Distinguished and Nurtured Kind

[dank.frank]

Yes, brother. This is why we've always gotten along. I have always tried to live by the example set by my mentors, which includes you. I've always tried to set the example that was set for me.


We have life. To be completely honest, I'm not sure which is which. I didn't label them when planting. I'll be able to tell by the seed shells. The SSH cross had much smaller seeds. I'm 99% sure it is on the Snow Monkey side. Time will tell. LOL.

Notice the yellowish/orange color of the perlite and the surface of the soil starting to cover with fungal growth from heat/moisture. This soil the seeds are being started in is 5+ years old at least. It's been used and recycled and re-amended countless time at this point. It still has roots in it from the last thing that was grown in it. None of this is a big deal. My soil surface always looks more like a forest floor after you move some leaves around than it does some perfectly clean sterile media. That's because it's alive!

dank.Frank

 

[nickman]

Nice,

 

[genetic freaked]

Congrats DF! The hunt for the best Snow Monkey pheno/phenos has begun.
Looks like we are starting at the exact same time. Mine just went in to Hempys.
It’s my first time with Hempys but seems super easy to run

 

[dank.frank]

Organic soil over here, blasphemer!!!

I'll eventually finish the soil discussion that was started earlier in this thread by posting the finished mix being used in the soil bed. I'm still debating on how deep I really need it to be. I don't technically need 8/9 gallons per plant to yield 3oz per plant. 5 gallons per plant is more than sufficient, without it being a limiting factor. So, I'm not sure I need to make the soil bed as deep as I was originally planning.

Plus, vertically speaking, ever inch counts.

That aside, I'm pretty sure I planted these seeds too deep. Should have more than 2 up by now, but I'll just be patient and see what happens. Worst case scenario, I start a few more of each.



dank.Frank

 

[dank.frank]

Got the soil bed built. Made it smaller than originally intended. Needed more room along the edge of the walls for air circulation and such. Framed it all out and it was 3/16" too wide and I couldn't get it in the flower room. Not fun. I knew I made a mistake once I started putting in the screws because I hadn't accounted for exterior board width. Was hoping...but no such luck. It comes apart and goes back on the table saw.

All in all though, interior dimensions for soil volume will be 25.5" wide X 46.5 long x 11" deep. It sits 15" tall, which gives me plenty of room for flowering plants to get 4'. I'll likely only fill the bed with soil to 10" deep, which will provide about 5.5 gallons of soil per plant. This wasn't exactly intentional. Several things I didn't factor in when considering exterior dimensions vs interior volume. All in all, it'll be okay and it'll work just fine. Not perfect though. Can't always be perfect. Guess the universe decided roughly 5 gallons per plant was right after all.

I was planning on posting updated pictures tonight, but that doesn't look like it'll happen with a bed that has to be taken apart still.



dank.Frank

 

[gmanwho]

so df forgive me if i missed the discussion. if you are, what steps do you currently take against root or stem disease's? especially interested because you are starting seedlings in recycled soil.

enjoying the thread...

 

[dank.frank]

To be honest, I'm rusty as all get out. Out of the last 20 seeds, only 3 have come up. I'm certain I planted them too deeply. They tried to germinate and push upwards but the soil moisture levels seems to have rotted the tap root off on the couple I've dug up to inspect. I'm going to go back to paper towel germination for a bit rather than planting direct to soil. I have 4 of $mike's I-95 seeds in paper towels now. They are over 5 years old, but should still sprout. We'll see. If I get nothing there, I'll start rinsing seeds in a peroxide solution and then adding a bit of bleach to the water I soak the paper towels in.

The more I read about old/weak seeds, the more it seems that sterility and protection against any form of contamination becomes increasingly important for success. So, that is my next direction.

Root rot and such, should be controlled by soil moisture levels and by beneficial bacteria. It's not something I've ever dealt with when growing cannabis. With other crops, yes. But it was always the result of over-watering, which leads to fungus gnats, which leads to rot. I'm including Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis(BTi) granules into the soil mix when I make it to act as a preventative barrier to gnats though. Also adding Bio Ag Endo VAM to roots at transplant and Tand J BioVam to the soil itself.

I'm actually looking for a replacement product for the BioVam, because like others, I'm tired of the way they handle certain aspects of their business. I've discussed this with Microbeman at length and more and more I'm leaning towards his opinion of the product.

The soil bed, will use NEW soil, following the recipe I've been working on since the start of this thread. The bed will be run primarily as a no till system. I'm actually going to scrap the first bed and start over from square one. I'm irritated I made the simple mistakes I did and the cost of that mistake is the difference between 8 plants and 6 plants in flower. Beyond that, if I decide to run SOG once I find the right plant, those few inches cost 4-8 plants. I really need those couple of inches back on the interior dimensions of the soil bed.



dank.Frank

 

[moses wellfleet]

Aha awesome!! is this the first time you are trying no till?

 

[gaiusmarius]

To be honest, I'm rusty as all get out. Out of the last 20 seeds, only 3 have come up. I'm certain I planted them too deeply. They tried to germinate and push upwards but the soil moisture levels seems to have rotted the tap root off on the couple I've dug up to inspect. I'm going to go back to paper towel germination for a bit rather than planting direct to soil. I have 4 of $mike's I-95 seeds in paper towels now. They are over 5 years old, but should still sprout. We'll see. If I get nothing there, I'll start rinsing seeds in a peroxide solution and then adding a bit of bleach to the water I soak the paper towels in.

The more I read about old/weak seeds, the more it seems that sterility and protection against any form of contamination becomes increasingly important for success. So, that is my next direction.

Root rot and such, should be controlled by soil moisture levels and by beneficial bacteria. It's not something I've ever dealt with when growing cannabis. With other crops, yes. But it was always the result of over-watering, which leads to fungus gnats, which leads to rot. I'm including Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis(BTi) granules into the soil mix when I make it to act as a preventative barrier to gnats though. Also adding Bio Ag Endo VAM to roots at transplant and Tand J BioVam to the soil itself.

I'm actually looking for a replacement product for the BioVam, because like others, I'm tired of the way they handle certain aspects of their business. I've discussed this with Microbeman at length and more and more I'm leaning towards his opinion of the product.

The soil bed, will use NEW soil, following the recipe I've been working on since the start of this thread. The bed will be run primarily as a no till system. I'm actually going to scrap the first bed and start over from square one. I'm irritated I made the simple mistakes I did and the cost of that mistake is the difference between 8 plants and 6 plants in flower. Beyond that, if I decide to run SOG once I find the right plant, those few inches cost 4-8 plants. I really need those couple of inches back on the interior dimensions of the soil bed.



dank.Frank

been using eazy plugs for cloning and germinating seeds recently, works really well. might be worth it just to pop the seeds.

 

[dank.frank]

Aha awesome!! is this the first time you are trying no till?

Nope. I use the approach all the time with soil beds for many various crops. Your garden is looking fantastic though! You've certainly got it dialed in and performing brilliantly!! Just read through your whole thread the other night and I'm very pleased at the progress you've made and how you've adapted so many natural, common sense solutions for your tubs.

been using eazy plugs for cloning and germinating seeds recently, works really well. might be worth it just to pop the seeds.

I used to use those things and then felt like I graduated past them. Guess I've drifted backwards the other direction now. I need to mix a batch of seed starter and clone soil up and get it composting. I'll likely bake it in the oven at 350 for about a half hour. Sustain soil temps of above 180 for about 20 minutes and everything is dead.

I've got a recipe for that posted in my organic soil sticky. The last batch of fresh seeds I planted direct to soil; I didn't even soak and I got better germination rates. Only lost 1 out of 10 that round and those were in the same old recycled soil as this round is.

It really is my fault. I'm very fortunate to have more seeds of Cobalt Haze or I'd be really upset!!!



dank.Frank

 

[dank.frank]

49" x 25.5" x 11" final interior dimensions for the soil bed. Exterior is 54" x 27.5" x 15" It should fit this time. Roughly 51 gallons of soil will fit. I'll likely only use 48 gallons. Giving me 6-8 gallons per plant depending how many I flower at a time. I'm content with this.

Using a heavy gauge wire mesh to hold the soil in the bottom. Will put a double layer of landscaping fabric on the bottom and line the sides with 6mil plastic sheeting. Underneath the bed is a 40mil PVC shower pan liner. Not entirely sure how to utilize it to the most efficiency, but it will be used to catch water. Still working on that conceptually. The bed itself has 15" legs, which leaves a 4" space from the bottom of the bed to the floor. Just enough to let it drain and get air circulation around the whole room.

The wood is all pressure treated 1 x 6 and 2 x 6 for the legs. It has been exposed to the elements for over a year, although not getting wet. It should be a non-issue at this point to use it.

I never posted a pic with the darkroom louvers installed in the door of the flower room. The bottom of the louver is at 15" and they are 8" square. This means, any new airflow coming into the room is coming in at a height that is level with the soil and will flow easily under the canopy to ensure enough fresh air is moving through the plants.

Eventually, I'll have some plants to put in this beast.



dank.Frank

 

[Goats]

awesome. i am excited to see this finished and some plants going inside!

 

[dank.frank]

Thanks, Goats. Me too. I've not had anything indoors for a long time. I'm keeping it small though. I just want to sort some genes and have enough flowers for bong rips of rosin.



dank.Frank

 

[moses wellfleet]

I’m loving the look of the bed, aeration must be superb from underneath. I’m in 15 gallon totes at the moment, but beds are definitely where it’s at for living soil!

Frank the success of my living soil is largely due to your input. Thank you for your extensive visit to my thread. I will reply in detail, to your post there, later on this week!

I remember you said when you were experimenting with the NSPB mix you noticed larger calyxes with certain mixes, did you ever narrow it down to a single element?

 

[dank.frank]

A bed designed like this drains extremely well. I'd like to think I could put worm in it at some point, but I'm not sure they'll stick around with such an open bottom. Perhaps the landscape fabric will be enough to hold them...time will tell.

Narrow it down, not so much. I think it is simply a matter of everything coming together, being in balance. It's like each item is in some what dependent to the success of the whole, and with one thing missing, it is apparent in reduced over all health. If I had to guess though, I'd say it's related to using guano - bat and/or seabird. More specifically, I think it has a lot to do with bio-availability of P.

One of the things I'm excited to try is Mammoth P. I won't try it until I have established a couple cycles that perform consistently and then I'll see what impact it does or does not make.



dank.Frank

 

[dank.frank]

Double layer landscaping fabric. Notice it's run the majority of the way up the sides. This is to ensure there is no soil that falls though. This will be overlapped with plastic, which won't have any holes in it.

Wrap with 6 mil poly sheeting. Worth noting, it doesn't just line the sides but also goes about 5-6" across the bottom of the bed. This will help with drainage by keeping runoff more towards the center of the bed. It will also help prevent it from drying out too quickly. The roll I had was 10' wide so I cut 18" lengths. It took two pieces, so there is overlap along both long sides.

dank.Frank

 

[starke]

That is going to be a superb bed. Can't wait to see it in action.

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Very nice bro! Sweet bed and nice build! Looking forward to watching this rock! Best vibes!

 

[dank.frank]

@Starke - Thanks for the good vibes.
@Buddah Watcha - Keep watching. Appreciate the kind words.

Dug up my old sticky thread in the Stank Bros sub-forum. I've used the seed starter mix on at least 5 dozen different crops and it always works great but seems to be a bit weak, leaving plants hungry and in need if you use larger cell trays to germinate in. With that in mind, I made a couple modifications to this batch. (---> in red)

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258168

My personal cloning medium which makes roughly 1.5 cu ft:

5 gal peat
2.75 gal coir
.75 gal EWC
.75 gal composted cow manure
.5 gal chunky perlite
.5 gal vermiculite

Cloning Amendment Recipe:
+ 1c alfalfa meal
2/3c crab meal ---> 1c crab meal
2/3c kelp meal ---> 1c kelp meal
2/3c pH mineral mix* ---> 2/3c dolomite, 1/3c gypsum, 1/3c aragonite, 1/2c azomite
2 tbsp DE/Calcium Bentonite ---> 1/4c DE/Calcium Bentonite
1 tbsp Bio-Vam ---> 2 tbsp Bio-Vam
1 tbsp Bio-Ag Endo Vam ---> 2 TBSP Bio-Ag Endo Vam
+ 2 tbsp BTi granules

I'll let this sit and compost for a couple weeks before trying to start any new seeds in it. At least until the smells have settled and it takes on a more natural black earth smell. I decided not to bake anything in the oven prior to mixing to sterilize it. It's really counter intuitive, but it does eliminate the possibility of anything preventing germination. Hopefully, I'll not regret this later.

This mix holds a TON of water. I first developed this when playing with mixes that worked well in soil cube presses. This mix, exactly as is, can be pressed and formed into blocks that hold together very well. I decided I liked cell trays better but still loved the water retention of this mix for clones. Then I started filling entire planting trays with the mix and used it to germinate various seeds in rows that can be cut and planted as full strips rather than individual plants. This led me to using the same media to grow full trays of various micro greens, which it REALLY excels at. The sprouts have a much more robust flavor compared to using paper towels or coir mats with tea solutions and due to having a thin media layer don't require nearly as much attention. Anyone looking to start a side business, if you have high end culinary establishments in your area, this basic starter mix can make you a ton of money.



dank.Frank

 

[Itsmychoice]

I have always wanted to do an indoor bed, I can’t think of a better way to achieve maximum root potential. Here is to you for making it happen and I like the thought of the passive intake being at bed level. This will be special to watch and I look forward to your success.