Thirvnrob's Power Plant - TLO Soil In SIP Containers

[Keffka]

Your weed will smell and taste differently though, as you will have swayed the plant from its genetic potential. Thats not nescessarily bad, just different, and much better than failure

Yes and it’s not a sweeter smell or taste like the herban myths (like that play on words? ) claim. It’s a noticeably muted scent that has harsher overtones in the smoke. Similar to synthetic, which makes sense, because you’re doing exactly what synthetic growers do, and making decisions for the plant.

 

[Gee64]

Molasses has saved almost as many organic grows as calmag has

 

[Gee64]

Yes and it’s not a sweeter smell or taste like the herban myths (like that play on words? ) claim. It’s a noticeably muted scent that has harsher overtones in the smoke. Similar to synthetic, which makes sense, because you’re doing exactly what synthetic growers do, and making decisions for the plant.

100%, but still very smokable. Just coughier.

 

[Gee64]

Herban myths I like that one. Keff I may plageurize that in the future

 

[Gee64]

That would be a good name for a perpetual journal trying out all the Herban myths, say maybe for a guy who is bored because he is waiting for his soil to cook...hint...hint...

 

[Gee64]

Myco drench? Enlighten me please...

On the back of the myco pack there will be mixing instructions for a soil drench. Basically a watering of the rootball with a water/myco mix to get fresh myco into the roots.

Myco spores need the bio-slime of a root to properly propagate so you rinse it in.

Try for little runoff as myco is expensive. You just need to get it into the roots and make contact.

If you have cloth pots you can make the solution in a tub and set the cloth pots in, then let them drip dry back into the tub before you soak the next one.

If I am just drenching 1 pot I pour it in, if I do the whole grow I do the pot soak. Small pots of 2 gals or less are far more susceptible to having a myco crash and needing a drench-rescue.

 

[Gee64]

I'm definitely talking prevention. I've heard that a top dressing may take a couple weeks to show results. What is EWC?

As Azi said, its Earth Worm Castings. For prevention you are best to have it in your soil and properly cooked in, and then at flip start top dressing it a bit too.

The plant needs phos its whole life as its vital to photosynthesis and proper sexual maturity, and it will build supplies for later but don't overdo it.

It needs a bit more in flower so topdress before stretch starts so 3 weeks later when stretch is over the top dressing is bio available.

Then do light top dressing every 10-14 days until the last couple weeks of flower.

At that point the phos won't become available before harvest. Its not a flushing thing, just an economical thing.

Edit: when I say you are best to have it cooked in I refer to phos sources such as bone meal and guanos. EWC does not need to be cooked in. Its most effective when its fresh. Also when I mention top dressing I mean some more guanos buried over by fresh EWC and watered in to moisten the guanos.

 

[Keffka]

100%, but still very smokable. Just coughier.

Oh it’s still extremely high quality. At those levels though small changes have big effects, like molasses and hotter smoke. Still far beyond anything I’ve ever purchased or smoked before though and that was off a rescued bagseed grow so yeah, pretty, pretty, pretty, good.

That would be a good name for a perpetual journal trying out all the Herban myths, say maybe for a guy who is bored because he is waiting for his soil to cook...hint...hint...

Shoot I prep solos today, and still have to reset the room. I procrastinate hardcore because I work well under pressure

 

[Thirvnrob]

One thing that's good about being on this site & journaling is "meeting" all of you guys (for clarity, guys to me is men & women with whom I have rapport). I joined this site during my first indoor grow in 2020 & reading back through my journals, I realize what I've learned here. And that learning curve just keeps getting longer. I feel like I'm an advanced beginner, ready to become an intermediate grower. I've always been obsessed by growing the Devil's lettuce, I'd just never been in a situation that was conducive to cultivation until August, 2020. That's when I met Tammy, who had just purchased a tent, lights, fans, filters & seeds. The purple kush was about 10 days above ground when we met & she showed them to me - it was love at first sight. I don't want to gush, but I mean, she has a pool table in what would otherwise be a dining room in most homes, & a grow tent in a spare bedroom. How could I walk away from that? Just kidding of course, we have a lot in common beyond those things, but anyway, she allowed me to take over the grow & here we are. She told me she would've already lost interest but that isn't the case with me. I'm more obsessed than ever & she's glad I took over. Fast forward to today & the recent bounty is curing nicely.

To recap, the three power plant produced 9-1/2 zips. I chose that strain because of the Sativa/Indica ratio & because of the expectation of large yields & I was satisfied with that & hoped the two Sour Diesel would be close to that. Well...

In spite of the Sour Diesel not looking so hot, they produced some fine quality bud that yielded over an elbow . I hit the wall trimming it & gave what was left to my sister in law. That was probably around 30 grams, but I didn’t weigh it. I also set aside maybe 14 grams for butter & that didn’t get weighed either. What went into jars weighed in at 15.6 ounces. What really intrigues me is that Sour Diesel is a 60/40 Sativa strain that I've grown before. I had originally intended to scrog them both, but one was not spreading out very much during veg & looking like an ornamental potted plant, so besides topping & a little LST, I let her be. The one I scrogged was the only time I've filled up Tammy's 3x3 tent. The other wasn't nearly as big a plant & they both had fatter buds than I expected. but the smaller one produced the tightest, most dense buds I've ever seen. The way they stacked up on this one was incredible. I use a mechanical trimmer, so I take as much off the stem as i can beforehand. I had several buds that weighed well over 7 grams each after taking everything I could off her colas. I wonder if she just expressed her Indica genes or whether there was a mix up at the breeder/supplier?

Anyway, thanks for all the helpful information. I’m about to start a new journal & hope you’ll follow along & keep me out of trouble. I’m waiting for some tech support before I start it though. I won’t bore y’all with the details but I think it’d be prudent to get some issues resolved first. Next up - Green Crack!

 

[Azimuth]

If you monitor your brix regularly it will tell you if the changes you make have a positive or negative effect.

How long should it takes to see brix move after a change? Next day? Give it a week?

 

[Keffka]

How long should it takes to see brix move after a change? Next day? Give it a week?

Correct me if I’m wrong @Gee64 but I believe you can see changes within hours in some cases.

 

[Azimuth]

If you get them addicted you will have to be their dealer until harvest, but you will definitely achieve harvest.

Your weed will smell and taste differently though, as you will have swayed the plant from its genetic potential. Thats not nescessarily bad, just different, and much better than failure.

For me, it's not a choice between really good and some theoretical max genetic potential, but rather between a bug ravaged plant and a decent harvest. So, I'm willing to be their dealer if necessary.

My thought was to feed them the molasses water until brix levels increased above 12 or the bugs were vanquished, and then play it by ear from there.

 

[Gee64]

How long should it takes to see brix move after a change? Next day? Give it a week?

usually 24-48 hours. I check weekly because a lot of organic things take about a week but teas and feeds work quicker.

 

[Gee64]

For me, it's not a choice between really good and some theoretical max genetic potential, but rather between a bug ravaged plant and a decent harvest. So, I'm willing to be their dealer if necessary.

My thought was to feed them the molasses water until brix levels increased above 12 or the bugs were vanquished, and then play it by ear from there.

I have never tried a constant feed of molasses water. Please keep us posted on the results.

Its more than just a need for sugar tho. A molasses feed gives the microbes a carbon rush and they multiply and get healthier. Its that improvement in microbe health that actually increases the brix, not the plant eating the sugar.

You still need adequate calcium, phosphorus, and oxygen, and as brix climbs due to the increase in photosynthesis you will have to continue to supply exponentially more cal,phos, O2, carbon, and microbes/fungii.

The whole package needs to snowball.

But if your soil has enough cal and phos, and its not to wet, then increasing carbon thru molasses will increase microbes and soil carbon.

Microbes, cal, phos, 02, and carbon are the main drivers in photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is what creates sugar.

Brix is a measurement of sugar content.

So you need it all and at a certain point the amount of light may become a limiting factor as well.

I have heard rumor that if half your light craps out, brix can crash and thrips may move in

 

[Carmen Ray]

You still need adequate calcium, phosphorus, and oxygen, and as brix climbs due to the increase in photosynthesis you will have to continue to supply exponentially more cal,phos, O2, carbon, and microbes/fungii.

Gee, what is the best way to ensure adequate calcium and phosphorous in an organic grow? Will healthy Brix also protect against bud rot and other moulds? Will microbes from a bottle and myco from a pack travel through the wicks to the soil on my swick? I am thinking of giving a weekly dose of all of that good stuff if it will work on the swick. Or, I could top water like I did the last time. I fed the plants from the top and wicked that water out onto a towel before returning them to the swick.

 

[Gee64]

Gee, what is the best way to ensure adequate calcium and phosphorous in an organic grow? Will healthy Brix also protect against bud rot and other moulds? Will microbes from a bottle and myco from a pack travel through the wicks to the soil on my swick? I am thinking of giving a weekly dose of all of that good stuff if it will work on the swick. Or, I could top water like I did the last time. I fed the plants from the top and wicked that water out onto a towel before returning them to the swick.

Phos is easy, build it into your soil before you plant. It needs to be cooked in to get some available early.

We have all been programmed to think phos is a flower thing, but the plant needs phos in veg, just like it needs nitro in flower. It just needs more phos in flower and more nitro in veg.

Bone meal and high phos guanos are excellent phos ammendments and of coarse soft rock phosphate as well as granular rock phosphate. In Canada we have a product called glacial rock dust and I add some of that too. It also is high in silicates.

It all needs to be cooked in, and if you decide you are going to add extra just cuz, it could go wrong, so just follow a good reputable soil recipe and phos will be fine. Too much phos is not good in organics.

I like The Rev's recipes but Subcool or Coots or any of the other popular ones are all good. Rev's just pays a little more attention to detail is all, but it's also a bit more complicated to get all the ingredients.

Calcium is the same in that it needs to be cooked in but calcium is heavy so it leaches down.

Thats not a problem for the nutritional calcium the plant eats, but its a huge problem for the vitality of the soil as calcium keeps soil open and un-compacted with its double positive charge. It allows water and air in, and air is 78% nitrogen. Free nitrogen is nice.

If you let your pot dry out and the top is crusty you need calcium up top. Your air is being restricted.

I use oyster shell flour, gypsum, and dolomite lime in my mix that gets cooked in, and I constantly add EWC as a top dressing, which is loaded with calcium, (phos too) and gently top water it in.

The real thing to remember when raising brix is you have to photosynthesize more to create more sugar. To do that it requires more cal, phos, O2, carbon, and more or stronger microbes. At a certain point it may require more light too.

I don't try to raise my brix as the grow progresses. I track my brix, but if I am not happy with the results I make an adjustment on the next grow and see if I get higher brix.

Also if I try something new like say a liquid kelp in place of kelp meal, or adding weed meal to the mix, I monitor brix and see if its better, worse, or no change.

Then I transfer the brix knowledge to my veggie garden to increase the nutritional value of what I grow.

I posted an hour long video in Geespot a few days back. Its a slow starter but it has excellent brix info in it. Its actually about bugs but bugs and brix go hand in hand.

You just need to get thru the 1st 15 minutes, which is pretty boring, then it gets interesting.

 

[Keffka]

Will healthy Brix also protect against bud rot and other moulds

No.. Brix does not give bud rot or mold protection. The reason it gives pest protection is because bugs cannot digest the plant without dying. They know this and the plant knows this. The high sugar content turns to alcohol in their system and they die so they don’t even bother with the high brix plants. It’s thought that bugs can literally see the high brix content in the plants; or rather, they can’t see the plant at all, it’s essentially invisible to them, when the plant is healthy and has high brix.

The number one way to prevent mold and bud rot is airflow and air exchange. I run 60 rh for all of flower. I could run 80 rh if I wanted too. The key is air exchange and air flow. Getting old, damp, stale air out with fresh clean new air. The easiest way to accomplish this all depends on your environment. If you’re in a closed tent system, a strong in-line fan with enough cfm to replace the air in your room every 5 minutes will be close to enough but you would also want a few fans just to be sure.

In a setup like mine which is open walled and completely passive, I use oscillating fans that blow directly on the plants. This exchanges the air between the plants constantly. Training really helps with this. Opening up the plant so air can flow through the whole thing and none of the branches are laying on each other or in a position where they block air exchange.

The simplest way to think about it is, you want to do whatever you can to make sure the air in your grow is completely replaced every 5 minutes

 

[StoneOtter]

One thing that's good about being on this site & journaling is "meeting" all of you guys (for clarity, guys to me is men & women with whom I have rapport). I joined this site during my first indoor grow in 2020 & reading back through my journals, I realize what I've learned here. And that learning curve just keeps getting longer. I feel like I'm an advanced beginner, ready to become an intermediate grower. I've always been obsessed by growing the Devil's lettuce, I'd just never been in a situation that was conducive to cultivation until August, 2020. That's when I met Tammy, who had just purchased a tent, lights, fans, filters & seeds. The purple kush was about 10 days above ground when we met & she showed them to me - it was love at first sight. I don't want to gush, but I mean, she has a pool table in what would otherwise be a dining room in most homes, & a grow tent in a spare bedroom. How could I walk away from that? Just kidding of course, we have a lot in common beyond those things, but anyway, she allowed me to take over the grow & here we are. She told me she would've already lost interest but that isn't the case with me. I'm more obsessed than ever & she's glad I took over. Fast forward to today & the recent bounty is curing nicely.

To recap, the three power plant produced 9-1/2 zips. I chose that strain because of the Sativa/Indica ratio & because of the expectation of large yields & I was satisfied with that & hoped the two Sour Diesel would be close to that. Well...

In spite of the Sour Diesel not looking so hot, they produced some fine quality bud that yielded over an elbow . I hit the wall trimming it & gave what was left to my sister in law. That was probably around 30 grams, but I didn’t weigh it. I also set aside maybe 14 grams for butter & that didn’t get weighed either. What went into jars weighed in at 15.6 ounces. What really intrigues me is that Sour Diesel is a 60/40 Sativa strain that I've grown before. I had originally intended to scrog them both, but one was not spreading out very much during veg & looking like an ornamental potted plant, so besides topping & a little LST, I let her be. The one I scrogged was the only time I've filled up Tammy's 3x3 tent. The other wasn't nearly as big a plant & they both had fatter buds than I expected. but the smaller one produced the tightest, most dense buds I've ever seen. The way they stacked up on this one was incredible. I use a mechanical trimmer, so I take as much off the stem as i can beforehand. I had several buds that weighed well over 7 grams each after taking everything I could off her colas. I wonder if she just expressed her Indica genes or whether there was a mix up at the breeder/supplier?

Anyway, thanks for all the helpful information. I’m about to start a new journal & hope you’ll follow along & keep me out of trouble. I’m waiting for some tech support before I start it though. I won’t bore y’all with the details but I think it’d be prudent to get some issues resolved first. Next up - Green Crack!

My advice is, if that girl shows up towing a boat, ask her to marry you Rob!

 

[Gee64]

Gee, what is the best way to ensure adequate calcium and phosphorous in an organic grow? Will healthy Brix also protect against bud rot and other moulds? Will microbes from a bottle and myco from a pack travel through the wicks to the soil on my swick? I am thinking of giving a weekly dose of all of that good stuff if it will work on the swick. Or, I could top water like I did the last time. I fed the plants from the top and wicked that water out onto a towel before returning them to the swick.

As for microbes travelling Carmen, If water that has microbes in it can flow to an area, the microbes will too. Most microbes live in water, even in soil.

 

[Thirvnrob]

I’m starting a new journal in a few days but I have a question about the baby girls. The main vein of some of the leaves are a lighter color . Any ideas?