It sounds like a monster movie, doesn't it?
I have been looking to start growing in coco with dry amendments a la Mr. C on YouTube. I visited a few grow shops around here before getting tired and frustrated at no one having the right Down-To-Earth mixes in stock. The guy at the last shop was the garrulous type. We went on and on about grow stuff and about how the shears on the wall behind the counter were used to cut down a Cannabis Cup Winner. (Third place in its category, but still a cup winner.) He'd pointed out the Megacrop which was on the same shelves as regular dry amendments and I the dummy didn't bother to pause and do my due diligence because it seemed I could buy this one bag and do it all seed to harvest.
When I finally did read the instructions fully, I found that the hitch here was that Megacrop in soil/coco is to be mixed up and used every time the plants are watered. D'oh! I ended up ordering the DTE stuff online. Before it came, I had this mad idea that I'd give Megacrop a fair shot. So I will be growing all of my normal bud-producing grows in DTE a la Canuck while I've switched all ongoing grows to Megacrop until harvest and all future grows for seeded bud will be fed that exclusively after transfer from their seedling pot. I say this because the next seeded grow is just beginning in half-gallon cell pots in a mix of coco/perlite/worm castings/DTE 3-3-3 Starter Mix and it's too late to go pure Megacrop. I decided Mega would be most useful for seeds because it supplies ample nitrogen throughout the grow. I've also learned that females pollinated very early make only seeds and don't bother much with resin. I could let you examine a seedy Blueberry bud from my last grow and one of the unpollinated buds and you wouldn't know that they were the same strain if I didn't tell you that. There's isn't much of a point to trying to get anything but seed from them when they are like that. It will be interesting to see how the unpollinated colas stack up with Mega with its generous dose of potassium; I had a bit of a deficiency of K last grow, Tangie was most affected with crispy leaves, Blueberry didn't fill out as hoped but Kosher Kush didn't seem to mind.
Megacrop can be used in virtually any kind of growing discipline although the bits that are slower to dissolve may clog aeroponic nozzles. For 3.5 gallons of feed, I use about a tablespoon of Mega, stir well, then dilute to target EC. The first time I diluted it from flowering strength to veg strength I was stunned to find that the pH remained at 6.5 after not having to adjust pH at the flowering strength! Apparently, it is pH buffered which has to be a boon for beginning growers and big fertigation operations alike. NPK is 10-7-18 plus 5.6% calcium. Let's face it: for cannabis growers, we could use a NPKCa ratio for grading nutes since calcium always seems to be a common deficiency. Hydro growers can use RO water and probably not have to add Cal-Mag. Magnesium is 2.4% by the way. I've noticed only a bit of nute burn while using it so far. I think I'll keep EC pretty conservative for vegging plants.
The Down-To-Earth stuff will need about another month to get fully going. I've started seeds in cell pots with the 3-3-3 starter and that should get them through their first month. Next they'll be transferred to one gallon plastic pots to veg out in 4-4-4 Vegetable Garden mix, then to 3 or 5 gallon fabric pots to flower out in the 4-8-4 Rose and Flower mix. I've chosen to only use fabric pots for flowering now because it's so much easier getting plants and root ball out of plastic pots intact. They will get worm castings in every mix plus top dressings. The plan is to try to follow Mr. C's plan as closely as popsicle. I'm growing indica-dominant stuff for a December harvest too so I can see how much color I can get out of them when grow room temps below 65F and RHs under 60% aren't so hard to achieve and the girls have a chance to properly fade after their last feed.
For the first DTE grow, I've got six photo fems and two autos started: Chocolate Mint OG from HSO, G-13 from ILGM, Purple Urkle and Romulan from Pyramid, Cloud Walker from Green House, Sweet Zombie from Expert, plus a Canuk Cheese Auto and a Seedsman Magnum auto. Romulan is an old favorite of the shop owner who sold me the Mega. I thought I might bring him a few clones later. I've grown a stunted SZ before but loved the one bud I got from her.
For the initial Mega grow, Project Ambika, I've got four BC Mangos going, three of which are sprouted. After they leave these pots, they will be on Mega until harvest. I'm changing up how I do seed grows for a while. The plan is that the four will be raised together until males start showing flowers. I will leave just one male and one female together in the tent and scrap any other males; any extra females go to flower out for sinsemilla. After the new year, I will repeat this whole cycle with another six indica-dominant photo fems and three or four regs, possibly Tuna God or OG Kush or even Blueberry Kolache F1. After that, I will focus on sativas and double up on seeded projects because there are so many like Golden Tiger and Mother's Finest I'd love to get grown out before the seeds get much older.
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This is from Sunday when the seeds were sown. The mix was made a few days prior so the 3-3-3 could hydrate by the time I was ready to plant. These pots all had wispy mycorrhizae growing at the surface a few days later I took this pic. I've got a feeling these seedlings will do great. I had to replace one Mango and Purple Urkle will be replaced if it doesn't hatch by Sunday. I had to prop up the Magnum with a bit of soft wire because its head was on the ground last night. To my astonishment, she found her footing overnight.
I have been looking to start growing in coco with dry amendments a la Mr. C on YouTube. I visited a few grow shops around here before getting tired and frustrated at no one having the right Down-To-Earth mixes in stock. The guy at the last shop was the garrulous type. We went on and on about grow stuff and about how the shears on the wall behind the counter were used to cut down a Cannabis Cup Winner. (Third place in its category, but still a cup winner.) He'd pointed out the Megacrop which was on the same shelves as regular dry amendments and I the dummy didn't bother to pause and do my due diligence because it seemed I could buy this one bag and do it all seed to harvest.
When I finally did read the instructions fully, I found that the hitch here was that Megacrop in soil/coco is to be mixed up and used every time the plants are watered. D'oh! I ended up ordering the DTE stuff online. Before it came, I had this mad idea that I'd give Megacrop a fair shot. So I will be growing all of my normal bud-producing grows in DTE a la Canuck while I've switched all ongoing grows to Megacrop until harvest and all future grows for seeded bud will be fed that exclusively after transfer from their seedling pot. I say this because the next seeded grow is just beginning in half-gallon cell pots in a mix of coco/perlite/worm castings/DTE 3-3-3 Starter Mix and it's too late to go pure Megacrop. I decided Mega would be most useful for seeds because it supplies ample nitrogen throughout the grow. I've also learned that females pollinated very early make only seeds and don't bother much with resin. I could let you examine a seedy Blueberry bud from my last grow and one of the unpollinated buds and you wouldn't know that they were the same strain if I didn't tell you that. There's isn't much of a point to trying to get anything but seed from them when they are like that. It will be interesting to see how the unpollinated colas stack up with Mega with its generous dose of potassium; I had a bit of a deficiency of K last grow, Tangie was most affected with crispy leaves, Blueberry didn't fill out as hoped but Kosher Kush didn't seem to mind.
Megacrop can be used in virtually any kind of growing discipline although the bits that are slower to dissolve may clog aeroponic nozzles. For 3.5 gallons of feed, I use about a tablespoon of Mega, stir well, then dilute to target EC. The first time I diluted it from flowering strength to veg strength I was stunned to find that the pH remained at 6.5 after not having to adjust pH at the flowering strength! Apparently, it is pH buffered which has to be a boon for beginning growers and big fertigation operations alike. NPK is 10-7-18 plus 5.6% calcium. Let's face it: for cannabis growers, we could use a NPKCa ratio for grading nutes since calcium always seems to be a common deficiency. Hydro growers can use RO water and probably not have to add Cal-Mag. Magnesium is 2.4% by the way. I've noticed only a bit of nute burn while using it so far. I think I'll keep EC pretty conservative for vegging plants.
The Down-To-Earth stuff will need about another month to get fully going. I've started seeds in cell pots with the 3-3-3 starter and that should get them through their first month. Next they'll be transferred to one gallon plastic pots to veg out in 4-4-4 Vegetable Garden mix, then to 3 or 5 gallon fabric pots to flower out in the 4-8-4 Rose and Flower mix. I've chosen to only use fabric pots for flowering now because it's so much easier getting plants and root ball out of plastic pots intact. They will get worm castings in every mix plus top dressings. The plan is to try to follow Mr. C's plan as closely as popsicle. I'm growing indica-dominant stuff for a December harvest too so I can see how much color I can get out of them when grow room temps below 65F and RHs under 60% aren't so hard to achieve and the girls have a chance to properly fade after their last feed.
For the first DTE grow, I've got six photo fems and two autos started: Chocolate Mint OG from HSO, G-13 from ILGM, Purple Urkle and Romulan from Pyramid, Cloud Walker from Green House, Sweet Zombie from Expert, plus a Canuk Cheese Auto and a Seedsman Magnum auto. Romulan is an old favorite of the shop owner who sold me the Mega. I thought I might bring him a few clones later. I've grown a stunted SZ before but loved the one bud I got from her.
For the initial Mega grow, Project Ambika, I've got four BC Mangos going, three of which are sprouted. After they leave these pots, they will be on Mega until harvest. I'm changing up how I do seed grows for a while. The plan is that the four will be raised together until males start showing flowers. I will leave just one male and one female together in the tent and scrap any other males; any extra females go to flower out for sinsemilla. After the new year, I will repeat this whole cycle with another six indica-dominant photo fems and three or four regs, possibly Tuna God or OG Kush or even Blueberry Kolache F1. After that, I will focus on sativas and double up on seeded projects because there are so many like Golden Tiger and Mother's Finest I'd love to get grown out before the seeds get much older.
This is from Sunday when the seeds were sown. The mix was made a few days prior so the 3-3-3 could hydrate by the time I was ready to plant. These pots all had wispy mycorrhizae growing at the surface a few days later I took this pic. I've got a feeling these seedlings will do great. I had to replace one Mango and Purple Urkle will be replaced if it doesn't hatch by Sunday. I had to prop up the Magnum with a bit of soft wire because its head was on the ground last night. To my astonishment, she found her footing overnight.
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