The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It

[Gee64]

I think pretty much a bust. I think I screwed up the droughting phase, starting it too early and then not allowing the plants to recover . I had mostly clear trichs in week 11 for an 8-9 week strain so I assume the structures built but didn't fill before I droughted and then they were never able to complete the job.

I processed it and it was dry in 2 days so it's in the sweating process now but I'll be jarring it up soon and at least give it a chance. I'll have to rerun it to have a decent sense of it but this round will likely end up with the worms.

Well that sucks. Do you think if you grew them your regular way you would have ended up with a better crop, or is this a new strain, what are your thoughts here?

Is this a new soil you are in compared to previous grows?

If the plants look healthy but come in fluffy it's usually weak soil or lack of light or genetics, although low P can certainly do it, but if this soil gave you better results before with this amount of P, we need to figure out why?

 

[Gee64]

Day 20/11 of Veg.

So I put some water into the flood tray yesterday and today most of it was in the fabric tent floor liner which is luckily waterproof.

I stripped off the pond liner to find this.

So it's outside drying in the heat for a few days. Then I will reline it. I got 6 years out of it so I can't complain.

So here they are until tomorrow when the liner is 100% dry, then just a liner for a few days.

420 PPFD.

They are all pretty wet and shouldn't need water, but if they do I have to pull them out of the tent for now.

Sucky.

Oh, almost forgot. Little LC is variegated.

 

[Gee64]

Day 1.

The clones all look really happy still.

#1 - 8 3/4".

#2 - 6".

#3 - 3 3/4". This one is small but with big roots.

 

[Azimuth]

Well that sucks. Do you think if you grew them your regular way you would have ended up with a better crop, or is this a new strain, what are your thoughts here?

Is this a new soil you are in compared to previous grows?

If the plants look healthy but come in fluffy it's usually weak soil or lack of light or genetics, although low P can certainly do it, but if this soil gave you better results before with this amount of P, we need to figure out why?

Likely just operator error. Was a new strain in a slightly different mix but nothing that would account for the outcome as much as my delighting screwups.

The soil mix has improved twice since then so I don't think we'll learn anything from it.

Next!

 

[Gee64]

Likely just operator error. Was a new strain in a slightly different mix but nothing that would account for the outcome as much as my delighting screwups.

The soil mix has improved twice since then so I don't think we'll learn anything from it.

Next!

OK good stuff

So what do you have all together right now as far as ages and numbers of plants goes, right from clones in perlite up to your oldest plant?

 

[Azimuth]

One at end of week 7 of flower and will drought this coming week.

One in veg, week 3, just caught in new NetPot SIP, will top this week to start the quadline.

Two mothers throwing cuts every 2-3 weeks, two groups of cuts in perlite cups two weeks in and I like to give them 4 before potting up. I don't use any rooting hormones so seems like my pace is a bit more "Island Time" than others.

One cut at 4 weeks ready to pot up but it's out of cycle so probably just headed for the worm bin. Could be an experimental test subject but I want to rerun my sabotaged plant first and those cuts are a couple of weeks out from being ready.

So, other than the NetPot, there's really nothing to work with atm.

 

[Gee64]

One at end of week 7 of flower and will drought this coming week.

Same strain as the one just harvested?

One in veg, week 3, just caught in new NetPot SIP, will top this week to start the quadline.

How you liking the new pot design?

Two mothers throwing cuts every 2-3 weeks, two groups of cuts in perlite cups two weeks in and I like to give them 4 before potting up. I don't use any rooting hormones so seems like my pace is a bit more "Island Time" than others.

Island time

One cut at 4 weeks ready to pot up but it's out of cycle so probably just headed for the worm bin. Could be an experimental test subject but I want to rerun my sabotaged plant first and those cuts are a couple of weeks out from being ready.

So, other than the NetPot, there's really nothing to work with atm.

Will the netpot vegger get uppotted 1 more time for flower? If so, a shot of bone meal and oyster shell flour just a smidge under the roots may boost brix.

Questions:

Do you think that much myco survives from harvest thru to when you reuse your used soil?

If you water some used soil and place it in a dark warm-ish spot, do you see hyphae fuzzing up in a week or so?

Do you use different soil for clone potting, veg, and flower?

 

[Azimuth]

Same strain as the one just harvested?

No, this one is my CBG plant. Never got above 12 so bugs aplenty. Seems to have more scent than I'm used to so maybe I'm making progress.

How you liking the new pot design?

Too early to tell in practice but conceptually I really like it. Probably about 10% less soil for an already small pot in flower so that's not ideal, but I think the added air all around the root ball should more than compensate.

The NetPot sits loose in an outer bucket and rests on inverted cups the same size as the soil cup that extends down into the reservoir so it will be super easy to remove for a flush or examination. There's about a half inch gap between the bucket and the rim of the pot so air can move around freely but there's not much of a gap for light. Pretty much a perfect, loose fit.

Didn't need a fill tube and didn't drill an overflow hole. Easiest, simplest SIP design I've ever made. Literally all I did was cut a hole for the connector pot in the NetPot (though I did have to order a special hole saw for that) and melt a bunch of holes in the connector/support cups to ensure good air/water flow. And the outer buckets had nothing done to them.

The soil seems to stay mostly in the pot and as the roots populate it that will be less of an issue. I started my veggies in 4" NetPots this spring and really liked the result. I had been using soil blocks but those can be a bit finicky to make as you have to get both the soil mix and moisture content just right for them to hold together for the seed but not be too dense for the roots.

And early watering is tricky so the blocks don't melt before the roots can hold it together. Moving to NetPots allowed me to have looser, more aerated soil for the seeds which seemed to work really well.

Will the netpot vegger get uppotted 1 more time for flower? If so, a shot of bone meal and oyster shell flour just a smidge under the roots may boost brix.

No, the 8" NetPot in a 2 gallon bucket is its final home. I'll keep that in mind for the next round though. I get the bone meal, but why the other calcium as well?

Do you think that much myco survives from harvest thru to when you reuse your used soil?

I assume so since I mix up a new batch pretty soon after a harvest to use the upgraded soil mix along with old roots from the plant just harvested as the 1/3 old soil in my mix. I've been using lessons learned each round so my soil should be steadily improving. This latest batch had an increased calcium level but not the increase in P that will be coming in in future rounds.

Better and better each cycle from added inputs, never mind the now increased breakdown time for the minerals which just started getting added a couple of rounds ago.

If you water some used soil and place it in a dark warm-ish spot, do you see hyphae fuzzing up in a week or so?

I do. I have a bucket of old, combined soils from prior rounds that fuzzes up but I'll probably dump all that in the garden once I get my mix recipe down as right now it's a mish mash of sub-optimal mixes. But getting better every harvest!

Do you use different soil for clone potting, veg, and flower?

No, everything gets the same thing. My recipe makes slightly more than is needed for a round in the flower pot so the excess is used for freshly rooted clones as well as mothers, though for new clones I cut it a bit with castings, compost and more perlite

 

[StoneOtter]

 

[Gee64]

No, this one is my CBG plant. Never got above 12 so bugs aplenty. Seems to have more scent than I'm used to so maybe I'm making progress.


Too early to tell in practice but conceptually I really like it. Probably about 10% less soil for an already small pot in flower so that's not ideal, but I think the added air all around the root ball should more than compensate.

The NetPot sits loose in an outer bucket and rests on inverted cups the same size as the soil cup that extends down into the reservoir so it will be super easy to remove for a flush or examination. There's about a half inch gap between the bucket and the rim of the pot so air can move around freely but there's not much of a gap for light. Pretty much a perfect, loose fit.

Didn't need a fill tube and didn't drill an overflow hole. Easiest, simplest SIP design I've ever made. Literally all I did was cut a hole for the connector pot in the NetPot (though I did have to order a special hole saw for that) and melt a bunch of holes in the connector/support cups to increase air/water flow. And the outer buckets had nothing done to them.

The soil seems to stay mostly in the pot and as the roots populate it that will be less of an issue. I started my veggies in 4" NetPots this spring and really liked the result. I had been using soil blocks but those can be a bit finicky to make as you have to get both the soil mix and moisture content just right for them to hold together for the seed but not be too dense for the roots.

And early watering is tricky so the blocks don't melt before the roots can hold it together. Moving to NetPots allowed me to have looser, more aerated soil for the seeds which seemed to work really well.


No, the 8" NetPot in a 2 gallon bucket is it's final home. I'll keep that in mind for the next round though. I get the bone meal, but why the other calcium as well?

, P and Ca like each other and tossing some bone meal in with a faster acting but still slow release Ca usually works well on tomatoes to cure blossom end rot. The 2 go good together. Can't hurt here. The oyster shell flour recycles well too, plus it supplies chitin and silica.

I assume so since I mix up a new batch pretty soon after a harvest to use the upgraded soil mix along with old roots from the plant just harvested as the 1/3 old soil in my mix. I've been using lessons learned each round so my soil should be steadily improving. This latest batch had an increased calcium level but no increase in P that will be coming in in future rounds.

Better and better each cycle from added inputs, never mind the now increased breakdown time for the minerals which just started getting added a couple of rounds ago.


I do. I have a bucket of old, combined soils from prior rounds that fuzzes up but I'll probably dump all that in the garden once I get my mix recipe down as right now it's a mish mash of sub-optimal mixes. But getting better every harvest!

OK good, if myco is population and propogating then your C:N ratio is in the ballpark

No, everything gets the same thing. My recipe makes slightly more than is needed for a round in the flower pot so the excess is used for freshly rooted clones as well as mothers.

Perfect! Get some P in early. Start the snowball rolling.

 

[Gee64]

Mornin' Stone️

 

[StoneOtter]

Happy Saturday!

 

[Azimuth]

The oyster shell flour recycles well too, plus it supplies chitin and silica.

I didn't know OS had chitin. My crustacean meal has it which is one of the reasons I've used it.

 

[Gee64]

I didn't know OS had chitin. My crustacean meal has it which is one of the reasons I've used it.

Crustacean meal could and possibly is better, but oyster farming is huge out here in British Columbia, so the shells are cheap and abundant.

 

[Azimuth]

Crustacean meal could and possibly is better, but oyster farming is huge out here in British Columbia, so the shells are cheap and abundant.

I always thought the Oyster shell to be almost all calcium carbonate.

 

[Gee64]

From Google

Oyster Shells
OxideAnalysisFormula

CaO53.70%
K2O0.04%
MgO0.94%
Al2O30.05%
P2O50.03%
SiO20.64%
Fe2O30.03%

so mainly Calcium carbonate, but lots of traces.

 

[Azimuth]

One in veg, week 3, just caught in new NetPot SIP, will top this week to start the quadline.

Got it topped and brixed at 8.5 with slightly fuzzy line so some work yet to be done. But a good base line number to know as the new NetPot SIP lifts off.

 

[Gee64]

Got it topped and brixed at 8.5 with slightly fuzzy line so some work yet to be done. But a good base line number to know as the new NetPot SIP lifts off.

Clones take a couple weeks longer to get brix up. As far as soil goes, it's only 3 weeks old. Get it's line a bit fuzzier and see what happens.

 

[Azimuth]

You really need to up your P a fair bit in the next batch of soil you cook.

Try really hard to match Rev's recipe by filling those holes. P mainly. Even if you have to buy some ingredients to get started, once the soil is fortified it's easier to keep it there than get it there.

Maybe buy the right annual flowers to jack up P too, and then harvest your own seed crop year after year.

Sunflower seeds are really high P and sunflowers make excellent compost carbon too. Plus everyone loves sunflowers.

Tell me your exact soil path.

What size container do you start a seed/root a clone into and whats in that soil, then at each uppotting, what size and what is in each of those soils, until you are in your flower mix and final container?

There may be a shortcut. Maybe an easy way to boost brix early and get the snowball rolling sooner.

A shortcut? What do you have in mind?

 

[Azimuth]

Clones take a couple weeks longer to get brix up. As far as soil goes, it's only 3 weeks old. Get it's line a bit fuzzier and see what happens.

I've been waiting for it to catch, which it recently did, to add my top dressing of castings and compost so that should help the line.

I used to put a nice thick layer of castings covered by compost on them but, given my new fondness for air, this time I'll just put thin layers and plan on replacing them more often.