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Team Microbe's Living Soil Laboratory

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Team Microbe

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Day 30

Day 30

Half way there! Let the bud shots begin...

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Cheesequake x Hollister Kush #1. This is the result of a freak accident... long story short: I'm the only one in the world with this strain right now. It feels weird to say that... but unless it ends up being something special I'll probably just toss the cuttings I take from it.



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Cheesequake x Hollister Kush #2. Very different characteristics from the 1st pheno as you can see..



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Central Valley Kush just after being cleaned up. I like to cut all the larfy branches I missed in the beginning of flowering to help the colas fill in a little thicker. I hate trimming larf so I try to avoid it as much as possible and redirect that energy upwards to the colas.



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Aloe is great to stick in with your girls, I just transplanted these cuttings today and they'll big in no time. I'll puree the trimmings I take from it to make an aloe vera puree to feed every 4th watering. Aloe is the #1 source for salicylic acid, the same exact agent found in those expensive rooting gels that the hydro store sells. When you get it straight from the source, it's pure, un-cut, and the strongest concentration you'll find. Plus, these things push out more and more plants as the original plant grows older. So I've taken one of my biggest expenses (about $100-$150 annually) and diminished it entirely by planting these today. They sell cuttings like these on Amazon for like $10 a piece, I'd highly recommend them.


edit: "Aloe has Salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is involved in local and systemic plant defense responses against pathogens. It plays a role during stresses such as drought, chilling, heavy metal toxicity, heat, and osmotic stress. SA can volatilize and warn neighboring plants of attack."




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Speaking of aloe... these just got an Agsil16H/Aloe juice/Ful-Power drench last week and started to root down into their new 5 gal's. I'm using barley grass as a cover crop here, and it works very well I've found. This stuff is great. It fixes atmospheric nitrogen into plant available nitrogen, adds rhisospheric bacteria (inoculates the root zone), and adds a lot of carbon back to the soil. As we all know, carbon is what our microorganisms use to thrive, and without microorganisms our first line of defense is non-existent. So covers really do "up" systemic plant defenses, just indirectly... like most plant processes we're used to seeing. Bringing cover crops into my garden was one of the best moves I've made in over 2 years of growing in soil. Shown here is a mix of Sicilian Revenge, CVK, Brother's Haze, Mt. Rainier, and Locktite awaiting the flower tent to be vacant. Another 30 days or so...
 
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Team Microbe

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Silver Lotus beginning to stack here at day 30


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A closer view of the base of the cola


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Another Silver Lotus... I'll call this Silver Lotus #2. This is the sativa dom pheno I posted shots of last week


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Closer look at Silver Lotus #2. Her resin rails are becoming more visible this week.... can't wait for these to finish! You know when you develop an attachment to certain plants in your garden? This plant fits that criteria for me... really beautiful structure and some unique characteristics for sure. I didn't top or train this one, so she's almost 6' tall. My guess is an average yield, but it'll be straight gas by the looks of things right now. Anyone else have any flower shots to show off?! I love seeing happy plants, especially happy organic plants :dance013:
 

rik78

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Such a good thread TM, hats off!!

just have a fun time reading it and watching the girls, they are really nice!!

I will be following.
 

DCG Farmas

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Nice! Love the look of that CVK. The structure reminds me of the Bodhi Strange love I just ran. Keep the bud shot coming!
 

GreenMAX

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Microbe buddy.....you just taught me a new trick!
Didn't now a thing about sprout teas,but now I have a new toy to play with!
And that fan leaf pic is just AWESOME!
 

Kozmo

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I did mean MJ seeds by the way. Yes, someone should submit that for pic of the month.
 

Team Microbe

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Damn, that's beautiful

Such a good thread TM, hats off!!

just have a fun time reading it and watching the girls, they are really nice!!

I will be following.

Looks like this guy knows what he's doing.

I'm watching.

Nice! Love the look of that CVK. The structure reminds me of the Bodhi Strange love I just ran. Keep the bud shot coming!

Microbe buddy.....you just taught me a new trick!
Didn't now a thing about sprout teas,but now I have a new toy to play with!
And that fan leaf pic is just AWESOME!

Thanks fam! Those are some kind words indeed... :tiphat:

I did mean MJ seeds by the way. Yes, someone should submit that for pic of the month.

If they're old seeds I'll soak them in water for 12 hours, then go about my normal routine which is simply soaking paper towels in RO water and plopping the seeds in and folding the towel over. Afterwards I'll put them in labeled baggies and leave the bag open but I'll fold it in half to prevent anything from getting inside. I don't want to cut off oxygen completely, but I want to retain moisture until they pop 3-5 days later. That's it! What do you like to do when you pop seeds?
 

Kozmo

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I just put them in RO water and wait for them to pop. After I see the whites out ill put them right in a 1/2 light warrior 1/2 EWC mix. I'm debating two ways for the femed pakistan chitral kush I have. Was going to use a 10% coconut water/RO water mix. But my Bioag products have arived. I was thingking of mixing up a VAM mix and using that. The websight said it was a seed treatment.
 

Team Microbe

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I just put them in RO water and wait for them to pop. After I see the whites out ill put them right in a 1/2 light warrior 1/2 EWC mix. I'm debating two ways for the femed pakistan chitral kush I have. Was going to use a 10% coconut water/RO water mix. But my Bioag products have arived. I was thingking of mixing up a VAM mix and using that. The websight said it was a seed treatment.

Nice man, I'd go with that or even do a side by side to see which works better for you for future reference. Let me know how that goes...
 

Team Microbe

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week 5

week 5

Tomorrow is week 5 for these ladies, time is flying by it feels like. I'd be lying if I said I'm not having fun though. Finally all of this reading and studying is paying off! I highly recommend the books Teaming with Microbes and One Straw Revolution to any growers new to soil. These books were game changers, and really allowed me to step back and look at the entire picture as a whole. It was only then that I focused on feeding the soil microbes instead of directly feeding the plant. Who knew that the secret to growing herb was to allow nature to be put back in charge? I certainly didn't... but it makes complete sense now.

After all, there aren't people sneaking out in the middle of the night to fertilize our National Forests.... so how are they growing so vigorously without any deficiencies? Once we are able to answer this question, we have the power to grow plants at peak health. It's such a harmonious system, everything working in balance and symbiosis... that when humans try to do too much, they destroy that harmony. This is when disease and deficiencies begin to arise. It's quite egotistical actually; the theory that man knows more about nature than nature itself does. Petrochemical feeding regimens now baffle me, and I begin to wonder if money is the real motive behind all of these hydro companies raping growers of their hard earned money. I really do wonder if they know they're doing things ass-backwards... because if they do then they're just evil and out for the mighty dollar. I encourage anyone reading this who is utilizing bottled nutrients to look at the results I'm getting with this soil recipe, and to second guess their plans for their upcoming run. If I can do this, you can too!



Silver Lotus #1 starting to stack up more by the day now...

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Easy Street (high CBD strain) pushing out some fruity pebble-smelling terps this week. Wicked excited to taste this strain and see how much it helps with my back pain from last outdoor season


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As I've mentioned earlier in this thread, I managed to somehow bring thrips into my grow room while hardening off clones for spring last season. They weren't too bad at first, but I started noticing a definite increase in their population as I'd see the little fuckers flying around my room here and there. I haven't really noticed much damage to the plants (I'm guessing it's thanks to the predatory mites that rule my smart pots right now), but now that I'm in the middle of flowering I see thrips getting stuck in the trichomes... and homie don't play that. I wanted a natural way to go about this, and Neem was out of the question since it stays in the plant systematically for up to 6 weeks. So my 2nd option were these beneficial nematodes. I've read many reviews and growers seem to be having success in just a matter of weeks after applying these to their water before feeding. I let them soak for 5 minutes in the water, and then watered like I normally do. It says to apply 2 separate applications, so I took 1/2 of each of these strains and watered them in last night before lights when off (they're photosensitive). In a week from now I'll repeat the process one more time, and I'll keep you guys updated on my findings. I'm hoping it'll stop these things in their tracks, since nematodes devour all stages of life for thrips (and many other insects as well, if you enlarge this picture you can see the long list that each strain of nematodes will reek havoc on). Has anyone else gone this route yet for pests?



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Sicilian Revenge starting to make a name for herself... I doubted this strain at first but now I'm already prepping cuttings for my next run lol. Definitely head sack worthy in my book.
 

Team Microbe

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...continued...

...continued...

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My favorite plant in the garden right now - Silver Lotus #2


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Some side branching coming along well. She's not a high yielder by any means, but I'm guessing I'll be reaching into her jar more than anything else come harvest time


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This is Bodhi's Snow Lotus male x Super Silver Haze. Everything I've ran by him is hands down the dankest shit I've ever smoked. I think growing in soil only amplifies the genetic potential as well, seeing as how he breeds in living soil. Mimicking the breeding conditions of a strain lets that strain really take off how it was pre-dispositioned to do so, that's if you believe in epigenetics like I and many others do.
 
I just put them in RO water and wait for them to pop. After I see the whites out ill put them right in a 1/2 light warrior 1/2 EWC mix. I'm debating two ways for the femed pakistan chitral kush I have. Was going to use a 10% coconut water/RO water mix. But my Bioag products have arived. I was thingking of mixing up a VAM mix and using that. The websight said it was a seed treatment.

Their Ful-Power as a soak will increase and quicken the tap root by at least 24 hours or maybe more, if you are used to 48 - 72 hours.
 

Kozmo

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I put them in this morning. I cut it with coconut water, the VAL is to be put in the soil when planting. I'm sure adding a little Ful-Power wouldn't hurt at this stage.
 

Team Microbe

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Their Ful-Power as a soak will increase and quicken the tap root by at least 24 hours or maybe more, if you are used to 48 - 72 hours.

He's right, I clone with Ful-Power and had a 22" tap root within like a week and a half on one of my cuttings. I'll never clone without it now... best and purest fulvic acids you'll find
 
He's right, I clone with Ful-Power and had a 22" tap root within like a week and a half on one of my cuttings. I'll never clone without it now... best and purest fulvic acids you'll find

I'm trying to do a control to see if a mid layer soil drench with it is more effective than using as foliar with chelates.
 
Outstanding stuff!

and even the pics are not bad.. :laughing:

BTW.. which is the concept ? .. germination and cloning with umic and fulvic acid is a way to agevolate some processes ?

I am in south Italy so could be to much expensive use Bio ag products.. that's why I am asking about :tiphat:
 
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