organic autos on gas lantern lighting

[calliandra]

Looking really nice and healthy Calli, did you top the Pineapple? Don't let that Calendula steal the show the greedy sod! haha

Haha yeah! Looks like the tomatoes (I guess there were some seeds in the hay mulch, which I got from the tomato house) have ganged up with the calendula now lol

And yes, the PE got topped very early on because I was scared of the announced 140cm height it could grow to -- no danger at all of that happening, by the looks of her LMAO She's standing at 23cm whilst the BB is at around 30cm tall.

The closet farm today (BB day 37, PE day 39):




I suspect the yield is going to be microscopic this round but hey, these are the healthiest plants I've grown to date and they'll finish fast, making way for a new round, fresh tweaks, and a new chance of better harvests

I'm mainly putting their smallness down to the slow start they got.
Thinking of doing another round right after this one to test that and get the new seedling started, directly in the pot, a few days before harvest. That would put it in a soil environment where there is an active set of exactly the kind of microorganisms it needs, right from the start
The only problem with that is, I'd like to topdress the soil too, but when do I do that? I don't want a bunch of nutes coming from the soil right before harvest of the old plant, and growing a seedling in freshly topdressed soil feels kind of iffy...

The other variable I am a bit unsure of is the light quality of the COBs.
Thinking of investing in something like growmau5' setup rather sooner than later!

They're only getting water now, though I am thinking of making one last compost tea, ah, maybe next week. But looking at all the plants in there and how they're thriving, a lack of micros isn't the problem....
Bit of comfrey, or even alfalfa - or both - topdress perhaps?
May do that after the SF-nematode treatment in a few days.

 

[calliandra]

Woops so here we are,
with the Pineapple Express at 7 full weeks of life, and the BerryBomb getting there tomorrow.

(BB on the left



According to breeder stats, PE has 2 more weeks to go, BB 3.
PE beginning to frost up:


BB building flower structure:


What can I say?
I think I've got the soil right now
The tomatoes and calendula's vigor is amazing - I've had to repot one of the tomatoes (which is going outside as soon as the cold spell we're having is over) and prune back the remaining "companions" to give the girls some space and light
Apart from the fact that these gals are the healthiest I've grown to date!

What I do think is still off by a bit is the light. The way the calendula are blooming shows me the spectrum is not quite where it should be, and I suspect too much blue? Really gotta change that!

So at the mo I'm estimating 5g per plant (lmao!) and enjoying the fun of finding out which of my last year's tomatoes are such great re-seminators (is that even a word? LOL)

Oh and sitting on the fence about which strain to start under the PE next week.
Probably I should just do a repeat of the PE for direct comparison. I do think it will have a better start, not only because of the optimal living soil it'll be born into, but also due to the initial shading it will have from its older sibling.
We'll see!

 

[dazzyballz]

Nice grow and experiment.it would be good to see overall yield under the different lights.
i done pineapple ex. Plenty of times indoor by g13 seeds 1 of the most stable strains ive grew for 6-7 years.
always a tastey strain usually get 3-4 oz a plant but there was a case of 1 i rushed the veg and only got 30g.
never got bored off the smoke tho.
happy bloomin.....

 

[calliandra]

Quick peek into the closet at 8 full weeks for the Pineapple Express (theoretically with 1 week to go) and the BB 2 days behind (with a theoretical 2 weeks to go):


The second tomato has wandered outdoors, as well as the second BB (whereby I'm not sure yet I want to take that risk, given anyone can venture into my garden at any time ).

The remaining tomato is doing really well, and is starting to grow fruit now. I've radically cut back the calendula too to give the PE some space, which I've used to LST the branches apart more so at least those 5g of buds get all the light they can.

Both pots got topdressed with the rest of my worm compost (2 handsful each), coffee grounds, and a mixed mulch of comfrey, alfalfa, borage, and lemon balm today. I'll let the mulch settle before planting the next PE seed.

The PE, freshly LSTed:


Perfectly healthy!
And a bit frosty too


However, the buds haven't fattened up much more, also the trichs are beginning to cloud up and seems to agree they won't need much more than a week till they're ready.


The BerryBomb may still exceed my 5g estimate, given she's been pretty busy growing her buds this week and doesn't look like she's through yet:



Peace out!

 

[TheStickMan]

You definitely cannot fault them for healthiness, they couldn't be more healthy! They look perfect, its just a shame that they are Auto's and no matter what you do they are just going to die! It certainly seems like you have now got your soil perfect! Please keep putting videos on though of the bacteria that was just jiving away and munching things pmsl

 

[calliandra]

You definitely cannot fault them for healthiness, they couldn't be more healthy! They look perfect, its just a shame that they are Auto's and no matter what you do they are just going to die! It certainly seems like you have now got your soil perfect! Please keep putting videos on though of the bacteria that was just jiving away and munching things pmsl

haha - actually I've been thinking of taking a look at the soil again for a few days, just haven't gotten round to it. Should be quite lively in there, judging by plant health!

 

[calliandra]

Look into the closet at 9 full weeks for the Pineapple Express, -2 days for the BerryBomb, and yes I am supplementing a few minutes of sunlight again whenever I can lol


They had been developing quite a stink in the past week or two, just pungent, nothing fruity as I was expecting, but the PE is now beginning to develop those terpenes, so I'll give another few days so she can do that
Meanwhile, I've put 2 PE beans to sprout. I think I'll leave the PE until the babies have their 2nd tier of leaves -- at least that's the plan, I'm open to adapting to circumstances haha

The Pineapple Express

And same bud as last week - I do think she's still frosting up more, trichs are more cloudy than last week but still have leeway.


The BerryBomb


Her cola - not filling up as I envisioned, but not all is said and done here yet either


Oh and here's her sister out in the garden
- something has started nibbling on her leaves, looks like thats pushing her to fatten her buds lol




I really am skeptical about the light quality of those cheap LEDs!
Yes everything is healthy and growing, goes into bloom and forms fruit


BUT the flowers could be more juicy - and those fruit are slow somehow in developing too. Something's off, just a bit, but hey if all I have is this closet to grow in, I want it to perform as well as I can get it to go. Which is why I've got some Cree COBs on their way to me: time to switch to generation 3 of my lighting - I really hope this will be pretty much it, save for some UV/infrared tweaking perhaps

For real comparison (and to answer my question whether the PE stayed so small due to the heat stress and unfinished soil), I should grow the next generation PE's under the same light their predecessor had. Pretty sure I won't be able to pull that through, as I'm pretty excited how my plants will grow under those Crees!

 

[thewanderingjack]

I love this !

 

[calliandra]

I love this !

haha great! Yeah it's definitely been an interesting ride to now

 

[calliandra]

Not long till Big Sister PE gets the chop - the trichs are starting to go red in spots:



On the other hand, I do have the feeling the buds are still getting denser?

Another few days I guess...

Meanwhile, the babies have sprouted and one of them got chewed on right away (I think it's that little white, what, mite? sitting on the edge of the bruise on the pic that did it. Possibly I brought in some bugs with the comfrey mulching):

- this will be the one to get plucked for sure, especially seeing how "Lefty" is getting on more easily:


Oh and nooo idea what the tomato is thinking, she's decided to explode up and above the lights LMAO (I do think I need to take her outdoors when this grow is done, she's going to go crazy in there like this)


Of course I could also try 2-tier lighting - a tier below for the baby lants, and one way high up for the tomato haha

Cheers!

 

[pookat]

I should say Nice work..
But it's not work if you enjoy it...very.Niiice...will have to do, been trying to convince debbie to let me loose with the front room, that bottom picture may persuade her...she likes jungley?

 

[calliandra]

I should say Nice work..
But it's not work if you enjoy it...very.Niiice...will have to do, been trying to convince debbie to let me loose with the front room, that bottom picture may persuade her...she likes jungley?

lol thanks!
Sheez a whole room of walk-in-and-pluck-your-veggies garden jungle would be awesome indeed - I'm sold on it, I can imagine debbie is too haha!

 

[TheStickMan]

Looking great! And those buds definitely seem to be fattening up even more! How's the soil looking? Judging by the colour and condition of the plants, it seems like you have got it spot on!

 

[calliandra]

Looking great! And those buds definitely seem to be fattening up even more! How's the soil looking? Judging by the colour and condition of the plants, it seems like you have got it spot on!

Yeah it most probably is!
I took a sample and what struck me immediately was how "spongey" the soil now is, along with a lovely earthy-shroomy smell. The microscope view showed good bacterial & protozoan diversity, and quite a few bacteria-feeding nematodes despite the presence of flagellates (a sign there's ample amounts of bacteria in there).
And the fungi are almost at Ingham's rule of thumb of 1 hypha per microscopic field, and now finally I am seeing really nice ones with visible divisions, good coloring and diameters. There is still a bit of room for improvement here.

Elsewise, if I want to get nitpicky on the soil now, I'll have to go that step further and actually start counting different types of microorganisms and calculating their biomass to determine exact ratios
Hoping to finish the little vid I started making of today's "inspection" tonight so you can see what I'm talking about

 

[calliandra]

Here it is - stalking a flagellate through living soil and all the sights to be seen there - accompanied by one of my alltime favorite bands

 

[mattyblade1]

They look great I think. Just big that's all. How many weeks into flower are they?

 

[calliandra]

They look great I think. Just big that's all. How many weeks into flower are they?

Thanks!
yeah they do, healthy as can be! Both of them are done, according to schedule lol
The one on the right, the Pineapple Express, is coming down as soon as the new seedlings have their 2nd tier of real leaves, the BerryBomb I'll wait a bit. I definitely want to get my new lights in there too before I chop, as I want to try a Mephisto Auto strain on the left side
2-3- days...

 

[Resinhound]

Time for an update!
It's full 4 weeks for both girls now - they're healthy, they're growing, but they're small - and definitely starting to bloom haha

I checked their soil before adding the next batch of ACT and yes, microbial diversity in the soil has improved over last time, but is still nowhere nearly as diverse as the ACT. I've labelled a few of the critters so it's not just psychedelic debris in these pix - the 1st 2 are of the soils, the third is the ACT:

View attachment 3718677 View attachment 3718678 View attachment 3718676

Clearly, the ACT still has lots to offer - and I was a bit irritated by the low protozoan population in the soils ( I neeed those protozoans to cycle the bacterial nutrients!!).
Here's an interesting factlet though: since protozoa and bacterial feeding nematodes compete for the same foods, we will tend to have either the one or the other, and not profuse amounts of both present at any given time. So having seen 15 bacterial nematodes on one slide of the Pineapple Express' soil sample (that's lots!), there is no need to worry about the protozoa still seeming to be underrepresented - especially compared to the ACT, in which protozoan populations thrive whilst nematodes more often than not drown.

I really would like more fungal presence too, but my starting point, the worm compost, is a tad weak on fungi so I'm thinking I can't expect much from the ACT. The lovely thing about notill - I can just keep going on and on improving it, there's no deadline

Of course, it would have been nice to offer these auto girls a fully developed foodweb from the start! I'm thinking a soil that has had a few previous runs, and the auto planted into it straight after, or even before!, the previous plant gets chopped.... ah, dreaming!

In reality, my girls are too small for being short-lived autos that are already going into flower.
But, they're pretty!

Here they are today:
View attachment 3718695
BerryBomb's growing on the left (and in the small pot - yes, she's been extracted, now to decide what to do with her )
And the Pineapple Express got a quick and simple LST a few days ago, she wasn't bothered much

View attachment 3718722

Actually, it's the calendula that's getting the most attention at the moment, I need to pinch a leaf or 2 of hers daily so the girls don't get swamped lol She really is showing us how the soil life has been activated

So day 30 for the Pineapple express (almost official halftime), day 28 for the older BB.
I get the feeling they're way too small for being autos, but then again maybe I shouldn't compare my not-quite-tuned-in environment with automatics-pros like @TaNg PeNg ? Just look at his plants on day 30 (ok it's different strains and all - I want to try that sour stomper soon btw! - but STILL!!!! I have to go back to that post again and over to check if I read "day 30" correctly, they're so amazing): https://www.rollitup.org/t/tangs-mephisto-room.908783/page-4#post-12660822

Cheers!

I'm pretty sure he means 30 days of flowering, no way that's 30 days from sprout.

 

[calliandra]

I'm pretty sure he means 30 days of flowering, no way that's 30 days from sprout.

yeah it's totally confusing right - but it really is from sprout!
idk what he does in those first few days to make them take off like that - I guess he's got a perfectly finetuned system... would get me really jealous if it wasn't with bottled nutes Though I do admit, I've had some moments about it haha

 

[grapefruitmarmalade]

what lights are those?