Akisunni Indoor Cold & Hot Grow Zones

[akisunni]

Soil Girl,

Sorry, Fish and Tackle shop... I live in the California Delta region. There are places to fish with in 5 min of walking out my door. So, soil...

My first plant (Big Girl) is a M.G. soil. I quickly learned here, and went and purchased some organic soil from the local supply. Its a regional generic brand name. Seems to be pretty nice soil. All of the plants since have used it. Think generic in a big bag of soil.

 

[SoilGirl]

hmm there's lots of generic though haha. do you know if there's lots of mineral/nutrient amendments in there, or if its low on those? That will come in handy big time in the future. but for now - if its all organic, its all good. Any organic soil can potentially benefit from worms, they aren't going to hurt or get out of hand. try and keep adding organic material/dressings for them if you go that route though you'll eventually end up with a dumbed down LOS - or if you bought a few things then it would be a CC LOS

 

[akisunni]

hmm there's lots of generic though haha. do you know if there's lots of mineral/nutrient amendments in there, or if its low on those? That will come in handy big time in the future. but for now - if its all organic, its all good. Any organic soil can potentially benefit from worms, they aren't going to hurt or get out of hand. try and keep adding organic material/dressings for them if you go that route though you'll eventually end up with a dumbed down LOS - or if you bought a few things then it would be a CC LOS

I am kind of angling that way. I can see adding tea's and worms to standard organic soil and giving the plant as natural environment to grow in. I would still add boost to water when I think a plant needs it. I am learning, a little goes a long ways as it is. I would like my plants to be able to live in as natural of a grow environment as I can provide for them.

I will admit I am a bit freaked out by a bleeping forest of weeds in my soil tops. I dont think I like that part of LOS approach. I get the fungi and stuff under the surface. I get worms. I get teas. I get natural materials. I dont get letting the forest grow under the plant in doors.

Give me a few and I might get there though. I am someone who adjusts their opinion as data points point in a direction of success.

 

[SoilGirl]

well you see aki - myco (mycorrhizae) chains, which really are the king of fungi in soil food webs, take a LONG time to build up and reach their full potential. When soil has myco's so well established that they're just one big chain through the soil, helping control moisture retention, air flow, compaction, and signigicantly contributing to nutrient uptake (especially P) as they attach to roots, becoming an extension living symbiotically with one another, both providing sustenance for the other... you need roots for them to attach to and if you cut down your whole cannabis plant, those myco chains die because there's nothing to sustain them or hold on to anymore. That's where living mulch plays its most important role, keeping it alive. plus if you're always growing something in your soil - it never dies, you always want your soil to be in use if you're making your way to an LOS - if you keep it in use, as the months and years go by, that LOS will get better and better, and grow better and better plants! but living mulch also does a million other things. It breaks down and provides organic matter as you cut it back, high in minerals and nutrients, it helps keep soil moist all the time and helps aerate your soil, its Beautiful! all these things and more Idk why it doesn't appeal to you to go full cycle and have a truly natural situation in your grow! Plants grow better together - and there's also much data for that! Some just grow especially well together

 

[b.real]

looking good man. indoor girl is loving the light addition and it looks like weather is growing those plants pretty well. small purple buds is a P issue. you should cover you plant at night to make her even more happy if it's chilly

I used to make a compost with a good soil, some mycos, and grew nice plants. then I recycled the roots of healthy plants in my compost and nothing else really. if I was eating like an apple that day near the bin I would throw it in.

living growing colonized cannabis roots is by far the best compost material to start new cannabis. threw my healthy outdoor plants into my bin that year too. didn't one year cause tomatoes got infected with blight mold. funny how the hot peppers and herbs never caught it.

my soil looked like that and was "kind of" composted too.

 

[akisunni]

But they need roots to attach to and if you cut down your whole cannabis plant, those myco chains die because there's nothing to sustain them or hold on to anymore. That's where living mulch plays its most important role, keeping it alive. but living mulch also does a million other things. take a look at this!

I want to get passed this whole (chopping the plant down and killing it completely) process. In the case of Big Girl I am moving her outside (worm candidate). I would love to grow her into a tree that gets moved back indoors, but this time into my house with a light shining on her as an indoor tree worthy of being in the house.

I am going to go space analogy here. SpaceX is trying to land their first stages on a floating platform at sea, so they can reuse them, because it doesn't make sense to make a new "747" aircraft and ditch it after its first maiden flight, why should it with rockets?

I am in the same book about our "girls". I think we could be shocked to find out their best bud growth capacity is after they are larger and stabilized in life...

In the cattle industry, you never want a big yield on her first pregnancy. My cattle rancher friends specifically breed their herd by age and experience at producing. Young heifers are bred to different bulls then successful older and now larger helfers with granddaughters around her.

My guess is that with some patience, there is a way to live with your plants and make the flowering process part of the house hold process.

 

[akisunni]

looking good man. indoor girl is loving the light addition and it looks like weather is growing those plants pretty well. small purple buds is a P issue. you should cover you plant at night to make her even more happy if it's chilly

thanks bro, I will. She has a stiff rack of old stems that can handle the weight nicely and provide perfect support for the plant. I have some old uhaul blankets made out of recycled denim. Soft, warm, and almost wooly.

 

[SoilGirl]

I totally agree - but mostly for your situation - I want to have a good 8 LOS pots running, and I like variety in strains, so rotation is pivotal for me. Re-vegging the same plant over and over and over appeals to me similarly, but then it also doesn't because it would be hard to 'flux' them. but still I like that you are putting thought into it

- living mulches also helps establish fungi like mycos WAY faster than if you only have one plant growing, with roots spanning out from a central point. So when starting new plants they really make a big difference

 

[b.real]

you could even build something to hold it up over it. even a simple tent setup. now she might be ok, but might ruin her buds as she gets older. uhaul blanket will be great protection.

oh yeah we have some mulch around the yard and I remember when working around the mulched area an inch or so down some stuff growing stuff on it. gotta find some healthy pure white looking stuff and maybe whip up some soil this spring in honor. probably much better than powdered mycos. thank you

when I find a male I feel like soma did at that moment. LOL

 

[akisunni]

I totally agree - but mostly for your situation - I want to have a good 8 LOS pots running, and I like variety in strains, so rotation is pivotal for me. Re-vegging the same plant over and over and over appeals to me similarly, but then it also doesn't because it would be hard to 'flux' them. but still I like that you are putting thought into it

- living mulches also helps establish fungi like mycos WAY faster than if you only have one plant growing, with roots spanning out from a central point. So when starting new plants they really make a big difference

I need variety too. Ergo, once you have a real sized tree. You can graft on to it multi strains. The idea is that when the plant goes into its next flower cycle, it now has 4 different flavors growing on her.

If you used fluxing like focus on grafting onto old growth, you get the best of all worlds. Old Strong root stalks. Multi favors per cycle. Larger plant, larger yields. Plus, to produce multi strains, lots of... attention to do it right, is my guess.

cough cough...

 

[akisunni]

you could even build something to hold it up over it. even a simple tent setup. now she might be ok, but might ruin her buds as she gets older. uhaul blanket would be perfect.

oh yeah we have some mulch around the yard and I remember when working around the mulched bed a inch or so down growing stuff on it. gotta find some healthy pure white looking stuff and maybe whip up something this spring in honor. probably much better than powdered mycos.

I hear you. Absolutely doable. I can get some bamboo poles, set in the ground and drap on them and around her. Keep the real weight on the poles, keep the warmth wrapped around her. I need to get her some worms. The more I ponder it, I will prob just place the shell back over the seed kids. I prob dont need to bomb the neighborhood with pollen. lol.

Speaking of mulch, odd you say it. My parents are 90+. They just fired Juan, the grounds keeper of the last decade or two, and informed me, as youngest and closest... ... long way of saying, I am currently spending 1 hour a day shoveling medium bark all over their property. I would bitch, but after 30+ years of them living there, and growing up there, how many more times am I going to get the chance to sling bark at the place? I am actually enjoying talking to the tree's that I helped plant decades ago.

 

[SweetSue]

I am kind of angling that way. I can see adding tea's and worms to standard organic soil and giving the plant as natural environment to grow in. I would still add boost to water when I think a plant needs it. I am learning, a little goes a long ways as it is. I would like my plants to be able to live in as natural of a grow environment as I can provide for them.

I will admit I am a bit freaked out by a bleeping forest of weeds in my soil tops. I dont think I like that part of LOS approach. I get the fungi and stuff under the surface. I get worms. I get teas. I get natural materials. I dont get letting the forest grow under the plant in doors.

Give me a few and I might get there though. I am someone who adjusts their opinion as data points point in a direction of success.

I like to think of it as "spontaneous vegetation". I've always been a big fan of what we commonly call weeds.

With a diverse community of plant life in the pots you have many more connections to the myco community. This means there are more sources for nutrients and more pathways to shuttle those nutrients back to your needy plant. The less you disturb the soil the stronger those connections become and the better the soil performs. Some water, a few teas here and there, some sweet homemade EWC now and then and you're good.

 

[SoilGirl]

oh and P.S. aki - if the living mulch still really puts you off, just mulch! doesn't need to be alive, although that's what I prefer, but mulching really does provide lots of benefits, I'd recommend a mulch of composted sticks and twigs all smashed/cut/broken up if you don't go with living mulch. Composting them means they wont leech N from the soil as they break down, but rather become one of the best mulches available

 

[susat66]

Definitely sativa for you.
1 thing I can't stress enough is outdoors stays outdoors
And indoors fresh new mediums, and definitely a air circulation system( cleaning air from groom completely and replacing it with fresh air with a bug mesh on it. KISS ur doing great, above are totally necessary, im sure you will be prospering from your toils very soon. ATB

 

[akisunni]

Hey Guys & Gals, Quick Update:

Sadly, I had some beginners luck in the drying and curing side of the ledger. Always lessons to learn. One of them is about trying to cure in cold temps in a fog bank event. It doesn't work very well. By the time I got the buds inside and retried the drying, I ended up with some white dots.

I have sorted the buds with a magnifier approach...

About 2/3rds to 3/4's of my first crop has from 1-20 small micro white dots. I have put them into their own jar. Everything is indoors and dry now. Reality is its not safe to smoke, but the bud to mildew spots is still 99-1 to 99.9 - 1 on everything affected. This gives me hope that I can make an oil or butter out of it. Most people wouldn't even see what I am tossing. I however know its bad for smoking at this point.

I will post pictures in a few, but wanted to get the advice column started now.

on the good side. I didn't give the plant a chance to dry out enough it appears to be getting stronger and stronger as it cures. I now feel a full head and body stone when smoking it. In fact. Considering I have been smoking it for two weeks now, longer with nugget tests included, I should be REALLY immune to it, yet it gets me more stoned each day I smoke it as it cures.

I have two really healthy clones I was giving my sister, but I might just keep one for a fresh grow of Big "Stinky Pinky by Strain" Girl. I am growing to like this bud the more I smoke it. Sad to lose a couple of oz of smoke, but I learned a lot of important lessons in the last week.

 

[SweetSue]

Awwww Akisunni! That's a hard lesson to learn. So sorry to hear it. Time for another run. Life is one big science experiment, isn't it?

 

[Skybound]

Yeah Aki, that really sucks. Perhaps getting your arduino involved and build a humidor?

 

[akisunni]

Awwww Akisunni! That's a hard lesson to learn. So sorry to hear it. Time for another run. Life is one big science experiment, isn't it?

It is... I am bummed, and yet, I feel like its a lesson learned. One needed, and one I wont make again (the same way). I am out real oz's but at least its not pounds. I still have the original plant outside with a second crop of small popcorns growing. I have spare clones. I have one clone in a breeding garden under a giant plastic dome, party for two. The idea is to get seeds to grow of Big Girl and a hardy bag seed from a top shelf name that herm'ed.

I still have Stinky Pinky the mislabeled Blue Dream, with giant buds on it. I could harvest any day now, but to be honest its still growing density like crazy. The 6 weeks of 36/12 seems to have allowed the plant to prepare the "Mother of All Buds" to grow.

Yeah Aki, that really sucks. Perhaps getting your arduino involved and build a humidor?

Its on my list. I will be moving the grow system to a working deep freezer this spring, and moving bud drying to the current deep freezer with temp and humidity tracking, with buds on racks.

Now, what would you guys do with potent buzz and body stuff, that needs to be cooked into a secondary product?

 

[akisunni]

Quick Update:

The Cherry Bomb is coming along. I stressed her moving her, and she is just starting to show any signs of acknowledging her own space now. She has lots of long stems and little buds. I serious doubt she ever pays for her life cycle to be honest. She was with The Blue Dream knowns As Stinky and never had a chance to veg. So her development was never robust.

I am trying out so many different lessons at once, I love this journal for letting me put in one place the events as they happen. I currently have Cherry in one space, Ms Stinky in another, and I just added the 2 healthy clones to the Stinky grow space. She has a tall canopy and they are getting really bushy but show. Seems a perfect mix for now.

I turned off the lights to the Veg space in my desk for now. I need to start some new seeds and do a full grow from scratch there again in the coming days. I will setup a new journal for those beans soon.

As soon as I harvest Ms Stinky this grow will be done. She is ready but not. The blue dream is exploding with fresh white hair growth in columns all over the outside of the bud, as if layering itself. These buds are beer to large wine bottles in width now. I know its getting long in the tooth, with today being flower day 78 here. However I have never seen white hair bud growth like this either. Its crazy.

 

[SweetSue]

It is... I am bummed, and yet, I feel like its a lesson learned. One needed, and one I wont make again (the same way). I am out real oz's but at least its not pounds. I still have the original plant outside with a second crop of small popcorns growing. I have spare clones. I have one clone in a breeding garden under a giant plastic dome, party for two. The idea is to get seeds to grow of Big Girl and a hardy bag seed from a top shelf name that herm'ed.

I still have Stinky Pinky the mislabeled Blue Dream, with giant buds on it. I could harvest any day now, but to be honest its still growing density like crazy. The 6 weeks of 36/12 seems to have allowed the plant to prepare the "Mother of All Buds" to grow.



Its on my list. I will be moving the grow system to a working deep freezer this spring, and moving bud drying to the current deep freezer with temp and humidity tracking, with buds on racks.

Now, what would you guys do with potent buzz and body stuff, that needs to be cooked into a secondary product?

I would make butter, but that's me - a lover of both butter and cooking. In my house that would all find it's way into cookies or little caramels.

I'd like to see that provocative hair growth on your Blue Dream. Any pictures?