Emmie's Vegan Fertilizer, Pineapple Chunk 2020 Celebration: Experimental Soil Grow

[multiVortex]

You would actually like it once you figured out how to use it to your advantage.

I might, yes. Not like ours is hard. The first X kWh are 7¢/kWh, the next XX kWh it's 10¢/kWh, then 12¢ after that. The exception is summer, and after 2000kWh it goes up to 15¢/kWh.

Definitely one reason I try to use anything USB that I can, and have a kill-a-watt meter on all the garden outlets.

Aside from heaters, and there just isn't much you can do about that when you need one, I am trying to keep a 4x4 space under 600 total watts peak. Early on, it's easy to do when you can dial back the lights. Flowering, it gets tricky.

The space heaters I'm using pull 375watts, and are on temp controlled outlets. They only run during light hours, as the night time temps are about 66F which is fine. On my secondary tent, I was able to put one of the intake ducts by a register from the main house heat pump, which helps when it kicks on.

I do have backup heaters for overnight that will kick on if it gets down to 62F as a backup. They don't turn on though, so that's good.

 

[Dutchman1990]

Looking good em

 

[Reave]

why is your basement so cold? We heat with natural gas and I believe it’s quite cheep. My main level is 24 C(72F~) and the basement is a couple degrees cooler.

 

[Old Salt]

why is your basement so cold? We heat with natural gas and I believe it’s quite cheep. My main level is 24 C(72F~) and the basement is a couple degrees cooler.

Mine is a post WW2 construction with plenty of air leaks. To cut heating costs, we keep it at 19°C / 66°F in the living spaces during the cold months. In the hot months, the windows are opened, and the ones that don't get sun have fans put in them. We have a/c in the bedroom set to 26°C / 79°F, so my wife can sleep at night.

 

[Reave]

Oh that makes a lot of sense. Perspective means a lot. My home was built in around 2000. It is well insulated and I have central air. It gets way to hot in the summer not to have ac. That being said the growing environment is usually in range in my basement.

 

[Emilya Green]

Veg, Day 30
The girls continue to improve in looks and stature. The MC green is coming back to the entire plants and all growth from mid level up looks to now be the right color. The lower fans that before looked like they were in trouble are now strongly lifting and they also appear to be getting their color back too.
Spreading them out in the larger area with much better air flow and temperature and humidity control, or maybe the better lights... whatever it is, is working, and they are steadily looking better.
So far I see no adverse effects from the added supplements, and to all appearances they seem to be liking the added Sea-Kelp and Sweet Candy.
Seeing no bad reactions to the change in light and the new intensity, I upped the overall wattage to 150w to see if I can get an indication that it might be too much. I didn't measure, but I am guessing that I just increased PAR to about 175.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Veg, Day 30
The girls continue to improve in looks and stature. The MC green is coming back to the entire plants and all growth from mid level up looks to now be the right color. The lower fans that before looked like they were in trouble are now strongly lifting and they also appear to be getting their color back too.
Spreading them out in the larger area with much better air flow and temperature and humidity control, or maybe the better lights... whatever it is, is working, and they are steadily looking better.
So far I see no adverse effects from the added supplements, and to all appearances they seem to be liking the added Sea-Kelp and Sweet Candy.
Seeing no bad reactions to the change in light and the new intensity, I upped the overall wattage to 150w to see if I can get an indication that it might be too much. I didn't measure, but I am guessing that I just increased PAR to about 175.

wow they have moved quick Emilya. good to see the extras havent thrown you out of ratio too. I am still only using water for my LOS pots ( holy cow it is good stuff) but it is a 1st run of it so I didnt expect it to so productive yet. I remember your comments about your soil possibly being so used it would be all over the place so in with the MC and put them back on water only ( with amendments) but I can still use mc for the coco pots so am not too worried about it sitting unused but I cant shake the feeling of it for LOS. Your explanation of it being vegan so still within organics to a point had me curious about it boosting the soil even further. My lights being too intense threw me right off as it looked like N toxicity so I assumed MC and stopped it. seeing your girls so vigorous using it, has again fuelled the fire. lol
I am stoked it is working for you so well and watch with an interest and the impatience of a child. I think I need to resign myself to just watching you nail it 1st and then take stock again for their second run in the pots.
keep up the great work , rooting for you selfishly here. lol

 

[SQl2kGuy]

Are you thinking these plants need 8 weeks of veg to fill the tent this round? Or less if they are growing so fast?

 

[Emilya Green]

Are you thinking these plants need 8 weeks of veg to fill the tent this round? Or less if they are growing so fast?

Oh no, I won't go nearly that long on these. They will be transplanted in the next couple of days and I am looking at about 2 weeks to fill out the 5 gallon containers enough to go into bloom, for a total of around 6 weeks veg. I suspect they will be plenty big by then.

 

[Emilya Green]

Until I can get the plants transplanted they go from looking quite good as they do this morning, to looking beaten up and pitiful when they are needing water. They took a good bit of water yesterday as their day began and they seem to love the MC at 4g/g with the supplements. Some of the lower leaves could look better, but it is a credit to the MC that they have not completely died and fallen away.

 

[multiVortex]

That floor fan looks highly familiar...

375w for the win!

 

[StoneOtter]

Beautiful Em!

 

[Emilya Green]

That floor fan looks highly familiar...

375w for the win!

That little heater works like a charm, even on its low setting. I have wired it into a cheap analog thermostat to make it a smart Vornado, and it very efficiently keeps the tent at 75° even on the coldest nights.

 

[multiVortex]

That little heater works like a charm, even on its low setting. I have wired it into a cheap analog thermostat to make it a smart Vornado, and it very efficiently keeps the tent at 75° even on the coldest nights.

You bet! I have mine plugged into a temp controlled outlet thingy. Like what you hook a seedling mat into. Works a treat.

 

[Emilya Green]

Veg, Day 33
This evening the girls finally got to move to their final containers, 5 gallon generic smart bags. The @Vulx shipment arrived today and we mixed up the 10 gallons of soil we will need for the uppotting with 1250 grams of Vulx, and we each took turns mixing it all up until the lights came back on at 9pm.
The plants were easily removed from the 1 gallon GeoPot velcro bags to reveal an extremely dense rootball. Everywhere you look on the outside of the rootball there is a dense mesh of roots with quite a few larger roots having also reached the outside edge to be air pruned. These are some of the hardest and densest 1 gallon rootballs I have every produced. I literally rolled one on the table on its side so I could take a picture of the bottom, and it barely lost any soil from all the handling.
Then I watered to runoff so as to merge the soil regions. The Vulxed up dry soil at first was quite hydrophobic, but after patiently adding small amounts of water to get it started, all seemed to start working normally. The plants took 2 gallons of MC 4g/g plus SC and SK and probably could have taken more, but I will hit them again in the morning after some of this first watering has soaked in all the way.
The plants immediately reacted to the larger space and the watering with a very healthy lift of all of the leaves, even the ones showing damage. I really think these plants are going to mostly repair themselves. They are already huge and could be sent to bloom right now for a healthy harvest, but that would be silly after just transplanting them. The current plan is to let them grow into the new containers for 2 weeks and then we will transition into bloom.

So far, unless I see reasons to think otherwise, the damage to the fans so far is due, I think, to root constriction and not adjusting the MC correctly and I see no endemic indication that there is a problem with either the tap water or the lack of pH adjustment.
Bottom showing massive feeder root development

Note the dense mesh of roots coming out of the sides

Every time one of these big roots gets air pruned, you can be sure there was some sort of reaction up top

 

[ChefDGreen]

I can’t believe those girls are just past 30 days, it’s freakin insanity.

how wet do you transplant Em? I find it’s easier for me to get the root ball out of a fabric pot when it’s almost dry.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Until I can get the plants transplanted they go from looking quite good as they do this morning, to looking beaten up and pitiful when they are needing water. They took a good bit of water yesterday as their day began and they seem to love the MC at 4g/g with the supplements. Some of the lower leaves could look better, but it is a credit to the MC that they have not completely died and fallen away.

Looks ery different to what I jad on my suspected over fed one Emmy. mine must be something in the pot from before. can see the difference in the leaves too. I have a very dark mottled green appearance too. can see how you i.d it being nute fry. I remember Mr S saying how quickly it an go south using bud explosion and the other one. making me nervous watching and waiting now..

 

[Emilya Green]

I can’t believe those girls are just past 30 days, it’s freakin insanity.

how wet do you transplant Em? I find it’s easier for me to get the root ball out of a fabric pot when it’s almost dry.

They were still damp, but not wet. I find that there is less breakage and loss of soil when they are damp rather than dry when trying to strip them out of the smart pots, but this velcro seam really helps in this process greatly!

And yes, the size of these plants already is insane. Vulx, MC and Emmie's watering practices... a winning combination.

 

[ChefDGreen]

That watering practice is no joke. The autos I’ve got going now we’re on the cusp of failure until I got them into their big pots and gave them the two pronged watering approach

 

[SQl2kGuy]

Very nice ... 30 days of veg and the plants are about 24 inches (60 cm) by the looks of things ...

I am going to start my third grow in January, ... and I am wondering if you'd recommend using MC, Sweet Candy and Sea-K together for the entire grow.

I was actually thinking I'd start by using Sweet Candy & Sea-K once each week to start, ... and then using them every feed in the last 2-3 weeks of the grow ... thoughts?

I am also going to use my 10 gallon pots again for my soil grows instead of the 5 gallon pots which I will use for the coco grows ... thoughts?

Ultimately, ... I want my indoor plants to reach 4.5 feet tall this time. I thought pot pot size was important ... but you hit 2 feet tall healthy plants in a 1 gallon pot which is awesome ... so I'm a bit confused again. Are your plants gonna hit 4 feet in a 5 gallon pot of soil this round?

ttyl