The Oasis Project | Week 11: Veg Strain: Durban Poison Quartet (DP1, DP4, DP5, and DP6) Container: 25-Gallon Fabric Bags (Elevated on wheeled dollies) Method: Organic Soil / DIY Automated Halo Irrigation Overview & Environment We have officially crossed into Week 11 of vegetative growth, and the backyard deck is officially looking like a botanical engineering lab. The High Plains weather is starting to test the environment, but the quartet is locked in, vibrant green, and praying hard to the Colorado sun. Key Milestones This Week 1. The Automated Manifold is Live 🛠️ The biggest victory of the week was getting the DIY irrigation manifold completely hooked up, pressure-balanced, and dialed in. The Setup: Custom green hose "halos" are wrapped around the base of each individual plant inside the rims of the 25-gallon fabric bags. The Run: Clocked our first official initial run this week. The manifold pushed an excellent, steady volume of water, completely saturating all four massive containers in just **15 minutes**. The Baseline: This uniform edge-to-edge moisture spread is exactly what we need to ensure the organic soil mix stays perfectly charged without leaving dry pockets. No more manual water lugging for my back! 2. Air Gaps & Root Pruning 💨 With the 25-gallon bags lifted entirely up off the deck floor on mobile furniture dollies, we have a perfect air gap underneath. The Impact: Thanks to the low humidity and steady wind on the Eastern Plains, these elevated pots are acting as massive evaporative cooling systems. The 360-degree airflow is drying the bags out from the outside-in and bottom-up. The Strategy: This is triggers natural air-pruning at the bottom, forcing the plants to stop circling their roots and instead blast out a massive web of lateral feeder roots higher up in the rich organic mix. We're keeping a close eye on the bag weights over the next 48 to 72 hours to map out our new watering frequency. 3. Plant Training & Structural Breakdown (Featuring DP5) 📏 The quartet is responding beautifully to the first topping session and ongoing structural training. Current Height: Took the tape measure out to the deck today—**DP5** is sitting stout and muscular right at the 12.5 to 13-inch mark. Canopy Architecture: By pulling the lower branches outward with precise tie-downs secured to the bag rims and supporting them with bamboo stakes, the core of the plants is completely open. Sun & Wind Defense: Node spacing is incredibly tight, building thick, rugged main stalks that split beautifully at the topping nodes. This low, wide profile is exactly what we want to withstand the heavy plains winds. Every single lower growth tip now has direct access to high-altitude UV light, transforming them into future dominant vertical colas. Next Steps The bamboo frameworks are built, and the trellis netting is already waiting in the wings directly behind the deck setup. We’re letting the quartet digest their big drink from the manifold for the next 2 to 3 days to see how they explode horizontally. Once they stack a few more inches and fill out the width of the bags, we'll start weaving them into the screen! -Keep growing and stay mindful! ✌️ Update 5.26.26: The quartet recieved their first full strength nutrients since making the move to the 25 gallon bags. 3 gallons per plant with full nutrients is a hell of a task, but the girls will be happy. PH corrected level of 6.0. 1215 PPM