[Otishertz]

Otis Growing

Since coconut coir plays a large part in my gardening routine I'll start with a little about my experience around coconut palms. I lived on a Gulf island in SW FL subtropical zone 10 for a decade. Zone 10 is the small area in the US where coconuts grow naturally. Overlapping ecosystems of the beach and bay made the place teem with life. Plants grew like you wouldn't believe - even in sand - from the intensity of the sun and tremendous abundance of rain.


The first time I saw coco coir in a plant start I wanted to grow with it because it felt like plants would like it. That was eleven years ago. I had no idea what it was even though I was sitting underneath coconut palms at the time. I had an Irish Setter named Roofus that could fetch coconuts in the Gulf. I love coconuts. Light and wind filtering through their giant pinnate fronds was soothing and mesmerizing. Coconut palms  are resilient powerful plants that are overflowing with energy.


Cocos are amazingly resilient. They can drink salt water or fresh with indifference. Their seeds float across oceans and sprout in beach sand devoid of nutrients. In hurricanes they get beheaded and become poles but snap right back even if flattened and flooded. New growth shoots a 5-8' bayonet into the sky that unfurls into a sturdy 15-20' frond like a perfectly planned and folded fan. Three cocos that were knocked down in three directions by three different hurricanes reclined in my neighbor's wilderness.


Here are some Malayan coconuts I planted.  They are adjacent to a salt water canal.  The picture dates are 11/2002, 6/2004, 2/2005, showing the growth over 27 months with only a light general purpose fertilizer every six months.

The two types of coconut I'm familiar with with are Jamaican and Malayan. Malayans are the ones in the picture. They are shorter and stouter with more color in the trunk and on the fronds. They are getting more use because of lethal yellowing. Jamaicans are really tall, skinny and bendy. They can get crazy high and have gravity defying curves. Unfortunately the spectacular Jamaicans are susceptible to lethal yellowing and died back. Some older Jamaicans are resistant. There is a tall old Jamaican across the canal peeking into the top right of the center picture.


Malayan fronds are thicker and fuller with yellow on the spines. . Malayans are used for cultivation. Pinnate fronds can get 20+feet in length. They are very beautiful in Sunlight. coconuts produce truckloads of fronds every year that are trimmed while teetering with a chain saw on an extension ladder.


You can plant cocos 1/2 sticking out of the sand, pointed end down slightly down with a scoop of soil or compost in the hole and they will germinate in three to six months. The first shoot will crack out of the coconut like a spear from the part where it was attached to the palm. This end has three dots. It takes about five years for a trunk to develop, after they grow rapidly straight up. A good sized nut is 6 lbs and a healthy tree will grow about 50 coconuts a year.


A picture of the coconut garden I planted right before moving away. The cocos are in the red mulch on the ground. My neighbors swiped the ones that sprouted but left one runt, which I kept in a pot for a year in the mountains of NC.

Made a flying V from a giant Ixora because plants just want to rock. Except the trees and V-bush, I grew all these plants from small pots and cuttings that were found or liberated. Those are bananas on the right. They are giant herbs that cannot be over-fertilized and have these huge flowers at the end of a long whip.

Plant hardiness zones. Were talking the pink area at the tip of the peninsula.

I took a truckload of tropical plants with me when I moved from South Florida. They are all gone now. When I drove out West I left them with a redheaded woman who agreed to send cuttings then refused. Some were expensive, most were found, some very unique. They were used to decorate her family's house that was for sale. I missed them for a long time. The ill fated mountain coconut is in the clay pot below.

A vegetable garden with sunflowers I planted in Asheville, NC when my daughter Rosie was born.

A tank of aquatic plants I ran for two or three years.





This still life is called Cocoballgina. You can see the hairy husk. That is what we use to grow.

[Otishertz]

Working with Coco

Coco coir is made of coconut husk. It retains a lot of air and water, feels clean and is renewable. Previously it was discarded as a byproduct of coconut plantations. Coco is one of the few natural fibers resistant to breaking down in salt water which makes it well suited for use with salt nutrient solutions. Hemp also is resistant to salt water degradation and has a long seafaring history.


Coco is a hydroponic medium that works interchangeably with soil and soil equipment. Huge hydroponic coco plant starts can be seamlessly transplanted into soil, giving your garden a large advantage that results in faster and higher soil yields. If you are an outdoor soil gardener you can gain big benefits using coco for your plant starts or veg without buying or changing much. Coco will turbocharge your plant starts.


To get an idea of coco growth rates check the thread, "Crossing Snowtracks" here:

http://www.otisgardens.com/forum/index.php?topic=56.0


Growing in coco is easy but it is different than soil. The main difference is coco needs to stay wet where soil needs to regularly dry out. This makes coco easier for beginners since it eliminates the main novice error: over watering. Over watering causes oxygen depletion. This is called damping off and occurs most frequently with waterlogged soil pots. Soil growing is a variable ebb and flow between dry and wet. Without the dry period, soil roots suffocate and drown the plant. Determining when to water and when not in soil is an art. 


Plants need lots of oxygen in the root zone. Watering is a breath of air to a plant. Soilless hydroponic methods increase plant growth using mechanical means to maintain high available oxygen at the roots. Extra oxygen is the main reason coco plants are larger. Another reason is the high cation exchange capacity of coco which will be discussed with nutrients later.


The difference between coco and other forms of hydro is high oxygen availability with much less complexity, risk or expense. Hydro media and systems must remain wet or roots will rapidly dry and die. Roots are more exposed without soil to protect them. Coco has the advantage of being similar enough to soil to protect roots from drying while providing a better environment for root biology than sprayers of Nutrient Film Technique or bubblers of Deep Water Culture. Most forms of hydro leave little margin for error. Equipment failures can lead to severe root damage in hours. The longer time period before coco dries out increases the margin of error for the gardener.


Any of the same equipment failures that would badly damage roots in regular hydro within hours could take a day to begin to harm a coco plant.  The main risk in drying out a coco pot is nutrient concentration and pH will spike, causing burned leaves. Making sure coco stays wet is easy and can be reliably accomplished via mechanical means. Coco lends itself well to automation. It can't be over watered due to the high air capacity of the medium. Coco retains water well enough and is soil-like enough that it can be hand watered.


Cuttings can be cloned in coco using 9 oz Solo cups. Coco clones are good to transplant in soil or coco interchangeably. For larger starts transplant to 5x5  (1.68 liter) square coco pots. 16 oz Dixie cups work well enough to skip the 5x5 intermediate pot. I like the square pots because it makes easy to unbind roots by cutting the corners. Developed starts are planted in three gallon auto fed coco pots, five gallon hand watered soil Smart Pots, or seven gallon hand watered coco Smart Pots. Because coco needs to remain wet and soil needs to repeatedly dry out the two media are at odds. If you are transplanting to soil use the smallest veg pot possible that can be kept wet between watering so that you end up with a pot that is mostly soil.

Month old seedlings grown in close proximity in 9 oz Solo cups with 6oz coco. A 12" ruler is balanced on a cup.

Coco coir is available in compressed bricks or prepared bags. I prefer bricks for price, ease of transport, and compact storage. They readily expand in water. Make sure the packaging mentions flushing or low salt because cocos grow in salt water and excessive salt can easily be in a batch of coco out there for sale. Use hairy coco with lots of fiber strands. Bricks that are mostly fine particles will get compacted and cause problems. Tiny particles also wash away.


I used to add small amounts of calcium and magnesium to new pots to fill the coco matrix with those nutrient ions according to common knowledge. Have since learned that adding calmag builds up excessive calcium, causing cascading lockouts of nitrogen, magnesium, and potassium. I eliminated the use of molasses in tea to avoid the extra calcium from that. Getting the calcium right is the key to coco. Molasses can quickly knock nutrients out of whack. Too much calcium causes a lockout chain reaction where first potassium can't be absorbed, leading to its buildup, too muck K then locks out Mg. This info is relevant to the discussion on nutrients later.


Coco works very well by itself and needs little improvement. Perlite does not improve coco and causes problems by floating and accumulating algae. Pumice is a better substitute for perlite but it conferred no growth advantages in coco. The white color of these rocks promotes algae growth. Hygromite is an interesting possibility for improving coco but I haven't tried it. Straight coco is hard to beat.


One way to improve coco is adding peat to provide an environment for soil microorganisms that process the organic substances we add to enhance results. A quick look at the bag for any number of soilless mixes shows they are coco peat mixes. The issue with peat is that it is less renewable than coco. Microbes don't care and still like peat. Trichoderma lives on coco but other necessary endomycorrhizae do not. Endomycorrhizae live on peat.


Ectomycorrhizae are useful to only 10% of plants, mostly trees and roses. Ecto are not used by vascular plants like cannabis or vegetables. Cats don't like turtle food.


See the ingredients on this bag of soilless mix I use as base for my soil mix. I add more castings, pumice and Ocean Forest soil to this. I add castings and pumice in similar proportions under 10% because castings wet soil while pumice dries soil. One counteracts the other when considering drainage.

I experimented with 5-10 % worm castings in coco. The castings unfavorably altered the water retention characteristics of the medium, making it soggy and causing damping off. Now I only use sprinkles of castings in a batch of coco as a mycorrhizal inoculant. Plants need the microbes to break down compounds and complex molecules of organic supplements into ions that can be absorbed. Ionic solutions, on the other hand, are already available to the plant. Plants don't need microbes to absorb nutrients in ionic solutions like GH nutes.


I've used both Botanicare Coco Grow and General Hydroponics Coco-Tek with good results. I prefer Coco-Tek. Because coconuts grow primarily in salt water we assume residual salt is on the compressed bricks. Buy coco that says it has been flushed. Before transplanting, run filtered water through new pots to flush them. By the time the roots get out into the new coco they will have been flushed if they have been amply watered at least twice. This is easier than flushing in a bin or the Otis pillowcase method but you need to start with good coco.



Expanding coco bricks:

• Coco Recipe:
  90% coco
  10% peat (currently evaluating)
  Sprinkle to taste with castings.
  
  
• Unwrap a 5 kg brick and stand on the skinny side in an 18 gallon tote.
  Pour or spray water evenly over the top of the block several times over the course of an hour.
  Let the water do the work. It will slowly expand and split.
  Mix in peat and a sprinkle of castings.
  Enjoy!
  
  A 5 kg brick consumes about three gallons of water to fill an 18 gallon tote making about 2.5 cubic ft. This size brick retails for $10-11 all over town. 7.48 gallons equals one cubic foot

Expanding a brick in the tub.

• Pillow case method for expanding and flushing coco bricks.
  
  I needed a sieve to expand and flush a large coco brick. Seeing no woman around I implemented a nice pillowcase.

[/list]

[Otishertz]

Nutrients:

My grow is based around a simplified usage of the Micro and Bloom formulations in General Hydroponics Flora three part line of nutrients. I use a staple meal of 7 ml General Hydroponics Flora Micro and 10 ml General Hydroponics Flora Bloom per gallon, adjusted to 5.8 pH. I augment this with organic supplements and worm tea. That's it. The Grow formulation is not needed.


In a five gallon bucket filled a few inches from the top (4.5 gal) this works out to two tablespoons of Micro and three tablespoons of Bloom (1tbsp=15ml). Mix nutrients with an aquarium type air pump and air stone to simultaneously oxygenate your solution. Augment the basic 7/10 nutrition with alternating weekly treats of  worm tea, and a solution of Micro, liquid bone meal, and soluble seaweed. This simple nutrient regimen works for coco veg, coco bloom, and soil bloom - but not soil veg, use water and tea for that. There should be ample nutrients in soil to cover the veg period of most crops. Although this mix is tailored to cannabis, it worked surprisingly well on nearly every plant I tried including tomatoes, herbs, strawberries, pink chard, red choy, purple basil, and flowers. I even found a Blackberry Kush that liked it, though most BBK did not.

Coco Schedule:

Add the Micro first when mixing. Use half strength on seedlings and freshly rooted clones. Go rapidly to full strength after a node of growth. Solution has about a 550 ppm reading in RO water.

Veg              7/10/5.8 pH
Bloom          7/10/5.8 pH
Day 40-45           0/10/5.8 pH (Note the micro is dropped early to improve finish.)
Day 50         RO water, 5.8 pH
Day 60         Harvest and trim.



Drying Schedule:

Day 60          Dry on nets in dark.
Day 64-66      Dry in closed grocery bags until almost all stems snap.
Day 65-70      Dry in Jars, opening daily.
Day 74 +-      Smell check then vacuum seal Jars for storage. Inspect
                       periodically for mold with flashlight in first month.
                     Open after one month, then every three months for a year.



Soil Bloom Schedule:

Alternate watering between the 7/10 solution and RO or filtered water according to the rate the soil dries. 5.8 pH. Back off nutes at first sign of tip burn. Begin flushing sooner if you believe your mix has been hot with excess nutrients. 

There is a simple way to know when to water soil.

1)Lift your pots when dry and when fully watered.
2)Note the weight difference.
3)Never Water A Heavy Pot!

Plants stop drinking when they are under stress. When stress is induced as with transplanting or changing a light cycle, plants need less water or none at all. Do not water for at least a day after big changes. Water gradually after that. Plants are most at risk for damping off when they are stressed in a wet pot. Once the plant has drank the pot dry water it till you have runoff. Watch lower leaves for indications of problems in the pot. Lower leaves will yellow to complain about over watering or a pest invasion like gnats.



Organics Schedule:

Every other week use aerated worm tea on all plants in veg and bloom except those in final ten days of flush. Maintain worm tea pH at 6. Use worm tea on clones any time, they love it. Mist your veg and clones with worm tea for super vigor. Don't mist tea on blooming cannabis. Worm tea discussion in later chapter.



Worm Tea:

Five gallon bucket
Four gallons RO water (use chlorine free water)
NO molasses (Not needed, mostly causes problems)
One cup castings straight in the bucket. (handful)

Bubble for 24 hours. I do not use molasses in tea. Remember that molasses has calcium, magnesium, and potassium. This can throw things out of whack. pH to 6. Rising pH is an indication that microbes are growing. Adjustments to pH may become as frequent as every 12 hours. Biology will not begin unless temperatures exceed 70 degrees fahrenheit. It is growing when the air stone gets slimy. Clean air stone with plastic brush.

Pour a quarter of the Tea into a clean new bucket on day 2 like a sourdough starter for tomorrow's tea. Add 1/3 cup castings, fill bucket with water, and adjust pH. It's possible to keep tea running for several days. I run tea about three days. Discard if/when odor turns foul. Dilute tea before watering as much as you need to complete the job. There are millions of bugs in there. One can replicate 15 million times in 24 hours.

Try misting and watering unrooted clones with tea around day 5.


Every other week on blooming plants, alternating with the worm tea, eliminate GH Bloom solution from the 7/10, keep the Micro, and use liquid bone meal for P and soluble seaweed for K. It's OK to use on little guys in veg too if you want but this is mostly a bloom kicker.

Replace Bloom with:

One tablespoon (15ml) liquid bone meal (NPK=0-10-0)
One teaspoon (5ml) dry soluble seaweed extract (1-1-16)
pH 5.9

Use all in same day, seaweed ferments in 24 hours.





Light Schedule:

50 watts per square foot.
12 hours on, 12 off in bloom
20 hours on,  4 off in veg.



Ideal Environmental Conditions

Temp:      82-92 deg Fahrenheit
Humidity      40-60%
Windspeed           5-8 MPH
Wind Direction   variable

Plants just want to Rock!

[Otishertz]

Integrated soil and coco.

The first time I used General Hydro nutrients was eleven years ago in a deep water culture system devised from an igloo cooler. I cut holes in the lid with a jig saw to hold net pots of clay pellets. Hooked blue line tubing and emitters to a tiny submersible pump that ran through the drain plug. Aerated 24 hours and circulated whenever the 400W light was on. Worked very well using GH according to the bottle. Grew a thick mat of roots. I knew from this that good plants could be grown in these nutrients with nothing else added.


I kept using GH nutrients on my outdoor containers with great results. When I started growing cannabis in Oregon I went straight to this old standby. I knew every nutrient that plants need was in the formula and as long as I didn't over fertilize the plants would turn out fine. The first plant I grew in Oregon did well enough to tie for 7th place at 2009 Harvest Fest. In those early cannabis crops I fed GH nutes according to the bottle, alternating days with reverse osmosis filtered water (RO). If the plant was not thirsty there was no water that day. I lightened Foxfarm Ocean Forest with lots of perlite to improve drainage so that I could feed more often. The main difference between then and now is I no longer use the GH Flora Grow formulation after learning that all the necessary nutrients are in the other two bottles.


The first crops I grew with the OGrow system dialed in got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at 2010 Harvest Fest. 1st place was Snowtracks in soil, 2nd and 3rd were Vortex and Alaskan in coco. This confirmed the value of integrating soil and coco with one nutrient solution. The 7/10 formulation came from experimenting with the H3ad 6/9 formulation after reading the "H3ad Goes Coco" thread on www.icmag.com. I found it searching how to use GH nutes with coco. Much good information I outline here began with reading the comments of H3ad.  H3ad's 6/9 was developed after he realized his modified Lucas 8/14 formula had an excess of K which was locking out N, Mg, and Ca (Lucas is 8/16). The thread is now over 1400 posts long so search within the thread and only read H3ad posts to get the most of it.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55683&highlight=h3ad+coco

Comparison of formulas:

I put the 6/9 on my soil bloom after realizing that H3ad's 6/9 for coco was the same ratio as the General Hydro recommendation for soil bloom of 2 teaspoons Micro and 3 teaspoons Bloom (minus the not needed Grow formula). After that I switched all my veg to coco and used one nute formula for all types of growing, unifying hydro and soil media with one nutrient routine. This simplified my work and planting giant hydro starts in soil greatly improved yield.


I started increasing N with the Micro after encountering deficiencies in early bloom. What I calculated was very close to full tablespoon measurements in four and a half gallons of water. 7/10 is as much a function of the capacity of my measuring spoons and bucket size as that N adjustment. 7/10 and 6/9 are really close and both work. The 10 ml vs 9 ml Bloom comes in handy in flower but is the limit in veg. I believe the extra P and K are what kept some cuts of BBK flowering while in veg. Blackberry Kush, the Queen of strains, is famous for auto-flowering and being difficult to revert to a vegetative state even under 24 hour light.


Like H3ad, I experimented with altering the formula and adding calcium and magnesium only to arrive back at my basic formulation. Common knowledge is that calcium must be added to coco. Most of the problems I've had with coco came from preemptive additions of calcium. I have stopped adding GH Cal-Mag solution entirely. The less I vary from the straight 7/10 at 5.8 the less problems I have.

The first signs of burn you see in coco are likely to be the beginning of a Ca related issue or the result of a coco pot that dried out, causing the nutrient concentration to spike. Getting calcium right is the key to coco. At a pH of 6 or higher, magnesium uptake is greater than Ca causing Ca to accumulate on the coco fibers. When too much Ca has accumulated it begins to lock out Mg. After this, no additional Mg will do any good and the deficiency will still appear as a cal mag deficiency, even if they are there in abundance. In this situation flush with filtered water at 5.6pH. A foliar feed of epsom salts at two teaspoon (10ml) per gallon can also help alleviate the problem. Flushing solves most problems. Alternately you can back off the micro a little or dilute the 7/10.

Calmag leaf deficiency progression

Watering:

Nutrient loading invariably leads to problems like burns and lockouts. It also is wasteful. If I add an ingredient to a mix I look to remove another. Too many ingredients will corrupt the mix. Better to underfeed than overfeed. Underfeeding is easily remedied. Overfeeding creates problems. The important thing is nutrient availability, not overall quantity of nutrients. Nutrient profiles vary by plant species and life stage. A plant will consume nutrients according to its needs and not use any extra that is added by an over exuberant gardener.


If a plant is hungry it needs more feedings, not a harsher, more concentrated, single dose. This is especially true with coco. Extra feeding also means extra oxygen. O2 is very important and is the main reason hydro plants like coco are larger. This is why the constant root misting of nutrient film technique (NFT) supposedly grows the biggest plants ever; NFT is max O2. Remember that one of the main functions of water is to bring new oxygen into the root zone.


Mix all solutions with an air stone. It only takes a few minutes time to saturate your solutions with oxygen. Your plants will appreciate it like a breath of fresh air. Use an aquarium style air pump. Get a long length of airline tubing to span over several buckets. Plug in near where you mix, making sure the pump is above the waterline to avoid accidentally siphoning liquid into the pump. One way check valves are an inexpensive guard against accidental siphoning. Bubbling also scrubs gases out of water. Do not forget to add air to your nutrients.







What goes in the pot should come out of the pot, either through the bottom as runoff or the top as plant growth and aspiration. In container growing, think of the medium as a substrate that solutions pass through as opposed to a static plot where you put fertilizer. You don't put solutions in a pot, you put them through a pot. It is important for both soil and coco pots that all solutions pass through and not be reabsorbed. I look at my pots like I look at the biologically active filter floss in an aquarium filter. The filter is a place where things happen as other things pass through.


If you overload the pot you will overload the plant. When using nutrients to increase growth it is important to have runoff with every watering. Letting coco or soil pots sit in their own nutes will cause salt buildups, reduced plant vigor, and lockouts. Runoff helps prevent imbalances. Elevating soil pots improves soil crop taste dramatically by reducing nute buildup in the finish bud. Elevating plants is the easiest way to improve flavor. A cheap way to do this is cut a PVC pipe into several 4" sections and put them in between your pot and saucer. You can also flip a smaller drip tray in a larger tray. I use metal plant dollies with casters that aid in rotating plants.


I prefer 5 gallon soil pots over seven gallon ones because once the pot is full of roots it will dry daily under 50 watts per foot. I try to get the plant to the point by day 30 where the soil is spent. Ideally, plants are watered all the way through every day at peak plant growth. Smaller pots give max control and greater feedback. The smaller soil pot is also easier to flush. For once daily hand watering of coco use seven gallon Smart Pots. The 5 gallon size does not provide enough moisture at peak growth to keep the coco wet. The trick for soil and coco is to minimize runoff while making sure there is always some. Water slowly in multiple turns until drips begin. Soil must dry between watering, coco must not.


My first coco plant, the one AK-47 pictured below, yielded ten liters in jars from a three gallon pot. That works out to just under 2.5 gallons of buds from a 3 gallon pot. See how it is sitting in its own nutes. Don't do that! ... for more than 5 days. Only do it when a pot is getting dangerously dry between watering and you need to buy time to establish additional feedings or transplant to a larger pot. When the Ak below started growing rapidly I had to get up in the middle of the night to water it and let it sit in nutes or the drying out would have severely damaged the plant. After that I automated the watering of three gallon pots. I was able to check the flush on that AK with a PPM meter so it all worked out. AK47 = Afghan Kush - 47 day. I say try 60 days. I aim all cannabis plants to finish around 60 days, regardless of breeder claims.

Speed of watering maters. Rapid watering causes pooling of water. Pools find the point of least resistance and flow through it, bypassing other parts of the pot. Limit the speed of watering using a can with a small diameter spout (3/8") or wand with a fine spray shower head type nozzle. The main thing is for water to go on evenly and slowly. A good practice is to give all pots half their water and then do it again. The time interval aids saturation. A long narrow spout is useful for watering seedlings and small plants in tight spaces.

Watering Cans

The importance of biology:

The previous integrations had to do with adding hydro elements to soil. Next we integrate soil biology into the hydroponic coco medium so that organic nutrients can work. Adding 10% peat improves biological environment to provide a habitat for the microorganisms grown with worm tea. Coco only holds trichoderma. Peat needs to be in the pot in order to catch and hold mycorrhizae.


What we regard as one creature is usually millions working together. We evolved in close contact with all sorts of organisms and microorganisms. Human beings have innumerable life forms teeming all over and inside our bodies. Poor health and even death occur in the absence of certain microbes. Human beings also have mutualistic relationships with plants that augment both health and well being. Our human history is replete with herbal remedies. Plants similarly have their own symbiotic mutualistic relationships with microorganisms in the root zone. Plants are not be able to assimilate various nutrients without certain other creatures living in their pots.


Microorganisms have an innate intelligence like a flock of birds or school of fish. Life is multiple planes of intelligence. All levels of life work together with this innate intelligence. I like to believe cannabis has mutualistic relationships with our spirituality and that spirituality is a higher function of life.


When you grow a plant you are growing more than one thing. Growing a plant is creating an ecosystem comprised of millions of creatures. The interesting thing about microbes is they grow very fast. One can replicate itself 15 million times in around a day. Because microbes reproduce so prolifically they can do meaningful work in a short time.


Worm bins are so called because worms are the largest animal in the bin - that we can see. The most important effective microorganisms are found in worm castings (poo). Such microorganisms perform integral functions and must be introduced appropriately to establish balance. You need to add life to your pots. Worm tea balances the life in your pots.


Worm tea is the cultivation of beneficial microorganisms in water with bubbles and worm castings. This amazing tea makes it possible to add all the best micorhizza and other beneficial microbes in a concentrated aerated dose directly to the roots while simultaneously adding organic nutrients and micronutrients in a highly available way. Worm castings are a soil inoculant.

[Otishertz]

Organic vs inorganic:

The previous sections discussed integrating the hydro aspects of coco with soil. Next we integrate soil microorganisms into the hydroponic coco medium so that organic nutrients can work. Proper root zone biology is very important to overall plant health. Growers must add this life because vascular plants can not achieve their full potential without endomycorrhizae and trichoderma microorganisms.  These microorganisms do more than just process organic matter into nutrients, they provide pest resistance, mitigate imbalances, and improve the general health of plants. Plants and their microbes developed symbiotic mutualistic relationships over aeons. Roots need millions of beneficial microorganisms, mycorrhizal associations, and bacterial plant interactions.


Gardeners must provide a place for soil microbes to live next to the roots. Coco only holds trichoderma. In order to catch and hold micorrhiza there needs to be peat in the pot. Adding 10% peat improves the environment for vital microorganisms. Each pot is ideally an ecosystem. Having pots loaded with soil biology makes organic treats work and that adds the edge in flavor, aroma, potency, and health. Luckily, the proper microbes are readily available in earthworm castings. Use of worm tea and worm castings are the easiest ways to get these soil microorganisms. Tea is more important with coco because castings can be put directly into soil.


"Organic" is a misnomer when applied to nutrients because of the way plants work. Plants rapidly absorb nutrients in the form of mineral ions. Solutions of mineral ions are also known as "inorganic nutrients". It pays to understand that organic nutrients must first be converted into ions by microorganisms before they can be assimilated by roots. This means organic nutrients have to be converted into so called inorganic nutrients before the plant will even notice them. No amount of marketing can change this fact about plant evolution. Plants only assimilate ions. Organic nutrients are mostly useless without soil microorganisms to convert them into mineral ions. Microorganisms are needed to break down the larger, more complex molecules of organic supplements into available ions for them to be assimilated by the plant.


The "organic" label means many things that have nothing to do with plant nutrition. I seek grocery products labeled organic because I wish to avoid pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and most importantly, GMO foods. Food products with those types of bad ingredients have no warning because of regulatory capture at the FDA so "organic" is the only safety seal by default. Organic food labels tell what is not in food, not what is. Inorganic nutrients have nothing to do with these food problems. 


The three part GH Flora line is an ionic solution that is readily available to plant roots. It does not require soil microorganisms in order to be available to the plant as with organic compounds. There is no difference to the plant if a potassium ion comes from a microbe munching seaweed or General Hydro Bloom. Plant roots assimilate the ions, not the origin of the ions. The plant doesn't care where it gets its ion. GH flora is sometimes called a salt nutrient. Salts are ionic compounds. Plants can only use elements in their ionic state. Potash and dolomite lime are inorganic salts. Manure has 5-10% salt.



GH Flora Nova

GH Flora Nova is being used with good results reported by other growers. Flora nova is partially organic but not much, containing only 3-5% organic substances. The other 95-97% is inorganic salts just like the 3 part line. Due to the organic content of the Flora Nova line it only has a shelf life of one year. The regular GH 3 Flora part has an indefinite shelf life and can sit in a reservoir for weeks. A stable universal nutrient solution that can be stored and prepared in bulk fosters economies of scale that translate to cost savings. Cost savings mean higher yields. Growers are better off using the regular GH line and augmenting organics on their own.


Flora Nova has one bottle for Veg and another for Bloom. You can not alter the composition of the mix, just the concentration. The 3 part Flora line has the big advantage of allowing control over proportionate composition. Being able to control composition is more important than concentration. Control over composition allows growers to tailor nute regimens to the life stage and nutrient profile of a plant so that everything it needs is available simultaneously in sufficient quantity without excess. A plant will only consume what it needs with excess nutrients causing imbalances and lockouts.


Increasing concentration of fertilizer is one of the fastest ways to ruin a crop. If a plant is hungry it needs to eat more frequently. Extra nutrient availability through more meals is always preferable to loading the dose on less frequent feedings. Increased feeding frequency is easier in coco than soil because you can feed coco as much as you like, coco must remain wet. Soil has to dry out between water and feedings. Improve soil drainage to dry the soil faster and increase the number of possible feedings.


PH:

Proper pH balance is is one of the most important considerations in growing and is necessary for healthy and vigorous plants. pH changes dramatically alter the uptake of nutrients. In coco, pH below 5.8 increases Ca and decreases Mg availability while pH above 5.8 decreases Ca and increases Mg availability. Remember the key to coco is to not overload Ca and cause the chain reaction of lockouts. PH changes can also dramatically alter the color of flowers. A digital pH meter is a necessary piece of equipment. Purchase reference solution for calibration when buying a pH meter. Buy a backup pH tester if you can. Proper pH is that important.


When coco dries out the nutrient concentration increases leading to a pH decrease. This situation promotes nutrient burns. To keep coco pH stable it is best to keep pots uniformly wet. Coco pots are hydroponic and should not dry out. Aim for 5.8 pH on everything coco. Ideal soil pH is 6.5, however my soil pots get the 5.8 pH nutrient solution. Because of the buffering capacity of alkaline soil ingredients the runoff is usually close to the ideal pH of 6.5. Coco has a pH of around 5.5 to 6.5, Peat has a pH around 3 to 3.5.











It's Electric.

Plants feed by exchanging similarly charged ions between root hairs and the grow medium via solution. Ion exchange is reversible reaction between ionic solutions and immobile solid particles. Cations, pronounced kat-eye-ons, are positive ions. Coco holds cationic nutrients like K+, NH4+ , and Ca++ in a condensed layer on its surface and releases them into passing solutions. When solutions pass through a grow medium, some nutrients electrically cling to the medium while others are released. The liquid solution transports these cations to the roots. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) of a medium measures the amount of negatively charged sites available on the medium. Positively charged ions cling electrically to the negatively charged sites. CEC is the capacity a grow media to exchange positive ions. CEC gives indication of the substrate's ability to hold and release nutrients. Coco coir has a high CEC, which is good. Roots also have CEC.


Organic matter such as compost and manure has a low CEC until it is broken down by microorganisms. One of the more important functions of organic matter in soil is to increase the CEC, and thus the nutrient holding capacity. Remember though, it is the ions that are held by the decomposing organic material. In hydroponic systems it is possible to use media with near zero CEC like rockwool, clay pellets, and perlite because the roots are frequently replenished with nutrients. The electrical charge of nutrient solutions, the pH, effects the CEC and nutrient uptake significantly.


Examples of CEC values for different soil textures (meq/100g soil):
   *High value considered to be greater than 40.


    Perlite 1.5
    Sands (light-colored) 3-5
    Sands (dark-colored) 10-20
    Loams 10-15, Silt loams 15-25
    Clay and clay loams 20-50
    Coco Coir 39-60
    Organic soils 50-100
    Exfoliated vermiculite 100-150
    Peat 150



Useful Distinctions:

Medium (singular)
Media (plural)

Microbe is short for microorganism
Microbes (plural)

Fungus (singular)
Fungi (plural)

Bacterium (singular)
Bacteria (plural)

Amethyst Dogpuke: best strain name ever.

[Smokeyhot]

The Pictures and visual effects are great!

[Otishertz]

Pinching, Pruning, Cuttings, and Clones

Pinching and pruning:


Pruning is an essential skill for OMMP gardening in Oregon because of plant size limits that have to do with a drug war and not botany. Pruning keeps the medical gardener out of jail by keeping plants short. Topping means to prune the top.


Pruning is a big part of the art of gardening. Pruning shapes and strengthens a plant's skeleton and vascular system. When a cut is made it sends energy back down the stem, thickening it. Pruning has a dramatic effect on yield because each top that is cut doubles the yield of a particular stem while increasing the strength of the stem. The main stalk will split and grow buds on two stems where there would otherwise have been only one.


Use clean sharp scissors. A razor blade is not necessary. Clean your blades between Every plant Every time with alcohol to stop the spread of plant viruses. Buy the 90% isopropyl alcohol type as it also cleans smoking pipes well with some added table salt in a ziplock bag. Wear gloves with this alcohol. It is a poison.

Pruning plants increases yield by doubling tops at each cut.

The doubling effect of pruning is apparent on this bonsai basil.

Pinching is a quick and dirty way to top that increases yield and slows vertical plant growth. Pinching is also called fimming in the cannabis community. Both mean pinching off the top bud with your thumb and index finger. Pinch off the part that feels like a BB inside the very top of the newest bud. Legend has it the FIM name was started by some stoner who realized better yields after topping incompletely, leaving a part of the target bud intact by missing the top. The deed somehow became known as FIM, the acronym for Fuck I Missed.


Fimming and topping both will double tops. The difference is fimming will stunt the plant more because it does not produce a clean cut but an incomplete, more injurious cut. Unfortunately plant size restrictions sometimes make it necessary to stunt healthy plants. The technique is helpful for slowing plant growth for legal size limits, to keep plants from stretching into the light where they will get burned, and for shaping. Pinching is also good when you don't have alcohol handy for your scissors. 

Fimming VS Topping

Prune to build a strong skeleton with some symmetry. Top young plants at the third or fourth node like above. Once the two new tops grow about six nodes, top again about three nodes down. Lower branches should be approaching the top of the now shorter plant. Even up the branches, changing the plant from its original pyramidal shape to an inverted pyramid. Pinch tops that get ahead of the others. Pinch floppy lower growth to strengthen it. Medicinal cannabis cannot hold up its own buds under high intensity lights without the aid of human beings. The plant seduces the gardener into giving this care.


Indoor growing usually requires that plants be under about 5-6 feet. For balanced future growth with this height in mind it is best to leave three nodes minimum under any top as a rule. You can go less if you must. Normal top pruning provides good plant material for cloning. You can accelerate your garden by making new clones when you prune. Choose healthy new growth. Put cuttings immediately in water to avoid creating an air bubble in the stem while waiting to do the next step.




Cloning in coco:

Coco works very well for cloning because it doesn't dry out and it doesn't get waterlogged.


Supplies Needed:

1.   Small watering can with long spout having narrow 1/4" opening
2.   12" x 22" seedling tray and tall dome
3.   9 oz Solo square bottom cups or regular Dixie cups
4.   Coco
5.   Dip 'N Grow rooting hormone
6.   Chopstick, screwdriver, or pencil
7.   Pressurized mister or clean spray bottle.

Prepare cups:

Cut the bottom corners off the Solo cups for drains. If using Dixie cups, to fit more in small tray, cut three slits on the bottom rim then shorten by cutting in half. Fill cups with coco. Perlite is not necessary and does not improve coco. Poke a hole in media with a chopstick or screwdriver, rotating it to clear a hole for your cutting. Use blue painters tape for labels. It can be moved from pot to pot like post-it notes even after getting wet. Label each cup with a sharpie marker before progressing to the next. Record date and strain name. Labeling is the most important part of the cloning process.


Trim and apply rooting hormone:

Cut off the leaf tips and shape foliage in a circle approximately matching the cup rim so clones fit in row in the tray with the dome in place. Cut off fan leaves and secondary stems of the bottom node or two alongside the main stem. Nick stem with scissor tips to expose cambium layer in stem where root growth will originate. Be careful to not sever stem. Leave enough stem that the next node up will be above the coco. Dip cut in Dip-N-Grow rooting hormone for just five seconds. Immediately put in prepared hole. Press coco with fingers until cutting is firmly in place. Water new clones with weak < 1/8 diluted 7/10 nutes or worm tea. Mist thoroughly.

Cloning

Mist daily:

Carefully arrange clones in humidity dome so you can get dome in place. Close dome vents. Put under 20 hours of T-5 or regular fluorescent light. Mist once a day with water or worm tea. Worm tea mist accelerates rooting and feeds the leaves. Clones really respond to worm tea mist around day 5. Not much watering is necessary in the first week. However, additional watering will accelerate root development by providing more oxygen. You may water cuttings and clones with worm tea at any time. I water with tea or 1/8 diluted 69 on day 4 or 5. Roots will pop day 7-10.


Somewhere around day 7-10 water again with 1/4 diluted nutes or tea. Open vents. Watch for leaf yellowing. The clone is consuming itself to rebuild roots. This is the signal to begin daily watering with quarter diluted 7/10. Increase to full concentration soon after roots are visible in the drain holes at the cup bottom. Harden clones by gradually exposing to air current over a day or two. Around two weeks take out of humidity dome and treat like plants.


Basically mist once a day and gradually feed the new roots. Nothing has been easier. Any instructions you read for cloning in rockwool or peat pellets can probably be adapted to coco.



Seed Starting in coco:

Cannabis seedlings are not sexually mature until they start alternating nodes. Cannabis seedlings which begin alternating at about a foot tall under t-5 tend to be males. Alternation usually begins between the fifth and tenth internode. Clones are already sexually mature. The age of the clone is clocked from the seed. Finished results improve as the plant ages during it's first year. The third clone generation, where the clone may be about nine months old, will be better than the buds from the seed plant. Seed plants should not be flowered until they reach sexual maturity.


Supplies needed:

1.   Seedling heat pad
2.   Seedling tray to fit in dome
3.   Blue label tape


Fill the tray with as much coco as you need. Tamp down. Poke a little deep hole in each section with a chopstick. Put seed hinge side up into hole. Cover seeds lightly with about 1/8" coco. Water carefully with 1/8 diluted nutrient or tea. Replace dome and put on heat pad. Seeds will sprout in a day or so. Maybe longer if temps are cool or you have a weak or thick seed.

Zipbagging cuttings in fridge:


You can keep cuttings alive in zip lock bags in the fridge for a month with no ill effects provided rot does not occur. Three weeks works better. Zipbagging cuttings is a very useful trick. It can be an emergency procedure if you need some insurance against losing a plant that is in danger. It can also be used to buy time if your crop rotation is governed by rules of imprisonment.


Wrap the cut ends in a wet paper towel, leave a little water in the bag, blow a little air in the bag. Label and put in vegetable compartment or unscrew the fridge light bulb for solitude. The rubber band is not needed and should be left loose. Inspect water clarity weekly. Any murkiness indicates rot. replace bad water and remove rot or clone immediately. Plants that sit in rotten water do not clone. Another way is to fill the bag a third full of water, put the cuttings directly in the water, and skip the paper towel. Use filtered water in 5.8-6.0 pH range.

There is another example of zipbagging in the Crossing Snowtracks thread:
http://www.otisgardens.com/forum/index.php?topic=56.msg682#msg682

Cloning with Worm Castings:


I have only done this with basil but have it on good account that it can be done with cannabis. The first cuts of cannabis I tried were from apical (top) buds and didn't work. Next time will use a longer, more hollow, stem so that capillary action can occur.


1.   Take cutting, remove bottom node.
2.   Put in small cup with 2-4 oz filtered water.
3.   Add a pinch of worm castings.
4.   Set under light.
5.   No dome necessary.
6.   Roots pop in a week or less.


Below is a Purple Basil cutting that has been happily living in a pinch of worm castings for five weeks without dropping a leaf. All I have done is add a sprinkle of castings and give it a sip of my drinking water once every other day. The pictures on the top are from 4-11-11, the bottom pics are from 4-22-11.

Basil in Castings

Update: First two photos below are from 8-3-11, the last is from 9-15-11. You can see the plant survived for over five months in a glass with worm castings and RO water alone. I am starting to feel sorry for it and will probably transplant it soon (9-26-11).

[Sexpot]

Nice pictures and sooooo much information!  I feel like a fimming expert now.  Can we make your cloning illustration into a t-shirt? 

[Otishertz]

Containers and Automation

The simplest solution is usually the best. Some things have a functional simplicity that is hard to improve. Bicycles, analog watches, revolvers, pocketknives, chairs and cups are near perfect inventions with the only improvements coming from small adjustments. These objects represent the simplest possible solution to a need. The intention of the design is evident in the form. The object speaks.



Wood Dominoes:

I designed wood dominoes to hold Solo cups in a drip tray. Together they make a very functional, simple and inexpensive hydroponic system. The main benefit of the dominoes is that they allow little inexpensive 9 oz Solo cups to hold huge hydroponic plants that would tip over constantly under any other conditions. My coco plant starts are massive considering they grow in only about 6 oz of medium.


I cut boards like dominoes so that the ends would have additional strength kind of like a butted tube. Also spaced the holes closer in the middle to augment that intention. This left a useful ledge. They each hold 19 cups so one board is just over one OMMP card worth of veg. The dominoes raised the small plants which helped reduce bend from the slanted t-5. Elevation also improved runoff. A 2 3/4" hole saw was the right size for both 9 oz Solo cups and the common 16 oz Dixie cup, AKA beer cup.


Polyurethane was used to seal the wood. I thought gooey would translate to longer lasting wetness protection. It took three plus weeks to dry and stop stinking. Would recommend polycrylic with a stain instead. Polycrylic is way easier to apply and dries faster. Still, I have been using the dominoes for a year and they have not warped or taken on water so polyurethane definitely worked. They are moveable, removable and very versatile. They are one of the best things I did to manage my veg. I will be making more.

Containers:
Fabric pots such as Smart Pots are another elegantly simple solution. Roots do not grow in air so when they reach the porous fabric sides of a Smart Pot they are air pruned. This pruning makes roots branch instead of circling the side as happens with plastic pots. Circling roots form a shell in the shape of the pot that constricts new growth, making plants potbound. Being potbound is a big stress that causes female cannabis plants to grow male flowers which can ruin a crop with unwanted seeds containing unstable "feminized" traits.


Simply transplanting a potbound plant into a larger pot will not solve the problem. Roots from plastic pots frequently have to be unbound by cutting them loose with a knife. Square pots help with this procedure. Smart pots eliminate the problem and produce better overall root structure. The fabric sides of Smart Pots make it difficult to transplant without upsetting the plant so it is best to transplant from plastic to Smart Pot. It is possible to transplant a smart pot right in another. The roots will grow right through the fabric. However, this is not recommended since it creates a stress that is a lot like being potbound. Cut off the pot if you need to transplant a smart pot and are worried about stressing a valuable or fragile plant. Reuse fabric pots by bleaching. If you want to roll your own fabric pots the material is called pond underlayment and is available at big hardware stores.


My use of small pots is largely due to the size constraints of indoor growing and laws that force me to hobble fast growing weeds to under 12". I aim for higher yield in less space because my garden has a legal cap on size and needs to remain concealed for security. I don't mind the rules so much. Mostly happy just to be growing the ultimate crop. The flowers I grow in my kitchen would get me 15 years in Florida. I tell people I had to move to Portland to make gardening dangerous. Oregon is a gardener's paradise. If you know the right people you can get any strain in the world for free. Gardening with rules creates a kind of "chess with plants." The scary laws and legal limits force all sorts of strategics that improve gardening skill.


I use 5 gallon Smart Pots for soil after trying other sizes. The 5 fits the way I like to water daily. I want plants to be predictably thirsty at the same time. Makes me happy to see my girls have been up all night drinking at their peak. If they have not, something is wrong. Watch for lower leaf yellowing for the first signs of complaints. Larger pots have lots of advantages like less frequent watering. The greater amount of medium leads to higher yield with less work. Larger pots reduce number of feedings and nutrient consumption but at the cost of increased soil and space. More frequent feeding of a smaller pot can also increase yield but at the cost of additional nutrients, labor, and complexity.


Coco dries faster and coco plants grow more rapidly than with soil so a larger pot is needed under the same light. When daily hand watering I use 7 gallon coco Smart Pots next to five gallon soil Smart Pots. This better matches the daily water consumption of plants in their respective media. Under 50 watts per square, anything smaller for coco can be totally consumed by the plant in less than 12 hours, causing burns and stunting plant growth. Similarly when the little Solo cups dry in less than 24 hours they are ready to be transplanted or pruned or they will start to get burned and lock up. Watering them twice a day solves the problem and makes them enormous.


My preferred intermediate veg pot is a 1.68 L square. This size is large enough to grow surprisingly big starts without having so much coco that it conflicts with soil in a five gallon pot. The small pot makes it easier to keep plants small by pruning. I am breeding in 2.5 L under T-5. 2.5 L is the minimum size I am able to bloom with daily watering. 2.5 L of coco is also about the max size you can transplant into a five gallon soil pot without causing conflicts between the mediums.  2.5 L would be better matched to a 7 gallon soil pot.

Auto Watering

Using small pots under high intensity light requires more frequent watering. Automated watering can provide more feedings. Increased feedings create greater growth in less space. The simplest type of automation is a run to waste system. Some would argue ebb and flow, AKA flood and drain, is simpler because there are less parts. Smart Pots work with coco in flood and drain systems and run to waste systems. Run to waste eliminates problems with dirty reservoirs and allows more variation of inputs. 7/10 coco runoff is high quality and can be used to water vegetables and ornamentals. 7/10 can be run through coco at least twice, doubling yield per dollar. The larger systems I imagine are run to reuse. Run to reuse can be very efficient. It is the way ecosystems work.


A 3x3 tray and a 40 gallon reservoir can be made into either a flood and drain or run to waste system. A forty gallon res can go for about a week in a run to waste system with four three gallon pots. Plants in 3 gallon pots need to drink two to three times a night at peak growth. The pump waters with two emitters per pot twice a night for two minutes at a time. I also hand ele-water the coco pots daily with a treat or just more 7/10 in between the timed waterings.

Coco Automation equipment


1.   3x3 tray
2.   3 gallon square pots
3.   40 gallon reservoir that fits under tray
4.   40 gallon reservoir lid – sold separately
5.   2 drip stakes per bloom pot
6.   Cheap submersible pump
7.   Air pump, tubing, airstones
8.   Tubing, elbows, fittings, stoppers as needed
9.   Drain fitting and hole saw
10.  3 gallon busket for drain
11.  Syringe for rapid measuring
12.  Digital timer
13.  Valves to divert to reservoir pump out hose.

[Otishertz]

Profoundly Potbound

Coco is hydro. Plants get huge but they also can get profoundly potbound while waiting in the stable. Roots run around the pot, constricting like a snake until they form a "shell". transplanting this shell intact will stop your roots from filling the larger bloom pot and create a continual that will reduce yield and may cause your cannabis to become a hermaphrodites and self seed. Water finding the route of least resistance partially explains circling of roots around the inner pot wall. The water runs along pot sides so it is a better place for the roots to hang around. This points out the fundamental advantage to fabric pots like smart pots, roots branch instead of circle when they hit a wall of air.


Square pots slow and disperse the circling tendency of roots. They also make the transplanting solution easy. First, clean a sharp knife in alcohol. Cut off the corners to free the bound plant. Explain to the plant that this is important.

The first plant is 31" in a five inch pot.

Problem is this leaves a lot of leaves and not enough root to support them. The solution is feed the leaves. If you don't feed the leaves some will drop and your plant will have less solar panels with which to bloom. Feed leaves with tea for two to five days after root pruning as a foliar. Water with tea as well. Worm tea is a food and a healing medicine for plants. Worm tea will carry the plant through the unbinding.


Make a mold with another pot. Transplant the octagonal root mass snugly into the mold. Remove weak and low branches. Tuck grow media in at corners to remove air pockets

Ahh, Happy Plants.

[Otishertz]

Equipment

I veg under T-5 and bloom under 50 watts per square foot of HPS using a modular setup of three tents. Rates of fluid consumption and rates of growth are relevant to the amount of light, amount of air circulation, plant health, etc. If you have similar light per foot, vigorous air circulation, and an effective pest prevention regimen you should get similar results.


This equipment list is specific to indoor tent growing. Growing in a tent is essentially the same as growing in a plastic bag. Proper air circulation is essential. I have ten fans running continuously inside the three tents. In many pictures the fans were removed to improve the view of the plants. A grow space can't have too many fans. Proper air circulation prevents mold and mildew and provides carbon dioxide.


High air circulation is indispensable for successful indoor growing. Without breezy and abundant air flow you will have problems and heartbreak. Abundant air flow means a match will not stay lit in your grow area. Every leaf should at least quiver. Swaying branches build stronger, thicker stems. This strength is needed to hold the heavy buds later on in flower. Thicker stems provide a stronger circulatory system to deliver vital nutrients to your buds. Plants need exercise.


Air circulation and air exchange are different. Circulation from interior fans moves air inside the grow space. Exhaust fans exchange air, moving it in and out of the grow. Cannabis gardeners need to filter their exhaust air for security due to the strong, pervasive and unmistakable odor of pot that frequently incites armed robbery. This is accomplished with large charcoal filters.


Activated charcoal is the best type. Buy as large as you can afford. Larger ones will have greater air flow. They last for years in constant use and are remarkably effective at odor elimination. Many gardeners vent their basement grows into home heating ducts in winter and heat the house with highly filtered and oxygenated air. They work well enough to keep grow odor (grodor) undetected in an apartment building, provided the grow space is negative pressure, like with a tent.




Equipment List

1.   Five gallon buckets - 4
2.   Digital pH meter and backup.
3.   Small elephant watering can that fits in bucket
4.   Mari's granny's watering can. 
5.   Plastic Beer or Dixie cups, non translucent
6.   Wooden Dominoes - 2
7.   Small square pots approx 1.7 liter
8.   Smart Pots, 5 gal for soil, 7 gal for coco.
9.   Drip trays for Smart Pots and way to elevate pots above them.
10.  Reverse osmosis (RO) water filter
11.  2 x 4 Hydrofarm horticultural tray - 2
12.  18 gallon totes for coco and soil mixing and storage - 4
13.  2x4 t-5 light for veg
14.  22" t-5 light for overflow clones
15.  2x4 utility table with plastic top - 4
16.  600w HPS light(s), ballast, bulb, hood, and cords. 50 W per Sq Ft. - 4
17.  Intermatic t104 swimming pool/irrigation timer - 3
18.  12 gauge extension cord (100 ft) and do it yourself male and female plug ends
19.  Chain to hang lights
20.  Charcoal filters - 2 large, 1 medium
21.  Ducting 6"
22.  Inline fan 6" variable speed - 3
23.  Fan controller - 3
24.  Max/min thermometer/humidity gauge
25.  Wet Dry shop vac
26.  Measuring spoons
27.  Electronic Ph tester and reference solution
28.  Air pump, airstone, tubing (8')
29.  Pruning scissors - 3
30.  Jewelers scope or magnifying glass
31.  Bright led flashlight or head lamp with spot
32.  Metal plant stakes, long - 30
33.  Metal plant rings - 10
34.  Pressurized mister / sprayer
35.  12x22 seedling tray with tall dome - 3
36.  Seedling heat mat matching seedling tray size
37.  Chopstick
38.  Drying screens
39.  Yoga mat for kneeling



Supplies

1.   Coco Coir Block 5 kg compressed
2.   Small quantity of peat to improve coco root biology.
3.   Prepackaged soil, use better grade like Foxfarm Ocean Forest
4.   Pumice, or perlite. Pumice doesn't float or hurt lungs like perlite.
5.   Vermicompost worm castings (no animal waste)
6.   Trellis net with wide openings
7.   General Hydroponics Micro
8.   General Hydroponics Bloom
9.   pH+ and pH-
10.  Reference solution for digital pH meter.
11.  Nutrient Supplements - humic, fulvic, soluble seaweed, bone meal
12.  Epsom salts
13.  Endo mycorrhizal inoculant for roots.
14.  Worm Castings
15.  Dip N Gro clone rooting hormone
16.  Sticky traps
17.  Neem, Insecticidal Soap, Cedar Oil gnat control - Azamax, Avid, Procure
18.  Rubber gloves, respirator / mask, safety glasses
19.  Blue painter's tape for labels
20.  velcro or wire ties
21.  mason jars
22.  molasses
23.  90% alcohol
24.  vac sealer, pump n seal



Environment

1.   Tents - two 5x5, one 2.5x5.
2.   Seven fans - clip on, oscillating, and floor standing.
3.   Dehumidifier
4.   Air conditioner
5.   Air inlet filter

[Smokeyhot]

Yeah, plants just love to rock!!

[Sexpot]

Thanks for taking the time to write all of this down and share it with us!  :squid:  You're my favorite 

[imtohi]

You know I've said it before BUT YOU THE MAN.
Keep up the good work.
LOV YA
Charlie

[Otishertz]

Rain fed hydro set up to run Ogrow.

This setup is run-to-reuse or recirculating. The grower can alternate between 7/10, tea, flush, or recirculate by switching valves. The runoff is pumped to a roof garden. Number of trays can be multiplied. Could be reconfigured as gravity fed. Exterior pumps are preferable for maintenance issues but sump pumps would work fine.

7/10 run through coco comes out very clean and is reusable. Using the 7/10 twice greatly increases yield per dollar. It can probably be run through more than twice.

Otishertz Rain Table

I started modeling this system on a larger scale here:

http://www.otisgardens.com/forum/index.php?topic=105.0

[Sexpot]

Rad graphics!  Love the colors and elecan  :pony:

[Otishertz]

Pest control is integral to a healthy and productive garden. Pests move freely about the World. Sooner or later they will make it to your indoor plants. They will make it to your outdoor plants sooner than later. Routine prevention and quick response is the key to success. You will not succeed without a pest prevention regimen.

Treating and quarantining new plants is mandatory before introducing to the general population. Most of your pest problems will originate with new plants if you are an indoor gardener. Regard every new plant as if it was infested. Look at it closely, use a jeweler's scope to make sure. Pests issues can explode if given conditions they like. They can proliferate faster than you can save your crop.

The entire plant needs to be evaluated and treated. In my garden I usually get by with close inspection, neem, soap, and root washing. Products like Avid will wipe out your pest problems and are fairly safe. I have had gnats here and there, usually from produce brought to the kitchen where I grow, but pretty sure anyone who visited never saw a gnat. For gnats I use Gognats which is a cedar oil concoction. I use it as a soil drench after spraying the plant with insecticidal soap. I have not had spider mites, yet, though I have avoided them plenty of times. Spider mites and their webs are visible to most eyes. They leave yellow dots on the leaves as a telltale sign. Decline any plant with yellow spider mite dots or any plant near one with spider mites. Not worth the risk.


I prefer to take cuttings or rooted plugs instead of already potted plants because the soil is where a lot of bugs live. When I get a rooted clone in soil I bring it to the quarantine area, shake out most of the soil then discard the soil in a ziplock bag, treating it like toxic waste. Next I carefully wash off the rest of the soil down to the bare root under a tap water faucet on a gentle temperature. While I'm sure it is shocking for the plant, most snap back in about a day with extra vigor in coco.


There is increased vigor going back into soil after a root wash but not anywhere near the growth that occurs when transplanted into coco. One way to go with a new clone is to root wash, transplant to coco, grow a big start, then transplant back to soil. This is really helpful in avoiding gnats. Gnats can live in coco but they do not prefer it. No more soil, no more gnats, usually. I have done this with many types of plants with success but I am sure it would kill or mortally wound some plants. If it is questionable or an important plant treat the soil instead. Treating strange soil is really a last resort. The only plants I have grown in other people's soil were after I had been to their garden and saw they were legit.


Treat all outdoor plants with Avid or Azamax before moving outside and again before the first signs of flower. In Oregon many plants, including cannabis,  must be treated with a fungicide like Procure before flowering to prevent powdery mildew. Botritis, AKA bud rot and noble rot, is another common crop killer. Oxidate is a safe treatment of concentrated hydrogen peroxide that prevents and even removes bud rot on plants right up to harvest. I would use it every couple weeks growing outdoor in Oregon. Several growers I know credit Oxidate with saving huge crops in the 2010 season which was wet and blighted by bud rot. On my indoor I apply Oxidate at 30 days and then again a week or two before harvest. Has shown to be very worthwhile with only improvement in the finished crop.


Some strains are more susceptible to bud rot than others. Big buds get it from being so massive that they don't dry out. Vigorous air flow plays a large role in pest prevention for indoor and outdoor crops. Greenhouses without enough air flow will fail. Keeping the garden clean also prevents problems. Remove dead leaves from pots. Vacuum and wipe down tents regularly. Bleach or oxidate tents periodically and after resolving a pest issue.

One piece of advice worth remembering is when treating any important plant that is in peril, take a cutting and zipbag it in the fridge with water as a precaution to losing the strain.






Products I have used:

Neem oil
Insecticidal soap
Avid
Oxidate
Procure
Gognats (cedar oil)

[4stree]

Thanks for the advanced lesson in coco.  This is the most helpful advancement in my continued quest for knowledge in growing. 
Way to Otis-up!

[sativa]

thank you.  I really learned a ton.  Got a lot of tips of what i need to be doing 

[Vape Mistress]

What an awesome post! Tons of information!!
You are an awesome gardener! Wow! Look at all the experience with so many different types of plants!

[Otishertz]

Free PDf growing references attached below.

[Otishertz]

Free Carbon Scrubber plans and power cost estimator attached below.

[Otishertz]