Colombian Andes Greenhouse SIP CBD Auto Grow

[Bill284]

Ok, good to know. Thanks, @Bill284 !
Yes, I think it is a lower pH.
Substrates really are limited here.
I will see how he does it. Maybe he mixes it with something alkaline??
But I would think that if ALL the components are pH neutral (or close to pH neutral) it would be a lot easier on the plant, than having to deal with a "balance" of components that are "far" from pH neutral...

It depends on alkalinity of feed water and size of pine bark pieces.
It has been shown to help with buffering.
I just like the control of straight coco.
Hope it goes well.
We all do the best we can with what we have.
Take care.




#VIVOSUN #Love What You Grow
Bill284

 

[CBDMed]

Ok, the NPK test kits are on the way. (Then I can know how to mix the supersoil. Great idea, CBD!)
I am already thinking about how to work the patches and spikes.
After they finish with the greenhouse, then they will help me build a better lighting rack for the VEG room.
I think the plan is that as these autos finish up and buckets come open, I will plant photoperiods, and then grow them in the VEG room, and then when they hit waist-height I will take them up to the greenhouse, and harden them off, for flowering.
In the meantime, would you guys please want to help me with my trimming techniques?
@Emilya Green

Everything is from a sponsor.
This is Pyramid Northern Light CBD Auto (I have not even tasted it yet, but I love this plant!)
My basic strategy is to open up the middle, and take any leaf that blocks a bud site.
(When I look down, I want to see trimmed bud-sticks coming up, and a "bowl" of fan leaves down below.)

This is Delicious Seeds' Delicious Candy (Delicious Cheese).
I hope we get a light rack in here soon! (They came to take the measurements today. They hope to do it right after they finish with the $120 greenhouse.)
I am hoping for some better light in this room soon! (I think better lighting would help a lot! And I need to get more uniform lighting.)
I guess what I don't really understand is why the branches continued growing laterally after they reached the edge of the pot. (Any ideas??)
(She needs a little bit of P, I think. I am still trying to figure out how to get it to her organically through the fill tube....)

And this is Afghan Mass XXL (the stalks look like small tree trunks!).
The brown jute cord is there as a splint because I tried to bend her over for LST, and the stalk made a sudden "SNAP" sound! So I figured to splint her, and let "supercropping healing" do its thing!)
This was interesting, because as soon as I topped her, the bottom branches (which would normally be larf) shot out, and grew way up!
And what is amazing is that the top of the plant did not contend, but the whole thing grew up balanced!
So she is much closer to flat with much LESS work than I had planned! (Still not quite sure of the biomechanics of how this happened! Seems more like a miracle...)
She is still in VEG (no pistils at all yet). She is going to be a monster (even with this 1/2-power soil!)

Does anyone have comments or suggestions on how to improve the trimming?
It is nice to eat a little psychoactive salad each day!

 

[Emilya Green]

n the meantime, would you guys please want to help me with my trimming techniques?
@Emilya Green

I think you are doing it just as I do, so I don't think I can add anything. I know that some out there try to create a tower with the two or three dominant branches, with a ring or circle outside of them made up of all the secondary growth that rises up after topping. I saw @Jon talking about it and with an awesome picture and I think it might be @InTheShed's technique.

 

[CBDMed]

Oh, one more.
I learned from the last grow that the anticipated number of days means nothing on an auto.
This Purple Kush 1:1 (from a sponsor) is starting to frost, but she is also sending out a lateral shoot.
But until she and her sisters finish up, I am O.U.T. of greenbud!
I have lots of RSO and "Ultra" (CBD) concentrates, but there is nothing like a little fresh green bud in the vaporizer to help the creativity flow!
So... is it acceptable to take an "advance payment" on the purple kush? Or will that stop her from developing all the way, if I carefully trim a bud or two a day, for vaporizing?

Hahaha, I hope I can get a light rack in here soon! !

 

[Azimuth]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[CBDMed]

I think you are doing it just as I do, so I don't think I can add anything. I know that some out there try to create a tower with the two or three dominant branches, with a ring or circle outside of them made up of all the secondary growth that rises up after topping. I saw @Jon talking about it and with an awesome picture and I think it might be @InTheShed's technique.

Thanks Emmy! @Emilya Green
Happy growing!

 

[InTheShed]

I know that some out there try to create a tower with the two or three dominant branches, with a ring or circle outside of them made up of all the secondary growth that rises up after topping. I saw @Jon talking about it and with an awesome picture and I think it might be @InTheShed's technique.

Sounds like you're describing @Jon's sombrero technique, which looks like this when it's complete.

@el gringuito I haven't followed it closely enough to describe how it's done (or what the advantages it holds over a flat canopy), but I'm sure if you ask Jon in his thread he'll give you a rundown on it.

is it acceptable to take an "advance payment" on the purple kush? Or will that stop her from developing all the way, if I carefully trim a bud or two a day, for vaporizing?

Anything you pluck obviously won't become a bud, but if there are any trichomes at all on there they have to be very early in the THC production department. Either way, no reason not to pick one and see if you're dankrupt!

 

[Buds Buddy]

Ah, ok, thanks!
I just meant, if coco coir is the bomb, then do they cut / mix the coco coir 50-50 with pine bark to save costs? (Meaning, it is a cheaper substrate?)
But I guess I can ask him when I see him.
I hope you and your family are all doing well.
I am still praying for @Buds Buddy . I hope he is doing as well as the circumstances allow.

Thank you for your prayers. She passed away at 4:30 this morning. I'll be back next week after I get my head together.
See you all soon.

 

[CBDMed]

Thank you for your prayers. She passed away at 4:30 this morning. I'll be back next week after I get my head together.
See you all soon.

Ouch.
That's a hard one, Buds! Don't be too hard on yourself if it takes time.
I will keep praying for you.

 

[CBDMed]

Sounds like you're describing @Jon's sombrero technique, which looks like this when it's complete.@el gringuito I haven't followed it closely enough to describe how it's done (or what the advantages it holds over a flat canopy), but I'm sure if you ask Jon in his thread he'll give you a rundown on it.

Thanks, Shed!
I went to Jon's thread and tried to wave hello, but for some reason I could not post.
Yeah, it looks like the same cut!
I'm thinking it is going to work well for SIPs and their woody trunks ('cuz if you try to bend 'em, they snap!).
I am glad to see @Jon and Emmy are using 'em also!

Anything you pluck obviously won't become a bud, but if there are any trichomes at all on there they have to be very early in the THC production department. Either way, no reason not to pick one and see if you're dankrupt!

Dankrupt!! Hahahaha!!
Yeah, that's how I am now!!
They said the greenhouse is supposed to be done this week, and then after that they will begin on the light rack!
I hope I won't be dankrupt forever!!

 

[CBDMed]

@Emilya Green
Hi Emmie!
How much longer am I supposed to wait before I know about the tips?
Maybe I am just noticing it? But some of the tips look "burnt..."
How long do I wait for the tip deficiencies to clear up?

I am still looking for liquid (chelated?) P (and other chelated bloom goodies) to add through the fill tube.
Not having too much success yet.
One company makes what they call an "organic P" additive for blooming and roots.
Since it is liquid, should I be able to add it to the fill tube?
This one is an Organic P20, but I cannot find it in Colombia *yet* (and shipping is six times the cost of the liquid!).

They also make "organic PK 13-14".
Will that be too much K??

And what OTHER bloom goodies can be added to the fill tube?
I want to get enough to bloom all of these girls out, and then I will amend the NEXT batch of supersoil to have more P onboard.
Thanks!

 

[InTheShed]

I am still looking for chelated P (and other chelated bloom goodies)

I can't imagine you'll find chelated P. Only some of the micronutrients are chelated. Here's a list of chelated elements:
Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), boron (B), chlorine (Cl), molybdenum (Mo), and nickel (Ni).

And a little reading on it here:

HS1208/HS1208: Understanding and Applying Chelated Fertilizers Effectively Based on Soil pH

A UF/IFAS numbered Fact Sheet.

edis.ifas.ufl.edu

 

[CBDMed]

I can't imagine you'll find chelated P. Only some of the micronutrients are chelated. Here's a list of chelated elements:
Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), boron (B), chlorine (Cl), molybdenum (Mo), and nickel (Ni).

And a little reading on it here:

HS1208/HS1208: Understanding and Applying Chelated Fertilizers Effectively Based on Soil pH

A UF/IFAS numbered Fact Sheet.

edis.ifas.ufl.edu

Thanks, Shed!
I guess "chelated" isn't a thing, really. (Maybe I used the wrong term?)
I guess the point is that I would like to add it down the fill tube if practicable.
(Next batch of supersoil I will boost P.)

(Hahaha, you're like a college professor, right?)

 

[CBDMed]

There!!
EDIT: That's much better!! The constructor helped me to put up a light rack.
I am on project again, so I will have to adjust everything in a few days. For right now I just used my "calibrated eyeball" (and we will see how calibrated, haha!).

And here is the (almost) finished greenhouse.
(No puddles on the roof, but next time hopefully we can put double the incline, and ditch the gutter and the bottom ridgepole...)

And here is a picture of the tape-wrap-over-twisted-pair-tie-wire (for your viewing pleasure)...

So, the big plan is to keep using autos for now.
Then, once I get the pH test kits, and we get the supersoil reconditioned and cooked, then hopefully I can fill SIPs with reconditioned supersoil, and plant (full fized!) photo CBDs.
Then I can veg them in the nursery, and when they are waist-high I can take them up to the greenhouse to flower.
It is nice and warm inside the greenhouse!
(I will have to get a thermometer for it....)

I am on project for two days, and hope to be back then.
Thank you, everyone, for your help!

 

[Azimuth]

Nice! But what's with the pvc greenhouse framing in the house. is that the solution to hanging the lights?

 

[CBDMed]

Nice! But what's with the pvc greenhouse framing in the house. is that the solution to hanging the lights?

Yes, exactly. It's just a rack.
I needed to replace the laundry racks (so I can raise and lower the lights better when I have photoperiods (hopefully a few months from now).
And in the meantime the autos were starting to get tall enough that I wanted to be able to raise the lights.
Hopefully in a couple of days I can break out the Photone app, and adjust everything again.
33 was ideal for Photone?

By the way, I am really excited about the concept of layers and spikes!
How does one make a vertical spike column? Do you insert PVC in the soil and then pack soil around it as you pack the SIP?
And then make it damp?
And then pull out the PVC, and backfill with powdered or granulated goodies (perhaps pouring them down the PVC pipe as you pull it out of the damp soil? (Or what is the best way to make vertical spikes?)
(And is the top 2-3 inches a waste? Or not a waste?)

I am getting excited for this next photo grow!!

 

[Azimuth]

How does one make a vertical spike column?

Probably a knife plunged verticle down into the soil then twisted 90*

Do you insert PVC in the soil as you pack the SIP? And then pull out the PVC, and backfill with powdered or granulated goodies?

I would think that would be a tuff way to get a clean plug to pull out.

(And is the top 2-3 inches a waste? Or not a waste?)

Probably depends on whether or not you use a cover mulch

 

[CBDMed]

I would think that would be a tuff way to get a clean plug to pull out.

Thanks.
Would it still be tuff if the soil was damp (so it held together), and I filled the PVC tube with granules or powder as I lifted it out??

 

[Azimuth]

I don't follow but I would imagine you'd need thinner pipe, like maybe copper, to be able to pull it off. But the knife thing is still likely easier.

 

[InTheShed]

like maybe copper

Will painted pvc work too?