Team Microbe's Quest into True Living Organics (2014)

[Team Microbe]

hey TM where you using any mulch ?? if so what where you using.. im just reading through TLO now. Good read but still scratching my head a lil about spikes..

I am, I'm using cocoa shell mulch right now. It smells like chocolate but if you have animals you've gotta make the garden inaccessible to them because the stuff has killed many dogs/cats. Only about a handful will do it, so even spilling some of this in the yard means digging it up with a shovel to be safe. Can you tell I'm a dog lover?


If you don't wanna go with cocoa shells then any composted shredded bark will be awesome. I actually have a site on hand that has AMAZING mulch, I'm ordering some when I get my check from work this week.

http://buildasoil.com/collections/all-visible-products/products/aged-compost

^stuff is gold


Stray from cedar as it inhibits fungal growth (important for flowering), hardwood mulches, and anything non-organic with dyes or colorant included. It's funny how hard it is to find a good organic mulch these days in some places... I was looking for over 3 weeks around my town! "No sir, I don't want COLORANT."


The other good thing about cocoa shell mulch is that is gets darker with age (rather than fading). That combined with grokashi produces some serious brix levels and health in the plant. I was going to post pics in a minute so you'll see what I mean... cheers brother

 

[Team Microbe]

Death Row...

Death Row...

Had to take some quality pictures before chopping - enjoy!

Critical Kush stinkin like some true OG with rock-hard flowers

Critical Kush

Critical Kush skeleton

Resin profile

This strain responded well to mainlining with symmetry all the way up the board! Very easy on the eyes

 

[Team Microbe]

Goji OG

Colas finally stacking before the chop at week 10

Strawberry cheesecake pheno

Goji's skeleton was my favorite, she's a freak

mycelium smothering some grokashi

 

[Team Microbe]

Critical +

^ mycelium rising ^


All in all, I'm sold on true living organics and probiotic gardening practices... probably for life. The taste and yield of my harvest was unlike any I've ever had in my 10 years of growing hydro, coco, bottles w/ soil and aeroponics. The only thing that comes close is bottles with soil and these blow those out of the water completely! Bottles & soil don't make sense now that I know how the entire system actually works and operates... and now that I see the true healing capabilities of probiotically-grown medicine I've been inspired to take this and run with it... the Koreans really knew what the hell they were doing.

 

[howske]

Thanks for the response TM, thats a nice link im from oz i have to source something from here down under lol, the pictures of the mycelium look cool.. What are the benefits i would love to understand more your reason for including it in your soil.. Il be starting my grow soon, building a tea brewer and gonna start building a soil mix. But im still abit weary on layering and spikes, i guess i just have to test for myself, but why pre cook the soilmix i have and get everything balanced and then spike creating hot zones, my sense tell me this would suited more for out door and not in pots. we dont mix soil with fertz and plant straight away we give it time to cook so we would we add s

 

[howske]

Oops premature send there .. Continuing so why would we add spikes, my sense tells me roots would avoid them until they have been broken down by the microlife in the soil. Ten again your plants look amazing, thanks for sharing all the best bro

 

[Hmong]

The other good thing about cocoa shell mulch is that is gets darker with age (rather than fading). That combined with grokashi produces some serious brix levels and health in the plant. I was going to post pics in a minute so you'll see what I mean... cheers brother

thank you so much for that input about cocoa mulch!
I got some today and replaced my bark mulch layer. It held some fungus gnats when i purchased it, i had an invasion withing 2 weeks after i topdressed.
the cocoa shells now are really cool, they even smell wonderfull.

you sir have an amazing fungual developement. seems your myko product is the hell
I'm quite happy with Great White so far, but i will try ******s mykorhizza after my stash of GW is empty. GW is not availiabe in europe it seemed, I had to order it via ebay from the states. took the whole 32 oz of course^^

Bottles & soil don't make sense now that I know how the entire system actually works and operates

thats what I tell people all the time. If you wan't to use hydro nutes then do hydro, if you wan't to grow in soil, then there is no way around organic growing. everything else is just a waste.

this is also my last coco run, after this I'm all into organics once and forever.
I have cut back on my bottles with sucess. there are only some mililiters left each.
also I my gardening skills have developed much since I started reading into organics.
I feel much much safer now about what I'm doing.

thx for all the tips you gave me btw

chokdee

 

[Team Microbe]

Thanks for the response TM, thats a nice link im from oz i have to source something from here down under lol, the pictures of the mycelium look cool.. What are the benefits i would love to understand more your reason for including it in your soil.. Il be starting my grow soon, building a tea brewer and gonna start building a soil mix. But im still abit weary on layering and spikes, i guess i just have to test for myself, but why pre cook the soilmix i have and get everything balanced and then spike creating hot zones, my sense tell me this would suited more for out door and not in pots. we dont mix soil with fertz and plant straight away we give it time to cook so we would we add s

Anytime man! Mycelium is amazing. It's a fungus that works symbiotically with your root system (rhizosphere) and aids and increases efficiency in water/mineral/food uptake as well as serves as a "brick wall" for viruses and diseases that like to attack the root zone. It breaks down organic matter as well, and is actually a food source for those beneficial invertebrates crawling around in the soil.

It's funny because the largest living organism is actually a mycelium web underneath Oregon's national forest. It breaks down the dead vegetation and composts it into the richest and darkest loam soil you've ever seen! Then it re-grows some of the largest and healthiest trees in the country. Sound familiar??


Spiking is for later down the line IMO after you've gotten the hang of TLO. Mixing a super soil and layering it with a base soil would be the best bet, and letting that SS compost for a month or two prior to doing so obviously. I spiked a few plants to test it out, and they were burned and had some twisted new growth on a couple. I didn't add any aeration (perlite or something) though, and did straight guano/kelp/oyster shell so that may have tweaked things a bit. Not sure, but this round I'm feeding a soilless mix with tea, along side a few plants that are in TGA's SS. I always like doing side-by-sides, learning and moving on with whatever worked best that run.

 

[Team Microbe]

thank you so much for that input about cocoa mulch!
I got some today and replaced my bark mulch layer. It held some fungus gnats when i purchased it, i had an invasion withing 2 weeks after i topdressed.
the cocoa shells now are really cool, they even smell wonderfull.

you sir have an amazing fungual developement. seems your myko product is the hell
I'm quite happy with Great White so far, but i will try ******s mykorhizza after my stash of GW is empty. GW is not availiabe in europe it seemed, I had to order it via ebay from the states. took the whole 32 oz of course^^



thats what I tell people all the time. If you wan't to use hydro nutes then do hydro, if you wan't to grow in soil, then there is no way around organic growing. everything else is just a waste.

this is also my last coco run, after this I'm all into organics once and forever.
I have cut back on my bottles with sucess. there are only some mililiters left each.
also I my gardening skills have developed much since I started reading into organics.
I feel much much safer now about what I'm doing.

thx for all the tips you gave me btw

chokdee

Hey no problem man, I've been searching for literally a good month myself to find a nice organic mulch locally. I saw Gage Green Group using this in combo with grokashi so I hopped on board because I remember seeing it at my local nursery... just never really knew what it was exactly. Hello chocolate-smelling growroom!

Are you starring out Dragonfly Earth Medicine? I forget if you're the person I talked to them about endo's and ecto's and the difference between GW and endo inoculants like DEM's Lush Roots or Xtreme's mykos. If so, that's what's up man. You should even save your last bit of GW to run a little side by side with that vs. your new endo-dom inoculant of choice. Would be pretty interesting I think!

And you sound like me, I went from coco to organic soil like that as well. Coco gives you that huge growth speed increase but the health and flavor aren't as prevalent as soil is. Going organic will ease your mind of chems getting into your flowers come chopping day, chems being around your grow room and animal(s), and ease it even in the sense of knowing you're doing things as efficiently (cost-wise too) as you can possibly do them. Like I like to say, "don't panic, it's organic!"

 

[Hmong]

Are you starring out Dragonfly Earth Medicine? I forget if you're the person I talked to them about endo's and ecto's and the difference between GW and endo inoculants like DEM's Lush Roots or Xtreme's mykos. If so, that's what's up man. You should even save your last bit of GW to run a little side by side with that vs. your new endo-dom inoculant of choice. Would be pretty interesting I think!

I don't think so, they have no reseller in europe. i stay with what i have access to around here. but there are some alternatives, I have already put one in mind.

about the discussion, no it wasn't me but i read it too
I will keep that in mind and safe a bit for a 1 vs 1 side by side.
you know I lack of space with my small op

 

[Team Microbe]

Flower shots!

Flower shots!

It was a nice, warm, 70 degree day outside today so I decided to take advantage of the light I had and take some quick shots of what just went off to the curing jars. These were grown in 100% probiganic soil:

Critical +

Critical + catchin some rays baby!

Goji OG

Goji's backside...

Goji's resin profile

 

[Hmong]

very nice nugs man!
i love the last pic, where you can see the intact glads.

i'd love to have one of those buds, i suffer a total drought atm.
i only have BHO left for the purpose lol

 

[Rickman]

Delusions of Chrondeur

Delusions of Chrondeur

Howdy y'all!

Miss me?

Couple things:

1) Sorry I vanished, I've had some incredible luck in school/career areas and taken a new job in Denver (actually, the job took me...I didn't apply they kind of just scouted me)

2) My inner mad scientist hasn't had proper room to grow (no pun intended) in my minimal college trap-house utility room, and the highly experimental organic grow i'd been documenting on TLO-style in parallel to Lord TM's organic artistry has fallen by the wayside of my new responsibilities

3) I'll post a pic right after this of the consequences of negligence...my partner in no-longer-a-crime for this grow has also by chance been hired for a job in central CO. so our blessed children...they pretty much became latchkey plants

4) TM...nice! Hmong: I love the design of that brewer. Very innovative. I'll race you to the patent office! Just kidding (am I?)

Finally, if you happen to be located in the Canna-pital of the world, Colorado USA, please do send me a private message if you're interested in making big things happen in Cannabis.

Cheers!!!

 

[Rickman]

We've got a visual.

We've got a visual.





Soon, I'll have a virtually limitless space for experimentation as well as exorbitant amounts of financial support...in 100% legal conditions!

 

[Team Microbe]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=51901&pictureid=1253854&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=51901&pictureid=1253855&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Soon, I'll have a virtually limitless space for experimentation as well as exorbitant amounts of financial support...in 100% legal conditions!

Hell yeah Rickman! We missed you!

I've been missing as well, as I've had a lot on my plate outdoors this month. You guys can check my other thread goin on right now called "Team Microbe steps into Guerrilla Country...."


I wanna keep this thread goin though! I'd like to start discussing bokashi, has anyone ventured into the Korean world of fermentation yet???

 

[long4201989]

I also just bought the Dewey mister going to test them out. How is your mister performing? And are your root system bigger than those of real acroponic misters

 

[long4201989]

ahhh, ok ok my bad I thought you meant something else with the foam comments lol. Nice, yeah tlo should set you off just nicely. I just get excited about Teaming because it's what made me make the switch to organics.

The Dewey Misters aren't for cleaning though, they mimic 360 degree sprayers (found in EZ cloners) with a bigger air/water flow diameter. Type in Dewey Mister hydroponics in youtube they're cool as shit... really gaining popularity over the community right now for cloning and compost tea brewing. I haven't tried them yet but ordered some last week because everyone loves em, not sure if they have restrictions on shipping but it's def worth a shot.

The low pH is unfortunate, def cook longer if you think that's what did it next time. Unlucky, but mistakes are lessons and without them we wouldn't learn much!

What are your issues again? Just low pH?

How are the Dewey mister? Does it work for large flowering plants that have huge root systems?

 

[Team Microbe]

How are the Dewey mister? Does it work for large flowering plants that have huge root systems?

they work great

 

[Kozmo]

Had to read this one also.

 

[thewhitelotus]

TM, any additional input on the dewey misters? What are you using them for? Did a little reading on them and they definitely have my attention for teas and cloning