Looks like it turned out nice. The best part is it can be used for decades. I have a 4x4 space myself that is still going strong after 12 years. GreenThumb
Rockin strong. Been working out a few kinks with condensation and yet another near catastrophic loss of electricity that left the garden in the mid 20's fahrenheit for about 8 hours. But one adapts and makes corrections. Been playing with some different premix soils and granular organic ferts. The interesting part of the partial freeze was that plants in my mix, that is aged with mycc before using, stayed much much healthier. I mean ridiculously healthier. I'll try to get a few plant pics this weekend so you can see what I mean.
Here's the pics, you can draw your own conclusions as to the why for's and how come's. Around two weeks ago all these plants suffered 8 hours of mid 20's Fahrenheit temps. Since this wasn't an intended event plant ages and strains vary. What was intended was a comparison between the Easy organic soil mix posted on GK using ProMix HP, Alaska all purpose dry fish based fertilizer (used according to directions) in ProMix HP, and ProMix Ultimate Organic soil mix. What I got was a lesson on how a strong soil and healthy root system can save a garden during a catastrophe. MSDS for Promix Ultimate http://www.menards.com/msds/107255_001.pdf It seems this mix is exclusively manufactured for Menard's by Premier Tech (ProMix's parent company). No worries as it won't ever again come close to any garden I'm tending. MSDS for the Alaska Dry http://www.penningtonfertilizer.com/~/media/Fertilizer/Files/Alaska%20by%20Pennington/MSDS%20Alaska%20by%20Pennington%20All%20Purpose%20Fertilizer%206-4-6%20Item%20No%20100504562.ashx The Easy soil mix was dosed with Plant Success Granular Mycorrhizal Root Inoculant per directions. All plants recieved supplemental feedings of molasses and Neptune's Harvest liquid fish/seaweed emulsion. As per my normal habit, there's usually a bin of soil mix waiting to be used. Letting an organic mix saturate and age gives the life time to populate the soil. Here's the pics. Same strain, same age. The plant on the left is the Easy mix. The right is ProMix Ultimate. Plant on right is Alaska Dry. Care to guess what's in the other pot? Plant in front is the Easy mix. Plant in back is ProMix Ultimate. Left is Alaska Dry. Right is...........yup. Some vegging plants. Can you pick the ones not in the Easy soil mix? Now I'm not able to say why and what for...I just watch my garden. But I also watch my dirt. Methinks the difference in surviving the cold snap was this. This is a typical soil bin. Took the pics this afternoon. Yup, loaded with active mycelium and true living goodness. Conclusion? Age your moistened soil, use mycc liberally, and mix your own. A bag is a bag is a bag. For the record, both ProMix Ultimate and ProMix HP claim to have mycc added. I'm sure they do, but how active is it coming from dry bag straight into your pots?
speaks for itself I see.. whats going on with the bottem few pics of the soil? it looks like a web of some sort is on it? I dunno, inquiring minds wana know
That be an active mycorrhizal fungi. Best thing a dirt grower can add to their arsenal. Think of it as the supercharger on the old Pinto.
you got soil figured out for sure man...I never had the patience for it and my timing sucked as far as watering properly, then yields sucked, plants sucked, veg time took too long for me etc... hes a story of the last time I did soil...lol I used to keep my old soil in them plastic tubs you would put a beer barrel in and ice around it for like a family party or whatever, well like a meathead concrete guy, id fill em to the top, probably made them about 200lbs, then one night id toss like 4 of them into my truck bed and go out on some country road and chuck em into a ditch on the side of the road.....well this night itd snowed like 10inches...I go out to a place I figured was a good spot, hop outa my truck...run to the back, pop the tailgate down and grab a tub and scamper to the road edge with this tub in my hands, struggling to shuffle thru deep snow and ice....take it and kinda jerk it to get the soil to dump out, well...via the truck ride to the secret roadside....the soil somewhat froze and as I dumped it/jerked it the entire soil was a block of solid hell, stuck to the tub and I went head over heels into a ditch which in turn ended up being a frozen tiny creek covered in snow....I was asshole deep in running water,snow, covered in dirt and its 15degrees out and to top it all off, I re-aggravated my bulging disc in my back and was laid up for like 5-10days :rofl6: so needless to say...end of soil!!!!!
Hmm, I hadn't thought about the fact of it sitting around dry in the bag. I use pro mix as well but now I am going to get some supplemental to add in and let it "perk" for a while before using. Thanks for the tip, Res .:thumbs-up:
Been researching my ass off. Here's what I accidentally was doing right with the mycorrhizae. It seems using molasses and Neptune's fish/seaweed in the original soil mix allows an active fungi to feed and extend. It's the sugars/carbs in the molasses and seaweed that feed the colony. No carbs or available sugars and the mycc remains dormant. So why the difference between soil inoculated "at the factory" vs the Easy mix? My best guess is it has to do with ready availability of active living fungi to new forming roots. A soil with a teeming population of fungi has living mycc waiting around to attache itself to the first root to pass by. Straight from the bag to the pot forces the fungi to wait for root structure to form before having a source for carbs/sugars. In other words, the former is like the root walking into a nightclub full of naked women who've been waiting all night just for him to show up. The latter is akin to getting a Law Degree, starting a practice, then putting out a Match,com ad and hoping you don't land a troll. Conclusion; If you want a teeming mycc fungi, like in the bin above, add some liquid kelp and molasses before aging. Doesn't need to be much, 1/2 cup molasses and one cup of liquid kelp should do ya for four cubic feet of soil mix. Don't know how long that'll feed a colony though. Suppose that's the next thing to find out. :redbong:
Care to see the same plants two weeks later? :bong-2: sad, isn't it? Here's the treasure this round though. The result of an accidental crossing of Omni Seeds "Niranjan" (Santa Maria F8 # 8 x Fizz # 2) x Apollo 13) and Trainwreck. This is the start of week 4.
got that soil dialed in tho man, pretty sweet ingredient list to make it happen but still simple enough:good job:
Looking good Res!! Always wondered why people used molasses. Couldn't see how it would benefit the plant. But it feeds and keeps the fungus colony thriving until the plant can hook-up.:coool: Be Cool, CG
Been awhile, let's set the mood. [YOUTUBE]VJW67QN24SA[/YOUTUBE] No such luck FF. Best is a 10 week that should actually go 11. The stems are so weak that it falls all over itself without a screen. I'm too damn lazy to deal so I cage'em and take it at 10 before everything goes to hell. CC- Don't know how I missed that dirt keg tub story on the previous page..:roffl: You fuckin steelhead numbskull. Wtf you doin? Sometimes I really wonder kid....sometimes. It's dirt. You can dump it any place.:roffl: Come on in, just a quick peek...:redbong: Not the best showing, but I love the last week of flowering so couldn't resist. Multiple rooms are really fuckin' with my consistency though. Pretty sure this is some more of the Confidential Cheese cut. asssit:
