Humboldt CSI/Bodhi Run

Growverse420 Initially, I had planned to runs clones from 12 other plants for this run, however, the plants had a spider-mite problem and my clones had trouble rooting. Because of that, and because I had these red solo cup seedlings on deck at the time, I decided to shift directions for the run and promoted the red solo cup strains to the 5x9 "Mainstage" tent for this SOG run. I ended up holding the plants in the red solo cups longer than is ideal, and, as you can see, they were hungry and slightly root bound. Not to worry, there there was a full bed of hand-mixed living soil ready and waiting for these babies! I transplanted from the red solo cups into the large bed. I'm going to let them veg a week in the bed, maybe a week and a half, before flipping to flower. This next week their roots should start spreading out and exploring the bed, then I expect the growth up top to start filling in the canopy. The bed is going to go crazy during stretch; the balance will be filling the canopy completely without OVERgrowing. Before transplanting I had to prepare the bed. With this being a new setup in a new space, I had already re-amended the soil I previously had used 8 30-gallon pots and made MORE soil by adding compost, worm castings, rice hulls, pumice and peat moss. I usually model my living soil mixes off of the Coot's 1/3+1/3+1/3 mix (Compost[+5% worm castings], Peat Moss, Aeration). I also added Bio Char, Craft Blend, and had previously added the Mineral Mix, all from BuildaSoil. All I did for the soil this week was add earthworm castings and more compost in a 1-2 inch layer on top. I also installed my Blumat automatic watering system this week. For the 4x8 bed I decide to use the High Pressure Blusoak tape. I have my Blumats hooked up directly to my laundry sink in the basement. I live in a 115-year old house, which has a good drainage system set up in the basement, which is why I feel confident connecting directly to the sink, instead of using a reservoir with a pump or gravity, otherwise I would be concerned about flooding. From the sink I connect to my chlorine filter and the 15 psi pressure reducer (required for the high-pressure Blusoak tape) to my 8 mm supply line. The 8 mm supply line then splits off into my mother room and also my 5x9 "Mainstage" tent. In the tent, I have four rows of blusoak tape buried a couple inches deep, which are set up manifold-style and fire according to a single 9-inch Blumat carrot installed in the bed. Don't forget to leave enough supply line after it splits off to the carrot, so that you can purge your lines in the tent (Important so that you can purge your lines of any air bubbles, as these can cause issues for the Blumats to function properly). I also installed a Blumat tensiometer, which measures the tension between the water and soil in the bed, allowing you to track the moisture level of the soil. For living soil, it is important to maintain a consistent moisture level to keep the biology ACTIVE. BuildaSoil recommends staying between 40-80 mbar. I will shoot for those numbers, see how the bed responds and adjust from there. The Blumats were intimidating to me when I initially set them up over a year ago, but they are WORTH figuring out. Best uprgrade to my grow was automatic watering. Happy growing everyone! More to come next week, thanks for following!

Growverse420 Week 2 saw no significant growth above soil, but not to worry, this is the time when their roots start to explore their new bed. Once the roots have begun to explore their new home and establish themselves, then the growth above the soil should really take off! However, this does not mean everything is currently 100%. In fact, it has become clear to me that the spider-mite problem from my other room has carried over to these babies and must be addressed. Hooray. I decided to spray the plants with Organishield, an "EPA-Registered biopesticide that controls soft-bodied insects," according to Buildasoil. I used this mainly because it was what I had on hand, and I like that it is not hard on the biology in the soil itself. I did a foliar spray in the evening and really drenched them. I began by spraying the underside of all the leaves with the chapin sprayer, I literally sprayed each leaf, both sides, and made SURE I was giving them a solid cleaning. I wanted to leave nothing to chance, as these spider-mites have already been a headache. I also placed an order for Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew, which is a Spinosad-based insecticide. I'm hoping that by combining multiple sprays and then reintroducing more benificial predators into the beds, I can have a multi-pronged attack that allows me to fully eradicate the problem. The plants responded VERY well to the Organishield treatment, and I am confident that in the next week or two the bed will be healthy enough, and the canopy will be filled enough to flip to flower. Thanks for following and happy growing, everyone!

Growverse420 What a difference a week makes! The babies are fully established in the bed now, the health has turned around, and the growth is vigorous. This week started out with another foliar spray to attack the spider-mites again, this time it's Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew! I didn't hold back, I sprayed EVERY leaf, I cleaned EVERY leaf, they will NOT defeat me! lol I also wanted to make sure I can head off any fungus gnats establishing themselves in the bed. Time to mulch! I applied a thick layer (2-3") of rice hulls to the soil. I haven't used rice hulls as a mulch yet and am excited to see how they perform. Rice hulls add a couple of benefits: 1. Silica builds strong cell walls for strong, trainable plants. 2. A good mulch layer should prevent fungus gnats moving in, as they like to lay their eggs on the moist, top layer of soil 3. A healthy living soil bed has a consistent moisture throughout to allow the biology to thrive. The rice hulls will prevent the top layer of soil from drying out. And finally this week, on the day before flipping to flower, I did one hand-watering, so I could spoil them with goodies before their transition. The goodies in question: -Rootwise Mycrobe Complete -Rootwise Bio-phos (formulated with microbes that will mobilize phosphorus for flower) -Buildaveg (dosed according to Buildasoil's feeding schedule) -Buildabloom (dosed according to Buildasoil's feeding schedule, getting them prepped for flower) -Aloe Vera (builds the plants immunity and is a saponin acting as a surfactant, allowing the water to distribute evenly through the soil) Here comes the stretch... Happy Growing!

Growverse420 Week 1 of flower is complete and the stretch is on! The canopy is LUSH, the rice hulls that I added last week as a mulch layer are completely hidden below the canopy. Now comes the challenge of canopy management, because this Sea of Green is gonna be DENSE. What remarkable plants! It is mind-blowing to me that just a couple of weeks ago I was dealing with pests and plants that had been root-bound before transplant. And now? Practically a jungle! One of the challenges for this sea of green run is going to be managing all the various strains (especially because they are new to me!) I picture an ideal SOG being done from many clones of the same strain making single colas across the bed. However, one of my goals for this run was to sample many strains, and sample several of each to try to get an idea of that strains phenotypic expressions and what strains/packs I would like to dive into deeper in the future. Some disappointing news: I've got males! The only regular seeds that I popped were the Bodhi packs. It turns out 4 of the 6 Desert Lime x 88g13/hp started forming pollen sacks, so they gotta go. One of the Desert Limes that really smelled like lime on the stem rub was a male, so I decided to monster crop it, take a few clones and re-veg them. Those will head to the other grow room under 24 hours of light, and I'll see if I can get them to root. One of my goals this year is to start making seeds, and I may just want to harvest this Desert Lime's pollen. We will see how he roots. There were also some smaller clones that I had snuck into this run, which turned out to be males as well: 2 Hashplant1d's (Chem1 x Chem d x 88g13/hp). I was also disappointed to find many pollen sacs on one of my two BBW 2.0's. Those were feminized seeds from Humboldt CSI. I'm thinking maybe because they were flipped to flower relatively young, that maybe it wasn't hormonally mature enough yet, causing this plant to herm or express male traits. Either way, this one had way too many balls and had to go too! Luckily, it's a fucking jungle in here, so I expect the canopy to fill back up pretty quickly. I also made the move to acquire some pollen from Copa Genetics. I ordered the Goji OG F1 and the Sunshine Daydream F1 pollen. If it gets here in time, my plan is to selectively pollinate the lower branches of these girls, so that I can capture these genetics and see how the Goji OG and Sunshine Daydream influence their progeny. This should make for a fun, exploratory run later this year or next year. Thanks for following along, and happy growing, everyone!