SparkyGrow 1st grow for a few years as I need to replenish my jars.
Trying out organic living soil from Dr Organics to see if it’s easier to get through the grow without the complications of bottled nutrients and over/under feeding.
Had to bulk up the living soil slightly to fill the pots so added some shop bought peat free compost and some perlite. Hopefully that doesn’t mess with the ecosystem.
likes
comments
Share
Used method
Directly In Substrate
Germination Method
1
Week 1. Vegetation
2y ago
1/8
8 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
90 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
19 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
0.05 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow First week, all good happy with the start
likes
comments
Share
2
Week 2. Vegetation
2y ago
1/11
10 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
70 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
19 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
0.05 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow I’ve been messing around a bit with light and heat trying to stabilise things in the grow room as I’m getting spikes of 26/27 degrees C when the heater kicks in every few minutes
likes
comments
Share
3
Week 3. Vegetation
2y ago
1/11
12 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
70 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
19 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
0.1 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow All going well, probably time for some LST next week.
likes
comments
Share
4
Week 4. Vegetation
2y ago
1/17
14 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
60 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
20 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
0.1 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow Did first bit of LST this week, also did a bit of defoliation and for the first time I took off a couple of the lowest bud sites to see if that helps the main colas later in the grow
likes
comments
Share
Used techniques
LST
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
5
Week 5. Vegetation
2y ago
1/12
20 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
60 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
20 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
0.75 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow More LST on lower branches this week and a bit more defoliation and a couple more bud sites removed.
I’ve also got some self wicking pots from ac infinity and I think the plants are about big enough to start using them.
1 like
comments
Share
Used techniques
LST
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
6
Week 6. Flowering
2y ago
1/7
30 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
26 °C
Day Air Temp
50 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
21 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow More LST and defoliation.
She’s really filling out now. I’ve noticed that the leaves are praying for the first few hours of light but after about 12 hours she seems to go all lank and floppy.
likes
comments
Share
Used techniques
LST
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
7
Week 7. Flowering
2y ago
1/19
35 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
27 °C
Day Air Temp
Weak
Smell
50 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
21 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1.5 liters
Watering Volume
50 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow I bought a new Mars hydro light to get some extra coverage into the grow area.
Probably should have moved the light further away considering it’s 200w more.
Think I may have added some heat damage to the top leaves.
A few leaves are showing signs of a problem, I’m thinking calcium deficiency, not sure why as the soil is supposed to cover all nutrients. I will look into it.
likes
comments
Share
8
Week 8. Flowering
2y ago
1/14
45 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
27 °C
Day Air Temp
Weak
Smell
50 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
21 °C
Night Air Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1.5 liters
Watering Volume
50 cm
Lamp Distance
SparkyGrow Ok, I think I’ve found the issue and it’s totally my fault for not doing enough research on living soils.
I have been watering my plants for nearly the entire grow with rain water collected off my shed roof. I assumed that rain water would be the best I could give them.
Unfortunately it appears that science has other ideas. As far as I can work out from forums, rain water has so low ppm’s (TDS?) that it either strips the plant of nutrients or at least stops the plants from being able to take in nutrients. Therefore my plants are probably deficient in all they need 😞.
I have top dressed and given a slurry of garden lime and tap water to hopefully give a boost of what they need most.
As I don’t usually water until runoff I’m hoping the nutrients and bio diversity are all still in the soil ready for action.
After a couple of days of tap water the problem doesn’t seem to be getting any worse and I think (hope) I’m seeing some improvement in the colour of the leaves 🤞
Has using rain water killed my living soil?
Has anyone got experience of using living soil with rain water? Apparently the ppm is too low (just like RO water) for the plant to take in nutrients.
So basically is my living soil now just soil or is the microbial life still there?
Not an expert on living soil or rain water but regular soil outside is living and gets rained on all the time and there’s plenty microbial life everywhere outside
Rain water should not be an issue if collected and stored properly.
My guess is you are running out of nutrients in your soil and you should amend the soil to add more nutrients back in. Water enough to fully saturate the medium and always keep it moist. Drying out the soil will kill off a lot of the “living” organisms in the soil.
I hope this helps.
