PsychoHipE
Active Member
Hi guys. I'm just getting a soil(less?) grow off the ground that I'd like to keep mostly organic. "Mostly" in the sense that I'm not anal about everything being absolutely 100% certified organic, but I'm sticking with organic or inert materials when applicable. 
I'm building two 4' x 4' x 6' OSB grow cabinets (one almost done!
), one for mothers/vegging and a second for flowering. A third area will consist of a multi-tier shelving unit with mounted fluoro's (shoplights or CFLs) for establishing new clones before veg.
I plan to have each on an individual ventilation system with a carbon scrubber and "vortex" type fan. Vented outdoors easily and anonymously.
I'm looking at perhaps 800 - 1000w MH in the veg room and up to 1600w HPS in the flowering room depending on how full it's loaded. Basically one 400w per filled 2' x 2' quadrant for a total of 100w/sq ft, which some seem to believe is near (if not more than) the maximum useful amount.
I suppose efficiency boils down to a number of factors regardless. Anyhoo...
I currently have these ingredients available for making my soil medium:
Worm Castings (hydro store)
Mushroom Compost Blend (slightly sandy, well composted material; from HD)
Coir (hydro store)
Perlite (hydro)
Vermiculite (hydro)
Espoma "Garden Lime" (pelletized dolomite lime, HD)
Espoma "Plant-tone" (NPK 5-3-3, HD)
Organic Blood Meal (HD)
Organic Bone Meal (HD)
Epsom Salts (a pharmacy, I think?)
Super Thrive (more useful during watering, I suppose?...)
I have read several posts on several forums extolling the overall virtues of plant-tone. For anyone here that has used it or is currently, do you find a need to supplement with additional micronutrients per the amounts of standard NPK? I guess what I'm saying is: is there already a good ratio of "standard" to micronutrients? Would additional kelp meal (or liquid) be wise for mothers who will be kept in veg for a couple of months to provide clones?
I was thinking of just mixing up small batches of different soil mixes as needed, rather than make one or two large ones. 1.) It's easier, and 2.) it ensures even mixing of all components in the soil.
I assume I need 2 soils, minimum:
One for vegging mothers, which will have higher N (and perhaps slightly more lime to act as long-term pH buffer?).
One for clones, which will be put into flowering SOG-style as soon as established.
I've seen it recommended that clones are placed into pots with higher-nute soil on bottom and a "buffer" layer of nearly inert soil on top of that which allows the plant time to adapt to the hotter stuff without burning. Then, one can supplement as needed when watering.
The overall idea is this:
Germinate seeds in rapid rooters in a domed seedling tray under 24/7 fluoro. When well established, transplant to 2 gallon pots filled with "mother" mix. Veg under 18/6 MH till strong. Take clones, treat with rooting hormone and place in rapid rooters in seedling tray under fluoro. When properly rooted, transplant to small pots of "flowering" mix (possibly buffered as described above) and place under 12/12 with appropriate SOG-style pruning.
I'm sort of an "educated newbie" I suppose? (God what a dangerous thing...) I have technically grown cannabis before from seed to dried, smokable sinsemilla buds, but it was just a couple of plants of crappy bag seed and several years ago. I've kept up with reading about things , but circumstance has prevented me from a real attempt until now...
I'm grown several crops of p. cubensis mushrooms, which to me are a lot simpler than cannabis overall. Those little bastards will grow on anything practically...grain, manure, straw, grass, dirt, carpet, books, plants, other mushrooms... lol
But, back to the soil: Here's my overall idea for the mix-
20% Castings
20% Compost
20% Coir
20% Perlite
20% Vermiculite
It's mostly aeration & water retention with just a tiny bit of inherent nutes.
To this would be added lime (& epsom & kelp?) + plant-tone (and possibly a little blood meal) for the mother mix, and then lime (epsom & kelp?) + bone meal and/or some other organic "bloom" formula.
I plan to pH adjust my water and add a small amount of Super Thrive with each watering. Using that stuff on my cactus made me a believer! lol
Any comments, criticisms or advice are welcome.
Oh, and since I'm already somewhat familiar with fungi, those [FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]mycorrhizae sound darned interesting, too...
[/FONT]
I'm building two 4' x 4' x 6' OSB grow cabinets (one almost done!
), one for mothers/vegging and a second for flowering. A third area will consist of a multi-tier shelving unit with mounted fluoro's (shoplights or CFLs) for establishing new clones before veg.I plan to have each on an individual ventilation system with a carbon scrubber and "vortex" type fan. Vented outdoors easily and anonymously.
I'm looking at perhaps 800 - 1000w MH in the veg room and up to 1600w HPS in the flowering room depending on how full it's loaded. Basically one 400w per filled 2' x 2' quadrant for a total of 100w/sq ft, which some seem to believe is near (if not more than) the maximum useful amount.
I suppose efficiency boils down to a number of factors regardless. Anyhoo...
I currently have these ingredients available for making my soil medium:
Worm Castings (hydro store)
Mushroom Compost Blend (slightly sandy, well composted material; from HD)
Coir (hydro store)
Perlite (hydro)
Vermiculite (hydro)
Espoma "Garden Lime" (pelletized dolomite lime, HD)
Espoma "Plant-tone" (NPK 5-3-3, HD)
Organic Blood Meal (HD)
Organic Bone Meal (HD)
Epsom Salts (a pharmacy, I think?)
Super Thrive (more useful during watering, I suppose?...)
I have read several posts on several forums extolling the overall virtues of plant-tone. For anyone here that has used it or is currently, do you find a need to supplement with additional micronutrients per the amounts of standard NPK? I guess what I'm saying is: is there already a good ratio of "standard" to micronutrients? Would additional kelp meal (or liquid) be wise for mothers who will be kept in veg for a couple of months to provide clones?
I was thinking of just mixing up small batches of different soil mixes as needed, rather than make one or two large ones. 1.) It's easier, and 2.) it ensures even mixing of all components in the soil.
I assume I need 2 soils, minimum:
One for vegging mothers, which will have higher N (and perhaps slightly more lime to act as long-term pH buffer?).
One for clones, which will be put into flowering SOG-style as soon as established.
I've seen it recommended that clones are placed into pots with higher-nute soil on bottom and a "buffer" layer of nearly inert soil on top of that which allows the plant time to adapt to the hotter stuff without burning. Then, one can supplement as needed when watering.
The overall idea is this:
Germinate seeds in rapid rooters in a domed seedling tray under 24/7 fluoro. When well established, transplant to 2 gallon pots filled with "mother" mix. Veg under 18/6 MH till strong. Take clones, treat with rooting hormone and place in rapid rooters in seedling tray under fluoro. When properly rooted, transplant to small pots of "flowering" mix (possibly buffered as described above) and place under 12/12 with appropriate SOG-style pruning.
I'm sort of an "educated newbie" I suppose? (God what a dangerous thing...) I have technically grown cannabis before from seed to dried, smokable sinsemilla buds, but it was just a couple of plants of crappy bag seed and several years ago. I've kept up with reading about things , but circumstance has prevented me from a real attempt until now...
I'm grown several crops of p. cubensis mushrooms, which to me are a lot simpler than cannabis overall. Those little bastards will grow on anything practically...grain, manure, straw, grass, dirt, carpet, books, plants, other mushrooms... lol
But, back to the soil: Here's my overall idea for the mix-
20% Castings
20% Compost
20% Coir
20% Perlite
20% Vermiculite
It's mostly aeration & water retention with just a tiny bit of inherent nutes.
To this would be added lime (& epsom & kelp?) + plant-tone (and possibly a little blood meal) for the mother mix, and then lime (epsom & kelp?) + bone meal and/or some other organic "bloom" formula.
I plan to pH adjust my water and add a small amount of Super Thrive with each watering. Using that stuff on my cactus made me a believer! lol
Any comments, criticisms or advice are welcome.
Oh, and since I'm already somewhat familiar with fungi, those [FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]mycorrhizae sound darned interesting, too...
[/FONT]
