Newbie Grower, Carmen Auto x Diva, Outdoors

[CBDMed]

Hi el gringuito, one thing you can do is decarboxylate it and eat it.

Hey Otter,
Yeah, I like to eat some raw, some cooked, some vaped.
Usually I eat what is left after vaporizing.
My problem right now is that I don't have enough.... so that is what I am hoping you all can help me to solve!
I've got the sense that this SIP thing is going to be huge, and this aeration thing is going to be huge, so I can't hardly wait to get to my next place, so I can start with SIP and SWICK and Bill's Parfaits!
If I can stuff some jars and start some Malawi ferment I'll be a happy camper....
(And if I can make RSO I will be a REALLY happy camper! Cancer runs in my family....)

You guys are helping a LOT!

 

[CBDMed]

Ok, I am on deadline, but I thought I should post some pics of my homemade SIP.
Here is the water level.

And here is the plant.
The top 1" is dry, but if I bury my big old finger to the second knuckle, it is damp.
The seed itself is unimpressive, and not really taking off.
It did not come up at first, and I had to go digging for it.
I wish I had taken a picture of the root, because it was 1" long, and all coiled around, so I replanted it, and pretty much forgot about it.
I am running a dozen different ways right now, but I think it is a few weeks old, so not impressive at all. (Sometimes autos do that, I guess.)
Mostly I have just been ignoring it, but thought I should post the pics here, in case it helps anyone with a DIY grow, or if there are things I can learn through other people's questions.

Apart from not taking off, she seems like she has water.
I forget things easy after my head injury, but I think this is the first time I am even looking at the water level in a week.
Questions?
Comments?
The connector cup is filled with compacted soil.
There is a 1" layer of regular cannasoil, and then I put supersoil (I think).
Unless I should keep monitoring this plant for some reason, I think I will end the experiment on this one, and re-compost with the rest of the supersoil.
It was interesting for me to see the soil so dry on the top, but then it is damp if I bury it up to the second knuckle.
I assume it gets wetter, the lower you go.
It seems hard to tell much of anything else with this particular plant.
Some of you guys are growing bonsai, and I am not even trying!

 

[CBDMed]

@Azimuth , @ReservoirDog , @Bill284 , and @AerationFans,
I have no time. Scrambling.
I am mixing 1 part wc,
3-4 parts ss
3-4 parts rice hulls.
Mixing in what Liquid Dirt I have.
More rice hulls?
Or just right?
(It's kinda hard to tell, because the little guys are so fluffy!)

Trichrome shot....

More??
Or good?

And I will put just a liiiitttllllleeee moisture.....
Do I add Re-Charge?
Or Orca Liquid Mycos?
Or just like it is (with the wc)?

 

[Azimuth]

I wouldn't go much more on the rice hulls. You're almost 50% now.

 

[CBDMed]

I wouldn't go much more on the rice hulls. You're almost 50% now.

WHEW!!
I thought you were going to tell me to go through with tweezers and pick out each tenth one,!
Haha.

 

[Bill284]

@Azimuth , @ReservoirDog , @Bill284 , and @AerationFans,
I have no time. Scrambling.
I am mixing 1 part wc,
3-4 parts ss
3-4 parts rice hulls.
Mixing in what Liquid Dirt I have.
More rice hulls?
Or just right?
(It's kinda hard to tell, because the little guys are so fluffy!)

Trichrome shot....

More??
Or good?

And I will put just a liiiitttllllleeee moisture.....
Do I add Re-Charge?
Or Orca Liquid Mycos?
Or just like it is (with the wc)?

Recharge and liquid mycos will bring the soil to life.
Great stuff.
I've never used rice hulls so I can't recommend how much.
Hope your having a good day.




Stay safe
Bill284

 

[CBDMed]

Recharge and liquid mycos will bring the soil to life.
Great stuff.
I've never used rice hulls so I can't recommend how much.
Hope your having a good day.




Stay safe
Bill284

Super bien, amigo!!
Lots of good stuff getting done!!
But also Super Bien because the wc and the aeration is all mixed in, and re-composting!
Added some Re-Charge and Orca, and now we will see how she does!
I am anticipating a sliiight shrinkage in the rice hulls, because I expect them to become more plastic as they get damp and ferment, so I went just a liiitle heavy on the aeration.
Now we will see how it ferments!

Hmmm......
@Azimuth , @ReservoirDog ,
I woke up wondering if I should gather up all the rest of the charcoal, and the zeolyte, and pre-treat it now???
That way, when I recondition and referment the supersoil that the existing plants are growing in now, then it will already be treated biochar and zeolyte.
Does that make sense?
Or is that not really necessary---just add extra wc and aeration (rice hulls) at the time of the re-ferment, and call it good?

...
Only...
If it IS hypothetically better to pre-treat, then I think my questions could be:
How do I pre-treat active charcoal?
And how do I pre-treat zeolyte?
Do I just cover them in wc? (Or do I mix them 1:1 with wc??) (Hahaha, @Azimuth , please just don't tell me to measure them 1:1 with brown sugar, hahaha.)
And then do I get them damp? Or wet? Or do they sit in enough water to juuust barely cover the slurry?
Or what do I do??
And for how long does one ideally do that?

Also, does one pre-treat Leonardite?
Or what is Leonardite, and what does it do?
Thanks for all the help!

 

[Azimuth]

I woke up wondering if I should gather up all the rest of the charcoal, and the zeolyte, and pre-treat it now???
That way, when I recondition and referment the supersoil that the existing plants are growing in now, then it will already be treated biochar and zeolyte.
Does that make sense?

The longer it sits the more likely the charcoal will be fully charged like a battery and the less likely it will act like a filter.

Or is that not really necessary---just add extra wc and aeration (rice hulls) at the time of the re-ferment, and call it good?

No, see prior comment.

And you keep saying re-ferment. Are you referring to 'cooking' the soil because of your inputs or are you really trying to ferment something in your mix?

How do I pre-treat active charcoal?
And how do I pre-treat zeolyte?

I mix mine in equal parts with fresh, moist worm castings. If you're in a rush, soaking the char in worm or compost tea will also work.

And then do I get them damp? Or wet? Or do they sit in enough water to juuust barely cover the slurry?
Or what do I do??
And for how long does one ideally do that?

If you are soaking, add all your inputs into a bucket with your tea and let it sit. I'd give it at least a few days.

 

[CBDMed]

The longer it sits the more likely the charcoal will be fully charged like a battery and the less likely it will act like a filter.

Yay!! I will get it started... Thank you!

And you keep saying re-ferment. Are you referring to 'cooking' the soil because of your inputs or are you really trying to ferment something in your mix?

Ahh, sorry! Good question!
I think I mis-spoke.
Yesterday I added some rice hulls, wc and other inputs to my existing earlier batch of supersoil,
and then put some fresh microbes and myco on it to try to break down the rice hulls a little,
and also 10% more wc, to see if we can help charge up the charcoal and the zeolyte a little.
They are now "re-cooking".
(Is that the correct way to say it?)

In addition....
I also have some other pots that had 1/3 old ss in the bottom, and 2/3 canna soil on top before they were used for a grow.
I will also probably cut all of the active growing pots when I move, just to avoid any possible issues or complications with the policia (don't need those!!).
So, to say it better, I will have a mix of spent soil and ss that will need to be turned into ss, along with some other bags of soil, so that I will have "two batches" of ss, so I can rotate.

So, I mean to say that I will be (**EDIT**) re-cooking that 1/3 spent ss plus the 2/3 spent cannasoil, and will be turning it all into ss with Aer-Dog 60-40 aeration.
(Ok, actually it is more like 50-50, but I am thinking the shells will lose some of their fluff once they get good and damp for a few weeks. I hope Aer-Dog will approve! I also hope he is ok, we have not heard from him for a few days, and he keeps hitting his head....).

I hope I am writing clearly and making sense.

I mix mine in equal parts with fresh, moist worm castings. If you're in a rush, soaking the char in worm or compost tea will also work.

Ok, I have wc pellets and powder.
I think about the best I can do for microbes and myco is equal parts plus some Re-Charge and Orca liquid mycos?
I think this batch can take its time cooking (which is why to start now).

If you are soaking, add all your inputs into a bucket with your tea and let it sit. I'd give it at least a few days.

Thank you, Azimuth!
You are always a help!
Will do!!

 

[CBDMed]

Ok, it is soaking and covered.

Only, do I pre-treat Leonardite?
(Or what does one do with Leonardite?)
Thank you!

 

[CBDMed]

Ok, I mixed the charcoal and the zeolyte together two days ago. It was about 2:1.
Is this damp enough? Or do I want water to juust barely stand above the mix?

Also, I wanted to check the re-cook on the supersoil this morning.
Specifically, I was not sure if rice hulls would generate heat (i.e., steal O2), or if they would basically be so slow breaking down as to be effectively inert (like Perlite).
I checked it this morning at 7AM, and it was almost (but not completely) cold, so I am glad to be re-cooking!

It was not hot like a normal cooking. It had just sliiightly elevated temperatures (maybe 2-3F, or 1C or something).
It was a very small amount of warmth, but I want it to be completely cold before I plant again.

And it was neat seeing the faint myco faerie ring in the mix!! That lets me know the microbes are doing their thing!
(Sorry about the auto-focus!)

 

[Azimuth]

That should be fine. I guess it depends on how fast you need the char pre-loaded. A straight up liquid will fill the voids faster but that isn't necessarily better.

And the rice hulls shouldn't generate much heat. It's the high nitrogen inputs like blood meal and the like all working together that generate the heat. The rice hulls should be mostly an aeration additive, and as they break down they'll make the silica available.

 

[CBDMed]

That should be fine. I guess it depends on how fast you need the char pre-loaded. A straight up liquid will fill the voids faster but that isn't necessarily better.

And the rice hulls shouldn't generate much heat. It's the high nitrogen inputs like blood meal and the like all working together that generate the heat. The rice hulls should be mostly an aeration additive, and as they break down they'll make the silica available.

Thank you!

 

[Azimuth]

Thank you!

And to be more accurate, it is the microbial activity breaking down all the material that generates the heat. The high nitrogen inputs seem to generate the most robust activity probably because they break down faster than say, something like stone dust or oyster shell which can be many, many months to break down and therefore generate less microbial activity on their own.

 

[CBDMed]

Ok, this is a little scary.
This is a Delicious Seeds' (sponsor) Auto Blue Ace (2:1). I grew them before (in the first batch of bad soil). They hit it for me before.
At first this seed did not come up, so I went digging for it. I forget how many weeks ago. The root was all wound around (almost in a knot), so I let it come up.
I figured nothing would happen with it, and then we started planning the move, so I forgot about it.
Only, I looked at it a few days ago, and I think it is starting to take off. The thing is getting visibly bigger each day (like, kind scary how much!).
This morning there was a damp ring that looks like where the spreader roots go.
It seems a little scary how much this thing has grown in the past few days.
I added a little water yesterday. The reservoir is still about half full.
Still not in flower yet, so I wonder if it had a "SIP Van Winkle time delay"??

 

[CBDMed]

Uff!!
Ok, Houston, I think we have a problem.
I planted some (sponsor) Delicious Seeds' Auto Blue Ace (2:1), because it worked so well for me before (hits real good).
Three girls came straight up. Only, they have a weird one-leaf pattern!
(Sorry about the poor phone focus, but the point is that these don't look like the last batch!! They don't look normal!)

Here's another pic. Definitely not normal.

I'd blame it on the seeds, but I think it is the soil, because I ALSO have one Gorilla Glue Auto (freebie) that ALSO came up with the one leaf thing (and I don't remember, but I do NOT think it was a Delicious Seeds strain).

Also, the ABA in the SIP has normal leaf structure, so I think it is the soil..... (oy.....)

If I remember correctly, the only thing I did differently from before was to add some egg shell dust, and some Liquid Dirt black powder to the soil.
(I was gonna work it in anyway, but @ReservoirDog mentioned it, which kick started me working it into the soil.)

[NOTE: And on this first experimental SIP I also added some rice hulls to the top layer, but I don't think that's the issue, because the rice hull ABA looks good, and the non-rice-hull ABA look weird.
So maybe the culprits are the egg shell dust and the Liquid Dirt????? (Doesn't make sense...)]

Now our visas are up in the air again, so everything is back on its ear! (Oy....)
I have a full two days ahead, and I am on deadline, but I hope to check in as I can.
I am in contact with the sponsor, and he is asking about the soil, and it makes sense to me that it is the soil (NOT the seeds).
Any ideas?

Thank you all in advance for your help and advice.

 

[StoneOtter]

Hi, so the leaf pattern. Sometimes the plants can shift a little between seeds showing more of one side parental lineage than the other. Maybe this is happening. I've grown a few grows that seeds from the same packet don't resemble each other much at all. Or even temperature differences can do it too.

 

[CBDMed]

Hi, so the leaf pattern. Sometimes the plants can shift a little between seeds showing more of one side parental lineage than the other. Maybe this is happening. I've grown a few grows that seeds from the same packet don't resemble each other much at all. Or even temperature differences can do it too.

Thanks, Stone!
So, other factors can make things go differently. Good to know!!
(And now I don't have to spend time analyzing "what went wrong" with the soil? You just saved me a ton of time!)
THANKS!!
\o/

 

[StoneOtter]

Thanks, Stone!
So, other factors can make things go differently. Good to know!!
(And now I don't have to spend time analyzing "what went wrong" with the soil? You just saved me a ton of time!)
THANKS!!
\o/

Well, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong. I'm saying there doesn't seem to be. It looks healthy to me from here. Just keep a close eye on it.

 

[ReservoirDog]

It's important to note that I have zero professional qualifications that apply here and my experience is limited and untraditional. Soil is so very complex and different around the world that calling it all soil is actually a bit misleading, it hides the radical differences in the medium country to country.

So, it just looks like high CBD, auto bullshit that triggers weird phenotypes. The two both presenting this way is notable, but I don't feel enough to alter Otter's diagnosis. (See what I did there? Sticking Otter with the rap.)

My thoughts are really based just upon reason, as I don't feel qualified to comment in detail.

Good luck with your struggles mate. Sometimes we roll Snake eyes and just have to get through it. I hope that's not the case for you.