Keffka's Stonington Soil, Bag Seed, 2022 Setup Indoor Grow

[Gee64]

I should mention this just in case your not aware of it yet. Your plant has what is often referred to as a crown or on some plants the knuckle. Its the point in the main trunk where the top grows up and the roots grow down. Ground level. If you add EWC or whatever else above the crown you start to add soil that will never be directly used until it breaks down and settles below the crown so.... while its waiting to break down its choking O2 from the surface to some degree. More thin layers like a thin mulch is better than a full inch of ewc. Make sense? Shes a big plant for the potsize so she needs deep breaths often. Restricted air slows her down a bit every breath so less breaths between now and finish means less yield. Lol your going to be really busy to the end now

 

[Gee64]

dig gently around your stalk and see if ground level is buried. If it is take a bit out to thin the mulch. If its a full inch above right now you will notice a big improvement when she breaths deeper. She will darken her leaves.

 

[Gee64]

Another option going forwards if you start to lose the calorie battle is to delarf her. During heavy chunk if you feel its needed its a tool to have to get to finish.

 

[StoneOtter]

Hi guys, this grow is going so well! I/we have a bout with covid and are almost over it! Glad to be back! The Rev book is the one I started with. It brought me to complete grows in one shot and has been my manual.
He's been missing from Skunk mag for over a month now, I hope his next book is getting close to market!
Plant's looking great!

 

[Keffka]

dig gently around your stalk and see if ground level is buried. If it is take a bit out to thin the mulch. If its a full inch above right now you will notice a big improvement when she breaths deeper. She will darken her leaves.

So I dug at it a little bit but the moment I broke below the surface I hit roots.. they’re almost right at the top of the pot just below the surface.. should I still try to keep digging below to find where they’re coming off the stem? I’ve ripped a couple of them up on accident so far.

 

[Keffka]

Hi guys, this grow is going so well! I/we have a bout with covid and are almost over it! Glad to be back! The Rev book is the one I started with. It brought me to complete grows in one shot and has been my manual.
He's been missing from Skunk mag for over a month now, I hope his next book is getting close to market!
Plant's looking great!

No worries stone, gotta take care of yourself and the family first! Thanks for the kind words, and hope you and yours are feeling better! I’ll definitely be interested in a 3rd edition if he drops another one.. There’s been a lot of progress since 2016

 

[Gee64]

So I dug at it a little bit but the moment I broke below the surface I hit roots.. they’re almost right at the top of the pot just below the surface.. should I still try to keep digging below to find where they’re coming off the stem? I’ve ripped a couple of them up on accident so far.

Nope your good then. Just making sure.

 

[Keffka]

Nope your good then. Just making sure.

Good.. I know exactly what part you’re talking about, I saw it a lot messing with seedlings.. Fantastic detail though

As far as bins for soil cooking go.. do you drill holes in the bin for airflow and drainage?

 

[Gee64]

I do yes. Holes on bottom, holes half way up, holes in the lid. I don't know if thats the best way or not but I started with a tub with no holes and it stayed pretty wet in there so I drilled it. The sides have 4 holes each and the bottom has 5. One in each corner and 1 center. Then I drilled a second tub but not on bottom and put the cooking tub inside the other one in case it leaked.

 

[Keffka]

I do yes. Holes on bottom, holes half way up, holes in the lid. I don't know if thats the best way or not but I started with a tub with no holes and it stayed pretty wet in there so I drilled it. The sides have 4 holes each and the bottom has 5. One in each corner and 1 center. Then I drilled a second tub but not on bottom and put the cooking tub inside the other one in case it leaked.

Awesome, good shit.. I drilled 5 below, 3 on all 4 sides halfway up and 5 on top.. I misread Revs soil mix for using just bagged soil and EWC and it’s actually one part bagged soil, one part perlite, and one part EWC.. I was planning 50 soil 25 perlite 25 EWC.. I need to start double checking all of my math and ratios because this happens a lot when I’m trying to ration soil.

So going with Revs actual ratios I mixed it up and looked at it and I can’t believe the current plant I’m growing isn’t suffocating more. I’m not gonna cook it since he explicitly stated out of the bag at that ratio no cooking needs to happen, plus there’s myco in the soil.. I’d rather use it first instead of losing it to an unnecessary cook.

I wanna master the style before I really dive into cooking my own soils.. it seems very easy to add too much of any one thing.

I’m gonna run four 3 gallon plants with a lobster compost bottom layer, a flower spike a veg spike and 2 aerated EWC spikes. I’ll also be adding EWC to the soil mix on the top couple inches of the pot. I think I’ll also put down some of the OG plant food on top there as well for the Nitrogen. I’ll be putting a layer of mulch down on top of that.

Based on the grow I’ve had so far, that should really help the plant achieve its limits. Potassium seems to be an issue in this soil, so I’m gonna be running them on the lower end of VPD since there’s not a lot of available K in the lineup. The OG plant food has it which I’ll most likely have in one or both the spikes since it’s Kelp Meal, alfalfa meal, feather meal, lobster and crab meal, fish meal, potassium sulfate, kelp extract and Epsom salts. I have the fish bone meal which is 5-13-0 and 18% calcium.. it’s unsteamed so it could be amended into the soil no problems but this soil is straight out of the bag so it seems like overkill, I haven’t seen signs of a P issue this grow.

The soil comes with myco but I also have Great White which I will be using during transplants, and any time it appears as if I’ve pissed off the fungi.

I’m gonna post the labels let me know if anything jumps out or if anyone has any recommendations.

Soil Blend:

OG plant food:

Unsteamed bone meal

 

[Keffka]

Todays images.. she’s bulking up daily, getting smellier, frostier, had to crutch one of the colas already.

It’s a constant battle staying ahead.. I just hit her with a bacteria microbe tea the other day followed by pure water then fish fert water today to help the fungus stay fed. I also defoliated the larf along the outside and bottom of the plant while leaving the leaves on the branches for the plant.

 

[Gee64]

She's looking good! I like the looks of that soil. The potash looks good too. Rev's soil mix also calls for 1 part coco too. Don't forget it as its your carbon. Yeah no need to cook. The bagged stuff and the ewc are both cooked already. I would mix it in a tub with the perlite and coco 24-48 hours ahead of use and water it gently so its all a bit damp. It makes it a bit harder to work with but the microlife and fungii will be alot happier with no dry spots. Keep going man! You will get her there lol. She looks awesome! How many more days til day 70?

 

[Keffka]

She's looking good! I like the looks of that soil. The potash looks good too. Rev's soil mix also calls for 1 part coco too. Don't forget it as its your carbon. Yeah no need to cook. The bagged stuff and the ewc are both cooked already. I would mix it in a tub with the perlite and coco 24-48 hours ahead of use and water it gently so its all a bit damp. It makes it a bit harder to work with but the microlife and fungii will be alot happier with no dry spots. Keep going man! You will get her there lol. She looks awesome! How many more days til day 70?

The Stonington soil comes with coco in the mix, and the rev recipe I saw isn’t asking for it:

That’s the recipe I’m running this off of (which I’m glad I reread again, I missed that the all purpose was supposed to be mixed in and not layered).. I am gonna pickup coco though for the recycling.. I’m just waiting on the corner store to get its shipment in. Although now I am concerned with carbon since that was a major issue this time around. I am going to be running this run on the lighter side though in terms of VPD and DLI.. So between that and being more proactive I should be able to work it out. We’re gonna find out the limits of this soil, plus I’ll have everything on hand if stuff goes sideways.

December 8th will be Day 70, so about 29 days from now. I’m closely watching how much she eats herself before I decide on the middle. At her current rate I should make it 29 days, but there’s a possibility she’ll move faster than I’m predicting. The larf and stuff I removed from the lower outside was much more dense than I was expecting it to be so I held off on the middle since those growths were even larger. If she kicks into overdrive I will have no choice but to take it out. She is currently drinking about a half a gallon per day, with every 2nd or 3rd day being watered to run off with 3/4 of a gallon, sometimes she’ll take the whole thing but that’s usually a signal I pushed her too hard I’ve found.

 

[Gee64]

Check the Rev's Base Mix on page 62. Im not sure if we have the same book or not so certainly stay true to your recipe or it will get out of balance. 29 days so 4 weeks. She should start to get really chunky for the next 2-3 weeks before she starts to finish. BTW I meant to mention earlier that your manifold looks really nice Is it possible to get a full shot straight down from the top or is she too big now? Do you have a microscope or loupe or anything to check the trichs? Sometimes sativas can ripen early although I find those less potent, and sometimes they just go on forever. They arent as predictable as the Indicas. Quite often sativas will give you a huge gooey resin push even after they have yellowed out and look old. The trichs can still be not ripe and then she gets really gooey and ambers up. Yours looks quite sativa dominant

 

[Keffka]

Check the Rev's Base Mix on page 62. Im not sure if we have the same book or not so certainly stay true to your recipe or it will get out of balance. 29 days so 4 weeks. She should start to get really chunky for the next 2-3 weeks before she starts to finish. BTW I meant to mention earlier that your manifold looks really nice Is it possible to get a full shot straight down from the top or is she too big now? Do you have a microscope or loupe or anything to check the trichs? Sometimes sativas can ripen early although I find those less potent, and sometimes they just go on forever. They arent as predictable as the Indicas. Quite often sativas will give you a huge gooey resin push even after they have yellowed out and look old. The trichs can still be not ripe and then she gets really gooey and ambers up. Yours looks quite sativa dominant

I’ll double check the book recipe

About the manifold, thank you. I’m autistic, and some things really get at me, especially uniformity. I like things to look even and “dress right dress”, so I really forced the plant into its shape. I’ve taken notes about a few changes I need to make to get closer to a more uniform appearance but I’ve attached top downs for you to see. You can see the greens coming back in from rebalancing the microbes, just in time for them to start fading out lol.

I have a jewelers loupe that goes to 60x, a coin identifier that goes to 20x and I have a microscope that can reach 1200x. I wasn’t even gonna bother looking for another 2-3 weeks, I assumed her water intake would slow down when she was getting ready for harvest.

 

[Gee64]

Wow shes nice! You did a great job on that canopy

 

[Keffka]

Wow shes nice! You did a great job on that canopy

Thank you! I’m definitely pleased with the results since it’s my first strong attempt. Im really stoked to get the next grow started with all this knowledge though.. I keep thinking about all of the little mistakes I made that I can’t fix any more it’s okay though because she does still look good, she’s given me a ton of confidence, and her existence is why I now know you guys and the Rev.. It’s much easier to make decisions from a place of confidence and experience.

 

[Keffka]

@Gee64 Here’s the recipe I believe you are referring to.. It was on a triple digit page. This is his soil mix that’s designed to be amended and cooked, the full TLO mix. The 1 1 1 recipe I’m using is an on the fly no cook recipe he puts in a different spot. It won’t be as powerful as his mix and his recycle mix but it should still be a powerhouse since the Stonington soil is built well nutrient wise, I just ran her ragged.

 

[Keffka]

Day 42

 

[Gee64]

Wow shes looking nice! Getting frostyYeah that was the recipe. I see what your saying now about the no-cook thing