Soil Mix
20% Fox Farms Strawberry Fields(Layered in the bottom of bags)
40% Fox Farms Ocean Forest*
40% Fox Farms Happy Frog*
(All with extra perlite mixed in)
*Mixed evenly to fill bags Changed to Bio365 soil
2/3 BioFlower in the bottom
1/3 BioAll on top
Nutes
House + Garden Starter Kit…maybe May be using the Mills Starter Kit this time
Notes
After a fairly successful first grow I’m ready to take what I learned and apply it to the next one. Still not entirely sure about nutrients this run. The H+G starter kit worked great on the last one, and I started running some recharge every 21 days and blackstrap molasses as well. My soil mix is staying the same this time so I may be fine for at least 6 weeks before I really need to start worrying about amendments. I might start making a banana tea as part of my regular diet is a banana every day, shouldn’t let those peels go to waste.
The seeds this time around are Blueberry Twist “Advanced Female Seeds”(Whatever that means, lol). From @GorillaSeeds. They ran a giveaway a few weeks ago and I won on a different platform. They say they finish relatively fast and I’d like to get this grow done before I need to drain my rain collection barrel for the winter. Should have until January before that is a serious concern as we don’t usually get our harshest cold here until then. Despite saying in my previous diary that going forward I would be doing two plants, max, I decided to again try 3. I want to maximize my space and yield, and if the worst case happens and a plant doesn’t make it, I still have two for a decent harvest.
Diary:
9/7/2022: Began germination of BT seeds. Soaking in a cup of water and a little peroxide for 12hrs before transferring to a paper towel.
9/11/2022: Left the seeds in the paper towel for a day too long. These girls took off quick. They were already pushing the shell of the seed away. Dropped them into saturated seedling starter bags today and into the tent.
9/14/2022: Seedlings off to a good start. Have my humidifier and inkbird controller doing work right now. Will always appreciate a set it and forget it solution to this stuff. Right now I’m targeting the 24th to drop them into soil. Give or take a couple days if they need more time or if they’re outgrowing the starter bags.
10/1/2022: Went to a Grow Expo at a local Hydroponics store today. Got to talk to a lot of vendors and other growers to find out what they were getting success from. Also walked away with a decent haul. My one complaint, for any marketing people for vendors who might stumble on this. Sunglasses and hats are cool, but quit being stingy with the product samples. That’s what most of us are really interested in. Give me enough nutrients for a grow, and I’ll be back to buy more for the next one. Give me 1 bottle of something and tell me I have to buy the rest of the line to see how it works, and you’ll probably never see my dollars. Most of the vendors in attendance didn’t have any product samples. Just fliers and pens then said, “If you’re interested they sell our full line inside”.
I did leave with a couple bags of Bio365 soil, putting the seedlings in their 5gal pots today so planning on using it.
10/1/2022: Put the seedling bags in their 5gal pots using Bio365’s BioFlower in the bottom 2/3, and the rest filled with BioAll. I had considered going with a coco grow this time, then my laziness and cheapness had me ready to use up the rest of my fox farm soil from the last grow, but after talking to the rep from Bio365 I got a little excited and bought into his hype, which usually doesn’t happen. Was also on sale with a buy one get one deal so got both bags for $25. I did mix in a little extra perlite, but the stuff was so light and fluffy I’m not sure it would have drainage issues if used without the extra.
The one thing I noticed while sifting through it, there were no big chunks of bark in it like FF soil had. Everything is really processed down into small pieces. Not sure if that’s better or worse, but I like it as there’s not much to block roots from expanding.
Now to figure out what I’m going to use for nutrients on this grow. Still have enough House & Garden to get me through this one, also have the Mills kit now and some randoms I picked up today. Going to have to do some studying this evening to decide.
I’m excited to see how these ones turn out. Still not sure what “Advanced Female Seeds” means. Couldn’t find a good description on their site so it’s either marketing nonsense or maybe it means these are autoflowers or something else entirely. @GorillaSeeds, any chance you could give some insight?
I haven’t even added any nutrients yet. I’m going to start those later this week. Based on the pics the Bio365 rep showed me I’m not sure I need to until flower honestly. He had a few “just water” pics and the plants looked incredible, buuut since I got these seeds for free in a contest, and they are pricey, I should probably put full effort into it. lol
10/29/2022: Because they have gotten so tall I had to prep them to flip into flowering. I pulled them all a couple days ago and heavily defoliated them since I won’t be able to easily once the netting is up. Now they are sitting in a dark period and I’ll flip them to 12/12 Sunday evening. Because it’s getting cold in my area, and the closet my tent is in isn’t well insulated I’m going to be running the lights at night and have them dark during the day so they don’t get too cold at night.
Hey you just drop these bags right into a hole in a 5gal bag? Like the roots just grow right through em? Can you link me up to the brand you use… Solo cups are such a pain to use. Thanks & your plants look great for 17days flower man.
