Organic Living Soil w/ Amare Tech HiLED's

Hello all, been searching around the site for quite some time & decided to start a journal as I just finished up a new room build! Its a 10x16 room which I plan on utilizing to set up a fully perpetual garden. For now I am vegging everything in a 4x8 tent that I previously used to flower in & a 5x12 space to flower everything out.

My soil mix consists of (per C.F.):

Sphagnum Peat Moss: 2.5 Gal
Compost: 1 Gal
Vermicompost: 1.5 Gal
Perlite: 2.5 Gal

To that I will add:

Acadian Kelp meal: 1/2 Cup
Ahimsa Neem cake: 1/2 Cup
Crustacean meal: 1/2 Cup
Gypsum dust: 1 Cup
Oyster Shell Flour: 1 Cup
Basalt Rock Dust: 2 Cups
Glacial Rock Dust: 2 Cups

Ill mix it all up and wet it with a mix of (per Gal) 1/8 Tsp 200x Aloe Vera Powder, & 2 Tsp AgSil & let it sit for a month wetting it whenever the soil starts to get dry as I would if there was a plant in it.

I will try and post some pictures here in a bit, hope all is well out there!

I will be setting up the 5x12 flower area here once I can get ahold of some Orca Film to cover the walls, floor, & ceiling.



Once I can do that I plan on ditching the 4x8 tent and setting up a 5x8 space. For now my plants are sitting in 7gal geopots & 1 gal smart pots. I plan on switching to No-Till methods and will be switching to 10gal pots here soon & eventually 20gal pots.

I am running two strains currently, my Bodhi Seeds Pura Vida (which has yet to be sexed) & my BCBD Girl Scout Cookie which I have been running for the past 3 years.

GSC #1 is in my organic soil mix & doing quite lovely. Going to let her bush up some more then flip her to flower.



GSC #2 is in my old roots organics bagged soil as I was doing comparisons between the two & figured mine as well finish the bag of soil. She clearly hasn't been to happy as well as the growth is completely different. Both are clones from the same mom yet clones I took from the roots soil are much more yellow. Even after being transplanted into my organic mix. As you can see from the clones at the bottom of the pic. The more yellow clone was from GSC #2 while the other two were from GSC #1.



Transplanted 1 GSC & 1 Pura Vida into 7 gal pots using my organic soil. These are technically my first go at a No-Till soil as I transplanted from Dixie cups straight to these pots. These were the same undisturbed pots I just had my last flower run of GSC in. It was much easier to transplant only having to disturb about a handful of soil as apposed to most of the planter!!



I'm also trying to Re-Veg a Golden Goat plant I had some issues with a while back. Thru her outside and she flowered out some amazing small buds so resin covered and smelled terrific!! So I decided to chop the underdeveloped buds and try to keep her around. So far she seems to be doing quite well!



Going to have to snap some pictures of the Pura Vida mom when the lights come on here in a bit. For now here is a group shot where you can see her there in the front.



I am using two SolarSPEC-260's by Amare Technologies. They are 41" away from the bigger plants & 45"-50" from the babies. Going to let them acclimate to the intensity and then I will start to lower them 2"-3" every few days until I get to 30".

More to come soon

Alright time for a much needed update!

Flower update, Day 49:
Moved GSC #1 & #2 to flower on the 22nd of January. They have been doing great, stacking was beautiful and the density they are putting on is remarkable! They are sitting in a 2x4 area with a single SolarSPEC-260 @20" away. I started off at 30" and slowly acclimated them to the intensity, lowering 2"-3" every few days. This way I didn't get any bleaching on the plants from the intensity put off by the light.

GSC #1:



GSC #2:



Hate removing any leaves so I just leave them be until they fall off and then I mulch them. I Let the temps get down into the 60s night before last (66 degrees exactly) and noticed some nice purple and red hues starting to appear on the leaf tips. Going to continue this for a few days and see how everything comes out! Heavy smell is starting to set in, very fruity citrus/pine smelling, they stink up my whole room! At night I have been noticing even on the way out to my room the aroma is very strong as I have my exhaust running thru the attic. Going to need to pick up a Carbon filter and another fan for once I am in full swing with my Main Flower room!

GSC #1:



GSC #2:

pHarmerXxLEDxX said:

Hello all, been searching around the site for quite some time & decided to start a journal as I just finished up a new room build! Its a 10x16 room which I plan on utilizing to set up a fully perpetual garden. For now I am vegging everything in a 4x8 tent that I previously used to flower in & a 5x12 space to flower everything out.

My soil mix consists of (per C.F.):

Sphagnum Peat Moss: 2.5 Gal
Compost: 1 Gal
Vermicompost: 1.5 Gal
Perlite: 2.5 Gal

To that I will add:

Acadian Kelp meal: 1/2 Cup
Ahimsa Neem cake: 1/2 Cup
Crustacean meal: 1/2 Cup
Gypsum dust: 1 Cup
Oyster Shell Flour: 1 Cup
Basalt Rock Dust: 2 Cups
Glacial Rock Dust: 2 Cups

Ill mix it all up and wet it with a mix of (per Gal) 1/8 Tsp 200x Aloe Vera Powder, & 2 Tsp AgSil & let it sit for a month wetting it whenever the soil starts to get dry as I would if there was a plant in it.

I will try and post some pictures here in a bit, hope all is well out there!

Click to expand...

that's an interesting mix, looks pretty good, one thing i'd do is maybe add a cup of alfalfa meal to your mix, I bet you'd get a lil longer before yellowing.
A lil low on the nutrients though man, and i'm a light feeder, myself.
you could probably double those.
I go half cup fish bone meal, half cup alfalfa, (or insect meal)
then full cup of kelp, crab and neem meals.
4 cups of nutrients per cubic foot.
plants look lovely though man
good job

greasemonkeymann said:

that's an interesting mix, looks pretty good, one thing i'd do is maybe add a cup of alfalfa meal to your mix, I bet you'd get a lil longer before yellowing.
A lil low on the nutrients though man, and i'm a light feeder, myself.
you could probably double those.
I go half cup fish bone meal, half cup alfalfa, (or insect meal)
then full cup of kelp, crab and neem meals.
4 cups of nutrients per cubic foot.
plants look lovely though man
good job

Click to expand...

pHarmerXxLEDxX said:

Hello all, been searching around the site for quite some time & decided to start a journal as I just finished up a new room build! Its a 10x16 room which I plan on utilizing to set up a fully perpetual garden. For now I am vegging everything in a 4x8 tent that I previously used to flower in & a 5x12 space to flower everything out.

My soil mix consists of (per C.F.):

Sphagnum Peat Moss: 2.5 Gal
Compost: 1 Gal
Vermicompost: 1.5 Gal
Perlite: 2.5 Gal

To that I will add:

Acadian Kelp meal: 1/2 Cup
Ahimsa Neem cake: 1/2 Cup
Crustacean meal: 1/2 Cup
Gypsum dust: 1 Cup
Oyster Shell Flour: 1 Cup
Basalt Rock Dust: 2 Cups
Glacial Rock Dust: 2 Cups

Ill mix it all up and wet it with a mix of (per Gal) 1/8 Tsp 200x Aloe Vera Powder, & 2 Tsp AgSil & let it sit for a month wetting it whenever the soil starts to get dry as I would if there was a plant in it.

I will try and post some pictures here in a bit, hope all is well out there!

Click to expand...

I was gonna say the same thing about the alfalfa meal. Your plants will love you for it. Looking good though man!

Veg update:

Shortly after the last Veg photo I started flower and moved one of the SolarSPEC-260s over to the 2x4 area. So I wanted to see how everything would do with a single 260 over the 4x4 space. While the coverage area isn't recommended from the manufacturer everything is growing very uniform and stacked across the entire space!



I left the light at 34" and haven't adjusted it, since then the plants have grown up to the light and are now within 28" - 48" away from the panel.

We shall start off with the 1gal GSC clones. Recently I trained them so everything is bouncing back nicely. They have been shaded by other larger plants throughout the larger part of the Veg and are still stacking and growing just as well as the others in the direct light.


The Golden Goat Re-Veg was a huge success!! She is very stacked and even without any training, turned into a beautiful bush! Going to be taking clones of her today hopefully, cant wait to see her flower out again!



7gal No-Tills are doing great! GSC is very bushy and is the tallest girl in the tent and day by day the BPV clone looks more and more like her mother!

GSC:



BPV:



Now the BPV mother is just a BEAST!! I am planning on doing a SCROG in the future and if they turn out half as good as this did with the training I will be ecstatic! She could explode in a net, she is completely stacked all the way down to the top of the soil with growth. Clones and clones for days!! I am going to be flowering her out next, cant wait to see how she does!! I am already in love and could just veg her forever!





Going to be taking clones of her as well today!

SolarEclipse-350+UVB Unboxing:

Recently purchased a SE-350 from Amare Technologies, upon arrival I noticed the shipping company wasn't exactly 'careful' with handling it. Had inch to half inch punctures about half an inch deep into the bottom of the box.



So I was very nervous about the condition of the light but after cutting open the tape and pulling back the lid I realized there was another box inside. I removed the outer shell and amazingly the inner box wasn't damaged at all! It was very snuggly packed inside, so much so I had a hard time getting it out of the outer box. I suppose this is a good thing as I wouldn't want the box rattling or sliding around while being shipped!



I cut into the secondary box and found the entire light was surrounded by inch thick hard foam! Notice how large this light is, between the outer shell and the main box it takes up the whole couch by itself! haha



I lifted the top foam piece and set it aside, the contents were very secured with the accessories along the top. The UVB bulb was also very secured with another foam piece directly on top to protect it. These modules are HUGE, I mean they are larger then my entire hand! haha



The light comes with 2 heavy duty Ratchet Hangers, 2 thick metal Hanging Cables, H Mounting Bracket for mounting multiple systems together, Screws for the Mounting Bracket, 2 Power Cables, the UVB bulb and UVB reflector. Everything minus the Power Cords came wrapped in plastic. The light was completely wrapped in plastic with the UVB reflector and bulb on the inside. The UVB bulb is a 15w reptile bulb & had a cardboard sheet over it with bubble wrap lining on the inside.









On the back of the panel you will find 4 Intake Fans, 4 Mounting Hooks, 3 Switches, 2 Power Inlets, the light information sticker & the warranty seal sticker.





Just realized I can only post 10 photos per post so I will go over the info & features regarding this light in another post that will follow...

nice I'm running the same light. I just finished week 2.

The SolarEclipse-350 is 3.5" thick, 21.5" wide, & 21.5" long with a weight of 33lbs. Its actual wattage is 350w with a footprint of 36" x 36". It is recommended to keep it @24" - 30" during Veg & 20" - 22" during Flower. The system features changeable lenses for the Cree CXA2520 COBs, allowing you to switch between 90° Lenses, 120° Lenses, or go Open COB and use the systems built in reflectors. It uses High Intensity White Lighting and offers a complete full spectrum from UV, Visible Light, & IR. Here is a picture of the spectrum from Amare's website.



Also from Amare's website, here are some images showing the different light spreads and PPFD the various lenses (or lack there of) offer.

Using the 90° Lenses you get more canopy penetration, great for tall/bushy girls or if you've got plants at multiple heights.





Using the 120° Lenses you get a more even spread of the lighting, great for SCROG or SOG type applications as it will spread the light more evenly across the canopy.





Going Open COB & using the systems built in reflectors is great for height restrictions. If your growing in a small area with height limitations you don't want to end up burning your plants if you cant raise the light enough. So going Open COB will give you a slightly large light spread with a lower intensity.

Main Flower room update:

With the exception of the ventilation/oscillation fans, everything is in place! I used 6mil Black Plastic, 1/2" PVC, 1/2" PVC fittings, 1 1/2" Screws to mount the PVC to the studs in the room, a ZipWall Zipper & a roll of Gorilla Tape.

I measured out the PVC, cut it to length and assembled the frame. Then I cut 18ft of plastic and began wrapping it slowly around the frame. The room is 5ft wide by 11ft in length, so after wrapping the plastic along the 11ft PVC frame. I began to pull it tight at the furthest corner and decided to tape it to the ceiling to form a tighter seal and prevent any light leaks. At the bottom I rolled up the access and taped it to the PVC framing and again to the wall to secure it, I will be taping it to the floor as well after I put in the second door. I did the same to the 5ft wall, after everything was taped I went and screwed the PVC fittings and top poles to the studs in the room. Took the ZipWall Zipper and stick it carefully in the places I wanted it, then unzipped and cut the openings running my hand along the adhesive to stick the plastic to the zipper nice and tight.

After that I took two 4ft perforated steel angles and screwed them in to the support beams in the roof to hang my light from. When I can I will be getting more steel angles and placing them 16" apart thru the whole length of the roof.

When it was finished it came out so much better then I expected!! There is no light leaks anywhere, even my paid for tents have light leaks around the zipper connectors. I was able to make a velcro flap to secure the bottom of the door to the plastic and prevent any light or openings. I can undo both zippers and roll the panel straight up and attach it to the plastic with velcro so I can carry plants in and out with no issues. I will be adding ventilation ports and another door to better connect my Veg area with the Flower area for moving plants over.









With the Eclipse on inside, no light leaks! Reminds me of when I was a kid playing light sabers with my siblings! haha *zzzhhhewmmmm*



Fired up the Eclipse for the first time and it was like waking up and walking outside at the beach! That feeling you get in your eyes as they are trying to adjust, almost hurts & you cant keep them open. That's how it is with these lights! haha

Took some pictures of the various lighting you get with the various switches using the 90º Lenses. Lifted the light as high as I could, its a little over 6ft high!

w/ Cree CXA2520 COBs only:



w/ Single 5w XTE chips only:



w/ UVB only:



Cree CXA2520 COBs w/ Single 5w XTE chips:



w/ All switches on:



Now to take some clones and I will be moving the BPV mother and perhaps 2 of the 1gal pots into the Main Flower area.

pHarmerXxLEDxX said:

Main Flower room update:

With the exception of the ventilation/oscillation fans, everything is in place! I used 6mil Black Plastic, 1/2" PVC, 1/2" PVC fittings, 1 1/2" Screws to mount the PVC to the studs in the room, a ZipWall Zipper & a roll of Gorilla Tape.

I measured out the PVC, cut it to length and assembled the frame. Then I cut 18ft of plastic and began wrapping it slowly around the frame. The room is 5ft wide by 11ft in length, so after wrapping the plastic along the 11ft PVC frame. I began to pull it tight at the furthest corner and decided to tape it to the ceiling to form a tighter seal and prevent any light leaks. At the bottom I rolled up the access and taped it to the PVC framing and again to the wall to secure it, I will be taping it to the floor as well after I put in the second door. I did the same to the 5ft wall, after everything was taped I went and screwed the PVC fittings and top poles to the studs in the room. Took the ZipWall Zipper and stick it carefully in the places I wanted it, then unzipped and cut the openings running my hand along the adhesive to stick the plastic to the zipper nice and tight.

After that I took two 4ft perforated steel angles and screwed them in to the support beams in the roof to hang my light from. When I can I will be getting more steel angles and placing them 16" apart thru the whole length of the roof.

When it was finished it came out so much better then I expected!! There is no light leaks anywhere, even my paid for tents have light leaks around the zipper connectors. I was able to make a velcro flap to secure the bottom of the door to the plastic and prevent any light or openings. I can undo both zippers and roll the panel straight up and attach it to the plastic with velcro so I can carry plants in and out with no issues. I will be adding ventilation ports and another door to better connect my Veg area with the Flower area for moving plants over.

View attachment 3369889

View attachment 3369890

View attachment 3369893

View attachment 3369897

With the Eclipse on inside, no light leaks! Reminds me of when I was a kid playing light sabers with my siblings! haha *zzzhhhewmmmm*

View attachment 3369892

Fired up the Eclipse for the first time and it was like waking up and walking outside at the beach! That feeling you get in your eyes as they are trying to adjust, almost hurts & you cant keep them open. That's how it is with these lights! haha

Took some pictures of the various lighting you get with the various switches using the 90º Lenses. Lifted the light as high as I could, its a little over 6ft high!

w/ Cree COBs only:

View attachment 3369899

w/ White & Red diodes only:

View attachment 3369906

w/ UVB only:

View attachment 3369904

Cree COBs w/ White & Red diodes:

View attachment 3369902

w/ All switches on:

View attachment 3369903

Now to take some clones and I will be moving the BPV mother and perhaps 2 of the 1gal pots into the Main Flower area.

Click to expand...

Great stuff! I really like the spectrum that panels puts off. Also, enjoying your attention to detail and descriptive posts. Keep it up!

greasemonkeymann said:

that's an interesting mix, looks pretty good, one thing i'd do is maybe add a cup of alfalfa meal to your mix, I bet you'd get a lil longer before yellowing.
A lil low on the nutrients though man, and i'm a light feeder, myself.
you could probably double those.
I go half cup fish bone meal, half cup alfalfa, (or insect meal)
then full cup of kelp, crab and neem meals.
4 cups of nutrients per cubic foot.
plants look lovely though man
good job

Click to expand...

Yes I agree with you on me being a bit low on the Neem & Kelp. This was my first organic living soil mix and I was extremely low on funds at the time so I had to make do with what I could. I used the Build-A-Box from Buildasoil to get everything I needed in exact measurements. While it was technically more expensive when looking at buying things in bulk, it was much cheaper then buying 40-50lbs of amendments & unfortunately that was the option I needed at the time. So sadly I wasn't able to use a full cup of the Neem or Kelp in my original mix.

However I am planning on mixing up 202gal of soil here very soon as I am going to upgrade to 25gal pots. I will be using 10 25gal pots for now and get a cycle of 5 in Veg & 5 in Flower going. Soon after ill have another 10 25gal pots equaling 404gal of soil in total and ill go perpetual harvesting 5 25gal pots each month to two months depending on maturation times. The new mix will be much better as I am adding in the actual amounts I would have liked to start with in the beginning.

The "Base Mix" will consist of (per CF):

2.5gal of Bu's Blend Malibu Compost
2.5gal of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
2.5gal of 3/8" Lava Rock

To that I will add:

1cup Acadian Seaplants Kelp
1cup Ahimsa Neem Cake
1/2cup Crustacean Meal
1/2cup Gypsum
1/2cup Pacific Shell Oyster Flour
4cups of Basalt Rock Dust micro-fines

I will top dress with Vermicompost as well as add a quarter pound of red worms to each pot to populate the soil and secrete the castings throughout the soil as they move around and do their thing. On top of the various other functions they provide by adding them to the container. I will water everything down w/ a Malted Barley tea, mulch with straw and after it cooks for about 3 weeks I will plant a cover crop of:

Barley - Haybet
Oats - Jerry
Flax - Brown
Buckweat - Mancan
Lentils - Indianhead
Safflower
Millet - Golden German
Hairy Vetch
Vetch Common
Millet - White Proso
Rape - Dwarf Essex
Japanese Millet
Clover - Medium Red
Clover - White Dutch
Clover - Crimson

I am also debating on adding 10% Bio-Char per CF

As far as the yellowing, it just happens with this specific cultivar. Even before switching to organics when using bottled nutes the yellowing was still present. There is only another two - two and a half weeks left before chop so I am not too worried about it as its to be expected. But I do agree strongly on the Alfalfa, though I apply it in teas rather than mixing in the soil. As I am more after the special microbes it contains which activate the soils microorganisms that help convert the 'nutrients' into soluble forms. Also going to try sprouting Alfalfa seeds for the PGR Triacontanol, but that will be further down the road.

The tea I am referring to I will only do once per cycle, usually before I switch to flower. Per 5gal of water I will add 1/2cup ground Alfalfa, 1/4cup Kelp meal & bubble it for 24hrs. To the finished brew before use I will add (per gallon) 1/8tsp of 200x Aloe Vera powder, & 2tsp of BioAg Fulpower Fulvic Acid. Then stir and apply as a soil drench. For newer soils or soils that are lacking this can be used @half-full strength as often as once weekly perhaps alternating w/ a Neem/Kelp tea at the same amounts. Otherwise dilute the 5gal tea to whatever amount of water is needed.

But thank you for stopping by! I appreciate any and all input!

pHarmerXxLEDxX said:

Yes I agree with you on me being a bit low on the Neem & Kelp. This was my first organic living soil mix and I was extremely low on funds at the time so I had to make do with what I could. I used the Build-A-Box from Buildasoil to get everything I needed in exact measurements. While it was technically more expensive when looking at buying things in bulk, it was much cheaper then buying 40-50lbs of amendments & unfortunately that was the option I needed at the time. So sadly I wasn't able to use a full cup of the Neem or Kelp in my original mix.

However I am planning on mixing up 202gal of soil here very soon as I am going to upgrade to 25gal pots. I will be using 10 25gal pots for now and get a cycle of 5 in Veg & 5 in Flower going. Soon after ill have another 10 25gal pots equaling 404gal of soil in total and ill go perpetual harvesting 5 25gal pots each month to two months depending on maturation times. The new mix will be much better as I am adding in the actual amounts I would have liked to start with in the beginning.

The "Base Mix" will consist of (per CF):

2.5gal of Bu's Blend Malibu Compost
2.5gal of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
2.5gal of 3/8" Lava Rock

To that I will add:

1cup Acadian Seaplants Kelp
1cup Ahimsa Neem Cake
1/2cup Crustacean Meal
1/2cup Gypsum
1/2cup Pacific Shell Oyster Flour
4cups of Basalt Rock Dust micro-fines

I will top dress with Vermicompost as well as add a quarter pound of red worms to each pot to populate the soil and secrete the castings throughout the soil as they move around and do their thing. On top of the various other functions they provide by adding them to the container. I will water everything down w/ a Malted Barley tea, mulch with straw and after it cooks for about 3 weeks I will plant a cover crop of:

Barley - Haybet
Oats - Jerry
Flax - Brown
Buckweat - Mancan
Lentils - Indianhead
Safflower
Millet - Golden German
Hairy Vetch
Vetch Common
Millet - White Proso
Rape - Dwarf Essex
Japanese Millet
Clover - Medium Red
Clover - White Dutch
Clover - Crimson

I am also debating on adding 10% Bio-Char per CF

As far as the yellowing, it just happens with this specific cultivar. Even before switching to organics when using bottled nutes the yellowing was still present. There is only another two - two and a half weeks left before chop so I am not too worried about it as its to be expected. But I do agree strongly on the Alfalfa, though I apply it in teas rather than mixing in the soil. As I am more after the special microbes it contains which activate the soils microorganisms that help convert the 'nutrients' into soluble forms. Also going to try sprouting Alfalfa seeds for the PGR Triacontanol, but that will be further down the road.

The tea I am referring to I will only do once per cycle, usually before I switch to flower. Per 5gal of water I will add 1/2cup ground Alfalfa, 1/4cup Kelp meal & bubble it for 24hrs. To the finished brew before use I will add (per gallon) 1/8tsp of 200x Aloe Vera powder, & 2tsp of BioAg Fulpower Fulvic Acid. Then stir and apply as a soil drench. For newer soils or soils that are lacking this can be used @half-full strength as often as once weekly perhaps alternating w/ a Neem/Kelp tea at the same amounts. Otherwise dilute the 5gal tea to whatever amount of water is needed.

But thank you for stopping by! I appreciate any and all input!

Click to expand...

I completely recommend the biochar! and I also recommend trying to find rotten tree logs from a forest too, you can crumble the wood in your hands and is a super awesome soil conditioner, you'll want the stuff that feels almost like styro-foam, I used a BUNCH of that in my mix and not only does it keep me from watering as much but it also has this great way to keep the soil kinda humid and aerated as opposed to "wet". Don't worry about lessening the lava rock you have, just add the biochar and tree chunks to your mix, you can't have too much, and like I said the wood chunks retain the perfect amount of water.
I was forced to re-do half of my no-till soil because my landlord threw a bunch of my soil down the mountain (literally) but it actually turned out to be a great thing, as I got to tweek my soil recipe a bit and I have noticed an improvement on my grow this season.
I highly, highly recommend biochar and rotten tree chunks, they are like little eco-systems for your microbe population, not to mention I imagine the wooden chunks are gonna be full of indigenous microbes as well.
I agree 100% on planting a nitro-fixing legume crop on your soil, it's a great indicator of when your soil becomes "ready" you'll see an explosion of growth from the legumes, not to mention it also establishes a really good soil web as well, I have been doing that for a lil while and I have found that the best results are when you age the soil in their final resting area, meaning the pots you want them in.
I do like fish bone meal in my soil mixes, it breaks down very slowly and is a good source of phosphorus .
I hear ya on the alfalfa I technically only have it in half on my soil mixes, BUT I use the hell out of it in my compost pile, so all the soil still gets it, I just don't add it in the traditional way.
A good homemade compost and vermicompost is, in my opinion, as important, if not MORE important, than the nutrients you add to the soil. Especially if you make it the "pimp" version.
Which would be layering fish bone meal, alfalfa, and rock dusts as you lay down you compost.
I honestly think I may possibly have more fun with my compost and wormbins than I do growing the pot I use them for, sorta weird...
----oh and if you do add biochar, don't forget to charge it first, throw it in any of those teas you were talking about. You don't need to charge the wood though, just get it wet first it won't rob your soil as long as it's broken down already

Great Looking room Pharmer! The Eclipse looks awesome. The detailed pics were great... How is the heat output of the light?

that new led is awesome cant wait to see what you can make'em do

greasemonkeymann said:

I completely recommend the biochar! and I also recommend trying to find rotten tree logs from a forest too, you can crumble the wood in your hands and is a super awesome soil conditioner, you'll want the stuff that feels almost like styro-foam, I used a BUNCH of that in my mix and not only does it keep me from watering as much but it also has this great way to keep the soil kinda humid and aerated as opposed to "wet". Don't worry about lessening the lava rock you have, just add the biochar and tree chunks to your mix, you can't have too much, and like I said the wood chunks retain the perfect amount of water.
I was forced to re-do half of my no-till soil because my landlord threw a bunch of my soil down the mountain (literally) but it actually turned out to be a great thing, as I got to tweek my soil recipe a bit and I have noticed an improvement on my grow this season.
I highly, highly recommend biochar and rotten tree chunks, they are like little eco-systems for your microbe population, not to mention I imagine the wooden chunks are gonna be full of indigenous microbes as well.
I agree 100% on planting a nitro-fixing legume crop on your soil, it's a great indicator of when your soil becomes "ready" you'll see an explosion of growth from the legumes, not to mention it also establishes a really good soil web as well, I have been doing that for a lil while and I have found that the best results are when you age the soil in their final resting area, meaning the pots you want them in.
I do like fish bone meal in my soil mixes, it breaks down very slowly and is a good source of phosphorus .
I hear ya on the alfalfa I technically only have it in half on my soil mixes, BUT I use the hell out of it in my compost pile, so all the soil still gets it, I just don't add it in the traditional way.
A good homemade compost and vermicompost is, in my opinion, as important, if not MORE important, than the nutrients you add to the soil. Especially if you make it the "pimp" version.
Which would be layering fish bone meal, alfalfa, and rock dusts as you lay down you compost.
I honestly think I may possibly have more fun with my compost and wormbins than I do growing the pot I use them for, sorta weird...
----oh and if you do add biochar, don't forget to charge it first, throw it in any of those teas you were talking about. You don't need to charge the wood though, just get it wet first it won't rob your soil as long as it's broken down already

Click to expand...

Oh nice so your using a form of Hugelkultur in your potting mix! I am planning on trimming up the various trees and shrubs from around the yard and will be using Hugelkultur raised beds for my veggie garden. Living in the middle of the desert I need to hold on to every bit of moisture I can, plus this way I am hoping I can get some very nice Comfrey plants going for my compost/vermicomposting needs! I was thinking about going out to the forest and gathering some decaying trees and some good soil from around there. But I started thinking about all of the fungal pathogens that the wood pieces could harbor and just didn't want to chance it. I also didn't want to pick thru all the Pine shavings as you don't want any of the VOC's, the oils can irritate small mammals & will bother the worms. But I am stoked to hear you are having good results with wood chunks in an indoor mix!

Yeah I am VERY excited to start using Bio-Char, the high CEC and fixed carbon is a huge plus. The pyrolysis process burns off the tars & wood gases leaving behind a sort of carbon skeleton that is VERY porous, has a very high surface area & a high CEC! The highest quality of Bio-Char will have a high amount of fixed carbon, around 80%+! I should also clarify that if wanting to use a Cover Crop for its Nitrogen fixing purposes, you will need to first inoculate the seeds with a Rhizobium bacteria. It is these Rhizobia bacteria that are responsible for the Nitrogen fixation, the N isn't released into the soil until after the cover crop has been chopped and then decomposed. Now Cover Crops don't need to be intentionally killed off unless the growth is so thick the main plant is suffering. Its good to have a lot of sprouts starting at the beginning of the cycle & 90% or more dies off from lack of light providing the benefit of mulch. This leaves pockets of clover left to become established in the random & few areas light penetrates the surface. Cover crops also do a good job keeping the soil surface nice & fluffy rather than compact.

I also plan on using Alfalfa in my Compost to get the heat up though if possible I will also be using massive amounts of Comfrey, Nettles, Yarrow, Bio-Char & lots of nutrient rich Botanicals w/ a mix of Horse, Cow, Goat, Alpaca, Sheep & possibly Rabbit and Chicken manure for a very diverse microbial population. I can completely 100% agree that with a high CEC Humus based mix you don't have to worry about the NPK ratios at all. As long as your Humus is diverse and done correctly the rest is taken care of by the soil! Quite beautiful!

As for charging the Bio-Char, by adding it to the Compost or to the soil mix as I let it "cook" it can have synergistic benefits. The Bio-Char will increase microbial activity & reduce nutrient losses during composting. In the process the Bio-Char becomes "charged" w/ nutrients, covered w/ microbes, pH balanced, & its mobile matter content is decomposed into plant nutrients. So I will be adding it to the soil as I mix it and let it "cook" for a month with everything in my mix, this way it is successfully "charged" by the life in my soil.

Where am I said:

Great Looking room Pharmer! The Eclipse looks awesome. The detailed pics were great... How is the heat output of the light?

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Thank you man, the Eclipse is an awesome light fersure! As for the heat output I haven't had a chance to do a solid test yet but when the Eclipse is off the temp in my 5x11 room gets to 72 degrees, when the light is on using the Cree CXA2520 COBs & the Cree XTA 5w chips it bounces from 77-80 degrees. So I would say the light only heats up the room by 5-8 degrees, it isn't bad at all! I can put my hand directly under the light and barely feel any heat coming off the components at all. The upgraded heat sinks do wonders for the thermal management, the fans are also great at moving air thru the unit yet run extremely quiet to the point you cant even hear when the light is on or off when standing right outside the tent! Truly an amazing light!

RB73 said:

that new led is awesome cant wait to see what you can make'em do

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Thank you and welcome! I will be starting flower tonight, so I am excited to see what she can do as well!

pHarmerXxLEDxX said:

Oh nice so your using a form of Hugelkultur in your potting mix! I am planning on trimming up the various trees and shrubs from around the yard and will be using Hugelkultur raised beds for my veggie garden. Living in the middle of the desert I need to hold on to every bit of moisture I can, plus this way I am hoping I can get some very nice Comfrey plants going for my compost/vermicomposting needs! I was thinking about going out to the forest and gathering some decaying trees and some good soil from around there. But I started thinking about all of the fungal pathogens that the wood pieces could harbor and just didn't want to chance it. I also didn't want to pick thru all the Pine shavings as you don't want any of the VOC's, the oils can irritate small mammals & will bother the worms. But I am stoked to hear you are having good results with wood chunks in an indoor mix!

!

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I wouldn't worry in the slightest about anything you get from a forest, its all good there man, there isn't anything that could hurt your plant.
Don't sweat it.

Veg update:

So I picked up another ZipWall zipper at set it up on the inside of the 5x11 Flower area to make it easier to move plants over from the Veg space to Flower. I haven't yet set up the Veg space so for now I am continuing to use my 4'x8' tent.




I moved over the Bodhi Seeds Pura Vida mom (Front right corner above) into the Flower area & re-arranged the veg space a bit, training a few plants to fill out the space. Still only using a single SolarSPEC-260 to cover the 4x4 space in Veg.


BPV No-Till Clone:



GSC No-Till Clone:



1Gal GSC Clones:



Didn't want to stress the BPV out or have anything un-expected happen as I was going out of town for a few days, so I set the light @33"-34". Came back 3 days later and here she is @31", the canopy evened out quite nicely!









Top dressed her with some Worm Power Vermicompost and will be lowering the light a few inches & switching her to flower tonight!

Flower update, Day 52:

The weight/density is packing on very quick as well as the beautiful colors! Snapped some pictures before I left, wanted to show how even tho a branch has been developing while hanging past the pot and almost completely shaded is still growing uniformly and just as dense as the higher buds!








Thought everything was hanging just about as low as it could get but when I came home all the buds were just falling all over the place so I needed to stake them up and get some support going! After I got them all strung back up I was surprised at just how big everything had gotten!

Some Micro shots of the Flowers:










Man I love the colors she throws towards the end! Such beautiful purple and red hues!