Hey all, first time poster here, but 10+ year forum reader. ICMAG, RIU, etc. The wife let me grow at home finally. Woohoo!! I am using this thread as a chance to learn from folks who are smarter and more experienced than myself. I am also using it as a place to showcase any indoor newbie errors so others can learn from my mistakes. I have 8 seasons outdoor under my belt, but no indoor. 29 days since seeds emerged above soil by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 4:33 PM Gear: I purchased a 4x8 "Zazzy" tent from Amazon. The thing seems OK but it's got pinhole light leaks everywhere and I already ripped it in one spot. The eventual plan is to use this tent for Veg, and a different one for flower. Currently, I only have the one, but the second one will be here next week. 2x 100gal GrassRoots fabric pots--the plastic lined "living soil" pots. Each pot will have a different soil mix because that's what I had available. I used perlite because I didn't have funds for lava rock (Over $300/yard here in MI), pumice, or the like. Perlite was available and cheap. Eventually, I plan to incorporate other aeration/drainage material. One pot is filled with Coots mix @ 1-1-1 ratio of Malibu, perlite, SPM. Per cubic foot it is amended with 1c gypsum, .5c glacial rock dust, 1.5c basalt rock dust, and 1 c oyster shell. I tossed in a couple handfuls of some topsoil I dug up around my property. The other pot is filled with Tad's KIS mix which I mixed myself. The ratio is 1-2-3 using Malibu, perlite, SPM. I used 3x of his nutrient packs which amounted to a 5 gallon buckets worth. I let the soil digest in the 100gal pot and it's getting hot. I turned it yesterday. 2x 10bulb t5 (Craigslist find. $25 ea w/ bulbs. Came out of an old water treatment facility which recently upgraded to LED) 8" fan dialed back(overkill. I ordered a 6" which consumes much less power) Simple Hydrofarm indoor/outdoor Min/max temperature/humidity monitor. 2 "Lotus" seeds by Mountain Organics----and----24 seeds by Swami Organic Seed. I am thankful to have been given these seeds by a friend. All the cuttings around here have bugs or are not organic so I felt seeds were the way to go. In the works: 2nd tent for flower Flower lights (Reading and learning about LED, but will likely run HPS at first because I already have the ballasts. Listening to GrowMau5 on YouTube and thinking LED is the way to go but I need to learn more before diving in) Waiting for the KIS mix to finish the thermal digestion of all the amendments added. The mix was on a tarp in the garage but it was so cold it wasn't heating up. I moved it into the 100gal pot and it heated up quick. Mulch layer Worms--ordered and on their way. Red Wrigglers. These pots are deep so thinking about researching other worms which go deeper into the pots. Any ideas?? Onto the grow: 26 seed starts for this space will be a lot so I'm not sure what my plan is with this grow exactly. I need 24 plants ready to go outside in my greenhouse in May. I also want to start flowering plants immediately because I am out of herb and am relying on my freezer full of canna-butter to get me by. Once the plants are large enough, I will take cuttings and figure out what to do next. Any ideas?? 2018-12-27: 2018-12-27 by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 3:50 PM 2018-12-31: 2018-12-31 by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 3:55 PM 2019-1-7: 2019-1-7 by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 3:56 PM 2019-1-10: 2019-1-10 by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 3:57 PM 2019-1-13 2019-1-13(2) by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 3:58 PM 2019-1-16 by Chumsky posted Jan 16, 2019 at 3:58 PM Also pictured are some jade plants which were happy accidents. The nephews came over and decided to break branches and tear off individual leaves. I took that as an opportunity to propagate more plants. The purple plants are sweet potato which my wife likes on the back patio in the summer. These were grown from the roots of last years plant.
So far I am struggling with watering indoors. I was given one of these cheapo moisture meters which is helping monitor the bottom of the pots. Twice a day I have been lightly watering the pots just enough to keep the top moist and every 3 -4 days I've been giving them an extra soak once the moisture meter starts to dip into the low "moist" section. This seems to work ok. Any watering advice is welcome. Current Tent Stats: 8" fan dialed way back--Fan runs 24/7 Oscillating fan runs 24/7 at canopy Lights on @4:30am & off @ 10:30pm Min temp: 65F Max temp: 82F Average temp: around 79F (guess) Humidity: 39%. Varies between 35-41%
Hey man, welcome to the City and GC Organics! I tend to lurk and read, not comment a whole lot, but I thought I'd say hello and welcome. Check out the No-Till Gardening: Revisited, if you're into organics and looking for some cool people to chat with. It's crazy long so if you're looking for info, search within the thread, but if you're looking to join the conversation at the current page, there is a good group of people who have interesting conversations there! In my experience, those moisture meters are not quality. When I use one, I use the Blumat one, but honestly, I don't use it often. I tend to water until runoff, slight or heavy, and every once in a while, I'll make sure to water until heavy runoff. If we're growing in living soil, we want constantly moist soil to facilitate our microbial life. In small containers, I'll water once a day or every other day, and in my 25 gallon containers, I drench to heavy runoff less than once a week and use gravity-fed Blumat maxis with a few drippers each. Those (assisted by the biochar I mixed into my soil prior to growing) facilitate extended trips away from the grow room so I can go on vacation and help me not be concerned about watering much. Now, I just mix teas/aloe/coconut periodically and call it a day, after refilling my Blumat reservoir. In regards to worms, I use red wigglers too, but I also picked up some african nightcrawlers since they live deeper than red wigglers. Seems like you're on point with where you're getting your organics information from! CC (or LD and AD, as he was sometimes known as here) is a great source of info, and Tad does a great job with the KIS podcast. Welcome, again!
@baconman1945 Thanks for stopping by and dropping the watering tip. I noticed improvement overnight but ended up getting too confident and found myself on the opposite end of the spectrum within a few days. The bottom inch of the pots were soggy. They started drooping bad and looking deficient. I checked the roots on a few and some were still bright white and healthy looking while a couple others were starting to turn a lighter yellowish brown color. Around this time I noticed the pile of soil I had been rotating quit heating up so I decided to just transplant everything. Rocking 2 100gal pots in the 4x8 and a plastic tote in the middle with some leftover mix. The left side is the KIS mix and the right side is the Coots mix but without any meals added, just the rock dusts. The middle tote is the coots mix with a bit of kelp added. Photos and timeline below. 2019-1-21 - Some starting the droop - (Day 33 since seeds emerged from soil): 2019-1-22 - Transplanted a few into the Coots mix-the meals. Added handful of worms to the pot and covered with some leaves I saved in a 5gal bucket from this past fall. Also sprinkled a handful of ground malted barley + a handful of clover seed, crimson I believe. : 2019-1-23 - These are the ones that have not been transplanted. These were determined to be the healthier of the batch during yesterday's transplant. Looking even worse today. 2019-1-25 - Soil quit heating up for a few days so I transplanted more thankfully. Had some company over so I had to keep an extra door closed in the house--resulting in extra heat in the tent. 94 at one point. My solution was to take out half of the bulbs in my t5 fixtures bringing the temp back down into the high 70's. Transplanted more today. This mix is using the KIS ratio of SPM, aeration, compost. I bought their mineral mix but mixed the base myself using Malibu. Drove 2 hours on a snowy night, on a time crunch, to get 12 bags @ $20/bag. Not exactly cheap. The girl at the shop was kind enough to stay open past hours so I could make it. 2019-1-28 - Looking way better all around. Leaves don't seem papery and brittle and are actually 'praying' like I'm used to seeing outdoors. And that's with only half the bulbs in the fixture. I might keep them that way for a few days to see what happens. Other plants pictured are jade and the purple ones are sweet potato plants I grew from roots of last summers hanging basket.
A couple other notes to add. I added a second 10bulb t5 fixure to the tent which raised the tent temp drastically. I raised both fixtures all the way to the top to combat this and have been OK, One other note, it's been super cold here so the humidity in the tent dropped to 27% rh at one point. I placed a 5 gallon bucket of water and have been spraying the tent sides down with water and it's raised into the high 30's. I'm anal so I made a chart to track house temps vs tent temps, humidity etc. Basically to aid my memory weeks from now or next winter. Anyone else growing with very low humidity? I found this chart which is another reason I took those bulbs out. I was at a constant 82-86F and 28-33% humidity. This AM I was at 75F and 39%rh and have been around those numbers since the 24th. That was another variable I forgot to mention earlier and probably contributes to the healthier looking plants.
I grow sub 30% rh no till all day everyday. Even with a humidifier that I fill once a day I can't get it over 30%.
I run the same size tent you do to prep for my greenhouse. I turn my tent on its side. I run T5s and you can get them right on top of the plants if you keep your canopy clean and even. The tent on its side allows me to fit more or grow them bigger before the move to the greenhouse. Just an idea. As far as watering goes, the plants will tell you when it's time, instead of second guessing with those big pots. Less water is always better than more water. Also, I foliar feed with low humidity. It's not necessary, but it does help.
My tents always stay around upper 30s to lower 40s and have never seen anything close to an issue. As far as your watering issue listen to the plants.. they literally tell you when they’re thirsty.
Are you using a tent? I had this issue in my tent (wood burner sucks the humidity right out). I just let my internal fans run 24/7 and put my exhaust on a timer, on 15 mins, off for 3 hrs. Went from around 20% humidity to 60%. Humidity is negligible in flower, as long as it's not too high, but in veg you will notice a difference. Especially in terms of recovery after a transplant or rough training.
Thanks for the replies and advice everyone. I realized soon after switching into the larger pots that the humidity was not a problem. The plants bounced right back. 2019-1-28: I used some thick metal wire from the garage and bent them into U shapes. Used them to hold the plant down after I bent them sideways for some early training. Each day for 2 days after, I moved the metal stakes closer to the tips to keep to keep them from reclaiming dominance over the side branches. Outdoors I normally transplant at a 45-50degree angle which would achieve the same thing with less stress and work. Not sure why I didn't do that here. Whole new ballgame this indoor thing. Many thanks again to folks chiming in with advice and tips. 2019-2-4: Preflowers are starting to show on some. Sprouts are sunflower shoots.
The pots are showing noticeably different growth between the two. I transferred the plants from the plastic tote in the middle to another Grassroots fabric pot. The left pot is producing plants with noticeably darker green foliage as a whole. The plants in both look healthy. The right pot contains 6 "Nigerian Sunshine IBL" plants, 2 "Bliss F2" plants, and one "Blue Zebra." The left pot contains 4 "Bliss F2" plants & 4 "Blue Zebra" plants. The middle pot has 4 "Durban Bubble x Bliss" plants and a Blue Zebra which I neglected. Not sure if it's visible in the photos, but I've been using metal wire in U shapes to train the plants. I've gotten lots of cuttings already but none survived because I have no experience with cuttings. 2019.2.19:
2019-2-26: 2019-3-1: 2019-3-18: Pulled the males in the right pot. I flipped to 12/12 on 3-13 but starting 6 days prior, I incrementally lowered the daylight by one hour each day: 2019-3-23: All males pulled. Trellis netting put up. The entire right pot is now Nigerian Sunshine. The 2 NS on the right are stretching hard (Especially the middle one) and thankfully there is plenty of room open on the trellis where the males once occupied. The 3 NS on the left are tighter, less stretch, and different scent. Same scent on the right vs left so far. So far things are looking good. Middle planter is all Durban Bubble x Bliss. The front 2 plants are very similar except the left one was stunted pre-flower. Looks like overwatering droop. The plant in the back is stretching hard and again, thankfully there is space open on the trellis. Still rocking only T5 lights currently. 3 males found and killed here on the left pot. No need for the males so I burned them. 12 plants total now. In this pot there is Bliss F2 and Blue Zebra. I would love more info on these strains. The front 2 are Bliss F2 and the back 3 are the Blue Zebra. All look healthy. Sadly one of the Mountain Organics seeds died from overheating as a seedling and the other was given to a friend. I will inquire into how it's doing. I really hate talking about how the plants smell currently because they evolve every week into something new. Currently out of all the plants there are 3 main scents. Fumey, cleaner. Roses/foliage. Blue Dreamy. If anyone smoked BD that which I'm sure is most, you will know that sweet smell. Middle NS stalk: 2019-3-30: Put up the 2 1000w lights a few days ago. One is HPS, 1 is MH. I didn't have the loot for a second HPS. It is what it is. Perhaps if I get ambitious I will swap them weekly or something. I am struggling now with heat. 81 is the lowest I can get and sometimes up to 90. Leaves went from praying hard to environmental stress droop. Going to monitor for a few. If conditions worsen, I will use the 2 T5's again, and only 1 1000w-moving it daily. We'll see. Here is a NS: Here is the top view of the right pot, which is all Nigerian Sunshine IBL. 2 main phenos, as seen on the left and right. Very excited to see what happens here. Bliss F2: Blue Zebra: Blue Zebra: Durban Bubble x Bliss: stretch pheno