Bez's 2X2 Blurple, COB, and Fluorescent Closet Grow

Update: “True Confessions”

OK…it’s true!

I’m a soil dummy! I don’t really know wtf I’m doing and should be hanging out in organic section learning. I don’t even call myself an, “organic grower”, even though all the stuff I buy says organic on it (except perlite I think).

And even after I buy all my organic, “stuff”, I just guesstimate quantities based upon directions on package with little real knowledge of what I’m doing.

I have many soil recipes (super soil even) written down yet wtf?!!? Some ingredients on some of my soil recipes seems a little out there but wtf do I know? I’m a soil dummy!

I’m sorry to confess that back in the day my soil recipe was 1/3 miracle grow (three month feed), 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 store bought organic. I grew killer buds.

Now, they don’t make 3 month miracle grow (it’s 4 month) and the 3 month wouldn’t do me any good now anyway because most all the strains are 8 week compared to 12-14 week back in the day.

So I got spoiled…and sorry to confess…lazy!

And must be lazy still about my soil although I use no chemical ferts/nutes. It’s not that I can’t grow decent buds with what I got it’s the perception that maybe I could do even better with a truly proper organic soil.

Been meaning to start a compost pile way in back as a possible amendment. Hope by this time next year I got it together with my soil!

3 Likes

TBH, unless you are doing soil testing (I don’t) you are just guessing anyway. 1/3 compost, 1/3 SPM, 1/3 perlite + those amendments you added should be just fine. You can water in some things like barley, aloe, and coconut water to get some extra oomph out of those inputs.

2 Likes

Here ya go @bezalom I dug thru my archives and pulled this out just for you
http://catnews.org/FREE%20Pot%20Books/True%20Living%20Organics%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Guide%20to%20Growing%20All-Natural%20Marijuana%20Indoors%20(2012).pdf

1 Like

Oh and BTW I do belive your “just natural” bag of organic soil is a Scott’s miracle grow company lol, so rock on!

1 Like

Nice to know…thanks…I feel better already…lol! Never owned a ph tester. Just really at some point want to get into all the science behind it and make my own natural super-soil instead of a bunch of store bought and have the ability to re-amend/reuse soil.

Thanks for response!

1 Like

lol…doesn’t surprise me. Kinda sneaky huh.

Thanks for links and response Hoodini…much appreciated!

1 Like

OMG, I hate that book. LMAO.

Spikes and layers?

I like you @Hoodini though. :grin:

Try this one, one straw revolution.
Onestraw.pdf (616.5 KB)

2 Likes

Sweet…I’ve got some reading to do now thanks to @ReikoX and @Hoodini.

Much thanks too both of you!

1 Like

I thought that was a little redundant too. . LMAO.
but for a “beginner” it’s a good reference book on how and what your doing to your soils, to get a bigger understanding of the True Living Soil aspect, I’m going to read your pdf now though for sure hehe. . .
And I think the world of you @ReikoX, you 90% of my saved information lol

3 Likes

It’s a quick and easy read. More philosophy than directions. Enjoy it, I did.

2 Likes

@bezalom if you don’t learn what you need from that, tag me and I’ll do my best to answer the rest of your questions bro!
Happy Growing

1 Like

Update: “male city” continues.

Down to one mutant, constantly droopy “Crystal” (sativa dom pheno) yet to show. Has had few preflowers for some days now with no clustering so good sign. Got it to perk up some but consider droopiness as part of the mutation/strain as done it since seedling.

Mine rarely droop (nearly always perky…I like em like that) and the few I had droop over the years were heavy Indica dom (sometimes just can’t get those big fat leaves to stand back up…especially near harvest). But sativa dom usually easy to keep perky.

And if the, “Crystal”, sativa pheno is female I will likely have to stake it to hold it up (something I have never had to do before). But could be an interesting smoke so kinda excited…as has very sweet rub. I’m so tempted to transplant it as rarely will single preflowers go days with no cluster but this is a bit of a strange one so time will tell.

With only one real plant in flower closet now (Ice in 5 gal bucket) I put my last two, “Blue Mountain” in paper towel and one sprouted and put in starter soil. Had five, “Blue Mountain” to begin with and only 1 of 3 sprouted and was a male. I have Blue mountain pollen so if I get a female I’ll be set.

I have used same seed starter (I use it for clones also) for many years with great success (last bag lasted me over 3 years…I garden also so start seeds early indoors).

I have always used the cheapest and smallest styrofoam cups. I poke a bunch of holes in bottom and at bottom sides with a toothpick and fill about 1/3 with soil. I use a pencil and push down 1/4-1/2" into soil depending on length of taproot. I then wash my hands good and carefully pick up seed head ONLY! DO NOT touch taproot! And place taproot down of course into hole. Then lightly cover. The soil I mix rainwater to make it moist…but NOT muddy. I then cover with plastic bag and place somewhere warm in dark (or sometimes I just place under light as seed head covered with soil) The reason I use so little soil is because I want a little root ball asap.

There are differing theories on transplanting and how many times one should or shouldn’t transplant from start to finish. Personally, as long as done before early-mid flower then doesn’t really matter. But if I ever noticed any transplant shock it must have been when I was a kid (starting gardening in 4th grade) as mine don’t even seem to skip a beat. But I use much TLC and only abuse the males…lol. However, if one doesn’t have magic hands then less transplant probably better for you.

For me the root ball does two things. It gives the plant upward growth spurts that wouldn’t occur in larger pot as not root bound. And also much easier to transplant.

Of course bigger pots make for bigger plants and many (like myself) have height/space restrictions. I don’t want to outgrow my space but i want to grow as big (and as much) as possible for the space I have.

I may be wrong but I think in a, “2.5 X 2.5”, space a scrog would yield less (and take more time) then doing 4+ colas per plant. With a scrog I could likely only train one plant. I can get two 5 gal buckets plus two 4 gal buckets with four 1.5 to 2 foot colas plus lateral buds.

So, whatever it takes (and however many times you have to transplant) to get the most out of your lights and space would be optimal. Almost all mine get transplanted 3 times and some 4. The delay these days in sexing (compared to many years ago) doesn’t help. Aside from 7-10 day wait on sexing mine start to finish are about 3 months these days. Any shock from transplanting/training can lengthen that time considerably. Three month start to finish amounts to four harvests per year.

How I transplant is I take a butter knife (for smaller pots) and stick it in at edge of pot and carefully go around pot pressing against inside of pot with knife as go around pot. Then usually place stem between fingers at base and turn over and usually will fall out in hand. I spray/mist soil of new pot where root ball will go and tenderly set new plant in and add soil around edge and done.

Some roll pot and loosen root ball and even take fingers and disturb root ball and roots. To each their own! Whatever works! When I transplant not even a leaf droop…nothing. Hard to imagine disturbing a root ball wouldn’t shock the plant severely but maybe better in long run I don’t know…never tried it. I want a perfect short flight myself with no bumps or shocks!

Just checked records and, “Ice”, one week since first appearance of white hairs! Has shot up nicely with stretch and am happy with height at this time. Could…and likely will go 3-4 more inches by finish.

pic of veg cabinet of, “Blue mountain” with several males waiting on pollen. I have two I keep in dark all day under back bathroom sink and switch em at night with two in veg cab and will do this until pollen collected.

edit: wow, just noticed rather long-winded this morning. AK-48 too blame…lol!

edit: pic of, “Ice”, from yesterday and shot up like three plus inches overnight.

.

2 Likes

Update: “The good, the bad, and the ugly”!

First off I digress, let me explain that my descriptions of how I do something (like transplanting, seedlings, etc. like previous post) are not to say that my way is, “the best way”, or even, “the right way”. Just happens to be my way of doing it. My hope is that those beginners that read through this thread that can see, “how I grow”, (non-scientific by the seat of my experienced pants) and may themselves get some ideas about what would work best for them and help them in their growing endeavor. I get decent results (although have much room to grow and want to get more knowledgeable about growing)

I am kinda new at this myself with regards to limited space and new tech lights. I’m like, “Rip-van-winkle” (even look like him with grey hair down to middle of my back with the full beard etc.) because it’s like I woke up after 20 years and all has changed. Back in the day…no autos…no fems and in fact so far looks like the strains were stronger, and better smelling/tasting in general 20 years ago…but about to try some US seedbanks and get me some Bodhi, etc…

Back in the day I grew full plants in 5 gal buckets. No topping! So all this 4 colas stuff is new to me but don’t have the height with lights to do 5 1/2 foot-6 foot plants so must top to keep em short. The nice thing is better penetration on a 2 1/2 foot to 3 foot plant then a 6 footer with the lights I have now so works out good.

Back in the day I never used paper towel method of germination (new to me). Couple of years ago when I started growing again I found seeds would just sit there and damp off and rot usually before (or while) they sprouted. Maybe it’s the seedbanks I bought from but man like wtf??? Back in the day (you hate that expression already don’t you…lol) I put a seed straight to soil and nearly 100% germination and never taking more than 4 days to pop soil surface and usually pop surface in two days. Hell, I’ve had em sprout as late as 7 days in a paper towel…and am pretty sure 7 days worth of moist soil would rot most cannabis seeds.

I know, sorry bit of a rant but sometimes change ain’t better it seems. Won’t even begin to speak about the damage, “Rudy”, has done to weaken strains.

So now, “the good, the bad, and the ugly”.

The good: “Ice” is just under 3 feet (in white 5 gal bucket) and not even two weeks in flower and forming buds already.

The bad: syrofoam cup slipped from hand and fell short distance but spilled out and broke tap root putting back in cup…styrofoam kinda slippery with dry hands. Other, “Blue Mountain”, seed sprouted (had brown on tap root already wtf) and planted it in cup. Bad morning for, “Blue Mountain”!

The Ugly: transplanted (still not showing sex) ugly sativa dom pheno mutant, “Crystal”. Actually did same on, “Ice” in 5 gal bucket. Usually works out (not always) when plant numerous seeds of same strain and everything shows males but a few and those few have single preflowers for days on end with no clustering then I’m like 80% sure it’s female. And that’s about my success rate. Often, I transplant one of these and will show in next day or two. So may be wasting time but soil won’t get used much if male shows in few days and just pull it.

The sativa pheno, “Crystal”, had a weird like double “webbed” taproot so not calling it a mutant just because it’s a strange looking “Crystal”, pheno spinoff. Can even go back in this thread and see it as a seedling and see it ain’t quite, “right” (kinda like me…lol).

5 Likes

Update: “been dazed and confused for so long it’s not true”–Led Zeppelin

My own quote from July 12 earlier in this thread states, “two Mosca special mix freebie mystery seeds”.

Well, now it ain’t a mystery! I’m such a dumbass sometimes!

Take notice of this pic of an order I did approx. a year ago.

I Googled Special Mix Reg by Mosca Seeds and found it’s only one seed. I only had one little packet with one seed and it was AK-48. The packet marked, “Mosca Special Seed Mix” had 5 reg seeds. The only other packet with 5 seeds were the Fem Maui. Order never mentions AK-48 so that was my one seed and they put the Blue Moon in the, “Special Seed Mix”. I know they are reg seeds as had male already. Not sure how this got past me initially.

But what this means (as ran out of just, “White Widow” pollen on Maui, “big pot”) and forgot to mention, “Mosca Mystery seed” X White Widow" as just kinda dropped the mystery as didn’t know and called it WW.

But what it actually is “along with recently collected seeds from AK-48” and pollen collected from recent, “WW X AK-48” is actually, “WW X Blue Moon X AK-48”.

Anyway, nice to clear this up.

Now, more “dazed and confused”.

One of the, “Ice” I put back as males is actually a female. I didn’t wait for 3 (a cluster) but saw a tiny stalk with what obviously was a leaf bulb starting and went with a pair. Always wait for a cluster of three!

So that was kinda dumb and now I have to keep my eye on it as had some serious lighting changes between time it was out of flower and back in. If close to going hermie it likely will. If not then good strong strain of, “Ice” here.

Here are some pics and still looks weird as I see no calyx. Just white hairs coming out of leaf stalks. But no balls/pollen sacs.

The “dazed and confused continues”!

OVERGROW! OK!

Yikes, my, “Ice”, is 3 foot and 3 1/2 inches. I have effectively overgrown my space. And tomorrow is only two weeks since appearance of first white hair. I placed new hook and have lights as high as possible (without major construction modifications) and may work (or may bleach/burn…time will tell). Oops!

Oh, and, “Crystal” mutant I transplanted because I was so sure it was a female…yep…you guessed it…male (it’s at top of compost pile now)!

Some, “Ice”, pics two weeks into flower. Can’t get back far enough to get whole plant with pot.

4 Likes

Update: “Space…the final frontier”

First, noticed I wrote, “Blue Mountain” above and meant, “Blue Moon”…Yikes (and anywhere else I did this sorry…noticed wrote blue mountain on cup with seedling in it…yikes…a bit spaced out it seems…need to quit running on autopilot)!

Also, “Ice”, that was brought back from the dark side into flower has been ejected due to peculiar ball shapes forming and mostly tired of doing extensive daily inspections and ain’t worth taking the risk.

Pollinated, “Ice”, on two lower bud stalks (will not pollinate other stalks with other pollen I have as want strictly, “Ice”, seeds from this…only other pure strain I have is, “White Widow”). I fill an artist brush (that is somewhat rigid so can get spring when flick it to direct pollen) with pollen and just above bud site I flick brush (only once) so that it flicks downward. Do not touch the bud site with brush…just allow pollen to settle.

As long as no air movement than no problem. Can mist other parts of plant (outside of flower room) if worried about transfer to other parts of plant as moisture/water will prevent most pollen from being viable (obviously don’t mist the bud sites you just pollinated.

Well, with only one plant now in flower chamber I have 4 WW X Blue Moon X AK-48 that I planted straight into soil (3 popped surface in 2 days and 1 actually took 4 days to pop surface). It is refreshing growing with my own seeds that I don’t have to soak in paper towel and fiddle with taking helmet, etc. off.

Also, have one, “Blue Moon”, (hopes it’s female as have pollen).

Also show pics of male, “Ice”, and, “Crystal” (will plant my own, “Ice”, seeds when ready and pollinate with, “Crystal” asap).

Current, “Ice”, in flower is on last day of week 3. No feeding accept gave it a slight shot of Epsom salts and molasses. Very happy with growth thus far. Stands now 3 1/2 feet off floor. A single cola of this would be a tree!

4 Likes

Update: “all you need is love”—Beatles

last day of week 4 (since appearance of 1st white hair…and now gotta bunch)

Very happy with this “Ice” so far. Really taking off and saw when researched that “Ice”, can take 9-11 weeks and another site said 8-10 weeks.

As fast as this is putting on the buddage (and not air bud surprisingly) seems like may finish at 7 weeks? Don’t know…time will tell but gonna be huge in couple of weeks at the rate it’s going.

Pic of two lower buds making seeds.

Pic of veg cab shows my own seeds of four, “WW X BM (Blue Moon) X AK-48”, that actually were planted about 4 days after, “Blue Moon” (in white cup) and look at difference in growth (same soil and conditions).

Pic of my pollen stash. All males disposed of now.

5 Likes

Very very nice. I like where you’re going with all this. Can’t wait to see more.

1 Like

"good times roll

if the illusion is real
let them give you a ride
if they got thunder appeal
let them be on your side

let them leave you up in the air
let them brush your rock and roll hair
lets let the good times roll-oll
let the good times roll
let the good times roll
lets let the good times roll
we’ll let the good times roll" - Cars

Thanks @TheJanitor appreciate your kind words.

Last day of week 5, “Ice”, update. Coming in now 3" shy of 4 feet from the floor. Each cola about 14" long (just cola). Gonna have a good stash from this one.

4 Likes

“ain’t nothing but a corn dog…crying all the time”

Last day of week six, “Ice”, update. It’s a little droopy as needs watering.

Pic of seedlings in veg almost time for 12/12. Most have been topped three times (for four main colas) and approach end of 30 day 24hr light veg cycle.Pic of seed buds.

4 Likes

That ice filled out really nice and it looks like shes gonna pack on more weight still. Kinda makes me interested in growing it myself. Good job

1 Like