Dark harvest grow challenge: RosettaStoned

[RosettaStoned]

-1 Plants: committing to 3 DGTH and 3 GC

-2 Grow: Space: framed in room in basement, 13.5x6 veg room/storage/work room - 13.5x8 flower room

-3 Lights: seedlings - 2' fluorescent t8 and 125 watt CFL
veg stage - Most likely my remodeled vipar and mars which equal around 225 watts together. If i get my parts in time and assemble the new light, then I will use my two morsen remodels which equal about 395 watts together
flower stage - I have to have the light built by now. I will either; 1- Finish anything I have in there under the cobs and use the new light (2' samsung lm561c H series strips x 32, 3000k and 4000k mix, 400 watts, 64,000 luminous flux, two independent 4'x2' frames), 2- Build this thing and finish under it and use the 600 watts of cobs/70 watts of mono (660)red and far-red. The second sounds better but we will see....

-4 Medium: 2 17 gallon no till super soil/ started in peat plugs/ solo cups/ 1 gallon fabric pots

2 DWC 5 gallon buckets/6" net pots/rockwool and hydroton. started in rockwool plugs then to 3" blocks

**Bonus** 2 5 gallon fabric (hybrid) mix. Started in peat plugs/ solo cups/ 1 gallon fabric pots.

-5 Containers: described above- 2 17 gallon no till super soil containers, 2 5 gallon DWC buckets, **Bonus** 2 5 gallon fabric pots hybrid mix

-6 Nutes/Additives: DWC- Canna line= Rhizotonic, Cannazyme, Vega A+B, Flores A+B, PK 13/14, Cannaboost, Calimagic, Armor Si

Super soil mix- receipe is.....
Medium- 3 cubic ft sunshine mix #4 advanced with coco coir (7 5 gallon buckets)
1 1/2+ 5 gallon buckets each of purple cow compost and coast of Maine lobster compost- I ordered the CoM compost because i read about it
1 1/2 + 5 gallon buckets each of ewc, two kinds
2 +/- 5 gallon buckets of perlite, added a little vermiculite because I had it laying around.
(Part of this came from another forum and can't take credit for it)

Amendments...
Equal parts;
Blood meal- high N for growth
Bone meal- high N and P for flower and root structure
Bat guano- high N and microbes and enzymes
Iron tone- micro and macro nutrients
Garden lime- pH control and macro nutrients
Garden gypsum- pH control (helps lime move through soil and prevent compaction), root growth, micro and macro
Oyster shells (ground)- calcium, pH control
Green sand- takes forever to break down but good K source, mined from the sea (never used it before, from another forum)
Fish meal- excellent for microbial life, high N and P
Chicken manure pellets- slower release N, beneficial bacteria
Rock phosphate- for flower
Tomato tone- balanced fertilizer, high K
Garden tone- balanced fertilizer, higher K
Dr Earth garden fertilizer- same, for diversity also has mycorrhizae
Doubled these;
Alfalfa meal- good K source but adds beneficial microbes that help break down nutrients to readily available, triacontanol, more....
Kelp meal- adds aminos, carbs, vitamins, minerals, plant hormones, and much more....
Neem cake- well rounded source of macro but mainly for pests and disease
Azomite- rock dust for micro nutrients and trace minerals
Mega mend natural minerals- another trace mineral source
Bio-Char- Suppose to help with nutrient absorption and mirco biology, keeps soil loose

Will be using molasses, kelp and alfalfa meal teas/sprays, and top dressings of EWC/compost/amendments

**Bonus** I will use 45% coco coir, 20% my soil (used), 10% each EWC, compost, bio-char, perlite, amended with lime/ gypsum/ iron-tone/ azomite/ kelp meal/ alfalfa meal/ bio-char. The idea here is I want to be able to water once everyday or more, but have it be organic. I will use Roots Organic line. Grow, bloom, HPK, Trinity, and GO bio-root and calmag. I will probably use the sample of mammoth P I have for the added enzymes and bacteria, also.

-7 Experience: I am at just over one year of growing MJ. I have gardened and kept up my own landscaping for years now.

My grow philosophy right now is see what is like and grow for fun.

I grow because MJ is the shiznittlebam snip snap sack, nuff said.

I want to see how everyone's grows turns out with there method, medium, etc.

I think that' s it, whew.....

[RosettaStoned]

8-11-2018 12:17 pm

Just soaked the seeds since 12 am-ish central time. Got my plugs soaked and prepped and the neccessary tools.

Gorilla Cookies ☝️ Dark Ghost Train ☝️


sitting on the exhaust to the flower room with a seed mat. 125 watt CFL above in the ready. Will spray with un pH'd water daily, or more, when I see roots I may separate and spray the DWC with a rhizotonic spray and the rest with a very diluted alfalfa meal spray. Or just spray them all with the alfalfa meal.

[RosettaStoned]

last night, waiting on one dgth. Tap roots coming out of both rockwool plugs. Last dgth hull is broken open, should be poking out by lights on at 2 pm.

[RosettaStoned]

At 6 PM

All had long enough roots to see light, so.... first containers it is

[RosettaStoned]

All shooting for the stars......

75 degrees 80% rh. Will spray dome with water before bed
forgot some details, soaked rockwool cubes in pH'd tap with rhizotonic 20 ml/gal 5.65 pH. The others just got filled loosely with their medium and the water will settle it all.

[RosettaStoned]

Truckin' along
77 degrees 65% rh in veg room
daily water spray

[RosettaStoned]

Soaked 1/2 tsp of kelp and alfalfa/gallon last night. Added 1/4 tsp molasses today. Used four oz. Of solution and added 4 oz. of water. Watered soil and hybrid mix, about 2 oz. each.
The DWC GC has a tap root coming out the bottom of the block. Both (GC and DGTH) will put into buckets tomorrow with a mostly rhizotonic solution for a few days.

I also have second leaves

DGTH ☝️ GC 👉

[oldjarhead100]

there loving it

[PaganRich]

Pass the popcorn, I`m sitting comfortably. This lots a lot of fun

[RosettaStoned]

*calibrated meters and got my hydro shoes on*

Placed DWC blocks in final containers tonight, 5 gallon buckets. 3.5 gallons tap, 1 ml silica, 2 ml calmag, 20 ml rhizotonic, 5 ml Vega A&B. 530 EC + 450 for the tap 5.95 pH. Air ports opened to half, water right at the bottom of the block. 1 4x2" air stone each, 120 L/ minute pump.

watered soil and hybrid mix with kelp/alfalfa meal molasses tea again. 3/4 tsp of each meal 1/2 tsp molasses/ gallon. 4 oz + 6 oz water to dilute. Used 2 oz each.

DWC under vipar remodel 110 watts 27" from plants
soil and hybrid under Mars remodel 115 watts 24" from plants

[oldjarhead100]

Looking good

[RosettaStoned]

DWC reservoirs were a little high @ 6.86 DGT and 6.92 GC. Brought them down to 6.2 ish. I blame this on not letting the silica, calmag, and pH'd solution sit overnight. DGT has roots in the water as of 6 PM, GC not far behind. They should take off in a day or two.

Top dressed soil with 1 tsp of my fertilizer mix and 1 tbsp EWC. 2-3 oz of water each. No run off

The hybrid mix got their first official feeding with run off. 1/4 tsp budda grow and bio root, 1/2 tsp trinity (humic acid) to 1/2 gallon. It's pH was 6.1 ish, 8 oz roughly with 1-2 oz run off. I thought that was a good place to start. Run off was pH 6.49, I should probably bring it down next feeding? Run off is new to me so there will be questions 😁 I looked a few hours after the complete soaking and no droop.
All of these gals need to catch up to chef. He must have started on the tenth 😂🤣😉😋

[RosettaStoned]

@ chefbjy Am I wrong, I just reread your comment. Should it be higher than what I'm shooting for?

[Chefbjy]

RosettaStoned the high side of coco is 6.5 so I think if it fluctuates between 5.5 and 6.5 you should be fine.

[RosettaStoned]

Campesino thanks

[oldjarhead100]

dont sweat it Rosetta Stoned your are leaps above mine lol

[RosettaStoned]

You'll be fine, They'll catch up

[RosettaStoned]

DWC GC 6.32 down to 6.1 DGTH 6.1
resorted to frozen bottles of water to cool my buckets. 75.8 degrees, yikes! I guess the summer will be soil only. Now they are 68 degrees. Several roots reaching the water. Used 1.5 ml mammoth p for the good bacteria to hopefully keep off root rot.

Soil 3-4 oz water each, caressed them gently 😄 was at my local organic gardening store, found langbeinite and granulated humic acid. Also grabbed some mykos. Searched everywhere for plain Epsom salt, almost impossible to find without some kind of essential oil. Don't get me wrong, I like them for certain things; headaches, soar throats, stuffy nose, etc. After all they are terpenes....and if I didn't like terpenes........

Hybrid Mix 1/2 tsp buddha grow, trinity, bio root - 1/4 tsp calmag to 1/2 gallon. Was 5.1 pH, brought it up with baking soda, 5.6 pH. GC run off 6.32, DGTH run off 6.5, 3-4 oz in 1-2 out.
Not sure how dry the medium should be each watering? How much to water? Probably should read a coco tutorial

Moved all under 1 light, the four under the Mars look better than the vipar. Maybe the far red, we'll see....204 watt cree cobs and monos at 35k and 40k. 27" from the "canopy".
DGTH
GC

[oldjarhead100]

they are taking off wow

[Chefbjy]

Nice, yes langbeinite is 22% water soluble so it won't take long. The gc seems to really like that hybrid mix 😉.

[RosettaStoned]

Yes, I was surprised to see how well its doing

[RosettaStoned]

Hybrid- organic hydro....kinda 😄
running air through the solution to use as long as possible.
DGTH 5.3 pH in 6.52 out, tried again got 6.6ish...done 10 oz in 5 out
GC 5.3 pH in 6.52 out 4-5 oz in 2 out

Soil- just sitting pretty

DWC- GC 6.16 pH EC 1062 DGTH 6.06 pH EC 1080
EC is up from added pH down. Early change tomorrow night. These seem slow to get going.


☝️☝️DGTH soil GC hybrid 👉👉 the stars tonight, looking fabulous! Lots of leaf expansion.....beating the DWC.....hhhmmm🤔

[Chefbjy]

Well I'm thinking lime will help keep the ph up for sure. Going to be hard to compete with that without making your water more acidic. I don't know how microbes work with a soil coco mix. I know molasses brings my solution way down. I would look for something to lower ph like for hydrangeas. I'm learning from your mix too so I'll be taking notes 😉.

[RosettaStoned]

Espoma makes a soil acidifier, has a picture of hydrangeas on it. Or DTE has acid mix with blueberries on it. I assume that's what you mean. Cotton seed meal is acidifying nitrogen. Sulfur or iron sulfate have some effect. Compost, gypsum, alfalfa meal also do a small part over time.

[Chefbjy]

Yeah the epsoma is what I saw but intresting that cottonseed meal and alphalpha meal also work. I will have to look into some of the dte products because I know they have a variety aside from the blueberry...there's a citrus mix i believe that may also lower ph. Keeping it stable with the lime it's my only concern. But I could avoid putting lime in my mix altogether with a higher coco ratio. Future reference 😉.

[RosettaStoned]

Soil- 2 oz water each. Waiting a few more days on the transplant

DWC- res change, 4 ml calmag, 2 ml silica, 20 ml rhizotonic, 5 ml A&B Vega, 1.5 ml Mammoth P.
GC pH 5.84 EC 1083. DGTH pH 5.92 EC 1066
been keeping the reservoirs below 70 for the most part. I was thinking of better ways to cool the water and my best so far are. Bottles ok pykrete for longer cooling or styrofoam coolers to set the buckets in with cooling packs.

"Organic Hydro"- 2 oz water each about the same amount of run off. Will not water for a day at least. 4.98 pH in GC 6.88 out DGTH 7.0 out. Mixed 1/2 gallon medium mix with 3/4 tbsp pelletized chicken manure, cottonseed meal, gypsum, then topped off containers. Still looking good, maybe a twinge of lighter green on new growth, not worrying yet.

[oldjarhead100]

Looking good

[RosettaStoned]

Soil- picked them up, set them down. Looking a little slow. Maybe I'll transplant sooner.

DWC- looking a little better, still disappointed at their performance.....although I would never tell them that
Instead I checked my water source. 653 EC 😳🤨 must go up in the summer. I guess I need to invest in the 1000 gallon/day R/O filter with a float valve.
changed again....mostly R/O, 15 ml calmag, 4 ml silica, 20 ml rhizotonic, 10 ml cannazym, 5 ml A&B Vega. 1100 EC both GC 6.02 pH DGTH 5.9 pH

"OH"- watered with 4 oz solution 4.20 pH DGTH had 2.5 oz run off 6.79 pH GC had 1.25 oz run off 6.47. GC is liking it so far DGTH not so much, real slow but I have faith.
best to worst growth
1.DGTH SS
2.GC "OH" even with 3, bigger set of 3rd leaves
3.GC SS
4.GC DWC
5.DGTH DWC bigger than GC but curled leaves
6.DGTH "OH" real slow touch of yellow

[oldjarhead100]

since we are playing the time game I would transplant them when there leafs reach the sides of the pot so the roots dont start curling around, at least thats when I'm going to transplant lol