SoilGirl
Well-Known Member
Welcome to my Indoor/Outdoor all organic soil grow journal. 
I'll be growing quite a few strains all in organic soils; mostly LOS/ROLS (Living Organic Soil/Recycled Organic Living Soil - just search either of these terms and there's a wealth of information out there for beginners) ... but I'll also be experimenting around with some other soils that might not qualify for either of those exclusive labels, haha. =]
I'll do my best to keep this up to date, relevant, helpful to all comers experienced or just starting, with a respectful, friendly atmosphere in the spirit of 420.
And just a warning, this will be a long intro since I hope to pack as much info for beginners in the first post as I can. Sorry if its a bit much, hopefully it'll help someone. 
STRAINS...So far:
*Jamaican OG from Cali Connection, a mostly sativa heavy hitter with great reviews. Genetics are Jamaican x OG Kush. Flowering time 50-70 days, around 67 recommended.
*Dinafem Diesel, a 60/40 Sativa dominant strain I enjoy very much. I think its very underrated, there's a sweetness in it I think other Diesel's really could use. I recommend 55-70 days in flower, the taste is better earlier on but you get a more hybrid effect towards 70 days. I'd also highly recommend it for beginners; good yield, very easy to grow, strong against pests and mold.
*Dinafem White Widow, an Indica dominant hybrid with a flowering period of 50-60 days. Brazillian and Indian genetics.
*Dinafem Cheese, a 60-40 Indica dominant hybrid with a 54-60 day flowering time. Dinafem backcrossed some Cheese with some Afghani, and voila, Dinafem Cheese. Pretty good reviews, and I'm a big fan of cheese, yay!
*UltraSour, (from my friend's 2014 grow, found in a bud from a TH Seeds mother plant - hopefully decent stock, but a hermie can't be ruled out, and I can't be sure that its still pure UltraSour. Either way, I wanna try it out.) MK Ultra x Sour D, 59-70 days in flower, 70/30 Indica dominant.
*Medicann Blue Blood, a 1998 Blueberry x OG Kush high CBD strain, 6-10 week flowering time, 70/30 Indica dominant. Same cut as from my last grow. A pic of that plant is at the bottom of this post, the buds get a little foxtaily for my taste but very aromatic, with a nice relaxed smoke/vapor experience. My parents really like it, and say my other strains are too strong... I think the CBD mellows out the effects of the THC a bit.
*OG Kush (from a private reserve seed), the same cut as from my last grow. It's very exotic, smells and tastes very citrusy with some turpentine and sandalwood in there, clearly a Sativa dominant pheno by the way it grows and by the high. This plant also happens to be my first re-veg, a big one at that. I'm excited to see it outdoors.
*Euphoria (bagseed), from the same bag as I got my awesome Euphoria last summer. I loved that one, can't wait to see how this does. 80-20 Indica dominant says the bag, and I remember that it has a beautiful taste and high once all the sugary fan leaves look nearly 100% amber (trichs). Great citrus flavor.
If soil... what is in your mix?
"Clackamas Coot soil mix:
"Equal parts of Sphagnum peat moss, some aeration deal (pumice, rice hulls, lava rock - whatever is sitting in the garage) and finally some mix of humus - my compost, worm castings some black leaf mold I bought from the local 'worm guy'
To each 1 c.f. of this mix I add the following:
1/2 cup organic Neem meal/cake
1/2 cup organic Kelp meal/cake
1/2 cup Crab meal/cake (or Crustacean meal when available - it has Shrimp meal with the Crab meal. It's a local product from the fisheries on the Oregon & Washington Coasts)
4 cups of some minerals - rock dust
After the plant is in the final container I top-dress with my worm castings at 2" or so and then I hit it with Aloe vera juice and Comfrey extract. Or Borage. Or Stinging Nettle. Or Horsetail ferns. Whatever is ready.
The Rock Dust Recipe
4x - Glacial Rock Dust - Canadian Glacial (Gaia Green label)
1x - Bentonite - from the pottery supply store
1x - Oyster Shell Powder - the standard product from San Francisco Bay
1x - Basalt - from Redmond, Oregon (new product at Concentrates - about $18.00) ."
I believe that this recipe allows for some substitutions and that the biggest thing is to stick to the 1/3 SPM, 1/3 aeration, 1/3 humus and the amendments at the specified ratios. I have seen people (including myself) vary the actually "rock dusts" but don't if you can help it, and certainly don't omit the oyster shell flour in place of something else.
Living organic soil is very rewarding to grow in, give it a try, no one has ever looked back after going this route." - Thanks to COorganics and CC for this quote.
- I follow CO and CC's advice for my soils, most of my LOS pots have different soils in them but they follow this basic idea. I'll be doing some experiments of course, but specifically, my basic mix right now is: a base of Sunshine Mix #4 Advanced/Organic (containing: Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, perlite, coir, dolomite lime, gypsum, organic fertilizer, proprietary blend of endomycorrhizae, and organic wetting agent. Read more here: Sunshine AdvancedSunshine Advanced Growing Mix 4 Tech Talk - Updated) ... I'm also trying one or two plants in a base of Kellogg Garden Organics All Natural Garden Soil, as seen here: Organic Gardening Soils | Kellogg Garden Organics | Kellogg Garden Products
...
I amend these bases with those afore-mentioned Clackamas Coots' LOS amendments, and I also use Mykos and Azos, some Yum Yum mix, ground eggshells, homemade composts and worm castings and leaf mold, some Azomite and Excellerite, vermiculite, a little FFOF, and once the soil is mixed and in a large enough pot (preferably 7-10 gallons) I top it off with a top cover living mulch blend of seeds.
Cooking your soil: if you want to get your soil charged with microlife prior to planting, cook it. Just bin it, mix it well with some micro-inoculant like good worm castings or leaf mold or compost, and water it until its decently moist with water with a touch of blackstrap molasses, cover it, and let it breathe once or twice a day for a couple weeks to a couple months is my method.
Size of light? I have a Mars II 1600w LED, 2 Old Model 100x3w LED's, 1 Sunshine System 90w High Powered GrowUFO LED, 2 4 ft. 4 bulb t5 fluorescent fixtures, and several sizes of CFL.
Is it aircooled? no
Humidity/Temps? we'll keep an eye on that once I replace my meter >.< left it in the rain...
Any Pests ? ugh are there any I haven't had? Lol. Gnats, mites, caterpillars, leafminers, ants, mealybugs, black soldier fly larvae to name a few. Luckily I also have predatory mites to help keep them at bay.
How often are you watering? All the time. LOS must not dry out. I know this may sound scary to those used to a wet/dry cycle (which I know has its benefits), but in LOS, the fungi and microlife are paramount to your grow, and if you ever let your soil crust over, dry and stale, they're all gonna die. Indoors this is a potential issue for gnats, but can be dealt with a number of ways, like using a SWICK, or BT dunks, or certain top dressings that gnats hate.
Nutes? No classic nutes. I'll use top dressings of rich compost or worm castings or good organic amendments. I'm growing aloe vera for aloe vera juice. You just take a leaf, split it, scrape the gel out, dilute it and mix it with a bucket of water. It has a million benefits, its a great fertilizer as far as NPK, the salicylic acid fights pests and increases plant resistance to stress, helps start to break down organic matter.. Good stuff
I'll also be using Sprouted Seed Teas often, and probably botanicals. SST's are cheap, easy and great for your plants, full of enzymes and goodness. You can actually use pretty much any old seeds for SST's, all sprouts have enzymes and little bits of nutrition for early growth, but I'd recommend using organic popcorn and barley (or malted barley which sounds way easier and better) ... I sprout mine by soaking them overnight in a cup of water, then I dump the water out, rinse them and return them to the cup (don't fill the cup back up with water lol); then rinse twice daily with rainwater or the best filtered water you can find, distilled perhaps, I stick with rainwater. We've had plenty this year haha.
Maybe I'll even finally get into bubbled/aerated teas... still getting there... my LOS buddies might have to keep pushing me in that direction.
Old Grow Photos
Euphoria last summer:
Dinafem Diesel cabdriver from my last journal:
Dinafem Diesel mother from my last journal:
Medicann Blue Blood clone from my last journal:
My OG Kush PR from the last journal, in the process of revegetating... doesn't look like much here, but you'll see what it turns into next... thanks to Reg (B A R - the reveg master!) for convincing me to try a reveg with his beauties!
Alright that's quite a start. But apparently the pics I took on my phone are facing the wrong way for now >.< I know what I did wrong and will get some new photos today, those are already 2-3 days old lol, wow this took me a long time to do... ok well. Welcome to the journal!
I'll be growing quite a few strains all in organic soils; mostly LOS/ROLS (Living Organic Soil/Recycled Organic Living Soil - just search either of these terms and there's a wealth of information out there for beginners) ... but I'll also be experimenting around with some other soils that might not qualify for either of those exclusive labels, haha. =] I'll do my best to keep this up to date, relevant, helpful to all comers experienced or just starting, with a respectful, friendly atmosphere in the spirit of 420.
And just a warning, this will be a long intro since I hope to pack as much info for beginners in the first post as I can. Sorry if its a bit much, hopefully it'll help someone. STRAINS...So far:
*Jamaican OG from Cali Connection, a mostly sativa heavy hitter with great reviews. Genetics are Jamaican x OG Kush. Flowering time 50-70 days, around 67 recommended.
*Dinafem Diesel, a 60/40 Sativa dominant strain I enjoy very much. I think its very underrated, there's a sweetness in it I think other Diesel's really could use. I recommend 55-70 days in flower, the taste is better earlier on but you get a more hybrid effect towards 70 days. I'd also highly recommend it for beginners; good yield, very easy to grow, strong against pests and mold.
*Dinafem White Widow, an Indica dominant hybrid with a flowering period of 50-60 days. Brazillian and Indian genetics.
*Dinafem Cheese, a 60-40 Indica dominant hybrid with a 54-60 day flowering time. Dinafem backcrossed some Cheese with some Afghani, and voila, Dinafem Cheese. Pretty good reviews, and I'm a big fan of cheese, yay!
*UltraSour, (from my friend's 2014 grow, found in a bud from a TH Seeds mother plant - hopefully decent stock, but a hermie can't be ruled out, and I can't be sure that its still pure UltraSour. Either way, I wanna try it out.) MK Ultra x Sour D, 59-70 days in flower, 70/30 Indica dominant.
*Medicann Blue Blood, a 1998 Blueberry x OG Kush high CBD strain, 6-10 week flowering time, 70/30 Indica dominant. Same cut as from my last grow. A pic of that plant is at the bottom of this post, the buds get a little foxtaily for my taste but very aromatic, with a nice relaxed smoke/vapor experience. My parents really like it, and say my other strains are too strong... I think the CBD mellows out the effects of the THC a bit.
*OG Kush (from a private reserve seed), the same cut as from my last grow. It's very exotic, smells and tastes very citrusy with some turpentine and sandalwood in there, clearly a Sativa dominant pheno by the way it grows and by the high. This plant also happens to be my first re-veg, a big one at that. I'm excited to see it outdoors.
*Euphoria (bagseed), from the same bag as I got my awesome Euphoria last summer. I loved that one, can't wait to see how this does. 80-20 Indica dominant says the bag, and I remember that it has a beautiful taste and high once all the sugary fan leaves look nearly 100% amber (trichs). Great citrus flavor.
If soil... what is in your mix?
"Clackamas Coot soil mix:
"Equal parts of Sphagnum peat moss, some aeration deal (pumice, rice hulls, lava rock - whatever is sitting in the garage) and finally some mix of humus - my compost, worm castings some black leaf mold I bought from the local 'worm guy'
To each 1 c.f. of this mix I add the following:
1/2 cup organic Neem meal/cake
1/2 cup organic Kelp meal/cake
1/2 cup Crab meal/cake (or Crustacean meal when available - it has Shrimp meal with the Crab meal. It's a local product from the fisheries on the Oregon & Washington Coasts)
4 cups of some minerals - rock dust
After the plant is in the final container I top-dress with my worm castings at 2" or so and then I hit it with Aloe vera juice and Comfrey extract. Or Borage. Or Stinging Nettle. Or Horsetail ferns. Whatever is ready.
The Rock Dust Recipe
4x - Glacial Rock Dust - Canadian Glacial (Gaia Green label)
1x - Bentonite - from the pottery supply store
1x - Oyster Shell Powder - the standard product from San Francisco Bay
1x - Basalt - from Redmond, Oregon (new product at Concentrates - about $18.00) ."
I believe that this recipe allows for some substitutions and that the biggest thing is to stick to the 1/3 SPM, 1/3 aeration, 1/3 humus and the amendments at the specified ratios. I have seen people (including myself) vary the actually "rock dusts" but don't if you can help it, and certainly don't omit the oyster shell flour in place of something else.
Living organic soil is very rewarding to grow in, give it a try, no one has ever looked back after going this route." - Thanks to COorganics and CC for this quote.
- I follow CO and CC's advice for my soils, most of my LOS pots have different soils in them but they follow this basic idea. I'll be doing some experiments of course, but specifically, my basic mix right now is: a base of Sunshine Mix #4 Advanced/Organic (containing: Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, perlite, coir, dolomite lime, gypsum, organic fertilizer, proprietary blend of endomycorrhizae, and organic wetting agent. Read more here: Sunshine AdvancedSunshine Advanced Growing Mix 4 Tech Talk - Updated) ... I'm also trying one or two plants in a base of Kellogg Garden Organics All Natural Garden Soil, as seen here: Organic Gardening Soils | Kellogg Garden Organics | Kellogg Garden Products
...
I amend these bases with those afore-mentioned Clackamas Coots' LOS amendments, and I also use Mykos and Azos, some Yum Yum mix, ground eggshells, homemade composts and worm castings and leaf mold, some Azomite and Excellerite, vermiculite, a little FFOF, and once the soil is mixed and in a large enough pot (preferably 7-10 gallons) I top it off with a top cover living mulch blend of seeds.
Cooking your soil: if you want to get your soil charged with microlife prior to planting, cook it. Just bin it, mix it well with some micro-inoculant like good worm castings or leaf mold or compost, and water it until its decently moist with water with a touch of blackstrap molasses, cover it, and let it breathe once or twice a day for a couple weeks to a couple months is my method.
Size of light? I have a Mars II 1600w LED, 2 Old Model 100x3w LED's, 1 Sunshine System 90w High Powered GrowUFO LED, 2 4 ft. 4 bulb t5 fluorescent fixtures, and several sizes of CFL.
Is it aircooled? no
Humidity/Temps? we'll keep an eye on that once I replace my meter >.< left it in the rain...
Any Pests ? ugh are there any I haven't had? Lol. Gnats, mites, caterpillars, leafminers, ants, mealybugs, black soldier fly larvae to name a few. Luckily I also have predatory mites to help keep them at bay.
How often are you watering? All the time. LOS must not dry out. I know this may sound scary to those used to a wet/dry cycle (which I know has its benefits), but in LOS, the fungi and microlife are paramount to your grow, and if you ever let your soil crust over, dry and stale, they're all gonna die. Indoors this is a potential issue for gnats, but can be dealt with a number of ways, like using a SWICK, or BT dunks, or certain top dressings that gnats hate.
Nutes? No classic nutes. I'll use top dressings of rich compost or worm castings or good organic amendments. I'm growing aloe vera for aloe vera juice. You just take a leaf, split it, scrape the gel out, dilute it and mix it with a bucket of water. It has a million benefits, its a great fertilizer as far as NPK, the salicylic acid fights pests and increases plant resistance to stress, helps start to break down organic matter.. Good stuff
I'll also be using Sprouted Seed Teas often, and probably botanicals. SST's are cheap, easy and great for your plants, full of enzymes and goodness. You can actually use pretty much any old seeds for SST's, all sprouts have enzymes and little bits of nutrition for early growth, but I'd recommend using organic popcorn and barley (or malted barley which sounds way easier and better) ... I sprout mine by soaking them overnight in a cup of water, then I dump the water out, rinse them and return them to the cup (don't fill the cup back up with water lol); then rinse twice daily with rainwater or the best filtered water you can find, distilled perhaps, I stick with rainwater. We've had plenty this year haha.
Maybe I'll even finally get into bubbled/aerated teas... still getting there... my LOS buddies might have to keep pushing me in that direction.
Old Grow Photos
Euphoria last summer:
Dinafem Diesel cabdriver from my last journal:
Dinafem Diesel mother from my last journal:
Medicann Blue Blood clone from my last journal:
My OG Kush PR from the last journal, in the process of revegetating... doesn't look like much here, but you'll see what it turns into next... thanks to Reg (B A R - the reveg master!) for convincing me to try a reveg with his beauties!
Alright that's quite a start. But apparently the pics I took on my phone are facing the wrong way for now >.< I know what I did wrong and will get some new photos today, those are already 2-3 days old lol, wow this took me a long time to do... ok well. Welcome to the journal!
what a funny plant. 
I'm very excited to see how this goes too. Perhaps a bit late to be starting summer seeds, but hey, gotta work with what you're given. 
I'll be tapping into those teaching skills a lot I'm sure this summer, I haven't even wandered into your building a better soil thread yet! Trust me I'll make it there. I'm catching up a bit at a time. I can hardly say I have much going on compared to you or others, I just missed SO much. 
I hope you'll enjoy it! 
Time for an update. 
Having just smoked, I almost knocked both plants over in my scramble to chase him off screaming. He's probably still running LOL. Poor guy. I feel bad, but he needs to learn that these pots are Loki-Pee-Free zones. I think that's a good note to leave on. 
