Reave's Perpetual Grow

[Stunger]

I recommend putting a thin layer of aged compost down there... not too much or you stop the flow through... but enough to give the roots something to enjoy when they find it down there. Other than that, put that soil all the way down to the bottom and let the flow through do its thing.

Consideration for the soil's 'flow through' ability makes a lot of sense. I confess to the 'no no' that your email highlighted. I put a layer of small sized scoria and scoria dust at the base of my pots, just a sparse layer of less than an inch, however I did add a couple of inches of aged chicken manure compost directly on top of the scoria. I have made many substantial drill holes to the sides and bottom of my pots so they dry out quite quickly, on hot days they noticeably wilt and I water them every day, sometimes they wilt again and I then water them again, I know it seems not the way to do it if growing indoors but my plants seem to be growing happily so I don't think they'd be suffering from anaerobic conditions thankfully.

 

[Reave]

I wish to have you research out this idea before you do it. It is a common belief that putting rocks in the bottom of the container helps with drainage. In actuality, this is false, the rocks actually manage to keep that area wet down there and really don't help with the drainage of the soil at all.

Soil has a dynamic that is built into the mix, called its flow through ability. This is the ability for water, because of gravity, to flow through the soil from top to bottom and if there is too much for the soil to be able to hold (the water retention rate) it will flow right out of the soil and down through the drainage holes. Soil should need no help draining, if it is well designed. Compare a typical soil to a clay, to visualize the difference in flow through rate. Clay might be able to hold a lot of water, but it doesn't go anywhere.

The other problem with the rocks in the bottom is the amount of extra surface area with all the new structures down there. Because of capillary action between the sides and the bottom and those rocks, that area remains wet long after the soil above has dried out. This area is ripe for the cultivation of bad microbes... no oxygen, dark and stagnant water... it is a recipe for failure. Find a planter that has used this method, and lift the mess out of there so you can smell what is down there. That stink... that nasty smell, is bad microbes, algae and other nasties. I recommend putting a thin layer of aged compost down there... not too much or you stop the flow through... but enough to give the roots something to enjoy when they find it down there. Other than that, put that soil all the way down to the bottom and let the flow through do its thing.

Thank you so much for your input @Emilya I will certainly head your advice, I feel as new as the days you first helped me with this organic style of growing. I do want to put all my effort into making this change though.

 

[Reave]

Update:

White OG

Alaskan Purple

As the name suggest the purple is starting to come out real nice now. Awesome blossoms seem to be paying off too

Building Soil

Soooo Excited

My package arrived with the supply’s I need to build my soil. W now have everything to build the coots mix, I will be mixing it up soon and letting it sit for a little while.

Also picked up the compost and EWC. I had some perlite around already but I might go out and grab a bit more.

I have some water sitting out to gas off the chlorine to hold me over until I can get a proper water filter

Going to mix up about 4 cubic feet

This is all new to me so let’s see how she goes.

 

[Stunger]

Wow, that should be great Reave. It's always exciting when new stuff arrives!

 

[InTheShed]

Crazy mess of trichomes Reave, looks a treat!

I also have clay pepples so we can line those at the bottom of the pots.

For a great explanation of why not to put rocks in the bottom of your pots, check out @syenite's post on the "perched water table," with a great video demonstration as well! Start at 6:32 if you're pressed for time after reading the post. It shows how rocks raise the perched water table making for a much shallower pot.

Good luck with the home made soil build. If I ever go water-only I'm going to build Van Stank's version.

 

[Stunger]

Crazy mess of trichomes Reave, looks a treat!

For a great explanation of why not to put rocks in the bottom of your pots, check out @syenite's post on the "perched water table," with a great video demonstration as well! Start at 6:32 if you're pressed for time after reading the post. It shows how rocks raise the perched water table making for a much shallower pot.

Good luck with the home made soil build. If I ever go water-only I'm going to build Van Stank's version.

That was a good post from Syenite. I have bookmarked that for future reference, thanks. And only a couple of days ago I was trying to recollect what that term was, 'perched water table'. I don't think I'd worked out how to bookmark a post when I first read it.

I bookmarked your link to van Stank's soil mix too. I think when I looked thru his list for ideas I found it's almost all the same ingredients as my own soil which started as an approximation of SubCool's, and then evolved from there, amended further with Coots and other ingredients like Bio-char as van Stank has got too. He grows some real big beauties. I am very pleased with my mix now, but if anyone asked I'd probably just recommend Coots mix because it is more simple and far less cost compared with all the stuff that I have bought over time.

 

[Reave]

Well I have mixed the soil. That was a lot of work. I have it sitting in some rubber made tubs for now. As soon as the water I set out is done gassing off tomorrow I will start to make a tea and moist this soil up a bit.



No clue what I’m doing but here we go

So what’s in this?

1/3 bale of CSPM
1/3 a mix of EWC and Sea Soil compost(fish and forest fines)
1/3(maybe a bit more) perlite

2 Cups Kelp Meal
1 cup neem cake
1 cup karanja cake
2 cups crab meal
4 cups malted barley flour
4 cups Gypsum dust
4 cups basalt rock dust
4 cups glacial rock dust
4cups oyster flour

 

[InTheShed]

I can smell it from here! Smells like....victory .

 

[Reave]

Wow, that should be great Reave. It's always exciting when new stuff arrives!

Sure is. Can’t wait to try it out. Going to wait for the seedlings to get a bit bigger then I’m going to put them into 1 gallons. Apparently this cures mix is supposed to be used in large containers but hopefully I can still up pot normally. Whatever we will try it out.

r a great explanation of why not to put rocks in the bottom of your pots, check out @syenite's post on the "perched water table," with a great video demonstration as well!

I can smell it from here! Smells like....victory

Thanks for the input shed. Smells like something anyway. All I can smell is pet store. Lol.

 

[Diatomacious]

Smells like....victory

That's the dead coon in the compost

 

[Reave]

Anyone ever seen anything like this? I think they are going to be fine just odd and never seen an issue like this.

 

[InTheShed]

I'd say most plants grow out of early mutations like that.

 

[Reave]

I'd say most plants grow out of early mutations like that.

Just odd that Ace is supposed to be good genetics and 3/5 look like that. Oh well I’m patient let’s see how they play out.

 

[Stunger]

Anyone ever seen anything like this? I think they are going to be fine just odd and never seen an issue like this.

For my 2 cents, altho 3/5 does seem high, it is probably something like Shed suggested, I have seen 'strange krinkled' leaves on up to maybe 1 in 3 or 4 plants. Just maybe a set or two of leaves while the rest are normal, but so far as the plants mature the leaf issue seems to go away. I think my Godfather OG had some funny 'krinkly' leaves in it's younger days but it's leaves have been growing fine for long while now and it seems ok.

 

[Reave]

For my 2 cents, altho 3/5 does seem high, it is probably something like Shed suggested, I have seen 'strange krinkled' leaves on up to maybe 1 in 3 or 4 plants. Just maybe a set or two of leaves while the rest are normal, but so far as the plants mature the leaf issue seems to go away. I think my Godfather OG had some funny 'krinkly' leaves in it's younger days but it's leaves have been growing fine for long while now and it seems ok.

Thanks for positive outlook. I’m really hoping we find a winner in this group.

 

[Diatomacious]

Anyone ever seen anything like this?

Looks like the mother plant was overfertilized during seed production and the extra fertilizer wound up in the seed causing a slight burn that you are seeing. They grow out of it just fine though.

 

[Reave]

Veg Tent Update

Barney’s Farm

@True North Seed Bank had a sale on some Barney’s Farm seeds so I picked up a couple feminized singles, they also sent along some freebies. @Canuk Seeds Afghani Regulars. The Utopia Haze and Chronic thunder from Barny's Farm both popped and one of the two freebies popped from Canuk Seeds. Seeds arrived speedily and have been growing for the last couple weeks. Below is their progress.

I fed each of the seedlings 2grams per gallon of mega crop and they are surly going to need more on their next feed.

Utopia Haze

The utopia haze is looking quite good, only a slight sign of yellowing on the cotyledons, we are going to up the feed on the next watering to 2.5-3grams/gallon.

BarneysFarmUtopiaHaze-2.jpeg

• Reave
• Mar 14, 2021

14 Days

BarneysFarmUtopiaHaze-1.jpeg

• Reave
• Mar 14, 2021

Chronic Thunder

Chronic thunder was quite a bit slower to pop, but she is moving right along now. Description says this is a mostly indica strain but she has long fingers.

BarneysFarmsChronicThunder-2.jpeg

• Reave
• Mar 14, 2021

2 Weeks

BarneysFarmChronicThunder-1.jpeg

• Reave
• Mar 14, 2021

2 Weeks.

Canuk Seeds

Afghani

This plant Is HUNGRY. The largest of the group and her green is fading. She is going to get 3grams per gallon of mega crop on the next feed.

CanukSeedsAfghani-2.jpeg

• Reave
• Mar 14, 2021

15 Days

CanukSeedsAfghani-1.jpeg

• Reave
• Mar 14, 2021

Once these girls graduate from the solo cups they will be going into my Coots mix soil i mixed up and has been sitting in containers.

So far there is not anything interesting to note. I moved my 65watt LED Light up a few more inches and now the plants look quite a bit happier. Tent humidity is 75% temp is around 27C. They really seem to be taking off now that everything is dialed in.

 

[Stunger]

I'm looking forward to their progress Reave, all looking nice so far!

 

[InTheShed]

Looking good, but isn't it a bit early to be calling the Aghani reg a girl?

Nice set of wings on the Chronic Thunder!

 

[Reave]

Looking good, but isn't it a bit early to be calling the Aghani reg a girl?

Nice set of wings on the Chronic Thunder!

Lol, too use to fem seeds. Yes its much too early, and I am actually hoping it is a male.