Organic Living Soil (Coots Mix) - Grow 1

Monday and Tues 14+15/09/2020: --------------------------------------- I am still experimenting with the placement of my humidifier. First instinct was to place it in the tent for more instant control, but it appears treating the humidity of my bedroom (tent in bedroom) is a better method of control with less severe swings. I questioned this at first because my window AC unit seems to only be able to change the temp of my grow tent to about 6 to 10 degrees higher than what its set at (main room set to 68 degrees will bring things in the tent to around 76 to 78 degrees, sometimes 74 if left going long enough. So I felt that keeping humidity controlled from outside might be too much on the small 5L unit. Turns out once my bedroom managed to fully adjust to the new humidity the grow room followed easily so I made the right choice. It might just take you a few hours for the room your tent is in to fully adjust first. The slight difficulty in controlling temp makes me question if I have adequate make up air, as I expected the tent to essentially be closer to the same temp I would set the AC at, however I have a 100+ cfm computer fan on a 6 inch intake and a passive 4 inch intake. My 3x3 tent doesn't need much air moved and my exhaust is 6 inches running at around 240cfm minus carbon filter and some bends in a duct (lets say conservatively its getting half , around 120cfm) so I assume it should be enough. Luck is on my side because I didn't realize the dehumidifier has a little while light ring that turns on when it activates, if I had not moved it out of the tent and noticed, this could have been a major problem when lights are off. Given the warmest days of the summer are over, I have a feeling I won't be too worried about it getting too hot. Hopefully my dehumidifier/heat will be up to the task come fall when it rains out and humidity rises while temps drop everywhere! HAH Wednesday 16/09/2020: ---------------------------- The seedlings are coming along just fine. The cement shoes has shown itself just above the soil! So it shall be a week behind the rest, but might very possibly finish at the same time the others will anyway. I am fairly certain it shouldn't be too hard to find a happy medium when the time comes :) Seedlings are getting bigger and have developed a second set of true leaves beyond the cotyledons. They are a week old as of Tuesday. Doing my best to keep the organic soil in the pots moist and thriving until the seedlings are ready to go in them within the next couple weeks. I have been using a mix of non PH adjusted dechlorinated tap water, and some water with molasses (1/2 to 1tbsp for 5 gallons) that lowers it down to a normal range (6.5+/-) as it is 8+ PH straight out the tap.. Not sure if using molasses water on soil without a plant in it is a bad idea that will throw bacteria/microlife out of balance. I hope not. I know common advice is PH won't matter in organic soil, but I have witnessed a few other folks with similarly high PH end up having problems later in their grows, remedied by fixing their PH and I wish to avoid any complications in regards to basics like that. Also I intend to reuse my soil and re-amend it, so I have concerns about long term PH drift from constant use of high PH water/solutions. Previous to using the molasses I used tiny amounts of absorbic acid (vitamin c) to lower it. Forums seem to be full of contradictory advice about if/how much vitamin c may effect micro life or not. Molasses feeds bacteria so I felt it was a better choice. Unless of course they take over the micro herd and cause a kind of ebb and flow population problem (think AACT that has been brewing past its peak point). I will be researching this and will adjust my methods accordingly. Friday 18/09/2020: ----------------------- Everything looks good as far as I can tell, more leaves forming/ They seem happy to my untrained eye. The blurple lights are hell to get good pictures in but I am trying my best. Won't be winning any contests with my them that is for sure LOL. Hopefully I will figure out a better way for photographing them, as it will be important later on if I need help diagnosing a problem, pest, or deficiency. Cement Shoes sprout is coming along nicely as well, can't wait to see what it is like in another week or so. Saturday 19/09/2020: ------------------------- Same ole same ole, just keeping them moist (not wet) and keeping the large pots moist as well. Obtained elevators for the pots from their trays which should aid in keeping the bottoms of the smart pots from getting water logged should I water a bit too much. Also purchased some Kelp meal for future teas. Would have gotten a couple lbs of worm castings as well, but will need to go back at another point to obtain that. In the mean time I shall be researching when and how I should schedule teas and top dressings in between normal watering. With any luck I can find something simple that deals with the items I have on hand (Alfalfa meal, kelp meal, molasses, fish hydrolysate, and eventually worm castings or compost of some kind). I have found several recipes that seem to be very close to one another, also tried and true, but not much in the way of how often they use them and when. Time to look into peoples grow/feed schedules when dealing with indoor organic soil. Sunday: 20/09/2020: ------------------------ More business as usual. Added some pics of the group together as I got a new phone! Hopefully better pics will come with that despite the blurple lights making it seem impossible! Took the Cement Shoes out from the dome. The tent is in full on Veg mode already anyway, so hopefully that should treat it well. I waited for the Banana Bombs to get a little taller, but it seems like it might be a shorter plant anyway. Will keep an eye on it on the off chance it really wants to go back into higher humidity, but I think it should do ok.