The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It

[Jon]

The pipes hold up pretty well. I don't coat the inside of the bowls for obvious reasons, but after each smoke session, the bowl naturally gets coated with a little resin and that acts as a protectant. Here's a pipe that has probably seen 100 or more flames:

20231028_065317.jpg

• BeezLuiz
• Oct 28, 2023

Pipe made from cannabis stems.

Beautiful looking grow you have going here, Gee.

Awesome pipe. I tried to make one. Not nearly as easy as it looks. Especially to make art like you are. Sweet.

 

[Jon]

Organic Durban Poison Day 20 of Flower.

New roots are coming up to the mulch into a months worth of topdressing right now so its easy to feed more in.

The mulch I put down 10 days ago is completely gone and the pots are down an inch, so I put one teaspoon of mineral mix over the soil, one heaping solo cup of EWC evenly scattered on top of that, so a full quarter inch thick and closer to a half inch thick, which I mixed together with my fingertips, then smooth it out perfectly right to the edges and sprayed it all in with RO water.



In awhile I will go spray it again, lay a half inch of Seasoil mulch on top, spray that, then one more teaspoon of minerals dusted on top, sprayed in through the mulch, and top dressing is done for 10 more days.



Then over the next 72 hours the top will cake up, I will break it up, then water with either water or fish, then its time to do it again.



Auto-water is turned off right now and the plants are a bit heavy, so as they dry I can catch them right where I like them.



I'll grab pictures then.

It’s amazing how you tend to your grow. The level of attention and detail is astounding. It does beg the question: when was the last time you went out? When do you have time to, you know, work? Did you eat today?

 

[Jon]

Almost not budlets any more. 21 inches to the light. 1100PPFD at the center. 45 minutes of UV light/day. 52 days to go.

You can’t rightfully refer to those as budlets anymore. Those are straight up buds now. Jeesh! They look like they’re getting close to ping pong balls already!!!

 

[Jon]

Gorgeous grow @Gee64, it makes my head spin. So I have a few lab questions today.

- I understand what senescence is, and I understand that you know when to expect it. What I don’t quite get is, what is the advantage of knowing that? Other than to signal X number of days to go or whatever? Do you change your additives or top dressings or discontinue something at that point?

- How long does it take to make a big batch of your own soil from scratch, say 40 gallons or something, and if it’s your own, that means no FFOF base, right? So is the soil entirely made from whatever you toss in the bin to mulch? Like any food scraps or whatever? All harvested pot plant leftovers? Even the stems? And what’s good to NOT toss in? I’m thinking of stuff like orange peels, or leftover macaroni noodles that got tossed. Do I need to have a dedicated second trash can in the kitchen so that good stuff goes there and the rest in the other bin? And if that’s it, at that rate it’ll take forever to get volume. There must be a base? Or is FFOF the base for the long term soil bin too?

(Hmm, more questions than I thought. Thanks so much. I don’t know how you even find time to post. What if there’s a half centimeter gap of something somewhere? Lmao!!!)

 

[BeezLuiz]

I think I will hack a couple good chunks out of this grow and dry them up. Do you fully dry them before the construction starts?

Yes, indeed I do dry them completely before working with them. Good luck, and feel free to post your progress in the "Pipes Tutorial".

 

[Jon]

Gorgeous grow @Gee64, it makes my head spin. So I have a few lab questions today.

- I understand what senescence is, and I understand that you know when to expect it. What I don’t quite get is, what is the advantage of knowing that? Other than to signal X number of days to go or whatever? Do you change your additives or top dressings or discontinue something at that point?

- How long does it take to make a big batch of your own soil from scratch, say 40 gallons or something, and if it’s your own, that means no FFOF base, right? So is the soil entirely made from whatever you toss in the bin to mulch? Like any food scraps or whatever? All harvested pot plant leftovers? Even the stems? And what’s good to NOT toss in? I’m thinking of stuff like orange peels, or leftover macaroni noodles that got tossed. Do I need to have a dedicated second trash can in the kitchen so that good stuff goes there and the rest in the other bin? And if that’s it, at that rate it’ll take forever to get volume. There must be a base? Or is FFOF the base for the long term soil bin too?

(Hmm, more questions than I thought. Thanks so much. I don’t know how you even find time to post. What if there’s a half centimeter gap of something somewhere? Lmao!!!)

Also, I assume any soil in pot from harvested planets goes in too - so maybe that’s a good base?

 

[Jon]

Awesome pipe. I tried to make one. Not nearly as easy as it looks. Especially to make art like you are. Sweet.

Hey @BeezLuiz, question for you? What do you do about the drill hole (or tunnel) from the stem to the bowl? I couldn’t figure out how to do anything but push through the hole all the way, run it smooth inside, and blow it out. Is there something else to do or that can be done there? Or do you just let that season as you do the bowl part itself? Thanks!

 

[Gee64]

It’s amazing how you tend to your grow. The level of attention and detail is astounding. It does beg the question: when was the last time you went out? When do you have time to, you know, work? Did you eat today?

You don't wanna know! Got a spare sandwich? Actually its only 4 pots and it only takes an hour every ten days.

Gorgeous grow @Gee64, it makes my head spin. So I have a few lab questions today.

- I understand what senescence is, and I understand that you know when to expect it. What I don’t quite get is, what is the advantage of knowing that? Other than to signal X number of days to go or whatever? Do you change your additives or top dressings or discontinue something at that point?

Plants have 4 main stages. Seedling, Veg, flower, and senescence.

Senescence is when a plant stops growing flowers, and goes into ripening mode. Leaves start to show fall colors.

All its life it has stored the best nutes it processed in its leaves. The minerals. So when ripening starts the plant will still drink, but it, for the most part, stops eating and starts to pull from the leaves.

The better you grew the plant up to this point, the better the ripening. This is what most growers seem to miss, or at the very least, not talk about. It's why I try to save every leaf. Most pluck those leaves, curbing photosynthesis, and then toss the leaves that the plant really wants to keep.

So if you have no deficiencies up to senescence, you have done your part.

Now its a water only grow as the plant shifts gears, and myco knows whats happening so it puts the rootball to bed.

Microbes go dormant, then fungii spore out, and winter sets in. The plant is an annual so to it, this is very important for next year.

For me, it means I made it, and the soil is being prepped for recycling. I consider senescence the finish line. On some phenos it starts as much as 3 weeks from harvest. On most its the last 2 weeks.

- How long does it take to make a big batch of your own soil from scratch, say 40 gallons or something, and if it’s your own, that means no FFOF base, right? So is the soil entirely made from whatever you toss in the bin to mulch? Like any food scraps or whatever? All harvested pot plant leftovers? Even the stems? And what’s good to NOT toss in? I’m thinking of stuff like orange peels, or leftover macaroni noodles that got tossed. Do I need to have a dedicated second trash can in the kitchen so that good stuff goes there and the rest in the other bin? And if that’s it, at that rate it’ll take forever to get volume. There must be a base? Or is FFOF the base for the long term soil bin too?

I start with a bag of Bluesky Organics Supersoil. It's a craft cannabis mix very similar to Rev's ingredient list, and if you add spikes and top dressing you can grow really nice weed with it.

After using it I let the pots sit for 2 months in the dark to dry out, go dormant, and spore out

Then I do this:

20 gals recycled soil
2 gals coco
7 cups prilled dolomite or 3.5 cups powdered
1 cup blood meal
.5 cup bat guano
.5 cup glacial rock dust or .5c rock phos
3 cups feather meal
3 cups bone meal
1.5 cups greensand
.3 cups SRP
2 cups organic basmati
.75 cups gypsum
3 cups kelp meal
2 cups alfalfa meal
2.5 cup oyster shell flour

Worm farm amendments
kitchen scraps/coffee grounds per 4 gallon tray.

2 oz cannabis bud
2 oz cannabis leaf
2 tablespoons kelp meal
2 tablespoons alfalfa meal
1 tablespoon greensand
1 tablespoon rock phosphate
1 teaspoon SRP
1 tablespoons oyster flour
1 tablespoon glacial rock dust
2 gals coco or 2 gals used soil alternating between trays
1 gal perlite

Spikes - 4 per pot, 1/4 cup each spike
1 part feathermeal
1 part bat guano
1 part bone meal
.5 part kelp meal
.5 part alfalfa meal

(Hmm, more questions than I thought. Thanks so much. I don’t know how you even find time to post. What if there’s a half centimeter gap of something somewhere? Lmao!!!)

You mean like the gap between my ears?.

And then there is the age old golden rule of gardening....

If it goes south you blame Azi, curse his name 3 times while you pat your head and rub your tummy, and move on....

 

[Gee64]

Also, I assume any soil in pot from harvested planets goes in too - so maybe that’s a good base?

Definitely. All my mixes start with recycled rootballs. Theres a lot of carbon and minerals in those rootballs. Composting them in is really important for next grow.

 

[Azimuth]

I'll weigh in on compost, though don't know the specifics of Gee's process (well I mostly do, but that's from pieced together snippets he's let loose).

Standard composting advice is no meats or oils in the bin, but mostly that's because those attract critters you don't want around. They'll actually compost down just fine. For a worm bin you want to avoid those plus citrus peels, onions, things like that that the worms either don't like or wreck havoc with the pH of the bedding.

Truthfully, for a compost pile, all of the above can be composted as the system will adjust itself over time through different cycles. I compost most everything I can. The unmentionables just go into a different pile. Well, more like a standard garbage can with lid, set on the open ground with bottom holes big enough for ground worms to come up through.

The barrel gets everything that doesn't go into my worm bins like onions, garlic, citrus, meats, etc. I set it up probably 15-20 years ago and haven't emptied it once as the stuff just disappears over time. I keep a pile of fall leaves next to the bucket and add a handful whenever I add new material to it. You know, greens and browns.

My worm bin gets a bit more thoughtful attention as I only put in what I want to get out, so weekly I add kitchen scraps (minus the above listed items), some of my mineral mix which includes gypsum, oyster shell, azomite, and the dusts of sand, stone, char, egg shell and a few other things, some of my meals mix which includes crustacean, neem, karanja, malted barley, and then add some dried flowers, comfrey, and stinging nettle, and then I cover everything with compost.

I have three stacked 7 gallon Rubbermaid bins that sit atop another one that collects excess liquid so the main bins don't get too wet and drown the worms. Each bin gets filled over the course of 7-8 weeks and then sits in the stack for another 16 weeks as I rotate up a recently harvest bin. If I rebuild it I'll do so with a fourth bin which will extend the processing time another 2 months and give me a better end product. But the 6 month total time still works fine.

And then there's hot compost vs. cold compost...

Pretty soon you'll be sorry you asked.

 

[BeezLuiz]

What do you do about the drill hole (or tunnel) from the stem to the bowl? I couldn’t figure out how to do anything but push through the hole all the way, run it smooth inside, and blow it out. Is there something else to do or that can be done there? Or do you just let that season as you do the bowl part itself? Thanks!

If I understand the question correctly, I drill through the bowl only far enough to go through the top of the stem. Then I pull the two pieces apart and clean them out thoroughly. I think this is the section you are concerned with:

Now it’s time to drill an air channel from the bowl to the stem. Position the stem into the bowl wherever you prefer the final location. Then carefully drill a small hole (1/8” or 3 mm) through the bottom of the bowl to just through the top of the stem piece. Be careful not to drill all the way through the stem, but if you do, you can plug it up with filler putty and glue.

Pipe 35.jpg​

• BeezLuiz
• Dec 13, 2018
• pipe making tutorial

Drilling the air channel

Pipe 36.jpg​

• BeezLuiz
• Dec 13, 2018
• pipe making tutorial

Successfully drilled air channel.

Sorry, Gee. I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[Azimuth]

Sorry, Gee. I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Pretty hard to hijack a science lab thread with good info like you're sharing.

Now, when @Jon starts going off on how he fishes in the canals for sunfish or whatever he goes for, then maybe...

I mean, he doesn't even make fish fertilizer from them which would at least make his ramblings more on-topic, but he's new here.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Definitely. All my mixes start with recycled rootballs. Theres a lot of carbon and minerals in those rootballs. Composting them in is really important for next grow.

Good morning Gee,
How long should I leave the soil from my grows before re-using it? How long does it take for the roots to break down in the used soil? I will possibly reuse this soil and add something to rejuvenate it, or that's the hope.

 

[Gee64]

Good morning Gee,
How long should I leave the soil from my grows before re-using it? How long does it take for the roots to break down in the used soil? I will possibly reuse this soil and add something to rejuvenate it, or that's the hope.

I usually let the rootball sit for about 2 months. Then when I crumble it up some roots are left and some are completely gone.

The big pieces still left in the pot go in the worm farm, and the smaller roots go into the mix which I cook for at least 30 days if possible.

I say if possible because the mix for my next grow will have cooked for a couple months but the kelp and greensand only for 3 weeks. I was out and then got lazy.

Hopefully it's OK. I think it will be fine.

I guess we will find out in a week or so

 

[Gee64]

Day 22 of Flower.

50 days til chop, 29 days to senescence. Can we make it there?

So twice I have raised my PPFD above 1000, to 1100 actually, and twice within 48 hours I see the very beginnings of a magnesium deficiency, and twice I have lowered it back to 1000 PPFD and twice the mag def has gone away. I would say that over 1000 PPFD and you should consider CO2 supplementation.

LED glasses allow you to see the leaves differently. Some things like magnesium deficiencies are showing but you can't see them.

The Method 7 LED glasses I have make a mag def show like a sore thumb way before your eye can see it without the glasses. I'm going to keep it maxxed at 1000 PPFD, I have no desire to run CO2 in my house.

 

[Gee64]

I just started two 5gal pails of dolomite water in the tent. 1 tablespoon of powdered dolomite in each bucket.

After stirring, it sits at 11ppm in both buckets, but the "powdered" dolomite has a lot of granules on the bottom of the buckets, so I will mix them and watch the ppm. I want 10 gallons of 25ppm dolomite water just in case I need it.

When I added extra calcium to this mix at cooking I was torn between increasing each calcium input by 25%, or increasing dolomite at an amount that would increase overall calcium 25%. I chose to increase all 3, oyster shells, gypsum, and dolomite.

The batch currently cooking is the same as this.

On the next batch I cook I will remove the extra oyster shell and gypsum and replace it with dolomite.

The extra calcium in this mix was added right at potting. 1.25 cups per 10 gallon pot. Not cooking it in didn't seem to hurt anything.

Do you guys think a topdressing of dolomite would be harmful or helpful?

Maybe mix it with ewc? Or in the mineral mix? or on its own?

Or as a drench? I don't really like this one, it may unlock too much nitrogen too quickly, but it will fix a deficiency, I kinda want to avoid one instead.

At 1000PPFD I think I'm walking the line, and to be honest I think 950PPFD is where they grow best at, so I need to be both proactive and preventative.

Keff I know you have thoughts on this. Anyone else?

 

[Gee64]

My previous light was 540 watts, this on is 1000 watts. Oddly enough the volume is at 55% where the plants seem to do best. So 550 watts-ish. This is coolI think I just found the spot I left off at with my last light. Thats really good for my next grow.

The indicator line is black, so you have to zoom in to see it at roughly 55%.

 

[Azimuth]

Do you guys think a topdressing of dolomite would be harmful or helpful?

I'm at 4 weeks and counting since I top dressed my veg plants with egg shell powder and saw no ill effects so I've done that to all plants in the stable. I'd imagine the dolomite would be similar.

 

[Gee64]

Wow, I dialed the light back a bit and look at them pray. They love 1000 PPFD in the center, which is about 900 over the center of each plant.

 

[Azimuth]

They look happy enough.