Chevy's blumatized organic soil LED mini grow

[bleepboop]

Have a look at Dr forest, good fish meal that I've been using and various dry fert mixes. soft rock phosphate for P. He also gets polyhalite which is quite hard to source. A potassium cal mag sulphur combo mineral.

Bit more than elixir prices but a little cheaper than indoor organics/green hand organics and definitely better than most in the UK market.

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah, guano seems to come in 2 forms, high P (which is more like rock phospate) and high N which is fresher and quite fierce... Comfrey pellets or liquid are a good all round fert and you can get them at amazon. There is a company called garden Direct which sells rock phospate, rock potash and a few other good things. Never really used aphalpha. Worm castings are good for N and general i find. I am a general gardener as well and i'm always ordering stuff like this online and i don't regard it as a security risk.. and i avoid hydro stores !
VG
p.s. are you no longer in UK? maybe some of that advice is not so useful then..

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Hey thanks for the feedback you two!
No I'm in Germany now and elixir who I used while in the UK don't ship here. Matter fact nothing from the UK gets here anymore without major delays and crazy customs/handling charges by the carriers...never expected to be impacted by brexit the way I am now...

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah brexit is a sh1tshow. even cheap things getting sent to EU can incur import tax - which often isn't much but then add the 10 or £20 'handling charge' flat fee.... don't get me started lol..
those products or similar/equivalents must exist in germany though... just finding out what they called and where.- have you asked on the german forum here?
and haven't Germany just decided to legalize? silver linings !
take care mate
VG

 

[bleepboop]

Multikraft in Austria do all the EM1 stuff aswell as great rock dusts. Their growbest fertilizer is a mix of frass/castings/castor oil plant/clay minerals/rock dusts. 4-4-4 I believe.

 

[bleepboop]

Also enjoy the golden era of legalise! Hopefully we can find ye olde plod something better to be doing themselves round here eventually.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Hey all,
New round of pics from a new round coming up shortly but in the meantime I made some RSO from trim

roughly 100g of popcorn, no sticks, stems or leaves.
Using 99.9% ISO alcohol
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Good old cheese cloth to filter out the majority of the green matter
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And filtering it a second time through coffee filters to get rid of the remaning plant matter.
This is the step that always takes ages because of the slow rate at which the liquid passes through the coffee filters.
Anyone with an idea how to do this as good but quicker?
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Need to purge the results overnight in a warm oven still, so back with the oil shortly.
Did I mention that the last round of this stuff made my mom's skin cancer disappear?
Here's to cannabis, #1 healing plant on the planet.

Best
CC

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Hmmm not sure why the pics aren't showing, but here are some update pics:

They've become hella deficient, but with the cold temps the colors came!
BTW this are cuts from the same DoSiDos plant as always, just super deficient this time and
more colorful hahaha

I've grown this plant out better before but now I know at least the other end of the spectrum hahaha
Nugs turned out small but rick hard and the aromas are to die for.
In a weird way, growing them minimal nutes gave me smaller nugs and a smaller harvest, but overall better quality
and aromas...

Hope this pics are showing!
Protect MJ at all cost and take care
CC

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Wow, long hibernation here!
Have been minimally active i other parts of the forum but thought I'd update the ongoing ongoings here a bit for anyone who's interested.
I guess this report is only secondarily about individual strains, results, breeding efforts etc. but really about the journey of a hobby gardener who thinks a lot about his hobby and hopefully makes progress through figuring out what does not work or could work better and changing accordingly
So here we are, moved house twice in between, different country now (yes I did move with the whole garden, well cuts that is to start up anew)
Back in a Secret Jardin lodge again and over the next months I'm going to try a few fresh approaches on gardening in a mini set up.
I'll try to report metric as well as imperial.
Here's what we have

• A 60cmX60cm/2'x2' flower compartment,
• A 60cmX40cm/ veg compartment
• A 60cmX40cm compartment for my bonsai mums and seedlings/ cuttings

Other detail include

• sanlight 3/60 led fixture
• Secret Jardin fan and scrubber (the new stuff is pretty neat with the clip on system)
• Spiderfarmer circulating& oscillating clip-on fan
• A wild mix of soil and soilless mixes, all organic
• Different feeds... we'll see amended organic soils based on coco and/or peat, GreenHouse Feed organic feed grow, bloom, enhancer, Biobizz line, Dr Forest organic amendments
• Pots from 8L/2gal all the way up to 75L/20gal (yeah I know that'll be just one pot then hahaha)
• BLUMATS ftw and for everything ( I may do a deep dive on these as this info always seems popular, let me know if anyone's interested!

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Instead of explaining the setup first I've decided to jump right into the hot action instead to make it less dry and please do let me know if you'd like me to expand on anything. This is mostly therapeutic for myself but I certainly do not mind explaining techniques or tricks.
So here goes my bonsai mums and cuttings compartment.

clockwise from left bottom to right bottom I keep a tiny stable of bonsai mums of cultivars I have grown fond of

1. NepalXJamaica (ACE)
2. BlueBerry I indica leaning (own selection from seedsman freebies)
3. BlueBerry II sativa leaning (own selection from seedsman freebies)
4. ThaiX Panama (ACE)
5. Kendal Green (F1 own cross of Subcool's Qleaner X DJ Short's F13)
6. Panama Haze (ACE), bonsai mum and one rooted cut in the clear cup

The Panam Haze cut below as well as the mum-replacement cut behind it was taken from a plant three weeks into flower, so while they have rooted , there are still some signs of flowering. With root room and N this will iron out shortly.
My mums are tiny, so you guessed right, the cuts are also tiny.
Oh yeah and Blumats ftw anytime and everywhere

 

[Chevy cHaze]

I use a small 60cmX60cm/ 2'x2' tent with a fan and scrubber to dry whole plants hanging.
A hygrometer monitors and keeps rh in check for an optimal slow dry and temps in there are cold, between 13C and 17C which is about 55F-63F
This is a Panama Haze lady drying
I aim to harvest one small to mid sized plant every month to keep things exciting.
This is personal use only, so even if yield is small that's no issue for me.

 

[buteo]

Looks like you are doing great in the new location. Im going to follow a long here i like to watch what others are doing. Gives me some ideas for myself!

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Hey Buteo, thanks for stopping by and ask me if you want me to expand on anything!
Best
CC

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Here's what I use for cloning, a tupperware container of sorts...with some paper towels on top for the first week after taking a cut.
I just cut them, put in glass of water, stick the cut in seaweed rooting powder and then in a root riot cube, mist the cut and the whole interior of the box and voila, that's it. No sterilising, scalpels, 45 degree angles or powdered unicorns. Just high humdity and I normally don't even open the lid for the first week.
As I said my mums are tiny and so are my cuts. Biggest factor in successfull cloning in my opinion is high rh at the start to not compromise turgor of a cut.

 

[GenghisKush]

And filtering it a second time through coffee filters to get rid of the remaning plant matter.
This is the step that always takes ages because of the slow rate at which the liquid passes through the coffee filters.
Anyone with an idea how to do this as good but quicker?

what you want is a Buchner funnel (and a vacuum pump)
different grades of filter paper are available for these funnels, some are marketed as "fast"

 

[Chevy cHaze]

what you want is a Buchner funnel (and a vacuum pump)
different grades of filter paper are available for these funnels, some are marketed as "fast"

Thanks for that Genghis, the super low flow rate continues to be annoying so better filters would be great but not sure I'll go all-in with a vacuum pump and all...
What's the price point on the funnel and the pump?

 

[GenghisKush]

Thanks for that Genghis, the super low flow rate continues to be annoying so better filters would be great but not sure I'll go all-in with a vacuum pump and all...
What's the price point on the funnel and the pump?

the glass is pretty affordable as are the filters. should be under 50 USD all together (I am in USA).
as for the pump, one can quite easily repurpose a compressor from an old refrigerator.

 

[Hasch]

Hey Chevy

love your thread title!

I have some questions about the Blumat drippers.

How do you measure the soil moisture to decide now it's correct to set the carrots?

Once the carrots are set to a specific moister level is it possible to change the "setting" on the carrots once it is set and running?

All the best for your grow

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Hey Chevy

love your thread title!

I have some questions about the Blumat drippers.

How do you measure the soil moisture to decide now it's correct to set the carrots?

Once the carrots are set to a specific moister level is it possible to change the "setting" on the carrots once it is set and running?

All the best for your grow

Hey Hasch, great name by the way
There a number of different ways to set the blumats but the most conservative, failproof one is also the one the Blumat company uses in their manual. You're not really measuring the moisture but basically you use the default setting (close 3 markings) and take it from there. So yes you can change them after you set them once. I'll touch upon that towards the end of this post.
I think the next bit is not what you were asking but I'll put it here anyways for context.

1. You give your plants a good watering until runoff occurs
2.You let the Blumats, heads srewed on & carrots void of any air, soak in water for half an hour or so. The little brown screw on top of the head is all the way open
3. The you insert the Blumat inot the soil, install the drip line (can also do that first) and open the res. Water fill flow out of the dripline.
4.Close the little screw until only a drop clings to the end of the drip line
5. Close screw a further 3 markings (markings are the downwards pointing arrows yu see on the side of the screw)

Voila done, they're set and will start watering as soon as the moisture level in the medium goes down enough (the three markings are to make up for the fact that the medium is sturated and you don't want to keep it that way. But in wet soil this is easiest so there you go.
You can also install Blumats into soil that's not saturated but you have to be more prepared and quick too in order to not let the carrot dry out too quickly as it is the sensor so to speak.

By the way you also always "park" a blumat that's dialed in for later (weeks sometimes)
by doing this:

The water keeps the carrot from drying out and it will stay closed and as it was set and you can put it into the next pot right away now.
To your second question: What I said earlier about the three markings, in satured soil close a further three markings from last drop clinging is a very good estimate for the right amount of humidity in your soil, so it will work no doubt, but some plants are different and like it more wet/dry, you can easily adjust the blumats for that. I use half markings/increments. Just try it out... it'll take a day to fully become visible but you can fine tune the moisture level this way and once happy the Blumats will take it from there

CC

 

[Hasch]

Muchas gracias Chevy