It always blows my mind how quick seeds pop under lights. I always have to wait at least 4 days outside.
Y’all were talking about organic vs. synthetic indoors the other day. I’ve only grown anything outdoors so I go organic on my cannabis there, but honestly, from my few years of comparison on regular annual garden flowers, I would go synthetic if I grew indoors. Organics just take a lot of time to break down and really hit the sweet spot, and imo a living bed indoors just seems like a pain in the ass for a lazy ass like me. So for most who want to grow organically you are mixing your own soils or going organic bag soil and for an annual plant like cannabis, the soil really just gets going when the plants are finishing.
Out in my garden, I’ve had bigger, lusher blooms on my short lived container annuals going synthetic, quite honestly. I plant all of my perennials in organic soil though as the plants always do better the second year. Love organics, but I really believe indoors you are gonna get a better grow in the short life span of an annual cannabis flower. Unless you’ve dedicated years to cultivating a indoor living bed and then you kind of defeat the purpose a bit because you are using false light. I’m sure there are other arguments and that’s fine, but this has really been my gardening experience…
btw… I’m only referring to plants grown in containers
My biggest problems with organic soil were related to keeping things dialed in over time with reusing the soil, and I eventually got frustrated at not having any really good data-backed insights into what was going on with the soil biology and nutrient availability. It would always go from outstanding to adequate or less within about a year.
It’s not always my favorite personality trait, but I get impatient with things that cannot be quantified (even if that’s only because it’s not within my means to do so), so even though I had a thriving system for about a year at a time I eventually gave in to the itch to try something else and haven’t gone back since (with one exception).
Now that things like getting your soil tested like you do are becoming more available, if I ever get the chance to do an outdoor grow, I’m gonna jump on it
Id say all very valid points about indoors and without a doubt its much easier to dial in a synthetic program to max out production. However, every little extra gram for me doesn’t really matter as I’m not selling and not dependent on any money from selling. So for me, that learning process of organics, and getting to better understand the biology is just as important as the results I get at harvest. So while it’s a process for organics, it’s that process and the learning and understanding that I am personally after. Ive only just barely scratched the surface on what I know/what ive been doing so that journey is one I’m embracing right now. But at the same time, I’m suler tempted to run a couple plants in synthetics to pump up aome buds and get them looking all fat and nice like @Howard.Crane in this thread
Edit: not doing cannabis outdoors, but this is the first year ive never had blight on my tomatoes, and the fruit is unblemished and amazing. And I attribute that to the organic amendments ive been using outdoor, along w my leaf mulch, vermicompost, and teas 100%. A little may have to do with us being home all the time and watering very consistently too. But zero blossom end rot, and without using synthetics can only assume it’s all from the crab meal
As someone that started with synthetic hydroponics, I just welcome the ease of a good super soil. I’m not mixing water and measuring ph/ppm every/other day. Not spending an hour+ messing with water every single day of flower. Yield and growth are both a bit less compared to DWC and I feel like the cost is more, but the management style is worlds apart. Put in the work upfront to mix and turn the soil and then it does the work the rest of the time. If I want yield for sure i’m doing synthetic hydro, but everything else, organic soil ftw, just in time alone it wins hands down in my book.
There are so many awesome approaches to growing, I won’t live long enough to try them all
FWIW, I spend about five minutes a day on average on water, and most of that is just sourcing the water: Fill bucket, add one tablespoon each of three stock solutions, stir, test ppm to make sure my stoner ass didn’t miss a step, dump in rez. Comes out to the correct ppm and pH like a recipe in a cookbook. Easy easy.
I’ve had some pretty good yields growing in organic soil, when I had it dialed in. I especially liked super soil with blumats, when the plants had everything they need and perfect moisture levels through their while life. I’ve had bigger harvests in coco, but I honestly think that’s down to genetics I was running more than anything else.
For me, hydro isn’t about yields (which I frankly consider a pretty low priority), it’s about ease and consistency and reproducibility, but the shortened timeline as a result of very fast growth is a nice plus.
One of the things I really love about Overgrow is watching everyone do their thing their own way, and seeing so many people achieving success with just about every method there is. There’s no better argument for growing your own than that
I just peeked in the cabinet, and am happy to report ten out of ten above soil and looking good!
Plus the one extra Oregon Huckleberry seed that looked small and deformed popped as well. I just included it to see what happens, and didn’t think it would be viable, so that was a nice surprise. I guess I’ll keep it, but now I have an extra that will probably need to be culled, lol.
I think I get to live vicariously this way. I sometimes think I’ve just found one way that works that I’m unlikely to change. It’s great to get a feel for all the other possibilities.
Oh, I thoroughly enjoy that aspect. For instance, watching all these people with big rooms growing trees, or folks growing outdoors, doing things I can’t, really makes me smile.
I also like the fact that from the knowledge I’ve gained here I could, say, setup a 100 plant guerilla grow with a pump and a solar panel and a bubblecloner
Ha! You know how it’s common for guys to have “how I would protect my family when society collapses” thoughts all the time? Many of mine involve guerilla growing patches of weed for barter and medicine in several of the nearby wooded areas, lol
I may or may not have taken a stroll or two through the woods just to see if it was feasible.
I still have my brewing equipment, but I don’t drink more than maybe four drinks a year anymore, so it’s gathering dust
I guess I would have to bust it out if shtf, lol.
I’ve got a buddy who’s still very into it, and once a year he brings me a couple bottles and we sit and bullshit out on the back deck with some fine ass homebrew. I usually send him home with a care package of my best homegrown
They’re not normally that floppy, but these are revegged, put into flower too soon, etc. They had so many thin branches that never thickened up properly. Normally I would have (should have) taken clones and run those instead, but I got impatient I guess.
Thinking back, I’ve never really used cannabis for barter. Plenty of other stuff, but everyone that I’ve given weed to after them giving me something, I was going to give it to them anyways, lol.
