Emmie's Organic Garden Using Advanced Lighting Techniques

[Emilya Green]

Thank you for clicking onto my thread, I hope that it will prove to be interesting for you. I am growing in a 2 part mixture following the recommendations and recipe provided by SubCool a few years back. My base soil is a 3:1 mixture of a common Hardware Store Organic soil and a very rich city recycling center compost. The supersoil is the exact recipe published in multiple places on the web from SubCool; please Google it if you are interested in its components. If there is interest, I have a wish list created on Amazon.com that shows all of the readily available parts of the mixture.

I am also playing with the lighting quite a bit this time, having had done some extensive experiments in flower with 10/14 and 11/13 lighting in bloom, trying to get tighter and juicier buds. This time I am also experimenting in the veg room, using a method called 12-1. The lights are on for 12 hours, off for 5.5, on for an hour just to wake them up, and then off for another 5.5 hours. This tricks the plants into thinking they are still vegging, and uses much less electricity than 18/6 or 24/0. So far, it seems to be working fine... the plants seem to love it, and everyone is still vegging, even though the plants could be sent to bloom at any time.

In bloom I will also be playing games with the lights, and never will be at 12/12. Although it was proven last year that 12/12 develops bigger buds than 10/14 or 11/13, I still think that there is a better way to do this, after all, the plants outside only see 12/12 for a week. My plants will start bloom at 11.5/12.5 and then I will shave off 15 minutes, alternating which end, until 9 weeks have occurred, and then we will stay steady at 10/14 until the end. Along with this, I have modified my big Raptor AC Hood to accept a second light. I will be running a 600w HPS during each entire light period, but for 3 hours each "day" to simulate NOON, a 600w MH will also come on.

I have one fan dedicated to moving room air through the light and back out of the tent, another fan dedicated to the BIG carbon filter mounted at the ceiling, and a powerful oscillating fan moving a lot of air around the tent. There is no heat problem in my tent, and there is a massive amount of air exchange, even when the lights are off.

I have tried many methods over the years from SCRog under t5's in the beginning, to hydro, to hempy... I have grown in FoxFarms using their stuff, I have grown in Miracle Grow. I have used Botanicare, FoxFarms and Jack's nutrient lines in the past and over the years have had some great successes and some classic failures. This year's grow is an attempt to put all that I have learned together to create a superior grow... not just to anything I have ever done, but I am going for the wow factor when people see my product. Everyone says this... but this time I think I might just pull it off.

Things are going very well in the veg tent right now. The plants are all at the 3 week to 1 month stage and most of them have been topped twice. A couple got accidental FIM's, but they are now coming along nicely and I will have at least 4 tops on each plant. They just yesterday were moved from Solo/beer cups to 3 quart containers, half filled with Supersoil and the rest base soil mix. The only thing I am using on them is tap water, pH adjusted to 6.5. There are 4 AK-47 regulars in this group, and one female Green Crack and one female Tangerine Dream.

I apologize in advance for the couple of sideways pictures... I guess I need to actually read the FAQ on posting pictures and figure out what I did wrong.

The Tribe

Here is the Tangerine Dream, showing off her pretty FIM job:

Here is the Green Crack, getting bigger by the second:

And lastly, here is one of the AK-47's, topped twice and growing fast:

So there is the garden... so far so good. I plan to go to flower after transplanting them into 5 gallon containers, guessing about 3 weeks from now. We will have fun in the garden, you and I... I hope you stop by every time you see an update.

Be well everyone.... Blessings from Emmie's Garden.

 

[Dchannn]

Best of luck, I like your set up.

All the best

 

[Emilya Green]

(Veg, Day 30 and 25)


Today finds the crew adjusted quite well to their last transplant to 3q containers and beginning to use water very strongly. It has been 3 days since the transplant and as of last night I finally saw strong transpiration again, with all the leaves strongly looking upward. I am convinced that the 12-1 is a very good way to veg, seeing this incredible growth and their inability to go into flower. Three of the plants have now shown their sex... two males with the classic bumps and/or structures on stalks, and one beautiful AK girl with her first pistils. All of the plants have gotten their final topping and now we are going for size. The side growth on all plants has been phenomenal and I am going to allow the first set of buds below the tops also come up to the top, everything below that will be going into producing clones for the next run. I don't know for sure on one of the AK's yet, but it looks at this moment like I will be going into flower with 4 plants on this first mini run, we will shoot for 9-12 for the next several runs before I again shut down for the summer next year.


Here is a shot of the entire room and a crowd of very happy plants who like their super soil and nothing but water:

I also want to make a point about damaged leaves that so many people feel a need to cut off. I do not cut off leaves that have gotten into trouble, first so I don't pass the problem up to the next leaf in line, and second so I can see if I fixed the problem that caused it. The following damaged leaves happened in the first week above soil as 2 of the plants encountered root constriction in a much too thick soil. The problem was immediately corrected, and these leaves came back as far as they could, and stayed attached. They are still attached, a mark of pride that a problem was quickly identified and corrected.

This girl insisted that we take a picture of the first pistil in the grow room this season... she is very proud.

And lastly, let's do some glamor shots of our star performers. First, our beautiful and very thick growing Green Crack. She is a real beauty and will be sending 6 top buds into flower, as well as producing 4-6 clones.

Here is what I still hope is a female AK-47:

And here is the Tangerine Dream:

One last note on the color... These photos show a bit of coloration in the leaves that was not apparent to the naked eye. I believe what we see here in some of the shots that I took before bed last night are still showing a bit of stress from the last transplant, but compare these to the group shot that I took this morning at the top of this message. Here you can see that this ridging is gone, the color is a consistent deep green and that everyone looks happy. This is a a clear lesson in not to freak when seeing predictable reactions to things we do to our plants in the grow room... given everything they need, they bounce back quite nicely.


Be well everyone... I hope your gardens are doing at least this well and that all of your plants are happy.

Emmie

 

[Emilya Green]

This is the start of the 4th virtual morning since up-potting to 3q containers, and still they don't need watering. Lift test tells me maybe another day... maybe longer. Chase that water new roots... chase that water all the way down deep into the well cooked super soil at your feet...


A few of the fans in the middle of a couple of the plants show that they were burned ever so slightly when they were put into the 3q containers... but they quickly got over that, and they show no signs of burning at all in all the growth above that. The color is a healthy forest green, but not so deep green to cause concern. The super soil mix seems to be a good one, and so far, I see no troubles associated with the soil or lack of any other nutrients.


Two plants have declared themselves male at this point, and they are sticking around to show us how well the 12-1 keeps them in check... you know how boys can be. So far so good... their little goodie bags are sitting up in their little stalks all alone... just waiting, not clustering, each plant trying to outdo the other with the size of their prepubescent bundles. Only one girl has shown herself, but as you know, there is always one in every crowd. This hussy is now sporting a second pistil, while the others, embarrassingly, have none. The two feminized plants are about 5 days behind everyone else, so I am not hurrying them any... but this last AK-47 does seem to be a shy little wallflower. I expect that shortly after watering, whenever that happens, she will not be able to contain herself, and pistils will be flying everywhere, but for now, we wait, baffled by her modesty.


That's it for now... no pictures tonight; no one has done anything significant to merit a shot. They know what to do though, and I am sure a picture will happen soon.


That's all from Emmie's garden tonight. Be well everyone!

 

[Robert Celt]

Hello Emilya

I have seen you post a few places and the most recent mentioning your journal and your lighting ideas so I thought I would pop by and say hello

You should consider adding a link to this in your Sig. I found your journal but many here are really not all that computer savvy and aren't likely to find you.

I see you have interest in SubCool's super soil, I think its a good recipe but is pricey to make. Chances are you can find cheaper amendments, than his soil calls for, locally. And some you probably have in your house right now If you are interested in more about organic super soils, let me know, there are quite a few of us here that grow in them

Anyway, now that I found you, I will be following along to see how your intended light schedules work

 

[Emilya Green]

Hello Emilya

I have seen you post a few places and the most recent mentioning your journal and your lighting ideas so I thought I would pop by and say hello

You should consider adding a link to this in your Sig. I found your journal but many here are really not all that computer savvy and aren't likely to find you.

I see you have interest in SubCool's super soil, I think its a good recipe but is pricey to make. Chances are you can find cheaper amendments, than his soil calls for, locally. And some you probably have in your house right now If you are interested in more about organic super soils, let me know, there are quite a few of us here that grow in them

Anyway, now that I found you, I will be following along to see how your intended light schedules work

Thanks for stopping by TheCelt, and for the suggestion to add this link. It was done immediately upon reading your comment, thank you.

Considering the price of nutes and other designer soils, the super soil was not all that bad to put together. First I found a smaller recipe and instead of making a pickup load of the stuff like SubCool suggested, I made a mini batch... just enough for two 4 or 5 plant runs in 5 gallon buckets. I used cheap locally available compost to mix with a cheap commercial organic soil for my base, and my total cost for the rest of the stuff that I couldnt get locally, like the Epsom Salts, cost me about $100 through Amazon... delivered right to my maildrop location. I would have spent at least that much on nutes and other supplies for 2 runs anyway, and then there is the fact that this soil will be re-used to consider. I am not so sure that SuperSoil done right and kept viable, is going to be all that expensive, and the longer I am able to use it, the cheaper it gets.
I have been reading on here about the organic stuff... matter of fact, that is what got me active on 420mag... I have been lurking on here since 2011, but never posted until recently.

 

[Emilya Green]

Happy Monday everyone! It is time for an update. All is going well and everyone is thriving. The 12-1 light is keeping bloom activity from happening and the plants appear to love it. Topping is now done and the plants are as complicated at the top as I want them to be for 5 gal buckets, and now I am concentrating on the roots and watching the plants turn into bushes. The tallest are about a foot tall at this point and everyone has 6-8 top buds to go to flower with.

I got to the 6th day without watering after the transplant and although they were all light when lifted, they were not totally water free. Living soil probably should not be dried out to Sahara Desert dry so as to keep the medium alive, so I broke my own soil rules and watered... 6 days in a 3q container is starting to get on the scary side. The plants responded to it well and gave me a strong growth spurt the first day and then just seemed to perk up overall. I will watch this watering very carefully, but I doubt they will go that long this next time and I expect the wet dry cycle to be about 4 days this time. Two more days and we will know.

Here are the pictures:

Tangerine Dream

Green Crack

 

[Emilya Green]

(Veg, Month and a Half)


Greetings Fans and Fanettes, it is time for an update... significant things have happened.


First, the two boys have been banished to the love tent. The 12-1 has held them off from doing anything very effectively, but after 24 hours of 12/12, the first boy already looks like he is ready to pop with his first load of pollen... the switch is going to be extremely rapid with these plants, that is for sure. There will be no need or desire to start them out with a period of darkness... they are ready to go as soon as I quit waking them up in the middle of the night.

Then not to be outdone, the girls demanded glamor shots, even though still only our frisky harlett of an AK is showing pistils. All the girls are getting bigger and wider by the day.


AK-47 (miss frisky)

AK-47 #2

Green Crack

Tangerine Dream

Here is a side view of the GC and the TD so you can see their node development. I love the internodal spacing, not too short and not to stretchy... still the tallest plants are only about a foot tall.

Lastly, the wet/dry cycle is definitely shortening. Three of the oldest plants went down to 4 days. The green crack shortened to 5 days. Because this is super soil (a living entity) I am not drying them out completely, but I am trying to get them 90% dry before watering.

 

[Rifleman]

 

[veinz]

 

[MagicJim]

Sittin' in. Grow 'em well.

 

[Pigeons420]

Here you are!

You've got things rockin in here. I'm gonna sit in the back and watch you strut your stuff!

 

[electro gypsy]

Thanks for stopping by TheCelt, and for the suggestion to add this link. It was done immediately upon reading your comment, thank you.

Considering the price of nutes and other designer soils, the super soil was not all that bad to put together. First I found a smaller recipe and instead of making a pickup load of the stuff like SubCool suggested, I made a mini batch... just enough for two 4 or 5 plant runs in 5 gallon buckets. I used cheap locally available compost to mix with a cheap commercial organic soil for my base, and my total cost for the rest of the stuff that I couldnt get locally, like the Epsom Salts, cost me about $100 through Amazon... delivered right to my maildrop location. I would have spent at least that much on nutes and other supplies for 2 runs anyway, and then there is the fact that this soil will be re-used to consider. I am not so sure that SuperSoil done right and kept viable, is going to be all that expensive, and the longer I am able to use it, the cheaper it gets.
I have been reading on here about the organic stuff... matter of fact, that is what got me active on 420mag... I have been lurking on here since 2011, but never posted until recently.

I started lurking here about the same time lol. I think seeing some real talent here (poster of thread included) is what brought me out. That and the gathering darkness.. also known as winter coming lol. Once the mushroom season finishes up it's back to focusing on plants.

Pulling up a yoga mat for this one.

 

[CyTheElectric]

Count me in! Cant pass up the organic grow. I'll be watching from the sidelines. Good luck!!

 

[Emilya Green]

(veg, 6 and 7 weeks)


Greetings world... it is Monday and it is time for an update.


This update finds us with all plants now reporting in as to their sexual preferences, and as suspected earlier, we have 4 females in the tent. The two AK-47 boys are busy doing what boys do in the love tent, and I suspect that in about a week I will have all the pollen that I need to selectively pollinate individual branches of the plants in the bloom room. We will get of course AK-47/AK-47, but also am going to see what happens with an AK/Green Crack and AK/Tangerine Dream cross too. I love playing around with all the phenotypes that result from such a mass pairing, and I like knowing that I will never run out of seeds.


So, the two AK-47's are starting to get taller now that all the pinching has stopped, and are now approaching 18 inches. They are the oldest of the group, and the two younger ones are about 6" behind them in vertical height. This shouldn't be too much of a difficulty to make the adjustments in order to have an even canopy in flower and I still hope that the TD and the GC will catch up in stretch.


Green Crack has turned out to be the strongest grower of the group so far, and the first to show a shortened wet/dry cycle. I gave her oxygenated water on Halloween day and by last night, she was wanting more. Her cycle has gone to about 1.5 days while her sisters in the tent seem to all be at 3 days at the moment. It is clear that they are all about to outgrow the 3q containers and we are about to move everyone to their 5 gal buckets this week.


Everyone has been pinched to the point of craziness and each plant will have 16 to 18 top colas. They are all beginning to get wide at the top, and over this next two weeks that will be very apparent. Plans are to get them in their final buckets this week and let them settle in and continue to bush out until Nov 15, when we will stop this 12-1 nonsense, take my clones and clean up all the below canopy growth and give them a very flowering inducing light period of 11.5/12.5. After that first week, I will be reducing the light period by 15 minutes each week, taking it off of the back end one week, the front end the next and the computer program is already programmed up to do this for me automatically. I will be switching to HPS light for flower and for 3 hours around virtual NOON in the tent, we will turn the 600w MH back on, doubling the light coming at them, and giving them the full spectrum of light. It is my theory that this 1200w of light for 3 hours each day will simulate the sun in such an understandable way to the plants, that the net effect will be close to running both lights full time. We will find out together if this turns out to be true.


Without further ado, here are the pictures, probably the last time you will see them in 3q containers sitting on a table.


GREEN CRACK

Tangerine Dream

AK-47 #1

AK-47 #2

 

[Pigeons420]

 

[Robert Celt]

Looking good Emilya

 

[MagicJim]

(veg, 6 and 7 weeks)


Greetings world... it is Monday and it is time for an update.


This update finds us with all plants now reporting in as to their sexual preferences, and as suspected earlier, we have 4 females in the tent. The two AK-47 boys are busy doing what boys do in the love tent, and I suspect that in about a week I will have all the pollen that I need to selectively pollinate individual branches of the plants in the bloom room. We will get of course AK-47/AK-47, but also am going to see what happens with an AK/Green Crack and AK/Tangerine Dream cross too. I love playing around with all the phenotypes that result from such a mass pairing, and I like knowing that I will never run out of seeds.


So, the two AK-47's are starting to get taller now that all the pinching has stopped, and are now approaching 18 inches. They are the oldest of the group, and the two younger ones are about 6" behind them in vertical height. This shouldn't be too much of a difficulty to make the adjustments in order to have an even canopy in flower and I still hope that the TD and the GC will catch up in stretch.


Green Crack has turned out to be the strongest grower of the group so far, and the first to show a shortened wet/dry cycle. I gave her oxygenated water on Halloween day and by last night, she was wanting more. Her cycle has gone to about 1.5 days while her sisters in the tent seem to all be at 3 days at the moment. It is clear that they are all about to outgrow the 3q containers and we are about to move everyone to their 5 gal buckets this week.


Everyone has been pinched to the point of craziness and each plant will have 16 to 18 top colas. They are all beginning to get wide at the top, and over this next two weeks that will be very apparent. Plans are to get them in their final buckets this week and let them settle in and continue to bush out until Nov 15, when we will stop this 12-1 nonsense, take my clones and clean up all the below canopy growth and give them a very flowering inducing light period of 11.5/12.5. After that first week, I will be reducing the light period by 15 minutes each week, taking it off of the back end one week, the front end the next and the computer program is already programmed up to do this for me automatically. I will be switching to HPS light for flower and for 3 hours around virtual NOON in the tent, we will turn the 600w MH back on, doubling the light coming at them, and giving them the full spectrum of light. It is my theory that this 1200w of light for 3 hours each day will simulate the sun in such an understandable way to the plants, that the net effect will be close to running both lights full time. We will find out together if this turns out to be true.


Without further ado, here are the pictures, probably the last time you will see them in 3q containers sitting on a table.

for explaining all the above for people like me. I'm not sure when I'll grow regular seeds again as I need to build a supply of product but I really am interested in breeding for the seeds. Great job!

 

[Major PITA]

I'm loving the advice I see you give others so I had to come on over and see what you're up to.
It looks as good as I knew it would.

 

[Emilya Green]

I'm loving the advice I see you give others so I had to come on over and see what you're up to.
It looks as good as I knew it would.

Thank you Major... I consider that high praise. I know that I sort of burst onto the scene here lately with my opinionated views on things... was hoping not to step on too many toes. I have been doing this for a while, both the growing and giving advice online, and until now had confined myself to smaller boards with my sometimes snarky comments. My philosophy on this is that when I started in this hobby, I was as dumb and stupid as most, and more stubborn than many... and I had to overcome this to become the gardener that I am today. I had some great teachers as I came up, many who are referenced in my signature line quotes, and now I feel that it is karmically dictated that I pay this favor that was bestowed on me, forward. I have saved many a garden on the various forums that I haunt, and it looks to me like you and several others on 420mag have the same deep desire to help new people that I do. I know we all answer the same questions over and over and have to sometimes restrain ourselves from laughing, or in the case of medical patients, crying... wishing that somehow, some way, we could get through to them, and have them see what it is we are trying to teach them, to save their garden. I find that I have the gift of words... I can explain things. I see that same dedication in some of you here at 420mag, and seeing that, I know that I am at home, among friends.

Thank you for your acceptance Major... it means more to me than you could know.