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Tropicanna Cookies x Purple Punch - Custom Living Soil
Ive put those seeds directly into my substrate, like i always do, on the 10th of August. Exactly 72 hours later, on the 13th, they all popped up and showed their germination leafs.
Substrate is a mix of peat, pumice, sand & vermiculite. It is my first time growing in a substrate which is that poor in nutrients. Normally i would use my homemade living soil, but ive had a major fungus gnat infection which im trying to eradicate at the moment which is why im using this. But it is also some kind of Experiment i am doing, as i have not seen many growers use "hydroponic" /nutrient poor substrate paired with the "living soil" approach & organic feeding.
So be hyped with me!
We are planning to repot the 4 strongest plants into their "real" home after about 14 days of vegetation. Their home is gonna consist of 2 substrate levels in a 40l container. The bottom 2/3 is going to be the substrate ive used for germination, which i mentioned above, the top third is gonna be a layer of my homemade living soil.
Ive set their homes up already a week prior to germination and moistened it to let it cook together, so the living organisms could colonize the bottom subtrate before transplanting.
I am going to feed my plants purely organic/natural material by top dressing with different amendments and by watering with homemade nutrient ferments.
They are happy and growing nicely. They currently are under a cheap 90w grow light to save energy.
When the pots feel lighter, i caryfully water with some fermented nutrients (1/100 diluted) until it drips out the bottom a little bit.
I have watered 30ml + nutrients (1/100) per plant today on day 5. (17.08.)
Added another teaspoon of ground up "living soil - grow" fertilizer today on day 6 and moistened it a little (18.08.)
[Day 8 - 20.08.]
Pots felt lighter today, so i watered 25ml filtered rainwater with nutrients per plant.
Doubled the dose of nutrient fermentation to 4ml on 200ml water (1:50 ratio).
Expecting some growth over the next days.
They seem to be outgrowing the Mandarin Cookies currently, but i think that is gonna turn the other way later, so its fine.
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[Day 10 - 22.08.]
Big growth over night, but noticed yellowing in the middle. Either my ferment is stronger than i thought or they grew too close to the growlight.
Should have tested the ferment on one seedling rather than all of them, as its my first time making and using this stuff. It has got a lot of fish hydrolysate and kelp in it.
- Distance to growlights increased to 30cm
- Flushed with 30ml plain filtered rainwater
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[Day 11]
I had to cancel this grow, the plants started drooping a lot looked worse and worse over the hours. Pretty sure it was not too many nutrients but simply overwatering what killed them.
Comparing the substrates, i am going to switch back to pure living soil for the early stages/small pots, as i could only see disadvantages here. I think that is going to be different in later stages of growth, we will see! Check out my Ethos Mandarin Cookies grow if you are interested to see the project evolving!
Going to start some rainpop x zero gravity by clearwater genetics soon.
Lerome
