Learning LOS Perpetual Grow With Ling Zhi

[Ling Zhi]

Hi friends. I welcome you to my learning experience, learning the ropes of living organic soil indoors and outdoors. my goal is to work with nature to provide myself with enough medicine. I try to keep cost low and quality high. I always operate within the laws of my area and keep it legal. These plants are allowed for medicinal and home use.

lights are 400w marshydro led and a 1000w led light off amazon, cant remember the name

soil is a mixture of peat, coco, pumice, diatomaceous earth, earthworm castings, neem meal, dragonfly earth medicine (the whole line other than the root enhancer. for this i use aloe) and also the vegan mix by down to earth (alfalfa, kelp, rock dust, green sand,some other ingredients i cant remember).

introduced red wrigglers from my compost in my garden into the pots, about 5-10 worms each.

cover crop is a mixture of three clovers, vetch, and oat.

Strains are 3x (cindy99 x jackwreck) from seed, 1x dr who from clone
future strains are hindu kush, kosher kush, djs gold, and mango sapphire.

still undetermined if c99jw are female, one male has been pulled, about a week ago. seems highly likely these three are female. atleast one has shown pistil.

for pest prevention i will add a spoon full of neem meal into my tea brew (dragonfly earth medicine mostly for my tea, keep it simple) and then add 2 drops rosemary essential oil to about 2 cups and foliar +spray soil. I intend to introduce nematodes within a week or two, before switching to flower. I dont spray any foliar once flowers start to form.

every few weeks i water with aloe, coconut, and baobab. blend it with water then dilute.

dr who is the one bent over, others c99jw.

might veg 2-3 more weeks.

I am always learning. I welcome any advice.

 

[Pennywise]

Hi Ling, I'll have a seat for your grow show. .

 

[Ling Zhi]

Today is the first introduction of beneficial nematodes, i will try for multiple applications every few weeks in between teas. applied by misting into soil before lights out.

also picked up some tomato cages

 

[Ling Zhi]

i really hate to say this, but two of the three c99jw are males. this means i had 3 males out of the 4 i planted. it happens, but it leaves me not really knowing how to continue, with two confirmed females and a fairly empty grow tent. One thought is to try and pick up some clones and throw them in and give them a week of veg to have two smaller plants to add into flower.. the other option is to throw them into flower soon to speed up the finish, to make room for new genetics. Ill keep updated on what i decide.

the males. short because of multiple toppings, i sexed by preflowers

the empty grow space

 

[Ling Zhi]

picked up a couple clones to throw in so that my space wont be so empty. the strains are sunset sherbet and bubba skywalker og.

plan is to veg for as long as i can until the two original plants get the maximum size im comfortable with, to allow the clones to get some veg time in. No way around it ill have two small plants and two big plants.

Pics will come with next update, the clones got a transplant tonight into the c99jw males pots and a light compost tea foliar.

 

[Ling Zhi]

Ok so things feel a little more back on track.

Sunset shetbet on top and bubba skywalker below

Here is the c99jw, 4 tall stalks and en even canopy growing in heigth

And the dr who

 

[pino0911]

Looking Great Ling!! Hooefully u dont mind i pick up some pointers. I grow in coco but am starting to lean towards organics!! Sorry bout the males glad u were able to pick up two great strains to add to the mix. Great growing!!

 

[Ling Zhi]

Always learning, trying to better understand nature.

I have been mulching leaves and lots of plant debri by mowing the covercrop, this is breaking down, and last night i found bugs. Scary right? But this is an organic living system in these pots so bugs should be normal. but i am learning and this is a cause for alarm for many growers.

My first panic is root aphids. ive had them before and they killed my plant. These seem to be sticking to the debri on the top of the soil. very obviously eating old rotting leaves. Ive used neem meal, essential oils, nematodes and foliars with beneficial fungi + bacteria for prevention.

So i checked them out under a microscope, im pretty confident that they are not root aphids. There are thousands of species of soil mites. its not within my ability to identify it. i dont think its a common pest but i would love some input. The best feature i can give is that it doesnt have the aphid side spikes but it does have atleast 4 long hairs from its back side, nearly equaling in length to its body.

for now im going to keep a close eye on them, continue prevention methods, and chalk it up to beneficial soil mites.

I cant take a picture through my microscope but im willing to make a drawing to see if anyone can recognise it as a pest.

 

[Ling Zhi]

Here is an example of shape, color, and features. the legs and face were not easily made out. very long posterior hairs

it looks really similar to the spinache crown mite.

any pests i should be comparing this to? any thoughts?

 

[Pennywise]

Not sure but as long as they stay above ground you may be ok

 

[Ling Zhi]

made some supports today

i have started a regular neem foliar for now. keeping an eye on the bugs. if i see any damage on plants i will order predatory mites. for now trying to save the $30. trying to keep cost low.

 

[Ling Zhi]

Think the mite is a pest. Saw one trying to climb the plant. Upping prevention. More complex essential oil blend. Also diatomaceous earth. I would rather not use this but it seems super effective as a top dress for this issue. I've seen no activity.

 

[Ling Zhi]

lighting 12/12 day 1

 

[Pennywise]

Hope you get the mites under control, girls are looking good Ling

 

[Ling Zhi]

checking daily, havnt seen any in 4 days, i do have a suspect of "bulb mite" which means they are hard to deal with and could be hiding under the surface of the soil. im keeping an extra close eye on them.

i did cause a tiny bit of leaf damage through over foliar and over water from prevention. im starting to lay off for a few days, let everything dry, keep a close eye, and then continue prevention.

 

[Ling Zhi]

no sign of the bugs.. although my soil does not look how i wanted for this experiment, i wanted to completely replicate the soil food web. in paranoia of a ruined crop i basically reverted back to my old ways, organic and compost tea, but less complete food web. i cleaned up most of the cover crop and top dressed with some well draining soil. this wasnt my original plan but at this point i just wanted to save my grow, and start again anew.

day 9 flower

c99jw

Dr who-

bubba skywalker

sunset sherbet

 

[Ling Zhi]

here is some outdoor c99jw that has been curing since november. It is from a different seed from the same pollination, a sister to the current c99jw. when fresh smells of tropical fruit turning into a sweet sugar smell when dried.

 

[Ling Zhi]

day 15 group photo, sorry its kind of hard to fit it all into 1 picture from the outside of my space.

 

[Ling Zhi]

New generation!

Back left, mango sapphire
Back right, Kosher kush
Front left, DJs gold
Front right, sunset sherbet clone

 

[Ling Zhi]

day 17 12/12

dr who

bubba skywalker

c99jw

sherbet