TheRoach's First - Soil - Aurora Indica - Organic Grow - 600W

Wow, I have never seen such a large composting operation. The largest I have seen was turned by 6 men with shovels, and I was impressed with the steam!
 
I'm not sure if this is a dumb question but ..does what you feed them determine the nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium ratio/level in the casting you harvest?..I'm asking because from what ive read I get the impression that casting are more rich in nitrogen than phosp. And potasium and would be better for plant during vegg. due to the high nitrogen...witch leads me to my next question..I want to make compost that is high in phosphorus and potasium so it can be more suited for the flowering state...what would you feed them to achieve that ..bananas...?
 
A peek into the flowering room. It is almost full with clones from one of the mystery seeds. It Is a very vigorous sativa dominant pheno, it call it #1. There are a couple AI too, also in the upper right corner, you can see a hideous plant my wife chose to ¨save¨, it was weak and leggy since the beginning, and it is now looking like a cow ruminated on it. It smells really nice though, like candy and fruits.

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This large #1 plant has a lot of bud sites, but it seems like it will take some more time before it fattens, if it does at all

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smells like grapefruit

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I will keep a clone of this #1 plant to expand my repertoire, it produce lots of bud sites.

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And a few nugs of Aurora Indica, these I might harvest soon:

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Another AI shows sings of nitrogen deficiency
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Most of the plants have buds in this stage

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I have to buy the white lining fabric for the inner walls, I will get it in a week or two. I am watering regularly and using organic teas to fertilize, but I have fertilized very lightly.
All of these plants have to finish flowering before I can start with my perpetual grow of Aurora Indica!
Overall, I feel the plants could be doing much better. I will not let another grow go unattended like I did with this! Well, at least I will get some pot from these.

Your comments and criticism are well appreciated.
Thank you for watching.
:420:
 
lovitonce said:
I'm not sure if this is a dumb question but ..does what you feed them determine the nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium ratio/level in the casting you harvest?..I'm asking because from what ive read I get the impression that casting are more rich in nitrogen than phosp. And potasium and would be better for plant during vegg. due to the high nitrogen...witch leads me to my next question..I want to make compost that is high in phosphorus and potasium so it can be more suited for the flowering state...what would you feed them to achieve that ..bananas...?
Click to expand...

That is a great question, and yes the food stock affects the nutrient levels in the final compost.
Fruits usually have good amounts of P and K, and if you use mostly fruits you will have good levels of those nutrients. banana peels are an awesome addition too, and in general fruit and vegetable peels will add many nutrients.
I know worm castings are high in nitrogen, but you can actually control what goes in the bin, so you have a certain degree of control on the final nutrient proportions.
 
It was recommended that I come over here to compare notes with your worm bin. I noticed in your back pages that you feed alot of fruit? Do you get alot of flies? I feed alot of veggies with occasional banana peels and apple cores, which ends up attracting alot of fruit flies and soldier flies. What you are you doing to avoid that? Are you living in a drier region with less insects? I have been considering feeding almost entirely compost, but that isn't the most practical move for me at the moment.
 
Hi Closedcircuit, thank you for stopping by
Yes flies are a nuisance when feeding fruit. I always keep the lid closed, and avoid as much as possible throwing whole fruits in the bin; when adding fruit try to bury it a little bit in the bedding below, then cover with some more cardboard. We feed in relatively large batches of 5 gallons every week or so; I just bring home a bucket of waste fruit and vegetables from the store in the next block, add waste veggies from the kitchen and vegetable garden, then chop it a bit with a shovel, turning and then chopping some more. It usually ends up as a pulp with smaller pieces of stuff here and there. This pulp is evenly spread in the surface of the bin and covered with an inch or two of cardboard.
With keeping the lid closed and having a layer of shredded cardboard you should be fine; I´ve found that sprinkling powdered eggshell all over the cardboard after feeding also keeps bugs at bay.
My bin in the pictures above is half full (half empty?) and has whole stuff on it. It was harvested heavily without feeding during the last month because many of the plants in the garden needed compost (This bin is for the vegetable garden mostly) and the rain has prevented me from going for worm food, so we have been just tossing in whatever fruits and veggies we wont eat. There are some things you can add whole, such as carrots and corn cobs; some others like the tomatoes above and cucumbers will cause an excessive production of leachate (the brown liquid pooling under the bin in the first picture) so its better to avoid adding too much.
The top layer of the bin was looking like coffee grinds, meaning the worms where hungry: I prefer not to keep them hungry for too long as it tends to lower the worm density in the bin. That in turns lowers the production of compost.
Whole fruit should be avoided anyway!
Tomorrow I may go with my wife and get some cardboard and feed the bin. I will be posting some pictures of the process.
 
I definitely need to design a flow through bin like yours. I built mine, got it running, then realized the design was stupid and harvesting would be a pain in the ass. With the flow through only pure castings make their way to the bottom. With my design (which is supposed to allow the worms to climb into a new bin, but theres never enough scraps in there for them to climb up) I end up with all kinds of small scrap chunks and what not.
 
TheRoach said:
Thank you for watching Vlad; have you thought growing in soil yourself?
I wouldn't say the flowering room is impressive, I still have a lot of work to do there!
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I would like to grow in soil some day... on my farm! but I still have to build a homestead when I get more of that stinky green money to do so. Here in the city I choose hydro because of the lack of good dirt available, no backyard to do a nutritious compost, etc. My only successful grow with marijuana was in a 5 litre pot, but ignorance got the best of me because it became root bound and suffered a few weeks before harvest so buds were "mehh" in terms of compactness but they were coated in crystals and shined like silver with camera flash. So after that I became addicted to try and do better. I've heard the elite growers can pull 1.5 grams of dried weed per watt and better. It was not only hydro in general that got me interested in ditching the dirt, but the ease of cloning as well. And that's my 1 ruble, or 2 cents on growing in water

I like your flower room. The good thing about this hobby is that if you show your grow on 420 and watch other grows, you can improve dramatically between harvests. That's my goal, to grow my experience and my ganja game!

Vlad
 
ClosedCircuit said:
I guess my bin has just never been as productive as yours. They eat fairly fast, but I have never had castings visible from the surface. I have to dig through the top layer of dried leaves and paper to get to the castings. How long has your bin been running?
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My worm bin has been running for nearly 3 years now. The reason why the castings are visible in the surface is because there are lots of worms in the bin and I haven't fed properly during the last couple weeks. The bin produces well, mostly because of the large surface area and the density of worms. I shouldn't be able to see the castings; it means they have consumed both the food and the cardboard bedding, meaning they are living in the castings themselves. That's less than ideal, as worm castings are not good for the worms (as per some reading I did, the worms should live in the bedding as castings are toxic for them to some degree and they shouldn't live on it for long, will try to post a source for that)

ClosedCircuit said:
I definitely need to design a flow through bin like yours. I built mine, got it running, then realized the design was stupid and harvesting would be a pain in the ass. With the flow through only pure castings make their way to the bottom. With my design (which is supposed to allow the worms to climb into a new bin, but theres never enough scraps in there for them to climb up) I end up with all kinds of small scrap chunks and what not.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that I have and endless supply of feed stock and that boosts my compost production; I was set to build a stackable bin but then I read some opinions online about how they had to separate the worms anyway, so I ended up building this bin. Harvesting from this bin is easy as only casting and a few pieces of thicker branch will show up. I no longer see worm cocoons in the compost either.
This unit was easy to build and is very easy to take care of; but don't dispose of your previous bin because it will still work to produce more worms. This bin needs a lot of worms, so you will have to increase your population somehow! I had to build 10 bins 2 gallons each to boost my numbers!
Thank you for commenting, Im following your journals closely too; lots of great information!
 
Hi guys, today I removed the humidity domes (ziplocs) and the clones look very healthy with no signs of wilting. I will stop spraying as well.

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The clones from the previous batch have resumed growth. I will inoculate with aerated worm casting tea soon.

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The mother plants are recovering from the pruning:

This first picture is of Aurora Indica #5

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And the rest of them are Aurora Indica #3

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Here is how a sterile cut (center) heals as opposed to one that wasn't cleaned (bottom right)

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Notice the callous scar that covered the cut that I didn't clean after the cut. I wonder if this plant has been sick?

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Incredible how 2 plants , phenotype #3 and #5, have turned into 27 plants!

Thank you for watching, your comments are welcomed!

:420:
 
TheRoach said:
My worm bin has been running for nearly 3 years now. The reason why the castings are visible in the surface is because there are lots of worms in the bin and I haven't fed properly during the last couple weeks. The bin produces well, mostly because of the large surface area and the density of worms. I shouldn't be able to see the castings; it means they have consumed both the food and the cardboard bedding, meaning they are living in the castings themselves. That's less than ideal, as worm castings are not good for the worms (as per some reading I did, the worms should live in the bedding as castings are toxic for them to some degree and they shouldn't live on it for long, will try to post a source for that)



Keep in mind that I have and endless supply of feed stock and that boosts my compost production; I was set to build a stackable bin but then I read some opinions online about how they had to separate the worms anyway, so I ended up building this bin. Harvesting from this bin is easy as only casting and a few pieces of thicker branch will show up. I no longer see worm cocoons in the compost either.
This unit was easy to build and is very easy to take care of; but don't dispose of your previous bin because it will still work to produce more worms. This bin needs a lot of worms, so you will have to increase your population somehow! I had to build 10 bins 2 gallons each to boost my numbers!
Thank you for commenting, Im following your journals closely too; lots of great information!
Click to expand...

The castings are definitely toxic to the worms. They are very sensitive to lack of food and will die off very quickly to adjust the population to the available food. Do you keep track of the proportions of what you are feeding IE tracking acidity etc?
 
ClosedCircuit said:
The castings are definitely toxic to the worms. They are very sensitive to lack of food and will die off very quickly to adjust the population to the available food. Do you keep track of the proportions of what you are feeding IE tracking acidity etc?
Click to expand...
I just avoid stuff that could raise acidity. Oranges and citric fruits in general or pineapple. The proportion of what I feed is a bucket and a half (so 7.5 gallons) of shredded cardboard for a 5 gallon bucket of vegetable/fruit scraps; I add a couple handfuls of grounded eggshell every month or so.
 
TheRoach said:
I just avoid stuff that could raise acidity. Oranges and citric fruits in general or pineapple. The proportion of what I feed is a bucket and a half (so 7.5 gallons) of shredded cardboard for a 5 gallon bucket of vegetable/fruit scraps; I add a couple handfuls of grounded eggshell every month or so.
Click to expand...

Good to know. I like hearing what others do.
 
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