Gimiik's first Organics grow, NO Bottled Nutes!

Heyy Good Morning everybody, Welcome to the grow Journal!

As the title says, this is my very first attempt at an all organic grow, and I couldn't be more excited. This is my third grow overall. My first grow, I used clones and Advanced Nutrient's line of synthetic nutrients -- I had FANTASTIC results and zero problems the entire grow... Although I had shitty genetics. Second run, I started from seed and used the rest of my AN bottled nutes. For my third run, a good friend of mine convinced me to give organics a try... So here we are

My plan for this grow is to mix up a batch of super soil and have that do most of the heavy lifting throughout the grow. I DON'T want to have to worry about pH/measuring out nutrients. This time around I intent to create a No Till grow system. I am starting a vermicomposting bin to help lower some of my costs over time and provide me with fresh EWC. Once the worms arrive I'm going to build my flower pots and toss a handful of Red Wigglers into them...this will help break down the organic matter and aerate my soil.

Alright lets just jump into it...

Grow Space: 2x4 grow tent. In the past I grew in a 4x4 space so this is going to be a bit different, having to worry about grow space / height.
Lighting: I have 4x Quantum Boards (288.2 LM301b diodes). At the moment I'm using one board on the lowest power setting -- I will introduce additional panels once I get to flower.
Nutrients: No bottled nutrients what so ever. Only pre-amended soil -- I will go into further detail in a moment.
Genetics: I currently have 4 seedlings. One is a feminized Gorilla Glue #4 left over from my last run. The other three seeds are random bag seed. Because of the 3 being random, this is going to be my first grow where I have to worry about the sex of the plant. The previous two runs I had fem seeds/clones. This will be a learning experience that I will need you're guys help on!!!

Okay... now on to the arguable most important part of this grow... THE SOIL!!

Base Soil: I mixed up enough for 21 gallons. (~3cuft)

• 1/3 Sphagnum Peat Moss (7gal)
• 1/3 EWC (compost) (7gal)
• 1/3 Perlite (Aeration) (7gal)

I then amended the base soil with the following dry amendments: 1/2 cup per cubic foot (1cuft = 7.5 gal)

• Fish Meal (9-4-0)
• Crab Shell Meal (4-3-0)
• Kelp Meal (1-0-2)
• Neem Seed Meal (6-1-2) + Pest Control
• Oyster Shell Flour (Calcium)
• Gypsum (Calcium / Sulfur)
• Glacial Rock Dust (Trace Minerals)

Not included in this list is the Malted Barley I purchased from a local beer brewing store for $2/lb. This will be ground up and introduced as a top feed during Veg, then again during Flower.

**I don't have the equipment for AACT so most of my reamending will be in the form of top dressing**

Goals for the Grow:

• Successfully go from seed --> harvest with zero bottled nutrients.
• Learn how to sex a plant prior to flipping to flower.
• Learn how to train plants to form an even canopy -- depending on how many turn out to be female I may SCROG. TBD

Well guys, that's all for now!! I will be posting pictures of the seedlings in just a moment. I hope I get some people to stick around for the ride -- I confess I'm terrible at writing these damn Journals but I will do my best to give updates and keep people intrigued and wanting to come back

Here are a few pictures of the setup and of the seedlings. I germinated them using the paper towel method and planted into Red Solo cups filled with Fox Farm Ocean Forest. They will be eventually up-potted to the 1gal containers you see. I covered two with clover to help add Nitrogen to the soil and will be planting the two strongest seeds in those pots, the other two will go into 1gal as well but no clover. The seedlings are currently on Day 3 since they sprouted out of the soil and have already begun growing their first true set of leaves!! How exciting.



Something really interesting happened to my GG#4 (fem) seed. Once she sprouted, the next day I wake up to find a second stalk had grown. TWINS!! I'm going to just let her do her thing and see what happens. From what I understand, the dominate stalk will likely take over and kill the weaker one. Time will tell.





Woke up to find some of the bag seeds really stretching so I lowered the light a few inches.

As I mentioned in the OP, I decided to make a vermicompost worm bin to provide my garden with some fresh EWC, the worms are arriving Saturday. I went out in search today of cardboxes and after driving around various shopping centers I uncovered the motherload behind an Albertsons haha. Snatched several boxes which should last me for umm... ever lol.

Bought a couple of the local newspapers to add shredded paper to their beddings... and support the local paper! Win/Win.

I layered my bin:

1. Peat Moss (Top)
2. Shredded Newspaper
3. Shredded Cardboard
4. Peat Moss
5. Shredded Newspaper
6. Shredded Cardboard (Bottom)

Once the worms get acclimated to their new environment I'll start to introduce food scraps and other foods.

So while I was showering today I left the tent open so the plants could get some fresh air and well, my cat decided he wanted a taste of one of my seedlings!! I get out of the shower to discover one of the red solo cups knocked over and no seedlings in sight. I seriously thought my cat ate the whole thing but i found it fully intact, laying on the floor of the tent. I immediately went into rescue mode and gentle picked it up and after wiping away all the cat hair I attempted to replant it. It was completely floppy so i had to stake it. I don't have a good feeling about it...

Now I'm down to two bag seeds and our twin seedling. The bag seeds are looking good, strong and healthy. The twin seems to have stalled growth completely. This grow is off to an interesting start haha

Good Morning Everybody!

What an exciting day today is...the worms arrived!! When the Fedex driver dropped off the package he was genuinely curious what was inside because of the air holes. When I told him they were worms, he gave me this weirded out and confused look lo. Oh what a strange life we organic farmers live. Less than a month ago I started looking into organic farming and now I'm the proud father of 200 worms haha I promptly introduced the worms to their new home so they could start settling in as I imagine they had quite an interesting last couple days crossing the country haha.

As for the seedlings...

The twin seems to be stalled still, not much activity or growth coming from them. I'll give it another day or so and I might have to separate them, we will see. The one that my cat decided to yank out of the soil appears to still be alive but I don't have much hope for it. The other two bag seeds are coming along quite nicely however. They both have stopped stretching and have begun developing their 2nd set of true leaves. I just pray one of them turns out to be a female!!!

Unfortunately, every time I try to post a picture it says "Oops, something went wrong. Please contact an Admin" booo

So I mentioned that my cat pulled one of the seedlings out of the soil and left it to die on the tent floor. Luckily I rescued it and replanted, but it wouldn't stand up on its own so I staked it with zip ties. Well I went out today and picked up some paper clips to stake with instead. When I clipped off the zip ties i was surprised to see the lil thing standing all on its own despite being shaped like a S haha. Just goes to show the resilience these plants truly have!

I've been giving her a quarter turn every so often in hopes I can get her to grow towards the light and straighten out a little. Plus I have a little fan blowing so they are jiggling ever so slightly, strengthen up the stalks!


The twins are still alive, but other than that, not doing much unfortunately. They both have established their first set of true leaves but haven't begun developing the next set. I wouldn't say growth is stalled but just taking its time


Lastly, the other two bag seeds are coming along nicely. Both have their first set of leaves and are already developing the second set! The one on the left is strong and growing nicely. The right one, I had to stake with a paper clip because I was a little heavy handed when I was moving them around and knocked it over. Whoops!

All these plants are in FFOF atm. My supersoil is still cooking. I added some additional water and turned it and left it outside in the Arizona heat for about 35minutes so it could get some warmth and jump start the microbe activity.

Well that's all the updates for today.
Stay safe everybody!
One Love.

Quick update.

The plants are coming along nicely despite my cats repeated attempts to sabotage this grow :laugh2: The only complaint that I have at this point in the grow is all the stems are so flimsy. If I tap the cups or move them to roughly the plants start tilting over and I need to adjust the paper clips to keep them standing upright. I lowered the light and have kept a slight breeze on them so they jiggle and thickened up the stalks. When I transplant I'm going to have to bury the stems a bit more to add stability.

I'm happy to say the twin is still alive and kicking. I was worried it had stalled out growth but both stems have continual leaf development. The big guy is working on its 3rd set of leaves while the runt just completed the 2nd set. The older sibling is at least twice the size of the runt. I've also noticed the cup containing the twin is depleting its water quicker than the other three which leads me to believe there are two sets of root systems forming -- prolly going to have to transplant soon.


The plant my cat tried to get seems to have fully reestablished its roots because it finished developing its 2nd set of leaves which was where it was at before getting torn out of the soil. Unfortunately, you can see where my cat got it because it's missing a leaf =( Luckily, the plant has since straightened out and is now standing upright.


Here you can really see how lanky one of the plants is. I watered them this morning and when I was turning the cup it just started tilting over. Once I adjusted the paper clip it was fine.

Hello
Good for the survivor ^^ cats can really be a plague with weed grows ^^
Hope you will get good results with organic !
Already made a fully organic grow, but still with bottled nutrients. Results were good, similar to the other runs with synthetic nutrients i would say.

Hey Durum thanks for dropping by! Yeah I'm super excited for this grow despite some early setbacks I'm just using this as a learning experience really so these challenges are all part of the fun

Gimiik said:

Hey Durum thanks for dropping by! Yeah I'm super excited for this grow despite some early setbacks I'm just using this as a learning experience really so these challenges are all part of the fun

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Aboslutely ! Weed growing is just like life ; it wouldn't be so funny without all the unexpected issues

Day 16 Veg
Today I transplanted the two biggest plants into 1gal containers filled with FFOF. I determined they were ready for transplant because their leaves were extended out past the red solo cups, but more importantly, they had a clear 24hr wet/dry cycle. They would completely drink a full watering in ~24hrs.

During the transplant, I sprinkled the root balls with Mycos as well as the hole. I top dressed with a nice layer of worm castings and mixed in some ground up malted barley then slowly watered and made sure to make the edges of the containers the most wet part so the roots will expand out. The reason for the malted barley is it's believed to contain enzymes that promote vigorous growth... I will eventually mix some with water and give them a foliar spray. I chopped the clover that was growing and left it on the soil surface to act as a mulch.




The other two plants will remain in the solo cups for a few more days as they both had a rough start at life and are a little behind. No worries though

The twin is still alive and well. The bigger one is really taking off in growth and left the mini one behind. I worry the little one is on borrowed time as the big one is already starting to cast a shadow over its little sibling =( Once I transplant I may try to tie the big guy off to the side to allow light to the little one.

Day 23 Veg
Currently all my plants are suffering from deficiency. The first two plants that I transplanted to the 1gal are the worst off. I asked around on a couple forums for help on identifying the cause of the problems. The general consensus seems to be that the clover I had growing in the pots consumed some of the micronutrients along with P/K, so by the time I transplanted the cannabis from the red solo cups --> 1gal, the soil was already deficient.

I didn't want to make things worse by reacting too quickly, so I let the plants sit for a several days until the transplant shock wore off to see any potential changes, and to avoid overwatering. Well, its been 6 days since transplant and the discoloration continued to get worse. This morning I top dressed with 1.5 Tbs Kelp Meal (Micronutrients) + 2 Tbs Neem Seed Meal (6-1-2) for P/K but I'm a dumbass and forgot to mix the amendments into the soil before watering so its all caked on the surface in one of the pots, the other I remembered to mix in lol Time will tell if this helped or not. If things don't improve I may just have to transplant into my super soil.


As for the other two plants... I transplanted both of them yesterday from the red solo cups --> 1gal w/ FFOF. I mixed in EWC + malted barley just like the other two plants. I waited too long to transplant because both plants were showing signs of deficiency from being root bound in the red solos. I'm hoping once transplant shock wears off they will bounce back as well.

The twin plant is still alive and kicking, although as i mentioned it is also suffering from deficiency. The big one is cruising right along but the small one hasn't grown vertically in awhile.

Day 32 Veg
The plants are much bigger now but unfortunately still suffering from some of problems. A real life friend of mine thinks its nutrient burn and is telling me to flush the soil and re-inoculate with microbes. On the other hand, people online have been telling me its nutrient deficiency. Tell me what you think?

I'm beginning to think I should just transplant into 5gal fabric pots with my Coots style soil recipe where the soil is buffered and contains everything the plant will need. The soil has been cooking for nearly two months.

This first plant is bushing up nicely but you can see in the pictures the leaves are clawing super hard as well has yellowing on the edges of the leaves. This was one of the plants I top dressed with Neem Seed Meal / Kelp meal. Could that be the reason for the clawing?



This next plant is tallest and already has a lot of lower growth/side branching that's going on. I want to top this plant soon but I also don't want to start cutting stuff off the plant while it's clearly not fully healthy. This was one of the plants I top dressed with Neem Seed Meal / Kelp meal.




Third, this plant seems to be doing the best out of all four plants. All I have given this girl was fresh FFOF during transplant and water. There seems to be some discoloration occurring but not as bad as the other plants. Why is this?



Lastly, the TWIN!!!!
Surprisingly, both plants are still alive! The tall one is about a foot tall and needs to be topped soon. Unfortunately, there is a lot of yellowing going on so I don't want to cut stuff off the plant until its healthy. All this plant has been given is fresh FFOF during transplant and water. I've never had issues when using FFOF before now... maybe poor genetics?

The little one is still alive. Some yellowing but alive.

Gimiik said:

Day 32 Veg
The plants are much bigger now but unfortunately still suffering from some of problems. A real life friend of mine thinks its nutrient burn and is telling me to flush the soil and re-inoculate with microbes. On the other hand, people online have been telling me its nutrient deficiency. Tell me what you think?

I'm beginning to think I should just transplant into 5gal fabric pots with my Coots style soil recipe where the soil is buffered and contains everything the plant will need. The soil has been cooking for nearly two months.

This first plant is bushing up nicely but you can see in the pictures the leaves are clawing super hard as well has yellowing on the edges of the leaves. This was one of the plants I top dressed with Neem Seed Meal / Kelp meal. Could that be the reason for the clawing?
View attachment 4660434
View attachment 4660435

This next plant is tallest and already has a lot of lower growth/side branching that's going on. I want to top this plant soon but I also don't want to start cutting stuff off the plant while it's clearly not fully healthy. This was one of the plants I top dressed with Neem Seed Meal / Kelp meal.
View attachment 4660436
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Third, this plant seems to be doing the best out of all four plants. All I have given this girl was fresh FFOF during transplant and water. There seems to be some discoloration occurring but not as bad as the other plants. Why is this?
View attachment 4660441
View attachment 4660444

Lastly, the TWIN!!!!
Surprisingly, both plants are still alive! The tall one is about a foot tall and needs to be topped soon. Unfortunately, there is a lot of yellowing going on so I don't want to cut stuff off the plant until its healthy. All this plant has been given is fresh FFOF during transplant and water. I've never had issues when using FFOF before now... maybe poor genetics?

The little one is still alive. Some yellowing but alive.
View attachment 4660445View attachment 4660446

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Were you growing a clover cover crop in the pots? I thought I saw something akin to that — usually clover is only useful for green manure after a full season’s growth. On such a short timeline, it may have just pulled phosphate, potassium, sulfur, copper and magnesium from the soil without actually adding any nitrogen.

I saw you had similar symptoms after trying to do green manure this way in the other thread. My advice would be to buy a good soil mix from your local grow shop and replant into that. Trying to cure the deficiency by adding more nutrients may just complicate matters without conducting soil tests, etc.

Mrs. Weedstein said:

My advice would be to buy a good soil mix from your local grow shop and replant into that. Trying to cure the deficiency by adding more nutrients may just complicate matters without conducting soil tests, etc.

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Yeah I decided to take your advice and get the plant some fresh soil. I transplanted from the 1gal --> 5gal fabric pot filled with coots style super soil. Hoping this remedies the issues. I will be transplanting the other plants later today as well.

Gimiik said:

Yeah I decided to take your advice and get the plant some fresh soil. I transplanted from the 1gal --> 5gal fabric pot filled with coots style super soil. Hoping this remedies the issues. I will be transplanting the other plants later today as well.
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Ok so just pay attention what’s going on with the new leaves. The old leaves that are discolored will stay that way, but the new growth should appear healthier.

Should I remove the discolored leaves since they are sickly or whatever? Or do they still contribute to the plant and are worth keeping?

Gimiik said:

Should I remove the discolored leaves since they are sickly or whatever? Or do they still contribute to the plant and are worth keeping?

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Oh for sure keep them — the plant is still drawing energy from them. They’re not pretty but still serve as solar panels and to an extent nutrient reservoirs the plant can draw from!

Today I transplanted two of the remaining three plants. Given I only had 21gal of super soil on hand I decided to just use 5gal fabric pots instead of 7gal pots. I have enough remaining super soil to top dress all the pots several times so I figure I should be alright.

With the 5gal pots being so wide I felt it necessary to hook up an additional quantum board so the plants could get even lighting and not start leaning towards the one panel. I lowered the wattage draw of the boards down to 100w each and raised them to about 30". I will slowly lower once transplant shock wears off, don't want them stressing out from too much light as well! I sealed the tent up and left it for a few hours before checking the temp/humidity. It got up to 88 degrees and 54% humidity. I read online that you want to run a little warmer temps than with HPS/MH because LEDs don't typically heat up the surface of the leaves as much as they should but I will need to open up a flap or two cuz 88 is a tad high. I also attached a small fan to blow across the led panels/drivers.

I also went down to a local barn feed store and picked up some straw. Got a huge bag for only $3, the guy said it was quality stuff but couldn't guarantee it was pesticide free but said other customers use it for ground cover in their gardens without any issues. I struggle with low humidity so the top soil tends to dry out rather quickly, I hope using the straw as ground cover will help combat that. I spray the leaves with a light misting each day to keep them hydrated.

I bet they will improve — watch that new growth.