So tomorrow is my birthday. My 40th birthday. It’s supposed to be a “big deal”, but I’ve been in and out of town for work for the last few weeks, and instead of being home with my family, I’ll be sitting in a hotel room by myself for it. Since I’ve got nothing else better to do, I figured I’d post a couple subpar pics from my tent-cam, and then I can update everything better when I get home next Saturday.
So this isn’t really a diary I guess, but maybe I’ll turn it into one as time goes on. I’ve got big plans in the works, but this grow has been pretty lack-luster as I haven’t been able to do much. This run I have going is:
(3)Iced Latte by Mutant Genetics
(2)Froot by the Foot from Atlas Seeds
(1)Cream Mandarine XL and (4)Sweet Cheese XL from Sweet Seeds
Ignore the tomato names on the labels as I just reused something I had laying around and numbered them.
Then like a week later. Pics are terrible. I didn’t take them. Iced Latte and Sweet Cheese XL started looking pretty bad. Wasn’t sure if either of them would make it.
Then here we are the last week or two. I’ll try t oput these ones in order, but it’ll be pretty obvious based on growth. FL is Cream Mandarin XL, FR is Froot by the Foot, RR is Iced Latte, and RL that you can’t see is the Sweet Cheese XL (which doesn’t matter because it’s dead) Put the Earthbox covers on eventually. There are truly shit quality and not worth the $10ish I think I spent on them.
And that’s where we are. For anyone curious, I sat down and watched ALL of the BuildASoil videos and pulled my inspiration from there. I ran out of time to completely empty the boxes and fill with a peat/castings/pumice (I used perlite because I couldn’t score any pumice locally in the timeframe I needed it) But top halfish is a good mix of stuff with craft blend mixed in. Then top watered with some of the quialla extract and I think the blue gold(?)… I don’t remember. I was really rushed. This grow is basically garbage even though the CM and IL are doing ridiculous, but I didn’t log anything past when I started to germinate and when I transplanted them. Both rushed.
So I never wanted to start a new thread asking questions, but a couple I had are:
What do you track/log on all of your grows? And how? Notebook, spreadsheet?
What microbes does everyone use for living soil?
And there were more questions. I have them written down in my notebook. But I don’t have it with me
Thanks for looking at my stuff. I’ll update it with better stuff when I get a chance.
Happy Birthday! Early I guess but damn it happy 40th!
Big things have small beginnings!
Awesome to see some earthbox grows. I have 3 sitting here doing nothing and may have to fire them back up again…
Damn I know those struggles. lol My local nursery people looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for pumice during my organic grows. Sometimes being in a small town sucks!
My phone with daily pictures and just notes I make if I feel it needed…
Not sure about living soil specifically… I’m not an “organic” guy by no means but microbes wise… “Tribus” all day!
I’ve got a couple 1000W HPS sitting around that a buddy gave me that got out of “the game”, but considering summer is (finally) right around the corner, and that my tent is in my bedroom, I’ll probably just roll with the LED for this one so I don’t roast us out. It did a pretty decent job on my last run, but it could always be better right?
Thanks buddy! I figure I’ve gotta start somewhere, and sometime. No time like the present. I’m just sitting here anyways and have been thinking about it. I do my best to take pics, and have two spreadsheets named first and second grow, but there is almost nothing in there past when I started germinating, and when they finally popped … A picture is worth a 1000 words
Absolutely… hell even if you just take progress pictures for yourself it helps tremendously. I’m pretty good about remembering thing from my photo’s but damn if you post pics here on OG as you progress it will help tremendously and honestly keeps you engaged. I can go back and look at pictures as well as what I was running at the time. OG is a great time capsule for growing to be able to talk to future me. Who forgets everything.
Happy Birthday bro, mine’s the day after yours. Since you have to work, and be away from your family, you’re supposed to get double birthday powers the day you get home! Don’t let anyone forget that! peace
Any and all possible
Things I use that add microbe diversity
Dr earth products like general purpose tomato and veggie with the microbe packages added
Worm castings
Horse compost
Donkey compost
Steer manure
Guinea pig poop
Chicken shit( very small amounts)
Mushroom compost
Roach frass
Cricket frass
Mealworm frass
Bat guano ( I mix half and half Dr earth brand and fresh off eBay)
Seabird guano
And my fav of catching a fish from the local swamp and taking it home alive, throwing it in a tote with water and an air pump overnight, release it back the next day and that water is the base for a compost tea.
I’m sure there are other creative ways to add more diversity too but some of what I’ve personally got into my soil overtime through the teas I’ve brewed with many of these inputs
Still been wanting to try adding elephant dung and rabbit poop too but gotta get a good source first
Yeah, I’ve got a couple of the Dr. earth things in my amazon cart. I’ve also got some chicken shit composting (I’ve got chickens )… I’ve talked to my wife about full blown aquaponics (for the actual garden) so we’ll see where that goes. I bough one of those compost tea bags you recommended me a couple weeks ago, and am hoping to get a chance to use it soon.
Rabbit shit is apparently fantastic because you can use it right away unlike chicken shit which is way to hot. I need to find a source of that or just raise my own rabbits. Haven’t decided yet which way to go
Right. I haven’t really cared about my birthday since I hit 25 and got that sweet sweet car insurance rate drop… I think. Or maybe it’s just a rumor … I don’t really pay attention to those sorts of things and delegate it to my secretary (my amazing wife)
For microbes, I’ve used Great White, Roots Oregonism, and a few other off shoots. I actually found an organic package of myco/bacto recently at WalMart, on the shelf! It also has a minute amount of nutrients added which seems cool to me.
Chicken shit is just known to be slow release nitrogen, so I never put directly in my soil, I use about 1/2 tsp per gallon brewed if throwing in my tea and will only give in veg and first flower tea to give some food for stretch, it’s just enough to add microbes and a lil soluble without overdoing it. Home Depot and Lowes does carry the general Dr earth but tractor supply is gonna be the hidden gem to find the bat guano and even bone and blood meal in Dr earth brands.
Ya guinea pig and rabbit poo are the same in that respect of both usable straight from the booty, there’s wild rabbits that roam my back yard so gonna try to find their den and snag that shit, literally
… A picture is worth a 1000 words
)… I’ve talked to my wife about full blown aquaponics (for the actual garden) so we’ll see where that goes. I bough one of those compost tea bags you recommended me a couple weeks ago, and am hoping to get a chance to use it soon.
… I don’t really pay attention to those sorts of things and delegate it to my secretary (my amazing wife)