Cool little setup you’ve got going. I dig it! Your own little paradise for your buds to flourish in.
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That tent is like a dream, what a beautiful mix of plants and flower
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it makes a magical substance in its roots 
Glad you’re enjoying the progress!
Paradise will be when I get some insulation in this closet 
I’m really looking forward to seeing the various plants start to bloom. Wish I had more space to keep up higher diversity but we work with what we’ve got eh?
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Well, I’ve been super distracted and with the cold temps, things have been going slow. Despite having two heat mats and moving the light driver back into the tent, I’ve rarely been in the low 70s. Typically it’s mid to high 60s (fahrenheit) which isn’t ideal but it’s not shutting the tent down or anything. Just slower growth. Unfortunately I felt compelled to cull a lot of the companions as the humidity was way high, especially with the low temps. It’s almost all worm poop by this point.
Odors are right up my alley: sour candy, sweet and clove-like. Really nice nose, hoping it continues to develop in this direction and shines through with the same flavor when smoked. This spirit train by the way (in the grinder) is absolutely wonderful. Kudos to all the gents who made it possible (newb2.0, Sebring, Bodhi and all those who support overgrow).
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Very nice! Love me some living soil/no till. Cool stuff ya got going on in there.
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Starting to see some lightening of the fan leaves so the fade may be around the corner. Buds are looking nice and frosty and I’ve been getting a good stretch of 75F+ temps in the tent. I added some CoWoCo castings to the soil and watered in with a strong dose of thermx-70. Hoping to pick up some insects as well as good microbiology from that application of castings. The waxy sheen on the leaves makes me happy. 
I planted a mix of more companion crops, this time going for the longer germination seeds first, as well as a few low growing and flowering varieties. Hopefully they don’t come up too quick 
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Few little updates. Companion crop came up very quickly, plus the beans that dropped from previous plants have sprouted with the extra water I’ve been hitting the surface with. I’ve got some little grow strip lights I’m going to try and get over the surface so they don’t get too lanky.
I’m also paying the price for stubbornly refusing to trust my own wisdom and stop adding shit to the blumat reservoir. I’ve once again gotten things to grow in the supply line. This time, as I massaged out the clog with the flush valve open, a mucous like snot came out. Some seedlings are coming up right in that snot spot so we will see how they do. I loaded up the res with thermx-70 and this resulted not long after. Once the water drains enough I’ll do a full clean of the reservoir and then flush a bit clean water through the lines… and then it’s water only I swear. Or maybe just something like SLF-100 to keep things tidy for a while.
Just been checking the trichs and waiting for the proper time to cut this thing down. The plant was out of focus but this picture captures the fade this thing is going through:
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So in preparation for the upcoming harvest and cycling of the companion crops, I’m preparing a ferment to give the biology a boost as well as some nutrition. My goal was to make a concoction similar to fish hydrolysate, namely one that includes a substantial portion of omega 3 fats, a proper ratio of Ca:Mg, and decent carbon to nitrogen ratios. Targets were 12% fat, 5.5-6:1 Ca:Mg, and nitrogen between 2-3% of the dry weight (before molasses and water additions). The recipe I came up with is as follows:
15g flax seed oil
20g malted barley powder
20g rolled oats powder
30g kelp meal
10g crustacean meal
10g protein hydrolysate from whey
10g rock dust
10g fulvic acid
After mixing the ingredients dry, I added 375ml of water, at a 3:1 ratio water:dry ingredients.
I normally don’t use filtered water, but for foliar sprays and microbe cultivation it’s a must. Zero Water filters produce water with zero TDS.
After mixing this well, I stirred in 166g molasses, at a ratio of 1:3 sugar to liquid (these are all by weight).
Finally, I added about 8ml of LABs derived from malted barley fermented with my yogurt starter.
The entire mixture was given a good stir, covered with a coffee filter and placed in my Jank-a-Lank ™️ fermentation chamber.
Temps sit about 84-86F.
I’m hoping this will take a few weeks to finish so it can be used right after harvest of the Sour Crack. I’ll be peeking at it under the scope periodically to see how it’s going!
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Digging the styeeez up in here 
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Quick update from the tent. The Sour Crack is almost done. The trichomes are clouding up and a few of the leaves have some ambers showing so the buds should be soon to follow. Plant is continuing to fade as well.
The companions I planted sprouted as well as a bunch of the beans from the previous run. I attached a clip light to assist in getting the companions going. I also took the opportunity to clean out the reservoir and flushed a bit of clean water through the lines. Got another snot monster 
Been eyeing SLF-100 pretty hard, or maybe the Rootwise Bio-Catalyst as a regular addition to the reservoir to keep it and the water lines clear.
Last update is for the ferment. The bottom layer is slowly homogenizing as the fermentation goes forward. Smell is pretty mild and inoffensive. I diluted 2ml into a gallon (slightly less than 1:2000 dilution) and hit some houseplants and a few patches outside I’ve been trying to remediate back to health. Meanwhile I’ve been dreaming up ways to utilize the chaff left behind at the bottom of the jar. The current top prospect is stuffing it all in a sock and burying it by an old tree and basically doing the IMO collection technique but with pre-fermented material rather than cooked rice. Lazier options would be to just mix it with some vermicompost or leaf mold and let it further break down in that mix then use it as a top dress. Open to suggestions!
One final thought- this run was 24/0 light schedule but I’m going back to 20/4 at a minimum. I think the dark period is a bit too entrenched in the history of plants to ignore. I switched this run as I was struggling with the cold temps and needed all the heat I could get from the LED driver. Now that it’s no longer helpful to add extra heat, I think making sure the plants have some semblance of a night/day rhythm is going to give the best results.
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I throw my leftover chaff in the worm bin. Let them break it down even further and then use it.
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I’m preparing some fungal biomass to try that method of fungal tea brewing. I’ve currently got a tea going (approaching 48 hrs today) that’s just started showing some decent signs of fungal life. There’s a lot of bacterial feeders in there as well, but currently it’s bacterial dominant. The hyphae I’m seeing in the scope are mostly fragments, with the occasional net structure. I’m going to let it keep brewing a bit longer to see how well the fungi do but todays effort is a back up plan for a second tea run. Worst case scenario is the yard and outside garden gets some extra love this spring.
The Ocean’s Harvest was used at a 1:100 dilution as was the Ful Power. The Mycorrhizal Plus was used mostly for the humates. It’s been a while since I looked at the species included in that mix but I’m fairly sure without roots, most if not all will die after spawning. The crab meal was included in a small amount for the chitin. And of course the malted barley was included for the chitinase and all the other enzymes plus sugars/fibers. Rolled oats included as well for fungus food. No rock dust was added as the Oceans Harvest has some in it. Coco coir was used as a substrate for the growth and to hold some moisture. Everything was mixed thoroughly and the OH/FP dilution was added until the mixture would hold its shape when squeezed without dripping excess moisture (field capacity for you fellow shroomers). 0 TDS water used. CoWoCo castings used for biological inoculation.
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Sometimes you get real stoned and remember you made a big pile of leaves almost three years ago. With all the ferments, teas, LABs, yogurt stuff going on, I’ve had the scope out a lot. Figured it’s a perfect moment to check out this very decayed pile of leaves. Outside looks dry, right under the surface is a beautiful, sticky, rich mud. The first field of view had a view of a nematode squirming around looking for bacteria with his big ol lips. Didn’t take long to realize this stuff is tasty. Tons of hyphae, tons of spores, lots of encysted creatures. I found another nematode with its tail lodged in some aggregate, the body turned to face the lens. It had something small attached to its head as well. The quality of the humic aggregates was also really impressive. Big beautiful chunks of rich amber. Needless to say, I had to add some of this to the fungus incubator. Already some wispy growth on top, but I opted to sacrifice some top growth in favor of the added diversity of species from the leaf pile.
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Down came the sour crack. Have decided to wait a bit before running another cannabis plant. I feel like I’ve been learning a shitload from the KNF gurus and really want to go down that rabbit hole for a while and try to max my species count at the same time. I know if I have cannabis in there it’ll become another run and I don’t smoke enough for that to make sense right now. I really want to see how ridiculous I can get the diversity.
I set out an IMO collection basket at a nearby park. I found an off the trail deciduous species of some kind that seemed to be thriving. Found decent chunks of mycelium in the leaves and on the dirt so fingers crossed some good stuff finds its way onto the rice. First time trying this so I’m expecting to fail, or maybe if I’m lucky get a small piece or pieces that I can use. 
The fermented flax oil mixture is smelling amazing these days. Reminds me of soy sauce with an extra touch of sweetness. Was tempted to take a taste! 3ml was added to 300ml of filtered water, with a tiny pinch of sea-90 and a 3ml squirt of LABs. I mixed in some bran bokashi I made a while back until it was at field capacity. Then I plopped some of the fungal starter and some really nice local castings on and mixed it up. Sprinkled really lightly on my indoor bed as well as the outdoor beds and some bare patches on the ground I’ve been working on bringing to life.
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I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist planting some fresh genetics. Even as badly as I botched the last cycle, the smoke is nice and I love the variety. It’s cobbler flavored painkiller. Tart, sweet, and doughy. Like grandma dropped a percoset in the pie.
The ferment is the stalks and trim from last cycle. I don’t really enjoy edibles so the trim just gets recycled back into the tent in one way or another. Everything was ground in a coffee mill, added some brown sugar, LABs and a bit of fungal expansion from a local collection. Still very inexperienced with the ferments but trial by fire seems like the way to go. They’re addicting anyways and I’m running out of containers The plant material seems to be acting like a cap, holding in some of the gasses. Reminds me of kombucha the way the pellicle acts as an interface between liquid and air. Not sure if it’s good or bad or doesn’t matter but I’d love to hear from some of the more experienced fermenters out there.
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Alright, because I never have enough… I built a compost brewer. Pretty much copied Tim Wilson’s vortex brewer design with a modification to the air injector. Rather than just pumping the air in, I made a jet airlift, with the air entering a collar around the return pipe through a bunch of 1mm holes. I’m hoping this provides better bubbling action at the base of the tube without introducing any obstructions like a air stone might. Still some work to be done but since it’s on and stress testing I figured some pictures would be fun.
The first bottle had a crack in it I didn’t notice until assembled so hopefully this one seals. If not I’ll be looking for a food safe sealant if some kind. Final touches assuming it doesn’t have any leaks will be to secure the bottle and return pipe with some more pipe strap. Would also like to mount the air tube a little more securely and fine tune the down spout to maximize the vortex and/or minimize the splashing.
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Your killing it man! Are you using a microscope at all to check on the colony diversity in the brews?
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Thanks dude! I have been diving into the microscope more and more. I took two peeks at the contents of the vortex brewer last night before sleep… the first was about 45m-1h after the inoculants hit the water, the second about 2-3 hours after that. I’m about to have another peek here after I get the coffee made… The first look was about like you’d expect, but due to the fungal starter I did see quite a bit of broken hyphae and spores in general. What really had me excited though was the sheer number and diversity of encysted creatures and what I believe to be nematode eggs. I’ll know soon once they start waking up.
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Very nice grow log you have here!!!
I am pulling up a chair and bong for the show.
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