This is the C99 x Agent Orange from the seeds that I made a couple years ago. She is just getting cleaned up to put on her best flower dress.
i love you man! very intense impact on my life. your intelligence and vantage point are very refreshing.
Looks great man. Very uniform. I actually just received some BOG genetics and I received some c99 x super silver haze as a freebie. Right now I got an auto going and I haven't clipped a thing. I didn't wanna stress it at all.
Subbing up for the ride. So glad to finally see you on here!! I cant begin to thank you enough for all that you have done to make the best quality products available to us all! You cant begin to fathom the happiness and stability a sustainable indoor garden has been able to bring into my life! I am forever grateful for the work you & many others have done and continue to do to promote this organic living soil lifestyle, thank you so much! So I have seen people using mulch for so many different purposes, some use it for moisture retention, others to increase the plants rhizosphere, some just to feed the soil life. Would you mind going over the wide array of benefits to the soil a soil biology when using different mulches from straw, bio accumulators, & even living mulches such as the use of clovers?
Hey everyone thanks for the love! I'm just busy working away over here trying to get this perpetual run all dialed in. I just moved the other half of my tent in and through up a quick Scrog Screen because the Canopy is already to out of control. Time to transplant a few youngins and some more easy work tonight, So I'll have some real updates soon. Here are a few more photo's as things progress, last night at lights on was day 41 for the girls in Flower. Here is a canopy shot as the lights were turning on and a couple of lower bud shots.
Sure thing pHarmerXxLEDxX: We could spend all day talking about this stuff but instead of getting into farming I'll just keep it basic for indoor growing like this with a few examples. There are many books on cover crops and mulching but after reading a few you get the idea. Mulch is hugely important in an organic soil system for many reason. The first I read of mulching on large scale was in Masanobu Fukuokas book the One Straw Revolution and I think that's probably why I still use straw today. If you haven't read that book I highly recommend it. It's a fast read that is more story and theory than any actual gardening info. But the highly simple and intelligent philosophy will blow your mind. 1. Cover Crop vs. Living Mulch vs. Dead Mulch. Cover crop is more evenly spaced seeds used to fix nitrogen and till the soil naturally while increasing the organic matter of a soil area. Indoors we use cover crops in higher density and they act as a living mulch cover. Main difference is that we are using companion planting of cover crops and not growing them to full fruition so that makes them more of a "living mulch" 2. Living Mulch: The basic idea is that you have lights baking the top layer of your soil and that isn't good in a living soil system because that is where a thick matting or roots should be and where the rizosphere could potentially be the most active. In nature much of the water and food comes from up top no matter what type of plant and I like duplicating that. When you mulch you provide a protective barrier that really keeps the top layer of soil moist. The other benefit of a living mulch is to capture the excess light from your grow room and utilize photosynthesis to create sugars called exudes that will secrete from the Cover Crop roots into your soil. This feeds the soil as well as creates a living relationship with Mycorrhizae that will keep your soil thriving between harvests. Some of the potential pit falls with a living mulch is improper timing or use in to small of a container. When you don't have a large enough container, companion planting living mulch could create more challenges than it helps. Either way, I like to plant cover crop seeds around the same time I transplant a clone that way the main plant can get big and create a canopy that will stunt the cover crop rather quickly. If the cover crop is planted too soon then it can outgrow the Clone and you'll have to do more trimming and management of the cover crop. Either way it's really rewarding. When this cover crop dies it leaves behind all the organic matter created by it's roots and the actual foliage. So when you use the cover crop that you grew as a dead mulch you can create a little ecosystem in your soil container while making fresh compost right on top of the grow container. This is why I like to use straw with the cover crop so that there is some Carbon to go along with the fresh chopped Nitrogen rich cover crop when I mulch with it after cutting. Dead Mulch: Probably the easiest and most important addition to any organic garden. I like to use Barley Straw because I can get it locally and it seems to really work well. I've never had any bugs or molds or anything come in with it so I feel comfortable. That and Barley straw is used on Farmers ponds to prevent Algae growth etc. So I know there is more to it. The Straw, Bark Mulch, any real Mulch layer will keep the top of the soil moist while allowing a little ecosystem to occur as the straw breaks down on top of the soil etc. Here is a quick video of some life loving it right under the mulch. http://vimeo.com/89622575
Lookin killer in there MHG! Do you start half the tent flowering then fill in the other half about mid way into flower? What do you have in there if you don't mind me asking?
Yeah that's the idea. It's me and my brother living here and I'm a medical grower just for myself so I like the perpetual to keep things flowing. With this tent I'll be keeping the best flowers and making edibles, tinctures and hash with the rest. In that photo of the canopy the Front Left is Grape Ape. Front Right is Venus Fly Trap. Back Left is Blue Mystic and Back Right is Kaya Gold. Never ran any of these before and they were clones gifted to me. The Venus looks incredible and thick. The Grape ape is going through senescence already and starting to purple. The Blue Mystic has the biggest buds by far but has a few yellow leaves right under the 1000 from Vapor pressure Deficit issues while I dial in the temp and humidity of this grow. The Kaya gold smells the strongest but has been a finicky little bitch from day one so I won't be running her again. i have lot's of new beans to pop and I'm pretty excited to get through these next couple rounds so I can start hunting for something special again.
Couple of new books that I'm excited about. From the guy who started Acres USA. "Minerals for the Genetic Code" by Charles Walters Very interesting stuff connecting The physical, chemical and biological connection with minerals. Also I've been reading T.L. Senns' book on Seaweed and Plant growth so I decided to buy another book that he is part of. "Fundamentals of Horticulture" from Clemson University 1975 I think. I have some other Botany stuff coming but these two are the main ones I'm reading right now. Here is a quote I liked from Page 78 of "Minerals for the Genetic Code" :
Oh, Oh, and here is some info on Cloning from the Fundamentals of Horticulutre book that I really liked. No matter how you clone this info is great to have. "Fundamentals Of Horticulture" Page 198 Cuttings which require leaves are taken from herbaceous plants or from woody plants when the wood is immature. With these cuttings, rapid healing of the wounded surface and rapid production of roots are indispensable to the welfare of the cutting. If the cut surface heals slowly or not at all, most of the all-important water within the cutting escapes, and rot-producing organisms are likely to invade the tissues. How does the cutting heal the wounded surface? In general, immediately after the cut is made the intercellular spaces and the cells just beneath the cut become filled with sap. The sugars in the sap change to unsaturated fatty acids, and these, in turn, combine with oxygen of the air in the formation of the skinlike, varnish-like layer of material, or suberin. Suberin possesses the remarkable property of keeping the water within the cutting and resisting the attacks of rot-producing organisms. However, this layer is effective for a short time only since it is very shallow and nonelastic and cannot adjust itself to changes in water pressure within the cutting due to the intake and outgo of water. For these reasons a more permanent layer is formed. How does the cutting develop this layer? In general, in very young dicotyledonous herbaceous stems the permanent layer develops from the pericycle or cortex. These tissues have the ability to change into meristem and thus produce new cells. On the other hand, in relatively old dicotyledonous herbaceous stems and in immature woody stems, the permanent layer develops from the cambium. In both cases the walls of the new cells are impregnated with suberin, tannin and other materials and they are corky in nature. Since this layer is being renewed constantly, it is durable; since it is several cells thick, it is deep-seated; and since it is elastic, it withstands the stress and strain due to changes in water absorption and transpiration. How does the cutting develop the root system? In general, the pericycle in young stems and the cambium in the somewhat older stems develop growing points, and these growing points develop into individual roots. Is there anything that can be done to facilitate the development of the temporary and permanent protective layers and the production of roots with rapidity? A discussion of important factors follow. Temperature - Since with cuttings which require leaves the problem consists in producing roots from shoots, growth of the tops is retarded and growth of the roots is accelerated. The problem, therefore, is to keep the tops cool and the basal end of the cuttings relatively warm. In general, this is done by maintaining a relatively low air temperature and by applying artificial heat to the medium in which the cuttings are placed. The low air temperature, combined with high humidity of the air, maintains a low rate of transpiration. This low rate of transpiration keeps the guard cells turgid and the stomates open. As a result, carbon diozide diffuses in to the leaves and carbohydrate and hormone manufacture takes place. The relatively high temperature at the base of the cuttings promotes rapid oxidation of the fatty acids in the formation of suberin and speeds up the rate of cell division in the formation of the corky layer and the development of the root system. The application of heat to the basal portion of cuttings is known as bottom heat. Bottom heat is applied in various ways: by lead covered electric resistance, wire, by steam in pipes, and by hot water in pipes. (Or Seedling Heating Mat) Many experiments have shown that high rooting-media temperatures, combined with relatively low air temperatures, facilitate rapid root production. For example, tests at the Ohio Experiment Station have shown that chrysanthemum cuttings kept in sand at 60 F produced a satisfactory root system in 10 days, whereas a comparable lot kept in sand ad 50 F required 20 days. Relative Humidity and Light Intensity - These factors affect both transpiration and photosynthesis. The student will recall that relative humidity and light intensity have opposite effects on the rate of transpiration. In general, high relative humidity promotes low rates of transpiration and high light intensity promotes high rates. Since low rates of transpiration are needed and since light is needed for making of the carbohydrates and the hormones, the higher the relative humidity, the greater will be the amount of light the leaves can absorb without wilting. For this reason a high relative humidity is maintained. Oxygen and Moisture Supply - The formation of suberin requires abundant oxygen, and the rapidly dividing meristem requires both abundant oxygen and water. Hence, in the rooting of cuttings, media are used which will enable the growing points to obtain abundant oxygen and, at the same time sufficient moisture for rapid root production. In general, washed, sharp, silica sand, mixtures of sand and peat moss, vermiculite, and mixtures of sand and perlite are satisfactory propagating media for herbaceous and softwood cuttings. These materials are porous, easily drained, and hold sufficient moisture for rapid root development. Mist propagation of Herbaceous and Softwood Cuttings - Mist propagation consists of maintaining a film of water on the leaves of the cutting and a high relative humidity of the ambient air. In this way, the rate of transpiration is reduced to a minimum, and as a result the guard cells remain turgid, the stomates remain open, and the manufacture of carbohydrates and related substances proceeds unabated even in the presence of high light intensity. Further, with high light intensity, the evaporation of water from the leaves keeps the tops relatively cool, and this in turn lowers the rate of respiration. Thus, with the low rate or transpiration combined with the low rate of respiration, high rates of apparent photosynthesis take place and abundant carbohydrates and other manufactured substances become available for the initiation and growth of the root system.
My goodness, thank you SO much for that piece on cloning! I have been wondering why I haven't been able to get a clone to root lately, but I switched my lighting source & it is more intense. I usually use a little coffee can cloner with Kelp/Aloe/Silica & Fulvic acid, but I had never done the misting of the leaves. Going to toss a humi-dome over the cloner, mist & see if things improve, thanks again for this! Quick question, how long should I leave the solution bubbling in the container. I know that things break down and can change over time & that depends on the amount of air flow applied. But assuming we are using a standard aquarium air pump, how regularly should we change the solution inside the cloner? Also thank you for that post on Mulching, answered everything perfectly! Do you happen to have good link handy for an explanation on the Vapor pressure deficiency? What the optimal humidity at a given temperature should be, and vise versa, has interested me for a while!
I have a link! Let me dig it out. Here is a link that argus controls put out and I think it's appropriate. Mainly because they have a graph with both C and F. http://www.arguscontrols.com/resources/VPD_Application_Note.pdf Also. On the Cloner bucket, I would fill with just plain tap water and then do a foliar with the Organic mix your making. This will make things easier to deal with inside the bucket. Otherwise here is a tutorial on the method I use to clone. Keep in mind the Root Riot pucks have a polymer that may not be as organic as the other brands, but I just found this out. http://tinyurl.com/m22ltpl Glad that cloning info came in handy!
man I want to smoke a big fat joint with that cartoon ape every time I see this plant are these cuts or did you started from seed?
I'd add that cannabis cuttings like it at 100% humidity but they don't like to be wet themselves so much.. Spray the inside of the dome several times a day if possible but don't spray the plants themselves.. I'm in the hot dry southwest and couldn't get a clone to take worth a damn in the coffee cloner.. They just developed brown slime on the stems and withered away.. Rock wool and a dome worked best for my situation being a spot in the garage.. I usually hit 90% or better on my cuttings.. Edit:: With cooler temps I'll put my seedling heat mat back in play as it's been to smoking hot to use it the last few months..
Interesting. I've heard of people spraying the side of the dome before. I spray the plants and they seem to be healthy. It looks to me like even at 100% humidity your clones could use just a little less light. Just my 2 cents.