Definitely a way i could test it, i was just gonna wing it and once the plants grow they will tax that water usage a bit more, just in comparison i know the potting mix can’t be watered like how i could with coco so just gonna watch and wait and adjust.
As for perlite im on the opposite side of that spectrum now a days just as its energy intensive considering its mined then has to be heated at high temps to pop and fluff it like popcorn. Then hangs around in the environment wherever its tossed till its eventually brakes down into small enough pieces to blend in, though give a heavy watering or rain and it just floats to the top.
Don’t get me wrong though i still understand its use and benefits i just have that back of mind knowing that its something that i should probably work at limiting its use to avoiding completely it if i can, though for the mean time i’ll use it as is.
I agree with you there too, it is resource-intensive and thankfully folks like you are thinking about the sustainability of this hobby/industry and making those calls based on the global good comparably to your personal gain
In all honesty, the industry as a whole is very energy-intensive, and when I start thinking about the impacts of my choices that’s where things have to strike a balance somewhere. I use various things that could be considered resource-intensive but I choose to grow organically and make certain sacrifices there like using products with perlite, peat moss, coco, and any given number of things shipped back and forth across the planet to end up running a cycle and hitting the compost heap or the outdoor veggie patch. I heard that 5% of the world’s energy is consumed producing salt-based fertilizers every year yet see very few people running bio or organic liquid nutes, even less running LOS…
I have made some life choices along the way surrounding similar means like eating organic (to support organic agriculture), I have been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years (hope I have offset some shipping by not supporting producing meat or dairy in any quantity over my lifetime), I don’t wash my car but water my garden like crazy in the growing months, don’t wear much cotton etc etc
I reuse my perlite over and over, I cycle my soil a few times then it heads outside to the veggie patch and lives there indefinitely and don’t typically lose too much sleep about it. The pallets of Cana coco coir we use in the vertical farm does…
Yeah exactly why ive weighed the consideration of say coco being shipped from india or wherever even though a by product from monocultures vs say peat bog mining somewhat locally or at least nationally most of the time and the whole salt vs organic if i was running bigger it would be an obvious choice what id be doing just can’t get away from it or have yet found the path on the scale i am so i accept it for what it is knowing full well of it.
Yeah we use a lot of Peat too yet the mining surrounding which isn’t super great we’re definitely harvesting it faster than it grows typically by excavator… I have a friend in Quebec near one of Canada’s largest peat farms, it sort of looks like you are driving through Fort Mac -no offense Berta lol
Decided that i wont included dates in this round due to the multiple start dates and that all these plants are just a hunt for a plant to produce pollen from.
So seedlings coming up, going to start a couple more seeds as some of these will be crinkles or at least looking that way, i’ll just be rotating out the non strong ones and replanting them with new seeds as they sprout, till i have a full 16 going.
May or may not keep the rotation going until i all good plants obviously based on my own choices.
So so on the starts plucked some crinkles started more seeds and can tell the promix hp isn’t as apt for dealing with pH discrepancies as they all got some 6.35ish feed water for a bit, still leaning that the straight potting mix may be more suited for myself.
Gonna do two things moving on first going to buy a decent multicell say 72cell propagation tray insert and most likely cut it in half and do mass starts making early selection as ive grown tired of germinating say a bit more seeds than required then having laggards or ones with issues or whatever then having to re germinated more once all that happens, really more focus on the best of the best.
Also going to combine my two bags of promix together just to cut down the HP with the potting mix to use them both up, im going to have to buy another small bag of the potting mix just to make it more a 50/50 or so as the lady needed some for re-potting some new house plants.
Jeez! How can anyone grow anything in that filthy room???
Just kidding. I followed silently on your 2020 Thread. Impressive to say the least. May I pull up a chair?
You got my attention for sure with a yield like that. Impressive.
Your area is super spotless. @Mr.Sparkle is sparkling clean. Mr. Clean would be jealous. Keep up the good work!
Day 56 on this i guess, still expect probably another two weeks though, threw a rubber band around the branches to hold them together a bit more to force them more under the light. Is what it is and no complaints for being hand watered , pro mix potting mix, and living in the overflow cab most of its life.
New ones which i made some selections, also picked up a 72 cell nursery tray on the weekend like i was planning ended up cutting it down into three sections making 24cells each and dunked 26 darkspark seeds yesterday morning just to give one section a trail run, Also tried a 50/50 mix of the HP and potting mix which to me its still too much perlite for my liking so did 20:80 mix or so of the two, ended up grabbing a bigger bag of the potting mix than i was thinking just due to price differences with getting 3 times as much for 50% more cost and really only $12cnd issue though now i have probably a good 70-80+ litres of various mixes and thats gonna take a good while to go through lol.
and here we go again. Looking forward to what comes out of the cabs this year! 
