The Purp: Organic Soil Grow

[adudecalledjay]

Background
Welcome to my new Journal! I started a RDWC journal last year and had to cut it short due to some vacation related issues. With the 'vid happening this year I don't forsee that problem!

I've been into hydro for a few years, but this year I want to try my hand at soil. I recognize I probably won't get the same yield -- in fact I'm kinda counting on it! I only grow for personal use... sometimes I share a jar with a friend who helps me out or my Dad, but otherwise I really only need 3-6 ounces a year for personal use. Last year I harvested 4 lbs dried on 4 plants being fairly picky with the trimming and it was a TON of work to process... not something I want to have to do again this year. Also, I really like the taste of soil-based weed -- I really dig that earthy tone.

I'd like to keep the grow organic, but if things really go off the rails I'll return to what I'm more familiar with.

Seeds
Here's what I'm growing. 2 seeds (non-feminized) that I got in a seed exchange. The original genetics are supposed to be from Jordan of the Islands - The Purp. I'm not sure if there's rules agains posting this. I got in trouble once for posting light information on lights I was using from a non-sponsor... let me know if I can't identify the seed genetics and I can edit the post. I can assure you I'm not affiliated or make any money off of this, I'm just trying to connect to a community that shares my passion for growing.

Description from the original breeder (rather limited)
Indica. The Purp’s prized genetics are coveted the world over. It will have amazing purple colours no matter what the temperature.
Height: 3-4 ft
Flowering time: 7 weeks indoor

Lights
I need to see who the light sponsors are in order to fill in the actual company names, but I can put the general specs here:
Seedlings: 15W Led Grow Light which provides ~300 ppfd at 14 inches. This is a full spectrum white light.
Veg/Harvest: 3000W Led Grow Light with an actual draw of 450W. Claimed par is 1095.6umol/s. This is also a full spectrum white light. Area covereage is rated at a 5x5 area for veg and 4x4 for flower. I'll be growing both phases in a 4x4 tent.

Posts
I'll post a few more entries today as we're now 2 weeks in after dropping the seeds into wet paper towel. Moving foward I'll try to update my posts weekly.

 

[adudecalledjay]

May 17, 2020
2 Seeds dropped in wet paper towel... not much to see here. I just make papertowel damp, drop in the seeds, put it in a ziplock sealed and stick it behind my furnace where it stays around 25C.

May 20, 2020
I filled two small pots with about an inch of clay pebbles at the bottom and about 1/2" of moist coco coir. On top of that I filled the rest of the containers with pure earthworm castings. I added 1tsp of a mycorrhizae innoculant in the root zone an dropped my two rooted seeds with the seeds just barely sitting above the surface.

May 28, 2020
I was surprised to see how fast these guys took off. Had my lights way too high and got a bit of stretch. I dropped the lights and added a fan. Plant #2 (closest to the camera) has a distinct purpling to the stem, while plant #1 in the background doesn't.

 

[adudecalledjay]

June 1, 2020
Today the plants are looking pretty happy. A couple of days ago I noticed some leaf curl upwards and suspected the lights might be too close. I double-checked and the ppfd was 600, so I backed them off until I got an average of 300 ppfd. You can still see a bit of leaf-curl, but it's looking better.

#Plant 1

Plant #2

Seedling Tent (sorry for the mess!):

 

[adudecalledjay]

I'm going to call May 25, 2020 "Day 1"

June 3, 2020 (Day 10)

I have my new 4x4 grow tent set up in the basement! And I also have my new light set up. Looks like Mars is talked about a lot around here, so I think I can mention the brand: MARS HYDRO TS 3000W. This light is bright!!! At 41 inches I'm reading a ppfd of 400 μmol/s/m2 -- slightly more than the 300 they are used to under my seelding lights.

Here's some pictures of the new setup. Still positioning things a bit but here's the setup:

Those totes will eventually be flipped upside down and become my planters (after adding drainage of course).

 

[CagedApe]

Have fun!

 

[Mars Hydro]

I'm coming~ Good lucky

 

[Mars Hydro]

Veg/Harvest: 3000W Led Grow Light with an actual draw of 450W. Claimed par is 1095.6umol/s. This is also a full spectrum white light. Area covereage is rated at a 5x5 area for veg and 4x4 for flower. I'll be growing both phases in a 4x4 tent.

It's Mars Hydro TS3000 LED

 

[adudecalledjay]

I'm coming~ Good lucky

Thanks for joining!!

 

[adudecalledjay]

It's Mars Hydro TS3000 LED

Nailed it!

 

[adudecalledjay]

Have fun!

Thank you

 

[adudecalledjay]

June 6, 2020 (Veg - Day 13)
Lights
Type: Mars Hydro TS 3000W
Light Schedule: 18/6
Distance from Lights: 41"
Par: Avg 400 μmol/s/m2

Watering
Description: Just Brita filtered water right now. Not enough run-off to check ph yet.
Run-off ph: N/A
Run-off tds: N/A
Frequency: Every 3rd day 1/4" of water

Soil
Plant 1 & Plant 2: 100% Earthworm Castings (bottom of pot has 1" clay pebbles and .5" coco-coir to keep the castings from leaking out)

Environment
Temperature: 28C Day Cycle / 20C Night Cycle
Relative Humidity: 60% Day Cycle / 75% Night Cycle

Updates
Not much has been happening above the soil, so I took a peak below the soil and, yes, the plants energy is focused on root development. Having always been a hydro guy I'm not quite sure when to transplant. Many resources say when the leaves are wider than the container -- but it's usually recommended that the starter medium should be super low in nutrients, so I'm not sure if this still applies. I'm thinking the amount of worm castings should carry these seedlings a bit further. Not sure though... as the roots are getting pretty thick coming out of the holes in the bottom. Feel free to provide any suggestions! Pot-up for me is just some yogurt containers, not a huge jump.

I'm still trying to decide on the final container. I could go 10 gal cloth pots or full rubbermaid tubs. My goal isn't yield... so the conventional advice of "the more soil the better" doesn't necessarily apply. If I go 10 gallon I feel like the plants would be easier to pull out and maintain, so that's the way I'm leaning. Also I have a full bag of Fox Farm soil... I'm considering doing a head-to-head comparison of Fox Farm vs my own mix (one for each plant). I know it's not a fair comparison without using clones (especially considering these are non-femenized), but I might do it for the fun of it.

Here's some pictures!

 

[Mars Hydro]

good beginning

 

[adudecalledjay]

June 8, 2020 (Day 15 Veg)
Lights
Type: Mars Hydro TS 3000W
Light Schedule: 18/6
Distance from Lights: 41"
Par: Avg 400 μmol/s/m2

Watering
Description: Just Brita filtered water right now.
Water ph: 6.5
Water tds: .5 EC
Run-off ph: 6.6
Run-off tds: 6.1 EC -- yes 3,904 tds!! Wow,how much of the greensand, rock phospate, bone meal and kelp meal is running off?
Frequency: Every 2nd day 1/4" of water

Soil Recipe
800 ml coco coir
800 ml clay pebbles (only because it’s what I have on hand -- would have used perlite instead if I had some)
200 ml manure compost
200 ml mushroom compost
400 ml earthworm castings
1 tbsp bat guano (heavy feeding is 1 tbsp per gallon, so we’re almost doubling that)
2 tbsp Rock Phosphate (45 ml per 4000ml of soil - same as bone meal)
4 tbsp Green Sand (90 ml per 4000ml of soil )
26ml (~2 tbsp) Bone Meal (45ml per 4000ml of soil or 1:89)
10 ml (~2 tsp) Kelp Meal (14.8 ml per 3790 ml of soil or 1:256)

Environment
Temperature: 28C Day Cycle / 20C Night Cycle
Relative Humidity: 60% Day Cycle / 75% Night Cycle

Updates
Today was transplant day. The plants were looking just the tiniest bit nutrient-deficient which was the opposite of what I expected with 100% worm castings... maybe the ph was off or maybe the castings need to break down and aren't as bioavailable as I thought?

I had some 3" net pots on hand and thought... "why not use these as containers?" It should make the next transplant a lot easier!!

So here's what I did. That's a 3" net pot wrapped in tin foil with holes poked through for drainage (the bottom was removed as the roots can get very thick and I don't want them to be constricted):

I mixed up my own potting soil (see above for the "recipe"). I certainly wouldn't use it as a guide until I've had a chance to test it out).

Here are the brands of the ingredients I used:

And finally all were returned to their homes with wishes of a speedy recovery

I have one more post to show why I put clay pebbles at the bottom of my pot (beyond just keeping the soil from being saturated from run-off).

 

[adudecalledjay]

To back up a bit there are two reasons why I added clay pebbles to the bottom of my seedling mix. 1) Keep the soil from becoming saturated if I accidentally over-watered -- air is vital for those roots. 2) I carefully picked out all of the clay pebbles from the roots. It wasn't necessary in this situation, but it was a mitigation against the risk of getting root-bound and having to break up the roots with my fingers (presumably causing damage).

Overthinking? Yes. It's kinda my thing

 

[bebecillo]

I didn't read the fine details of your soil mix, but your potting skills are on point. Definitely will be stealing the cutting tip (heh)

 

[adudecalledjay]

I didn't read the fine details of your soil mix, but your potting skills are on point. Definitely will be stealing the cutting tip (heh)

Thanks and welcome

 

[adudecalledjay]

June 12, 2020 (Day 19 Veg)
Lights
Type: Mars Hydro TS 3000W
Light Schedule: 18/6
Distance from Lights: 30"
Par: Avg 577 μmol/s/m2

Watering
Description: Just Brita filtered water right now.
Water ph: 6.5
Water tds: .5 EC
Run-off ph: Not measured this time
Run-off tds: Not measured this time
Frequency: Every 2nd day 1/2" of water

Soil Recipe
See prior journal entry

Environment
Temperature: 26C Day Cycle / 17C Night Cycle
Relative Humidity: 65% Day Cycle / 65% Night Cycle

Updates
It's been a few days since transplant, so I decided to drop the light a bit for the first time this grow to 577 μmol/s/m2 which for me is 30".

They've been requiring a bit more water since transplant. I started off at every 3 or 4 days before transplant and now water every other day. The soil moisture starts around 44% and gradually drops down to 29%. Below 29% they start to get droopy, so I'm catching them just before that point with watering. I didn't measure EC or pH this week, but I really should have (at least pH). They look a little bit washed out in the pictures (below), but that's just because the lights are so bright... if I pull them out for a photo opp, they look pretty lush.

I have noticed some fungus gnats, but nothing I'm waging war over at this point.

Here are a couple shots:

Plant #1:

Like I said, they look more washed out in the picture than real life... no yellowing or anything in-person.

I did notice that the fist plant seems to have a bit of clawing, but not the second plant. I don't think it's from an over-fert condition... for now I'm taking a bit of a watch(especially pH)-and-wait approach.

Well, that's it for my weekend update. Thanks for following!

 

[BabyTrees]

Looking good so far!

 

[adudecalledjay]

Looking good so far!

Thanks BabyTrees and welcome!

My runoff is still coming in high at 1,500 tds despite watering with straight tapwater of 320 tds -- but the plants seem to be okay. Hey, at least it's an improvement from fresh transplant when I was getting a whopping 6400 tds!

 

[BabyTrees]

Thanks BabyTrees and welcome!

My runoff is still coming in high at 1,500 tds despite watering with straight tapwater of 320 tds -- but the plants seem to be okay. Hey, at least it's an improvement from fresh transplant when I was getting a whopping 6400 tds!

Looks like the plants didn't mind too much! I only see one burnt tip, at least you know her peaks now! Haha