Diary Complete Royal Gorilla and Grandaddy Purple Grow

[The_StonedTrooper]

2 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

So@Ill_Evan I guess the question is.
You going full on microbes or going to be using nutes?

Or no nutes, I'd be curious to see a comparison of cuttings - one in soil and one in dwc.
See how they grow and then end yield.

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I'm game, nothing like putting things to the test, and I'm only repeating what I've learned from very reputable soil growers regarding what they are aiming for now, after years of growing.

Who has the time and space now to do such a run side by side?

Migro has a comparison video on soil vs coco vs hydro, but with chillies, as it's not legal to do W...uhmm hemp.

[The_StonedTrooper]

4 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said:

I've gotten the BioBizz nutes..  but I have EM Pro soil anyways and will probably be using it. 

Nothing wrong with any of those, which of the bizz range did you get?

[Ill_Evan]

1 minute ago, StickyD420 said:

Nothing wrong with any of those, which of the bizz range did you get?

I've always used Root Juice, even in hydro, also got fish mix, grow and bloom. 

[The_StonedTrooper]

11 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said:

I've always used Root Juice, even in hydro, also got fish mix, grow and bloom. 

Perfect in my opinion, that will feed the soil you using, which feeds the Microbes and they feed the plants roots, Mycoroot is also good to add to that. I've seen some wow that's big heads, and some wow that smells and looks crazy good, but the delivery of it and feeling was very lacking, and most folk are heading back toward building a proper soil ecosystem, than growing in non living mediums and even overseas the market is going more craft cannabis, as there is a something to it others seem to be after, and that's the market speaking.

Very interesting actually.

A guy I knew grew a batch in coco and a batch in soil, the soil didnt last a day past ready to jar, and it was all taken.

Edited June 15, 2020 by StickyD420

[GGG]

Hello all, I have just finished a grow with FF custom craft soil, veg a month in it and 10,5 weeks flower, only PH 5,5 and slowly up to, 5,8 and once a week FF Fire Juice, nothing more. Best grow ever.

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[The_StonedTrooper]

2 minutes ago, GGG said:

Hello all, I have just finished a grow with FF custom craft soil, veg a month in it and 10,5 weeks flower, only PH 5,5 and slowly up to, 5,8 and once a week FF Fire Juice, nothing more. Best grow ever.

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There you go, thanks for that...

I've noticed and found in my search that the minute a nutrient is used, you will keep needing it, and so far so good with proper made up soil, and hit with teaming Microbes. 

[GGG]

Done a grow with FF Classic Premium also but it need nutes after 3-5 week, its great for seeds or rooted clones with only water for that that time.

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[The_StonedTrooper]

No nutrition for 3 months now, they look super happy to me.

[1000Hills Nursery]

@StickyD420 

Beautiful, healthy well trained canopy. Well done. 

With regards to your thoughts on quality of weed grown in soil and soiless, I would have to disagree. Both can produce equally as good quality.

 

In general DWC rocks. @Ill_Evan all you need to unlock your dwc results is a few quality plants. You should oneday do a coco grow with as many small plants as you can fit in your flower space. Keep copies and then put the best of the lot in dwc at reset. In general 2/10 plants are decent. The others in most cases are mediocre. 

 

[Popcoen]

@Ill_Evan Looking absolutely amazing brother! 

[Bos]

That canopy looks good.

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[The_StonedTrooper]

Thank you all for the kind words, very much appreciated. 

Exactly @1000Hills Nursery you can get same or better results in DWC and or coco, though those mediums need more precise inputs and you become the scientists telling your plant what it needs, when you say so. Which I've done and feel for me that this way now, works best for me.

Kind of like, set it and forget it (other than watering).

I just want to learn and help everyone where I can, there is no reason we cant all have success. 

[PsyCLown]

I still don't understand the reasoning and logic behind soil being less work as some people claim and I certainly disagree that soil / organic tastes different or better.

In my experience and comparisons, the difference is that the plants grew a bit slower in soil than they did in coco. The soil can be more forgiving in the sense that the plant can draw nutes from the soil if you are not providing enough via feeds such as BioBizz and that would not be the case for a hydro or coco grow.

You can certainly grow in coco with a proper set and forget method, I have just completed a grow as such. A big res for automatic watering. Mix nutes in the res and that is it - I literally take a visual look at the plants to make sure all looks good and do not touch anything unless I need to trim / train which you do in soil too.

In terms of mixing nutes, piss easy depending on the nutes you use. Measure out the nutes x amount of ml per L (same as BioBizz), add to the big res, maybe drop a little bit of ph down in and that is it. You follow the feeding chart on the nute bottle, like with BioBizz and that is it done. No need to over complicate things. It works.

 

I am certainly not against soil and organic grows, however I do feel a lot of the info and reasoning behind them is purely for marketing and placebo such as organic weed tastes better or is smoother or some shit like that. Based in my experience, that is certainly not the case. Growing in soil was also far more expensive and I feel that is why the companies are pushing people towards soil. I could probably get nutes and medium for 2 plants (20l pots each) for an entire grow for under R250 in terms of coco. A bottle of BioBizz alone is around or over that and 30L of soil is close to that.

 

You can grow great plants in soil, you can do so in hydro and coco as well. Equipment costs aside, hydro is probably the most cost effective growing method, followed by coco and then soil last.

If you can get a soil where you do not need to add any amendments or nutes and you can grow plants with the same vigor, yield and speed of coco or hydro. Then I would be interested and would consider soil again. I believe in the states there are some amazing and true living soils, although in SA we are lacking in that department. Perhaps if you were to make your own soil, but that is really tedious and time consuming and certainly far more difficult than going the coco or hydro route I feel.

Gotta wait 6 months or longer before you can even start using the soil I believe?

[The_StonedTrooper]

Most certainly, soil can be more expensive, though the soil builds itself up over time and gets better even through the 5th grow in the same soil. This the decrease the costs and the life inside the soil accumulates ever time.

The biggest mistake made in soil, is the use of synthetic nutrients, which will do the job of the Microbes, therefore making them go on holiday and they die off. If you learn how they work, how to feed them, and use them to your ability, you'll soon see the difference. Not to say it's better at all, though it is a earth friendly method and there is less of a footprint left behind, which is proven and more sustainable. 

Very true, the nutrient manufacturers are extremely good at making what the plants need and the smell and such from these grows has been excellent, with a solid high and taste. I grew in coco and used GHE my second run, and wasn't working in my favor at all and was told to try it by a grower I knew, who in turn has switched back to soil and my method of making soil, as his clients preferred that.

They say soil needs to stand for so long, this is true, to build its Microbes and such, but you can get very detailed and technical and that is also a little extreme for me, but others might like to do it, and I let mine build as I use it time and again.

If you build your soil correctly too, you can growth just like hydro in soil.

Also, thank you for the interesting conversation and challenging views, it's what makes us learn and grow, pun intended. 

Peace.

Edited June 16, 2020 by StickyD420

[Bakstein420]

10 minutes ago, StickyD420 said:

Most certainly, soil can be more expensive, though the soil builds itself up over time and gets better even through the 5th grow in the same soil. This the decrease the costs and the life inside the soil accumulates ever time.

The biggest mistake made in soil, is the use of synthetic nutrients, which will do the job of the Microbes, therefore making them go on holiday and they die off. If you learn how they work, how to feed them, and use them to your ability, you'll soon see the difference. Not to say it's better at all, though it is a earth friendly method and there is less of a footprint left behind, which is proven and more sustainable. 

Very true, the nutrient manufacturers are extremely good at making what the plants need and the smell and such from these grows has been excellent, with a solid high and taste. I grew in coco and used GHE my second run, and wasn't working in my favor at all and was told to try it by a grower I knew, who in turn has switched back to soil and my method of making soil, as his clients preferred that.

They say soil needs to stand for so long, this is true, to build its Microbes and such, but you can get very detailed and technical and that is also a little extreme for me, but others might like to do it, and I let mine build as I use it time and again.

If you build your soil correctly too, you can growth just like hydro in soil.

Also, thank you for the interesting conversation and challenging views, it's what makes us learn and grow, pun intended. 

Peace.

Do you treat your soil between grows or just chuck in the next bean?

[The_StonedTrooper]

3 minutes ago, Bakstein420 said:

Do you treat your soil between grows or just chuck in the next bean?

Hey Bakstein420,

Well, I pull the soil away from the stem base and remove the root just there, not all of it, enough for the next plant to fit. Plant the new one, then build a humus layer on top of that original layer working just the top 10 -15mm down with finger tips, water that in as you do for new plants potted up, and there I go again with pure water.

That's the idea, and on my first grow of this soils life, with only a dose of Biodyne liquid gold, and a dose of ActiVera from Biobizz (1ml to 5L) to start the factory going.

[The_StonedTrooper]

I'm sure everyone has been on a road trip or out driving, and seen a tree growing out of a huge rock?

That bean landed on that rock in a crevasse or small groove, where some moisture and ground lay, where the very interesting part comes, and that is when the bean comes to life and as the plant grows, in the day time it would suck up the suns energy, and when night fell, it now throws that energy through the root system and it actually eats away at the rock making room for the roots to grow inside the rock.

So to really build your soil, you need to have something planted and growing that feeds the life in the soil through that energy, and the Microbes and plant create a bond that speak to each other and in turn work in harmony. 

Tried to explain it as best I can.

[PsyCLown]

I'm all for that synergy and symbiosis and in a garden it's certainly something one would like to try and achieve.

So microbes, trich, mycorrhizal fungi and water?
Then simply reuse the soil, don't even turn it or fluff it out?
You didn't start with packet soil though, you started with a soil you made yourself?

You don't oh and don't add any additional amendments along the way? Just keep recycling the soil grow after grow?

Obviously no flushing then either, although that's a different debate altogether.

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[The_StonedTrooper]

That's right @PsyCLown

I make it up, buying from the manufacturer my amendments to add to my basic non fertilized soil in packet, coco, perlite, etc. 

Never turning it, thus not harming the layers built, and no need to fluff, my soil falls apart like cheap cottage cheese and is rich brown black like chocolate cake.

Your feed the soil and not the plant, so this way you shouldn't need to flush anything as the plant took what it needed and wasn't told to use this amount, or a readily available source of nutrients, so it doesn't have excess anything. 

You can do teas, which are feeding these Microbes and teaming with them too, and I have a special tea that I'm thinking of making up, but it needs to be fresh, as still healthy with Microbes and not aged. We dont get good teas here and as mentioned it must be fresh made, or wasting your time essentially, so out the question to import it.

I do pH, but with natural goodies only.

Puff puff pass.

[The_StonedTrooper]

You can go overboard with anything, you must be comfortable and it must be easy and work for you.

Organic can be a huge catch word, even cyanide is organic, but you wouldn't put it in your body or your plant, but Neem is healthy for you and both your plant, for example. 

I was a landscaper and worked in nursery for 5 years, so have a little general knowledge on living soils and so on, and willing to help anyone with anything they might need help with or I can offer advice on.

[Ill_Evan]

You're advise is welcome @StickyD420! Carry on! 

Thanks all for the pointers. This is by no means an intention on doing comparisons between mediums and grow styles. I learnt how to grow cannabis in the deep end and my first grows were all with DWC, funny enough my first attempt has been my best attempt so far  I want to do one soil run so that if I want to switch up mediums because of circumstances then I at least that I can. Also just want to learn 

[CreX]

Either way, I have found that larger beds are an amazing wonder... I am hoping to convert to a single large bed for all my plants 1.1mx2.0m about 30cm deep

With the larger buckets I'm using this round, I have had fewer issues than ever and watering is really quick. 

Might even convert to a system like @PsyCLown with all his carrots

[CoolJ]

28 minutes ago, StickyD420 said:

You can go overboard with anything, you must be comfortable and it must be easy and work for you.

Organic can be a huge catch word, even cyanide is organic, but you wouldn't put it in your body or your plant, but Neem is healthy for you and both your plant, for example. 

I was a landscaper and worked in nursery for 5 years, so have a little general knowledge on living soils and so on, and willing to help anyone with anything they might need help with or I can offer advice on.

Whats your thoughts of adding some worms to the soil ?

[PsyCLown]

Whats your thoughts of adding some worms to the soil ?

I feel worms are good, when I was using the Organics Matter soil I found worms in my soil a few times.

So depending on which soil you're using, you may already have worms.

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[The_StonedTrooper]

5 minutes ago, CoolJ said:

Whats your thoughts of adding some worms to the soil ?

Definitely, the worm compost I get comes with worms in it, and a lot of people think worms digest the soil and poop the goodness out, when in fact, a worm is like an in side out digestive system, and its skin does all the work.

 

21 minutes ago, CreX said:

Either way, I have found that larger beds are an amazing wonder... I am hoping to convert to a single large bed for all my plants 1.1mx2.0m about 30cm deep

With the larger buckets I'm using this round, I have had fewer issues than ever and watering is really quick. 

Might even convert to a system like @PsyCLown with all his carrots

Hmmm, what carrots?

The large bed would be soil too? Which is a great idea though and good rooting area.