Olderfart's Living Soil trials and tribulations

This will serve as my technical grow record for my winter grow in living soil, and is in addition to the standard thread on this grow. Unless noted otherwise, more detail will appear in the standard thread than appears here.

The soil recipe, with thanks to @pop22 for inspiration and the approximate recipe idea:



I have changed Pop's most recent recipe, so problems are on me, not Pop. After initially overwatering the mix, it will have been cooking with normal moisture for close to 2 months by the time I plant in it. A mild gnat problem was treated with BTi watering plus stickies.

I started with the Bugbee peat mix instead of a prepared organic mix in order to better know what is in the mix. I also stuck with ingredients easily available to me either locally or online. The idea, and the hope, is that in ~30 liter fabric pots irrigated by autovalve(s) this stuff will finish a grow with water only.

As of 17 October, the Mephisto 24 Carat and Mephisto Fugue State pollen plants are head's up ~3 days after the initial soak. The two boys-to-be on Day 1:



These will go into SS#4 once the tap roots emerge, and will get MCII for nutes from the get go. They will stay in small pots under 24/7 light to speed them up relative to the mothers in the main growdrobe. Watering will include BTi until plants are well established just in case a gnat or two migrated...

Tap roots were emerging from the 24C and FS peats, so they each went into their final pots today.

5 Dinamed Auto Kush CBD and 3 SSSC Auto Ellephant were scarified and put in peroxide/water soak at ~0930, and into paper towel with DI water at ~1430. The best single SSSC performer will be selected for the grow and show, the best 3 CBD plants for the multipot. I'm still holding off on the mother plants of 24C and FS to give the pollen plants a bit more of a head start.

All plants/seeds were moved into "drobe" @~30C this afternoon, the seedlings under ~300mmoles/m2 for now. Seedlings are still in tray with cover to keep RH up to ~60-70%

2 out of 3 SSSC Auto Ellephant have visible tails @0830, at least 2 out of 5 Dinamed Auto Kush CBD also have tails. Likely all seeds will go into peat plugs later today. Two pollen plants are growing fine after planting plugs in final pots. RH under tray lid covering the pollen plants is ~60-70%, temp ~30C.

All eight seeds were tailed and put in their peat plugs later in the day, under the same lid as the pollen plants at ~30C and 60-70%RH.

Pollen plants are doing well, working on 2nd set of leaves. Two Dinamed CBD and one Auto Ellephant showed their taps and were put into their insta-transplant pots this morning, others will soon follow.

The final SSSC Auto Ellephant went into its insta-transplant pot first thing this morning. Everyone is doing fine except one of the 5 Dinamed Auto CBD Kush was alive and, albeit gradually, growing a longer tail. I only need three, so the slowpoke is compost even though I expect that it would have done ok in the long run, it was just slower than its sisters, so the cull began

So, as of today, all the remaining girls are cruising along nicely. I will update with photos once the pollen plants reach Day 7..

The pollen plants:

The rest, CBD to left, Ellephants to the right:

All still at ~300-400 PPFD and 24/0, water only, ph'ed to ~ 6.3. RH now ~70%, temps now set down to ~28C to get back into VPD range. The clawing was, I suspect more a matter of excess VPD than too high a load of MCII on the pollen plants. VPD is now back in range with new humidifier and temperature adjustment.

2 Mephisto 24 Carat and 2 Mephisto Fugue State were given a 30 second shake in the sandpaper tube, ~ 4 hours soak in 3/1 DI water/peroxide, and into towel holder wet with DI water at ~1400 hrs. All were tailed at 24 hours today, and into peat plugs then. All should be heads up tomorrow or the next day. More culling coming...

Germination this round has been 100% on 14 seeds, including the 3 24 Carat seeds which are ~3 years old.

Pot check yesterday found roots coming out of the insta-transplant pots, so the best 3 Dinamed CBD Auto Kush were transplanted into their 30 liter pot, and the best SSSC Auto Ellephant. The culls are still ticking along until the transplanted babes confirm that they are fine. They will be binned in another day or two if the transplanted plants still look good.

I had to leave town for a few days on the 31st, so the peat plugs went into their final pots on the 30th. A couple had taps showing, one didn't, but it went in anyway. When I returned yesterday, I found the main humidifier turned off. The dearest was fastidious in keeping it full, but yours truly must have left it turned off after I moved it to make it easier to get at for her, and she did not recognize that it was not turned on. Things got a bit dry, as in to ~35% in the main growdrobe...

Anyway, all were alive if somewhat thirsty, and are now all watered up again.

Pollen plants on Day 16,



The pollen plants are currently at ~450ppm of @Mañ'O'Green's MC mix and 6.3 ph irrigation to ~20% runoff. They look like they were starting some sort of deficiency early on, but are doing better now. They will be topped and started with CS treatment shortly. The 24C girl is showing gender now, the F.S. not yet. I need to get my CS generator going asap.

SSSC Auto Ellephant at Day 12:



On water only @ ~6.5 ph.

Dinamed Auto CBD Kush at Day 12:


One plant on track maybe, one a bit behind, and one looking pretty unhappy about something. The unhappy plant has been that way since transplant, I may soak seeds for a replacement in case it does not sort itself out a bit better.

Two 24 Carats on Day 4:


Alive, but maybe set back a notch because of the humidifier screwup. They were covered, but likely still got too dry for a couple days.

Mephisto Genetics Fugue State at Day 4:


Also maybe suffered a bit from low RH, but still alive.

I pulled the stunted CBD girl the day before yesterday, and filled the hole with fresh 50/50 SS#4/soil mix and watered it. Yesterday I scuffed three Dinamed Auto CBD Kush, peroxided them with 2:1 water/peroxide for 3.5 hours, and soaked them overnight in towel holder. All 3 had tails this afternoon. The best two were planted where the stunted plant was removed. They were tucked taps down into the 50/50 smix with a couple eyedroppers of water with Raw Grow Microbes in the water. Once heads are up for a bit, the best will be left, the other pulled. It will be topwatered for a bit even though the reservoir is turned on.

Reservoir was turned on for the SSSC Auto Ellephant and the CBD plants. The other 2 pots will be top watered until plants get bigger. So far, the Fugue State and both 24C's are doing fine.

The pollen plants look to be headed for the same lockout I had in SS#4 last grow. Has to be pH. I will do a slurry test to see if that tells me anything, but I think the mix is too heavily limed for cannabis. Grumble.

Both replacement CBD seeds were head's up at 0700, Day 1 today.

Pollen plants now being soaked with CS just before or after lights out every night since day before yesterday. Fertigation of them is now 750 ppm, and pH is down to 6.0 to see if that changes emerging leaf problems. Color may be a bit better this morning, but still hard to tell.

Both CBD plants sexed a day or two ago (not the new seeds). SSSC Ellephant not yet. Fugue State and 24C seedlings growing fine.

The smallest of the two new CBD seedlings was pulled, leaving one in the pot to replace the runt that was binned. The remaining seedling stalled more or less completely, and now at almost two weeks is still tiny with only a couple sets of leaves. It is going nowhere in spite of what appeared to be a decent start. These were direct planted, and the reservoir was already turned on for the other two plants.

I soaked 4 more seeds after ~45 seconds abrasion and ~3hour soak in ~1.5% H2O2. One was rooted with ~10mm tap this morning after ~36 hours in towel holder with sterilized cotton rag rather than towel. The second one was rooted shorter this evening after ~48 hours in the holder. Two remaining are not rooted yet, one has done nothing, the other may be just cracked, but not obvious yet. The last 4 were more or less a germination test to see if something I did the last time might have caused the problems. I started 4 more earlier, and every one of them died, two after rooting and placement in peat plugs, two never did produce roots. These CBD seeds are driving me nuts.

I plan to see if I can come up with a healthy advanced seedling in a transplant pot from the current 4, and if I do, I will bin the stunted seedling and transplant into its place. If not, the pot will stay at two plants, one doing well, the other a mess that will nonetheless make a bit of CBD bud. The next CBD grow is going to have to start with lots of seeds...

Of the four new CBD seeds, two were head's up in peat plugs yesterday. A third was placed in its peat plug today with the beginnings of a tap root, but given how slow it is, I doubt that it will do much. The fourth has shown no sign of life yet. No matter, it seems that two are ok, so I may get one plant worth putting in the CBD pot to replace the stunted runt. The two peat plugs went into transplant yogurt container pots this afternoon.

I did the third removal of leaves on the SSSC girl today. I removed shaded leaves after determining that all of them are well below 200 par at which point leaves are sinks, not sources. Also, the canopy was looking too dense for air movement. I will continue removing shaded leaves as the plant grows. She is growing rather enthusiastically these days.

Yesterday, there was no sign of balls, today both balls and nanners have shown up on both pollen plants at Day ~37, and after 17 days of CS treatment. They are now moved to their pollen making station in the storage room. May they prosper, but not for too long. I hope none of those micro nanners have spit out any pollen yet... They will be on 24/0 for the duration, and not as warm as in the "drobe" because they are not in a tent, and I am not interested in warming the entire room. RH may be a tad dry there as well, but they are just going to have to put up with it.

One more chore done today is that the Fugue State is now in bondage. She was looking a little too keen on stretching. Spreading her out will help the auxiliary shoots which were being shaded by the tall crowded shape. She is not going to be anywhere near as bushy as the SSSC Auto Ellephant.

Mephisto Fugue State pollen plant chopped yesterday, and mother plant had one branch pollenated twice today.

Mephisto 24C pollen plant chopped three days ago, and one branch of each pheno were pollenated a couple times thereafter.

All pollenation is now complete. Pistils on both pollenated branches of the 24C phenos are pretty much 100% curled and amber, so seed production should be good.

Lessons learned:

1. Injection with syringe works extremely well and quickly, apparently achieving virtually 100% pollenation of available pistils, and seems doable with little or no risk of stray pollen.

However:

2. Pumping syringe plunger has to be done under control to avoid pulling handle out of rubber seal and spreading pollen everywhere. This happened once with the 24C injections.
3. The syringe needle can go through both the top and then out through the side, leaving the tip exposed in the growdrobe. If one pumps the syringe when in this state, the entire bloody grow may end up pollenated. I may have done this with the Fugue State injection, so I will need to watch pistils to see what damage has been done. The same screwup is possible if during pumping the needle is accidentally pulled out of the isolation bag and then pumped. I might have done this once during 24C injection. Considering the screwups, I expect extra seeds.

4. The best pollenation bag is just close woven cloth, don't bother with plastic window, just remove the bag after several hours for pollen to "germinate" before misting the entire area down and removing the bag. Mist the inside of the bag thoroughly before pulling it off as well, pull it off gently and slowly while misting the area exposed as the bag is removed. Make sure all fans are off while this is being done, and while doing injections.

5. To reduce chance of pollen escape, mist all sides of the isolation bag before doing injection. This is a bit easier if done before bag is installed on the target branch.

All plants still growing, some with more nute issues than others. The worst is the Mephisto Fugue State, now dialled back to ~400 ppfd but still canoed and looking locked out of Ca by too much N. Whatever, she is in for the ride now. The largest DMK also looks to have been locked out with light colored leaves, but Ca was not the only problem with her. The sicky DMK is getting close to the chop, mostly cloudy, but not quite ready yet. The large DMK is a bit slower, but also starting to finish up.

4 solo cup seeds soaked and popped at Day 1 yesterday or today, 2 more still stalled without tap emergence, including the only Seedsman Strawberry Cheesecake I soaked. Auto irrigation will be delayed as I could not get a timer locally that would work, and the Amazon order is likely to be delivered late due to Xmas.

One of the gang here had mould on his Ellephant, so I will go do some serious clipping this morning, and RH from now on will be in the low 40% if I can get there.

4 solo cups growing well on Day 5 at ~900EC, all working on second node and apparently healthy. They are getting two fertigations/day of Connoiseur COCO grow, no pH check.

Runt CBD chopped a day or two ago, seriously smelly and sticky, other two doing fine, oldest just finishing up. Other 3 pots continue ok with some signs of Ca lockout or other mischief, but packing on the bud. So far, the soil looks high in N but otherwise going to produce some bud.

Decided to add PK booster to irrigation of plants on autovalves. Switched over to the second barrel which by now is mostly melted snow @ ~35 EC, added ~1tsp of Bud Explosion to bring maybe 15 gallons up to ~175EC which is pretty much what they were already on from the other barrel earlier. Most of the ~170 EC in the original barrel is presumably from pH adjustment as the creek water likely started at less than100EC, maybe ~50, I didn't measure it recently.

Anyway, the autovalves are now at ~140EC of Bud Explosion as of this morning. Total EC~175, pH~6.3.

Continued with ~150EC added BE, but pH'ed to 7 yesterday am. Will go with pH 7 until next res. topup, likely tomorrow, then adjust down - not sure how far yet.

Solo babes are at ~1000EC total, ~200 of which is now Calmag. Auto PK still showing minor Mg signs, so continuing with foliar for her only. Targeting ~60%RH/28C.
PPFD ~400-500.

Older DMK chopped this morning at Day 62.
She will go into a brown paper bag later this morning.

Trich check on mfs and m24c today. Light ambering on some sugars, little or no on calyxes, and lots of clear, so not ready yet. Still lots of white pistils, but quickly changing. next check for regular update Sunday.

Irrigation feed still waer only with ~~100ec of PK boost by BE.