwise I may have to cave and buy a compost tumbler.

You can get a two chambered one for about a hundred bucks. For composting you'd use one side for fresh ingredients and the other for finishing a load out, but in your circumstance you could use each side for different batches.

 

[StoneOtter]

Nice mix Keffka!
@Gee64 I use 4 spikes that are about 1/4 cup each in a 10. 2v 2f

 

[Keffka]

Nice mix Keffka!
@Gee64 I use 4 spikes that are about 1/4 cup each in a 10. 2v 2f

Thanks stone! It’s pretty high powered for such large containers but it should grow beautifully

I’m going back and forth over my spike recipes. I was thinking of Geoflora Veg and bloom for veg and bloom spikes but am nervous it won’t be enough. I was thinking about using stongington plant food as spikes as well. I’ll be running the plants in 10-15 gallons so I know my spikes don’t need to be as powerful as Revs. I could probably just get away with aerated EWC spikes.

 

[Sparkey224]

Alright here we go. That was likely going to be the most amount of work done this grow. It’s my own fault for still thinking I’m in my 20s/early 30s. I have a dryer I don’t use that I am going to repurpose into a soil mixer if it’s larger enough. Otherwise I may have to cave and buy a compost tumbler. As it stands currently, every week or so I’m gonna have to dump three 20 gallon bins out, mix them up by hand, then rebin them just to make sure it’s all properly mixed up and cooking evenly.

While that’s not terrible right now, it will get exponentially worse with more soil.

Anyway, enough of that, here’s how it went:

The Ingredients

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

From left to right: EWC, blood meal, kelp meal, bone meal, fish bone meal, all purpose 4-4-4...

Above you can see all of the ingredients used to make this first batch. I am keeping an eye out for a deal on some rock dusts which will be added within the next week or two.

I laid out a tarp over the driveway and got to work.

I’m this next image, I took something I saw on @StoneOtter journal and splayed out my meals for mixing in a fancy way lol

Meals for mixing

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Presentation styled from @StoneOtter
Blood meal, bone meal, fish bone meal, kelp...

That is 2 cups blood, bone, fish bone, and kelp meal, with 3 cups of greensand. The greensand dominated. I’m looking for a larger tray for next time.

Minerals etc.

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Oyster shells, soft rock phosphate, Dolomite lime

Pictured above is the other amendments I have chosen. 5 cups oyster shell, 2 cups Dolomite lime, 2 cups gypsum, 1/4 cup SRP. Take a moment to think about that. In 48 gallons of medium, you only need a 1/4 cup of SRP. That’s some powerful stuff. It also stays well past the first grow so it will continue to deliver for our plants for many moons to come.

Here’s the beginning of the base mix, 3 CU feet of FFOF potting mix

Mix start

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

3 CU ft or 18 gallons of potting mix

It looks dull to me. I combed through it to see if I could find any signs of pests or trash. I found a few random bits of plastic that looked like the bag it came in. This isn’t surprising, you can find all kinds of wild stuff in potting mixes. I used to find chicken bones and pieces of cardboard and plastic in the Stonington blend super soil. No pests visible at this point, which is cool but doesn’t mean much lol.

EWC added

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

12 gallons EWC added

That is 12 gallons of EWC sitting on top ready to be worked in. I had a chance to look at the difference between the Gaia green EWC and Happy wrigglers stuff and the GG stuff looked a little fresher even with being almost 6 months old. I used 6 gallons of GG and 6 gallons of the wriggler stuff.

Here’s a shot of it being mixed in along with 9 gallons of perlite

Mix cont

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

9 gallons Perlite added and mixed in

This part was still relatively easy. Once you add perlite into the EWC and mix it in it becomes easier to mix it up. I forgot to snap a pic of the 9 gallons of perlite on top since I was stoned and in a groove lol.

Here’s a shot of 6 gallons of coco on top

Mix cont

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

6 gallons Coco added to mix

I used way less coco than I was expecting which is cool for later use but forced me to have to create another Rubbermaid bin container for holding.

Coco being mixed in

coco working in

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Mix having 6 gallons of coco worked into it

Here’s a shot of the final 3 gallons of perlite added on top of the mixed in coco

Final Perlite coco mixing

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Final 3 gallons of perlite added on top of coco worked in

At this point it still was relatively easy. Perlite makes it pretty simple to mix the base up well.

Here’s a shot of all the amendments being added to the base mix

Amendments added

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

All amendments added

You can see in the image that it already was going to be a pain in the butt. The amendments, especially the meals, liked to stick to the mix. Simply turning the soil wasn’t doing very much to mix everything in so I had to grab a rake and a spade to really mix everything together well. I rotated the soil as much as possible while pulling from the bottom and mixing left to right. This process of mixing by hand took about 30 minutes of just straight working it over and over.

Finally though I had mixed it all up and got a good looking final product:

Final Product

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

Dark, fluffy, and super attractive to life

48ish gallons of high powered soil on its way to pushing any cannabis plant to its limits. Once I was finished mixing the life began swarming. There were quite a few flies that kept trying to get into the soil. Any time I would take a break at least 5-6 adult flies would jump all over it. This tells me that there is quite a bit of organic matter and potential for life in the soil.

I was able to fit the final mix into three separate Rubbermaid bins. This was one more than I anticipated.

Binned and stored

• Keffka
• Jun 11, 2023

There it is binned and stored. It will maintain a decent temperature, above 68-70 F where it sits. This mix will likely sit cooking for about 40ish days before I use it. Probably more around 45-50 but we’ll see.

Now because of how it looked as I was mixing, I am not convinced that it is mixed up thoroughly. I could be wrong but better safe than sorry. So what I am probably going to do is every few days or so, dump the bins onto the tarp, mix them up and toss them back into the Rubbermaid bins. I’ll do this for the first week or two so I know everything is mixed thoroughly.

Going forward I would prefer if I could put it all into one large container that I can spin with a hand crank so I know that it’s all effectively mixed together, is stored well, and so the entire mix can cook together instead of in separate bins.

The final recipe is as follows:

Base Mix:

18 gallons potting mix (ocean forest)
12 gallons EWC
12 gallons Perlite
6 gallons coco (rinsed)

This base mix alone would be enough to power a plant all the way through. It would however require calmag interventions and possible rescuing depending on how well the plant bloomed. A 15 gallon pot filled with this mix would turn out some quality bud.

We’re not interested in that though. We want a powerful soil that gets better with age so we start off from the very beginning focusing on soil structure and microbiology. Here is the final list of amendments added:

5 cups oyster shell (crushed)
3 cups greensand
2 cups Dolomite lime (prilled)
2 cups Gypsum (pellitized)
2 cups blood meal
2 cups bone meal
2 cups fish bone meal
2 cups kelp meal
1.5 cups all purpose 4-4-4
1/4 cup Soft Rock Phosphate

I am waiting on rock dust and cow manure. When I went to purchase the cow manure it was the bottom of the palette and had been sitting for a couple weeks. They have a new shipment coming next week so I will purchase it then so hopefully it is fresher.

Next full post, I will explain the different amendments used, and why. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

No RO water to cook? I usually used 2 gallons after mixing Doc Bud organic mix bale of promix and let it cook for 30days +
Cheers

 

[StoneOtter]

Thanks stone! It’s pretty high powered for such large containers but it should grow beautifully

I’m going back and forth over my spike recipes. I was thinking of Geoflora Veg and bloom for veg and bloom spikes but am nervous it won’t be enough. I was thinking about using stongington plant food as spikes as well. I’ll be running the plants in 10-15 gallons so I know my spikes don’t need to be as powerful as Revs. I could probably just get away with aerated EWC spikes.

If you're going with Geoflora you won't need to spike it. It goes right on top and watered in. I suppose spikes would work but I wonder how long it would hang in for you before it gets depleted.