Earthbox Apricot Auto, My First Grow

Preparation for 1st Ever Grow: Gathering Equipment and Learning: I spent 6 months gathering equipment and learning all the different methods of growing. I started with Highagain YT, thank you for your passion and dedication to showing us folks how easy it is and you should just start. Then I found Mr. Grow It, Homegrown TV, Kyle Kushman, James Loud, Dude Grow Show, then Build-a-soil/Jeremy Silva. I knew then this would most likely be the way for me. I knew I wanted organic, and I needed automation due to my busy life. I thought about Auto Pots for the longest time until I found the Earthbox grow in Season 3 episode 9 of Build-a-Soil. Jeremy preps four earthboxes for 2 Auto-flower and 2 Photoperiod. This spoke to me in a way that would reduce my barrier for entry on Living Soil. I have since bought four SIP planters and started a garden as well! This being my first grow I wanted to learn everything I could to solidify my plan, then execute and learn on the fly. I am a hands on learner. 5/17/24 Prepped the soil by mixing 1 tsp of Rootwise Mycrobe Complete and a 1/4 teaspoon of Rootwise Bio-Catalyst into 1 gallon of water in my sprayer. After I let the microbes wake up in the water for a half an hour I went ahead and started wetting/inoculating my soil. This is following Jeremy’s process in Season 3 Episode 9. Started by packing the BAS light mix in the corners of the Earthbox, wetting and packing the soil in the corners to develop what will be our ‘wick’ throughout the life of this soil. After packing the corners I would lay a layer of soil, and worm castings and wet that layer, then lay the next layer and repeat spraying the inoculant/wetting agent to ensure my soil had the correct hydration. After a few layers, about half full Earthbox I would stick my hands in at the sidewalk and fold the soil by curling my fingers and lifting which would push out the dry soil in the middle, towards the sidewalls. I found this was an efficient way of ensuring proper moisture throughout the soil. After I finished all my layers and was out of soil, adding worm castings to each layer, I did a final folding technique along the entirety of the box. I grabbed a handful and squeezed and no water dripped out, yet the soil stayed clumped demonstrating proper moisture. Now we let it sit overnight and sow seeds tomorrow! 5/18/24 7:19pm Temp 74.9 Humidity: 80.6% VPD 0.56kpa Time to Sow Seeds! I spent some time dialing in my environment. My biggest issue was how to place the seeds in and whether or not to use the mulch cover that comes with the EB. I went a little deeper than I should’ve but I think we will be ok. I placed them in a single row in line with each other. Then placed domes over the sites. I put the mulch cover over the EB and closed it up. 5/19/24 4:00pm Temp: 80.4 F Humidity: 91.3% VPD: 0.30 kPa Checking in. Domes have no sweat on the inside. Soil must be drier than I thought or I didn’t push the domes down enough. I’m concerned now. I took a rag with water and drenched the seed sites, then placed the dome back on and buried them deeper. Covering the edges with dirt. 5/20/24 1:21pm Temp: 78.8 F Humidity: 81.8 % VPD: 0.60 kPa Just Checking In. Removed the mulch cover and no sweat in the dome. I think the mulch cover is affecting the moisture inside the dome. I am going to raise my heat a bit, remove the mulch cover and raise the light so I don’t scorch my soil. I may even have to put some more water underneath each dome. I wish I knew exactly where my seed sites were. I think I may have the darker dome in a position that’s NOT covering the seed. I hope I didn’t mess this up. 5/21/24 2:00pm Temp: 83.8 F RH: 73.2 % VPD: .80kPa No sprouts 🌱 yet. I have been surprised to see the environment steady now that the planter is in there. I am barely turning anything on at this point. I went in and started covering the walls with plastic in my lung room. I have my inline filter outside of my tent venting in due to the naturally cold climate here in the PNW. The wind off the ocean cools everything down. I covered 3/4 of the wall and placed the humidifier outside of the tent to see if we will have the same results. I’ll watch it for a couple hours and go from there. 5/21/24 5:27pm Temp: 76 F RH: 53.3% VPD: high Same day but I had to go back. I couldn’t leave it wacky like that all night and I’m glad I did, because we sprouted 🌱 ladies and gentlemen!! 3 days from germination, they all sprouted! All three seeds have popped! I will leave the plastic dome on overnight and expose the soil by removing the mulch cover so the seedlings can get light. I also replaced the black cover with a clear cover. What’s funny is the seed I placed opposite of the fill tube which would be how you do it on a single plant in the Earthbox, it seems to have been moved. My lid was on the seed and it sprouted under the dome’s edge. Crazy how lucky I am. Looked like the runt of the litter but we will see. My buddy said that one probably will be the monster, and I agree. I checked earlier but no dice, I wonder if my having the tent open and placing the earth box out of the tent to move the tent away from the wall, while I was stapling up 6ml plastic cover helped in some way. How exciting! I think this cultivar likes the cold and adverse conditions if I am being honest. Might be too early to tell, but it’s a feeling I get. Note to self: EXPERIMENT WITH LOW TEMP/HUMIDITY. Everything I have seen in other Apricot Auto journals tells me this strain may like the cooler, less humid conditions to thrive.