Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

You need to set up a second garden area.

That's a good idea.

I did do that before when I started my outdoor plants inside to give them a head start before I could transplant them outside at the end of May.

It would only be 50 Watts of power and I have all the equipment already. (Although, electricity prices just shot up 50% with our new provincial government)


That way I can order some new seeds now and get one started soon then transplant it into the cooler when my current seedling is done and I redo my closet.

I'm not sure what seeds to order but I think I still want to go with autoflower.

I checked the comments at the website and a few guys said that the Candy Cane wouldn't flower until they turned their lights to 12/12.

Maybe I should find a seed with more stable genetics ?

I'm buying new seeds based on flavor. I don't know how to judge them any other way.

 

[PCBuds]

I'm in the fortunate position that I grow more weed than I smoke.

I don't smoke very much and I remember about 5 years ago I had a single Mason Jar full of weed that lasted me 14 months. So I don't mind waiting to grow out a plant or even have a few being killed by bugs or other mistakes I make.

I do use a vape pipe now and I find myself smoking more but I still have quite the stockpile in the freezer in case everything goes to crap with my next grow.

I can't tell the difference between a head buzz and a body buzz.
Stoned is stoned to me, I've never been able to feel a difference.

I do taste and smell the difference though and the weed I've grown does taste pretty darn good.


Back in the day when I bought on the street, it all tasted like hay and I'm sure the dealers didn't even know about curing and wouldn't waste time on it if they did.

I remember buying a bag of shake once because I didn't know any better.
I smoked and smoked until I got sick but didn't get stoned.

I gave it to a friend who was eager to have it but she couldn't get stoned off it either.

We didn't know why it didn't work. Lol

 

[ReikoX]

Sounds to me like you want a Sub Irrigated Planter (SIP). There are lots of DIY instructions on the web. Check them out.

 

[PCBuds]

Sounds to me like you want a Sub Irrigated Planter (SIP). There are lots of DIY instructions on the web. Check them out.

Thanks. I'll look into that.

I think that's what I was kinda doing.

I have about 1 1/2" of clay pellets at the bottom of my cooler covered with fiberglass weave and a drain/fill tube going down to the bottom.





Then I would pour the water/nute solution down the tube to bottom-feed.

I managed to get it to work OK one time then another time (after adding the pebbles and a bubbler at the bottom) I thought I'd try to keep an inch or so of water at the bottom and just keep it at that level but the media wicked up all kinds of water and my media turned to muck.
So I siphoned off the water and managed to save the plant but it took a few weeks to dry out.

Then I thought I'd try it again and redid my soil mix but it was REALLY dry.
I poured water to the bottom and it wouldn't wick at all and I had to dig down into the soil and watered it from the bottom up.


What I want to try, is to water from the top and have it drain through then siphon off until there is an inch of water at the bottom all the time, like a hempy style grow.

I don't know if the media mix I have planned of 50/50 perlite coco coir (and maybe worm castings) will drain sufficiently to not drown my plant or if I have to go with a 50/50 mix of perlite/vermiculite.

Apparently, vermiculite holds more water than perlite but does coco coir hold a lot more to the point where my roots will drown?

 

[PCBuds]

I was churning the buds around in the container when I noticed some round leaves and didn't know what the hell they were?

Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a seed!

What the hell ??

So I dug through all my buds and ended up with 160 seeds.

I don't know what happened? Maybe it Hermed and I didn't notice or somehow some pollen floated in my house from the neighbors growing or something?

I was talking to my neighbors and they grew some outdoor plants that ended up full of seeds too.
They got a whole jar full.

They didn't grow any boys so the pollen came from some neighbor.

We figure it could have come from blocks away?

I'm going to have to be more careful with my back door this coming pollen season.

I'm in and out every 20 minutes for another drink.

 

[ReikoX]

Pretty much, yes that's a SIP. A few things to consider. Usually there is a drain hole an inch or two below the clay pebble line. This air gap helps prevent things from getting mucky. Another thing to consider is EM-1, it's an anaerobic mix of good bacteria, overpower the bad guys.

 

[PCBuds]

Pretty much, yes that's a SIP. A few things to consider. Usually there is a drain hole an inch or two below the clay pebble line. This air gap helps prevent things from getting mucky.

I can easily drain my cooler and blow some air down there.

 

[PCBuds]

I think I figured out what I'm going to do.

I'm going to leave the cooler the way it is and reuse the soil but I'll add the worm castings, garden lime and 5 or 10 liters of perlite to get better drainage.



I'll water from the top until I get water on the bottom then drain it off and keep the bottom dry.

Or... I could add another 2-3 inches of clay pellets and keep an inch or so of water at the bottom.

It was nice to just watch the float and add water when it was low.

I'll check into the prices of clay pellets.

 

[PCBuds]

Bought some more stuff...






And to get free shipping, I bought this.










It's a lot of money for a 2-foot plastic tube but I might still try to submerge an LED strip.

 

[PCBuds]

... Usually there is a drain hole an inch or two below the clay pebble line. This air gap helps prevent things from getting mucky...

I wish that comment would have sunk in a bit sooner for me.

I just went and bought a bathroom scale this morning.

I was thinking of setting my cooler on it to keep an eye on the weight so I'd have a better idea of the water content.

It's kinda difficult to reach in and lift it and it's always pretty heavy even when it's dry.
My powers of guestimation suck. Lol

I figure if I can finally get a handle on the SIP method, I won't need the scale.
I'll just keep an inch of water/nute solution on the bottom.


PS... I checked out some of your threads. Wow!!

Thanks for lending me a hand and putting up with my ignorant BS. Lol

 

[ReikoX]

I'll just keep an inch of water/nute solution on the bottom.

That's what I was getting at.

 

[PCBuds]

That's what I was getting at.

The clay pellets were a gift from my friend and I would have put in a thicker layer but that's all I had.

The only drawback I can see is less grow media for the plant but those bottom few inches probably count towards total volume anyway.

I do have a 9-gallon container, so there's probably still plenty of room.



When I dumped everything out last time, the roots were wrapped right around the bottom corners, so the roots are getting around or through the fiberglass weave.

I didn't want sediment to fill in around the clay pellets and plug them up.

 

[PCBuds]

That's what I was getting at.

I would pour water/nute solution down the tube but I would fill it past the level of the clay pellets.

There was no air gap.

Do you think I should pump air into the bottom?

Is it better to have oxygen down there or just a stagnant air space for drainage?


Do you think my plant would get too used to it then die if the air pump fails ?

 

[ReikoX]

I would ditch the pump and use some EM1 or homemade lactobacillus...

 

[PCBuds]

... or homemade lactobacillus...

I like the idea of homemade.
I will Google it when I'm sober.

If you could direct me to info. That would be awesome.

I'm guessing some really rotten stuff ??

 

[PCBuds]

I was just thinking...
(I'm pretty wasted and stoned)

I've made my own sauerkraut and I make my own wine, both of which grow in anaerobic conditions.

Maybe I could pour some kraut and wine juices down the filler pipe. Lol.

 

[Swanson]

Did a side by side test with beer fed seedlings once. Took a while but did kill them, wouldn't recommend trying wine.

 

[PCBuds]

Did a side by side test with beer fed seedlings once. Took a while but did kill them, wouldn't recommend trying wine.

Yeah, maybe it's best I don't put any junk juice in my cooler. Lol

 

[Hookahhead]

Here’s how I do it, based off the method that’s everywhere on the net.

First you need starchy water. The original method uses normal white rice, rinsed with a bit of water. Keep the water, cook and eat the rice as you normally would. However, I prefer to use water from boiling pasta or potatoes instead. This sterilizes the broth, so that you only collect local microbes. With the rice wash, you’re mostly growing out whatever was on the rice. I also heavily salt my cooking water, which will also inhibit some organisms from growing. I have had good success with all 3.

After you have your starchy water, put a coffee filter, towel, or other cloth over it, and set it in a warm spot for 3-7 days. Microbes will start feeding and populating the water. At the end it should smell kind of sweet and sour, similar to sour dough. If it makes you want to vomit, it’s probably bad and you should start over.

Once you have a good starter, add 1-2 TBS to 1.5 cups of milk. I’ve always used store bought pasteurized 2%, but any milk will work. Supposedly raw milk is the best to use. Cover the milk with a cloth like you did before, and let it sit for another 3-7 days. Lactobacillus bacteria will grow, and start producing lactic acid. This curdles the milk, which causes it to separate into the curds (solids on top) and whey (clear/yellow liquid on the bottom). The whey is what you want, so remove as much of the solids from the top, and strain/filter the rest of the liquid. The curds are technically edible, similar to cottage cheese, but I don’t find it appetizing. My dogs love the stuff though.

The whey (also called LAB serum), should be diluted 20:1 water to serum before use. The undiluted serum can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-6 months.

You can also use the liquid from your kraut, or the yellow liquid that separates from yogurt (whey) and skip the starchy water step.

 

[PCBuds]

I Googled how to make lactobacillus and I'm going to try to make some.

It sounds easy enough and I don't think I'll end up killing my plant with it.