Emmie's Vegan Fertilizer, Pineapple Chunk 2020 Celebration: Experimental Soil Grow

[Emilya Green]

Em,
I'm curious what you intend to do with your soil from this grow. Are you intending to re-use it? If so, do you flush it?
Now that you have harvested, I'm assuming this soil is soaked with 5-6gm/gal MC.
Since this grow was not dependent on "living" soil, what is to stop someone from reusing this medium from grow to grow?

I have been running a SubCool Supersoil mix for 6 or 7 years now and up until a couple of runs ago I was being pretty good about reclaiming most of the super soil after each grow and adding it back to the compost bin, while saving out my base soil into a separate pile. Since I employ the use of mineral spikes and layers in my container builds, all of my base soil has now become an unknown mix of these mineral spikes, base soil and mixed in supersoil, and after my last run I added Vulx to the mess and totally lost control of exactly where each type of soil was or how much Vulx was in it.

The only thing I could do after this last run was add all my soil back into one pile and let it compost for a while, and I am going to do a soil analysis on it to see where I stand and how I need to amend it going forward and using it again as supersoil and I expect to have to buy a bit more base soil, probably Fox Farm Ocean Forest.

I am not too concerned about the previous use of MC in parts of this soil. Anything left over there would be quickly used by the plants and then if I was going with an organic grow the microbes would quickly take over and start supplying nutrients to the roots as they called for them.

Since I plan on moving out of a basement grow into a larger and better designed grow space, I am going to up my soil game too. It will take some time in the move to stabilize back into being able to grow organically again, and my first run may still involve a lot of MC, but eventually I plan on getting this well used soil back into shape and will continue using it for the next 10 years.

 

[Rad Man]

I have been running a SubCool Supersoil mix for 6 or 7 years now and up until a couple of runs ago I was being pretty good about reclaiming most of the super soil after each grow and adding it back to the compost bin, while saving out my base soil into a separate pile. Since I employ the use of mineral spikes and layers in my container builds, all of my base soil has now become an unknown mix of these mineral spikes, base soil and mixed in supersoil, and after my last run I added Vulx to the mess and totally lost control of exactly where each type of soil was or how much Vulx was in it.

The only thing I could do after this last run was add all my soil back into one pile and let it compost for a while, and I am going to do a soil analysis on it to see where I stand and how I need to amend it going forward and using it again as supersoil and I expect to have to buy a bit more base soil, probably Fox Farm Ocean Forest.

I am not too concerned about the previous use of MC in parts of this soil. Anything left over there would be quickly used by the plants and then if I was going with an organic grow the microbes would quickly take over and start supplying nutrients to the roots as they called for them.

Since I plan on moving out of a basement grow into a larger and better designed grow space, I am going to up my soil game too. It will take some time in the move to stabilize back into being able to grow organically again, and my first run may still involve a lot of MC, but eventually I plan on getting this well used soil back into shape and will continue using it for the next 10 years.

Your comment implies that you are going back to a LOS grow. After the success you had with this grow, I had you figured for a couple more MC runs before you got bored... lol

Ps. Good Luck on the house. I LOVE me a good sized garage... Ask my poor wife!

 

[Emilya Green]

Your comment implies that you are going back to a LOS grow. After the success you had with this grow, I had you figured for a couple more MC runs before you got bored... lol

Ps. Good Luck on the house. I LOVE me a good sized garage... Ask my poor wife!

First the distinction... I don't run LOS, I run TLO. lol My soil is not living... I need to add microbes regularly or they will die out, simply because I don't run large enough containers so that the ecosystem would be self sustaining.

That being said, I am not at all giving up on TLO because I love the method and its simplicity as well as its outstanding grows. I have however lost control of my soil, and I no longer know if it has enough of what it needs to be a strong supersoil all through the next grows. I can no longer trust it, only to have it fall flat in the middle of bloom and waste all that time and expense, so it needs to be analyzed, re-amended and composted for several months. I will do all of this when I get over to the new place, but immediately upon moving I will start up some new plants and will build the grow rooms around them. During this time, I will rely on the simplicity of MC for at least one more round and I do plan to do a couple more experiments. I am curious how MC does in Hempy, and I need to buy some more perlite anyway... there will probably be an auto or two in Hempy. Then I will start more in soil as I get things rolling again, and will probably buy some more base soil to use later with my supersoil, so a few more big girl plants will get the FFOF / MC treatment as the SuperSoil continues to be revitalized and I work on installing a rainwater collection system to use in the organic garden. I have lots to do but already making big plans for that garage. It will house my motorcycle and my nice car, but the rest of the garage will be dedicated to a built in 5x5 bloom room, a 2x8 veg area, and a 2 x 16 drying cabinet along with all the storage space needed for the grows. I will work on framing the bloom room in and hanging mylar while the first plants are in veg.

 

[bubkas]

I am curious how MC does in Hempy, and I need to buy some more perlite anyway... there will probably be an auto or two in Hempy.

I'm curious to see that too.

Lots of people try to do odd things with hempy when it seems like just about the easiest hydro grow option possible. I've been wondering, for example, but haven't really found a good test yet, of how container aspect ratio impacts hempy - e.g. what's the best height/diameter ratio for hempy since it seems that about 8" is the max that capillary effect can pull water up from the "reservoir."

@Doc Bud among others have grown some mighty impressive plants in hempy with nothing more than Osmocote+.

Overall it seems like a very forgiving method, but I haven't found any methodical testing to truly optimize the grow. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do. What's your take on hempy?

 

[Emilya Green]

I'm curious to see that too.

Lots of people try to do odd things with hempy when it seems like just about the easiest hydro grow option possible. I've been wondering, for example, but haven't really found a good test yet, of how container aspect ratio impacts hempy - e.g. what's the best height/diameter ratio for hempy since it seems that about 8" is the max that capillary effect can pull water up from the "reservoir."

@Doc Bud among others have grown some mighty impressive plants in hempy with nothing more than Osmocote+.

Overall it seems like a very forgiving method, but I haven't found any methodical testing to truly optimize the grow. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do. What's your take on hempy?

I played with hempy some years ago with various sized containers. I had 2L plastic soda bottles for a bit and that was fun and then I moved up to some shorter and wider 7 quart buckets. That hempy grow was outstanding, but by then I was on to bigger and better things and I put the hempy buckets in the corner for a while. Not only was the capillary effect better in the wider configuration, but as the plants got big it was much easier to keep them upright. This for me became the biggest selling point of the buckets.

 

[ChefDGreen]

Hey Em,
I hope your new house goes through for you! I’m in the same boat. Me and the mrs are looking for a permanent home. My garden will probably end up in the basement and spare room though.

Hempy with MC works fantastically as long as you keep that ph between 5.5-6.1. I’ve got a DDa at day 36 today.

DDa

• ChefDGreen
• May 5, 2020

Day 34

DDa

• ChefDGreen
• May 5, 2020

DAy 34

 

[Fudo Myoo]

First the distinction... I don't run LOS, I run TLO. lol My soil is not living... I need to add microbes regularly or they will die out, simply because I don't run large enough containers so that the ecosystem would be self sustaining.

That being said, I am not at all giving up on TLO because I love the method and its simplicity as well as its outstanding grows. I have however lost control of my soil, and I no longer know if it has enough of what it needs to be a strong supersoil all through the next grows. I can no longer trust it, only to have it fall flat in the middle of bloom and waste all that time and expense, so it needs to be analyzed, re-amended and composted for several months. I will do all of this when I get over to the new place, but immediately upon moving I will start up some new plants and will build the grow rooms around them. During this time, I will rely on the simplicity of MC for at least one more round and I do plan to do a couple more experiments. I am curious how MC does in Hempy, and I need to buy some more perlite anyway... there will probably be an auto or two in Hempy. Then I will start more in soil as I get things rolling again, and will probably buy some more base soil to use later with my supersoil, so a few more big girl plants will get the FFOF / MC treatment as the SuperSoil continues to be revitalized and I work on installing a rainwater collection system to use in the organic garden. I have lots to do but already making big plans for that garage. It will house my motorcycle and my nice car, but the rest of the garage will be dedicated to a built in 5x5 bloom room, a 2x8 veg area, and a 2 x 16 drying cabinet along with all the storage space needed for the grows. I will work on framing the bloom room in and hanging mylar while the first plants are in veg.

Sounds like a great plan! I’d go bigger on the bloom room if you can. Mine’s 6.5-5.5’, well you’ve seen it, needs to be a bit bigger.

 

[Emilya Green]

Sounds like a great plan! I’d go bigger on the bloom room if you can. Mine’s 6.5-5.5’, well you’ve seen it, needs to be a bit bigger.

I keep leaning toward bigger also. The minimum, due to now owning a Nextlight Mega is that light's 5x5 footprint, but we all know that another foot or two is always welcome. It would of course be ridiculously easy to frame in an 8x8 since I do have the space, and placed in a corner, I have two walls with studs showing in the tyvek insulated but unfinished garage to make stabilizing it a snap.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Em,
I hope your new house goes through for you! I’m in the same boat. Me and the mrs are looking for a permanent home. My garden will probably end up in the basement and spare room though.

Hempy with MC works fantastically as long as you keep that ph between 5.5-6.1. I’ve got a DDa at day 36 today.

DDa

• ChefDGreen
• May 5, 2020

Day 34

DDa

• ChefDGreen
• May 5, 2020

DAy 34

I am curious about just that... I will have to buy a new pH pen too... time to up my game there also. What pH do you find that a 4.5g / gallon mix of Megacrop settles in at?

 

[Fudo Myoo]

I keep leaning toward bigger also. The minimum, due to now owning a Nextlight Mega is that light's 5x5 footprint, but we all know that another foot or two is always welcome. It would of course be ridiculously easy to frame in an 8x8 since I do have the space, and placed in a corner, I have two walls with studs showing in the tyvek insulated but unfinished garage to make stabilizing it a snap.

You’ll be glad you did. Or a 6 by 8 with a 2’ closet for broom, Dustbuster, water lines, pumps, fans, filter, drivers, air conditioner, whatever...

 

[Fudo Myoo]

It’s too hard to grow big plants without a little room to maneuver on the outside of them. If I want a big variety again I’ll need smaller pots and who wants that. My 2cents anyway.

 

[Emilya Green]

arggg! The deal has fallen through... stupid estate sales. Now part of the family thinks they can do better and want to fix it up, half of them want to sell to me. It is now off of the market and I am still looking.

 

[oldsmokey]

Sorry to here that the next will be better anyway!

 

[ChefDGreen]

I am curious about just that... I will have to buy a new pH pen too... time to up my game there also. What pH do you find that a 4.5g / gallon mix of Megacrop settles in at?

With my tap water it settles right around 6.4. Usually 1.25ml/gal of ph down will bring it right into the 5.5-5.6 range

 

[StoneOtter]

Next one may be better!

 

[Rad Man]

First the distinction... I don't run LOS, I run TLO. lol My soil is not living... I need to add microbes regularly or they will die out, simply because I don't run large enough containers so that the ecosystem would be self sustaining.

That being said, I am not at all giving up on TLO because I love the method and its simplicity as well as its outstanding grows. I have however lost control of my soil, and I no longer know if it has enough of what it needs to be a strong supersoil all through the next grows. I can no longer trust it, only to have it fall flat in the middle of bloom and waste all that time and expense, so it needs to be analyzed, re-amended and composted for several months. I will do all of this when I get over to the new place, but immediately upon moving I will start up some new plants and will build the grow rooms around them. During this time, I will rely on the simplicity of MC for at least one more round and I do plan to do a couple more experiments. I am curious how MC does in Hempy, and I need to buy some more perlite anyway... there will probably be an auto or two in Hempy. Then I will start more in soil as I get things rolling again, and will probably buy some more base soil to use later with my supersoil, so a few more big girl plants will get the FFOF / MC treatment as the SuperSoil continues to be revitalized and I work on installing a rainwater collection system to use in the organic garden. I have lots to do but already making big plans for that garage. It will house my motorcycle and my nice car, but the rest of the garage will be dedicated to a built in 5x5 bloom room, a 2x8 veg area, and a 2 x 16 drying cabinet along with all the storage space needed for the grows. I will work on framing the bloom room in and hanging mylar while the first plants are in veg.

You stated "motorcycle"! What type? I've been riding a long time, so it's always fun to "see" another rider.
Sorry the house got pulled off the market. Hopefully the current owners will come to their senses, and sell. I doubt they want the project.

 

[Deketx]

I have been running a SubCool Supersoil mix for 6 or 7 years now and up until a couple of runs ago I was being pretty good about reclaiming most of the super soil after each grow and adding it back to the compost bin, while saving out my base soil into a separate pile. Since I employ the use of mineral spikes and layers in my container builds, all of my base soil has now become an unknown mix of these mineral spikes, base soil and mixed in supersoil, and after my last run I added Vulx to the mess and totally lost control of exactly where each type of soil was or how much Vulx was in it.

The only thing I could do after this last run was add all my soil back into one pile and let it compost for a while, and I am going to do a soil analysis on it to see where I stand and how I need to amend it going forward and using it again as supersoil and I expect to have to buy a bit more base soil, probably Fox Farm Ocean Forest.

I am not too concerned about the previous use of MC in parts of this soil. Anything left over there would be quickly used by the plants and then if I was going with an organic grow the microbes would quickly take over and start supplying nutrients to the roots as they called for them.

Since I plan on moving out of a basement grow into a larger and better designed grow space, I am going to up my soil game too. It will take some time in the move to stabilize back into being able to grow organically again, and my first run may still involve a lot of MC, but eventually I plan on getting this well used soil back into shape and will continue using it for the next 10 years.

@Emilya I'm going to run this grow then put the soil into bins and figure out what I need to do to amend it. I'm going to buy new soil and then rotate.
That coloring I showed you earlier showed in a 3 w/o old plant? It shouldn't be deficient yet unless I have a soil issue?
I'm at 3grm MC, last two waterings 2.5, 3 grm respectively. ( 2 gram for the small plant)
I'm also seeing some droop on the fan leaf tips starting. And burn on some of the same fan tips. Here's a couple pics. What does the cannabis Sherpa think, does it still look like a Mg deficiency? Thanks!

 

[Homer Simpson]

The buds are holding steady now, mostly at 64% RH and they are curing up very nicely. Every few days adds noticeably to the taste and quality of the smoke. I have been enjoying a small joint this morning while I answer mail and I am noticing each day a bit more flavor and smokeability.
These 10+ oz will be added to my stash now and I am going to end this long journal on this successful note and upon making the point that a good cure is easily 1/3 of the total process of growing pot... it simply takes time. It is easy to be able to get to this point if you have smoke on hand from previous harvests to get you through. To get to this point without using it all up, you have to have a stash.
About 2 oz of this will be put into one of my larger 420 Jars and kept on my desk or my smoking room. These larger curing jars will be put into a dark cabinet and will be burped once a month and in one month I will put a meter in with them to check the RH. Usually, this is when I will put a 62 Boveda pack in with them, and knowing me, we will be down to one jar by that time.
The normal plan would be that after 6 months of cure with the 62, I switch out to a 58... and I have several years worth of little bits of harvests stored away in this manner. If someone visits and I want to bring out a real treat, it is this vault that I normally go to. I haven't been able to save all of them, but there is still enough of some of the major varieties I have grown to be enjoyed as special occasions.

So that pretty much closes out this journal. This harvest and my last need to get me through the next several months as I get into a new house and set up my new totally legal grow rooms. I am not going anywhere as far as the online world goes and will continue to be active on the forum until I get going again, but as of this weekend, the last portion of my grow areas are being shut down. I will alert the moderators to move this journal to the completed section.

This journal has become a place to throw around ideas and discuss various things, and I really don't mind if you all wish to continue the discussion. This posting is simply a formal notification that the "journal" part of this thread is concluding here.

Great journal Emilya; I learned a great deal. I'm also very impressed with your picture of your buds in jars; the buds are nice but I'm even more impressed with all the technical junk you have laying around and if I'm not mistaken is that a Morris code clicker? A woman after my own heart, LOL.

 

[Emilya Green]

You stated "motorcycle"! What type? I've been riding a long time, so it's always fun to "see" another rider.
Sorry the house got pulled off the market. Hopefully the current owners will come to their senses, and sell. I doubt they want the project.

Someone in the family just got greedy, but in an estate sale they all have to agree. The property was going for twice the price 6m ago and they had to drop it due to the housing market in that area.

I own an old classic, a 2001 Honda 750 Shadow Spirit, which has been a project in and of itself through the years.

 

[Emilya Green]

@Emilya I'm going to run this grow then put the soil into bins and figure out what I need to do to amend it. I'm going to buy new soil and then rotate.
That coloring I showed you earlier showed in a 3 w/o old plant? It shouldn't be deficient yet unless I have a soil issue?
I'm at 3grm MC, last two waterings 2.5, 3 grm respectively. ( 2 gram for the small plant)
I'm also seeing some droop on the fan leaf tips starting. And burn on some of the same fan tips. Here's a couple pics. What does the cannabis Sherpa think, does it still look like a Mg deficiency? Thanks!

I do not see a mag deficiency my friend, I see too dark of green and burning on the tips... back down the MC.