Emmie's 6 Plant, True Living Organic, LED Grow Journal

First, the varieties. I have gone classic in my selection, bringing back some old standards and personal favorites. This run will have 6 different varieties, Jack Herer, Wappa, TrainWreck, NYC Diesel, Ice Breaker and Super Cheese.

I have purchased a new 1500w LED light to start these plants in and will purchase several more to take them into flower. There is not going to be a lack of strong LED light in this grow. My goal is to prove to myself, my biggest critic, that LED is superior to old school HID lighting. I like the results that I get with my old dual light system, using 600w HPS and MH together in flower, but I am open to change.

The soil and the container preparation is going to be following true organic guidelines. The base soil started out several years ago as SubCool's SuperSoil mix, but it has been getting better all of this time. With every run, every bit of scrap wood and leaf went back into that soil. Nothing was wasted and the soil has been well amended with azomite, oystershell, and all the additives, layers of organic materials, spikes, teas and even some kitchen scraps of all the grows throughout those years. The containers will all be carefully prepared to have even more fresh layers of nutrients, spikes, earthworm castings, etc to supplement this soil and to make sure that everything the plants and the microlife need is in there. No chlorinated water nor synthetic nutrients have ever touched this soil, nor will they be used in this garden.

The plants will be started out by placing the seeds on top of a spring water soaked cotton ball sitting in the middle of a pie plate. This is covered with plastic wrap, making sure there was an air gap between the seed and the plastic and then put in a dark warm place. In 2-3 days even the most reluctant old seed will come to life and send out a root and when they get to be 1/4"-1/2" long, I will plant them 1/2" deep in a red solo cup 3/4 full of my well cooked soil. Once they pop to the surface I will continue to water in small amounts twice a day, helping the roots find the bottom and then as soon as the seedlings have established themselves, I will water the container properly one time, and then wait 2-3 days for the container to dry out. The next time I water, I will hit them with a once every couple of weeks shot of Mycorrhizae to really get the roots going, and then in a few days at their next watering they will get their first Actively Aerated Compost Tea. The next tea in a week or so will include ground up barley shoots, adding their growth hormone into the soil and the one after that will be a strong nitrogen/calcium load to really get vegging going in a hurry.

We go legal in Missouri on Dec 6. That is the official start date of all of this and pictures will be forthcoming. I just wanted to let you know what is coming and how much preparation is already going into this grow.

Be well everyone,
More coming soon...
Em
 
I'll sit in on this grow. I have been thinking of switching to LED myself. Still on the fence I have been liking my 600 watt HID. I can't wait until it's legal here in my state. Unfortunately I live in the Midwest bible belt area and will probably be one of the last to legalize but there's hope. Congratulations. Looking forward to your grow.
 
I'll sit in on this grow. I have been thinking of switching to LED myself. Still on the fence I have been liking my 600 watt HID. I can't wait until it's legal here in my state. Unfortunately I live in the Midwest bible belt area and will probably be one of the last to legalize but there's hope. Congratulations. Looking forward to your grow.
That's what we used to think here in Missouri! Please let us "Show-You" the way!
 
The new LED light came in yesterday and I realized that I ordered the 1000w version. No biggie at $89, so I immediately replaced my big huge Raptor hood and the HPS along with its ducting and exhaust fan with this little toy light and put it 15 inches above the seedlings. They seem to like it as they are still growing and sucking up water, even though this little thing makes me think of cooking in an EasyBake oven.
I can tell right now I am not going to be happy in flower with this little thing and I will be ordering the 2000w version next... 2 of them should just about cover this 2x4 the way I want to do it. This little one will achieve a 2'x3' footprint with enough PAR to do veg, but I would need 4 of them 8" away from the plants in flower to cover this area and the footprint is cut in half. I will order 2 of the much larger 2000w versions as soon as my Christmas bonus hits... oh, and they are also $89... lol Even cheaper in bulk.
 
Tuning in to see how things go with your LEDs as I am using the same. I know I’m going to need two more lights to pair with the one I have in the veg tent and the one I have in my flower. So I’m really interested in seeing which you’re using and how they preform.
I am using the Vander Life lights that you can see featured on Amazon right now. They seem well made and very cost competitive. I have the 1000w version right now in veg and in flower I will be using 2 of the 2000w units in a 2x4 tent.
 
Here is a quick shot of my soon to be legal family. The big one came up 11/17, the next a week later and the rest are about 5 days old. The strength of my old seeds in the fridge surprised me and I thought it would take me longer than it did to get 6 viable plants to this stage.
They just got their first AACT, bubbled for about 3 days. This should cause rapid growth in the next week, especially if the fungi they were given earlier are taking hold on the roots.
DSCF6695.JPG
 
Lot of light for a 2X4. I need to step up my game. I just purchased a second 450 Watt for my 2X4 veg tent. Should be here Tuesday. I'm still flowering with my 600 W HPS but thinking of switching to all led lights because of the heat. It will be nice to see how well all them watts work in that 2X4.
 
I have one 600w LED in my veg 4x4 tent right now and it’s seemed to be doing its job on these seedlings but I’m guessing I’m going to maybe have to put another 600-1000w light in there when they get larger. I also have a 5x5 tent that has a 1200w flower LED in it and I’ll def need more lights bc although it’s 1200W the light it actually small er size than the 600W I have. I’m not really sure on how much more lighting I will need. So it will be nice to see how this goes.
 
back right! you must be very familiar with the variety to know it so well that you can recognize it on day 3. I don't remember which house they came from, some of the many gifted seeds over the years and I don't want to open the container in the fridge again to check... they very well could be Crop King.
 
I have only grown about 6 different types of seeds but the ones I have grown, I have grown a few times and believe me I have had my share of disappointments and some really great grows and have learned a shit ton and still learning . crown royal and train wreck were my 2 favorites by far not a lot of problems and yielded well and smoked so smooth .After the grow I am in is finished I am gonna grow some Reg land race Colombian gold seed (2), dam seeds cost me a fortune to get them from Holland .I wanted a guarantee that they were a land race strain .had to do a lot of searching to find them and long distance phone calls.
 
Today my little plants surprised me a little... they are really loving this LED light! Yesterday they were given their first compost tea, and the growth spurt they put on in the last 24 hours is incredible! The oldest plant, about a week and a half old just sucked up all of its liquid in 24 hours, trying to indicate to me that it is time already to transplant her. I told her I don't believe it and watered her again with plain water, daring her to do it again. We shall see tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the AACT, actively aerated compost tea... I am surprised no one has asked me about it yet. It is a very effective tea designed for seedlings, so not too hot in nutrients but extremely rich in microlife. It was made by bubbling in a gallon pitcher for 3 days, the following:
2 tbls unsulfured molasses
1 tsp liquid fish fertilizer
1 tbls alfalfa meal
1 tbls kelp/feather meal mix
1 cup earthworm castings
1 tsp liquid seaweed
10 drops calmag

This was strained and diluted 100% with water inoculated with mycorrhizae and applied to all of the plants. It made way too much to use this time, and the rest of the AACT was added to my super soil compost bin.
 
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