Fuzznutter's Organic Photos & Autos: Take 1

[AngryBird]

Hi sweet fuzzbear
I am glad you are well, we started to wonder what happened to you. See my journal, dankest was looking and wondering
Christmas shopping is always better way before, you don't have all the stress and ALL the people driving you nuts in the stores.

 

[Tead]

I now consider "Fempy" a registered trademark of Fuzz.... well, fuzz's hubby... whatever.

On the idea of bottom watering in a fabric pot....

I get a good bit of wicking action from the bottom to the top of my hempy pots. I can demonstrate it easily by just digging my finger down an inch or two and finding a good bit of moisture. One can demonstrate it with food coloring as well, but you just end up with funny colored plants and perlite.

I worry about this wicking action still occurring in a fabric pot. It may still wick just fine, but watch it hard. Dig your finger down frequently checking for moisture... you should always find moisture. I could see how a fabric pot might have a very negative impact on the wicking function.

 

[MiOutdoorsman]

Zon prime has all my Christmas shopping covered. Lol

Sent from my XT1254 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Fuzznutter]

Hi sweet fuzzbear
I am glad you are well, we started to wonder what happened to you. See my journal, dankest was looking and wondering
Christmas shopping is always better way before, you don't have all the stress and ALL the people driving you nuts in the stores.

I saw and I was so touched! Thank you for being concerned.

I now consider "Fempy" a registered trademark of Fuzz.... well, fuzz's hubby... whatever.

On the idea of bottom watering in a fabric pot....

I get a good bit of wicking action from the bottom to the top of my hempy pots. I can demonstrate it easily by just digging my finger down an inch or two and finding a good bit of moisture. One can demonstrate it with food coloring as well, but you just end up with funny colored plants and perlite.

I worry about this wicking action still occurring in a fabric pot. It may still wick just fine, but watch it hard. Dig your finger down frequently checking for moisture... you should always find moisture. I could see how a fabric pot might have a very negative impact on the wicking function.

If the Fempy works, then I'll take credit. You know, since I'm doing most of the work. However, if it's a dismal failure, then I'm okay with him getting credit.

I am concerned about the upper part of the fabric pots drying out too much which is why I'm using 25% vermiculite. However, I can't help but wonder how much it will matter. So long as the lower and inner portions have a steady supply of water and nutes, that might be enough. The roots should develop early on in a manner that suits the environment. I hope. I am worried the 1-gallon pots may be more of a challenge than 3-gallon though. However, with very little veg time and only expecting a sample size of bud, it might be okay.

Are you using a perlite/vermiculite mix in your Hempy pots or straight perlite?

Zon prime has all my Christmas shopping covered. Lol

Sent from my XT1254 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Oh yeah, they're my go to for most everything. I really get my money's worth out of the Prime subscription.

 

[Riley May]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I know I went missing for a bit and I apologize. There was extended family and holiday stuff happening. I'm exhausted BUT I can report that I am done with ALL of my Christmas shopping! However, boxes and boxes of stuff are now covering the floor of the rec room that I just managed to get clean and organized. *Sigh* That room is my never-ending cleaning nemesis. It's where all the stuff in the house that has no place to go migrates to.

Anyway, the plants are looking good. I did have some pH issues for a few days. I was using liquid pH testing drops but when I started using the compost tea it messed with the colors and the pH was too acidic. I bought some pH strips that aren't affected by darker colored water and everything is back on track now. Only the Dark Devils had a hissy fit over it with some calcium and magnesium lockout. They're looking better already though.

On to the pictures...

PHOTOS - DAY 54

CBD Skunk Haze (1)

CBD Skunk Haze (2). She is such a nice plant I took a clone of her a few days ago.

Both plants side by side. As you can see, SH1 is not going to be ready for flip at the same time as her sister, but since I have no other place to put her, she's gonna have to go early. I'm hoping to flip by the end of the month.

AUTOS
I'm not especially optimistic any of these will be ready for my birthday in a month, but time will tell.

Bubble Gum - Day 37

Dark Devil (1) on the left, Dark Devil (2) on the right

Dark Devil (1) - Day 37. No sign of purple yet.

Dark Devil (2) - Day 35. I think I see a very faint purple tint deep in the bud starting to come out. It might be a trick of the light, but I have my fingers crossed.

Two of the three Special Queen clones I took on Nov. 8th have rooted and will be planted tomorrow after a trip to our local co-op for perlite. I'm going to keep one as a mother and flower the others when the CBD Skunk Hazes flip at the end of the month. They're going to be used for a Hempy-style experiment. My husband refers to it as "Fempy" (fabric - hempy). LOL. The plan is to fill one gallon fabric pots with a 3:1 perlite/vermiculite mix. These will sit in a small litter pan that will act as a reservoir with up to 2" of water. The small open areas on top of the pan will be covered with foil to prevent algae. I'm going to try just bottom watering with GH Flora nutes as needed (except for the first week) with a once a week top flush (which my husband will help with). It will only take a couple minutes to fill the pans each day vs much longer to slowly water from the top. This could spare my back a lot of pain and inflammation. *Fingers crossed* If it works well enough I will extend the experiment to 3-gallon pots for the next batch of autos in January.

Let's see...yep, I think that's about it. Have a great day everyone!

Damn!! Good green .


RM's First Grow - Unknown Seeds

 

[MiOutdoorsman]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I know I went missing for a bit and I apologize. There was extended family and holiday stuff happening. I'm exhausted BUT I can report that I am done with ALL of my Christmas shopping! However, boxes and boxes of stuff are now covering the floor of the rec room that I just managed to get clean and organized. *Sigh* That room is my never-ending cleaning nemesis. It's where all the stuff in the house that has no place to go migrates to.

Anyway, the plants are looking good. I did have some pH issues for a few days. I was using liquid pH testing drops but when I started using the compost tea it messed with the colors and the pH was too acidic. I bought some pH strips that aren't affected by darker colored water and everything is back on track now. Only the Dark Devils had a hissy fit over it with some calcium and magnesium lockout. They're looking better already though.

On to the pictures...

PHOTOS - DAY 54

CBD Skunk Haze (1)

CBD Skunk Haze (2). She is such a nice plant I took a clone of her a few days ago.

Both plants side by side. As you can see, SH1 is not going to be ready for flip at the same time as her sister, but since I have no other place to put her, she's gonna have to go early. I'm hoping to flip by the end of the month.

AUTOS
I'm not especially optimistic any of these will be ready for my birthday in a month, but time will tell.

Bubble Gum - Day 37

Dark Devil (1) on the left, Dark Devil (2) on the right

Dark Devil (1) - Day 37. No sign of purple yet.

Dark Devil (2) - Day 35. I think I see a very faint purple tint deep in the bud starting to come out. It might be a trick of the light, but I have my fingers crossed.

Two of the three Special Queen clones I took on Nov. 8th have rooted and will be planted tomorrow after a trip to our local co-op for perlite. I'm going to keep one as a mother and flower the others when the CBD Skunk Hazes flip at the end of the month. They're going to be used for a Hempy-style experiment. My husband refers to it as "Fempy" (fabric - hempy). LOL. The plan is to fill one gallon fabric pots with a 3:1 perlite/vermiculite mix. These will sit in a small litter pan that will act as a reservoir with up to 2" of water. The small open areas on top of the pan will be covered with foil to prevent algae. I'm going to try just bottom watering with GH Flora nutes as needed (except for the first week) with a once a week top flush (which my husband will help with). It will only take a couple minutes to fill the pans each day vs much longer to slowly water from the top. This could spare my back a lot of pain and inflammation. *Fingers crossed* If it works well enough I will extend the experiment to 3-gallon pots for the next batch of autos in January.

Let's see...yep, I think that's about it. Have a great day everyone!

Fuzz, where did you get the round screen on top of the plants? Looks great

Sent from my XT1254 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Tead]

Sounds like you're all over it. Great job.

Are you using a perlite/vermiculite mix in your Hempy pots or straight perlite?

Straight perlite... but I live in the deep south of the US in a very hot and damp environment. I need the pure drainage rather than any retention. One shouldn't use my techniques as a guide... unless you live in an alligator infested swamp.... then I'm your tour guide!

 

[Fuzznutter]

Fuzz, where did you get the round screen on top of the plants? Looks great

Sent from my XT1254 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

They're called "Gardman R754 Grow Through Hoops." I don't know if any sponsors have them but Zon does.

Sounds like you're all over it. Great job.

Straight perlite... but I live in the deep south of the US in a very hot and damp environment. I need the pure drainage rather than any retention. One shouldn't use my techniques as a guide... unless you live in an alligator infested swamp.... then I'm your tour guide!

LOL. No swamps here but I've done straight perlite in traditional Hempy before without issue. I've done Hempy with perlite/vermiculite as well but I can't really say I saw a difference from straight perlite. Maybe I would have if they were side by side grows though. In theory the vermiculite should improve the wicking and water retention in the fabric pots. It would be nice if this works, otherwise if I decide to go back to Hempy I'll have to buy new pots. My previous ones were trash cans, but I converted those to a different project a few months ago. They have a bunch more holes in them now so their Hempy days are over.

 

[MiOutdoorsman]

Thanks fuzz

Sent from my XT1254 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[SweetSue]

I now consider "Fempy" a registered trademark of Fuzz.... well, fuzz's hubby... whatever.

On the idea of bottom watering in a fabric pot....

I get a good bit of wicking action from the bottom to the top of my hempy pots. I can demonstrate it easily by just digging my finger down an inch or two and finding a good bit of moisture. One can demonstrate it with food coloring as well, but you just end up with funny colored plants and perlite.

I worry about this wicking action still occurring in a fabric pot. It may still wick just fine, but watch it hard. Dig your finger down frequently checking for moisture... you should always find moisture. I could see how a fabric pot might have a very negative impact on the wicking function.

We prefer fabric pots for the SWICKs precicely because they wick so well. Do you think sitting in water themselves will be the problem, since the entire pot may become a wick and be too wet? Can you be too wet with a hempy? Of should I say "fempy?"

 

[SweetSue]

Those grow through rings are what they use for peonies, aren't they?

 

[Tead]

since the entire pot may become a wick and be too wet?

OH SNAP!!! I hadn't even considered wicking action up the fabric pot! That might be awesome.

I really feel there's no way to over water a perlite hempy. It simply doesn't retain enough moisture to allow for that condition to occur. That's really the magic of the medium... maintaining a proper moisture level at all times. The wicking action from the res allows the medium to maintain that same moisture level thru my 4 day feeding cycle. Honestly, I feel I could go up to a week, but want the flush action every 4 days mostly because of my local heat (up to 95f in the garden today!) and humidity.

 

[SweetSue]

OH SNAP!!! I hadn't even considered wicking action up the fabric pot! That might be awesome.

I really feel there's no way to over water a perlite hempy. It simply doesn't retain enough moisture to allow for that condition to occur. That's really the magic of the medium... maintaining a proper moisture level at all times. The wicking action from the res allows the medium to maintain that same moisture level thru my 4 day feeding cycle. Honestly, I feel I could go up to a week, but want the flush action every 4 days mostly because of my local heat (up to 95f in the garden today!) and humidity.

I've been meaning to ask you, do you water every day once it gets to a certain size, or do you water only when you feel it's dry down so far?

 

[Tead]

I'm currently on a 4 day feeding cycle. Nothing between. Lazy. No need for anything really tho... the res doesn't dry out in my 4 day cycles fully. My 2L's have been pretty dry at the 4 day mark, but they're going great so I'm not rockin the boat.
It may not really matter all that much... I mean... moisture levels should really remain the same unless they dry out completely.

 

[Fuzznutter]

We prefer fabric pots for the SWICKs precicely because they wick so well. Do you think sitting in water themselves will be the problem, since the entire pot may become a wick and be too wet? Can you be too wet with a hempy? Of should I say "fempy?"

Hey Sue!

The pot itself being a wick is a concern. However, with a fan constantly on, even directly after a water, the ones I am using at the moment don't seem to stay wet on the sides for long at all...except on the bottom. Them actually sitting directly in water might have different results though. Either way, I'm not certain it will hurt anything.

I've never personally managed to overwater a Hempy and can't really see it being an issue unless the entire pot was being flooded with a constant drip feed or something. The perlite and vermiculite may wick water, but it can only hold so much before naturally draining away the excess, and the roots still get plenty of air in the spaces the course perlite creates. I'm actually more concerned with them drying out too fast. This is why the test is being started with small clones first. I can't say for sure what will happen, but I am curious to find out.

Do you find the sides of your fabric pot are wet when using SWICKs? Have you ever seen the SWICKs negatively affect plants? It seems to me the wicking action on the sides of the pot would have a minimal effect but I've never actually tried it. This is going to be exciting!

 

[Fuzznutter]

I'm currently on a 4 day feeding cycle. Nothing between. Lazy. No need for anything really tho... the res doesn't dry out in my 4 day cycles fully. My 2L's have been pretty dry at the 4 day mark, but they're going great so I'm not rockin the boat.
It may not really matter all that much... I mean... moisture levels should really remain the same unless they dry out completely.

This is what I'm thinking too. I'm estimating this Fempy (LOL) project has an 80% chance of success. Best case the fabric pots allow extra oxygen to the roots and it takes mere minutes to fill the rez. Worse case nothing wicks like I hope and I end up with parched plants excessively begging for water. We should know shortly. Tomorrow the first rooted clones will be put to the test. However, I will be watering them from the top until their roots hit the bottom. In 1-gallon pots, I don't expect this to take longer than a few days though.

 

[SweetSue]

Hey Sue!

The pot itself being a wick is a concern. However, with a fan constantly on, even directly after a water, the ones I am using at the moment don't seem to stay wet on the sides for long at all...except on the bottom. Them actually sitting directly in water might have different results though. Either way, I'm not certain it will hurt anything.

I've never personally managed to overwater a Hempy and can't really see it being an issue unless the entire pot was being flooded with a constant drip feed or something. The perlite and vermiculite may wick water, but it can only hold so much before naturally draining away the excess, and the roots still get plenty of air in the spaces the course perlite creates. I'm actually more concerned with them drying out too fast. This is why the test is being started with small clones first. I can't say for sure what will happen, but I am curious to find out.

Do you find the sides of your fabric pot are wet when using SWICKs? Have you ever seen the SWICKs negatively affect plants? It seems to me the wicking action on the sides of the pot would have a minimal effect but I've never actually tried it. This is going to be exciting!

With a SWICK you know they're working when the bottom third of the outside of the fabric pot is wet, but not soggy. Gravity works in your favor. You always maintain the 1-2" distance from the top of the perlite to the water level. That keeps the moisture in balance.

I can see how drying out might be a concern. More surface area to evaporate from. With a SWICK the soil holds the moisture. With a hempy I'd think there might be more outward mobility to the water, possibly being pulled out by the fabric. This will be interesting to watch.

 

[Fuzznutter]

Those grow through rings are what they use for peonies, aren't they?

I missed a bunch of posts that came in while I was writing my own.

That seems to be the most common use, yes. The holes are about the same size as the netting I used for a previous scrog, maybe a smidge smaller. I think they'll work for these plants as well. *Fingers crossed*

 

[ItsNatural]

plants are looking Tony the Tiger Fuzz.

 

[Tomula]

Hi Fuzz, nice colors. Keep it up, they all look so happy.