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And here we are at organic grow number 2. Learned a lot from my first organic grow, so I'm going to start putting everything into practice this time around. I managed to locate a source for good organic nutrients, myco, bacterial innoculant, and some dried water soluable coconut powder,200x aloe flakes. My aloe plant needs to recover some leaves after I cannibalized it last grow.
Started them using the paper towel method. they popped after 2 days.
For any Canadians looking for a Build-A-Soil type online store, checkout Black Swallow Organics. based in Ontario. They were able to ship to me here in Nova Scotia in about a week via Canada Post.
Growing the following this time around:
Northern Light - Nirvanna 49-63 days
Black Devil OG - Lineage Genetics - 56-63 days
Starting life in ye ole Solo cups containing the following:
Endomycho - 1tsp, 1cm below topsoil
Yukka 1/8th tsp
Bacterial Innoculant 2tsp
Glacial Rock Dust 1tsp
Basalt Rock Dust 1tsp
Gaia Green All Purpose 1tsp
Worm castings 2.5 tbsp
Peat mix
Pumice Stone, a handful
In 2-3 weeks they will be moved to 5 gallon pots with soil already made and watered with Molasses to get the microbes going:
Each 5g pot has a cover crop of Red Clover and the following nutrients:
3Gallons Promix with perlite
1Gallon Pumice Stone
Gaia Green All Purpose (4/4/4) 2 Tbsp
Worm Castings (1/0/0) 4 Cups
WoW Mychorizae 1 Tbsp
Gaia Green Insect Frass (3/1/2) 3 Tbsp
Glacial Rock Dust 2 Tbsp
Basalt Rock Dust 3 Tbsp
BSO Yukka Powder 1 Tsp
Raw Fulvic Acid (0/0/3) 1 Tbsp
BSO Bacterial Innoculant 1 Tbsp
Gaia Green Power Bloom (2/8/4) 2 Tbsp
Raw Humic Acid (0/0/5) 1 Tbsp
Gaia Green Mineralized Phosphate (0/9/0) 2 Tbsp
Gaia Green Alfalfa Meal (3/0/2) 6 Tbsp
Kelp Meal (1/0/0) 1 Tbsp
Nutrients I'm using for this grow:
Gaia Green All Purpose 4-4-4
Gaia Green Power Bloom 2-8-4
Kelp Me Kelp You 0.5-0-0.5
Gro4 Worm Castings 1.0.0
Fossilized Carbon Complex 0.0.3
Black Swallow Organics Aloe Vera Flakes
Organic Molasses
Black Swallow Organics Coconut Water Powder
WAVE Liquid Sea Minerals
ALGA Liquid Seaweed 0.1-0.5
Raw Fulvic Acid Mix 0.0.3
Six Row Malted Barley SST
Gaia Green Mineralized Phosphate 0.13.1
Microbial Mass
WoW Mycorizae
BioAg TM7
Raw Humic Acid 0.0.5
Neptune's Harvest Fish Hydrolysate 2.4.1
Gaia Green Soluble Seaweed Extract 0.0.17
Gaia Green Basalt Rock Dust
Gaia Green Alfalfa Meal 3.0.2
Gaia Green Glacial Rock Dust
Organic Agave Syrup
Mung Bean SST
ThermX Yukka powder
Bokashi Pro Grow
Green Planet Rezin
Black Swallow Organics Bacterial Innoculant
Black Swallow Organics Aloe Vera Flakes
Black Swallow Organics Endomycho
Alfalfa seed SST
Gaia Green Insect Frass 3.1.2
Kelp Meal (1/0/0)
I started this grow with my light at 30inches, but on the lowest setting and it looks like it wasn't strong enough and the plants ended up stretching too much. I have since raised it to 50% and will be increasing it when the third set of leaves start growing, +10% per day until max.
I've barely had to water them as they wick water through the air holes in the sides and bottom of the cups after I drench my 5 gallons. Took a soil sample with the microscope, and I can see the microbes are eating up the nutrients; not as many yet but they'll reproduce quickly enough. I've ordered a cellphone holder for my microscope so I'll be able to post pics of the soil life next week.
Added nutrients to promote root growth this week consisting of Kelp, coconut, aloe and TM7 (humic/fulvic acid with micronutrients).
I'm not going to monitor my PPM or PH this grow since I found the soil held it's own at 6.8-7.2. Living organics are perfectly happy and adjust their own PH levels, and a lot of the nutrients I use don't burn unless you go way overboard.
The Black Devil's OG is trucking along without issue, while the Northern light is a tad on the droopy side at night and is likely expecting earlier night hours. I will likely adjust my light schedule to reduce the stress.
The videos posted came out pretty well, considering they came out of a cell phone camera. 400x ends up being really blurry as the phone can't focus properly to compensate, but you can still see all the bacteria dancing around. Some nematodes and ciliates there too.
I ended up pulling the Wedding cake and the Crit Purple, since they both ended up stunting a bit too much. I'm germinating 2 other seeds and I'm going to mainline the Black DevilsOG, and train the shit out of the Northern Light while the others catch up. Otherwise they both look happy, perfect green color and upward facing leaves. The clover is growing like mad and should be ready to cut and feed the soil well before flower.
Started a seed sprout tea seed grow for next watering. Next week I will be adding Bokashi/worm castings
Both plants are growing nicely and the stalks are expanding at a pretty fast rate. Made an alfalfa seed sprout tea and added some fish emulsion to even out the nitrogen. Both plants are now a nice deep green. The barley is ground in a spice grinder, sprinkled on and below the clover and watered in.
I'm removing any leaves or new growth from the left side of the Northern Light and plan to make a corkscrew shape going all the way around the pot. The Black Devil is going to mainlined on two levels since I'm not in any kind of a rush. Managed to to get my VPD to 25c/65-70rh.
Not very happy with the Black Devil's growth this week, as I was hoping to get another round of mainline in. Sadly that will have to wait until next week.
The Northern Light on the other hand is doing quite well and has made it halfway around the 5 gallon pot so far. Some of the leaves are enormous, and hopefully I'll get enough mainline tops going on the Devil before it comes full circle.
Standard weekly feeding with no N as they are still nice and dark green. I may have to increase the water
Some of the clover heads are fucking huge. I pat it all down flat a few times a week which is all I can do without mulch.
Grow is coming along well, though the Black Devil is still lagging behind IMO. I think the strain maybe isn't too impressed with being Main-Lined? Either way she's hungry so I gave her some bokashi, clover leaf trim and worm castings. Next week is main dry amendment feeding so the girls will get everything they need. Couple more weeks and the Northern light should make it's way around the entire pot, then if it's tall enough, I'm putting them into flower.
Some weird shit on the microscope today; videos above.
Explosive growth this week. The girls gained a lot of height, filled out really well and got their first main feeding. Gave the BDOG a trim and staked both of them.
I will probably put them into flower next Sunday.
Plants got their primary feeding for the start of flower and have grown out to 24 inches on some stalks. I have had to raise the light twice this week alone.
The Northern Light is filling out nicely after I did a little defoliating around the middle and moved the mains back a bit towards the outside. BDOG is growing nice, straight and tall, though I will probably give her a trim around the middle and fill her out later in the week. Both plants have a really nice humus/mulch layer building up from all the trimmings, feed and fungus , with a final plan to reuse the soil in a no-till fashion for the next grow.
Pistils are starting to appear though I hope for better growth in that department next week.
Did some experimenting this week by adding 20 red wiggler worms per 5g pot. To feed them I took an avocado, cut it in two, removed the seed, mashed up the goodness , added 1tbsp of oatmeal, mashed it all up, and put it back into the avocado halves. I saw this kind of thing online so I thought I would try it out, and the worms love it. They all live under there, eating and pooping.
I have never grown a plant as happy as the Northern Light, and those praying leaves are up so high they practically hug the buds. Added some more P K this week to keep the flower cycle trucking along, did some trimming, cut up the trim and put it back in the pots to decompose and get eaten by the worms.
Really nice growth on the buds and it looks like the stretch has slowed down a lot so I don't expect to see them getting much taller. Plants are feeding well off the humus layer, as you can see all the little white roots popping up just under the mulch.
Some decent bud growth this week, and the trichomes have started appearing. Did a large trim on both plants, though larger on the BDOG where I removed pretty much all the center leaves to get some good light pen going on the buds. All the trim was put back on the soil to feed the worms and bacteria.
Once again I saw some nice bud growth, and the trichomes are spreading quickly to the lower growth now. The BDOG is getting some nice Xmas tree bud growth, while the Northern Light is looking like it's growing denser buds. Going to slow down on heavy nutrients now and let the plants start to cannibalize themselves a bit to suck out some of the nitrogen from the leaves. They're getting pretty thirsty too, and were a bit dryer than I would have liked after the usual 3rd day watering so I may have to move to one every 2nd day.
Some yellowing along the bottom of the Northern Light, probably from drying out too much or lack of light as they are at bottom cannibal zone. It also has some early browning hairs, not uncommon but not sure what caused them.
Smells on the Northern Light are really picking up, the second you move the pot you get a massive waft of pine and oranges. The BDOG is a somewhat muted skunk, not very strong yet, but the resin on both plants is very noticeable. NL has nitro-drained 5 leaves so far this week but hasn't started it's natural fade yet, while the BDOG has started a mild fade and leaf drain. Gave them a final heavy feeding on P and K, with just a bit of nitrogen to keep them from draining too quickly. Ideally I want them to fade naturally for an easier/smellier/tasty cure=)
Both plants have started to bulk up a bit and I hope to see a heavier bulk in the upcoming week. Kind of surprised at the lack of thickness in the stems of the mains on both plants, so next round I'll have to make some adjustments to the nutrients in veg. '
Changed out the DIY CO2 and put in a fresh bottle of warm water, sugar n' beer brewer's yeast.
I had to lower my light to 90% to keep the temp at 25c as it was going up to 29c+ at 100%.
On a random note, there hasn't been a single drop of runoff, no PH or TDS tests, and the plants have been great throughout. I would say leaving the soil to monitor itself has been a success.
Buds are fattening up and I think they're going to turn out REALLY nice as they're already pretty big and still have a 2-4 weeks to go. Had to wrap a long piece of rubber coated plant tie all the way around both plants, to keep the branches from bending over too far. Black Devil OG is starting to fade, while the Northern light is still just eating leaves one at a time. Smell is stronger than ever on the NL, while the BDOG is still just a mild skunk.
Picked off some of the popcorn buds near the bottom.
I haven't decided if I'm going to reuse the same soil yet or not, it feels pretty compacted so I'll have to wait and see.
Buds are fattening up pretty well and I've had to use more rubber garden wire and clips to keep the branches from bending over. Smell is increasing on the Northern Light but still a mild skunk on the Black Devil. Also gave the very last feeding on the plants this week so they will get nothing but water until the chop.
I'm very happy with the microbe populations so I stopped feeding the sugars (molasses/agave) as the plants themselves don't get much out of them; that stuff is just for feeding the soil beasties. I had added some predatory mites several weeks ago to deal with some springtails, and the mites annihilated the population. I did find a developing larva though so there are still some around. Posted lots of microscope videos today.
Not much going on this week. Plants are still ripening and getting nothing but dechlorinated water.
Densely packed, long trichomes on the Northern Light. Shorter, sparcer trichomes on the BDOG.
Nothing left to do but check the trichomes every day until the chop.
Another week of waiting.
The buds on the Northern light are getting fatter and heavier so I had to do more tie downs to the bamboo poles. Meanwhile the Black Devil is really starting to fox-tail. They look like they're almost done, but I want to see a little more amber before I chop them. Both strains are breeder timed at 64 days and we are now on day 64, so I doubt they will go another week.
Still nothing but plain water and patience.
Not very strong smelling, but smells kind of like curry or another spice. Very sticky and Very strong=) My grinder is gooed up after only a few grams. Feels like going down an elevator when I look up haha. Smooth smoke and doesn't have a strong taste. Overall, I would get it again.
Chopped on Day 65
Super easy to grow, and very hungry for nutes. The stems were a bit thin but that's likely on me for not supplying enough silica, otherwise no issues at all The terpenes are very muted, smell mildly spicy/skunky, not the frostiest buds. Will report on smoke this weekend as I want the buds to cure a tad first.
Tastes like sweet berry candy, and when I lick my lips after suckin' in the bong, I can really taste the sweet. The high hits like a mallet, I was not high then a second later I was high and forgot that I wasn't....super weird lol. Very calm and relaxing high, some nice 'couch-lock' and a little giggly=)
Chopped on day 65
Easy to grow and didn't mind being heavily low stress trained. No nutrient issues and I felt like it was a much lighter feeder. The terpenes are super strong/fruity and I could sniff it pretty much all day. Taste test to come on the weekend.
NSCanna
