First SWICK Grow: Rooftop Auto Grow With Supercool Subsoil

[CBDMed]

The problem is that you will lessen the vegetative growth of the autos which will definitely make for a smaller harvest.

Yes, I understand that the autos will grow less under GLT than they would under 24/0.
This is more of the "best compromise I can think of" mode, because we have to slash the power bill.
GLT works best for the photos, which was kind of the determining factor.
I was just kind of throwing the autos in there because I already have them, so I thought I might as well use them. And they can grow along with the photos, kind of use up the slots, and we will get as much as we get in this last round under the LEDs.

(The alternative is I could pluck them and plant more of the Haze CBD regulars for the roof, but I really like these little Afghan Mass XXL Autos. I like the terpenes. They taste like limonene and oinene to me. And earth.
I thought they might be sativa, but I guess I was wrong. I guess they are Indica. But I really like them in the cob.
I was really hoping to let the colas branch out, but not if it is Indica with only medium mold resistance.
If it is an Indica with only medium mold resistance, that I need to make sure I've got maximum airflow.

From personal experience perlite doesn't wick anywhere near as well as soil. And @NickHardy tried a perlite wick in a SIP and that plant failed as I recall. I'd recommend soil.

Great to know, thanks!
I think I might start with the AC Infinity bases, just to be safe on a first grow.

 

[CBDMed]

Hey CDB Med,

Thanks for the tag! Never knew about autism diagnosis but figure each person has their own unique challenges. However if I do say something that seems off- then please by all means don’t hesitate to ask!

Fir my swicks I do about 35% perlite and about 5 to 10% of rice hulls… right or wrong my thinking was the rice hulls are tiny, they may compress easily, they do break down over time but also are source of carbon & silica for the plant.

I don’t do the layer thing either for my swicks, just perlite & rice hulls mixed well into my global soil mix. Also just for clarity, my swicks are fabric smart pots sitting on bed of perlite in a larger tub, the soil itself is the wick….

Hope it helps!

Hey @013 ,
Each one of us definitely has his own challenges. With autism one of the big challenges is communicating effectively with other people, especially in a social context.
If this is helpful, basically autistic people are often seen as "very direct" (or even "too direct"). And things are typically very literal with us, because we don't always understand peoples drift.
Sometimes we can "overshare" or get detailitis.
I do not mean to speak for all autistics, but cannabis helps us loosen up and communicate better. (It has been transformative for me in that way.)
I don't know if you have any questions, but if you do, please ask. It would just be great to figure out how to make a per light or some other kind of a wick, so I do not need to buy any more of these AC Infinity bases (because we are broke right now).

 

[InTheShed]

Can you put the autos outside during the day and bring them in at night?

 

[CBDMed]

Can you put the autos outside during the day and bring them in at night?

EDIT: Good auestion. Hypothetically yes, but it is two flight of stairs, with full pots and plants... (Just to be practical, if it is avoidable, I would rather not. it sounds great for exercise, but just from a time perspective I would think that it would get to be burdensome quickly.)

If I do not take them up the stairs there's not really anywhere to put them that gets full sunlight and is away from ground level bugs.

 

[013]

Apologies for delayed response- had to see a man about a horse!

Ok so this won’t be pretty but I’m confident you will figure it out with no problems

I’m using Geoflora 7 gallon grow bags to flower in…. the bag itself is part of the swick but mostly it’s the soil with at least 40% extra aeration that does the wicking or swicking in my case I had the 7 gallon smart pots on hand but needed a bigger tub to set them in for the swick reservoir.

Found these guys at the dollar store, it’s just cheapie plastic deal, kind of like a small wash tub…

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• 013
• Mar 24, 2023

Normally I put in about 3 inches of either perlite or pumice in the bottom of the reservoir

But I’ve also tried it various ways… sometimes put an upside-down, plant saucer in the bottom to elevate the grow bag. I’ve also tried it with no perlite or pumice where the plant is just sitting in res water… these swicks are versatile you can’t go wrong


Here is an inverted plant saucer used as riser to help plant sit higher in the saddle

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• 013
• Aug 14, 2024

Sorry but I don’t have any pics of clean white perlite or pumice. I go nuts with adding top dress, ewc so here we added few layers of plastic wrap to help keep the dirt in the bag and out of the reservoir.

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• 013
• Aug 2, 2024

Used landscape cloth to block light which is what you need to get air roots coming thru the bag

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• 013
• Feb 11, 2024

This is what the whiteish pumice or perlite looks like after the plant is removed. Yup it produces a foul odor but the plants love it…

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• 013
• Oct 20, 2023

I got tired of cutting up buckets and having to build the air chamber and connecting it with an fill tube…

Just a bag of soil mix (with the 40% aeration) sitting in larger tub of water… the bed of perlite or pumice in the swick res is optional.

Started out with shallow drip pans as the res but they needed to be refilled quite often. So found a deeper pan (the blue tubs) I’d guesstimate the blue tubs holdabout 3 to 4 gallons of water. Basically the tub needs to be at least 1/2 to 3/4ths as tall as the grow bag itself…

 

[013]

Hey CBDMed!!

Apologies in advance, it’s early and I’m in pain plus brain dead so couldn’t really manage to reply to each quote…

I’ve switched up my soil mix, the base is from a small local producer called Daddy Pete’s its mix of their potting soil. their seafood blend, and their aged forest product based soil mix…

I still tweak it with rice hulls, biochar, coco coir for carbon, kelp, meal products like kelp meal, Down to Earth 5-4-2 is heavy with a variety of meal products, EWC, humic acid, langbenite, insect frass, SRP, gypsum etc..

actually NPK for dog hair is similar to feather meal

Nope on the Mulders chart, I’ve looked at it numerous times but yikes that’s scary stuff.

My first few batches of soil were Frankenmix, didn’t really have a lot of success but kept reading and studying here and eventually it worked out.

Wow 4 trips per day for the AC Infinity bases, that’s a lot of time & trips

But the regular swick technology that I’m using (in my humble opinion) beats the snot out of SIPs. There’s nothing to build, as long as you have the 40% extra aeration you are golden. I’ve done it both ways (with 2 to 3 inch bed of perlite or pumice) or without any perlite or pumice and the plants hummed right along. I fill the reservoirs each morning and roll out the door. Some evenings I add more water to the res but often let them chill until the next morning before adding more.

Again for clarity, I do not use a wick of any type other than the grow bag and soil mix with 40% extra aeration… of course the bed of perlite or pumice in the bottom of my reservoir does help wick water to the bottom & sides of the grow bag but I’ve also had great success with zero perlite or pumice in the res tub

I rotate between adding only plain water to the res…. but then a day or two later I add stank water feed directly to the res… stank water = water, Dr Bronners, liquid kelp, liquid fish ferts, humic acid, langebenite, SRP, gypsum, malted barley just to name a few… yes I feed stank water either to the plant alone or few days later I add it straight to the reservoir… kinda figured that one day the stank water will spawn Loch Ness monsters to grow in my res but hasn’t happened just yet.

Dude that’s one heck of a nice grow space!!! A lot of plant diversity in there…

I dig the 10 gallons and yep just an inverted flower pot should work well as a riser, cheapie plate upside down as topper to stabilize the larger grow bag but maybe don’t grab the boss lady’s good china plates for this one! I’m all about DIY and low budget hacks to beat the system!

You’ve got the vision and creativity to make it happen! I even did an outdoor swick in the creek last year. Seriously swick has changed my grows, it will always be part of my weed grow game!!

Hope it helps!!

 

[013]

It’s a crappy pic so apologies in advance, but found a photo that gives better vantage point of reservoir tub with 7 gallon bag riding high.

Don’t overthink it, as long as the res can hold 3 to 4 gallons of water it’s all good. I just got tired of SIPs cutting up buckets, having to build shite. This allows me to slam a bag of soil on a res tub and walk away- don’t have to cut or build anything. Perlite in res tub or zero perlite in res tub- both work just fine, it’s no biggie so try some of each

swick is simple, it’s forgiving, it’s versatile- it’s kinda hard to mess up. I don’t feed synthetics and the plants have always gobbled up whatever was tossed their way. Known to habitually top dress the crap out of them all the way thru.

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• 013
• Sep 9, 2024

 

[CBDMed]

Thank you, @013 , that was very helpful! And from what you are saying, I do not need to stress it, which is very welcome news!
I am on a work sprint for the next two days, and I hope to check in after that, but you answered all of my questions in spades.
I hope to respond in a couple of days, when I get some flexible time, but your answers seemed very complete and encouraging.

 

[013]

Yep you’ve got the skills and a little push helps cement how easy it can be. It would set my grows back in time, yield and proficiency if for some reason I was unable to swick. I’m sold on it. Worth mentioning but my swick ladies have never seen ppm or ph meter. What more can you ask for?

No worries on timing we all have our own obligations! But also can’t wait to see how you put your spin on it..

 

[Azimuth]

It’s a crappy pic so apologies in advance, but found a photo that gives better vantage point of reservoir tub with 7 gallon bag riding high.

Don’t overthink it, as long as the res can hold 3 to 4 gallons of water it’s all good. I just got tired of SIPs cutting up buckets, having to build shite. This allows me to slam a bag of soil on a res tub and walk away- don’t have to cut or build anything. Perlite in res tub or zero perlite in res tub- both work just fine, it’s no biggie so try some of each

swick is simple, it’s forgiving, it’s versatile- it’s kinda hard to mess up. I don’t feed synthetics and the plants have always gobbled up whatever was tossed their way. Known to habitually top dress the crap out of them all the way thru.

32ED8E72-282C-4176-AC24-7E1B78C68E03.jpeg

• 013
• Sep 9, 2024

Do you set your fabric bag of soil directly in the water or is there some buffer between the bag and the saucer like a bed of perlite, or upturned saucer?

Your post seems to indicate you can go directly in the water.

 

[013]

Yes Azi, I’ve done direct in water (no saucer, no riser, no wicking material like pumice or perlite) with zero issues… as long as the soil mix has the 40 extra aeration it’s not been an issue for me

 

[CBDMed]

Yes Azi, I’ve done direct in water (no saucer, no riser, no wicking material like pumice or perlite) with zero issues… as long as the soil mix has the 40 extra aeration it’s not been an issue for me

@013 , amazingly great job!! Thanks for blessing my thread!
(haha)

Sorry I had to focus on work for a few days, but I think you kind of melted my mind on this one, so it would have taken me a little time to respond to you anyway. And I do not want to speak for Azi, but maybe you melted some other minds also???

Up until now, everyone has been thinking that the reason SIPs do so well is because of the air gap (because in a certain sense, both SWICK and SIP have access to air)---but if you are setting fabric pots directly in the water (with no air gap) then it cannot be the air gap, because there is no air gap!
It is just kind of stunning that you set the plant in water, and then that is it! (That sounds like my kind of a grow!)

You cracked me up with your story of putting a bucket by the side of a river! Only, that begs the question...plants do not normally grow double-speed on a riverbank, or by the side of a lake---so, what is the deal??
Is it a cloth bag (which at least hypothetically gives air to roots, at least when new and not clogged) plus the constant availability of water, and then the plant figures out what kind of roots to grow, and eats what it wants?
Or how does that work?
I.e., why would SWICK grow faster than plants planted normally at the side of a river, or a pond?

Thanks again for melting my brain. Your posts were like White Rhino!!

 

[013]

Happy to help & thanks for that bro, kind words indeed!

Really messed up on my first attempt but still worked out ok…only had a 7 gallon bag, but live in illegal state so the plants weren’t hardened off. Carried them across line to plant in legal state then put them in shady spot in the creek to harden off. However the 7 gallon bag was quite heavy & I’ve serious back injury so I couldn’t safely carry it 30 yards downsteam in all the muck to the sunny spot. Sadly she sat in shady area for rest of the season which killed my yields. Had planned to transplant into 30 gallon bag but yeah next time will do it all better / differently!

Well true that- with swicks the air gap is non existent but don’t discount the 360 degrees of smart pot letting air in from sides and the 40% extra aeration. Heck I just eyeballed it on the ratio so might be closer to 45% in my case… I’m sold cloth pots are the bomb, I’m done with hardside containers for the most part, yup still have a few plastic pots for clones & other projects but smart pots are the real deal…. swick just keeps my plants, soil & smart pots hydrated 24/7.

No bucket beside the river… just a smart pot directly in small creek. Im thinking if your creek is 7 foot wide that’s gonna be way too much water flow during high water event, the risk is your plant getting washed downstream ,.. Plus growth in hard-side bucket runs much slower than smart pot anyway because of lack of oxygen to root zone. It would be a pain to have to water daily so let the creek do the heavy lifting- in the future it will be responsible for daily watering my plant.

In my case it’s small steam bed but the other probs are not necessarily obvious. We have a crapton of gray clay in the soil so that’s not good. I could dig a deep hole and fill it with my soil mix but figured heavy rain / high water event in the creek would probably wash my soil mix & rice hulls downstream. Plus didn’t want to set a bag in a deep hole as figured that woukd be too much water saturation. It was just my first attempt at outdoor swick in a creek as proof of concept.

If you do the creek thing go upstream to clear out any debris such as logs or limbs that will float downstream to your plants in high water conditions. Look for a huge rock and clear a spot just 1 or 2 feet downstream of it. Idea is to nestle it behind the giant stone for protection Make a bowl shape in creek bed for the bag to sit in, remove the stones etc. Place your bag in the creek and lock it in place by surrounding it with big stones…good place to go overboard here cuz I had another plant get washed 15 feet downstream. My little steam has water flow that’s only 2 foot wide yet runoff rain swept the other plant downstream, turned it over and broke main stem, she was dead on my arrival. Yep build a wall of big stones around perimeter of smart pot, another option is to drive a slender metal anchor in the creek like the kind used to hold yard sale signs or political signs… all this will help hold her in place. But some streams are so rocky it’s not feasible to put metal anchor rod in place

Lastly don’t be a noob like me, creeks are usually lined with trees & scrub brush, pick a spot in the creek that’s well illuminated by sun and clear the stuff that will block light. Another thought is… leave the trees in place but drill a deep hole angled downwards in tree trunk near the base, fill the hole with brush killer… this way the area does not appear to be recently chain sawed, the trees blocking light are intact but no foliage grows on them cuz they are dead…

 

[CBDMed]

Happy to help & thanks for that bro, kind words indeed!

Really messed up on my first attempt but still worked out ok…only had a 7 gallon bag, but live in illegal state so the plants weren’t hardened off. Carried them across line to plant in legal state then put them in shady spot in the creek to harden off. However the 7 gallon bag was quite heavy & I’ve serious back injury so I couldn’t safely carry it 30 yards downsteam in all the muck to the sunny spot. Sadly she sat in shady area for rest of the season which killed my yields. Had planned to transplant into 30 gallon bag but yeah next time will do it all better / differently!

Well true that- with swicks the air gap is non existent but don’t discount the 360 degrees of smart pot letting air in from sides and the 40% extra aeration. Heck I just eyeballed it on the ratio so might be closer to 45% in my case… I’m sold cloth pots are the bomb, I’m done with hardside containers for the most part, yup still have a few plastic pots for clones & other projects but smart pots are the real deal…. swick just keeps my plants, soil & smart pots hydrated 24/7.

No bucket beside the river… just a smart pot directly in small creek. Im thinking if your creek is 7 foot wide that’s gonna be way too much water flow during high water event, the risk is your plant getting washed downstream ,.. Plus growth in hard-side bucket runs much slower than smart pot anyway because of lack of oxygen to root zone. It would be a pain to have to water daily so let the creek do the heavy lifting- in the future it will be responsible for daily watering my plant.

In my case it’s small steam bed but the other probs are not necessarily obvious. We have a crapton of gray clay in the soil so that’s not good. I could dig a deep hole and fill it with my soil mix but figured heavy rain / high water event in the creek would probably wash my soil mix & rice hulls downstream. Plus didn’t want to set a bag in a deep hole as figured that woukd be too much water saturation. It was just my first attempt at outdoor swick in a creek as proof of concept.

If you do the creek thing go upstream to clear out any debris such as logs or limbs that will float downstream to your plants in high water conditions. Look for a huge rock and clear a spot just 1 or 2 feet downstream of it. Idea is to nestle it behind the giant stone for protection Make a bowl shape in creek bed for the bag to sit in, remove the stones etc. Place your bag in the creek and lock it in place by surrounding it with big stones…good place to go overboard here cuz I had another plant get washed 15 feet downstream. My little steam has water flow that’s only 2 foot wide yet runoff rain swept the other plant downstream, turned it over and broke main stem, she was dead on my arrival. Yep build a wall of big stones around perimeter of smart pot, another option is to drive a slender metal anchor in the creek like the kind used to hold yard sale signs or political signs… all this will help hold her in place. But some streams are so rocky it’s not feasible to put metal anchor rod in place

Lastly don’t be a noob like me, creeks are usually lined with trees & scrub brush, pick a spot in the creek that’s well illuminated by sun and clear the stuff that will block light. Another thought is… leave the trees in place but drill a deep hole angled downwards in tree trunk near the base, fill the hole with brush killer… this way the area does not appear to be recently chain sawed, the trees blocking light are intact but no foliage grows on them cuz they are dead…

So sorry to hear about your back! But it does sound like you have some fun adventures.

It is legal to grow here. My big problem is to get some moisture / mold resistant CBD auto seeds that I can grow on my roof (under security lights).
I had some of this Haze CBD Auto (by TopTao) but I put 8 seeds and got 0 to crack. So I will try the rest with the moist paper towel trick and part of a banana peel in a Ziploc bag, 78F, and we will see if they sprout.
If they will not sprout I will be looking for seeds!
You live close to a legal state, but not in??
(And it is not good to move? Haha....)

 

[013]

Thanks yes as saying goes I’ve been rode hard & put up wet… and yes sir I love most any kind of outdoor adventures.

So Mr Gee64 clued a lot of us about his deal on seeds. He rolls seeds in mycos powder then adds seeds & myco to the germination water.

A lot of soil growers skip the paper towel deal, personally me too. Thought process is- since they’ve been chemically bleached to make them white and to be fairly sterile, it’s pretty toxic stuff. However I get that we’ve all learned different methods. I just try to highlight what sticks out in my noggin both works well or sounds suspicious… I’m suspicious of paper towels…

I germ in mycos water, add more mycos powder to the center of my container then plant each seed on its side, add more mycos, then water it in with mycos germ water that’s been well stirred.

Heat mat helps germ rates but you can’t have tiny cup of soil since it can overheat & slow cook your bean to death. You can even place solo cup or whatever half way off the heat mat…

Fortunate to have homes in both states but it’s hard to start them in legal state since I don’t live there as primary residence… so I start indoors in one state then move them to legal state to transplant then grow them out. Oh yes, working on moving idea but also caregiver for elderly relatives here so it will most likely take few years just to be in a position to move.

 

[CBDMed]

Thanks yes as saying goes I’ve been rode hard & put up wet… and yes sir I love most any kind of outdoor adventures.

So Mr Gee64 clued a lot of us about his deal on seeds. He rolls seeds in mycos powder then adds seeds & myco to the germination water.

A lot of soil growers skip the paper towel deal, personally me too. Thought process is- since they’ve been chemically bleached to make them white and to be fairly sterile, it’s pretty toxic stuff.

Oy... I did not think about bleached paper towels being toxic...
I already have them in the paper towels...maybe next time I can use an old t-shirt (rag)?
Thanks for the heads up!

However I get that we’ve all learned different methods. I just try to highlight what sticks out in my noggin both works well or sounds suspicious… I’m suspicious of paper towels…

Normally I soak 12-18 hours and then plant direct in soil. If I do everything right I normally get a pretty good germination rate (@90%).
This last time I had to be gone and I had to plant beans, so I used these Root Riot starter cubes (organic), and they worked great. I got 8 for 8.
So... I figured these other seeds would come up also, but I got 0 for 8.
I have 16 beans left, I soaked them all, and they are in wet paper towels inside of a Ziploc with a banana peel. I hope to check them tomorrow, to see if anything sprouted, and looks like it has some vigor--and if so we will do what it takes to get them surgically implanted in a starter cube.
If nothing pops I can put a drop of Covington Naturals "Papa Zeep's Clone and Seed Starter Mix" but I am hesitant, since it breaks down the seeds if you do not use it right.

>> How Do I Apply Covington Seed Starter & Cloning Solution?
New Seedlings: Roll the seeds into enough liquid to cover them completely. Do not soak the seeds more than 1-2 minutes, it will begin to break down the husk (outer layer) of the seeds. Immediately plant into rich soil. You may pour any remaining liquid into soil containing the seeds.

If these seeds do not work I have some other auto seeds I can use on the roof, but if I can get these to pop, these would really be the best ones.

I germ in mycos water, add more mycos powder to the center of my container then plant each seed on its side, add more mycos, then water it in with mycos germ water that’s been well stirred.

I usually put the belly button pointing up, since the root emerges from the pointy end. Then the root just has to push straight down, and push the cotyledons up.
What does it do to put the seeds on their sides?

Heat mat helps germ rates but you can’t have tiny cup of soil since it can overheat & slow cook your bean to death. You can even place solo cup or whatever half way off the heat mat…

Yeah, I put the seeds on wet paper towel inside a Ziploc with a banana peel, and elevated off of the LED light about 3/16" with some spare pulley cord. It looks to be about 75F there (so that should be close enough to 78F to pop beans, if they are still viable...).

Fortunate to have homes in both states but it’s hard to start them in legal state since I don’t live there as primary residence… so I start indoors in one state then move them to legal state to transplant then grow them out.

Ahhh....

Oh yes, working on moving idea but also caregiver for elderly relatives here so it will most likely take few years just to be in a position to move.

Ahh, yes. That makes sense!
I hope your caregiver things work out, and that your state decides to wake up and go legal soon!!!!

 

[013]

I find it’s best to germinate in the dark… roots & especislly weed roots hate exposure to light…imho there is no need for light exposure right away…. another option is to place a 1 inch by 1 inch square of aluminum foil above where the seed is planted to ensure no light penetrates thru the soil. Yep feel pretty confident they don’t need light until after the sprout stands up and sheds the seed husk. Then it’s time for mild light like cfl (compact florescent light) or T5 florescent

Also wanted to mention the overwhelming majority of my swicks have had perlite in the res tub, The reality is I ran just 1 plant in plain water / no perlite so that’s not a fair evaluation. Had forgotten about this aspect then it hit me last night so yes I’d suggest you play it safe & use perlite in bottom of res tub for now.

I’ll run another swick smart pot placed in straight water / no perlite soon to see how it compares on my second attempt.

The other pertinent points Gee64 made and I’ve heard same info from other sources too….

Seeds are carrying their own natural biome from the mother plant… so it’s best to avoid soaking them in H2O… peroxide will kill off all the natural biome that’s coating the seeds

also much better to just soak them and put in soil without waiting for tails to develop. Instead of the transition from soaking in water then paper towel or old t-shirt to grow tails, skip the delay by letting them start acclimating to soil mix right away… I also use small pinch of fine ground bokashi bran in the soil where the seed will be planted

Rapid rooters are ok but if / when I use them I like to soak few spoons of soil mix in water, filter out the soil and keep the water to hydrate the rapid rooter… this gives you some of the soil strength but in liquid format

Ideally you want that seed nestled into light soil mix ASAP so they are immediately forced to adapt into the soil, basically it shaves a few days time off- no more paper towel no more waiting let’s start those beans chewing on that dirt right away. It immediately exposes her roots to the best conditions possible. Again maybe not the hot soil stuff but a combination of 1 part your soil mix plus 2 parts of light seed starter mix…,

Yes I’ve done seed orientation by putting the pointy end down, might have the wrong terminology but thnk it’s called gravitropism. Anywho seed should know which end is up, roots grow downwards & the plant grows upwards. but sometimes they can still do the U-turn thing so the seed husk keeps diving down deeper which makes it oriented upside down. Anyways think there’s less chance of issues when planted on their sides.

Thanks! Yes caregiving is both fun and somber too, it’s great to see a face light up when you drop in with a cake then take care of their yard work or repair projects. But it’s also hard to see your loved ones getting more feeble. It’s labor of love… yet I get much more in return than I give and consider myself fortunate to be able to serve them. States figure it out pretty quick when the see tax revenue loss to neighboring states

 

[CBDMed]

I find it’s best to germinate in the dark… roots & especislly weed roots hate exposure to light…imho there is no need for light exposure right away…. another option is to place a 1 inch by 1 inch square of aluminum foil above where the seed is planted to ensure no light penetrates thru the soil. Yep feel pretty confident they don’t need light until after the sprout stands up and sheds the seed husk. Then it’s time for mild light like cfl (compact florescent light) or T5 florescent

Great to know, thanks!
I put a metal bowl over the top, to block light.

Also wanted to mention the overwhelming majority of my swicks have had perlite in the res tub, The reality is I ran just 1 plant in plain water / no perlite so that’s not a fair evaluation. Had forgotten about this aspect then it hit me last night so yes I’d suggest you play it safe & use perlite in bottom of res tub for now.

Ahh, that is very good to know, thank you!!
I appreciate you letting me know that.

I’ll run another swick smart pot placed in straight water / no perlite soon to see how it compares on my second attempt.

The other pertinent points Gee64 made and I’ve heard same info from other sources too….

Seeds are carrying their own natural biome from the mother plant… so it’s best to avoid soaking them in H2O… peroxide will kill off all the natural biome that’s coating the seeds

I never soak them in peroxide.

also much better to just soak them and put in soil without waiting for tails to develop.

Yes, that is my preferred method. I did this with Afghan Mass XXL Auto and got 4 for 4 with Root Riot (organic) cubes, even though I had to be gone for two days. But this time I got 0 for 8

It sucks putting seeds and spritzing and waiting 4-5 days, and not a single bean pops. So this time I am taking the remaining 16 seeds, and doing a soak, and we will see IF anything cracks.
If nothing cracks we will try a drop or two of that Covington Naturals seed starter.
And if THAT does not work, then we will look at other seeds.

Instead of the transition from soaking in water then paper towel or old t-shirt to grow tails, skip the delay by letting them start acclimating to soil mix right away… I also use small pinch of fine ground bokashi bran in the soil where the seed will be planted

I would love to get bokashi going here! We just are not there yet.
Yes, I prefer to start them in soil (or at least in the starter cubes). But 0 for 8 was kind of a bummer...

Rapid rooters are ok but if / when I use them I like to soak few spoons of soil mix in water, filter out the soil and keep the water to hydrate the rapid rooter… this gives you some of the soil strength but in liquid format

Hmm... how does that mesh with the standard routine of not giving nutes until you see the second set of real leaves?
(Are you not a subscriber to that theory?)

Ideally you want that seed nestled into light soil mix ASAP so they are immediately forced to adapt into the soil, basically it shaves a few days time off- no more paper towel no more waiting let’s start those beans chewing on that dirt right away. It immediately exposes her roots to the best conditions possible. Again maybe not the hot soil stuff but a combination of 1 part your soil mix plus 2 parts of light seed starter mix…,

Usually I put a Solo' cup's worth of Roots Organic soil, and then I was making a healthy golf-ball-sized divot into which I put starter mix.
Now I put the starter cube, which isolates the seed from nutes (obviously) until they hit the soil.
I find they usually need a little supplemental N (urine:water 1:10) for the first few weeks after the second set of leaves comes in, but after that they usually take what N they need from the hot soil (for the most part).

Yes I’ve done seed orientation by putting the pointy end down, might have the wrong terminology but thnk it’s called gravitropism. Anywho seed should know which end is up, roots grow downwards & the plant grows upwards. but sometimes they can still do the U-turn thing so the seed husk keeps diving down deeper which makes it oriented upside down. Anyways think there’s less chance of issues when planted on their sides.

Yeah, I had two weird issues where the roots did a hoopdie and the roots came out up top! So I thought, put the pointy and down, and then let the belly button of the seed see light, so it knows which way is the wrong way. (I do not think the belly button of the seed coating will be freaked out by light.)
I have not had issues since I put the belly button up, but that was recent.

Thanks! Yes caregiving is both fun and somber too, it’s great to see a face light up when you drop in with a cake then take care of their yard work or repair projects. But it’s also hard to see your loved ones getting more feeble. It’s labor of love… yet I get much more in return than I give and consider myself fortunate to be able to serve them.

Very well said.

States figure it out pretty quick when the see tax revenue loss to neighboring states

 

[CBDMed]

Well, 0 for 8 on the beans so far.
But the good news is that we are still on track to have a greenhouse in about a month, and then our new gardener knows how to grow inground in greenhouse. So probably he will take all that over, and in six months he will drop 19 trees on my head
There's a 20 plant limit so probably I will be starting a new thread, and I will go to discuss the in greenhouse grows with him. (I want to make sure the girls get fed right.)
I have mixed feelings. I love growing, and it's very stress relaxing. But I need to get my time back. And I'm sure if he's a pro gardener and I give him good instructions and the girls get good food, and I go check on him once a month, that should be just fine. (And then I have time to make cobs, and maybe use the Rozen press if I want.)
So, bad news, good news. Halleluyah!

 

[013]

Great to know, thanks!
I put a metal bowl over the top, to block light.

Nice, I bend the corners down so it’s like legs to make a miniature tin foil hut, it does the dark but also keeps good airflow

Ahh, that is very good to know, thank you!!
I appreciate you letting me know that.

Yes when it dawned on me quickly realized it was pretty reckless to give glowing review of something I’ve only tried once



I never soak them in peroxide.

Boom great job!

Yes, that is my preferred method. I did this with Afghan Mass XXL Auto and got 4 for 4 with Root Riot (organic) cubes, even though I had to be gone for two days. But this time I got 0 for 8

It sucks putting seeds and spritzing and waiting 4-5 days, and not a single bean pops. So this time I am taking the remaining 16 seeds, and doing a soak, and we will see IF anything cracks.
If nothing cracks we will try a drop or two of that Covington Naturals seed starter.
And if THAT does not work, then we will look at other seeds.

Ooof, yeah killing beans is my forte, but I’m trying to forget that noise to learn better skillz!

I would love to get bokashi going here! We just are not there yet.
Yes, I prefer to start them in soil (or at least in the starter cubes). But 0 for 8 was kind of a bummer...

I just buy a bag of bokashi & sprinkle it on. Pretty confident its possible to use a portion of bokashi to spawn up more bokashi…. seem to recall Keffka was aiming to do this over at G-Spot journal…

Hmm... how does that mesh with the standard routine of not giving nutes until you see the second set of real leaves?
(Are you not a subscriber to that theory?)

Yes, I’m kinda brain dead lately too much crap & not enough sleep. I do the above mentioned process to capture the goodies from bagged soil products. After soaking and straining the liquid, I’ll draw up like 2 mil of the good stuff and draw up another 15 mil of plain water, squirt it into cup then shake it well, draw it back into syringe and barely hydrate the rapid rooter… so yes absolutely, I do subscribe to that second pair of leaves theory before adding nutes but figure my solution is mixed weak enough to give minuscule taste of the good life yet no chance for burn.

Usually I put a Solo' cup's worth of Roots Organic soil, and then I was making a healthy golf-ball-sized divot into which I put starter mix.
Now I put the starter cube, which isolates the seed from nutes (obviously) until they hit the soil.
I find they usually need a little supplemental N (urine:water 1:10) for the first few weeks after the second set of leaves comes in, but after that they usually take what N they need from the hot soil (for the most part).

Cool deals- that sounds like a plan.

Yeah, I had two weird issues where the roots did a hoopdie and the roots came out up top! So I thought, put the pointy and down, and then let the belly button of the seed see light, so it knows which way is the wrong way. (I do not think the belly button of the seed coating will be freaked out by light.)
I have not had issues since I put the belly button up, but that was recent.

Yes I’ve had a few seeds to do u-turns where the seed husk kept growing downwards but roots were growing up… no science to back me up just kinda figured starting them out by laying them on side was kewl stuff & less chance of needing intervention.


Very well said.