Hashberry, CFL/T5, Soil, 1st timer

Well, today is the day I received a letter from Hipersimillas(less than a week after ordering will definitely do more biz with them). Ordered 3 Mandala strains - all with low lights reqs(>150w/m2) - as i plan on growing under T5/CFL (PLL in the future). The main reason - i live in a VERY hot & humid country and i don't wanna deal with the heat problems - i'm guessing it'll be tough enough on the first grow as it is.

I had some of the equipment earlier - some years back i tried to grow at a friend's house - but he turned out to be a prick - so i took my stuff and left - and it was lying for a long while in the basement - TILL NOW
anyway, i have Hashberry, Mandala #1 and 8MilesHigh + unidentified gift mix from Hiper(it's called Growzone mix - after looking up - it's some Spanish brand/community/whatever.

Setup: a closet 2.5 x 2 x 4.5, inline fan ~140cfm + carbon filter, 100w T5(2700k) + 100w CFL(4000K).
all Mandala seeds are supposed to be super nutrient efficient and won't require a lot of feed - so i'm planning on GH FloraNova occasionally - and maybe some additives from House@Garden - heard some really good things about them.
Well the race is on, wish me lots of luck - will def need it

 

weekly update:
have 6 seeds going: Hashberry, 8 miles high and Mandala#1 - 2 seeds each. For now only 2 germinated - 1 HB and 1 M1. I dug up the second HB (shame on me ) it seems cracked but no movement for couple of days now . Hope it's male anyway...
Gave them some water today - don't have RO, so i filter in Brita home filter twice - seems to do the trick - lowers the PH from ~8 to 6, and EC from .650 to .400.

I'll have to think about feeding them pretty soon - Mandala Mike says they should be fine for a month in a soil, but i was reading about Perfect Blend ferts - they are "Biotics" - which means they feed the soil first (all the bacteria and fungi etc.) and they in turn supposed to feed the plants - so i thought about starting early - especially since the fert contains dried up mychorizza fungi - and they are supposed to be started together with the seed. I went today to pick them up today - but the nursury which was supposed to carry this brand - was closed(actually the address i saw on WWW is an empty field - guess they're closed for good). Anyway, my hydro shop carries it too - but only in small(and expensive) bags - 100g.

My temps run pretty high in the closet ~30-33C, with RH 45-55%. For now i don't use my fan - only leave the door open. Mandala are supposed to handle heat well - so i figured to give 'em a test

 

well, 4 out of 6 seeds germed: 1 HB, 1M#1 and 2 8MH(the funny thing they were planted last but gave the best results)

till now i watered them once a week - next watering in 1-2 days - i want them to get really dry (to encourage root growth)

in the meantime, i'm gathering supplies to start feeding them - picking up
EM - will make FPE/FRE/Bokashi + Foliar feed
Molasses - well actually the guy who sells me EM, didn't have it on stock, so will use Phoenix plant honey for now
Kelp extract - Acadian the kind LumperDawgz recommends,
Alfalfa - dried rabbit feed
Barley - either straw pellets for pond cleaning or barley seeds (parrot feed)
Egg\Oyster shells - for Calcium (soak in vinegar), oyster shells are used in reptile cages - so get them at the pet store

good luck to us all

 

gave them 500ml water total:
1/4 tsp kelp extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Alfalfa FPE
1/2 tsp Fish hydrolysate - this shit STINKS!!! like a rotten shit of a VERY sick animal, my girls BETTER LOVE it!!!


got Great White Shark(mycorhiza, trichoderma, nitrogen fixing bacteria etc.) in the mail today.
will innoculate when transplanting, i guess.
can't source Neem for now. Tommorow will get Basalt meal, and maybe Vermicompost.

Lights: 2x26w 2700K + 1x26w 4200K CFLs.
Air: small fan(non-circulating - big mistake) blowing inside + Inline fan & CarbonFilter sucking out
Temps: heat wave again - small-middle 30s, but they don't seem to mind (GO MANDALA). inline/regular fans don't help much. good thing winter is coming - i was afraid of the cold, but since i isolated the closet - don't think it's gonna be as big a problem. got a little light/air leakage though.

Got a microscope today - 60x-100x - i guess there's such a thing as "too much" i can see something only if i stick it right next to the looking glass - and since im a clumsey fuck - i tried to look at the leaves, pressed too hard and tore a little piece off

Health: HB has a little leaf burn on the edges - root bound?
All look green and purky, especially when i feed them kelp, though they liked alfalfa too

after brewing Alfalfa/linseed FPE, i took the left overs and buried them in the soil in a little pot to cook a little, before putting in the real pots.
will need to transplant pretty soon - i already see a lot of roots sticking out from below(planted in half cola bottles).


i was looking for a hobby just like that especially since got involved in organics - it has a huge scientific side + you see results right away + i'm finally have a hope to smoke some good shit outside of Amsterdam

just for fun/experiment put some rice bran on the soil in one of the bottles - it got "hairy" from some fungi - at first it looke white, but now it got some kinda gray color - need to look it up @Carandang if it's a "good" kind - all i remember he recommends the white stuff, will see

 

1000 ml water
1/2 tsp kelp
2 tsp Alfalfa FPE
1 scoop GWS

HB is looking really weird - young leaves(and now spreading to middle) are poison-green on the edges. the main suspect - BioFish


preparing soil for transplant:
alfalfa/kelp/sea salt/wheat bran FPE leftovers (+ buried from the last time)
1 cup(250ml) Wheat bran
1 cup Oats bran
1 tsp sea salt
Kelp extract
Bio fish

covered with potting soil + sprinkled oat bran (fungi trap)

 

1000 ml water - soild drench
2 tsp Alfalfa FPE
2 tsp Aloe Vera FPE

"buried bokashi" is covered with grey/green fungi. small flies(fruit???) are circling around it - is suspect that's the fucking fish hydrolysate. oh, well...

girls are growing fast - raising the lights almost every day. HB and one of 8MH have leaftip burns, HB still has yellow spots on the edges, but otherwise look fine - even though they're not as perky as used to be - hoping to outgrow the problem.

will transplant this weekend.

 

for each plant:

soil recipe:
8 parts potting soil
3 parts EWC
1 part charcoal
1 part "buried" bokashi (FPE leftovers)


250 ml water
1 scoop GreatWhiteShark
20ml EM

 

some pictures

 

well, if i needed another proof i'm a dumb fuck - i burned the plants, again. when i got back from work the temp was 40C and one of the leaves was touching the lamp(burned ofcourse)
but OTOH they grew a lot in one day - i guess i'm doing something right - mostly LITFA

put some pebbles on top - so i won't wash off the top soil, while feeding, that will allow roots to grow right to the top undisturbed. and the soil won't dry up as fast. and it looks better very "professional"

fed them today - a day after transplant
3.5 litres water
5 tsp Alfalfa
1/2 tsp Kelp extract
5 tsp Aloe FPE
1 tsp Fish hydro
2 tsp molasses(date palm honey)
20ml EM

fish STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Naughty
thanks for the kind words

i'm looking at your grow(the latest one) - so u r old timer, huh? i'm just halfway through - but it seems after a rough start u r back in biz


from what i saw - anyone talking about mandala - can't praise it enough - so that did it for me, and the fact that Mandala Mike is such a great guy, and it's heat resistant, and feed efficient, and ...
well u get the idea

i'm switching to PLL lights sometime later(when there's cash for it), HPS is not an option for me - too hot as it is. 4x55w PLL will give me 4x4800 Lumen(with good intensity) / 2-3 girls - i think/hope that will do the trick

have a good one, bro

 

foliar feed and a little on soil:

2tsp Alfalfa FPE
2 tsp Aloe Vera FPE
2 tsp Alfalfa/Kelp/Fish/Linseed/SeaSalt FPE


LSTed them really low(that not what i intended to do, but i fuck with them TOO much, so i don't want to "fix" them again). LITFA LITFA LITFA


ps oh... and I'M BAKED finally, after a 6 months drought

 

LST - the only thing i learned till now is MJ can handle almost anything - i broke the stems, tore off leaves - and they still alive and well. i'm not suggesting tormenting them, obviously - it's just they can handle even a clumsey mf like me

 

ChunkDad

WOW - the heavy artillery is here - now i'm not afraid of anything

thanks for the support, bro

 

Possum

thanks bro - cruise often and deep - ur always welcome - i learned so much from your journal