Mr. Homegrown's DIY Soil and WW Grow

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone. First off let me start by saying I called the thread "...DIY Soil and WW Grow" because I made these seeds. I just thought it was catchy :bigjoint: But the soil recipe is in here for anyone interested. So lets get started with the seeds...



Here's a pic of the ww seeds I made from my last grow. The ten on the right are the first ones I selected to germinate. The parents were ordered from Nirvana.

When I germinate seeds I soak them in a glass of room temp water for 3-4 hrs. I then use the paper towel method except that I use a washed butter tub to make a humidity dome for them. I use a sharp knife and make around 4-8 slits in the lid gently twisting the knife back and forth as to widen the slit a little. I put the square of paper towel in the tub. I then use a heating pad with a thick bathroom towel. I fold the towel up into a square like twice as big as the bowl. I put the towel on the heating pad with the tub in the center. I then fold up the towel around the tub as to insulate it. I usually turn up the pad to HI for about 10-20 min then down to low. After a few hours the lid will start to condensate and keep the paper towels moist. Every time I closeup the lid, after checking on them etc., I crack it open a little and exhale a big breath or two in it. The extra shot of Co2 seems to help get them going faster. I have had seeds germinate in 24 hrs doing this. Some pics below.











After countless research and some past experience I had decided to make my own soil for this latest grow. I wanted to make a soil light enough I could start seedlings right in and add my nutrients later. I began this back earlier this summer. Knowing MJ’s love of a sandy loamy type soil, I came up with the following recipe.

This is for 55 gal. of soil and figures are derived on a per gallon basis:
55% Perilte (Course & mediun/fine mixed about half of each)
28% Peat Moss
14% Regular Sand/ Beach sand (Lowest clay content one can find)
3% Green Sand
6.9 c. Lime
3.5 c. Worm Castings
3.5 c. Bat Guano
3.5 c. Kelp
1.7 c. Espom Salt
8.0 oz. Mighty Myco (beneficial micro organisms)


















I mixed it all up very well and moistened it in a kiddy pool. I let it stand in new black garbage cans for about 4 weeks. I then emptied everything back in the pool and remixed it again well. When I checked my Ph it was like 7.2 so I added some garden sulfur, re mixed and let it sit for another 2 weeks. My ph at the time of sowing seedlings was at 6.7 and I see now after testing it is very stable, you’ll see in the pics.





The plants have shown some slight nut. burn but it has been very slight as you will see. If a person is worried about it I would cut the worm castings and guano by maybe a quarter. They got their first feeding last Saturday of AN Grow, Micro, Bloom, and some Maxi Crop at 285 ppm and 6.5 ph.


























This soil is pretty light. I had lost like 4 seeds in one day because my light dried the soil out much faster than I had thought it would. To remedy the problem I covered the pots with saran wrap until the seedlings were above the soil then removed it. It made it into a humidity dome. The top 1” or so dries quick but the lower retains the moisture very well between watering.

I did not fill the pots all the way up with soil figuring for some stretch like I normally get (just an inch or maybe two) so I could add more later is why they are down a little bit. But I have not got any so as to explain that. One seed did not come up, but other than the ones that dried out to fast, all the rest did. I do have one that seems to be taking his time, it was the last to come up out of the replanted seeds…it’s great to make your own!!

I took these next pics the other day. Seems I have something quite unique happening. One of my plants has naturally developed 2 tops! I have never seen this! The first pic is of them all and that special one is in the far right corner. You can kind of see it. None of the plants have been topped yet.



These next 3 are of that plant its self.







Pretty cool huh! I'm hoping it's a girl. Been having dreams of fimming again. Hello Budz...lol. Here is a pic of my most vigorous plant. It was the one in the far left corner in that first pic.



Well that pretty much brings me up to date so if anyone has any input please feel free. This is my first journal here on RIU :peace:
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Seems like an excessive amount of work to germinate seeds :). I really dont think you need to pre-soak them when they're fresh seeds. Id only do that with old seeds. How many days go by from the moment you pre-soak them to them popping their head from the dirt?

I want to see just how faster that is than just sticking in dirt. Somehow, I doubt there is any noticeable improvement in length of time, but Ill tell you how long it takes me if you tell me how long it takes you :)

Did you ever think about getting the Plant-Tone by Espoma? Its a complete plant food w/ beneficial microbes in it. It literally has every type of meal you can think of. Ive added it to my new soil batch. Saves me trouble of buying multiple different soil amendments and mixing them :) No plants have gone into it, but within a week or so Ill have some seedlings being place into it.

Good luck with the grow. Hope it goes well.
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Seems like an excessive amount of work to germinate seeds :). I really dont think you need to pre-soak them when their fresh seeds. Id only do that with old seeds. How many days go by from the moment you pre-soak them to them popping their head from the dirt?

I want to see just how faster that is than just sticking in dirt. Somehow, I doubt there is any noticeable improvement in length of time, but Ill tell you how long it takes me if you tell me how long it takes you :)

Did you ever think about getting the Plant-Tone by Espoma? Its a complete plant food w/ beneficial microbes in it. It literally has every type of meal you can think of. Ive added it to my new soil batch. Saves me trouble of buying multiple different soil amendments and mixing them :) No plants have gone into it, but within a week or so Ill have some seedlings being place into it.

Good luck with the grow. Hope it goes well.
Guess I'm not sure what you consider "fresh". The seeds are a few months old, I just always do it. Always figured it helps soften the seed coat.

Depends...when I first got these seeds I had 8 of them germinate in 24 hrs another 24 hrs I had 6 of the 8 above ground. Each grow is different. Probably dependent on the vitality of the seeds.

No I never heard of Plant Tone by Espoma, but you can bet I'm going to check it out. Let me know how it works for you? What will you be adding it to ( FF, Pro Mix, DIY...)? Here's some rep for ya, thanks for the tip!!:bigjoint:
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Guess I'm not sure what you consider "fresh". The seeds are a few months old, I just always do it. Always figured it helps soften the seed coat.

Depends...when I first got these seeds I had 8 of them germinate in 24 hrs another 24 hrs I had 6 of the 8 above ground. Each grow is different. Probably dependent on the vitality of the seeds.

No I never heard of Plant Tone by Espoma, but you can bet I'm going to check it out. Let me know how it works for you? What will you be adding it to ( FF, Pro Mix, DIY...)? Here's some rep for ya, thanks for the tip!!:bigjoint:
Fresh by anything under say 6 months or so.

My seeds typically break the surface within 3-4 days without pre-germing, so it looks like you gain some time, but I dont need to worry about damaging any tap roots :)

As for the Espoma, Its been added to a 50% Promix-BX, 20% Mushroom Compost, 30% Perlite, but Im not using that soil mixture after this grow. Its way too easy to over-water, which Ive done more than once and paid the price.
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Fresh by anything under say 6 months or so.

My seeds typically break the surface within 3-4 days without pre-germing, so it looks like you gain some time, but I dont need to worry about damaging any tap roots :)

As for the Espoma, Its been added to a 50% Promix-BX, 20% Mushroom Compost, 30% Perlite, but Im not using that soil mixture after this grow. Its way too easy to over-water, which Ive done more than once and paid the price.
Nice, that is great time. So you use no preping/ pregerminating just straight to soil from the bag?

Mushroom Compost...hmm, never heard of it. What is that?
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
As for the Espoma, Its been added to a 50% Promix-BX, 20% Mushroom Compost, 30% Perlite, but Im not using that soil mixture after this grow. Its way too easy to over-water, which Ive done more than once and paid the price.
You should check out that Green Sand I'm using. Slight benefits to the K, minerals, and helps aerate the soil. There is lots of good info, on the benefits of it, on the net.
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Nice, that is great time. So you use no preping/ pregerminating just straight to soil from the bag?

Mushroom Compost...hmm, never heard of it. What is that?
Yep, no prep, no pre-germing. Its not at all necessary. One person did it, then someone else followed their example and it just snowballed. Somehow people got it into their heads that its necessary to pre-germinate seeds, when its not at all. It just creates more mistakes. Theres been more than one person that has fried their seeds doing this when using a heating pad all because someone told them heat helps them germinate, etc.

Mushroom compsost is actually spent mushroom compost. Its the leftover product that was used to grow mushrooms in. I was looking for a decent compost to amend my soil with and its real cheap. $4.5 for a 40 pound bag. Lots of microbes, very mild npk(.5-.5-.2), trace minerals.
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Looking over the pics it took 6 days to get them from seed to sprout for this grow. This probably being my fault as I ran out of film containers and did not store the seeds as I should have. I put them on the upper shelf of my desk to dry for a couple days and just kind of forgot about them until I needed them. So I'm pretty sure the shell coat hardened up more. They did take much longer in the tub than they should have. Just should have soaked them longer. Here's the pics.











The 23rd was a Friday so I'm sure I did not start this until that evening. The 29th was a Thursday so these pics were probably taken that late afternoon when I got done with work. I just rounded it to 6 days. :leaf:
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Yep, no prep, no pre-germing. Its not at all necessary. One person did it, then someone else followed their example and it just snowballed. Somehow people got it into their heads that its necessary to germinate seeds, when its not at all. It just creates more mistakes. Theres been more than one person that has fried their seeds doing this when using a heating pad all because someone told them heat helps them germinate, etc.
No, none of it is necessary to germinate seeds. I'm not sure if heat helps, I use the pad in conjunction with the tub to create a better environment for germinating. I tried straight into soil back when I began but found much faster results with this for me. To each their own just keep it green n growin :mrgreen:

Mushroom compsost is actually spent mushroom compost. Its the leftover product that was used to grow mushrooms in. I was looking for a decent compost to amend my soil with and its real cheap. $4.5 for a 40 pound bag. Lots of microbes, very mild npk(.5-.5-.2), trace minerals.
I will have to check it out also. Thanks, I'd give ya some more rep but it says I got to spread it around.
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
If you try it out get Black Kow brand if possible. Home depot sells a brand called Natures Helper and its crap. Way too many chemicals left in it. It hasn't had enough time composting.

Once Im out of SMC, Im gonna try out their Cow Manure Compost. .5.5.5 NPK
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
I just read it. You're ratio of indica pheno is similar to mine. 1 out of my first 5 showed Indica traits, and of my next 5 none. Its also the shortest one from my first group as well. How tall did you let it get before flowering?
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Here's a link to another post I had made on reproducing seeds by "Painting a Bud" as it's called. I been making seeds this way for years. I have one strain I have 4 generations with, another with 3, and a purple strain I reproduced also. This was all before I mustard up the kuhunas to order seeds :leaf:

https://www.rollitup.org/2429085-post5.html
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
I just read it. You're ratio of indica pheno is similar to mine. 1 out of my first 5 showed Indica traits, and of my next 5 none. Its also the shortest one from my first group as well. How tall did you let it get before flowering?
I don't use height to determine flowering time I go by when I can get the amount of tops I want and age in veg. On that grow I topped the 7 plants at the 3 node removing the fourth and above. I then trim off the branches at the first node at the cot. leaves. When the new tops established 3 nodes I topped them taking out the 4th. When they establish themselves I go to 12/12. That gave me 4 tops per plant on those.

The smaller ones I let go to 5 nodes removing the 5th. I did not top these again as I top for canopy height. Was trying to keep them caught up with the rest in height. I try and use topping as a way to keep the canopy even. So when ever the first 7 got going again that's when I began flowering for all of them.

As a guess I would say the 7 were close to 24" and the two around 15-18". I use squares of 2x8" for canopy jacks and i remember having 4 or 5 of them under the short female at harvest. I let them veg a little to long and had a heck of a time shutting them down those first 2 weeks. Thought I'd run out of room :shock:
 

xAnderblaze

Member
Hey I'm a noob (can not lie LOL) and have a question about wtf you do with your spent dirt when the grow is done?? I've been looking for info for a few days and live in an apart bringing in dirt and getting rid of it every few months is pretty heat score
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
You just have to find of a way to dispose of it. If you cant then it would be best to run a hydro system. Check out the hydro forum if you are curious about it.

For myself, I have a trash receiving facility right down the road. I can throw my bags of stuff into their compactors and be done with it.

I find it best to have cardboard boxes though that you can stick your trashbags into. It doesn't look like a bag of dirt anymore, just a box full of junk/trash.
 

Mr. Homegrown

Well-Known Member
Hey I'm a noob (can not lie LOL) and have a question about wtf you do with your spent dirt when the grow is done?? I've been looking for info for a few days and live in an apart bringing in dirt and getting rid of it every few months is pretty heat score
If you freshen it back up with additives you could reuse a soil for 3-4 grows maybe more. I never had a soil I stuck with for more than 2 yet just because I had not found what I wanted. As for my spent soil I am out in gods country so there is plenty of places for me to use up soil in the yard. I don't have any advice for you there but freshening it up will reduce your trips. Hope it helps :bigjoint:
 
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