Sweetsue's First Grow - Stealthy Trio of Autos Under CFLs

[COorganics]

I also should note that I was a little tipsy when I was thinking about sips, and swicks last night.

I shouldn't need either with the hugelkultur bed. It's good info for others and fully enlightened me though, so good stuff!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Thanks for the info. I by chance also have a "random" cover crop creeping in. Its Barley from the mulch I laid down. There isn't much but I figured Id leave it since its a nitrogen fixer.

I may have to implement a self watering system like you...haven't decided if its best or not.

 

[SweetSue]

Why wouldn't it be ClosedCircuit? It's a highly successful method. It makes life easier and meets the needs of the plant.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Why wouldn't it be ClosedCircuit? It's a highly successful method. It makes life easier and meets the needs of the plant.

Its preferential that Living Soil goes through dry and wet periods...so from that stand point I may be at odds with you a little bit. Unless I missed something and you are not always keeping the plants on their wick pads.

My soil, since I added even more mulch, has been holding water fairly well despite relatively low RH. So, while it is definitely handy I wonder if with my specific soil set up if I would end up retaining too much moisture, killing my worms, and adversely affecting my plants. Plus, I'm thinking if you want to apply a tea, kelp slurry, fish fert, etc you would need to let your soil dry out before applying it. What have you had to do when applying additives?

 

[COorganics]

Its preferential that Living Soil goes through dry and wet periods.

Cannamyth alert!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Cannamyth alert!

Is that a myth? Perhaps. Makes logical sense to me that soil is not meant to be continuously drenched, albeit her soil is not water logged.

"Decomposition of organic matter occurs more slowly in poorly aerated soils, where oxygen is limiting or absent, compared with well-aerated soils. For this reason, organic matter accumulates in wet soil environments. Soil drainage is determined strongly by topography - soils in depressions at the bottom of hills tend to remain wet for extended periods of time because they receive water (and sediments) from upslope. Soils may also have a layer in the subsoil that inhibits drainage, again exacerbating waterlogging and reduction in organic matter decomposition. In a permanently waterlogged soil, one of the major structural parts of plants, lignin, does not decompose at all. The ultimate consequence of extremely wet or swampy conditions is the development of organic (peat or muck) soils, with organic matter contents of more than 30 percent. Where soils are drained artificially for agricultural or other uses, the soil organic matter decomposes rapidly."
Source

I suppose it would all come down to "how wet" the soil is. Keep in mind my containers are half the height of Sue's. Its reasonable to think my soil could become too wet too fast if I am not careful. That's my main worry.

You are more knowledgeable than me on the subject by a long shot, so of course I defer to you. Care to explain?

 

[SweetSue]

Its preferential that Living Soil goes through dry and wet periods...so from that stand point I may be at odds with you a little bit. Unless I missed something and you are not always keeping the plants on their wick pads.

My soil, since I added even more mulch, has been holding water fairly well despite relatively low RH. So, while it is definitely handy I wonder if with my specific soil set up if I would end up retaining too much moisture, killing my worms, and adversely affecting my plants. Plus, I'm thinking if you want to apply a tea, kelp slurry, fish fert, etc you would need to let your soil dry out before applying it. What have you had to do when applying additives?

It's actually preferable to keep living organic soil close to uniformly moist to facilitate a smoothly operating soil food web. You never - let me repeat that - never want your soil to dry out. This system was designed specifically FOR living organic soils. There is no way for the soil to become too wet unless you have the plant sitting in water. The 1" to 1 1/2" buffer space you maintain between the wicking surface and the water level keeps this from happening.

There's also the added benefit of additional oxygen that the water picks up as it wicks it's way up through that buffer zone.

When applying a tea or some other drench you can either remove the pot while doing so (worth considering when applying fish ferts) and then return it to the SWICK, or do as I do, which is to make the drench a smaller volume so that there is no runoff. The soil community will shuttle things around where they're needed, so there's no reason to saturate the entire pot with the drench IMHO. Some growers let the reservoir dry a bit before adding a drench if they don't want to move the pot. Most apparently simply move the pot off the SWICK before drenching. Using a smaller volume appears to be working for me. Keep the soil moist. Dry soil kills off beneficial micro beasties.

The worms won't drown. If you have your soil in ratio balance there should be no problem at all. A living mulch keeps the top zone of the soil nicely hydrated and aerated. It all works together to create balance. Of course, this system works best with that additional 25% additional organic matter, but it should work with any good soil mix. What I don't see in your soil mix is what you used for aeration, which could be a factor. My soil mix was basically equal parts sphagnum, pumice and compost. That pumice for aeration (or whatever is used to add aeration) is part of what makes the SWICK work so well, leaving plenty of space for growing roots. Gravity helps too. It would be difficult for the soil to become waterlogged when there's open space between the plant and the water.

Your mulch is helping you hold moisture. A living mulch will be even more beneficial. Worth thinking about.

You could try it and see how your soil reacts. You'll know within a day or so of setting it up. Then again, this is the grow you're using to work out the kinks, so maybe save this for consideration for your next run. I can't say enough how easy this has made my grow. Never having to worry about moisture levels is a tremendous relief. Watching my young ladies flourish with this system has been extremely rewarding.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

It's actually preferable to keep living organic soil close to uniformly moist to facilitate a smoothly operating soil food web. You never - let me repeat that - never want your soil to dry out. This system was designed specifically FOR living organic soils. There is no way for the soil to become too wet unless you have the plant sitting in water. The 1" to 1 1/2" buffer space you maintain between the wicking surface and the water level keeps this from happening.

There's also the added benefit of additional oxygen that the water picks up as it wicks it's way up through that buffer zone.

When applying a tea or some other drench you can either remove the pot while doing so (worth considering when applying fish ferts) and then return it to the SWICK, or do as I do, which is to make the drench a smaller volume so that there is no runoff. The soil community will shuttle things around where they're needed, so there's no reason to saturate the entire pot with the drench IMHO. Some growers let the reservoir dry a bit before adding a drench if they don't want to move the pot. Most apparently simply move the pot off the SWICK before drenching. Using a smaller volume appears to be working for me. Keep the soil moist. Dry soil kills off beneficial micro beasties.

The worms won't drown. If you have your soil in ratio balance there should be no problem at all. A living mulch keeps the top zone of the soil nicely hydrated and aerated. It all works together to create balance. Of course, this system works best with that additional 25% additional organic matter, but it should work with any good soil mix. What I don't see in your soil mix is what you used for aeration, which could be a factor. My soil mix was basically equal parts sphagnum, pumice and compost. That pumice for aeration (or whatever is used to add aeration) is part of what makes the SWICK work so well, leaving plenty of space for growing roots. Gravity helps too. It would be difficult for the soil to become waterlogged when there's open space between the plant and the water.

Your mulch is helping you hold moisture. A living mulch will be even more beneficial. Worth thinking about.

You could try it and see how your soil reacts. You'll know within a day or so of setting it up. Then again, this is the grow you're using to work out the kinks, so maybe save this for consideration for your next run. I can't say enough how easy this has made my grow. Never having to worry about moisture levels is a tremendous relief. Watching my young ladies flourish with this system has been extremely rewarding.

Ya suddenly your set up makes more sense to me...or rather I can envision it. Your pots are sitting on perlite, and the water is an inch or so below the surface of the perlite. Go it now!

I never let my soil dry out completely. I guess I should have clarified that I didn't mean entirely dry. Our little friends begin to go dormant or die off in dry soil, this I know.

As far as my aeration component. I am using Ocean Forest (because I was strapped at the time and couldn't build soil) which I believe is about 10-15-ish% perlite. And it has peat moss mixed in. Not sure of the percentage on that, though. Plus my worms should be aerating the soil shouldn't they? But as you have mentioned your amendments are part of what makes your watering method work so well. I'm aware that my soil may not be ideal for what you are doing, but that can always be re mediated in the future.

RE living mulch. I didn't know anything about companion planting when I started this so I 100% agree with you adding that element in my next grow. Its one of the first things on my list, and will be implemented in my vegetable garden this spring I'm think clover would be best because it is low profile ie wouldn't get in the way of manicuring and caring for cannabis in a small space. would you recommend anything else?

Your'e right. This is my test run, so to speak. Most of what I know now I didn't know when I started. I came in with a descent amount of research done, but obviously being around you all has opened my eyes to all kinds of information and tricks I wasn't ever aware of because I didn't know what to be looking for. So thank you all for that!

 

[COorganics]

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Oh ya found this nifty guide on Geoff Lawton's site on companion species you all might like


https://www.permaculturenews.org/resources_files/Poster_GDN_Com_Plant.pdf

 

[COorganics]

ClosedCircuit,
No offense should be taken to my cannamyth alert statement.

I've been waiting for a good time to make that post.



A while back I learned that wet and dry cycles are not preferred for our method of container gardening. Cannamyths are ever present, popular and very resilient.

I do my part to squash them.

Don't take any thing I post as an offense rather as a helpful tidbit of knowledge. That's my goal anyway.

 

[SweetSue]

Daily Update: Day 52 (THC Bomb Auto) & Day 51 (Buddha Magnum Auto

No change in stature overnight. Both plants took five cups of water to top off their reservoirs. The white tips on the leaves are due to their gardener not paying closer attention to leaf movement during the day as she diligently tries to get the bulbs in as close as humanly possible. They keep growing faster than I anticipate. I'm trying hard to do a better job

I was lining up the shot of one of the Buddha's side branches building flowers when the lights kicked on and nearly blinded me!

Shifting her fan leaves aside you can see that riotous growth is reflected right down into the depths of her.

This is a group of side colas on the Bomb, working away at trichome production.

Coming in a little closer on the center bloom you can see how the trichomes are steadily marching out towards the leaf tips.

Don't you just love this stage? The smell is extraordinary.

The individual colas are quite distinctive from each other. The top image is the Bomb and the bottom image is my happy Buddha. Everything about this plant screams BUDDHA!!!.

The lights to the front are a bit low for my taste and I gave some thought to how to easily rectify that. We're a strange couple who have bits and pieces of wood propped up against walls here and there or stacked in corners, awaiting moments just like this. I grabbed a couple pieces of 2x4 ...

... and a piece of board that looked like it would fit the bill. Viola'! In just a couple moments the lights are closer to the blossoms.

I used that slick S-hook trick to get leaves away from the lights and spare crisped tips and put everything back in place (front lights, front screen, fan). All's well with the world now.

You all have a great day. Those of you socked by this winter storm on the east coast be safe and stay warm. I'm going to check the pantry to see if I can feed the family without needing to do my daily grocery run. I think I may need to go out anyway. We used the last of the OJ this morning and I don't know about you, but breakfast without OJ is just not the same.

 

[SweetSue]

Greytail, thanks for the reps. This grow is such fun!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

ClosedCircuit,
No offense should be taken to my cannamyth alert statement.

I've been waiting for a good time to make that post.



A while back I learned that wet and dry cycles are not preferred for our method of container gardening. Cannamyths are ever present, popular and very resilient.

I do my part to squash them.

Don't take any thing I post as an offense rather as a helpful tidbit of knowledge. That's my goal anyway.

Oh no, no offense taken. We're pretty much agreeing I think. I was just interpreting the information differently. It really only applies to sitting water essentially. I was interpreting it as being beneficial for soil to fluctuate to a degree, but the science is referring to a more a dramatic wet period.

 

[SweetSue]

I need to correct a thank you from earlier this week. I read the post wrong and thanked daTenshi (who I enjoy having involved anyway - as she well knows ) when the reps were from Away, a poster on daTenshi's thread. I didn't want Away to feel slighted by my oversight. If you're lurking on the outskirts of this thread Away, a warm thanks for the pat on the back.

I need to pull myself away and exercise. It's hard to maintain that trophy wife look without regular exercise time.

 

[smithy8806]

Sue, sorry I haven't stopped by in a bit. Been having to deal with home wrecker issues.theyre looking awesome though

 

[COorganics]

What a strange winter.
It's damn near t shirt weather in the Rockies today.

 

[SweetSue]

Sue, sorry I haven't stopped by in a bit. Been having to deal with home wrecker issues.theyre looking awesome though

Good to see you here again smithy. I wondered where you'd gone. All's well I hope?

Yeah, the girls are stunning. I'm in awe.

 

[SweetSue]

What a strange winter.
It's damn near t shirt weather in the Rockies today.

Get out of here! It's been snowing here for over 12 hours! Mostly tiny flakes where I am. I hear the eastern seaboard it getting wacked.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I'm really hoping we get pummeled here in the mid Atlantic so I get out of work. But I don't think ill be so lucky.