lootznbootz
Well-Known Member
Hello & Welcome 
To what I expect to be a banger of a grow and journal!Hello & Welcome I want to start by saying I have the worst luck on any forum when it comes to starting a journal!
Last journal and now this one I typed out an amazing start to a journal only to save it and still lose it when I went back to finally finish it!
So please bear with me as I attempt to recapture lighting in a bottle!
I just finished my first grow back after a few years away from the hobby. It featured 4 plastic pots Vs 1 SIP using Roots Organics bottles, under 3 150w IONGRID's from ACI.
It was a whirlwind to the finish, but we did finish! If you're interested in checking that journal out, you can find it Here.
I'm about 6 weeks into flower on my second grow since my return. That grow features 5 SIPs VS 1 plastic pot. Using Roots Organics bottles under 2 XS2000's from Vipar. It has its own set of challenges but is going strong! You can find and follow along with that grow Here.
Since getting back into the hobby, I feel like I have been making up for lost time, looking for the best method to fit my lifestyle and grow the best flower I could.
I knew that I wanted to grow organically, which is why I was drawn to the most organic labels I could find while sticking with a bottle program like something I was used to.
Throughout both of these grows I've learned and relearned an amazing amount of knowledge.
I've also come to learn that using bottles and the bottled way of feeding the plants just does not work for the number of plants I need to grow.
I have nothing against Roots Organics and their products. It is more to do with the methodology of using bottles.
I think their products are solid and could get really good results. Check out @Grand Daddy Black who uses their dry nutrient line for an example of what their products can really do!
I tossed this idea around for a while as well.
I spoke to the owner of my local garden supply store that I've built a relationship with over the past year since purchasing my soil, nutrients and any other odds and ends I need. He recommended I check out Build a Soil.
Let me preface this by saying I AM IN NO WAY ADVERTISING OR PROMOTING this company other than to tell you what I'm using and how i got there.
I watched their videos on YT and really enjoyed the content. It really helped me to understand and visualize the process.
I found comfort in the fact that they repeatedly say you do not need to buy anything from them.
If I wanted to follow their recipe with inputs I could only source locally and never purchase anything from them they would help as best, they could to get me going in the right direction.
I felt like if I was going to take such a deep dive into this method customer service like that could go a long way if I run into problems later on.
That being said.
The company isn't doing anything new or proprietary. (They never claim to be)
They are simply using the Clackamas Coot recipe with a few minor tweaks which is as follows:
- 1 Cubic Foot of BAS Worm Castings
- 1 Cubic Foot of Oly Mountain Fish Compost
- 2 Cubic Feet of Organic New Mexico Pumice
- 1 Cubic Foot of Par Boiled Rice Hulls
- 1 Two Gallon Bag of BAS PreCharged Bio-char w/Rootwise Mycrobe Complete
- 4 Cubic Feet of Fluffed Organic Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
- 2 ozJay Plantspeaker's Quillaja Extract Powder 20
- >=20% Saponin (Most Raw With sugars and Polyphenols)
- 1/2 lbKashi Blend
- Kashi Blend is derived from organic molasses, organic rice bran, organic wheat bran, organic soybean meal, organic insect frass, EM-1, and trace minerals.
Post Fermentation: Organic powdered malted barley and charged biochar that's been inoculated with Rootwise Mycrobe Complete
- Kashi Blend is derived from organic molasses, organic rice bran, organic wheat bran, organic soybean meal, organic insect frass, EM-1, and trace minerals.
- 1 8 lbClackamasCoots Style Nutrient Kit
- Crustacean Meal - Crab and Shrimp
- Kelp Meal - Thorvin Brand Ascophyllum Nodosum
- Neem Cake/Karanja Cake - 70/30 Premium Organic Neem Cake Imported from India (West Coast Horticulture or Neem Resource)
- Milled Malted Barley Organic 2 Row
- 1 27 lbBuildASoil Mineral Mix
- BuildASoil Basalt - Our Favorite Rock Dust for trace minerals. Highly paramagnetic.
- Gypsum Dust - Calcium and Sulfur
- Oyster Shell Flour - Calcium Carbonate - Adds available calcium and limes the Peat moss.
The other will be for the 3x3 bed when the SIP journal finishes out in a few weeks.
This soil kit as is SHOULD BE enough for a water only grow, barring you don't grow too big of plants for the size container you're in.
With that being said I went ahead and ordered a nutrient kit as well which is said to be enough for 1-12 plants.
It contains the following:
| Size | Product Name |
| 2 Gal | BuildAFlower Top Dress Oly Mountain Fish Compost, BuildASoil Worm Castings, Diamond K Ag Gypsum, High P Organic Rice Bran, Thorvin Icelandic Kelp Meal, Organic Mustard Seed Meal, BuildASoil Pre Charged Bio-char with Rootwise Mycrobe Complete |
| 1 oz | BuildASoil Aloe Vera Powder Aloe Vera Powder Flakes |
| 2 oz | Rootwise Bio-Phos A full-spectrum soil inoculant formulated with an emphasis on microbes which mobilize Phosphorus in all soils. |
| 2 oz | Rootwise Mycrobe Complete A diverse inoculum of Beneficial Microbes and Mycorrhizae which establish soil-to-root relationships that may assist nutrient uptake, pathogen resistance, and overall plant vigor. |
| 1 Log | Blue Oyster Mushroom Straw Log Made from certified organic straw and a specially selected Blue Oyster colonized grain. |
| 2 oz | Jay Plantspeaker Organic Quillaja Extract Powder >=20% Saponin (Most Raw With sugars and Polyphenols) |
| 1/2 lb | BuildASoil Cover Crop Blend 12 seed 60% Clover Seed from 4 types of clover. |
| 3 lb | BuildASoil Craft Blend
|
| 100g | BuildASoil Big 6 Micros Manganese and 5 other Micro-nutrients like Boron, Cobalt, Copper, Molybdenum and Zinc |
| 1.5lb | BuildASoil Aminos Plant based water soluble nitrogen 16-0-0 |
| 1 qt | BuildASoil EM-5 Purified Water, Organic EM-1, Organic Apple Juice Concentrate, Organic Grape Alcohol, Organic Yucca Extract, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Peppermint Essential Oil. |
| 2 lb | Kashi Blend derived from organic molasses, organic rice bran, organic wheat bran, organic soybean meal, organic insect frass, EM-1, and trace minerals. Post Fermentation: Organic powdered malted barley and charged biochar that's been inoculated with Rootwise Mycrobe Complete |
| 1 lb | BuildABloom |
| 1/2 lb | BuildASoil Freeze Dried Coconut pure all natural freeze dried young coconut water powder |
After cleaning my tent with a couple of different products. All safe to use around organics of course!
I put together the soil bed and set it into my tent.
The kits did come with a 100 gal pot to mix the soil in, but I chose to mix it in the tent in the final container.
I layered the ingredients and moistened the peatmoss as I went so it wasn't completely dry but also not too heavy to mix.
This was a lot of soil and is heavy! It took a lot of effort but luckily less time as my dad stepped in to give me a hand.
We made sure to get it thoroughly mixed all the way through to the bottom.
Then I watered 5% of the soil volume which is 3.5 gallons.
I sprinkled the 1/2 lb of Kashi Blend into the top of the soil and scratched it into the surface. I then watered another 1/2 gallon of water to tie it all in.
I put my tent on a 16/8 schedule and left only the middle board on 10% for the first few days.
After 2 days there was a nice fuzzy layer of mycelium covering the top of the soil. Things were officially in motion!
A couple weeks ago in preparation for this grow I took 12 clones from my Purple Bubba Kush Mother from Greenpoint Seeds.
This strain has somewhat taken over my grows and I'm excited it's the first strain to take advantage of the organic system.
The reason for taking so many clones? I needed the space and needed to reset my mother.
In order to veg these clones I had to crank the lights and really ramp them up which would have made my mother plant far too large to maintain in good health. I was better to take as many clones as I could from her and start over with a smaller plant.
The clones have been sitting in solo cups of LUSH soil and had only had water until Saturday 3/25. I watered them with the first bits of the system.
I mixed less than a 1/4 teaspoon of
- Rootwise complete
- Aloe
- coconut
- Quillaja extract
To 1 Gal of water and watered the solo cups.
I then realized that I should have added the Rootwise to the water when preparing my soil initially, so I gave the top of the soil bed a spray but made sure not to disturb the mycelium just yet.
I zipped the tents up and left the garden for the weekend.
On Monday 3/27 mycelium growth had about stopped and so I gave the soil a check. The surface temp was not hot to the touch.
The mycelium had colonized the top layer of soil and formed a crust.
I gave the soil bed a good mixing again and found a few dry spots throughout the soil. No unmixed pockets of any one ingredient and there was some heat when digging into the soil.
No more than my own body temperature.
The clones in solo cups that had been chosen for the soil bed had dried their cups again. They all seemed to have liked the bits of additional nutrition as well.
I decided that in an attempt to get them a little larger before going into the soil bed I would uppot them so that they can stretch out a bit and add some growth while the bed finishes getting ready. Also help to avoid them being rootbound going into the bed and going so dry in-between me being able to water them.
I decided to give them a "feeding" if you will following the BAS Nutrient schedule.
I went with miniscule amounts again just to be on the safe side, but also because its not really about feedng the plants as it is about feeding the soil.
Granted they are in LUSH soil for now but I think it will be better to maintain these elements later if we build a base in the soil now.
So, to give them "something" at transplant I gave them less than a 1/4 teaspoon of:
- Aminos
- Big 6 micros
- Rootwise complete
- Q (wetting agent)
After transplanting them I went to the soil that had been remixed a few times throughout the day and sprinkled in the cover crop seeds.
I used that same water for the transplants to water in the cover crop.
I then layered in the mulch layer and watered it in as well. The mulch was covered in beneficial mycelium and had a bit of moisture to it already, so I didn't need to add much.
After that was done, I dropped in no more than 10 red wrigglers from my local worm farmer. I'm very fortunate to have a quality worm farmer very very very local to me.
That brings us to today 3/28 or at least for another hour or so if I can get this finished by then.
There is nothing to do other than maybe I could sprinkle some water over the top just to keep the cover crop moist and germinating but I will choose to wait and do that tomorrow.
I was able to find a seed or 2 that look to be germinating so I won't rush it.
Although the soil bed is on the drier side right now, I'd much rather that than too much moisture I have no way of removing.
Which is why the cover crop will come in handy to regulate that a bit on the top layer before we put our plants in.
When I do transplant them into the bed, I will be aiming for closer to the 10% of soil volume to water in.
That will be the most water I will ever put into the bed at one time and only if it truly needs it.
Otherwise, I will be sticking to less is more and going with 3.5 gals or 5% and using that as a guide to maintain the right moisture levels.
As far as waterings go I will be using R/o water. I know it's not needed but it's the only "filtered" water I have so better that than tap although tap shouldn't be an issue either.
I will not be adjusting PH or even checking the PH of water going into the soil bed.
I also will be following the advanced supplementation schedule but will be following it very loosely as I find my own way to managing the needs of my garden. Falling back on it for reference when and if needed.
I think that brings us current and gives a pretty in depth look at what this grow is about.
If you have any questions or comments maybe suggestions please chime in. I'm looking forward to any help with LOS as I can get and Thank you in advance!
Also as always I say it every time becasue I mean it THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!
The one thing you can spend limitlessly but never get back and the fact that you spent some following along with me means alot!
A couple more tags before I forget
@greenvein
@StoneOtter
@AspenCultivator
@Melville Hobbes
@Keffka
@Kanno26
@sjb504
@Carmen Ray
@CrochetingHybrids
@Bill284
@Fudo Myoo
@Braddah Waiheesohai
@Weffalo
@InTheShed
@Emilya Green
Please feel free to tag someone you think might enjoy this journal.
Looks like I beat the clock too
I am in....
You know what I'm like bro I have so many questions but I'm gonna sit back and see how it's done. For someone who always looses his data your intro is bang on 
can see you've been in this books man and not cut any corners I hope pays off for you. 
Thats some excellent ratios of carbons, nitrogens, ammendments, and aerations. This will be fun!
