Hubba Hubba! Bubba Hash & The Bright Lights Of Redemption: Amy's Indoor v2.0 With DBHBB

[Amy Gardner]

Oops!

 

[Amy Gardner]

Update: State of the Garden

All the kids are old enough now that they’ve been getting their own, dedicated, updates so this one is a general overview of the whole grow, as it currently stands.

I’m really late in the piece getting this lighting upgrade happening. I’d planned to be running both sets (boards and strips) together for the second half of veg onwards but that’s actually nearly over, so I’d better get my skates on! They’re getting just enough light now (about 23w/sq ft).

Let’s kick off with the tent at lights on last night.

It’s not quite as crowded as it looks there. I currently can’t access a couple of the corners because everything is on a piece of marine ply on top of the soil tote. Once I get the photo-periods transplanted and get the soil tote out of there, the whole floor space will open up and I’ll be able to spread things out a bit for the stretch, fingers crossed.

DDAs up the back and the Auto Blueberry on the right are really reaching into the lights, at about 18” away now. I’m at a point where I can’t really adjust for height anymore (until the post-transplant rearrange) so hopefully they’re about done getting taller.

I’ve been leaf-tucking (tucking fan leaves that are shading lower branch tips) on all the plants except the DDAs, whose fan-leaf numbers are very low. Here’s what it looks like on the coco auto’s.

Sometimes it’s gentle, gently bending down the leaves and letting the plant hold them out of the way, like on Blueberry..

And other times something more extreme is called for (like when there’s nothing to tuck them behind), like on Amnesia...

I’m also leaf tucking a lot on the Candida, but it’s harder to photograph. It also got some decent pruning and thinning out this week. I think all branches are triploids now so this is going to be very interesting viewing come bloomtime. I’ll do another thinning of branches before flip. I forgot that I’d planned to back off the Brix foliar strength so the last one, a couple of days ago, brought a little more burn to the tips - next time

Bubba Hash continues to steal the show with both it’s stunning beauty, its moodiness and its appetite I’ve trimmed and pruned a bit here as well. These are all about 12hours after lights-on.

It’s funny, the branch towards the back is not as disproportionately small as it looks in this photo (below). It is a little smaller than the others tho’.

The DDA#3s got their first Growth Energy Drench - and clearly really liked it - and the #4s are already looking better than 2 days ago when I took the last lot of pics. The reverse tacoing is much less now.
I also neglected to mention that they are starting to give that delicious grapey syrupy aroma

DDA#3s

DDA#4s

Such deliciousness they promise

Now we can’t have the leaf-tucking pics be the only ones of the coco babies! I keep having moments of questioning myself as to whether i got the labelling mixed up on them, but I absolutely know that I didn’t! Amnesia is way shorter than Blueberry go figure.

Auto Amnesia Haze - has just had another increase in nutes.

And Blueberry is still holding at the last increase so they now get about the same again actually, with the exception that Blueberry is getting the DIY Ca supplement.

Auto Blueberry

They have also both started taking a little more water.

I’m wondering about the transition to flowering nutes and feeling like that should be happening soonish. I’ll have to look at what Canna recommend and then translate that to what feels like an Auto-friendly schedule.

So that’s everyone ATM

Going forward I need to finish the light upgrade, work out/build what I’ll use for risers for the small plants, and then transplant ready for flowering the photo-periods. They are nearing 2 months of veg and I’d been thinking 8-10weeks so that’s anytime, starting in about a week-10days.

Then it will just be the plant-Tetris of how to arrange them all. The way I see it I could flower out 3 small-med plants in 7gal pots in here, with the lighting I will have, so the auto pots are intended to be the equivalent of one of those 3. Truth be know the autos all went in about a month too late so there’s going to be a couple of weeks of crowding but I’m sure I’ll manage to fit it all! All part of the fun right!

I started a new LABs batch this week that I decided to document (again) for anyone currently interested, but I think I’ll make that a seperate post and sign off here with the clan, a few hours ago, 12hours into lights-on...

​

I trust you’re all having an excellent weekend full of rest and rejuvenation and cannabis in many forms ...

 

[Graytail]

Excellent Amy! They look great! You even have Bubba holding her leaves erect. No small accomplishment.

 

[Agemon]

I'll get some pics up tomorrow. And I've got the QB's turned all the way down, but mine are 5500K, I'm sure that makes a difference.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Thanks Gray! Probably not as consistently as it looks like , but definitely more so than it was.

 

[Amy Gardner]

I'll get some pics up tomorrow. And I've got the QB's turned all the way down, but mine are 5500K, I'm sure that makes a difference.

OK - haven’t made it over there yet . I would think it’d be more comfortable under those 5500k, but I have no idea why I would think that - now that I’ve said it. I did feel like one of the things that would stress out the one i had outside, was sudden pronounced changes in environmental conditions. So maybe it’s just not so adaptable, as a strain, and loses metabolic equilibrium easily, or something like that. I’m totally speculating here. I got rusty spots on that one but that was due to absolutely starving it out at the very worst time (not on purpose of course!) so we can’t really compare those events in any useful way. What do rusty spots mean - on all those deficiency charts? Usually calcium, right? SO it’s possible in theory that the heightened demand under the QBs couple lead to there suddenly not being enough in the nutes. Hell, maybe it’s actually that the plant metabolism is working even better under the QBs, faster or something, and therefore demanding more from the inputs.

Man, I’m raving tho’... I’m really quite high right now! This Critical Mass is curing pretty nicely... and this has taken me like a year to type out

 

[InTheShed]

Lovely updates Amy! Excellent extreme leaf tucking .

Amy, I wanted to ask you a question about the Candida. You remember that one I had going? You told me to pull it and put under fluorescents. She was great and then I put her back under the 5500K QB's. It's been a few day and now many of the uppers are getting yellow spots and such. You think it's CalMag def.

Recap. Plants were healthy happy. Put them in tent under QB's. 3-4 days later they've got yellow spots on the leaves. No significant change in feed. Fed once before going in to tent and once after.

Your thoughts?

You didn't asked me but evs...plants moved under QBs or strips from other lighting types often show deficiencies. I would up the nutes and see how they go. Maybe a bit of Epsom salt as well.

 

[Amy Gardner]

DIY Lactobacillus Serum (LABs)

Even tho I’m not making my own organic nutes for canna gardening anymore, I still periodically make a batch of LABs. I’ll share the recipe here, and also links to other sources of information on making it and using it. The whole process takes about 10days (give or take, depending on environment) and it will store in the fridge for very much longer than it will take to use it up!.

We use it around the house and in the vegetable garden, and I’m getting closer to being able to try it to support my own gut health (although I am very sensitive to any kind of pro-biotic intervention, so still have trepidation about that!). The leftover curd can also be eaten.

In a soil grow, it’s used very much like we use the tea in the DBHBB kit. It adds beneficial microorganisms.

Step 1:
Wash rice or some other starchy grain. Strain and keep the liquid.

Step 2:
Put the rice-wash liquid into a jar that you can cover without sealing. It needs to be protected from bugs and stuff getting in but needs to be accessible to the 'freewheeling' bacteria floating around in the air. I did this with a small caning jar and some cheesecloth doubled over.

Let it sit somewhere warm-ish with fresh air. Wait for anywhere from 2-5 (or so) days - this process can depend a lot on environment. Sometimes it happens faster than others.

What you will notice is that a lot of powdery looking stuff will settle on the bottom (sediment) and a very thin film will form on the top. It should smell vaguely yeasty and sour at this stage.

The next step varies in instruction by person - some say to just strain it out, others say to siphon. I have done it all ways. It works. I got a cleaner liquid using a siphon but the batch I’m making now is strained out through the cheesecloth. What you're ideally after is the liquid from the middle of the jar - not the sediment or the film (however I’ve seen people also just dump the whole lot in without straining even and it still works, so nothing is that strict).

Step 3:
Now add 10 parts fresh milk to every 1 part sour water - so if you have 100ml sour water, then add 1litre of milk. This time I strained the sour water straight into the milk. I use an organic unpasteurised from literally down the road but I think any milk will work (except longlife i think, even powdered would work). This time you want to cover it so that no air can get in but air pressure can escape (that's important - imagine the explosion!).

Again, set it somewhere slightly warm-ish. I have this on top of the fridge and will keep checking it for signs of separation. It’s very entertaining!

Basically we’re making curds and whey, and the whey is the LABs. The curds will form on top leaving whey in the middle (and sediment on the bottom). Warm conditions will make it happen faster.

This below is from previous batch I made. It has been in the jar about 6days and is nearly ready...

Wait till they're fully separated. The curd will look like this on top.

Then strain out or siphon out the whey - the yellow clearish liquid in the middle.

Leaving the curd,

And the whey... or LABs

Store this in the fridge. You can keep it at room temp but only if you add sugar or molasses to it at a 1:1 ratio (for the micro-herd to eat). I did that the first time I made it and didn't like it so much. Plus, I’m not a fan of molasses use in soil so nowadays I just store in the fridge and this seems better - the microbes go a bit dormant/quiet I think, and then ‘wake up’ when you use them.

The curd can actually be eaten or used to make cheese (more info on using it and the LABs is included below).

LABs is an organic, anaerobic bacteria culture which quickly digests biological waste, so you can even use it to unblock your drains... I've tried it - it works. You can also use it as a diluted spray around the house to eliminate odours (it's the true odour eater!). For a gard'ner, the LABs can be used in a multitude of ways including as an accelerator for fermented plant juices, or just added to soil feedings/water and/or foliar sprays - it's also great anti-fungal.

I first came across this thanks to a former member here @MerryAnna (ciao). I know @conradino23 uses it in his grows and has actually expanded his scope into cultivating other strains as well. There used to be a site called the unconventionalgardener, which no longer exists, where the Korean Natural Farming method was first documented online, and I found a copy of their original LABs recipe and guide reproduced on a gardening forum so I've reproduced it below.

MerryAnna's guide for use is:

• soil feed enhancement (add microbes): 15-30ml /gallon of water
• foliar spray: 15ml /gallon
• compost activator: 30ml in the heap
• making Fermented Plant Juice - add 30ml to the FPJ mix, quicker fermentation and less smelly by FAR.
• Fermented fish & seaweed extract: add 30ml to stinky fish mix to lessen odour and accelerate the process

I think i've used it a bit stronger 1:10 in soil feed and 1:20 in foliar - my plants seemed happy. I've used it in nearly every feed since mid veg and nearly every foliar too. And it is used in seaweed ferments and the stinging-nettle ferments that we make.

Here are some links to other versions of the recipe with various info about it:

LAB at Build a soil

LAB at naturalfarming.co

Below is a direct copy of the original unconventionalgardener version - it repeats the recipe I've given so skip over that... there is lots of really great info on how to use it at the bottom of this quote!

Lactobacillus Serum

This is the workhorse of the beneficial bacteria we’ll be discussing here. We use it for everything! Foul odors, clogged drains, cheaper pig/chicken/etc farming, aquaculture, the applications are amazingly diverse. Learn how to make and use this and you will have a powerful tool in your farming arsenal.

How to Make:

Get container, fill halfway with rice-wash. Rice wash is the water leftover when you rinse fresh rice. For example, go buy rice, whatever kind, bring it home, put it in a pot with warm water, swirl it a bit and then drain the [now milky colored] water. The water is now a rich source of carbohydrates. In this step, you can substitute rice with another carbohydrate source if you don’t have rice, as long as it is complex (don’t use simple carbohydrates like sugar, honey, syrup, molasses, etc). You can use wheat, barley, kinoa, other carbohydrates as the base to make your carbohydrate wash. This wash will attract microbes from the air, among them lacto bacilli.
Cover loosely and let stand for a couple days to a week
When is it done? When you see a light film on top (molds) and it smells a little sour and forms 3 layers. This is indicating the rice wash is infected with various microbes. This happens more quickly in warm temperatures because microbes are more active. Thus it is all relative since we don’t do this in controlled laboratory conditions.
The layers are distinct
Top layer: floating carbohydrates leftover from fermentation and possibly molds
Middle layer: Lactic Acid and other bacteria (cheese buffs will recognize this as a makeshift “rennet”). We will use this layer.
Bottom layer: Starch, byproduct of fermentation
Extract the middle layer using a siphon. This layer contains the highest concentration of lactic acid bacteria and lowest concentration of the unneeded byproducts
Get a new container, larger than the first. Take the extracted serum from the last step and mix it with 10 parts milk. By saturating with milk (lactose), we dissuade other microbes from proliferating, leaving L. bacilli. E.G. if you have 1cup of the serum, mix it with 10cups milk.

TIP: The best milk to use in unpasteurized natural milk. However, any milk will do, even powdered milk. In our experience, the best is unpasteurized natural but just use what is available. We just want to saturate with lactose to promote L. bacilli bacteria.

You want to keep this stage anaerobic as much as possible. You can use something like rice bran, barley bran, wheat bran, etc sprinkled on top of the milk. I use a sealed container with a one-way valve. Note: Beware of bubbling during this phase. It can lead to overflows if you filled to near the top. It can go through the one-way valves so keep an eye on it and don’t do this step around nice things.
After about 1 week (temp dependent), you’ll see curds (made of carbohydrate, protein, and fat) on top of the milk. The water below will be yellow colored – this is whey, enriched with lactic acid bacteria from the fermentation of the milk.

NOTE: Microbes like L. bacilli are more active in warmer temperatures. The curds you see are a byproduct of the fermentation process. Fermentation is generally associated with microbial processes under anaerobic(no oxygen) conditions. Now, L. bacilli is a facultative anaerobe, that is it can live and work with or without oxygen, but less competition in anaerobic conditions.

The water below(whey+lacto) is the good stuff. You want to extract this. You can either skim the curds off the top, pour through a strainer, or whatever other methods to accomplish that

NOTE: Remember the curds, or byproduct of milk fermentation by L. bacilli, are great food. They are full of beneficial microbes like L. bacilli. Feed the curds to the soil, compost pile, plants, animals, humans – whoever wants them! They are full of good nutrients/microbes. No waste in natural farming.

To preserve at room temperature, add an equal part sugar/molasses to the serum. So, if you have 1L of serum, add 1kilo sugar or 1L molasses. Otherwise store in fridge to keep.

Example Recipe:

1 L rice wash
add 10L Milk
After rice wash and milk remove curds – around 1L
Left with 10L pure LAB (lactic acid bacteria)
add 10kg sugar or 10L molasses
= 20 L stabilized lactic acid bacteria serum



What to Use it for and How

Before using, first mix 1:20 with water. 1 part serum to 20 parts water. Then follow instructions below:

Odor Reducer:
Add mixture to animal’s water at 2tbsp/L. You can mix it more or less, there are no rules here, just how we typically do it.
Apply to places where there is odor buildup. The harmless bacteria “eat” the odor causing germs and the smell is gone!
Indoors: reduces foul odors, including animals like cats, dogs, mice, other pets. Stinky shoes? Wet clothes from being outside? Gym clothes that haven’t made it to the wash yet? Smoker in the house? Kill these nasty smells!
Outside: use to control odor in pens – pigs, cows, chickens. In barns, around the yard, etc

Household use:
Clear clogged drains. A few tbsp to 1L works well. For semi-clogged drains (like kitchen sink draining progressively slower), use at night and allow at least the night for microbes to work.
Keep septic clear. Tired of having your septic system drained? Add lacto! Depending on size of your system, pour a few tbsp. to a few L into the toilet every few months.
Houseplants: Mix 2-3tbsp per 1L water and use that to water them.

Animal Bedding:
Mix 2tbsp to 1L water. Mix with animal bedding to reduce smell and increase longevity. In natural pig farming we use at least 1 yard deep of bedding so there is plenty of space for microbes to work. Bedding consists of organic substrate like rice hulls, wood chips, sawdust, wood shavings, shredded corn cob, any other high cellulose, high lignin material. Natural pig farming is a future topic on this site. Spray until bedding is slightly damp but not wet. How much you spray really depends on your climate. If you are in a very dry climate you can spray a little more and mix in evenly. Wetter (more humid) climates use a bit less. Mix into the bedding evenly where necessary (in many cases, like with pigs and chickens, they’ll mix it themselves). How much you use is all relative. These guidelines are for pigs and chickens. More extreme smells, just use more! Want to spray less often, use more! As we notice a smell we spray. Thus, as pigs grow bigger, make more poop, we spray more often! Dosage/frequency is relative and will depend on your situation.

Animals – Digestive/Growth Aid:
Mix 2tbsp to 1L water, then add that mixture to animal’s water at 2tbsp/L(so the animal’s water contains little less than a quarter tsp/L of lacto serum). But this is very flexible. The Lacto serum is not harmful, so its just about adding enough to be effective, without wasting it.

Improve digestive efficiency in humans and animals alike:
Improves how you feel after meals, particularly meals rich in meats. It’s awesome. After eating, mix 1-2tbsp lacto with a cup of water and drink that. Makes you feel so much better after! Lessens that afternoon lull, gives you more energy!
Aids digestion in animals. This is critical. You can raise animals on less food, and see the same and greater growth rates. Amazing results in pigs . The principal is that the microorganisms help digest the food coming in – better digestibility means better nutrient absorption. Save on feeds, better feed to growth conversion ratio!

TIP: If you really want to boost growth, mix 2tbsp to 1L water and soak the food in this solution for a few hours to a few days. Food is pre-digested when animals eat it, AWESOME!

Great results in livestock and poultry.

Plants – Growth Aid:
When added to water for plants, nutrient uptake efficiency is increased, which increases growth!

Improves growth of plants when applied as foliar spray and soil drench. Improves their efficiency in uptaking nutrients so naturally, growth is enhanced. With the use of these microorganisms, the nutrients you spray or drench to feed your plants become more bio-available and easily absorbable by the plants. Technically, you can say that plants do not use organic nutrients directly. Microorganisms convert organic nutrients to their inorganic constituents which the plants utilize. Utilizing microbes, you will notice better plant growth and health.

Disease Resistance:
This is a consequence of the increased efficiency of nutrients. More nutrients available at smaller metabolic cost.
Lacto suppresses harmful bacteria in food/water that animals consume, enhances their gut flora so that line of defense is working optimally, etc.

Aid Compost:
Mix 2tbsp/L and spray on compost pile to improve decomposition. This is a huge topic that will be expanded upon in another post.

Aid Organic Fertilizer:
Add 1-2tbsp per gallon water-nutrient solution. Lacto consumes organic nutrients making them bio-available to plant roots.
Plants don’t use organic fertilizer! Microbes break it down to inorganic constituents, and plants take those up. This product makes that process more efficient.

Aquaculture:
Lacto works in aquaculture just fine if you don’t have BIM available. Add lacto at roughly 1L per 700m3 of fish-containing water. Example: you have a pond that averages 20m wide by 30m long by 2m deep. So, 20 x 30 x 2 = 1200m3. In this case you would add roughly 1L of BIM or Lacto

Microbes digest fish wastes, cleaning up water and improving water quality.
Allows fish to grow larger due to digestive efficiency
Allows higher population of fish in the same amount of water! Literally, increases the carrying capacity of your body of water! This is awesome for aquaculture setups

Original website

*EDIT: Here is a great tip for subsequent batches. Thanks Celt!

Just a quick note for those like @Amy Gardner, who make and use LABS. After your first batch, you can speed up the process by for going the rice wash. Add a table spoon of your previous batch to a cup of water and add that to a quart of milk and in about 4 days you will be ready to remove the cheese and strain the next batch.

The purpose of the rice wash is to collect free range LB from the air, if you already have the serum, no need to collect new LB from the air.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Lovely updates Amy! Excellent extreme leaf tucking .


You didn't asked me but evs...plants moved under QBs or strips from other lighting types often show deficiencies. I would up the nutes and see how they go. Maybe a bit of Epsom salt as well.

buddy! And yes - I thought you’d pick that one up!

 

[InTheShed]

Excellent tutorial!

This below are a batch I made last year that is nearly ready...

This takes even longer than that calcium from eggshells-in-vinegar routine . Plan ahead!

Then strain out or siphon out the whey - the yellow clearish liquid in the middle.

Is that what you're keeping or throwing away?

 

[Amy Gardner]

This takes even longer than that calcium from eggshells-in-vinegar routine . Plan ahead!

tha ambiguity of language

I’ve been trying to edit it for other responses but the site wont let me in there. I’l fix that misleading part when I do. It takes less than a week

 

[Amy Gardner]

Is that what you're keeping or throwing away?

So maybe it wasnt such a great tutorial! We’re keeping the whey With the final photo that would be obvious maybe... i nw its here somewhere!

 

[InTheShed]

tha ambiguity of language

That's not the ambiguous part! There's nothing ambiguous about: "This below are a batch I made last year that is nearly ready..."

The ambiguous part is whether you keep the curds or the whey. I thought maybe you siphon out the whey and toss it and keep curds!

So maybe it wasnt such a great tutorial!

It's still a great tutorial!

 

[Amy Gardner]

It’s funny because I edited out some words to make it less wordy... and then it stopped making sense. I just cleared my cache and restarted the iPad - lets see it the edit post function will let me in now.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Had to use my phone to edit it , but I think I’ve fixed it now

 

[Neiko]

Your plants are gorgeous! You're doing an amazing job on the Bubba, she looks nice and happy. It looks like you are getting the handle on the coco too. Next time you mix your HB soil remove about 1/3 of the peat and replace it with pre washed coco, amend and cook as normal. I think you'll like the results!

 

[BeezLuiz]

Man, I’m raving tho’... I’m really quite high right now! This Critical Mass is curing pretty nicely... and this has taken me like a year to type out

I know that feeling. I now try to just read other people's posts while high and then reply or post the next day. Doesn't always work for me, but I try. Is this your first Critical Mass? Yesterday I choose Critical Mass Auto as part of my seed winning from Dope Seeds. I've never tried it before, but have heard many goods things about the strain.

DIY Lactobacillus Serum (LABs)

Bookmarked!

 

[Agemon]

Hey Amy! I posted an update about the Candida at my apartment. Cruise on over!

 

[Carcass]

I'm going to have to stop in here more often-there's a lot of interesting stuff here
to go along with those beautiful plants!
Great tutorial!

 

[Amy Gardner]

plants are gorgeous! You're doing an amazing job on the Bubba, she looks nice and happy

Next time you mix your HB soil remove about 1/3 of the peat and replace it with pre washed coco, amend and cook as normal. I think you'll like the results!

Yes! - I am planning to do this exactly. I am going to mix some through my outdoor HBB raised bed soil as well. That’s a mixture of local soil (dirt and clay), my previous inputs from 2 seasons ago (which did include a little bit of coco) and now the custom HBB amendment. I think it will benefit from a little coco in the mix as well.

It’s going to be another whole cycle before I get to do that with this kit batch tho because this is second run and I’m only using half of it with this grow. I won’t use the other half until the indoor next year. Then I’ll cut in the coco for the 3rd run Unless something changes in my plans that makes me use the second half of this batch sooner than that. Anything is possible!

your first Critical Mass?

It is actually. I’m warming to it. I have a couple of friends who really like it. I let it go too long and it still tastes ‘overripe’ to me. I don’t even know how to explain that! I have grown it’s progeny before though, the first CBD plant I grew was CBD Critical Cure and CM is one of the parents. Plus, I grew a ‘Money Bush’ which is CM x Afghani and to be honest this CM i have now is totally completely different to that in terp profile and effect. I’ll be curious to see the auto version grow out for you. These Coco autos I have going are from Dope seeds and they seem pretty good ‘stock’.

We don’t have any way of knowing if this Critical Mass Dope Seeds have in their line-up has any actual relation to other or earlier versions of the strain, or whether it’s recreated from ‘other’ phenotype parents of the parental strains. That might explain what seems t me so very differnt between teh CMass i grew last season to teh CMassxAfghani I grew the year before. I knew they’d be differnt but didn’t expect them to be so far apart.