Starting Mephisto Form Stomper indoors, will move outdoors 1 May

R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
I will give these a good solid start indoors, and then move them 1 May. They are in a layered bed of Strawberry Fields at the bottom, dusting of dried bat guano, layer of Ocean Forrest, and a layer of Happy Frog. I used a mole killer pellet container (the yellow one) to make a conical impression in the soil after I leveled it out, and filled that with Light Warrior, and then dropped the germinated seeds in. Gave the area around the seedling a dusting of GWS, and the tops were dusted with diatomaceous earth. I left a bit of room to the tops of the bags for a top dressing of something later on.

The milk cartons make it easier to move them around chasing the sun during the summer, and I’ll also affix some wooden dowels to the tops of them for LST. I found some square planting bags that fit perfectly so there’s no wasted space…lucked into that find.

they are under a 6 light T5 fixture with 6,500k bulbs at 24/0. They just went in the soil today after a long germination - the tails were pretty long - so they should pop soon.

I have 2 styrofoam cartons from Omaha steaks in the tub as support, and a piece of diamond plate on top for the platform and the light is hanging from 2 shower curtain rods. McGuyver’d that one I sure did…

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Herb & Suds

Herb & Suds

Well-Known Member
Don’t know your location but it always makes me nervous in early May as I have had plants flower and reveg
But those were established plants so you’re probably fine
 
R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
Herb & Suds said:
Don’t know your location but it always makes me nervous in early May as I have had plants flower and reveg
But those were established plants so you’re probably fine
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I’m in Hampton roads VA, 1 May temps are 73/59 with 13 hrs 46 min of daylight. As autos, they will probably have a veg period of 3 or 4 weeks, so by the time I put them outside they’ll be in flower in a couple weeks. Goal is to finish in early/mid Jun so I can get another auto run outdoors from mid Jun to mid Sep…
 
R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
FirstCavApache64 said:
It's always such a good feeling to see that little spec of green in your pot when you're waiting for seeds to pop. I don't care how many times I've done it, I still get pretty pumped up. It's like the old Frankenstein movies when he he says " It's alive!" all dramatically.
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Yep, 100% on this effort is a wonderful thing!
 
farmingfisherman

farmingfisherman

Well-Known Member
Great idea using the milk crates with the square smart bags, where did you find them and what size are they?! Good luck with the grow!
 
buckaclark

buckaclark

Well-Known Member
Retired engineer said:
The bags are from Amazon:


I used to place round bags in the crates and affix a dowel to the top of the crate and train the plants to grow horizontally…plan on doing the same with these. breaks the apical dominance, amd keeps all bud sites in full sun, all the time. Looks pretty cool too..View attachment 5115805View attachment 5115806
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Nice , And aren't you friends w first cav apache, welcome either way.
 
farmingfisherman

farmingfisherman

Well-Known Member
Retired engineer said:
The bags are from Amazon:


I used to place round bags in the crates and affix a dowel to the top of the crate and train the plants to grow horizontally…plan on doing the same with these. breaks the apical dominance, amd keeps all bud sites in full sun, all the time. Looks pretty cool too..View attachment 5115805View attachment 5115806
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. My wife is into square foot gardening so we are going to buy several. Last year we used the larger sized milk crates lined with coffee bags for our potatoes, worked great! Can't wait to try bags that fit properly in the crates.
 
R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
Because of a ton of solar lights on my patio, I exclusively grow autos, After last year’s outdoor run in round pots in milk crates the autos did a pretty fair job of filling the pots with root balls, and I could see on the perimeter a circling of the root ball around the perimeter of the pots - anxious to see what growing in a cubic space does for the roots.

The milk crates also get the bottoms of the pots elevated from the stonework on my patio to allow for better drainage and a bit of airflow at the bottom of the root zone. I use light grey colored ones vs black also to cut down on the heat transfer to the cloth pot…looking for every advantage possible.

Funny thing - I live in Hampton Roads VA, and a week after I first posted pictures of the milk crate use, ya could not find one anywhere with 10 miles…guess it is a good idea…

happy growing!
 
FirstCavApache64

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
farmingfisherman said:
Thanks for the link. My wife is into square foot gardening so we are going to buy several. Last year we used the larger sized milk crates lined with coffee bags for our potatoes, worked great! Can't wait to try bags that fit properly in the crates.
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I've used everything from trash cans, five gallon buckets and stacked car tires(it was a different time kids) to grow potatoes. I love the Rubbermaid kitchen trash cans. You can start out small and just keep adding soil to build up a nice sized haul of spuds. Also since they're rectangular you can stack them tight together on the deck in a small area. Hope you get a good garden.
 
R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
I like the stacked tire idea, bet ya got a lot of mileage outta that ha.

All is well here, good growth so far. One of them is leaning over pretty significantly, but that’ll come in handy come LST time. Ph 6.3ish water for the next few days...they are in a conical depressions filled with LightnWarrior, and when they grow roots outta that zone they’ll be hitting a mix of Happy Frog and Ocean Forrest so nutes can wait…B9DD3491-8C12-446E-8F0E-59B4B6C2FC6F.jpeg
 
R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
Ph 6.3 water today, I read this strain is sensitive to nutes early on so another few days of water alone. I think I’ll start off the feedings with a good shot of organics: recharge/fish shit/guano tea/bone meal then hit them with a 50% batch of FF wk2. They’ll be close to ready to get eased into the sun here outside about that time.
 

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R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
Gave them 800 ml of Recharge yesterday in 2 feedings a couple hours apart. Since I don’t have drip pans under the milk crates, I’m going slow on the waterings for now; letting them sit for a while between waterings allows the first feeding to distribute a bit more evenly and find the dry edges of the soil zone and the second feeding expands that a bit. They’ll go to full volume/strength feeding/watering when they go outside.

they got 400ml of fish shit, and then 300ml of fish shit mixed with the Recharge I had left over from yesterday this morning.

I have the 4-foot four and six fixture T5 lights with a mix of 6,000k/6,500k/5000k bulbs running 24/0. They are pointed inward from the front and back of the enclosure, and balance each other out pretty well. Can’t get much more coverage from side lighting.

the LED suspended above is running at 100% power, on an 18/6 schedule. I have a pair of two foot 2 bulb T5 fixtures angled in downwards from the sides I have not yet turned on. They have 10,000k bulbs in them now; I’ll switch this out to 3,500k bulbs in a couple days and set them to run 12/12 at the midpoint of the lighting period. For their last week or so inside, I’ll swap out one 3,500k bulb for a 10,000k one in each fixture and run them 15 min/hr for the middle 3 hrs of the lighting period. The 10,000k bulbs are pretty intense so slow and steady…

I made some reflective panels with foam core boards and mylar that form a tent-like reflective surface to bounce light downward back on the plants that would have otherwise escaped (I hate stray photons), and a larger piece of Mylar covered foam core to reflect back into the enclosure some of the light that woulda escaped between the bottom of the front T5 light and the rim of the tub. The TSL2000 allows me to get the drivers up on the outside on top of the enclosure so heat management is much easier. I put a flange on the floor register and ran some dryer vent hose from it to the enclosure to directly input cooled air as it gets warmer here. Temps range from around 75 to 85; if it climbs I pull some of the reflective panels from above to allow for more airflow, but have not had to do that too much.

not sure if the plants really care, but the 24/0 schedule on the pair of inward firing 4 foot T5s, 18/6 schedule from the suspended LED, and additional lighting from the 2 foot T5 fixtures might be getting the plants more prepared for the eventual move out doors; most intense light during mid-day.

i had to prop up one plant with a wooden BBQ skewer and the other 3 are growing straight up…I think I’ve got the lighting situation balanced.

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FirstCavApache64

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
Do you have a fan blowing any direct air on them yet? I like to get a small table top fan blowing lightly on them ASAP just to toughen up the stems and if any are too weak I'll support them with toothpicks and a loop of fine wire until they are strong enough. I use trip wire for booby traps from an old Army Surplus store cuz it's cheap as hell for three big spools and stiff for it's diameter. I don't run it 24/7 just on and off during the day. Since yours are going outside you really want to get them as tough as you can for those spring storms. They look great, I miss how fast my autos grew. It seems like these photos are moving in slow motion but the buds are starting to show some promising signs finally.
 
R

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
No fans blowing directly on them, but there are 2 small fans and a large one blowing cool air from the floor into the enclosure. Theesnkeep the plants in a state of gentle vibration to and fro. I’ll get some air directly on them soon…

they are thriving indoors, and I bet I’m gonna have trouble moving them outdoors to finish in natural light…I’ll wanna keep them indoors “just another day…”.
 
FirstCavApache64

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you got it just right then. I tend to abuse seedlings and it ends up being a game of only the strong survive but that's more with photos. I do try to baby auto seeds more as I'm aware I can't just nurse them back to health and veg them longer. I get the not wanting the kids to go out in the big bad scary world. I waited to the end of July last year to put mine out even though we were legal July first. I still haven't decided if I'm going to put one out or not this year. I can if I want as I'm only running 3 inside but the hassle last year just wasn't worth it to me. I need a tree cutting crew willing to work for bud, then I'd be in business. A couple trees taken out for better sunlight hours and I'd be growing a monster up on this mountain.
 
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