The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It

[Gee64]

Here's a quick shot of Ikky. 11 days old. It's hard to get a pic that shows the real measurement. She is 8 7/8" across. She's a good specimen.

 

[Azimuth]

I think cutting the biochar with perlite 2 to 1 char to perlite, before going through the worm farm, will bring the extra air those extra microbes will need. Just to keep balance. If it was coco instead of char, thats what it would have gotten for perlite.

There's enough air space in char to not need a coupling with perlite in my view. Sometimes I charge my char in my Jadam water extracts and when the char is submerged tiny bubbles surface as they are driven from the material. Goes on for a week or two. Crazy.

 

[Gee64]

Biochar is easy to make yourself if your so inclined, but 5 gallons is a lot on hand as it usually gets mixed at no more than 10% of your mix.

I'd do some research on using the activated char from a filter though as I'm not convinced it's the same, tame stuff. My understanding is that to activate it they apply chemicals to the char itself and I'm not sure those chemicals are safe to ingest. Not saying they're not, but I just don't know.

OK very good to know. I will have to look into that.

 

[Azimuth]

I am going to make my own biochar with it. I'm not a biochar expert by any means, so if anyone wants to weigh in here with thoughts/advice/experience, please please please do. Once it's in the soil you can't take it out so I need to consider options 1st.
So here is what I am thinking....

Check out my biochar making posts Here and Here

 

[Gee64]

Well dang You're right Azi. Thanks for saving my arse. I have no way of knowing which production method was used. I can't chance it. It goes out in the trash I guess. Too bad.

 

[Azimuth]

Well dang You're right Azi. Thanks for saving my arse. I have no way of knowing which production method was used. I can't chance it. It goes out in the trash I guess. Too bad.

But now's a great opportunity to make yer own! It's pretty easy to do. If you want to make your own 5 gallon bucket worth it could be as simple as getting a 5 gallon steel bucket with a lid, drilling a small hole in the cover, filling it with twigs and branches, and setting it on a bbq or in a fire pit with a good healthy fire going.

Not much to it for a great input for your worms.

 

[Gee64]

But now's a great opportunity to make yer own! It's pretty easy to do. If you want to make your own 5 gallon bucket worth it could be as simple as getting a 5 gallon steel bucket with a lid, drilling a small hole in the cover, filling it with twigs and branches, and setting it on a bbq or in a fire pit with a good healthy fire going.

Not much to it for a great input for your worms

I don't have a bbq and my neighborhood isn't really bonfire friendly. I will find some food grade ones somewhere eventually, and give it a go.

I would guess aquarium filter or water filter charcoal would be the right stuff, but I will certainly not buy it if I can't site the source.

Maybe next summer on a camping trip I can make some.

 

[Lerugged]

Don't you guys have fire places and light fires in winter?

 

[Gee64]

Don't you guys have fire places and light fires in winter?

I do but it runs on natural gas so you click a button and the fireplace ignites. It's in the livingroom. Mrs Gee would get pissed if I tried to make biochar with it

 

[Lerugged]

Fair enough

 

[Azimuth]

How about a small camping stove? I have one that takes small twigs, pine cones, can operate on alcohol, etc. Puts out a wicked flame in the footprint of a coffee mug. You'd have to make it in smaller batches of say 1-2 gallons, but still doable. That's the sized batch I make.

 

[Carmen Ray]

How about a small camping stove? I have one that takes small twigs, pine cones, can operate on alcohol, etc. Puts out a wicked flame in the footprint of a coffee mug. You'd have to make it in smaller batches of say 1-2 gallons, but still doable. That's the sized batch I make.

Again with the camping stove. I really need to add one to my list of things to buy.

 

[Azimuth]

Again with the camping stove. I really need to add one to my list of things to buy.

You can get them pretty inexpensively cheap on the 'zon. I got one with an open port in the side of the pot standoff which makes adding more fuel easy as I don't have to take the pot off to add more twigs.

 

[Carmen Ray]

You can get them pretty inexpensively cheap on the 'zon. I got one with an open port in the side of the pot standoff which makes adding more fuel easy as I don't have to take the pot off to add stuff.

We don't get Zon here in SA, but we do have a local thing called Takealot. Good tip with the open port on the side, thanks.

 

[Azimuth]

Like this below. The whole thing nests inside the base for minimal size for storing when not in use.

Also, the design makes it mostly smokeless once it's up to temperature which takes very little time at all. Kind of cool technology. Air enters the base through the intake holes, gets super heated as it comes up through the double wall sides, and then is injected through little ports at the top. Looks like a gas range as the super heated air mixes with wood gas that would normally be smoke and reburns it, leading to a very clean burning stove.

 

[Gee64]

I've been crazy busy with family all week, but the babies are doing fine.

Lil Wild Lady doesn't look great, but the other 3 are growing well.

Iklwa got her 1st topping today just above the 3rd node.

RVDV is likely getting topped tomorrow.

LC and WL are a bit behind.

Pretty quick now, and they get planted into the 40gal.

 

[Personal Stash]

TMSC Day 9.

Everyone went camping yesterday in the 5 x 5 under the big light and slept there. It was the babies 1st night without a heating mat. They loved it.

Iklwa. She's massive.

LC-18. She looks a bit cold but it's warmer in the tent now and she looks better.

RVDV is very happy.

Wild Lady has recovered from whatever got her. I almost think it was a helmet related issue. Her new leaves look fine.

Wild Lady 1.0 is growing like crazy now. She is crazy branchy. This would be a great outdoor scrogger. A mother plant with 10 gallons of soil. She will produce so much worm food. Oh and clones too..

The reveggers are starting to elongate, so the change is happening. You can see it more on this pink pheno.

Not as much on the macehead pheno.

They will all live in the 5 x 5 now and as soon as the roots are ready for transplant the 4 sprouts will go into the 40 gallon pot.

I planted red lettuce, spinach, and kale as cover crops today. I sprinkled a thin layer of seasoil on top and misted it all in. The environment is in a pretty good place already. There is 70 gallons of soil in there all being damp so it's pretty stable.

Leaf temps will increase as they grow to the light. This is 9 hours after lights on. I increased the heat earlier. No changes now until tomorrow afternoon. Lets see where it goes.

When you regrow your old plant, do you get less yield than the original grow and how much less? And how long from harvest to harvest with the same plant?

 

[Lerugged]

I often get more yield with a revegger.

 

[Personal Stash]

I often get more yield with a revegger.

Why do you think more people don't do it if that's the case? I never heard of it til just recently and I am thinking about doing it soon. Is there any down-side to revegging?

 

[Lerugged]

Revegging can take time to do successfully. I think most people find it quicker to just plant again. It can take up to 6 weeks for a full turn around.
Each bud produces a crazy amount of branches which is great, however, it requires a bit of cleaning and stripping all the old stuff off. This can take a couple of weeks to do.
I've done it many times but now I prefer to take some underdeveloped buds at harvest and root them and reveg the clone.
I think one of the benefits of revegging is that the roots are already in full swing so once she gets back into veg, she will generally explode in growth.
It's not for everyone but it's great to save a special pheno.