Hi all
This run is going to be all CopyCat strains, I am hoping to find some fire! I am running all organic soil in 15 gal pots. This is my third grow in this room, so I still learning and hope I can again improve over my last grow. I have a few thing I am going to do differently this round to try and import the overall yield and to aid in pest prevention. I gave them their first compost tea yesterday and they have all reacted very well.
Yield:
Last time I only filled my SCROG about 65% and tried to let stretch fill in the rest. This worked OK, but I still didn't fill the screen fully and all the flowers were very tight to the screen. So my plan this time is to veg until the screen is completely full, like I mean branches running out the sides and up the wall ;). Then I will flip and just let them go allowing stretch to pull away from the screen more.
Soil:
I am reusing the soil from my last grow, check out my previous diary (Flipping New Years Babies) for that simple FFOF recipe. I have re amended it with the below items. The neem cake was added for pest prevention and I added less of the Gaia 444 to accommodate. I also added the Bokashi flakes to help with adding beneficial bacteria to aid in breaking down the amendments.
-Amendments to each 15gal pot: 2 gal EWC, 1 cup Gaia 444, 2tbs Gaia 284, 1 cup neem cake, 1/2 cup oyster shell flour, 1/2 cup gypsum, 1/2 cup diatomaceous earth, 3/4 cup Bokashi.
Mulch:
I have added rice hulls as a mulch to all my pots, this is to allow to surface of the soil to stay moist longer and to aid in giving beneficial's a place to hide. Found them at a local home brew store and that save me shipping from the other side of Canada.
Stupid Thrips - The battle:
Thrips got me bad on the last run, I tried using predatory mites but they didn't seems to help and by the end of the last run I had a lot of leaf damage because of it. Once the last run was done I covered my pots in pyrethrin's powder to kill anything still living in the soil, not sure how it actually worked but shortly after I was finding them all over the room so I figured most must have left the pots . I then did serval deep cleans on the room, vacuuming up bugs daily, wiping everything daily, adding new sticky traps to my rom daily to monitor progress. After a couple weeks I could no longer find any thrips, so I at that point moved the pots back in after re amending the soil. Within a few days I was noticing thrips on the tape again so they must have still been in or on the pots, this time I sprayed pyrethrin power all over the entire room with a gas mask on, I also turned off the exhaust fan and turned up circulating fans to kick up the power then left the room for a couple days. After powdering the whole room I went back in and had to do one final top to bottom clean. After that I had not seen a thrip for a few weeks, but sure enough I just saw the first one yesterday. I have now started spraying with spinosad the last couple days, haven't seen another thrip yet but its still two early to tell. I will continue to spray with spinosad every couple days for a few more weeks to ensure I have taken these bastards out!
Automated Watering Plans:
I have plans to setup an automated watering system soon. I have decided on a drip system to start with and am either thinking of 1/4 soaker hose or PC drippers or maybe the PC dripper with the soaker hose. In any case I am excited by the thought of having water automated. I had considered and almost pulled the pin on Blumats but due to their tendency to clog and run away I wanted a system I maintained more control over.
Compost Tea:
-5 gal water
-1 cup EWC
-1 tbsp EM
-1 tbsp molasses
Thanks @@saderflaak,
I do love the organic growing and feel Gaia Green all purpose and bloom was a great way to get started with it and recycled organic living soil. I will be moving towards a living soil bed with coot mix / no till over the next few grows. I suspect one could source the organic ingredients their self in the EU if one was inclined.
My next run (Gary Payton, Grape Ape, Headband wedding cake and OG 18) is in flower now and I will post a new journal soon.
I checked out your last grow as well and it is looked great, good work!
Thanks @Laian! Yes I am hoping this run will bring me closer to my goal of 2lbs, no clue if this will quite get me there but it should at lest be more than the last two grows at 1.5lbs.
Very nice grow buddy. Just ordered my CopyCat Genetix last week. Can't wait to pop them girls and get it going. Just finished an Auto Gorilla Glue, waiting to finish drying to do my harvest notes. But super nice grow will be looking forward to more from you. 😎