Thank you for posting the results of the experiment!
it's growers like you who try different things and post the results that make us all better growers.I saw a video headline about electrifying the soil, but now we know not to try that either.
Nick Hardy's Skunk Works #2 The Giant SIP Outdoor Soil: Thailand!
it's growers like you who try different things and post the results that make us all better growers.I saw a video headline about electrifying the soil, but now we know not to try that either.
P.s. We're glad you're ok!
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- #23
Bit of acidic soil likely be ok - maybe there was some value to it 
I read about a grower who likes to take his plants through wild extremes of pH. Says it helps them correct nute uptake issues. Weird.Bit of acidic soil likely be ok - maybe there was some value to it
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- #25
I did it once by mistake. It actually fixed everything in that grow and taught me mostly just stick to 5.8. But I was looking at the absorption graph for hydro/coco and it looks like 5.4 might be a nice place in flower. The PK receptiveness is higher there. I’m going to try it on the next grow. Weeks 6-7 or something - or two days and never again!
As @Azimuth was saying, I plant directly in the soil. After doing extensive reading about microbes and fungi I got to thinking. It doesn’t make any sense to sterilize a seed or the medium it’s planted into. Mother Nature doesn’t sterilize anything and massive fields of cannabis didn’t spring up in sterilized environments. This also led me to thinking about the microbes cannabis prefers. How do the microbes it prefers know how to find my solo cup? They’re obviously not just hanging around in the air or we would have no issues. Then it hit me.. The microbes are in the seeds. That was only half of it though.. Thinking about how seeds naturally fall to earth I realized microbes must also get on to the seed case itself. So while I was kicking these thoughts around I came across this (3/4 and 4/4 are especially important):
I was shocked.. It was completely counter to everything I had read about germinating but it sounded so right. This also occurred right at the same time that I learned where the paper towel technique came from. The paper towel technique, as well as the water glass, and all the other poor germinating techniques came from farmers. They weren’t using these methods to grow plants. They were using them to figure out germination ratios of seed packs so they would know how many seed packs/seeds they would actually need to plant their fields. They wouldn’t plant these seeds either. They would toss them once they had their numbers.
Once all this information came together I stopped doing anything extra with my seeds. I’m not worried about sterility or anything like that at all. I grab my seeds, roll them in myco and toss them right into my medium. Since I’ve done that I’ve had 100% success and all of my plants have been incredibly healthy and resilient with flourishing myco colonies. I don’t even have to dust the root ball or sprinkle myco in the hole at transplant anymore I can see the moment the myco takes hold
I was shocked.. It was completely counter to everything I had read about germinating but it sounded so right. This also occurred right at the same time that I learned where the paper towel technique came from. The paper towel technique, as well as the water glass, and all the other poor germinating techniques came from farmers. They weren’t using these methods to grow plants. They were using them to figure out germination ratios of seed packs so they would know how many seed packs/seeds they would actually need to plant their fields. They wouldn’t plant these seeds either. They would toss them once they had their numbers.
Once all this information came together I stopped doing anything extra with my seeds. I’m not worried about sterility or anything like that at all. I grab my seeds, roll them in myco and toss them right into my medium. Since I’ve done that I’ve had 100% success and all of my plants have been incredibly healthy and resilient with flourishing myco colonies. I don’t even have to dust the root ball or sprinkle myco in the hole at transplant anymore I can see the moment the myco takes hold
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- #27
Wooaah thank you for that!
I need a re read and some reading around. Not being previously a soil grower I stuck with what worked better (than trying to plant straight in to coco peat) Lots makes sense just on touch, the transference via seed from the mother plant, children picking up bacterial protections from their mothers.
The history of farmers predicting yields rings totally true.
Lots does, its those little invisible things that that make the difference between 18% and 23% for a given strain.
One question from your own comments rather than the book
So once you have seen myco take you don't worry about adding it again on similar up cans?
I need a re read - basically this means my magic swimming pool water isn't so magic which is saddening. But I have more seeds to pop next week so can try something new!
Thanks a mirrion Keffka, got me thinking. I have the four pictured below, perfectly happy now. But I have probably 1/15 or one in 20 that will get to this stage or maybe a bit further and just stall to death. I wonder if that's related to loss of "something" (something because I'm not sure its bacterial or endophytes or something else - I need a better on the language)
Nick
I need a re read and some reading around. Not being previously a soil grower I stuck with what worked better (than trying to plant straight in to coco peat) Lots makes sense just on touch, the transference via seed from the mother plant, children picking up bacterial protections from their mothers.
The history of farmers predicting yields rings totally true.
Lots does, its those little invisible things that that make the difference between 18% and 23% for a given strain.
One question from your own comments rather than the book
So once you have seen myco take you don't worry about adding it again on similar up cans?
I need a re read - basically this means my magic swimming pool water isn't so magic which is saddening. But I have more seeds to pop next week so can try something new!
Thanks a mirrion Keffka, got me thinking. I have the four pictured below, perfectly happy now. But I have probably 1/15 or one in 20 that will get to this stage or maybe a bit further and just stall to death. I wonder if that's related to loss of "something" (something because I'm not sure its bacterial or endophytes or something else - I need a better on the language)
Nick
Nope.. Myco is intelligent and can move fast. I’ll tag @Gee64 into this convo as well because he has dropped some serious myco knowledge in my journals.
Once it has established its link with the plant all I worry about is keeping it happy. It will direct the entire rest of the grow by itself if I just feed it fish ferts and keep the medium how it likes it. Poopy and full of minerals. It will communicate with the plant and direct the microbes on what they need to be doing. The conductor of the grow basically.
Myco can grow at extremely quick rates. If you look at growing mycelium for psychedelic mushrooms, the entire grow takes 5-6 weeks, maybe. Once myco is established and pushing out its boundaries it can fill the container just as quick as the roots, if not quicker. It doesn’t need to be applied to each stage of the grow if it’s properly established and fed lightly every once in a while.
This is why a lot of times my seedlings reach Mg deficiency by the time I transplant to one gallons. I sprout in a seedling mix with an extremely low nutrient content. Just a lot of organic matter, perlite, and EWC. This triggers the plant to send out a signal requesting myco to link up with it so they can work together to get more nutrients. The available presence of P suppresses myco. Also, If there’s easy access to a bunch of nutrients the plant has no reason to signal to the myco for help. The plant can spend upwards of 30% of its carbohydrates feeding myco.. This is a huge investment that pays off equally huge, but the plant has to have a reason to make that investment.
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- #29
Be nice to lay off the dynomyco. I pay a fortune for it here through various up pots. (I’d feel bad about changing brands and its the most available here)
But learning more would be awesome.
Thanks a birrion this time!
Nick
But learning more would be awesome.
Thanks a birrion this time!
Nick
I’ve got a small 15$ bottle of Great White I’ve had for a few years now.. the amount of myco you actually need is so tiny it’s difficult to use all of it before it expires.
Great white is a powder and is water soluble. It also comes with trichoderma. This may make it more efficient than Dynomyco but I don’t think so because that’s not how myco works. Dynomyco is good stuff itself but just like Great White, they definitely push you towards using more of their product than you actually need.
If you’ve got pre bagged soils that come with myco and you don’t cook your soil you don’t even need the bottled stuff. All of the applications recommended for myco are all overkill.
As long as you can get a single spore to establish and link with the plant, and you don’t upset the myco with extremely available nutrients (chelated or organic acid based) or violent ph swings, you don’t need it beyond that. Myco is an absolute beast all on its own.
I can use old rootballs that had a myco colony to reestablish myco as well. For instance when this grow is over I’ll let a rootball sit for a few weeks. When I go to start my next grow all I need is some of the soil from that rootball with the myco and I can repopulate the myco colony without even using more.
Myco is the single best route of providing P to plants. It can break down the tight P bonds better than anything else on earth. This enables it to provide as much as 50% of a plants P requirement on its own, and it can do this with just plain soil, without a bunch of amendments added. We’ve destroyed our farms using synthetic P. Plants use maybe 10% of the total P put down by farmers. The rest goes into the soil and chases away the myco while also leeching into streams and rivers. This means we lose 90% of an already extremely limited nutrient. We are fighting wars over P deposits when we should be fixing our farms and turning them into myco powerhouses.
In addition to P, myco can provide multiple other nutrients.. it can provide as much as 30% of a plants required N as well.. I haven’t even talked about increased water retention, increased root zone, etc. This and more is why I said in another thread that I would divorce my wife and marry myco if I could
The problem most growers have is they treat myco as a bonus after thought. They focus on feeding the plant, or the soil, or increasing their microbes. Myco should be the focus. Establishing it, caring for it, and feeding it. If you’re growing in a container organically you absolutely should always focus on myco. If you’re growing synthetically then it’s just a waste of your money. If you’re growing outdoors then your plants and your entire ecosystem will thank you and reward you for establishing myco.
Myco is how old growth forests are still so strong and healthy. It can link up to the entire network of plants and trees. It can take excess resources from stronger plants and trees and shift them to those in need. It can fight off diseases as well. It’s really something to be in awe of.
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- #31
Wow thank you. There aren’t enough emojis, (heartfelt) thanks, wow, I guess sad I could be saving on nutes
It made an immediate difference to us when we first started using it. Being able to reap the benefits with smaller dosage would be awesome.
And yeah - there’s lots of industries where being more efficient in the use of the already available resources rather than growing harvesting would improve them. If every industry was more like the hold industry where they have excellent recycling setups or F1 where they can have 2.0L engines running insane and be carbon neutral - loads of this is better than digging up the earth or building more disposable electric cars.
<side tracked much>
Cheers Keffka!
Nick
It made an immediate difference to us when we first started using it. Being able to reap the benefits with smaller dosage would be awesome.
And yeah - there’s lots of industries where being more efficient in the use of the already available resources rather than growing harvesting would improve them. If every industry was more like the hold industry where they have excellent recycling setups or F1 where they can have 2.0L engines running insane and be carbon neutral - loads of this is better than digging up the earth or building more disposable electric cars.
<side tracked much
>Cheers Keffka!
Nick
hehe#VIVOSUN #Love What You Grow
Bill284
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- #33
Enough science for a moment (probably the subject I wish I’d tried at most) powerful wizardry such as it is.
Lets step back to the casting of the bones or the reading of the tea leaves.. “Homer you backed against the Harlem Globetrotters?!”
The Killer Red Cookies has a 60% chance of having the red pheno type. Which actually means purple its a function of that gene or whatever. Too soon to call it but speculation is OK, right?
I mean that’s gotta be 2 right? #2 and #4 left to right are showing solid purple there, like a Harlem pimps fur coat - a rich plum coloured hue on both their stems. #3 & #4 in the second shot.
Only just too soon to call it.
Lets step back to the casting of the bones or the reading of the tea leaves.. “Homer you backed against the Harlem Globetrotters?!”
The Killer Red Cookies has a 60% chance of having the red pheno type. Which actually means purple its a function of that gene or whatever. Too soon to call it but speculation is OK, right?
I mean that’s gotta be 2 right? #2 and #4 left to right are showing solid purple there, like a Harlem pimps fur coat - a rich plum coloured hue on both their stems. #3 & #4 in the second shot.
Only just too soon to call it.
Hope you get the red oneEnough science for a moment (probably the subject I wish I’d tried at most) powerful wizardry such as it is.
Lets step back to the casting of the bones or the reading of the tea leaves.. “Homer you backed against the Harlem Globetrotters?!”
The Killer Red Cookies has a 60% chance of having the red pheno type. Which actually means purple its a function of that gene or whatever. Too soon to call it but speculation is OK, right?
I mean that’s gotta be 2 right? #2 and #4 left to right are showing solid purple there, like a Harlem pimps fur coat - a rich plum coloured hue on both their stems. #3 & #4 in the second shot.
Only just too soon to call it.
Yeah, I wouldn't go spending lots of money on color coordinated outfits for them before they show a bit more conviction. But I get it. A girl can dream...
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- #36
They’re all getting grown so with 4 popped and some spares sure ai’ll get some reds - its Absorber’s one I’ve got fingers crossed for.
I don’t want to set targets or anything,THE TARGET IS ONE KILO OF DRIED RED BUD - I will cherish whatever SERIOUSLY ONE KEEYY LOW yield Mother Nature KILO presents. I think they say 650g outdoor so a KILO pound should be achievable - should weather, pests and carelessness be conquered.
KILO Nick
I don’t want to set targets or anything,
So a kee-low is a bit over two pounds?
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- #38
2lbs is 907g just checked. I work on 453g to the pound.
For sure I reckon its possible if it had 360 degrees to grow but its not really. Just along the East - West axis.
For sure I reckon its possible if it had 360 degrees to grow but its not really. Just along the East - West axis.
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- #39
Its a tiny little pot up there, can barely see it.
Nick
Not sure what its like over there where you are living but that would be asking for trouble over here from thieves.
Its a tiny little pot up there, can barely see it.
Nick
Wishing you the best of luck with your quest