Organic - Terra Preta - Soil - ACT - 400w - Mandala - Satori - Krystalica - Chill-Om

geoff777

Member
Hi All,

My first indoor grow has been running since mid-January.

I'm using a home-made compost.
A mix of cured and composted donkey poo (60%), compost containing oak woodland browns, pine browns, local rock silts, and household waste (peelings etc) (30%), hardwood charcoal (10%), Perlite (<1%), sharp sand (<1%). All % very rough guesstimates.
This has been evolving since January. When it was too hot.

I'm now using last year's spent compost including roots with around 10% sharp sand added for germinating directly in the soil in small pots.


I germinated some sativa bagseed to run as test plants while I waited for the Satori and Krystalica to arrive from Mandala.
I grew this outdoors last year. The odd plant hermies and gives a few seeds. These are nice mature seeds.

I planted 2 Satori and 2 Krystalica when the seeds arrived straight into soil. Three surfaced around Jan 20th. One Krystalica waited a fortnight.

The bagseed was suffering from Nitrogen toxicity. I flushed.

The grow area is 1.25 x 1m using two walls and the back of a double wardrobe painted white. It works ...
I went 24/0 using the light as heat. It's been cold.

I had problems with cold 'hot' soil slowing down growth. I had to flush but didn't want to as the soil wasn't drying out at all.

I planted a third Satori at the end of January. This appeared after three days.

The second Krystalica was a weak mutant.
The first true pair of leaves came of the same node as the cotyledons as did a third strange leaf that grew up like a small sail. No serrated edges.
Two months on K2 is vegging about two inches tall six inches in diameter with 16 growing tips (kind of main-lined?)

Now in late March ...
Bagseed went 1 week 24/0 now 9 weeks 12/12 showed sex 5 weeks ago. I have 4 spindly 24" plants, 1 with a decent cola and a shorter 12" plant.
All suffered from N toxicity and cold roots.

ALL 5 regular Mandala seeds planted in January are females.
I planted 1 more Satori and two more Krystalicas late February.

S1, S2, K1 are 9 weeks old. 12 days 12/12.
S3 is 8 weeks old.
S4, K3 & K4 are 4 weeks old.

K2 is the weakling mutant. If it was bagseed it would be dead, now it's like a pet project. She can veg all summer if needed and we'll see how big she can get.

The second lot of Mandala seeds are happier.
It's warmer and I'm using spent spoil. I still had to flush S4. Too much Nitrogen. The K's were fine.

Krystalica is a little more vigorous than Satori.

I topped S1 & S2 in February for 4 colas. K1 for 6 colas. K1 has had LST on the six branches.
I left it late topping so the piece cut off could be cloned. It didn't work.

I've been adding charcoal to improve the drainage and because of "Terra Preta", I guess around 10% in the latest batch used in the final repotting of S1, S2 and K1 into 16 litre pots. S3 is in an 8 litre pot.
S4, K3 & K4 are planted in this too.

5 Chill-Om planted 3 days ago directly into their pots. 1 appeared this morning.

Daytime temps are better. The light is on now 10pm to 10am.
Vegging plants are moved outside at 10am until 6pm into different warm sunny spots around the house as the sun moves. A pain but its for a good cause. My vape! They have four hours of darkness with a hot water bottle in the wardrobe. So 20/4.

Zero smell from any plants unless touched. Bagseed slight pineapple.
Now the Mandalas are flowering that might change.

I'll try to sort out some photos. Wish I'd taken some of the mutant.

Lots of mistakes made and more to come.
Lots of lessons learned.

Unknown compost, hot canopy but cold roots not noticed for a while.
Roots are still too cold but I can't afford the heat. A few hot water bottles in amongst the pots.

The grow is what it is. The plants are definitely smaller because of temp and soil but they have been vegged longer to compensate.
Comments welcome.
 

cc2012

Well-Known Member
Nice Post <Loads of Info on Grow> which makes a Change, I got a cheap ass aquarium heat pad for putting under Clones OR Plants when I was having Trouble with Cold Temps..also invested in a £20 Oil-filled Radiator(800w) though only ever needed it on half setting and that was in a 9'3" x 7'4" x 7'8" GR.

And I also ran my Lights so was on more at Night(for Heat) then like you went off about 10...but since having moved up to 600w got para about system running while I was asleep..so my 12/12 now is 8am-8pm and since I've added more Fans and a BIG Exhaust fan its SOOOOooo noisy that I've put a Ghetto Blaster in GR with Classic Fm playing at moderate volume(just enough to cover sounds of Fans) Ladies seem to like it too :twisted:

Peace

EDIT: Again nice informative Post...
 

geoff777

Member
Hi cc2012 thanks for reading the journal.I have an oil-filled radiator but it's the cost.Plus we get 100% humidity for days on end.If I heat the room I get mold on every cold surface as the warm moist air condenses.I might close the grow down November - March if I get a decent amount put by.Although I'll be lost for something to do ... Mandala's Bhutanese strains are okay in the cold. Shame they are femmed
 

geoff777

Member
All 5 Chill-Om (CO) seeds have popped and are above surface.
I always plant directly into the soil. Then leave them for 72 hours on a heated mat. It works.
Not for everyone. It takes willpower and the knowledge "this works" not to have a poke around.

S4, K3 & K4 were all topped last week. Just the very tip. Also side shoots at the 2nd, 4th & 5th nodes were removed.
Now I have topped them at the third node and have begun main-lining.
The cuttings have been placed in rock-wool cubes in a home-made propagator. Because it was topped last week it is growing main-lined already.

Why am I main-lining ... I know you lose a lot of early growth but the canopy is so much easier to manage.
I also wasn't expecting 5/5 females from the first batch so the grow room is full.
S1-3 & K1 are 8-9 weeks from harvest so S4, K3-4 & CO1-5 have 8-9 weeks vegging time. Hence the main-lining.

Nothing much else to report.
I've been smoking the same bagseed for eight months now.
It's only average, very sativa effects, no smell or much taste from the buds.
If I skipped a day it would hit me between the eyes. THC tolerance.
I'm looking forward to some guitar playing with Satori this summer.

Everything is growing nicely.
 
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