Sweet Seeds Red Hot Cookies

kohlrabi I had to improvise quite a bit with the Lego figures. I hope you can see what I meant – of course, Grandma baked red cookies. All my plants saw the light of day (or at least the light of the grow box) on the same day (day 4). So far, everything is going perfectly according to plan! The seedlings will receive 2ml ‘More Roots’, 5ml Growzyme and 5ml humic acid per litre in the first week, in line with the Greenbuzz cultivation scheme. Unfortunately, I'm dealing with fungus gnats again. Nematodes are already on their way. I could slowly start my own breeding programme; that would probably be cheaper in the long run. Speaking of making things cheaper: At least I've now set up a recycling system for soil. I produce organic waste ferment (bokashi), which I store for two weeks with the used soil from the last grow circle and then later add earthworms. In theory, it should be usable soil again after three months. I'm excited to see how it turns out. Let's see which of my three varieties stretches the most – that one will be used for mainlining. Hopefully without too much stress for the plant this time.

kohlrabi Three updates in just one week? Indeed. And that was because I had difficulty creating new journals in GD. Ultimately, it was probably due to the (too long?) titles that kept causing a non-specific error message to appear. That's why my three latest diaries have such boring titles. I'll take the liberty of writing the same text for all three strains, because they're all the same: on day 8, they were exactly 6 cm tall and all of them look healthy. In the meantime, they have received their dose of nematodes to combat fungus gnats. This problem has not yet been resolved. The plants will now receive the following Greenbuzz additions per liter: 1 ml Grow 3 ml Roots 5 ml Fast Buds 2 ml Humic Acid 2 ml Growzyme 5 ml CalMag Since I was asked in a short message how I recycle my old soil and what ‘bokashi’ is, there are also two (somewhat disgusting?) pictures. In short, this is what I do: I chop up my organic waste and put it in a bokashi bucket with special microorganisms. Unlike traditional compost, you can also use citrus fruits, cooked food and even meat. (Photo 1 shows the bucket before it is closed.) The microorganisms ferment the organic waste in the absence of air. After about four weeks, I have approximately 19 litres of fermented material. (Photo 2 shows the material after fermentation.) Now I mix this material with ordinary soil. Within another two weeks, the waste has (almost) completely turned into soil. It already contains many nutrients – more than ordinary compost. And now I add this mixture to a large container with my lovely little earthworms. The worms must not be added too early, otherwise it will be too acidic for them. And then the soil is soon ready for the next plants. By the way, this substrate is then so nutrient-rich that you should only fertilise very sparingly. For the delicate plants at the beginning, you need soil that contains fewer nutrients. See you again next week!

kohlrabi The biggest of the three plants so far. Everything is going well, not much to report. I should clean the bottle. Even the pest is under control again. See you next week!

kohlrabi There are now five pairs of leaves on the plant. It's fun to compare the growth of the three plants, as they sprouted on exactly the same day and have very similar conditions. Red Hot Cookies is the most developed of the three, and I will probably choose it for mainlining. The others will be topped soon and then there will only be a little LST left. My free time is limited and I don't want to overdo it with training. I may have been too quick to celebrate: the fungus gnats are still not completely gone. Normally, I add nematodes to the water as soon as I spot the first tiny flies. This time, I had to order some first, and the retailer kept me waiting for a whole week and a half. The creatures made good use of those weeks. (A female can lay up to 1,000 eggs!) I'll keep an eye on it and order some more nematodes soon. If that doesn't help, I'll try neem oil. The plants don't seem to be suffering too much, but it's not nice to see flies buzzing around every time I open the grow box. At least I managed to clean the watering bottles. I hope you appreciate that.

kohlrabi Shortly after the last entry, on day 23 of this plant's life cycle, I cut it back to the third node and removed all other branches. Since it is the fastest of my three photoperiod plants, I am trying mainlining on it. So far, she doesn't seem to mind: Despite the drastic measure, the plant is the largest and most vigorous, with large fan-shaped leaves. I won't be able to prune too much, as I don't want a long vegetation phase. But now the plant needs a little break, and I think I'll wait at least two weeks before changing the light conditions to induce flowering. or the first time in my time as a plant mum, I was unable to control the fungus gnats with nematodes. Either I started too late, or perhaps the worms from this delivery were already dead, because nothing has changed even after the second watering with nematodes. So, on day 26, I sprayed the plants with a mixture of water and neem oil and also watered the soil with it. This spray has worked wonders in repelling aphids in my small garden, and it remains to be seen how it will affect those pesky little flies.

kohlrabi As with my last attempt at mainlining, cutting off the other branches results in the remaining ones becoming incredibly thick and sturdy. I find this fascinating. The two side shoots were topped once more and the shoot tips of the middle of the three new nodes were cut away. But I won't ask any more of the poor thing. It's now been six days since the last pruning; I hope that's enough time for it to recover a little and start flowering. Neem oil was great for the aphids on my garden plants and the fly larvae in my bokashi, but despite watering with it several times, the fungus gnats are completely out of control. I'm now getting 25 million nematodes and hopefully they'll wipe them out. Wish me luck! Today, on the 36th day of the grow, I'm switching the light to 12/12, and when we meet again next week, hopefully we'll see the first signs of buds. See you soon!

kohlrabi ‘Red Hot Cookies’ is doing what it should. It seems to have survived the double topping well, so now I'm just letting it continue to grow. As is now tradition, every year around the Mary Jane I meet love_2_grow, whom I got to know through this platform. And this year he actually went to a Lego store and recreated me. How funny is that?! So I have a new profile picture. Note the extra-short legs... The first week of the 12/12 cycle has passed, and I think you can see the beginning of the flowering phase on at least one plant. But since I wouldn't normally switch to ‘flowering week 1’ at the stage I'm seeing here, we're still in the growth phase, week 7, in this diary. Unfortunately, I already switched the nutrients to flowering last week, which probably wasn't a very smart move. Since I bend it so much, the information about the size of the plant is not very meaningful. It has grown, but you can't tell by its height. Now that neem oil seems to be working after ages, I'm going to finish off the fungus gnats with nematodes... I hope.

kohlrabi I took in a little plant for a friend and promptly had fungus gnats again. So the nematodes are back in action. I read that fungus gnats don't actually cause much damage themselves, as they tend to feed on dead roots. The reason for their proliferation is overwatering. I obviously still haven't found the right level for watering. I had considered getting some chinchilla sand to cover the surface of the pots – this should prevent the fungus gnats from laying new eggs in the soil. However, I then remembered that I use Airpots, which means that the fungus gnats can also come out through the side holes. I love these Airpots, but that would probably be a reason to switch to felt pots after all. However, I would then have to learn how to water them all over again... Do I need an AutoPot, or will I learn how to do it at some point? Apart from that, we've had a pleasantly uneventful week.

kohlrabi It's hedgehog season! The plant is developing wonderfully. I have changed my watering habits – many thanks to nonick123 for the tips! Actually, I could have figured it out myself: don't water according to a schedule, but assess each plant individually. But sometimes you just can't see the forest for the trees. And I am honestly surprised at how differently my three plants consume water.

kohlrabi It's unbelievable how much this lady can drink! She needs way more water than my other two plants. But I'm keeping an eye on her now, and she's doing great. My watering has improved, but I must admit I'm considering Autopots. As always, it's a question of money, so it will probably take a few more growing cycles before I'm ready. And who knows, maybe I'll have mastered watering by then? Otherwise, there is little to report. All my plants have started flowering vigorously and I'm curious to see how long it takes before the first one is ready to be harvested.

kohlrabi This plant is the most mature of the three, even though it had to endure the most stressful training. Here, too, there are many beautiful, thick flowers to admire.