Team Microbe's Living Soil Laboratory

[Team Microbe]

Holy Fuck TM.... loss for words

Awesome thread! Glad I stumbled upon it. That Silver Lotus....WOW! Really, really nice bro!

View Image

beautiful work and thanks for the info. subbed!

Looking killer dude!

Happy New Years Eve!

Be safe.

Thanks fam! Happy New Years

these aren't frosty enough... you should just give it all to me

your rockin it for sure!!

That Lotus is eye catching, how long do you take her?

Thanks man, I liked the Lotus for the same reasons - I'll take these phenos to Day 70-75 maybe longer depending on senescence fading

Really great thread, and great plants. i'm watching for sure.

Happy new year

Thanks bro! Happy New Years to you too

 

[Team Microbe]

Day 67

Day 67

Sicilian Revenge

This Sicilian Revenge is really starting to push out those fall colors here in week 9

I love this purple hue!

S.R. close up

Sicilian chopped and hung for the dry - officially the first plant to hit the chopping block out of the 12 in the flowering tent

 

[Team Microbe]

Silver Lotus #1

Silver Lotus #2 lower - I really like how this pheno fills out nice and fat, it's definitely the Super Silver Haze dominant pheno

Another Silver Lotus #1 shot - under 3 point lighting this time.
Edit: This photo got chosen for the 2015 April issue of HighTimes magazine!





Anyways, I hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday. Until next time... stay grateful!

 

[Fields~of~Green]

Awesome work TM

How do the buds burn when doing this method do you get a nice white ash ?

 

[Team Microbe]

Awesome work TM

How do the buds burn when doing this method do you get a nice white ash ?

Thanks bro, yeah you get a clean end product as long as you let them finish properly and wait for that fade to finish. If not then you will have black ash, as with any other method. I wait til all of my leaves turn yellow and begin dying/falling off the plant, then I'll chop.

 

[Fields~of~Green]

Thanks for the reply tm

I'm all most fully convinced that my next venture is LOS couple more months research and al be ready to give it a go

Threads like this are inspirational


Thanks

 

[MsLoyal]

Nice stuff in here. I'm pretty much a newbie and love to see what can be done. Will be checkin in here for sure.

 

[Thechewmaster]

Very nice work. Two weeks ago ordered nutrient mix from build a soil, love their stuff and their properly sourced amendments. They did all the work for me, I want my products to come from a sustainable source, not a byproduct of factory farming, like blood and meal usually is. Bat guano can many times come from raping remote islands also, which is why I love what jeremey @ build-a-soil has done. He understands proper soil biology and I love that and I have been seeking that out for a while.

I was away from cannabis growing for nearly a decade and boy I am glad to see things are changing, slowly, but changing. I used to grow with fox farm everything, ocean forest soil and their standard line of nutrients. I did add molasses in my flower phase and ended up with a fairly good product. In my current grow I wanted something much more connected with the soil, lots of fungi and bacteria but I didn't see exactly what I was looking for. I knew more than many about soil biology and knew about old growth forests using fungi to transport nutrients and signals to specific and even related trees. I understand how the risosphere works and how the bacteria who live there play a significant role in nutrient uptake to plant roots. My research lead me to various organic soil mix varieties but I wanted to mix my own this time so I stumbled across subcool's soil. It looked like it may do the trick, but I continued to skeptical about many of the ingredients and processes. It may work for many but I still wanted something a bit different. Then I stumbled upon Jeremy's blog post titled, "What's so cool about super soil?
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/12533881-whats-so-cool-about-super-soil-the-super-soil-recipe-breakdown

I read that and his responses and I was hooked. Exactly the type of thought I waned to put into my soil and he had done it for me! Awesome! That was a month ago and I'm still all excited. And now I've found this thread which has almost everything I want and it's been done right before my eyes. Great job documenting TM. Hopefully I end up as happy as you have been.

 

[MJtheIndicator]

The Lotus has some of the most straight spiked calyx behaviour I have seen.

 

[Team Microbe]

Very nice work. Two weeks ago ordered nutrient mix from build a soil, love their stuff and their properly sourced amendments. They did all the work for me, I want my products to come from a sustainable source, not a byproduct of factory farming, like blood and meal usually is. Bat guano can many times come from raping remote islands also, which is why I love what jeremey @ build-a-soil has done. He understands proper soil biology and I love that and I have been seeking that out for a while.

I was away from cannabis growing for nearly a decade and boy I am glad to see things are changing, slowly, but changing. I used to grow with fox farm everything, ocean forest soil and their standard line of nutrients. I did add molasses in my flower phase and ended up with a fairly good product. In my current grow I wanted something much more connected with the soil, lots of fungi and bacteria but I didn't see exactly what I was looking for. I knew more than many about soil biology and knew about old growth forests using fungi to transport nutrients and signals to specific and even related trees. I understand how the risosphere works and how the bacteria who live there play a significant role in nutrient uptake to plant roots. My research lead me to various organic soil mix varieties but I wanted to mix my own this time so I stumbled across subcool's soil. It looked like it may do the trick, but I continued to skeptical about many of the ingredients and processes. It may work for many but I still wanted something a bit different. Then I stumbled upon Jeremy's blog post titled, "What's so cool about super soil?
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/12533881-whats-so-cool-about-super-soil-the-super-soil-recipe-breakdown

I read that and his responses and I was hooked. Exactly the type of thought I waned to put into my soil and he had done it for me! Awesome! That was a month ago and I'm still all excited. And now I've found this thread which has almost everything I want and it's been done right before my eyes. Great job documenting TM. Hopefully I end up as happy as you have been.

That must have been like a breath of fresh air for you to see the smoke clear over the industry in the terms of conventional synthetics being used to grow what people call "medicine", yeah?! I've seen the wave slowly hit the community too, it's such a good feeling man.
I've only been at it for 2 years, the 5 years prior to that I was running bottles in a hydro setting and just couldn't figure out why I was seeing powdery mildew and other plant diseases/pests pop up even though I was doing everything "right"
Then I had a meltdown with powdery mildew and I needed to find out WHY it was happening... it was then I discovered that it was dependent on plant health and the only way to build an immune system is through mimicking nature and natural processes. Since then I've been pushing everyone else to make the switch because like you know already, the outcome is far superior than synthetics


TGA super soil was my foot in the door for organic soil 2 years ago as well, and like the article reads - TGA got the word around and got the idea in everyone's heads that organic soil might be a better alternative. So you, me, and Jeremy really have similar outlooks on that entire matter dude, I can really relate to you when you say that. Jeremy just has his head in the right places right now, and when I found out that his mentors are Microbe Man and Coots I looked into them and realized how wise they truly are when it comes to growing plants properly. I give all my credit to them, this nutrient kit I grabbed from BAS performed better than anything I've used before... it was enlightening for me because I realized how many products out there that just aren't necessary. It almost put a foul taste in my mouth how these companies just rape growers for their $ and preach that they need their products


I just read that TGA Super Soil entry in the BAS blog too, priceless stuff man lol. You're gonna love their CC nutrient kit, can't wait to see your thread (if you make one). And thanks! I try to make it useful for other growers instead of just posting pics because I come here to learn and I know others do too so I'll try to take the time to explain things that I'm doing. Lately I've been busy but I wanna make a post about Vapor Pressure Deficit because I just learned this week how important that shit is. My humidity is dipping down and I've been wondering why my plants in veg aren't praying anymore...

 

[Team Microbe]

Thanks for the reply tm

I'm all most fully convinced that my next venture is LOS couple more months research and al be ready to give it a go

Threads like this are inspirational


Thanks

Hell yeah man, make the jump when you're ready - you're making a good decision by studying up a little bit I really respect that

Nice stuff in here. I'm pretty much a newbie and love to see what can be done. Will be checkin in here for sure.

Thanks bro!

The Lotus has some of the most straight spiked calyx behaviour I have seen.

Dude tell me about it, I've yet to see anything like it in my 10 years growing. It's super silver haze dominant, and I've never grown it before but I have a feeling it's from those genes

 

[Polygon]

This thread has convinced me to switch to no-till and full organics. I have been coming from an aeroponic background to a soilless bio-grow with general organics and although the results were decent, this makes 1000% more sense for my garden.

I just got my shipment from buildasoil.com and am mixing the new soil to be ready for plants in 4 weeks or so.

Thank you for this thread, I have a friend who has great results from TLO and I was looking more into that, but after a few doses of truth and rationality - I realized that while TLO is great, it doesn't make nearly as much sense as no-till organics. I'll post my results when they come up

 

[Team Microbe]

This thread has convinced me to switch to no-till and full organics. I have been coming from an aeroponic background to a soilless bio-grow with general organics and although the results were decent, this makes 1000% more sense for my garden.

I just got my shipment from buildasoil.com and am mixing the new soil to be ready for plants in 4 weeks or so.

Thank you for this thread, I have a friend who has great results from TLO and I was looking more into that, but after a few doses of truth and rationality - I realized that while TLO is great, it doesn't make nearly as much sense as no-till organics. I'll post my results when they come up

That's what I like to hear man! So glad this thread made you make the switch, that makes me feel like people are really taking something from this stuff. I see results and I just wanna inform everyone about it, and how much money we can save while increasing quality at the same time.

You're gonna kill it with your next run, enjoy brother

 

[Heusinomics]

Simply amazing results and great work!
Thanks for taking the time to answer all our Q's and posting up your hard work for all to see!
Your results are outstanding!

Could you explain a little more about your "SST-Seed Sprout. Tea"?
Roughly How much barley?(soaked then blended)
Added to how much water?(brewer size)
Then diluted again by how much befor being added to plants?

Sorry to nerd out, but I too am excited to leave the bottles behind and join the "TEAM"!!

 

[Team Microbe]

Simply amazing results and great work!
Thanks for taking the time to answer all our Q's and posting up your hard work for all to see!
Your results are outstanding!

Could you explain a little more about your "SST-Seed Sprout. Tea"?
Roughly How much barley?(soaked then blended)
Added to how much water?(brewer size)
Then diluted again by how much befor being added to plants?

Sorry to nerd out, but I too am excited to leave the bottles behind and join the "TEAM"!!

Thanks for the kind words man, truly appreciate them!

The Seed Sprout Teas have numerous benefits and can be done with almost any seed out there to tell you the truth, they all release enzymes in that early sprout phase for us to utilize. I've seen the majority of growers in my circle using corn, alfalfa, clover, and of course barley. Check out this link at Buildasoil that I refer to for all of your questions, this is a detailed how-to from start to finish:
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/12607517-using-b-a-s-barley-for-enzyme-tea-tutorial


Here's another tutorial that Jeremy made, this time he filmed a video:
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/video-blog/14096797-sprouted-seed-tea-tutorial


Also, I use 1/2 cup barley for every 5 gallons of water, brew for an hour or two and then apply as a drench (do not foliar with this!). No need to apologize brother, this is THE place to nerd out - trust me

Can't wait for you to make the switch over from bottles, welcome to the Team!

 

[Team Microbe]

The power of Relative Humidity/Temperature in the grow room

The power of Relative Humidity/Temperature in the grow room

I wanted to share with everyone something I found pretty interesting this week. Notice the curling on the outside of the leaflets below. My RH% has been dropping slowly now that winter has set in, and I'm looking at 15%-25% RH on average this month. I noticed this leaf curl as the RH% plummeted over the last few weeks, and upon further research I came to find out that it does has to do with the RH% in the air, as well as the temperatures in the grow room and how all of these relate to something called Vapor Pressure Deficit.

Vapor Pressure Deficit - The Hidden Force on your Plants

Once you understand what vapor pressure deficit is, all those environmental factors you're trying to juggle in your mind suddenly click into place and you start to think and feel like a plant. Take a few minutes to understand why VPD management is key to creating the perfect indoor growing environment! Your plants will thank you for it!
Humidity is HUGE when it comes to growing plants. An important milestone in becoming a competent and responsive grower is developing an understanding of what humidity is, how plants respond to it, and how you can manage and manipulate it

Firstly, let's make sure we're all on the same page. When we speak of the "humidity" of or in the air we are basically referring to the amount of water in the air. "In the air?" What do we mean? Well, water can only truly stay in the air when it is in gas form - aka "water vapor". We're not talking about tiny droplets of water in the air here (e.g. fog or mist.)

Tomato plant suffering from arid conditions - high temperatures and very low humidity.Unsurprisingly, temperature plays a crucial role when it comes to humidity. The warmer the air, the more water vapor it can potentially hold. As the amount of water air can hold constantly changes with temperature it can be difficult to get a handle on what we need to measure. Fortunately an answer comes in the form of the concept of "Relative Humidity" (RH) - this is a measurement in terms of percentage, of the water vapor in the air compared to the total water vapor potential that the air could hold at a given temperature.

So, when we say there's a relative humidity of 50% - we mean "At this specific temperature, the air is carrying half the potential water vapor possible."



Under Pressure

All gasses in the air exert a certain "pressure." The more water vapor in the air the greater the vapor pressure. What does this mean? Well, in high RH conditions (think of Florida again) there is a greater vapor pressure being exerted on plants than in low RH conditions. From a plant's perspective, high vapor pressure can be thought of as an unseen force in the air pushing on the plants from all directions. This pressure is exerted onto the leaves by the high concentration of water vapor in the air making it harder for the plant to 'push back' by losing water into the air by transpiration. This is why with high RH plants transpire less. Conversely, in environments with low RH, only a small amount of pressure is exerted on the plants' leaves, making it easy for them to lose water into the air.


What is Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD)?

Okay, so now that you have RH firmly implanted into your conceptual map, we move on to Vapor Pressure Deficit or VPD. As implied by the word "deficit" we're talking about the difference between two things. In this case, it's the difference between the theoretical pressure exerted by water vapor held in saturated air (100% RH at a given temperature) and the pressure exerted by the water vapor that is actually held in the air being measured at the same given temperature.


An easy way to understand vapor pressure deficit.

The VPD is currently regarded of how plants really 'feel' and react to the humidity in the growing environment. From a plant's perspective the VPD is the difference between the vapor pressure inside the leaf compared to the vapor pressure of the air. If we look at it with an RH hat on; the water in the leaf and the water and air mixture leaving the stomata is (more often than not) completely saturated -100% RH. If the air outside the leaf is less than 100% RH there is potential for water vapor to enter the air because gasses and liquids like to move from areas of high concentration (in this example the leaf) into areas of lower concentration (the air). So, in terms of growing plants, the VPD can be thought of as the shortage of vapor pressure in the air compared to within the leaf itself.

Another way of thinking about VPD is the atmospheric demand for water or the 'drying power' of the air. VPD is usually measured in pressure units, most commonly millibars or kilopascals, and is essentially a combination of temperature and relative humidity in a single value. VPD values run in the opposite way to RH vales, so when RH is high VPD is low. The higher the VPD value, the greater the potential the air has for sucking moisture out of the plant.
As mentioned above, VPD provides a more accurate picture of how plants feel their environment in relation to temperature and humidity which gives us growers a better platform for environmental control. The only problem with VPD is it's difficult to determine accurately because you need to know the leaf temperature. This is quite a complex issue as leaf temperature can vary from leaf to leaf depending on many factors such as if a leaf is in direct light, partial shade or full shade. The most practical approach that most environmental control companies use to assess VPD is to take measurements of air temperature within the crop canopy. For humidity control purposes it's not necessary to measure the actual leaf VPD to within strict guidelines, what we want is to gain insight into is how the current temperature and humidity surrounding the crop is affecting the plants. A well positioned sensor measuring the air temperature and humidity close to, or just below, the crop canopy is adequate for providing a good indication of actual leaf conditions.


Humidity's Effect on Plants

Plants cope with changing humidity by adjusting the stomata on the leaves. Stomata open wider as VPD decreases (high RH) and they begin to close as VPD increases (low RH). Stomata begin to close in response to low RH to prevent excessive water loss and eventually wilting but this closure also affects the rate of photosynthesis because CO2 is absorbed through the stomata openings. Consistently low RH will often cause very slow growth or even stunting. Humidity therefore indirectly affects the rate of photosynthesis so at higher humidity levels the stomata are open allowing co2 to be absorbed.

When humidity gets too low plants will really struggle to grow. In response to high VPD plants will try to stop the excessive water loss from their leaves by trying to avoid light hitting the surface of the leaf. They do this by rolling the leaf inwards from the margins to form tube like structures in an attempt to expose less of the leaf surface to the light, as shown in the photo.

For most plants, growth tends to be improved at high RH but excessive humidity can also encourage some unfavorable growth attributes. Low VPD causes low transpiration which limits the transport of minerals, particularly calcium as it moves in the transpiration stream of the plant - the xylem. If VPD is very low (95-100% RH) and the plants are unable to transpire any water into the air, pressure within the plant starts to build up. When this is coupled with a wet root zone, which creates high root pressure, it combines to create excessive pressure within the plant which can lead to water being forced out of leaves at their edges in a process called guttation. Some plants have modified stomata at their leaf edges called hydathodes which are specially adapted to allow guttation to occur. Guttation can be spotted when the edges of leaves have small water droplets on, most evident in early morning or just after the lights have come on. If you see leaves that appear burnt at the edges or have white crystalline circular deposits at the edges it could be evidence that guttation has occurred.

Most growers are well aware that with high humidity comes and increased risk of fungal diseases. Water droplets can form on leaves when water vapor condenses out of the air as temperature drops, providing the perfect breeding ground for diseases like botrytis and powdery mildew. If humidity remains high it further promotes the growth of fungal diseases. The water droplet exuded through guttation also creates the perfect environment for fungal spores to germinate inviting disease to take hold.

 

[Team Microbe]

So in conclusion to the above article, I've learned how important environment control actually is. When we experience High levels of VPD, it literally sucks the water from the plant and cuts down on photosynthetic efficiency. We all know that photosynthesis is the engine behind all plant processes, so that's why we see plant growth slow down or even stunted when humidity levels are too low. It's been shown and proven that ideal conditions in the grow room is 55%-65% RH along with 70F - 78F, as this scenario allows for a very low Vapor Pressure Deficit. With low VPD comes low stress levels, and optimal plant performance. My room has been 72F with 18% RH this week and plant growth has indeed slowed down (especially noticeable in veg). I'm investing in a humidifier to combat this problem, as an environmental control system is a little too pricey for me since I'm only running a small bedroom full of plants.

I also learned another thing or two while looking into the impact of VPD and how much of a difference it makes when conditions are ideal. For example, a month ago when RH % was 50% and temps were 75F - I experienced no stress in the grow room and plants were literally praying. After reminiscing about this and realizing that the plants are no longer praying as much, I looked into what actually makes plants do this. What do you know, "praying" ties in with VPD as well... (this next excerpt was taken from Jeremy's thread over at Grasscity, thanks Jeremy!)


"Leaf Prayer"

(picture was taken when RH was at 55% and temps were 75F)


TURGIDITY - "In relation to photosynthesis, a prime function of water within the plant is to maintain turgor within the guard cells of the leaves. The guard cells are in a state of turgor when they are fully stretched. To maintain turgor the amount of water absorbed must, in general, equal the amount of water transpired (aka low VPD). When the rate of absorption is much less than the rate of transpiration, the guard cells lose turgor, the stomates partially or completely close, carbon dioxide cannot rapidly diffuse into the leaves, and photosynthesis slows down or entirely stops while respiration continues. As a result, very few carbohydrates are available for growth and development, and growth and yields are low."


So in short, this "leaf prayer" occurs when VPD is low and moisture is not being sucked from the plant from the dry air. Plants that pray are very happy plants, and should be a goal of ours as indoor gardeners. This is also another important step for allowing plants to achieve their full genetic potential.

 

[fatsack79]

Great thread Team Microbe... The last two post were awesome and definitely quintessential gardening tips/advice... Much appreciated brother... -F.S

 

[Team Microbe]

Great thread Team Microbe... The last two post were awesome and definitely quintessential gardening tips/advice... Much appreciated brother... -F.S

Thanks brother

 

[Team Microbe]

Day 72

Day 72

Cheesequake x Hollister Kush

Silver Lotus #1

CVK by TG Genetics

Sicilian Revenge #1

had to lol