The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It

[Gee64]

Hi Gee I've been following along and it just occurred to me that you have experience using Gaia Green. Is there anything I can do to help it not turn into a pile of mud? I scrape the top inch of soil into a bowl, add in my amendments and then return it back on top. When I water it in it turns into mud that dries quickly and hard as a rock. I've tried adding new soil with the amendments but by flower my buckets are overflowing with soil. Am I just missing a step or something obvious I'm not thinking about? Is there something I should be adding to help breakdown the Gaia Green faster?

Hmmm, I've never experienced that. How big are your pots?

How much Gaia Green are you adding each time?

What is your soil mix, and how much perlite is in it?

Are you top watering or using a SIP?

 

[Gee64]

Good Morning Stone️

 

[Gee64]

Thanks for the advice, I will grab a bag of ewc. I did top it,

I see you did, it was so darn tall it looked like a single apex cola. She's going to have some fine buds

 

[StoneOtter]

It is! Good morning back at ya!

 

[Azimuth]

Do the flowers themselves look or smell any different than what you are used to?

No, and I'm pretty sure that I have Gypsum in this mix. I'll have to check.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Good morning organic heads, happy Monday!

 

[g-one-three]

Hmmm, I've never experienced that. How big are your pots?

5 gallon bucket with the GroBucket inserts

How much Gaia Green are you adding each time?

2 tbsp/gallon of power bloom, 1 Tbsp/gallon of Mineralized Phosphate and Glacial Rock Dust

What is your soil mix, and how much perlite is in it?

Mother Earth Ground swell + 1/2 cup perlite/gallon (usually I don't add perlite but this bag of soil seemed to be lacking)

Are you top watering or using a SIP?

It's a SIP setup but I have been top watering and not utilizing the SIP because of the issues that occur after 3 weeks into flower.

 

[Gee64]

5 gallon bucket with the GroBucket inserts

2 tbsp/gallon of power bloom, 1 Tbsp/gallon of Mineralized Phosphate and Glacial Rock Dust

Mother Earth Ground swell + 1/2 cup perlite/gallon (usually I don't add perlite but this bag of soil seemed to be lacking)

It's a SIP setup but I have been top watering and not utilizing the SIP because of the issues that occur after 3 weeks into flower.

How often do you topdress?

The rock dust could be the culprit.

Currently I am using 1.5 tbsp/gallon weekly of power bloom. That would translate into 7.5 tbsp weekly for you.

My ratio is already twice the recommended amount so if yours is weekly you are at 3 tbsp/gallon which is 4x the recommended amount.

I went weekly to avoid plugging the soil so if you are going bi-weekly, or dumping in 15 tbsp at a time, which is 1 tbsp short of a full cup, thats a lot. Maybe do it weekly with lessser amounts?

Also I make sure the surface is dry, I do it when they need water. I plow the top inch with my fingers and break it up into a fine crumble across the entire surface, then evenly add the Gaia, plow that in, evenly add a quarter inch of EWC, plow again, then very gently water in a full watering.

Every time they dry down I plow again and water.

Once into flower I mulch a quarter inch deep with a product called Seasoil, which is bark mulch composted with fish guts, which also gets plowed in and every 2 weeks I add another layer of that.

Come harvest I usually have about an inch of very dark beautiful soil on top of the surface that gets recycled with the rootballs.

 

[Gee64]

Good morning organic heads, happy Monday!

Good Afternoon Miss Carmen of the Future

 

[Gee64]

Mother Earth Ground swell + 1/2 cup perlite/gallon (usually I don't add perlite but this bag of soil seemed to be lacking)

More perlite may help too if it doesn't screw up the sipping mechanics.

I usually do 1 part heavy carbon like coco or an organic medium such as bark and spaghnum, 1 part EWC, and 1 part perlite, then add 1 part used soil but it's the same ratio, so basically my perlite is 33% of my mix.

 

[BeyondClouds]

Puhh….finally i got through those 250+ pages that you guys have been filling up with knowledge (and also filling my bookmarks )

Thank you Gee for pulling up this lab. You certainly have a new lab internee right here.

And thank you Azi for bringing me here. Even though I would suggest to hand out such a recommendation with a warning like….

If you are not a coffee drinker…you will become for sure. (Sometimes it is just too hard to say „no“ constantly)

Watch out for mutants!

In case you got a life….forget it!

 

[Gee64]

Puhh….finally i got through those 250+ pages that you guys have been filling up with knowledge (and also filling my bookmarks )

Thank you Gee for pulling up this lab. You certainly have a new lab internee right here.

And thank you Azi for bringing me here. Even though I would suggest to hand out such a recommendation with a warning like….

If you are not a coffee drinker…you will become for sure. (Sometimes it is just too hard to say „no“ constantly)

Watch out for mutants!

In case you got a life….forget it!

Welcome BC. Feel free to participate and we like pictures.

If you leave your crayons laying around Azi will eat them, you have been warned

 

[Gee64]

Well Dang For the 2nd time in 1 year and 4 days my light didn't come on. Last time it was a faulty driver which they replaced without issue and it seems to be the same thing again. I know I won't be buying this brand again.

 

[Gee64]

So the 2 programmer clones in the veg tent are outdoors and the 4 RVDV girls in flower are crammed into the veg tent and flowering under 100 watts of strip LED

 

[g-one-three]

How often do you topdress?

Every 2 weeks.

The rock dust could be the culprit.

Currently I am using 1.5 tbsp/gallon weekly of power bloom. That would translate into 7.5 tbsp weekly for you.

I was kind of thinking the rock dust may be an issue but it was an additive that I was trying after chasing weird nute deficiencies on my last grows. After your explanation I understand now that it was due to an issue with the organic SIP setup creating a healthy veg/unhealthy flowering plant soil environment. Top watering seems to be keeping the plants healthier and I'm hoping to avoid those third week of flower deficiencies.

My ratio is already twice the recommended amount so if yours is weekly you are at 3 tbsp/gallon which is 4x the recommended amount.

I went weekly to avoid plugging the soil so if you are going bi-weekly, or dumping in 15 tbsp at a time, which is 1 tbsp short of a full cup, thats a lot. Maybe do it weekly with lessser amounts?

I figured 4 gallons of soil, so 8tbsp power bloom bi weekly is what I'm currently feeding. If I drop it to weekly I would just do 4tbsp weekly?

Also I make sure the surface is dry, I do it when they need water. I plow the top inch with my fingers and break it up into a fine crumble across the entire surface, then evenly add the Gaia, plow that in, evenly add a quarter inch of EWC, plow again, then very gently water in a full watering.

Once into flower I mulch a quarter inch deep with a product called Seasoil, which is bark mulch composted with fish guts, which also gets plowed in and every 2 weeks I add another layer of that.

Could "mulch" with a top layer of Fox Farm Happy Frog? At least to help keep the Gaia Green from drying out before the rest of the soil?

 

[g-one-three]

Well Dang For the 2nd time in 1 year and 4 days my light didn't come on. Last time it was a faulty driver which they replaced without issue and it seems to be the same thing again. I know I won't be buying this brand again.

This is a bummer hope you can get it resolved soon.

 

[Gee64]

Every 2 weeks.

I was kind of thinking the rock dust may be an issue but it was an additive that I was trying after chasing weird nute deficiencies on my last grows. After your explanation I understand now that it was due to an issue with the organic SIP setup creating a healthy veg/unhealthy flowering plant soil environment. Top watering seems to be keeping the plants healthier and I'm hoping to avoid those third week of flower deficiencies.


I figured 4 gallons of soil, so 8tbsp power bloom bi weekly is what I'm currently feeding. If I drop it to weekly I would just do 4tbsp weekly?

Could "mulch" with a top layer of Fox Farm Happy Frog? At least to help keep the Gaia Green from drying out before the rest of the soil?

With Gaia Green Power Bloom I did a little math and figured If they recommend 3 tablespoons per gallon of soil as an amendment, then that input is good for about 4 weeks, so for top dressing I decided to use that amount every 4 weeks as well, but that is a lot at once for the potsize, so I divided it into 4 weekly amounts instead of 1 monthly deluge.

3 Tbsp/gallon worked quite well for Iklwa, but not for RVDV, so I doubled everything with these clones and have 6 Tbsp per gallon in 1.6gal pots, which I rounded to 2gal for easier figuring, so here is where I am at now.

Gaia 1.0 mix 2 gal pot 6 tbsp and 1.5tbsp topdressing/week

Gaia 2.0 mix 2gal pot 12tbsp and 3tbsp topdressing/week.

Gaia 2.0 is working better.

So in a 4gal you would want 24 tbsp in your base mix and 6tbsp/week topdressing according to what I'm seeing. I have no detriment from it. I had/have calcium issues but Gaia isn't a calcium source its a feed so you need to manage calcium on your own.

Gaia would recommend 12tbsp in your base and 3tbsp/week. You still need to manage calcium on your own.

As for mulch, I don't use it in veg. I plow the soil every time I water but once stretch is over and the plant goes into cruise control, I mulch and start autowatering.

When I topdress that I plow much gentler, just moving the mulch around a bit and topwatering it in minimally so the drippers can keep it moist.

In these small pots I can't autowater so the mulch gets plowed in every watering and topdressing. I add small amounts of mulch as needed, usually on topdressing day and that does start to build up.

I only mulch a quarter inch deep each weekly topdressing.

 

[Gee64]

I would guess that sipping would be different, as the surface of the soil is passive and with top watering you are washing things downwards, so it could build up on you with bottom watering.

But that's just a guess.

 

[g-one-three]

I would guess that sipping would be different, as the surface of the soil is passive and with top watering you are washing things downwards, so it could build up on you with bottom watering.

But that's just a guess.

I haven't been using the bottom watering as it seems to cause issues later in flower. My current grow the girls (especially the sativa leaning one) never really took to the SIP, which resulted in over watering and a deficiency that @Carmen Ray caught in my journal. Thanks to her keen eye and advice they are on the rebound and starting to respond to the Gaia Green and dryer soil. So it's all topwater for the rest of this grow.

Thanks for all the info on the Gaia Green! I really like their stuff but I have just been going off their basic recommendations. Now I know I can crank up the amounts without overdoing it these girls are getting pumped up.

 

[Jon]

RVDV 2 - Day 12 of Cure.
Finally down to 62%.

These are nasty buds. They look hairy and fluffy but if you look closer to the bottom half you see the crystal. It's not sticky, it's crusty and hard and it's barely dry. Wicked shit. Up top that crustiness is hidden by really long red hairs.

iMaybe I'll let The Wife try it 1st

There's the catapillar.

Kinda thick too

Matt, I want my money back, the buds are too damn small.

Wow, did you see how I said that with a straight face?

Decent trim job.