A Cabinet, a Closet, and a Table walk into a bar...

Dis

In Bloom
3rd year organic veggie & canna gardener. Growing food and medicine for my wife and I. Working towards an urban homestead. Hoping to add chickens sometime in the future. 2021 was the goal, but with the year we've had… just trying to realistically manage my expectations and resources. Always learning and improving.

I run organic indoors (25ft² canna over 3 spaces, hand watered with Berkey filtered or GAC/KDF filtered and bubbled; thinking about putting them on Blumats), and organic no till outdoor (400ft² of veggie beds on Blumats and Blusoak). The indoor is grown in DIY Coot's mix (compost portion consisting of Bu's, aeration in the form of pumice) that gets fed over the grow with with a bunch of BAS additives (Coconut, Aloe, Rootwise, Craft Blend, Insect Frass, BuildABloom) as well as AACTs and SSTs (corn during veg, mung during flower, barley full cycle) If I don't have soil made, I run EB Stone Recipe 420, it has performed as well as FFOF for me in side by side trials with Bu's Potting soil, Dr. Earth's Black potting soil, and Dr. Earth's Orange potting soil. Soil gets reamended and recycled, often as a single large batch. My IPM/Foliar consists of Aloe, Rehydrated Kelp Tea, AgSil 16h, Capt Jacks, and neem. This past year I went heavy with biologicals (nematodes and assassin bugs) and was pleased with the results. I'd like to cut back a little on the neem and Capt Jacks for 2021. Im great about spraying the veggies, awful about spraying the canna, more 2021 goals.

The 3 spaces are detailed below. The Cab and Clos are set up for canna year round. The Table is also where I start my veggies, from Feb 1st to mid March. There is no enclosure for the table, which is in a service porch type area. The lights are on during all waking hours, and all light leaks and power indicator leds are covered. This area is solely for vegging seedlings, and the easiest to spray regularly, so the fact that it is not in a full enclosed structure to protect it from pests, hopefully won't present much if any of a problem. The Table has been set up since 2018, but just got a new light (previously had 3 shop lights). The closet has been in service since late 2017, but has been getting more and more dialed each year, panda film in 2019, start of 2020 I upgraded the light and installed attic ventilation and door vent with light baffle. The cabinet was built a few months ago (Q3 2020), and technically isn't done, but I plan on finishing it between this grow and the next. So the idea is wet and veg on the Table, cull any runts and possibly wait to see if any show sex, and then send the remaining onward to the Cabinet and Closet. The Cabinet and Closet are in a dark room, environmental monitors are set to 85°F, but I have no active warming or humidity control. I've used water trays and additional ventilation to keep the numbers reasonable, but they are far from constant, project for another time.

Cabinet:
DIY build, 30" x 30" x 66" interior
2x HLG135 R Spec (66%)
AC Infinity Cloudline 4
Holmes Little Blizzard

Closet:
36" x 48" x 100" interior
4x RapidLED / Logic Pucks (100%)
10" Attic Exhaust Fan
Holmes Little Blizzard

Table:
3' x 5' x 5.5' table space / height restriction
1x ChilLED X1 Veg (2' x 4' usage area)
14" Hurricane Fan


It's been a rough year with the wife's health. I don't know what kind of record keeping or consistency I will be capable of, but I probably take more pics than I need to, and welcome opportunities for learning and developing my cannabis cultivation skill set. I have some things at some various stages right now, but I want to kick this off with the next wetting project. I've posted a grow on ICMAG a few years ago, and a couple on AFN last year, currently have one on CP, I'll mirror this grow there as well, energy and time permitting.
 

Dis

In Bloom
So my first run here on PH will be the following.

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10x Anvil F7 by Mandalorian Genetics
10x JEM F9 by Mandalorian Genetics
2x Canna-Cheese 1:1 F4 by Mephisto Genetics
6x Whitebread by @Frimpong of Freak Genetics

Waiting on 2 packages before I can get started, new light is en route, as well as the Whitebread to my knowledge. The plan will be to self the Anvil & JEM, and hit the Canna-Cheese with some male pollen. Presently I plan to use 3" Cowpots, then up pot to 6" Cowpots. Might just start them in the 6", I am hoping to get them to show sex before putting them in their final 2 or 3 gallon pots. Not even sure if I can use the Cowpots in this way effectively, but I've used Fertilpots in the past, and watched them air prune… anyone have experience with up potting autos in Fertilpots or Cowpots? I have grown several autos, both topped and untopped, but haven't read anyone doing this, but transplant shock is why these products exist, so consequences be damned. Ultimately they will likely be going into a mix of 2 and 3 gallon brown Root Pouches, and 3 gallon Radicle bags, for performance comparisons. This will be my first time using 2 gallon pots, and my first time using Radicle bags. Soil will likely be bagged, as my current batch is still too hot.
 
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Dis

In Bloom
New light arrived. Ready to wet some seeds! Frim's gear has yet to arrive so I am not sure if I am going to run something in their place or not. I'll be putting some seeds in the drink later tonight or first thing tomorrow.

Before: This used to have 3x 4' LED shop lights; The past month or so it's had this HLG135 R Spec over it, waiting for the new fixture. This HLG fixture will be moved into the cabinet, for a total of 2x HLG135 R Specs, ran at 66%.
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After: ChilLED Veg Spectrum X1. Uses about 40w more than the previous 3x shop lights, but will actually start seedlings across the entire table, unlike the shop lights. In theory this space would need 2 of these to grow plants, but for seedlings I think I can make this works perfectly for my space and needs. Still need to mount the driver and run the wires.
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Dis

In Bloom
Into the drink they go. 1/4tsp BAS freeze dried coconut powder, 1/4tsp BAS horticultural aloe, 7.5mL Ful-Power into 32 ozs. Mandalorian Genetics hooked it up, 14x of the JEM and 12x of the Anvil, setting those aside, for what I know not.... Wet 10x Anvil, 10x JEM, and 2x Canna-cheese.

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Dis

In Bloom
No cracked seeds after 18hrs, put them in the dirt anyway. They will be getting lightly sprayed with plain water until they pop.
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The other plants in this picture are technically not documented here. They are here temporarily while I confirm sex before moving them into the Cab. I wasn't planning on detailing them here as its sort of the end result of the previous run, and I wanted to start pHresh! here on pH; But I caught a comment elsewhere regarding the plants in the background, despite the focus being the autos in the fore.

4x Obsol33t Genetics Alien Sour Apple:
ASA 1 & 4 look like they are showing male parts but Im waiting a couple more days to confirm. ASA2 smells amazing, blue dream crossed with apple Jolly Ranchers, going to keep it regardless of sex. ASA5 smells strong, tallest of the 4, my wife says it smells like Thai food.

County Line Genetics: 1x County Line Hash Plant
She had some adult aphids on a single leaf the other day, pulled it, inspected, and moved on. When I went to defol last night it was covered in what appeared to be aphid nymphs. Hit all the plants with some neem, aloe, Agsil, Sal Suds, and coconut. She's the nearest along the back wall. The ASAs had no sign of pests, the Sangria Cookies was only lightly affected.

County Line Genetics: 1x Sangria Cookies
She's much more squat than the Hash Plant. Smells good. Looks healthy. Had a handful of aphid nymphs on her. Not much to report.

Barney's Farm Peyote Critical (From Clone):
4x cuttings I took and rooted from a plant I grew outdoor this past summer. They are just sitting in the corner, not sure what I'm going to do with them.
 

Dis

In Bloom
Why sal suds? Does it smell piney?
Short answer is its what I had, and what we use to wash our produce. In will often also use unscented Bronner's that I have doctored with essential oil blends, but we are currently out as its our primary soap here on the mini homestead.

Its my understanding that Sal Suds is clean rinsing detergent surfactant, where as the Bronner's castile soaps are, well soaps. They deposit oils and fats (the modality of pest eradication), as the neem is the primary modality for this IPM, it may have the added benefit of not stacking more fats and oils on the leaf undersides. Uncertain as to the scientific viability of this suggestion. For washing produce, Bronner's recommends Sal Suds, for washing humans Bronner's recommends Castile. They will get Spinosad tomorrow, and EM5 2 days later, then another round, and then into the Cab they go.

In this mix I used 5mL Neem, 3mL Sal Suds, 1/8t Agsil, 1/8t aloe, 1/4t coconut for 1L of water. It's incorporation is a result of it's surfactant properties, pine oil also has been reported to repels mosquitos, and fungus gnats are a member of the mosquito family. The Agsil (and the aloe for that matter) is also a viable surfactant, but when mixing 5mL with 1/8tsp, it never becomes a cohesive enough slurry to make me feel confident, the Sal Suds thins the neem out immediately.

I hope this provides some clarity regarding my decision. I'd love to hear other points of view. Thanks for stopping by!
 
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Dis

In Bloom
So I started to get worried my seeds dried out... I have them on the heat mat at 85f, and its cold and dry in these parts right now. I didnt see any action after 2 days of soil & spray, and 18hrs of pre soak. That irrational fear prompted me to wet the remaining 2x Anvil (straight into soil, no pre soak) and 4x JEM (so far a 36hr pre soak, no tails). Last night they finally started peeking through, this morning 19x of 22x are alive and well. The 6x I started late are roughly 2 days behind. Sprouts are being sprayed with 1/16tsp Agsil into 20 ozs of water (heavily diluted silica solution).

It has begun. First real chucking / selfing project.
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Dis

In Bloom
Finally moved the County Line Hash Plant, Sangria Cookies, ASA2 (think fem), and ASA5 (think male - will cull it if confirmed) into the closet, after moving the closet plants (2x Barney's Farm Peyote Critical clones) into the dark pantry. I also stuck the ASA1 & ASA4, but they are coming out once I confirm sex, thinking they are leaning male. Its crowded in here, but I suspect there will only be 3 plants left when all is said and done. Cab isnt quite done being built, need to secure wires and finish some light baffles, but you get the idea. 2x HLG135 RSpec @ 170w total.

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Onward...

Not having the more mature plants allowed me to lower the light. Its at 70w and 8" right now, hopefully this is all the legginess they will show.

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A couple cycles ago I ran into an issue where my plants were looking poorly, couldnt figure out why. Everyone asked me about pH, but as an organic grower I dont pH my water. I had a couple cheap yellow pH meters and a couple blue TDS meters, used those which ultimately worsened the problem. I chucked the pens and just started listening to the plants, and was able to turn it around. As this grow / hunt is my largest yet, I wanted to be able to keep more accurate logs with reliable data, as well as being able to trust my equipment and readings, so I pulled the trigger on the Apera AI316.

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Dis

In Bloom
Going to try to do a better job recording data.

So the starter cells had been getting about 50mL each a day of aloe, coconut, Agsil, and Fulpower on days 1, and 2, and got plain water for day 3. I haven't pHed the solution, waiting on distilled water so I can put the new pH pen to work. I'll have those numbers later.

Of the 10 that either went in late (6), and those that didnt pop with the others (4), 4x have popped. 1 of the late Anvils, 2 of the late JEMs, and 1 of the initial JEMs. One of the remaining 6 slots has a sprout showing, but looks like it stalled out. Stem looks healthy, but helmet wont come up out of the soil, so definitely one failure to be germinated successfully.

I started 7 grams of multi colored organic heirloom corn, for a half gallon of corn/barley SST, it soaked for 2 days, changing the water daily, and now its kept moist while it sprouts a half inch long tail. In the future I wont use multicolor, the wife wanted it for popping, but it pops at different temps/times and has different kernel size, told her Id swap her my heirloom Hopi blue... Well it germs at different rates too, annoying.

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Dis

In Bloom
So they didnt get their usual 1500mL last night, they had enough moisture to make it to today. I am currently bubbling 1500mL with Agsil in it. Trying to decide if these corn sprouts will be ready today or not, have some with 1/4" tails and some just emerging, so either they will get Agsil, or Agsil in corn/barley SST. We had some late comers show up to the party, we have action in 22x of 28x cells, hopeful for 2 maybe 3 more.

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