The Dessert Run

Growverse420 10 little seedling have popped up and finished their first week! They will be vegging for a minute in these solo cups and then moving into their final spots in the 8 30-gallon pots in the 5x9. One of these seedlings will be used to replace the runt in the 4x4. Also, thinking of sneaking in an autoflower run in our Veg tent! Many exciting things happening at the Growverse! 😎

Growverse420 The babies are doing well at the end of week two! I bottom watered them with Rootwise, Quillaja, and Thrive “Holy Cow” Yah-Whey concentrate today. They just now have roots poking out of the holes in the bottom of the solo cups. We are transplanting them Tuesday into the 30-gallon living soil grassroots pots in the 5x9 tent, where they will grow until they are harvested! This is the first run with this living soil mix, I’m so excited to get things growing in it. Week 3 should be a big week!

Growverse420 Week 3 was transplant week for the four Chicken ‘n Wafflez, 3 Jelly Donutz, and one Vanilla Frosting (all from Humboldt Seed Co.)! Before transplanting I added almost 2,000 worms to the new 8 30-gallon living soil pots to really start breaking down the recently mixed soil. This is the first run for this soil, and I’m hoping the 250 worms per pot will jumpstart the breakdown of all the nutrients and begin turning the soil into nutrient-rich castings. I also added worms from my other beds (before deciding it really would be easier to just buy more worms from Buckeye Organics). I transferred them by slicing avocados in half and placing them face down on the soil. After a few days they were filled with “worm balls,” with all the worms rubbing against each other, reproducing, and making even MORE baby worms. All I had to do then was transfer the avocado onto the top of the soil in the 30 gallon pots. I really was pleased with how effective this was, but decided ultimately to go with a larger order of worms. I began the transplant process removing the solo cup “placeholders” and adding Dynomyco to the holes, inoculating the soil with mycorrhiza, which I also dusted on the roots of the baby plants. After placing them in the holes, I top dressed with worm castings and Kashi Gold. I watered them with 1/4 tsp/gal of Quillaja, 1 tsp/gal of Rootwise “Mycrobe Complete” and 1 oz of Thrive “Holy Cow” Yah-Whey extract, and 1/4 tsp/gal of BuildaSoil’s Big 6 Micronutrients. After transplant, the roots should be exploding in growth, so while not too much appears to be going on above the soil, beneath it should be very active. In order to increase humidity in the 5x9, which became very dry this week, I added 2 beach towels with their ends dangling in 5 gallons of water. It has definitely helped, increasing the humidity from 35%-54%. That’s huge! We will see if it stays consistent… Excited to see an explosion of growth next week! 🤞Trying to manifest

Growverse420 Week 4 was pretty solid for the 5x9. The 4 Chicken ‘n Wafflez, 3 Jelly Donutz and 1 Vanilla Frosting have all taken to their new 30-gallon living soil pots and are thriving. I was excited to add new products to my watering lineup this week–the Rootwise Enzyme Elixir and Rootwise Bio Phos (both additions to the Rootwise Mycrobe complete). The plants really seemed to love the Enzyme Elixir alongside the Mycrobe complete, I was thrilled to see them fully praying after their initial watering earlier in the week. My understanding is that the Enzyme Elixir is supposed to do a few things– 1. It contains specific enzymes that signal the microbes from the Mycrobe Complete to “wake up” and begin colonizing the root zone 2. It acts as a catalyst for breaking down organic matter into plant available nutrients because it is essentially a concentrated form of the enzymes that the microbes already produce naturally 3. Also, because they are using the same organisms in Mycrobe Complete to make the enzymes in the elixir, they come from the same “family” and are, supposedly, tuned to the specific biological processes of those microbes. That’s the idea, anyway, what I care about, is how the plants responded: and they loved it! This week also came with new challenges… I have a fungus gnat issue that needs addressed and SOLVED before I flip to flower in the next couple of weeks. I have yellow sticky traps hanging around the tent, which had alerted me to our growing problem. I decide to do a soil drench and light foliar application of Organishield. I first used only a gallon of water with 50 ml of product among the eight pots, but that did not cut it. Yesterday, I did another application, this time with 4 gallons at a rate of 80 ml/gal among the eight 30 gallon pots. Hopefully, this knocks them down. I have not used Organishield for fungus gnats before, so we shall see how it goes! I also went ahead and ordered 5 million beneficial nematodes that I will be watering into the soil in the next couple of days. These little microscopic worms should take care of whatever infestation remains by eating the gnat larvae in the soil. I’m hoping they bring the soil environment back into balance, preventing me from needing to do additional sprays of Organishield in the future. This upcoming week is going to be about resolving this fungus gnat issue, focusing on continued vigorous growth of the plants, and making sure everything is planned and ready to flip to flower before flipping in 2-3 weeks. Thanks for reading and Happy Growing!

Growverse420 Week 5 for the Chicken ‘n Wafflez, Jelly Donutz and Vanilla Frosting in the 5x9 brought with it a snow storm for the ages and below zero temperatures! Luckily, we didn’t lose power, which was my biggest concern. As for -15 F, thankfully, the basement only ever dropped into the high 50’s. Not ideal, as temperatures below 60 F can have the effect of slowing growth, however, mid-50’s is not detrimental, in fact, they seemed to weather the storm just fine! An update on my fungus gnat issue: Last week I had watered in beneficial nematodes to start eating the fungus gnat larvae, however, because of the snowstorm, I was unable to water as often, and therefore, unable to maintain the moisture of the topsoil. Nematodes need a moist soil surface in order to live and thrive, and I’m concerned that the surface of the soil may have dried out too much between waterings, decreasing their effectiveness. It is difficult for me to measure how much of an effect they may or may not have had because, on top of it all, the snowstorm delayed my shipment of yellow sticky traps, and the ones I currently have up are COVERED and need to be replaced. This week I will replace the yellow sticky traps, which will allow me to monitor the infestation and determine whether another round of beneficial nematodes are necessary. I’m thinking in two weeks the 5x9 might be ready to flip to flower… I want to make sure I really maximize the canopy in this 5x9 and utilize the 30-gallons of living soil to their fullest potential. That gives me a couple of weeks to prepare and take clones of each plant in case one turns out to be a keeper! This week, I will be setting up the veg tent, which is where the clones will live until the 5x9 is harvested and any keepers are chosen to keep as mothers. I’m excited to get this veg tent up and running because I will also be using it to run autoflowers! First up will be Speedrun’s Frosted Cherry-O’s F3, grown in an Earthbox. Keep your eyes out for that diary, hopefully starting in the next week or two. This week’s watering procedures: I watered twice this week, around 1.5-2 gallons per 30 gallon pot - Thrive “Holy Cow” Yah-Whey Concentrate- 10 ml/gal (like a probiotic for your plants) -Rootwise Mycrobe Complete- ½ tsp (Microbes) -Rootwise Enzyme Elixir- 5 ml/gal (Microbe lighter fluid!) -Quillaja- ¼ tsp/gal (Wetting Agent) Happy Growing, everyone!

Growverse420 Week 7: 5x9 Main Stage Week 7 saw the four Chicken ‘n Wafflez, three Jelly Donutz and one Vanilla Frosting (all from Humboldt Seed Co.) really start coming into their own; soon it’s going to be a straight up jungle in the 5x9. Good news! The beneficial nematodes have worked wonders against the fungus gnat infestation; they knocked it down in a week, DONE! If you’re in living soil and haven’t invested in beneficial nematodes to prevent/combat fungus gnats, I’d say it is a must. I ordered from naturesgoodguys.com, received 5 million for total (shipping was the highest cost, so if you can order some other beneficial insects for your grow at the same time, do it, so you only pay for shipping once!) I’m thinking at the end of week 8 I’m going to flip to flower. That means I will need to take clones from each of the plants in the 5x9 this week, in case, later, any of them turn out to be keepers. As far as watering was concerned, they are definitely drinking more as they fill out these 30-gallon pots. Generally, the rule is 5-10% water by volume for living soil. I water every other day, generally, and for the most recent watering, I went ahead and gave a little over 2 gallons per plant. To make it easier to prep the water I just use 5-gallon buckets and do all my measurements accordingly for each bucket. I want to get in a better habit of filling the buckets for my next watering before I leave the grow, so the chlorine has at least 24 hours to off-gas, but sometimes I’m lazy and forgetful. It is supposed to be better for the microbes to let any chlorine off-gas… but like I said, it doesn’t always happen that way lol. I imagine if your water has more chlorine it could cause more of a problem for your microbes, in which case letting the water sit out for 12-24 hours would probably be more beneficial. Most Recent Watering: -Quillaja (¼ tsp/gal) -Rootwise Mycrobe Complete (½ tsp/gal) -Rootwise Enzyme Elixir (3 ml/gal) Happy Growing!

Growverse420 Week one of flower is complete! These babies are really starting to fill out. I’m definitely going to need to stay on top of defoliating in order to maintain a good airflow and avoid pockets of humidity throughout flower. The 4 Chicken n Wafflez are growing vigorously and with great, similar structure, except for the back left, which may be squatter because of the fan that was above it for the first several weeks after transplant. I’m excited for the next couple of weeks to see this tent really start to see this tent come into its own. Happy Growing!

Growverse420 Life's been a bit crazy, so I haven't been able to update, but the 5x9 is really filling out. Week 4 of flower is up—the stretch is complete (hopefully... lol), the bud sites have formed and are beginning to stack. I was able to install the Blumat Blusoak tape automatic watering system last week, and it has eliminated 90% of the work I have to do. It truly is incredible when you get these automatic watering systems dialed in, just how much the plants LOVE them and how much time they save for you. I opted to connect the Blumats directly to the water under the sink because my ceilings are not high enough to achieve the PSI needed for the Blusoak tape to work properly via gravity. I attached a 15 psi pressure reducer as well as a chlorine filter (to make things easy on the microbes). Doing this guarantees that the pressure is always there whenever the plants want water. The only downside with hooking it up directly to the sink, is it makes challenging to measure just how much water the plants are consuming, as there is no reservoir that you can monitor. The other negative with hooking it up directly under the sink is the potential for flooding. Until I receive and install my water "flood" sensor, I will be extra diligent about checking for leaks to avoid any floods. I will continue to check the plants over the coming weeks to make sure the Blusoak tape is keeping the top evenly moist and hopefully avoid any kinks, leaks, or issues... Overall, I couldn't be happier with how this tent is filling out-- the Chicken 'n Wafflez have stretched practically to the light and one Jelly Donutz, in particular, has incredibly sweet, jammy, candy terps. I can't wait to see how the smells from this tent develop over the next several weeks. Happy Growing, Growmies! 😎

Growverse420 Week 6 of flower has come and gone, and right now, the tent is pretty much on cruise control. The environment is pretty dialed and the Blumat Blusoak drip tape automatic watering has been a dream! It literally eliminated 90% of tent work. And the plants seem to be loving life! 😎 The four Chicken n Waffles on the left side of the tent are pretty giant at this point, and I’m definitely getting a savory, I guess sort of fried chicken smell, which is so fun! But my favorite in the tent right now is my Jelly Donutz, second row and second from the right. She is really smelling of strawberry candy, finger-licking good! Once a week I’m giving them all a hand water with a fermented Pumpkin Exract, Rootwise Bio Phos, BuildaBloom from Buildasoil, Organics Alive, and Quillaja extract. Hopefully, we don’t run into anything unexpected and can ride this momentum out through the end!

Growverse420 These Chicken n Wafflez, Jelly Donutz, and Vanilla Frosting are in the final few weeks now, I'm thinking... I have absolutely loved this grow. Five of the phenos are pretty big and gorgeous. Three of the plants lagged a bit, either genetics, or my guess is I could have dialed their Blumats in better. I fear they may have been underwatered a tad, but they should still make good smoke! Also, my 4/20 gift to myself was purchasing the VCure from Vivosun. It's supposed to ship in May (I'm hoping early May!), if so it may make it here just in time for the dry/cure… Happy Growing!

Growverse420 Now, because of the move, I didn't spend the time to accurately weigh the harvest, but I would guess I ended up with a couple of pounds for the grow overall. I pushed harvest time for the tent a little further than I probably would have had I not been waiting for my VCure from Vivosun to be delivered. It arrived in time, barely, but oh my god, it is a game changer! I took the best buds of the tent and dried them in there in the craft cycle and it turned out top notch quality. I have also used the VCure for the past 6 months to store my stash and it is a HUGE upgrade! I picked it up during the 4/20 sale and already know that a second one is in my future. Now, one limitation of the VCure is its size. A harvest like this 5x9, definitely still requires a solid hang and dry setup. I turned off the lights in my 5x9, reduced airflow and pointed it away from the hanging plants, set up an A/C, and was actually able to keep the tent in the basement at 60% RH and 60 F without too much trouble. Humboldt Seed Company really impressed with Chicken N Wafflez. Easy to grow, huge buds, beautiful structure, and a beautiful, heavy-hitting high. This is a strain I plan to hunt through in the future, and I definitely recommend picking up a pack (or more...) Thanks for following along on my first seed to harvest on Growdiaries and HAPPY GROWING, everyone! 😎