Lots has changed since the last update. The move to the farm in Michigan fell through. Guy turned out to be a fucking hack and an asshole that wasted three months of my life. He changed his mind 3 days before I was set to move in over an Instagram Post I made that offended him 😂. It is what it is. The kid straight up said to me to not talk to anyone but him about plants. Told me what I could and couldn’t grow smh. Even said he’d use a potential business loan from my mom to pay off his mortgage to “take pressure off the company.” ROFL. So now, I’ll be moving back to Virginia with my mom as my right hand. The only one I can trust. Luckily, she fully supports this venture of mine and is even fronting me some money to get the very expensive dirt shipped to my house from Colorado. Decided to go with build a soil. Gonna still do a 4x8 raised bed with 3” of coarse stone and 3” of coarse sand at the bottom to prevent my soil from going anaerobic. I got 27 bags of the Dominion Blend collab with Duke Diamond’s Dominion Seed Co and build a soil. 6# of amendments per bag. Test results are included here. Really excited about it actually lol. On top of that, I got a cubic yard tote of 3.0 to trigger the freight shipping as well as all the rootwise stuff and 4 ferments from Fermented Plant Extracts. Also got some Terp tea from roots organics as well as a fogger to apply Foliar sprays which my former “mentor” also disagreed with. While I do still believe in the alpaca manure tea, it has its drawbacks that became very apparent by week 4 when my soil started getting depleted and a month of watering with a tea that turned out being too high in ph started to show it’s effects. I’m surprised it took that long. I won’t have access to the manure any longer so I’ll be replacing it with the Terp teas and other compost teas and ferments. The manure also gave me a pretty bad gnat problem that at one point was really horrible. The larvae were eating all my seeds and my germ rate went way down for awhile. Turns out I have predatory mites in my soil and those + my fly paper strips did the trick for the most part. Only a gnat or two flying around now. In an effort to get the most bang for my buck, I left one batch of tea brewing too long and it definitely turned and went bad. Smelled really terrible, but I watered with it anyway and it outright killed a plant and caused some serious discoloration in a few others. I believe it locked out all calcium and magnesium coming in and would have spelled death if i had kept using it without properly PHing it. So I got a bluelab pen and I ph every feed, even the plain water I flushed with for 3 days to 6.4 with hades down. I added Roots Calmag and Rain (wetting agent) to my feeding regimen and did a couple Foliar sprays with fresh aloe gel from my aloe plant and aminos. The plants responded very well. I also made the switch from 24/0 to 20/4 for the lighting schedule. The plants are responding very well to having a night time now. I give them 15 minutes of straight far red light before and after lights out. I’m seeing tons of lateral growth and all the new growth looks super healthy. I topped them a week ago to buy myself some time. Thank god for the growing community and Jeremy from build a soils videos or I’d be totally lost. Can’t trust anyone these days, but everything happens for a reason. The MI market is ass. VAs is currently thriving (black market anyway) and it’s my home. It’ll be sick to grow there in the house I grew up in. I’ll be able to customize it however I want. I’m glad I was able to adapt quickly and get my plants back on track once that dude exposed himself as a sissy, a coward, and a downright lying hack. Cheers. Good riddance. 💚

6 months ago

Transplanted a few to one gallon pots. Doing it as needed. Some were just getting too big / roots were also becoming an issue. I’ve learned though that the first 7 days not watering seriously stunted all the growth, but the roots most of all. My second set of seeds was popped 12 days later, but the root systems are already ready for transplant and the plants just grew much healthier and more evenly in general. So for now, just up-potting when I feel the plants are telling me to into used Wormies from the farm as well as some build a soil 3.0. As always, nothing but all organic inputs and my alpaca manure tea. Will still be transferring to the bed once the move is completed, but we’ll obviously wait a little longer now and veg a bit longer in general. Second set pictured is a mix of Heartbreak (Nag Champa f2 x Blackrose BX) and Medium Rare (Pinkleberry Kush F8 x Meat Breath) as always, happy growing friends!

7 months ago

The babies have really exploded over the past week. Growing more than half an inch taller and wider each day now. Added ferments to their alpaca tea and they’re definitely taking in more water and nutes now. Ferments were made with stinging nettle activated with a little IMO and burdock and comfrey also inoculated with IMO and a little alpaca manure. Let those sit for 3 weeks before using, burping every other day or so. Also adding a teaspoon of the Greengro Pride Lands Veg as top dress once a week. Running .75-.85 kPa, 450-550 ppfd for the older plants, capping at around 350 for the younger ones not pictured. Moving to the farm in about a month. Checked the roots on several plants and while they look healthy, it seems they formed a little high up since I was under-watering as well as that 7 day dry start with me being gone, so I don’t think I’ll have to transplant to 1 gallons before I move. This is actually ideal, as we can go straight from cup to bed once the move is completed and I’ll be able to flip to flower about a week after. Whereas the wait would be longer if I have to transplant to one gallons, then to the bed. The plan is to keep the 20 strongest females if I get that many and cull the rest. So while I do love this insane growth rate, they do need to slow a bit, or I’ll definitely have to transfer the bigger ones to one gallons to avoid them getting root bound. Either way, I’m happy. For a very first grow ever, this is going way better than I thought it would, lol. 😂 I’m grateful.

7 months ago

Added my first top dress. Green gro pride lands. Watered it in. Avoiding transplant as I’m moving in a month and these will be going in a raised bed as soon as I’m done moving! They’re looking great tho. Growth is pretty uniform now. Color is great. No leaf burn or droop or curl. Dialed. 🤓

7 months ago

Sorry for the week without an update. Everything going great. Was under-watering slightly and my mentor caught it due to my updates to him and I’ve adjusted. Lost a few days due to that, but the babies are really starting to explode now. Really taking in water and nutrients and I notice growth every day. Started a new batch of alpaca tea and am sun drying the “spent” manure from the previous batch to be used as a top dress. That’s the picture of sludge included on a sheet tray lol. Some observations on genetics: Masonic is def a pollen chucker. My best plant is from his pack but Also my 2 worst. So his genetics can be very hit or miss. The most consistent is probably the sour plums by Crockett family farms. Every plant is more or less similar size and structure and germination rate was near 100%. Obviously it’s still very early, but I feel like I’m in a groove now. Just gotta keep pressing on! Loving living soil and all natural inputs. It can actually get boring at times, but watching the plants grow is so rewarding and I feel a very deep connection to them. I continue to play em music and talk to em every day. Happy growing growmies!

7 months ago

Sorry for missing a couple days. Been super busy. The light tip worked shoutout @eaegifts. I’m not getting anymore vertical growth. They’re just growing out right now, looking bigger and healthier every day. Watering with my alpaca tea whenever it feels dry. Keeping the VPD around .6-.9 and the ppfd is around 350. Leaf temps aren’t getting above 84 and soil temp is around the same. Everything is super dialed at this point. Just watching em grow for now. I also planted 3 more strains, 2 of which have started popping less than 48 hours after they were planted. Got Pinkleberry kush X Meat Breath, “Medium Rare” by @stickyrichy, Durban Poison X Face off OG, “Poison Face” by @rebelsoulcollective @bostonsloudest, Nag Champa X Black Rose bx, “Heartbreak” by @marisolgenetics, Subset Sherb X Death Star OG, “Luz Long”. Navy cross by blue star seed co still germinating.

7 months ago

Watered with my alpaca tea for the first time tonight using a spray bottle. kPa is holding steady here for hours which is what I want. Adding a heater really messes with the humidity., but u can find a middle ground by opening / closing certain vents on your tent. A few of the plants are definitely stunted compared to the others, but that’s the nature of this. I’m only going to keep a maximum of 20 females so massive culling is going to take place most likely. In other news, my new seeds are already showing taproots after soaking for 24 hours. One more day and they’re ready for solo cups. No paper towel tech needed. Just distilled water, willow ferment, and a dark cabinet.

8 months ago

Backfilled all cups. Tent is dialed in. kPa is looking pretty perfect. Eager to start seeing some results pretty soon. Plants will be transferred to one gallon pots shortly and eventually will make their final transplant when I complete my move on or around November 1st. They’ll be going into a 4x8 raised bed within the tent. Alpaca tea is currently brewing. Distilled h2O, green aminos, fish shit, and a teabag full of fresh alpaca manure from the farm. Foaming up really nicely very quickly. Should make some amazing feed for veg phase.

8 months ago

Finally back home from Michigan. This was a huge test of patience. 25/28 popped and are all still alive so this will be most of my first run. I have a couple more packs germinating as we speak. Backfilled these guys and removed the domes. Added a heater so my kPa will finally be in the correct range. Now, the fun begins. Started a tea with alpaca manure, green aminos, and fish shit. Aerating that now and will be watering with it in 3 days. Also have 3 ferments working with forage collected in Michigan. A stinging nettle ferment, a burdock/comfrey, and a flower ferment. All should be excellent natural inputs. Seeds being popped are Poison Face (Durban poison [Gina Davis Cut] X Face off OG), Medium Rare (pinkleberry kush X meat breath), and Nag Champa X Black Rose.

8 months ago

Still in Michigan for a couple more days. Getting a bit ansty, but this is actually a good early stress test for the plants. Humidity is set to 80% and I watered extra before I left. Looks like my seed germination tech worked like a charm. Every single seed In this tray popped. I didn’t have a way to monitor the other two trays with the humidity in the domes so I just focused on the one. So I’m not sure how the pinkleberry kush’s are doing, but the PBBW and the Sour Plums are growing every day. Without being watered, the roots are probably growing straight down, while the shoots are reaching for the light. All-in-all, it’s looking like this test run might actually become my actual first run. I’ve acquired some awesome new seeds while here in Michigan, and might add a pack to this run. Will start doing daily updates as soon as I get home!

8 months ago

I’m in Michigan, almost 4 hours away from my place in Chicago. Helping my friend harvest his bud and wash it. Learning how to make full melt and all that. Tent is set to 80% humidity with vents on the domes closed. Misted the babies a little extra with my Green Aminos tea. I have a Tapo security camera taped to the top of one of my domes so I have no idea what’s going on in the other 2 trays. But it looks like almost everything on this tray is sprouting!! Both the Peanut Butter Breath x Wilson and Sour Plums!!! I’m spending another 4 days here so we’ll see how it goes. It was always possible these wouldn’t make it. But they’re looking great thus far!

8 months ago

Peanut Butter Breath Wilson #5 has emerged!

8 months ago

Soaking the seeds in 1 gal distilled water + 1tsp Greengro Green Aminos + a splash of coconut water. Will check in 24 hours.

8 months ago

Seeds have been soaking about 30 hours. Taproots visible on 4/6 PBBW and a couple of the sour plums. Tapped all seeds with tweezers and all have sunk. Prepping soil for transplant.

8 months ago

Transferred the seeds to their medium. Build-a-soil light recipe moistened with Greengro green aminos water with 5ml of Fish Sh!t after soaking for 46 hours. Spritzed the top with a spray bottle filled with the same solution. Current tent conditions are 72°f, 95% humidity. 8 seeds had healthy taproots. Mainly the PBBW. So we’ll see how it goes! First time trying this propagation method and forgoing the paper towel tech on the advice of a friend and very experienced grower.

8 months ago