Dinafem Diesel - on my list. That's a very decent endorsement Hash Hound.
SoilGirl, I don't know how you do it, but good work girl.
SoilGirl, I don't know how you do it, but good work girl.
SoilGirl's Organic In & Out Journal 2015
- Thread starter SoilGirl
- Start date
Unfortunately, I didn't keep any more clones and used the last of the seeds.
I do have a few Diesel x Cheese seeds from the a few grows ago. I had some old Cheese pollen in the fridge, but only got 6 seeds.
I have grown one out and it's just as good as the mom was. About the same structure as the Cheese.
Dinafems Diesel is Mex x Afgh
Some of the other Diesels out there are like Heinz57 crosses
In general I like the simple crosses better than some of the multiple crosses out there.
Dog eat dog world...
Just checked out Vashion Velvet, and I must say that 300 plants is no small operation. At work we have 200-300 plants between veg and flower (not including clones), and that's enough to adequately supply our shop with about 75% product left over for wholesale. We grow some dankity-dank bud, but if it doesn't produce we usually toss the genetics. We recently let go our Grape Ape, which people love, because it didn't produce enough bud to make it worthwhile to grow.
To turn a profit from the harvest, we have to average about .5g/watt and that includes heating, cooling, and ventilation (not just lights). That's a tall task for any grower, especially a soil grower. Of course, demand, rent, employee efficiency, and electric costs all play into the equation as well, but the grower can make or break a business in only a few grows depending on how much he/she produces. Our Front Range grow recently had to chop about $40,000 worth of product because of a mite infestation and on top of that produces garbage buds that we can barely give away at the shop. If it wasn't for the real estate being grand-fathered in as a grow in a non-rec friendly city, the owners would've shut it down a long time ago.
What I'm getting at is that it's a competitive market out there. You not only have to grow good bud, but you have to grow it efficiently enough to make it worth the while. Vashon Velvet has an advantage in Washington right now because they don't have the competition that Colorado does, which allows them to grow quality bud on a smaller scale and still turn a profit.
You certainly grow good bud, but the question becomes can you grow it efficiently? To find out, start keeping track of inputs (work hours, materials, electricity, etc) to compare to outputs (bud quality and quantity). I'm shooting for .5g/watt from my tent, though I'll be happy to harvest anything more than .4g/watt from this first grow.
Anyway, I'm all for the idea of a high-quality grow and shop; I just wanted to play the devil's advocate. To note, the devil isn't really that bad of a guy if you don't believe in him.
P.S. The grower we know as CO Finest might have more to add to the subject since he's pretty much doing what we're talking about... I think.
Just checked out Vashion Velvet, and I must say that 300 plants is no small operation. At work we have 200-300 plants between veg and flower (not including clones), and that's enough to adequately supply our shop with about 75% product left over for wholesale. We grow some dankity-dank bud, but if it doesn't produce we usually toss the genetics. We recently let go our Grape Ape, which people love, because it didn't produce enough bud to make it worthwhile to grow.
To turn a profit from the harvest, we have to average about .5g/watt and that includes heating, cooling, and ventilation (not just lights). That's a tall task for any grower, especially a soil grower. Of course, demand, rent, employee efficiency, and electric costs all play into the equation as well, but the grower can make or break a business in only a few grows depending on how much he/she produces. Our Front Range grow recently had to chop about $40,000 worth of product because of a mite infestation and on top of that produces garbage buds that we can barely give away at the shop. If it wasn't for the real estate being grand-fathered in as a grow in a non-rec friendly city, the owners would've shut it down a long time ago.
What I'm getting at is that it's a competitive market out there. You not only have to grow good bud, but you have to grow it efficiently enough to make it worth the while. Vashon Velvet has an advantage in Washington right now because they don't have the competition that Colorado does, which allows them to grow quality bud on a smaller scale and still turn a profit.
You certainly grow good bud, but the question becomes can you grow it efficiently? To find out, start keeping track of inputs (work hours, materials, electricity, etc) to compare to outputs (bud quality and quantity). I'm shooting for .5g/watt from my tent, though I'll be happy to harvest anything more than .4g/watt from this first grow.
Anyway, I'm all for the idea of a high-quality grow and shop; I just wanted to play the devil's advocate. To note, the devil isn't really that bad of a guy if you don't believe in him.
P.S. The grower we know as CO Finest might have more to add to the subject since he's pretty much doing what we're talking about... I think.
Great green journal SG.
- Thread starter
- #165
SoilGirl
Well-Known Member
Hahaha, indeed it was mr. Loki. So glad that I could help, Griz. I'm very happy about the Boogie Blue. - and the sample of Brew that comes with it is pretty cool too! hope you've got a brewer to try it out!Loki's just earning his nameThanks for the mention of the Boogie Blue product, I looked it up and decided on that versus another brand. I bought something similar a week ago and not happy with it. I'm sure Boogie Blue will work out much better.
I'm sure you'll love the Diesel Sue. And thank you very muchDinafem Diesel - on my list. That's a very decent endorsement Hash Hound.
SoilGirl, I don't know how you do it, but good work girl.
it's not actually all that much work in the garden. Just a few mins a day. 
heinz57. too funny. I bet your Diesel x Cheese is awesome, nice work! No worries at all for playing the devils advocate, I do so myself all the timeJust checked out Vashion Velvet, and I must say that 300 plants is no small operation. At work we have 200-300 plants between veg and flower (not including clones), and that's enough to adequately supply our shop with about 75% product left over for wholesale. We grow some dankity-dank bud, but if it doesn't produce we usually toss the genetics. We recently let go our Grape Ape, which people love, because it didn't produce enough bud to make it worthwhile to grow.
To turn a profit from the harvest, we have to average about .5g/watt and that includes heating, cooling, and ventilation (not just lights). That's a tall task for any grower, especially a soil grower. Of course, demand, rent, employee efficiency, and electric costs all play into the equation as well, but the grower can make or break a business in only a few grows depending on how much he/she produces. Our Front Range grow recently had to chop about $40,000 worth of product because of a mite infestation and on top of that produces garbage buds that we can barely give away at the shop. If it wasn't for the real estate being grand-fathered in as a grow in a non-rec friendly city, the owners would've shut it down a long time ago.
What I'm getting at is that it's a competitive market out there. You not only have to grow good bud, but you have to grow it efficiently enough to make it worth the while. Vashon Velvet has an advantage in Washington right now because they don't have the competition that Colorado does, which allows them to grow quality bud on a smaller scale and still turn a profit.
You certainly grow good bud, but the question becomes can you grow it efficiently? To find out, start keeping track of inputs (work hours, materials, electricity, etc) to compare to outputs (bud quality and quantity). I'm shooting for .5g/watt from my tent, though I'll be happy to harvest anything more than .4g/watt from this first grow.
Anyway, I'm all for the idea of a high-quality grow and shop; I just wanted to play the devil's advocate. To note, the devil isn't really that bad of a guy if you don't believe in him.
P.S. The grower we know as CO Finest might have more to add to the subject since he's pretty much doing what we're talking about... I think.
I by no means think it would be a simple pursuit to become something like Vashon Velvet, and yeah I shrugged their 300 plant grow off as 'relatively small' a bit quickly - but in WA, that's 15 plants/caretaker, so only ~20 caretakers would have to sign on total. We're not talking harborside wellness sort of numbers here haha, but I'll give you that its much bigger than anything I've done. I've been able to visit a couple greenhouses that blew me away, it'd obviously be a challenge to oust them, especially in a place where competition destroys each other like CO. :\ - I only was saying that I like VV's business concept. Artisan quality bud for the buyer that cares. 
its a misconception that all canna-business is one market. Theres several; some potheads just wanna get high and get as much bud outta their buck as possible while not having to drive far away, and don't care about quality. the green solution exists because of them. Then you have real medical patients whose lives depend on the quality of medicine they use. that's where the Stanley bros' realm of caring comes in. Then you have people that genuinely just want to enjoy their bud as much as possible and support local organic growers. That's where I hope to make a living.
I was just saying maybe there's some hope for a small time girl like me to get my slice of the pie, growing the way I like to. maybe there isn't. I'll still try though, because I love doing this and I care about it. I have a lot to work on as far as efficiency, I don't even know where I'm at, but quality... quality I can do, and I know it. I'm not very experienced so sure, people will probably look at me like a joke at first, but let them.
I'm a one girl grow team, I'm comfortable saying I could do a hundred or more plants myself from seed to jar if I were able to focus on them. I don't say that lightly. I also know enough about LOS to make it affordable for myself to do this all on my own. I can compost, farm worms, mold leaves, source local minerals and nutrients and additives, bringing the cost of long term organic soil growing to a minimum, recycling my living soils. But I'm not trying to gain some monopoly and become a multi millionaire lol, I just wanna make enough of a living to get by, have my own place to relax. That would be heaven to me. I don't need to scrap with the big dogs, I just wanna make a living off something I do well and know a lot about. Even in this insane money grubbing world we live in, surely that's possible. right? Possible is all I need.
Funny you mention CO Finest, (rockstar...
) I think I'm going to a little party of his next weekend. Hopefully he'll divulge a couple of his tricks 
36G, if I end up with plants half as happy as yours I'll be pretty stoked.
Great post SG. Stick to your goal...opportunity will present itself. There has never been a glut of true connoisseur herb. You mention Harborside. I've been told by 2 HS staff that the best herb, when it shows up, never makes the shelves. All gobbled up by staff. Owner prefers Jack Herer so growers offer cream of crop JH to mgmt. to improve chances that their crops are marketed at HS. I have commercial grower friends who grow small personal stashes for personal & fellow 215 patient friends, which isn't what they take to dispensaries. No offense to hydro style folks...while their commercial is mostly hydro, the small personal grows are often organic in soil/coco. Now that is some fine herb, & the only herb that I'll sample besides my own. Club weed is exciting to non-growers....decent quality & lots of strains. But true quality is rarely found in clubs. OTOH, dedicated loving growers with growing experience can produce herb that can be deserving of true connoisseur status. This kind of stuff isn't floating around the dispensaries...it's kept within growing circles or those who have relationship with the growers...all within the legal patient network. So stay your course & perfect your loving craft....there is far less killer connoisseur herb than people who seek it.
It's possible for sure, SG. When you get the business up and running, I'll be one of your first customer/connoisseurs. For the time being, we might have to swap some homegrown when I make it to the front range.
Right now, I'm trying to impress my fellow growers in the High Rockies. Once I can do that, I have a chance at succeeding on my own (or with the help of a few friends). If Doc's kit performs as planned, then it'll be an easy task.
It surprises me how many people come in looking for the old strains: Maui Waui, Panama Red, Northern Lights, Thai, etc. They also come in looking for the high CBD strains: Charlotte's Web, AC/DC, Harlequin, etc. If you can break into that market and provide something nobody else does, then you'll do fine.
Keep up the great growing and have a fun and informative time at the partay this weekend.
As Red Green says, "I"m pulling for you; we're all in this together."
Right now, I'm trying to impress my fellow growers in the High Rockies. Once I can do that, I have a chance at succeeding on my own (or with the help of a few friends). If Doc's kit performs as planned, then it'll be an easy task.
It surprises me how many people come in looking for the old strains: Maui Waui, Panama Red, Northern Lights, Thai, etc. They also come in looking for the high CBD strains: Charlotte's Web, AC/DC, Harlequin, etc. If you can break into that market and provide something nobody else does, then you'll do fine.
Keep up the great growing and have a fun and informative time at the partay this weekend.
As Red Green says, "I"m pulling for you; we're all in this together."
There is no need for argument. There's no argument at all.
Brightside,
I concur.
Brightside,
I concur.
The market is there for you to create. Just remember, entrepreneurship is baptism by fire. As long as you're honest with yourself about it and stay true to the vision, there's no reason you couldn't do it. Buy insurance and run with the concept. I'd focus on the pure strains. The old school stuff is making a booming comeback. I personally dream of growing Columbian Gold someday. * sigh *
Re: There is no need for argument. There's no argument at all.
Sorry if it seemed like I disagreed with you in any way. Not at all....you provide interesting info on commercial style growing up your way. I admire all the younger growers I encounter here who are already accomplished growers with lots of new approaches.
Brightside,
I concur.
Sorry if it seemed like I disagreed with you in any way. Not at all....you provide interesting info on commercial style growing up your way. I admire all the younger growers I encounter here who are already accomplished growers with lots of new approaches.
Sorry not sorry...
Haha. I just wanted to show my approval of what you were saying, and "Domino" by Van the Man was playing in the background which gave me inspiration for the title, "There is no need for argument. There's no argument at all." Thought it all seemed fitting. No hurt feelings here.
Be well, Brightside. I'm headed over your way to see what's happening out West.
Sorry if it seemed like I disagreed with you in any way.
Haha. I just wanted to show my approval of what you were saying, and "Domino" by Van the Man was playing in the background which gave me inspiration for the title, "There is no need for argument. There's no argument at all." Thought it all seemed fitting. No hurt feelings here.
Be well, Brightside. I'm headed over your way to see what's happening out West.
Growlow
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone!
Some quick bad news.... Remember that African Buzz that sprouted? It was such stupidity on my part haha, trying not to be upset with myself. I was holding it and trying to control an unexpected canine intruder in the garage at the same time - it got snapped. I propped it back up best I could but it died. Shoulda set it down as soon as I heard the jingly collar. >.< more bad news, Purple Bud was a Mushy Dud.
Trying to pop 1 710 Fool's Gold bean, and another African Buzz now haha. If they don't sprout I'm gonna probably call off germinations for a bit and take some clones. I also want to share a new living soil blend I'm trying out, 2 parts kellogg's organic potting soil, 1 part perlite, 1 part peat moss. 1/2 dosed CC amendments + 1/3rd cup of BAS craft blend. The Kellogg's was a steal at 6$ per 1.5 cu ft. at a local store, and my Jamaican OG is doing great in their garden soil LOS mix I made. Lester has been growing amazing buds in their soils for a long time, so I'm taking a page from his book here. We already have some spearmint, rosemary, oregano and basil growing in 7-10 gal fabric pots of this mix, as of this week. I want to get as much LOS in use as I conceivably can afford to. Will be planting tomatoes and peppers in it soon too. The longer its in use the better it will get.
I've officially converted my whole family into a team of organic gardeners lol.
Aw thanks Rado, I'm starting to feel like a good grower.
Hahaha thanks so much MS
Glad to have you here!
Thanks so much MF
I just loved the Dinafem Diesel HH! Totally underrated strain I'm sure you'll agree, and I bet its gonna turn out amazing again. Thanks for coming by and leaving some positive vibes!
Wow! Small world about the boogie. I'm a Boogie Brew Dealer. Good group BB. Love their passion and scientific approach behind their products. No BS and not giving two shits about making a buck but more focused on changing the way people approach gardening.
i used to get the individual fertz from DownToEarth to make my own Tea's but after finding out my mate Josh had gone to the trouble of doing this in big batches, it then became a no brainer. If I can save time.. then I am happy. I am not lazy just crazy busy
Coots mix,LOS & no-til, making my day SG! 
TheRoach
Well-Known Member
Hi SoilGirl sorry to hear about the dead seedling. Your thread has been a source of ideas for me. I am cooking my version of the CC soil mix and very anxious to try it!
I would like to know more about the no till method. Is it possible to do it in smaller containers? Say 5 liters? Is it possible to get a good living soil running at those volumes of soil?
I watered with a SST made with lentils and added aloe and a local plant that promotes cell division and has properties similar to those of comfrey. Also made some horsetail meal and borage meal for a botanical tea. Will also buy a large bunch of green coconuts. They are very cheap here. I read somewhere they are very good when fresh, specially if you scrape the immature flesh from the insides of the shell and blend it with the water.
Can you tell me what feeding regime you use?
Thank you very much for sharing your experience with your fellow growers!
Reps+
I would like to know more about the no till method. Is it possible to do it in smaller containers? Say 5 liters? Is it possible to get a good living soil running at those volumes of soil?
I watered with a SST made with lentils and added aloe and a local plant that promotes cell division and has properties similar to those of comfrey. Also made some horsetail meal and borage meal for a botanical tea. Will also buy a large bunch of green coconuts. They are very cheap here. I read somewhere they are very good when fresh, specially if you scrape the immature flesh from the insides of the shell and blend it with the water.
Can you tell me what feeding regime you use?
Thank you very much for sharing your experience with your fellow growers!
Reps+
- Thread starter
- #175
SoilGirl
Well-Known Member
Aw, thank you so much brightlight. What a great response. I will stay the course.
Mystery, you rock. I'm sure there's a lot you could teach me, whatever criticisms you may have are welcome here. Maybe we can share buds one day when I've got more of my own for the sharing part.
Growlow no way! How cool. I really liked the Boogie Brew brochure, and my Dad is impressed as well. I'm sure you guys have made a repeat buyer of him if I get a few extra bucks I'll probably order a bigger batch of their brews. I loved the response my Ultrasour and Jamaican OG's had to it. I'm actually going to be giving a little more to them today, I mixed about half a cup of their brew sample in with my own compost. Should be powerful!
Hi Roach, aw I'm so glad to have inspired you in some way.
SO is it possible to do no till in smaller containers? Yes. But not recommended. That said, look at my Ultrasour (bagseed), I always say better to find out for yourself. Its in 3.5 gallons of a second-run no till soil and in a short while when I get the pics, you'll see how beautifully its doing.
I have a 2 gallon no-till that I ran my Diesel cabdriver in last grow, with only top cover still going in it at the moment. We'll see how it does in a second time around once I get some new clones rooted. Earlier in this journal my Dinafem White Widow (may you rest in peace) was going in that container, then died of root rot due to clogged/poor drainage. Top cover survived... drilled more drainage holes in the bottom too, which had become rather sludgy. Hopefully its still worthwhile. We'll find out. If not I'll recycle it in my compost.
If you try a small container no till I'd do a lot of compost teas and feeding drenches during flowering - but ease into it during veg - at least more than for a 7 or 10 gal. SST's, botanicals, aloe vera, guano teas perhaps, though I'd compost your guanos for a while first and try and let it go thermophilic first or at least build up some good mold. I'd try and get a couple larger no till's going too if I were you though.
It's definitely possible to get a living soil in those volumes of soil. I would think about recycling your soil as ROLS at those volumes, the same concepts, just mixing (tilling) the soil again and cooking it again before another planting. Rock dusts should last and need minimal re-amending, but organic matter like worm castings/compost should be topped off/remixed after 6 months of good use at small volumes, IMO.
Worms do better in bigger pots though, if you're going to add any. The benefits of the rock dusts will still start to show in time, and the soil should still have a cumulative benefit from long term use; I bet you'd see better and better plants coming out of it as time went on, the soil improved, and you got in your own groove taking care of it.
I'm excited to see your results with those botanical teas and SST's! SO cool that you've already sourced all that! I'd only use the Coconut juice once every month if yours is stronger than my dried version(I'm sure yours is), but I'd try to do a weekly Compost Tea/Botanical, preferably the former, botanicals can be very strong, homemade compost tea should never hurt. With some prudence in mind (dare I say this PJ?) I'd recommend doing a clean pure watering every other watering, and only give the 'feeding' drench every other with a touch of clean water after the drench.
I think I've been overdoing it, and touched it back to one ACT per week (sometimes 2), one SST every 2 weeks, coconut water once a month, Aloe every 2 weeks, and I'm always adding a pinch of Neem here and Kelp there and trimming down top cover.
be back later with pics. Hope that helps Roach!
P.S. Roach - at small volumes I'd look into a SIP/SWICK system, smaller pots dry out easier and faster so you want to avoid that, while not soaking too often either. You want moist soil, not soaked, not dry and some like Sue and 36Gr0w have had great results using SIP/SWICK and organic soils.
I will stay the course. Mystery, you rock. I'm sure there's a lot you could teach me, whatever criticisms you may have are welcome here.
Maybe we can share buds one day when I've got more of my own for the sharing part. Growlow no way! How cool. I really liked the Boogie Brew brochure, and my Dad is impressed as well. I'm sure you guys have made a repeat buyer of him
if I get a few extra bucks I'll probably order a bigger batch of their brews. I loved the response my Ultrasour and Jamaican OG's had to it. I'm actually going to be giving a little more to them today, I mixed about half a cup of their brew sample in with my own compost. Should be powerful! Hi Roach, aw I'm so glad to have inspired you in some way.
SO is it possible to do no till in smaller containers? Yes. But not recommended. That said, look at my Ultrasour (bagseed), I always say better to find out for yourself. Its in 3.5 gallons of a second-run no till soil and in a short while when I get the pics, you'll see how beautifully its doing.
I have a 2 gallon no-till that I ran my Diesel cabdriver in last grow, with only top cover still going in it at the moment. We'll see how it does in a second time around once I get some new clones rooted. Earlier in this journal my Dinafem White Widow (may you rest in peace
) was going in that container, then died of root rot due to clogged/poor drainage. Top cover survived... drilled more drainage holes in the bottom too, which had become rather sludgy. Hopefully its still worthwhile. We'll find out. If not I'll recycle it in my compost.If you try a small container no till I'd do a lot of compost teas and feeding drenches during flowering - but ease into it during veg - at least more than for a 7 or 10 gal. SST's, botanicals, aloe vera, guano teas perhaps, though I'd compost your guanos for a while first and try and let it go thermophilic first or at least build up some good mold. I'd try and get a couple larger no till's going too if I were you though.
It's definitely possible to get a living soil in those volumes of soil. I would think about recycling your soil as ROLS at those volumes, the same concepts, just mixing (tilling) the soil again and cooking it again before another planting. Rock dusts should last and need minimal re-amending, but organic matter like worm castings/compost should be topped off/remixed after 6 months of good use at small volumes, IMO.
Worms do better in bigger pots though, if you're going to add any. The benefits of the rock dusts will still start to show in time, and the soil should still have a cumulative benefit from long term use; I bet you'd see better and better plants coming out of it as time went on, the soil improved, and you got in your own groove taking care of it.
I'm excited to see your results with those botanical teas and SST's! SO cool that you've already sourced all that! I'd only use the Coconut juice once every month if yours is stronger than my dried version(I'm sure yours is), but I'd try to do a weekly Compost Tea/Botanical, preferably the former, botanicals can be very strong, homemade compost tea should never hurt. With some prudence in mind (dare I say this PJ?
) I'd recommend doing a clean pure watering every other watering, and only give the 'feeding' drench every other with a touch of clean water after the drench. I think I've been overdoing it, and touched it back to one ACT per week (sometimes 2
), one SST every 2 weeks, coconut water once a month, Aloe every 2 weeks, and I'm always adding a pinch of Neem here and Kelp there and trimming down top cover. be back later with pics. Hope that helps Roach!P.S. Roach - at small volumes I'd look into a SIP/SWICK system, smaller pots dry out easier and faster so you want to avoid that, while not soaking too often either. You want moist soil, not soaked, not dry and some like Sue and 36Gr0w have had great results using SIP/SWICK and organic soils.
I have to agree its a small world I know the owner of Boogie Brew lol. I just might be making a phone call for you to see what he can do to help my CO grow buddy. I just wanted to stop by real quick and say hello. I got to go finish my last post for the week before I head up to the mountains. I wish you all well. 
TheRoach
Well-Known Member
Thank you very much SoilGirl!
- Thread starter
- #178
SoilGirl
Well-Known Member
Freakin' awesome lol! Thanks CO, you just have all the connects huh! I'm not surprised though, organic growers tend to build strong tiesI have to agree its a small world I know the owner of Boogie Brew lol. I just might be making a phone call for you to see what he can do to help my CO grow buddy. I just wanted to stop by real quick and say hello. I got to go finish my last post for the week before I head up to the mountains. I wish you all well.
Thanks for stopping by, I've got an update to do myself since last night 420 mag wasn't working for me. Kept getting error messages every time I tried to get on here to upload pics or go to journals. :\ kinda freaked me out cuz my directions to your party are stored in my PMs! ...first thing I did when I saw the connection back up was write em down. I'll be in touch soon! Gonna make it to the party, still not sure whether we'll be getting there tomorrow or saturday or how long we're staying, our plans have been pretty wishy washy as always... but we'll figure it all out and get there. No problem Roach
with living soil you want to add back to the soil food web regularly, just without overdoing it. My little regimen there was just my recommendation, not anything to be on a hard schedule haha. Its all up to you and how you're feeling, I do pretty regular drenches with something or other because I feel like it and I see good results, but you could probably pull off great buds with a fraction of the add-ons, or even just pure water. Good water goes a long way, I've grown beautiful plants with rain water only. Look at PeeJay's threads or PM him for a little advice if that interests you, he gives very freely of his abundant and prudent wisdom On to the update in a min. I think I wanna take a few clones first, get a couple pics, and add those to it.
- Thread starter
- #179
SoilGirl
Well-Known Member
Update 7/29 + 7/30:
Hi everyone, sorry for the gap in updates. These lengthy posts take a while but I don't feel right if I don't add as much info as possible haha. So much for a less tedious journal lol... I'll do my best to update once a week or around there. Anyway, todays gonna be a long one, so sit back and enjoy, maybe massage your eyes for a few first if you plan on reading through.
Lets start off inside I finally got the tent up and running!
They look like shit right now because its been too hot in the garage and I let them dry out too much. Back left is TH Seeds' Ultrasour. Back right is a bagseed Euphoria that may or may not stay in the tent. Front left is OGR White Master Kush, front right is Dinafem Super Silver. All were put in a drip tray that may or may not become a SIP/SWICK, would need to restudy Sue's SWICK thread: SWICK Watering Systems: Letting The Plant Water Itself
They're all in 10 gallon pots of the new soil mix: 2 parts Kellogg's Patio Plus Organic Potting Soil, Organic Gardening Soils | Kellogg Garden Organics | Kellogg Garden Products 1 part Perlite, 1 part Peat Moss (I used Premier brand). To each 10 gallon pot I mixed in a quarter cup of ground malted barley, 1 cup Gaia Glacial rock dust, 1 cup of BAS' mineral blend (2 parts Basalt, 1 part Oyster Shell, 1 part Gypsum) with extra Oyster Shell flour I eyeballed in to try to even it out with the basalt, 1/2 cup of each Neem, Kelp, and Crustacean meals, and 1/3 cup of BAS' craft nutrient blend as seen here for those interested: BuildASoil Craft Blend - Nutrient Pack - BuildASoil... and as always I put some of my cover crop blend up top. Something new I did in preparation for world war three, SoilGirl Vs. Gnats, was mix in some mosquito BT dunks (Thanks Sue! Finally got them!) that I grated with a cheese grater lol, into the top few inches of soil. Then I grated more to dust the top. You Shall Not Pass, foul gnats!
At transplant I added some Xtreme Gardening Mykos and Azos, and a touch of this Espoma Organic Garden Tone stuff we've been using in our non-420 gardens with great results. The Espoma stuff says it has 624 colony forming units per gram split between the 3 following species of microbe: Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus megaterium, and Bacillus pumilus. The more microbes the merrier IMO.
I have High hopes for this soil, even though I didn't cook it, it should still perform well. I guess we'll have to see how things go. This mix was a LOT cheaper than my previous SS#4 based mixes since 1.5 cu. ft of Kellogg's was only 7$. It has good aeration, lots of organic matter, still a decent amount of peat, and about 1/4 less amendments than the typical CC style recipe.
+ The Gorilla 5x5 Tent is finally all together!
Fan, dial-a-temp, filter, lights, timer, (they're in 18/6 under the Mars II 1600 on veg setting) and finally some plants to enjoy all my work lol. Yesterday I sat in the tent enjoying the lights and buzz of the fans, listening to music and vaporizing through the opening while I watered in all that soil for the first time... with a capped water bottle I kept refilling out of bigger jugs. LOL. I was in there at least an hour slowly watering before I saw any run off, then when I tried to lift the pots.... no can do. Gotta work on my callanetics if I wanna budge them myself actually had a very nice time! I have half a mind to crawl in there and start growing.
Here's the environmental monitoring as of just now, humidity went up a bit after watering, when I had the door to my room shut to keep out intruders. Otherwise sweet! I think I'm well set up finally!
Now enough of the blabber. Remember my mention of those 710 Fool's Gold and third-time-charm African Buzz beans? Well they have popped, double yay!
I also am doing another little cloning experiment. I took 6 cuttings today, 2 from the Ultrasour (bagseed), 2 from Cheese, 2 from White Widow. One of each got Aloe Vera gel right from the leaf, the other of each got Mad Farmer's Root It. I'm hoping to see similar results from each, or better results from the Aloe.
I'm using rockwool cubes, rain water, a couple clips of Aloe leaves, MF's Root It, a plastic tray and dome, and a small CFL on top. For the Aloe clones I scooped a little gel out of the leaves and poked it into the hole in the rockwool, and also dipped the stem in aloe before sticking it in.
Not all cuttings are the same size, this isn't a very controlled experiment lol. The clones started looking like crap immediately as I was still taking cuttings outside. But after an hour in the dome they're perking right back up.
Ok lets get to the outdoor plants. 2 of those Diesel clones are now outside, in 10 gal pots. The first to go outside (on the right) is just starting to put on some growth, the other is still adjusting. The third Diesel clone got tossed from mold. :\ oh well.
Their reveggy Diesel mama is doing great, just putting out first pistils up top.
Now, some bad news. For those of you that don't know, I raise chickens. They got into OG Kush (PR)'s soil 2 days ago digging up roots and worms because unfortunately, my dad let them escape into the yard when he was in his cups. >.< to make matters worse, a dog found the culprit chicken before I did and wreaked terrible vengeance on it, knocking over OG Kush in the process. 6 branches were snapped, mostly side branches but 2 nice tops, and blood and feathers were everywhere. It was a horror scene -.- I was picking feathers out of Blue Blood and JOG and off leaves everywhere.
So you'll notice that OG Kush (PR) is a bit thinned out, and not very happy looking. We'll see if I get anything worthwhile out of her still. It must've been very stressful for her, but I'm trying to do damage control. I topped off the soil and gave an ACT yesterday, it's a start. Moving on...
Mama Jamaican OG also got a few worms pecked out by the de-feathered culprit, but escaped the wreckage of OG Kush. Seems fine, smells better. Thank the great mother of nature.
JOG's Clone that I LST'ed is getting pretty tall, filling out nicely, lost a branch to the canine/chicken scuffle but otherwise is about to flower beautifully I'm sure. Just gotta keep those chickens penned up. >.<
JOG's supercrop Clone escaped the scuffle entirely, along with the rest of the plants. Whew. Right?
I wanted to take a second to show how much this strain laughs at supercrops. just to open it up a little I've had to crop most branches 3 times already. For anyone growing a Jamaican OG, I'd recommend LST'ing over supercropping, because it just straightens itself right back up once healed.
Blue Blood is actually budding along beautifully. Smells very strong, somewhere between blueberry and a weirdly minty OG. All its leaves still look like shit but... whatever, that's not for smoking. I'm starting to expect some decent colas.
Euphoria is doing great, putting on a bit of stretch, and the slow FIM finally took, resulting in 3 tops.
White Widow got LST'ed to one side, the FIM failed and just topped it (2 tops, one of which I took as a clone this morning because it was trying to take over apical dominance), and the plant is starting to put on some nice growth finally.
Cheese is taking off and branching beautifully. Gotta get more cuttings of this one if the others don't take.
Now... the bagseed Ultrasour in all her beauty. Showing first pistils, some of the biggest happiest fans I've ever grown... just lovely.
CO Finest was asking about my nail pics,
I've been F***ing up my nails pretty bad with all my soil mixing and gardening and other random crap. Not that I've not been painting them 
I've just made a point of not sharing them since they've looked so crappy lol. Well, ask and ye shall receive. purple! Just splotchy and cracked and... bleh. Whatever this isn't about nails its about weed! the (prettier) nail pics are just a bonus, this site needs a feminine touch every now and then huh? LOL I only painted them a week ago...for the guys still following, that is a very short time to F them up like this! I'm rough on nails!
Now my fingers need a rest. Lol. Whoever's gonna be in Breck, I'll see ya there soon! Drive safe! Everyone else, thanks for coming by I hope you enjoyed the update!
Hi everyone, sorry for the gap in updates. These lengthy posts take a while but I don't feel right if I don't add as much info as possible haha. So much for a less tedious journal lol... I'll do my best to update once a week or around there.
Anyway, todays gonna be a long one, so sit back and enjoy, maybe massage your eyes for a few first if you plan on reading through. Lets start off inside
I finally got the tent up and running!
They look like shit right now because its been too hot in the garage and I let them dry out too much. Back left is TH Seeds' Ultrasour. Back right is a bagseed Euphoria that may or may not stay in the tent. Front left is OGR White Master Kush, front right is Dinafem Super Silver. All were put in a drip tray that may or may not become a SIP/SWICK, would need to restudy Sue's SWICK thread: SWICK Watering Systems: Letting The Plant Water Itself
They're all in 10 gallon pots of the new soil mix: 2 parts Kellogg's Patio Plus Organic Potting Soil, Organic Gardening Soils | Kellogg Garden Organics | Kellogg Garden Products 1 part Perlite, 1 part Peat Moss (I used Premier brand). To each 10 gallon pot I mixed in a quarter cup of ground malted barley, 1 cup Gaia Glacial rock dust, 1 cup of BAS' mineral blend (2 parts Basalt, 1 part Oyster Shell, 1 part Gypsum) with extra Oyster Shell flour I eyeballed in to try to even it out with the basalt, 1/2 cup of each Neem, Kelp, and Crustacean meals, and 1/3 cup of BAS' craft nutrient blend as seen here for those interested: BuildASoil Craft Blend - Nutrient Pack - BuildASoil... and as always I put some of my cover crop blend up top. Something new I did in preparation for world war three, SoilGirl Vs. Gnats, was mix in some mosquito BT dunks (Thanks Sue! Finally got them!) that I grated with a cheese grater lol, into the top few inches of soil. Then I grated more to dust the top. You Shall Not Pass, foul gnats!
At transplant I added some Xtreme Gardening Mykos and Azos, and a touch of this Espoma Organic Garden Tone stuff we've been using in our non-420 gardens with great results. The Espoma stuff says it has 624 colony forming units per gram split between the 3 following species of microbe: Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus megaterium, and Bacillus pumilus. The more microbes the merrier IMO.
I have High
hopes for this soil, even though I didn't cook it, it should still perform well. I guess we'll have to see how things go. This mix was a LOT cheaper than my previous SS#4 based mixes since 1.5 cu. ft of Kellogg's was only 7$. It has good aeration, lots of organic matter, still a decent amount of peat, and about 1/4 less amendments than the typical CC style recipe.+ The Gorilla 5x5 Tent is finally all together!
Fan, dial-a-temp, filter, lights, timer, (they're in 18/6 under the Mars II 1600 on veg setting) and finally some plants to enjoy all my work lol. Yesterday I sat in the tent enjoying the lights and buzz of the fans, listening to music and vaporizing through the opening while I watered in all that soil for the first time... with a capped water bottle I kept refilling out of bigger jugs. LOL. I was in there at least an hour slowly watering before I saw any run off, then when I tried to lift the pots.... no can do. Gotta work on my callanetics if I wanna budge them myself actually had a very nice time! I have half a mind to crawl in there and start growing.Here's the environmental monitoring as of just now, humidity went up a bit after watering, when I had the door to my room shut to keep out intruders. Otherwise sweet! I think I'm well set up finally!
Now enough of the blabber. Remember my mention of those 710 Fool's Gold and third-time-charm African Buzz beans? Well they have popped, double yay!
I also am doing another little cloning experiment. I took 6 cuttings today, 2 from the Ultrasour (bagseed), 2 from Cheese, 2 from White Widow. One of each got Aloe Vera gel right from the leaf, the other of each got Mad Farmer's Root It. I'm hoping to see similar results from each, or better results from the Aloe.
I'm using rockwool cubes, rain water, a couple clips of Aloe leaves, MF's Root It, a plastic tray and dome, and a small CFL on top. For the Aloe clones I scooped a little gel out of the leaves and poked it into the hole in the rockwool, and also dipped the stem in aloe before sticking it in.
Not all cuttings are the same size, this isn't a very controlled experiment lol. The clones started looking like crap immediately as I was still taking cuttings outside. But after an hour in the dome they're perking right back up.
Ok lets get to the outdoor plants. 2 of those Diesel clones are now outside, in 10 gal pots. The first to go outside (on the right) is just starting to put on some growth, the other is still adjusting. The third Diesel clone got tossed from mold. :\ oh well.
Their reveggy Diesel mama is doing great, just putting out first pistils up top.
Now, some bad news. For those of you that don't know, I raise chickens. They got into OG Kush (PR)'s soil 2 days ago digging up roots and worms because unfortunately, my dad let them escape into the yard when he was in his cups. >.< to make matters worse, a dog found the culprit chicken before I did and wreaked terrible vengeance on it, knocking over OG Kush in the process. 6 branches were snapped, mostly side branches but 2 nice tops, and blood and feathers were everywhere. It was a horror scene -.- I was picking feathers out of Blue Blood and JOG and off leaves everywhere.
So you'll notice that OG Kush (PR) is a bit thinned out, and not very happy looking. We'll see if I get anything worthwhile out of her still. It must've been very stressful for her, but I'm trying to do damage control. I topped off the soil and gave an ACT yesterday, it's a start. Moving on...
Mama Jamaican OG also got a few worms pecked out by the de-feathered culprit, but escaped the wreckage of OG Kush. Seems fine, smells better. Thank the great mother of nature.
JOG's Clone that I LST'ed is getting pretty tall, filling out nicely, lost a branch to the canine/chicken scuffle but otherwise is about to flower beautifully I'm sure. Just gotta keep those chickens penned up. >.<
JOG's supercrop Clone escaped the scuffle entirely, along with the rest of the plants. Whew. Right?
I wanted to take a second to show how much this strain laughs at supercrops. just to open it up a little I've had to crop most branches 3 times already. For anyone growing a Jamaican OG, I'd recommend LST'ing over supercropping, because it just straightens itself right back up once healed.
Blue Blood is actually budding along beautifully. Smells very strong, somewhere between blueberry and a weirdly minty OG. All its leaves still look like shit but... whatever, that's not for smoking. I'm starting to expect some decent colas.
Euphoria is doing great, putting on a bit of stretch, and the slow FIM finally took, resulting in 3 tops.
White Widow got LST'ed to one side, the FIM failed and just topped it (2 tops, one of which I took as a clone this morning because it was trying to take over apical dominance), and the plant is starting to put on some nice growth finally.
Cheese is taking off and branching beautifully.
Gotta get more cuttings of this one if the others don't take.
Now... the bagseed Ultrasour in all her beauty. Showing first pistils, some of the biggest happiest fans I've ever grown... just lovely.
CO Finest was asking about my nail pics,
I've been F***ing up my nails pretty bad with all my soil mixing and gardening and other random crap. Not that I've not been painting them I've just made a point of not sharing them since they've looked so crappy lol. Well, ask and ye shall receive. purple! Just splotchy and cracked and... bleh. Whatever this isn't about nails its about weed! the (prettier) nail pics are just a bonus, this site needs a feminine touch every now and then huh? LOL I only painted them a week ago...for the guys still following, that is a very short time to F them up like this! I'm rough on nails! Now my fingers need a rest. Lol. Whoever's gonna be in Breck, I'll see ya there soon! Drive safe! Everyone else, thanks for coming by I hope you enjoyed the update!
MedFarmer
Well-Known Member
Oh so much beauty in one post. We can forgive the nails SoilGirl as you have been making your gardens beautiful and paid the price.
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