Keffkas Seedsman Comparative: Purple Ghost Candy

[Keffka]

Why are you planning to dry the castings??

I’ve found that when I try to lay them down when moist they stick to the mulch and the majority don’t even make it to the soil line. It winds up drying and sticking there on the mulch, so I lose out on most of the benefits and most of the organic matter.

The top inch of each container will get EWC mixed into it as it is. The extra stuff through the grow is just a little boost.

 

[Keffka]

Day 15

Day 15

• Keffka
• Mar 15, 2024

PGC Day 15

Day 15

• Keffka
• Mar 15, 2024

PGC Day 15

 

[Azimuth]

I’ve found that when I try to lay them down when moist they stick to the mulch and the majority don’t even make it to the soil line. It winds up drying and sticking there on the mulch, so I lose out on most of the benefits and most of the organic matter.

The top inch of each container will get EWC mixed into it as it is. The extra stuff through the grow is just a little boost.

Gotcha. I usually water mine in right after applying.

 

[Keffka]

Gotcha. I usually water mine in right after applying.

I did as well, they still stuck. This was using shredded bark though so not much of anything besides water and air was making it through the mulch. Pulling it back was too uneven and time consuming.

This time around I’m gonna try a few different sizes of mulch. My mind is telling me the stem pieces will be a good candidate for moist castings.

 

[Azimuth]

I did as well, they still stuck. This was using shredded bark though so not much of anything besides water and air was making it through the mulch. Pulling it back was too uneven and time consuming.

This time around I’m gonna try a few different sizes of mulch. My mind is telling me the stem pieces will be a good candidate for moist castings.

I use a nice thick layer of compost and leaf mold as my mulch. I saw The Rev suggested big chunks of bark. @StoneOtter uses that I think.

 

[Keffka]

I use a nice thick layer of compost and leaf mold as my mulch. I saw The Rev suggested big chunks of bark. @StoneOtter uses that I think.

I’m using trim and stems. I would throw them to the worms but the trim is still green and I’ll get more use out of the stems mulching them. I’ve read in a few places that cannabis stems are some of the best cannabis mulch so we’ll see. I’d rather that not be the case so I can feed the worms lol

 

[Keffka]

Here’s a small tip for beginners. When I first started growing I couldn’t understand why some times my plants looked sad like this:

Sad

• Keffka
• Mar 16, 2024

Low temps

Sad 2

• Keffka
• Mar 16, 2024

Too cold

I’ve watered, they’re fed, air flow is good, light isn’t too powerful, humidity is good. What isn’t good is the temps. The room was at 78F which is a classic recommendation for cannabis, and is too cold for LED growing. Once I bumped the room temperatures up to 85-88F this happened within one hour

Happy

• Keffka
• Mar 16, 2024

Warmed up 10 degrees F

Back to being happy and hardworking. If you’re dialed in on everything else but the plants still look sad, check your temp and root zone temp.

 

[Keffka]

Day 16-14 for the PGC. Everyone has at least 3 nodes which is good enough for me. I’ll be transplanting everyone tomorrow. I gave everybody a good watering tonight and will transplant them into a moist not wet mix tomorrow. Ill be nutrient blend layers for veg and will be spiking containers for flower.

Day 16

• Keffka
• Mar 16, 2024

Purple Ghost Candy Day 14-16

Day 16

• Keffka
• Mar 16, 2024

Purple Ghost Candy Day 14-16

I have initiated my living water setup. I have a 5 gallon bucket currently being aerated that will spend the next year in my grow room getting light sprinklings of the various amendments I use to create a water full of microbes evolved to my room and soil.

I have also established the dolomite lime water. I used 1 gallon of RO water with 1/2 tsp of dolomite lime and will continuously aerate it. It will keep my water ph neutral and feed the plants. I will use this as needed to keep my ppms around 65.

Living Water

• Keffka
• Mar 16, 2024

Beginning the living water. 1 gallon RO water mixed with 1/2 tsp fast acting prilled dolomite...

I’ll be using Stonington plant food fish bone meal and rabbit compost on a few plants. The others will get blood meal, bone meal, soft rock phosphate and rabbit compost. I might throw some 4-4-4 all purpose depending on how stuff looks.

 

[StoneOtter]

I use a nice thick layer of compost and leaf mold as my mulch. I saw The Rev suggested big chunks of bark. @StoneOtter uses that I think.

I do. I have a treed yard so...

 

[Keffka]

Here are the amendments I will be using:

Veg amendments

• Keffka
• Mar 17, 2024

Fish Bone Meal (18% calcium)
Stonington Plant Food
Blood Meal
Bone Meal
All Purpose 4-4-4

For the PGCs I will be using the Stonington Plant Food which is a blend of fish meal, earthworm castings, alfalfa meal，feather meal, crab and lobster meal，potassium sulfate, Kelp meal and Magnesium Sulfate. I will also be using Fish Bone Meal with 18% calcium.

The other products will be used for the Blue Thai grow, the methods are the same.

I will put a light layer of soil in a 1 gallon container, 1 cup worth. I spread it out across the bottom then I typically lay down half of what I will top dress. So in this instance I will be putting down 1/2 Tbsp of Fish Bone Meal and 1/2 tsp of Stonington Plant Food. I will top dress double that when I transplant in and get the plant set. I will band a little over halfway from the root ball to the container edge, closer to the edge.

Here is the bottom layer:

1 gallon bottom layer

• Keffka
• Mar 17, 2024

1 cup of soil spread out,
1/2 tbsp Fish Bone Meal
1/2 tsp Stonington Plant Food

Once I have placed my bottom layer of amendments I spray them lightly with a pump sprayer just to get stuff grooving. After that I put 2-3 cups worth of soil into the container to cover it up. I let this sit for anywhere from 20 minutes to 24 hours, today it’ll be about 4-6 hours.

I will cover the transplant process and what I do afterwards in the next post.

 

[013]

Since 4/5 plants are up, I’m gonna call this Day 1. I’m pretty loose with my timing, as long as stuff gets done around the days planned, we’re good. The only hard rule is veg days. I will always veg for 60 days minimum. This ensures the plants reach sexual maturity before entering flower, which enables vastly greater resin production and a higher quality flower.

Signs of sexual maturity are alternating/staggered nodes, and stigma appearance. Stigma appearance can vary from strain to strain with some not showing until flower, however most plants will show at least one or two before bloom.

I will attempt to take a picture every day of the plants as it can be helpful for newer growers to see plant progression. The only thing I don’t like about doing this is, we as growers tend to overanalyze every little movement. Some times your plant just takes a break, and messing with it is the last thing it needs. I try to stay away from my plants as much as possible and let them do their thing. They almost always grow out of their tiny little issues if I’m not in there trying to mess with them. This is one of the organic soil advantages, being able to be away from the grow for days at a time and your plants being better for it.

So for this grow I’m not using this technique since they’re feminized, but on my previous grow I did use it, and it worked. @Gee64 @Azimuth and @StoneOtter have also used this method successfully

Hey Keffka,

Totally understand your 60 day minimum veg rule, in my noggin thats 8 weeks plus a few extra as safety net.

still I’d be curious to know, if you force early sexing on feminized bean- would that shave time on reaching sexual maturity?

Thanks gotta find me some alfalfa fed rabbit shit!

 

[Keffka]

Just dropping a quick photo before work, I’ll share the details and respond after

Here are 3 transplants 12 hours later, already branching into their new containers. Transplant successful

 

[013]

really nice work, it’s like turbo mode is already enabled!

 

[Keffka]

Day 17 before the transplant, everyone looks good and happy, PGCs in green cups

Day 17

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

Pre transplant

Day 17

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

Pre transplant

So as I stated before, when transplanting, I use moist soil. When I say moist I mean closer to dry than wet. If you squeeze it you should feel moisture but not be able to see it. One or two drops of water at the most and even then I’d still try to dry it a bit. I water the transplant 24 hours before transplanting. Depending on how aggressive the plant is drinking, 12 may be more appropriate but 24 worked well this time.

I will place the cup into the container so I can get a slight imprint into the soil. Not too much though, I don’t even tamp my soil down, I just fill my containers and let it rest as is. Once I’ve got the imprint I sprinkle a little myco like this:

1 gallon prepped

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

Myco in planting hole

While I aggressively pursued myco colonization in the solo cups, I don’t take any chances. These plants are hungry, so if for some reason myco hasn’t colonized, it will the moment those hungry plant roots set down on it. Any myco that doesn’t connect during the process will eventually spawn as the roots branch out.

Once the myco is down I push up on the bottom of my solo cup softly. This is usually enough to pop them right out like this:

Perfect Roots

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

Perfectly branching, no circling, good distribution (Day 17)

We can see in that image the roots are exactly how we want them. No signs of circling, roots are fuzzy, white, and coming through in multiple places. It’s exactly what I wanted to see. Here’s a slightly angled shot of the roots:

Perfect Roots Side

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

Slightly side view, roots have branched and are holding shape nicely (Day 17)

I take the root ball and place it gently into its new container. I fill in the dirt all around it making sure to not tamp down or compact the soil at all. Once I’ve filled the container to my liking depending on the transplant I lay down a band of nutrients all around the plant as can be seen here:

Transplants

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

After transplanting, myco in hole, top dressed with 1 tsp SPF and 1 tbsp fish bone meal

I lay the nutrients down halfway between the plant and the edge, closer to the edge. I want the roots to grow toward it, I don’t want them being forced to engage. Once the mulch goes down roots will grow above the soil line and tap into anything that hasn’t made its way down on its own. This will make future top dressings even more potent.

After I’ve completed the transplant I place the plant somewhere lower, or to the side, or both. In this case I just moved the plants to the floor instead of the table. The floor is about 18 or so inches lower than the table. Similar to a cloudy day. I do this for about 24 hours, so tonight they’ll get back to where they were before transplant.

In my experience, if done correctly, the plant gets back to growing almost right away. If you mess it up it droops and looks sad for a few days. Within an hour of transplanting the plants were back doing their thing and when I checked them this morning they looked happy.

Transplant next morning

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

12 hours after transplant, successfully branched into new container

Transplant Next morning Side

• Keffka
• Mar 18, 2024

12 hours after transplant, successfully branched into new container

I have 2 more PGCs to transplant. Both were about a day or two behind the other two so I expect they’ll be ready tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Keffka]

Hey Keffka,

Totally understand your 60 day minimum veg rule, in my noggin thats 8 weeks plus a few extra as safety net.

still I’d be curious to know, if you force early sexing on feminized bean- would that shave time on reaching sexual maturity?

Thanks gotta find me some alfalfa fed rabbit shit!

It could possibly shave a little bit of time off and would be an interesting experiment to give a try. It probably wouldn’t be much more than a few days but a few days every grow adds up.

really nice work, it’s like turbo mode is already enabled!

Thanks!
Good aeration in the medium is key to getting them to grow big, fast in the beginning. Eventually nutrition comes into play but in those first few weeks, it’s much more important to have a light aerated mix for the baby roots to cut through easily

 

[Keffka]

Day 18. Found out my TDS meter was off by 30 points. This explains why I needed a foliar and why the plants seemed to be hungrier than I anticipated. Fixed the issue and we’re all on track now. Plants are back to their normal height. I’ll finish transplants today and bump the light up to 50% the next day or day after

 

[Keffka]

This morning. Everyone loved their corrected watering, colors are smoothing out, transplants are already taking off. I’ll finish off transplants tonight

 

[JiggiLotus]

They look so good @Keffka actually look like a group of sisters, in sync

 

[Keffka]

They look so good @Keffka actually look like a group of sisters, in sync

Thanks JL!

It’s been a bit of a rocky start, they took a harder hit than I anticipated which makes sense since my meter was off 30 ppms. The bonus of that though is they’re much more likely to have connected with myco.

 

[Keffka]

Running a light bleach solution through my second humidifier to get it up and running. Since these plants are about to be exposed to a lot of nutrition it’s important I keep the VPD in a respectable range. Otherwise calcium becomes difficult to uptake which creates a bunch of headaches. If you’re trying to grow water only, it’s much, much easier to do with a good VPD. If your VPD is out of whack you eventually will find yourself needing to feed calmag directly to the plant, then in turn, multiple other nutrients, which defeats the purpose of growing like this and damages your end quality.