"bed" gardening

[pcduck]

indoor?

Yes indoors. I believe he made two of them.

Unless you are having heat problems, a light schedule of 18/6 is a waste. Just promotes stretch. Something most growers don't want.

 

[St_Nick]

I have two 3x5 beds 12" deep. Indoors & it worked great 'till the po-po showed up.

 

[sopappy]

Yes indoors. I believe he made two of them.

Unless you are having heat problems, a light schedule of 18/6 is a waste. Just promotes stretch. Something most growers don't want.

I only see him as guest. Search is MUCH improved.

I'm usually 24/7, I only do 18/6 after stressful events.

 

[sopappy]

I have two 3x5 beds 12" deep. Indoors & it worked great 'till the po-po showed up.

sorry to hear that.... but if you're up here in Canada, your apology and cash settlement is due any day now.

Did you use worms?

 

[sopappy]

Having to make soil really threw off my timing. I have the 8 plants down to 4 females about 10 weeks so I'm going to have to flower,
my soil isn't ready...
all they've had is tea, RO & mollasses, that's it.
I could use up my old hydro flower nutes but that kills everything,
I'm not saving that earth but still.
or will i still do okay just carrying on with mol water and tea?
they want portassium now, right, what's that? I forget kelp?

 

[Alasgun]

If you stay organic, coconut water has plenty of potassium. Thats cool you got this far with the simple stuff. Kinda makes a fellow think huh?

Depending on your tea ingredients you can finish them with tea alone, although the tea may be more of a nutrient tea. Another amendment with lots of pot ash is Langenbienite. Check the spelling. Amazon carries it, probably some garden supplies too.

 

[sopappy]

HA! I was hoping the tea'd be enough, this is amazing. This is NOT supersoil and it's STILL enough.
To think I went hydro because it was a pain getting rid of the earth.... oh, the irony. Albeit, this was 10 years ago where all I could learn was in internet cafes.
Okay, flipped they be tonight and and bean time!
These guys are going in to the new bed when soil ready.
Note to self: I should have cooked my soil in garage or basement...
stinks up the place when i turn twice a week... fungi on surface every time.I've measured as high as 33C in there.
I'm using this soil for the bed so i'm still on topic... the bed is coming

 

[Alasgun]

Personally, id not transplant at this point due to potential harm. Just finish them where they are and give the soil plenty of time to complete the composting / cooking / breaking down cycle. Other wise that could be a problem too.
I dont remember your pot sizes but if you made it all the way to flowering without issues i believe you can finish them in their current homes.

 

[sopappy]

Yes, that was the intent, no transplanting,...I don't even like inserting the moisture probe in to the soil.. I can feel it breaking roots going down. I'm tempted to poke it through the side of the bag at the bottom.
I'll have to finish these and the next batch in these 3 gal fabric pots. Everybody veg or flower is getting the tea, or a milder version of a compost tea (no bubblers, no myco) or RO water plus mollasses

I haven't been checking pH in runoff because I've been aiming for no runoff. I understand checking pH of soil is useress.
They look thirsty , maybe hungry?, the metre says moist.

Day 1 of flower, I probably should have trimmed these but all I did was the bottom couple nodes

starting seeds for the beds tonight, these are going full cycle in the new bed in the flower room...

 

[St_Nick]

I routinely vegged in 3 gallon pots, I would transplant and throw 'em into 12-12 the same day. After 10 wks in them 3 gallon pots they are rootbound, air pots or not. Just sayin'

 

[St_Nick]

After looking again at the last pic, if it was me I'd transplant 'em into 5 gallon pots and I'd just mix your super soil with some organic peat and use it to finish out. Sooner the better but that's just me.

 

[Alasgun]

Im with Nick on this, just read that those pots are only 3 gallon! They looked bigger to me for some reason.

 

[sopappy]

Don't get me all excited here, lads, I'd love to get them flowering in that bed with supersoil but it's only been cooking for 3 weeks. Turned 4 times, fungi, smell last time, not overpowering but not pleasant either.

I can do a gentle transplant, just cut the bags off, but what's the risk using the supersoil right now?

 

[pcduck]

@sopappy

To much N delays flowering, soil to hot will burn the buds.

Why are you afraid of run off?
I double water.
Water once, then about a hour later water again.

The roots will grow through grow bags. No need to cut bags, just place on top or replant bag into bigger bag as a form of transplanting.

 

[sopappy]

darn, full stop, thanks duck, back to plan A....
next crop goes in to the bed in a month or so

(I read) you wash good stuff out of the soil, I don't want a lot of runoff from that bed on my basement floor. and it's a waste of tea.

Supa, I 'll just drop these in to 5 gal fabric bags, and keep cooking.
I was actually wondering about that fabric, it's thin, light gets through, you'd think there'd be some pruning with that.

 

[pcduck]

@sopappy

You would need to drown them...lol..
Place a saucer under your plants. Turkey baste any run off back into your grow bag.

On the beds. I would angle the bed slightly down and to the left or right. Then drill a hole in the bottom of the bed in the lowest corner. From that hole run a piece a pipe to a bucket to re-use any run off

When I began double watering I was surprised how much more water my soil could hold.

 

[sopappy]

@sopappy

On the beds. I would angle the bed slightly down and to the left or right. Then drill a hole in the bottom of the bed ....snipped
When I began double watering I was surprised how much more water my soil could hold.

Boy, am I glad you were up early, I was running with my new bed, ha! I'm anxious, could have been a disaster, thanks!

the bed is one big fabric pot, no drilling required
I'll start with 8 plants in there, watering will be tricky,
that double-watering tip sounds good, I'd rather longer between watering than frequent ones.

I actually double watered last night trying to spread the tea among 9 mouths, maybe more like a 20-30' wait but even then I had expected puddles and a slower drain, but the soil soaked it right up, like it just flowed right past the wet to the dry.

 

[sopappy]

So, the (snipped)

Here's my soil for the bed "cooking" for 30 - 60 days. NPK handled by worm, bone, kelp
also have peat moss, compost, perlite.

(snipped)

UPDATE.... a month yesterday and still awfully brown looking :-(
on the bright side, 7 of 8 sprouts look pretty good...
If they outgrow the germ trays, I'll put them in 1 gal potting soil and drop them into the bed in about 3-4 weeks

 

[sopappy]

SOIL is 5 weeks and smokin' holleeee, I can see why they call it cooking
I thought my heating pad had been turned on by mistake... I swear I smelt burning plastic from the tub and steam (?) was rising off it
I moved it all in to the new bed and still need as much again.
temp probes all around and I never thought to stick one in the bed

 

[sopappy]

Brain fart or plant killer?

As usual, I'm in firefighter mode, my seedlings are ready but my soil isn't and it is too hot anyways, literally warm and steaming in that plastic tub.

I presently have 5, soon another 4, in flower
the bed is only half full, I need another batch, another 2 months :-(
In the meantime though... could I not cut the bottoms out of the fabric pots and sit them in the bed?