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Heya, I'm starting back up again, with a new home

R

resimax

Member
How's it going? New here. Came by because one of my favorite breeders is a mod here, and was gonna start with some of their stuff.

Been doing outdoor for about 21 years now, but tried moving to indoor 2 years ago and didn't go so well due to funds and lack of equipment. I'm all set now though.

I actually had to stop consuming a month ago. I got medical issues and it made things worse. Took a medical cannabis course and want to try some CBD-dominant cultivars for me soon here. I still grow other stuff for my father though.

I do living soil mostly...or super-soil and my own experimentations around both of them. I like to tinker and learn more than anything.

I just built a new grow setup. Never did a large(ish) raised bed before, nor a ScrOG, and put together a 45gal bed and built the net last week, mixing some of my custom super-soil that has been composting over a month, in my custom base mix.

No plants growing yet as I'm waiting for CBD-dominant seed mail overseas from a good friend. I have one 2:1 ratio strain from my favorite breeder that I might do instead if it doesn't arrive in a month, about the time my bed should be done cooking for a trial run. If not, still doing it for them in some fabric pots with organic inputs because those guys are awesome and never disappoint (HUBA).

Here's what I got so far, though it's not done yet so don't judge lol.

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Anyway, this place seems pretty awesome. Nice to be here! Shoot any questions or whatever :)
 
R

resimax

Member
Persianfarmer said:
Like your soil by the way… what have put inside if you don’t mind sharing
Click to expand...

Thank you.
It is about 20% super-soil, similar to the well-known SUBC00L's recipe, with a few changes and additions, 40% recycled soil (peat, fine-grade perlite, EWC, and dry amendments), and 40% aeration (20% coarse perlite and 20% coarse pumice). I would have liked to use pure pumice, but I ran out, and I'm kind of poor. Also would have liked to use some more finer-graded aeration, but it's what I had. The super-soil part has been composting in a kiddie pool for 1 month, and just mixed it with the base mix and aeration this week, placing it into the 45gal (2x2x1.5ft) raised bed. I'm keeping it moist for about another month, and continuing to work on it before it is ready. Yesterday I added a cover crop (50% various clover species, 50% of several other legumes). This is primarily to get the roots to loosen up the soil, adding enzymes and a habitat for microbes to propagate. Soon I will add some more mycorrhizae and water with a SST (sprouted seed tea) and maybe some home-made mushroom compost. I want to see trichoderma and activity before I use it. For now I am letting the cover crop grow tall for deep roots, but I will chop and drop most of that when that is complete, using it as a mulch in addition to probably straw or a rock mulch on top after transplanting a plant I will start in a starter mix. I know, I'm making a lot of work out of this, but it's fun to me, and it all comes from trial and error from past grows. This is one of dozens of iterations on my soil building process, and I'm learning a bit each time, and seeing better results each time.

The primary goal is to jump start a living soil/no-till raised bed with a super soil and some composting/other work. The end goal is to have a sustainable permanent growing home, using just plant, mineral, and microbial inputs. I used the super soil just to jump-start that process, and only 20%, as I've found the traditional SUBC00L recipe to be out-dated, a bit too hot, and I don't care for placing it on the bottom of a bed, which introduces water pockets between gradations of soil. I want this to have a biologically active and consistent texture throughout.

Thanks for the question, and I know that was a lot to take in 🤣
 
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P

Persianfarmer

Well-known member
resimax said:
Thank you.
It is about 20% super-soil, similar to the well-known SUBC00L's recipe, with a few changes and additions, 40% recycled soil (peat, fine-grade perlite, EWC, and dry amendments), and 40% aeration (20% coarse perlite and 20% coarse pumice). I would have liked to use pure pumice, but I ran out, and I'm kind of poor. Also would have liked to use some more finer-graded aeration, but it's what I had. The super-soil part has been composting in a kiddie pool for 1 month, and just mixed it with the base mix and aeration this week, placing it into the 45gal (2x2x1.5ft) raised bed. I'm keeping it moist for about another month, and continuing to work on it before it is ready. Yesterday I added a cover crop (50% various clover species, 50% of several other legumes). This is primarily to get the roots to loosen up the soil, adding enzymes and a habitat for microbes to propagate. Soon I will add some more mycorrhizae and water with a SST (sprouted seed tea) and maybe some home-made mushroom compost. I want to see trichoderma and activity before I use it. For now I am letting the cover crop grow tall for deep roots, but I will chop and drop most of that when that is complete, using it as a mulch in addition to probably straw or a rock mulch on top after transplanting a plant I will start in a starter mix. I know, I'm making a lot of work out of this, but it's fun to me, and it all comes from trial and error from past grows. This is one of dozens of iterations on my soil building process, and I'm learning a bit each time, and seeing better results each time.

The primary goal is to jump start a living soil/no-till raised bed with a super soil and some composting/other work. The end goal is to have a sustainable permanent growing home, using just plant, mineral, and microbial inputs. I used the super soil just to jump-start that process, and only 20%, as I've found the traditional SUBC00L recipe to be out-dated, a bit too hot, and I don't care for placing it on the bottom of a bed, which introduces water pockets between gradations of soil. I want this to have a biologically active and consistent texture throughout.

Thanks for the question, and I know that was a lot to take in 🤣
Click to expand...
Great!!! You are doing a fine job! Thanks for taking the time to give me a thorough explanation.
Since you are making a super microbial soil, may I suggest the following cheap things that you could do (I am sure you know better than me). The sprout tea, go with lentils, maybe you could make some Lacto B out of milk and rice wash. And Aloe and Rice water do wonders. Out of curiosity, why did you not throw a 20% vermicompost in your soil? Or will you do some vermi tea later?
Peace
PF
 
R

resimax

Member
Persianfarmer said:
Great!!! You are doing a fine job! Thanks for taking the time to give me a thorough explanation.
Since you are making a super microbial soil, may I suggest the following cheap things that you could do (I am sure you know better than me). The sprout tea, go with lentils, maybe you could make some Lacto B out of milk and rice wash. And Aloe and Rice water do wonders. Out of curiosity, why did you not throw a 20% vermicompost in your soil? Or will you do some vermi tea later?
Peace
PF
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for the compliment!

You and I will get along just fine I think, as I am planning to use leftover boiled rice water as it does seem to do wonders, and as far as the sprout tea, what I have on hand, and seems to do a fairly good job, is barley and alfalfa. I will need to read up again on how to make a good LAB solution, as it's been a while.

As far as vermicompost, well, my super-soil has a lot of EWC (without eggs), and one of my biggest concerns in the environment I grow in are fungus gnat and other small larvae, which wreacked havoc on so many of my grows in the past. I've seen so many of them in my first year indoor, that I played whack-a-mole the whole time, trying various remedies, none of which worked one bit, except for Bt variant israelensis, which I have asuper concentrated liquid of and I add a drop or two to my soil with each watering. This would destroy worm larvae/eggs, as I've seen before.

The thing is, first, I am weird and persistent. I found what works for me to combat larvae of small insects, such as, but not limited to, fungus gnats. This came after trying to fight bugs with bugs, until the point where I 1) needed to add more bugs (as frass or bugs attract different other kinds of bugs), and eventually, I would have a whole ecosystem of critters, and not even doing as good of a job as my concentrated Bti. Second of all, after seeing so much larvae (literally touching the soil would make visible lots of almost microscopic wigglies), and having so many insects, pests or not, in my growing space is not ideal to me. For one, it just grosses me out, and two, I sleep not far away from the area, and so does the wife, which is the main reason I can't do that anymore. I've never had worms from my multi-screened EWC (from my supplier to remove eggs), and no bugs in quite some time. I need to keep it that way to make everyone happy, so worms, or bugs, or even frass (which is also too expensive for me and attracts bugs), are simply out of the question.

Again, I'm weird, and I'm trying to do this with zero animal products outside of sifted/screened EWC, if you can count that. On top of that, I have no place for a worm bin, nor the equipment. At the end of the day, I like using plant and mineral products only. This super-soil I made took a lot of convincing myself, since it does contain animal products such as bone and blood meal, but, it's only being used to jump start this bed. I'm trying to be conscious of the environment, sticking to organic, OMRI approved products without animal testing performed on them, as well as keep my house pest-free. I went a whole two years with fungus gnats, carpet beetles, aphids, and everything flying around my house, and since switching to my new method a year ago, I can finally say I'm bug (and worm) free.

I'm so weird. Everyone is probably cringing now, but, I only want microbial life to be alive in my soil, and done so in an ethical testing manner. I'm not vegan or anything, but I really dislike using animals, or animal products. For example, bat guano, which is also in my super-soil, is harmful to bats. It turns out, bats don't like humans harvesting their poop, and migrate out of caves, and there a few places in the world where they are industrially harvested. I try to take care of my house, the environment, and make my wife happy.

Now, if you mean vermicompost as in castings mixed with compost, it's essentially the base of my super-soil mix, so I have it already...except the eggs filtered out. The castings are also present in my recycled soil I used as a base mix.

Forgive me if none if this made sense, as I'm quite tired. The tldr is I don't like larvae in my soil at all, or using any animal products. I was doing quite well with dry plant/mineral amendments, fermented juices, and other such products for a while now, and I'd like to keep it that way. Using this super-soil recipe took me a lot of convincing, and is what I started with years ago, moved away from, and now only using these animal inputs to jump start the process for microbial life I will introduce (more of) to thrive, in the coming days.
 
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R

resimax

Member
My biggest enemy though, is powdery white mildew. I grow in a very humid environment, and I use a fermented citric acid foliar spray at least twice per week to combat that. It is even safe to use in flower. Maybe my house is a mold magnet, though I do keep it clean and have never seen mold growth in my basement even.

Bad larvae or vegetation destroying pests and mold took me a lot of trial and error over my time indoor for 2 years to get rid of, and, currently the only time I see slight PWM is when I forget to foliar spray. Mind you, this is even with very low RH, many exhaust and intake configurations tried, and a carbon filter. I must be proactive with my spraying to stand a chance at that.
 
R

resimax

Member
resimax said:
My biggest enemy though, is powdery white mildew. I grow in a very humid environment, and I use a fermented citric acid foliar spray at least twice per week to combat that. It is even safe to use in flower. Maybe my house is a mold magnet, though I do keep it clean and have never seen mold growth in my basement even.

Bad larvae or vegetation destroying pests and mold took me a lot of trial and error over my time indoor for 2 years to get rid of, and, currently the only time I see slight PWM is when I forget to foliar spray. Mind you, this is even with very low RH, many exhaust and intake configurations tried, and a carbon filter. I must be proactive with my spraying to stand a chance at that.
Click to expand...
The truth is, I spent two years failing to grow anything I would risk consuming, and only recently, in February, had my first harvests that I am proud of (for indoor anyway). It took me a long time, and a lot of depression throwing whole plants away, that it's a miracle I didn't give up. But I'm pretty much set now, looking at my results of the past 9 grows.
 
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R

resimax

Member
Once, I had a stem break in another grow room, and I didn't know I had fungus gnat-infested soil, that the rot worked its way into the stem tissue, and that single snap caused all adjacent plants to be snow white on the stipules the very next day, and that spread to other rooms. It was a very sad day, and one of many occurrences where I had to trash everything.

The fermented citric acid gods have blessed me, and the Bti for sure. I hope to keep it that way.
 
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