Sweet Seeds Cream Mandarine / Biotabs

kohlrabi Sprouted on day 5! I timed it so that the first week could begin at the weekend, and luckily the plan worked out. I can only recommend giving it a try – with this method, I have found a so far 100% reliable germination method: Soak the seed for 12-24 hours in approx. 50 ml of distilled water with a few drops of humic acid, then place the still-closed seed in a Root Riot cube and stick it directly into the finished pot with soil. All you need to do then is water it a little every morning and in 4-6 days the plant will pop its head out of the soil. Substrate One thing I'm not doing quite according to Biotabs' plan is the substrate. I have so much recycled soil (using bokashi/earthworms) that I didn't want to buy new substrate. I supplemented this with coco and pumice. Since this way the soil already contains nutrients, I'm using one less Biotab than recommended. I'm keeping an eye on the colour of the leaves and adjust if necessary. My biggest concern is that the soil might be too nutrient-rich for the germination and cultivation phase. We'll see. More on the irrigation setup coming next week!

kohlrabi The plant looks good – it's about the same height and size as Wedding Cake. So so far, most of the roots are probably still in the Root Riot Cube, so the high nutrient content of the soil shouldn't be a problem yet. I hope. Irrigation Some fellow grow enthusiasts have been using Autopots lately and are reporting impressive results. Although this has piqued my interest, I'm going to try a low-budget version with wick irrigation first. I got the inspiration for this from a YouTube video (in German: https://youtu.be/wL5yLMzd7JQ?si=z447nxctYgHYUGo2). I'm very excited to see if it works! Anyone who has read my journals knows that watering is the biggest problem for me. However, I have resorted to things I already own: Airpots and cat litter boxes from Ikea, of all things. I have always been very happy with how the rooting looked with Airpots. To create a water reservoir at the bottom, I used large versions and placed the bottom disc above the last third. Now they have at least 10 cm of reservoir space. I think it should be possible for me not to let anything dry out this time. Unlike in the video, I also have the advantage that only pure water is poured into the reservoir. All fertilisers and additives are already in the soil. I think I will completely empty and clean the large bowls every two weeks, but that should be enough. At the moment, however, I am still watering from above. From about week three onwards, there should be enough roots to make watering from below possible.

kohlrabi Contrary to my usual practice, this update is almost a week late. I apologise, but real life got in the way. (The pictures are from exactly 7 days after the last update, though.) I watered the plant thoroughly with Bactrex once in the middle of the third week. Tomorrow I am going to a conference and will water it from below for the first time, using clear water, half of it destilled. I am curious to see how they look on Monday. I am very happy with the growth. Once again, I don't have time for proper training. I have only trimmed the lowest branch tips as a precaution, because they never really grow strong. Otherwise, I weigh down the lower branches a little so that they grow as straight as possible outwards and do not compete with the upper branches for light.

kohlrabi Since my last update came so late, you can now read my update on my first attempt at wick irrigation from below just three days later. It seems to have worked very well! The plants watered from below show no signs of water shortage. There is still water in the reservoir, even though it was quite hot at the weekend. And both grew wonderfully. From now on, I will stick with this watering method and refill the reservoir as soon as the water has dried up. Maybe this will finally give me the time I need for training?! We'll see .

kohlrabi I'm not sure how I managed NOT to write about my irrigation system in these diaries. I took lots of photos during construction to show everything. And then I just never uploaded them and needed a little nudge from nonick123 to remember. So, better late than never: wick system with air pots. I used large Airpots (20+ litres), but inserted the bases so that there was about 10 cm of air at the bottom. Then I threaded four irrigation wicks into each pot and secured them with wire so that they wouldn't slip when I filled the pots with soil. Finally, I spread a small layer of pumice on the bottom of the Airpot and filled it with my soil-pumice mixture with all the Bio Tabs products you need for the ‘Just Add Water’ strategy. The pots are now standing in large plastic containers that serve as water reservoirs, which I can fill with 10 cm of water. For the first three weeks, I watered from above, but since then I have only been filling the reservoir. And what can I say? It looks fantastic so far. No problems with overwatering or underwatering; the plants are getting exactly what they need. I'm delighted. Take a look at the photos, which perhaps explain it better than I can with words. Anyway , what a wonderful compact plant. It's just starting to flower. I probably ought to remove a few leaves, but I can't seem to get round to it...

kohlrabi A magnificent plant with strikingly large, healthy-looking leaves. I removed four of the largest ones to give the lower buds a little more light. The watering system works excellently, as you can see for yourselves from the pictures. It grew 11cm this week. I cleaned the lower container in between and gave the plant a dose of Boom Boom spray, but otherwise I didn't have to do anything.

kohlrabi A beautiful, vigorous plant with lots of small flowers. I have only removed a few fan leaves that were blocking too much light, otherwise it remains as it is.

kohlrabi I'm incredibly late with the update; sorry about that. However, the pictures were taken right on time, one week after the last entry. Tomorrow's update will feature much thicker flowers to admire! :) The leaves of the Cream Mandarine plant are lighter than those of its neighbours and show a little uneven colouring. But I think it's still within the healthy range. The plants love the watering system and are showing me that I have been giving them far too little water during this phase of cultivation. They drink about 2 litres per day. I tied a few branches to the side and bent a few leaves so that the flowers get more light.

kohlrabi The plant has stopped growing taller, but the buds are growing visibly, every day. It is slowly getting crowded in the grow box and the plants are getting in each other's way. I had to remove a few leaves.

kohlrabi Only waiting for the buds to ripen now. And I managed to fill up the reservoir too late, so that we have dried up tips. Sorry!

kohlrabi It was an uneventful week for the lady. I check for trichomes quite often, but so far I haven't been able to detect any amber colour. At the top you can see the dried-up leaf tips, which are the result of the reservoir being empty for about two days without me noticing. At the time, I wasn't aware of how much these plants drink.

kohlrabi This week, I simply checked the trichomes every other day, but instead of darkening, the buds just kept growing in volume.

kohlrabi What did I learn from this grow? Firstly: The wick system is great, but you should always remember to keep enough water in the reservoir. Secondly: Next time, I won't use recycled soil. While this works well in my small garden, it's a hindrance in the grow box because you don't know the exact composition. I also had a lot of bugs this time. Thirdly, I have been watering far too little in the last third of my previous grows. I only realised this when I noticed how much water was disappearing from the reservoir every day. All in all, I had little work, a lot of fun and the result is not bad either. Thanks again to the Biotabs team to sponsor these great nutrients! Discount code for the BIOTABS Webshop https://biotabs.nl/en/shop/ GDBT420 This gives you 15 Percent off all the products. I definitely recommend giving them a try!