As you can see on the pictures, all seems to be ok except that the potting soil is maybe a bit too charged with nutrients: radish leaves are big and thin, the small NL plant is also a bit disturbed by this. This should get better with time.
Tomorrow (Jan 08) I'll water the area around the NL5 with corn seed sprout tea. Goal being that with these growth hormones (SST) it'll be able to cope better with the super charged soil.
The next step will be deciding which training technique to journey with: hst-mainlining (reg or quad) vs a more popular lst... @sensiseeds let me know if either is totally proscribed from your knowledge on how your genetics behave π. Patience wise, I can handle a slow growth, I want this to be fun and exciting.
FYI, lights still at ~20% and 60 cm (2ft) from plant
Thanks so much for choosing our Northern Lights # 5 x Haze!
I'm really looking forward to seeing your process in living soil, and wish you the best of luck!
Nice lookin' girl, and absolutely love the setupπ».
With a large soil bed like that, you might want to look into using a combination of slow release natural dry amendments for top dressing. They're a lot more forgiving, won't burn your plant and will keep the growth nice and steady. In a large bed you also want to be careful things don't go anaerobic from lack of water or too much. It's a balancing act you'll figure out over time and you want to be able to reuse that soil for several runs.
The fungus gnats 'should' mostly go away after your soil life starts to balance out. Mine were essentially gone after my first round in Earthboxes.
@ChiefBrody, Bokashi is killer if you mix it with some ground 2-row malted barley. If you do your seed teas right you get insane praying leaves. I used make them with mung beans and alfalfa seeds. But the barley does the same thing, only on a slower release.
If you're into the science or want to look into the art of compost, check out anything by Dr Elaine Ingham. I use locally sourced seaweed compost, too lazy to make my own=)
@NSCanna, Hey thanks for the tips! π
Before my next run, I'll cover the bed with a mix of home made vermicompost (worm castings) and vegetable waste compost. Might also add some EM1 and some bokashi juice. Resow some cover crops. Then feed the plant with seed sprouts tea every two weeks.
Meh, we'll see how it goes π
@dackjaniels, Hey thank you!
As purely cover crop I've been using dutch clover, alfalfa and buckwheat.
As companion crop (and food π) it was long white radish, spinach, pak choi, lettuce, garlic and coriander. I've heard basil was also a good one (on my next run).
There are a few pictures of them scattered around the diary ππ