Hi there GC, first time posting I think? Maybe 2nd..idk, I've followed these forums for years, back when I was underage growing in my closet at my mom's house (never any successfuls though) to now that I've got a decent setup and decent seeds and some organic soil cooking now. I've got a few questions while it's cooking and before I germinate my seeds. So I just moved to Colorado Springs from Indy with my 2 roommates and am now getting setup. I bought Sunshine Mix #4 for my peat, come to find it has perlite and lime in it too which is a plus, I had lime at the ready and was prepared to buy perlite but I'm under the impression the sunshine mix has enough of both for the grow? Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. From there I added Wiggle Worm EWC (I later learned of a local source for much better castings that I'll buy later for either amendment teas or next cycles. I also bought I believe it's called Ancient Forest Alaska Humus. I used Dr. Earth kelp meal, as well as Espoma Garden tone dry fertilizer and azomite rock dust. I used the beginners guide for making my organic mix. I've also got a couple of locally concocted beneficial microbrial bacteria and a mycorrhizae batch for fungi, I'll post pics of those in a sec. I'll be running a 600w HPS in my closet for now, we've got plans in the works as well for an in ground greenhouse that I'll use as well both for cannabis and gardening. My main question right now is, I've got 6/1 gal pots with soil cooking and 2/7 gal smart pots with soil, the smart pots are obviously aerating and drying faster than the 1 gal plastic pots. Do I need to keep the soil wet for the month that it cooks or do I just let it dry out? I made an ewc tea a few days ago to kickstart the inoculation but other than that I've been at a loss so far...I've been meaning to post for like a week but I keep smoking and forgetting or neglecting lol. I can't wait to get my journey started and to hear from all you guys.
I would, first, add more aeration/perlite. I'd add it at ½ the amount of EWC and alaska humus you added: so if you added 5 gallons of ewc and 5 gallons of humus, I'd add-in 5 gallons of perlite. And soil 'cooking' is actually the soil life (fungi, bacteria, worms, insects, arthropods, rollie pollies, etc) eating and converting your raw materials into nutrients that your plant can use. You absolutely want to keep the soil wet (but not too much, they need air, too ) in order to keep these organisms alive and working for you. From here on out they are your work horses; make them happy, they'll make your plants happy.
I'll definitely pick up more perlite later today or tomorrow, having clutch problems at the moment. I know what the cooking is, I just wasn't clear on whether I needed to keep it wet for the 4 weeks or not, I appreciate the advice though most definitely. I'll get the smart pots watered asap, they're getting a bit dry on top but the plastic pots are holding water much better. I know I shouldn't disrupt the soil too much, but is it ok to mix it up more when I water it just to be sure it doesn't pool or not get mixed enough? And should I be using a tea to keep it wet every time or just water? We have a R/O filter at the house so I'm hoping that will be good enough without having to tamper at all?
A few ways I like to see if I need water is to get used to the feel of the pots' weight when they're freshly watered, then when it feels significantly lighter, it's time to water. You can also stick your finger in the soil to get a feel for how wet it is, if I stick my finger all the way in and it's dry, it's definitely time to water. Smart pots are pretty forgiving with overwatering, and water naturally moves downward with gravity, so as long as you've got decent aeration and your pots aren't sitting in water, it will all drain out and not pool up. No need to mix. I'd say you're good with teas for a while, at least until you start growing plants in there. Depending on your water source, if you're only worried about chlorine in the water, most of us just let our water buckets sit for a day or so before watering and the chlorine evaporates out. Some people like to bubble the plain water like when they make teas and I would expect that to evaporate the chlorine faster. Good luck with the clutch!
Thanks for the tips I think I might just dump the 6x 1 gal pots into another smart pot at least for the cooking process, the plastic 1 gals I feel are holding water way too much and I'm not sure that it's a lack of perlite that's the problem (although I could bee 100% wrong lol idk) but the smart pots are drying out exponentially faster which is shocking to me considering they're roughly 6-7 gallons compared to just 1.
Thanks on the clutch too it started screeching like a banshee last night when the roomie was driving home from his dads house, I'm sad my poor pony is stuck in the driveway for the time being
Something to update finally!!! I germinated the seeds 2-3ish days ago, all 6 popped in under 30 hours. They've all sprouted in their starter pods and I've got them under a 42w CFL for the time being, safely at like 7" away until they're all facing the light. I ordered a Mars 1600 that *should* be delivered tomorrow seeing as how it's already in the state (damn no Sunday deliveries) and I'll be buying more seeds as we get closer to 4/20 specials. Anybody have any good strain suggestions on heavy/pure indica's that would be good for making medicinal hemp oil? My roommates girlfriend has a sister with stage 4 breast cancer, my other roommates step mom has fibromyalgia (or however you spell it, and my dad has a tumor in his brain he'll be getting removed and I'd really rather see him get help through the oil over chemo.
Got my 1600 in today!!! I'm so excited it's SO bright. Got my 6 babies on day 3 now under 128w of CFLs right now at a safe distance. I've got 3 shelves in my closet that criss cross each other to an extent that I'd like to hang the LED from but I'm kind of sketched out about trusting it so I took it down until I can both figure out a way to hang it safely and when I need it.
