Nutrients: Something out of whack here.

[veritas629]

Hey buddy u gotta a guy who breeds and is involved in operating a seedbank offering advice
And a legend of soil workings who has helped us all over yrs
Your off 2 excellent start as far as advice goes
U is a very lucky man.....[woman, goblin, pixie ect]

I do love have a cannabis community here, because I don't have any real-life mates to discuss these things. Either none of my mates grow or are just as secretive about it!

Do we have a domestic seed bank that I don't know about? Several of my favs have disappeared and I'm always searching for new ones! I thought I saw something related to Puggle, but then I lost the website address...

 

[pug]

hey mate

if light is still hitting your soil, i'd be tempted to scatter some quick growing leafy green seeds over your soil.

they grow quickly (should sprout in a few days) and suck up nitrogen - they'll also help your canna plants.

radish, kale, oak leaf lettuce, rocket, cress, mustard, spinach ... any of these will do the trick.

 

[veritas629]

That's a good idea, but wouldn't work in my grow. I have a SCROG like thing going on with a net and not much light makes it to the soil surface. However, I might try planting some greens after I harvest and before the next grow to reduce the nutrient load a bit. I never sell my cannabis, but I might be tempted to profiteer off the iceberg lettuce shortage!

Psst, hey mate. Wanna buy a zip of salad? I got Romain OG, Girl Scout Rocket, and Grand Daddy Kale....

 

[Yamumzbum]

I do love have a cannabis community here, because I don't have any real-life mates to discuss these things. Either none of my mates grow or are just as secretive about it!

Do we have a domestic seed bank that I don't know about? Several of my favs have disappeared and I'm always searching for new ones! I thought I saw something related to Puggle, but then I lost the website address...

How's it goin mate.
As far as domestic seed banks go there's a few I know of.

Kanga seeds is one I've tried.
Cheap, fast postage but strain selection is bit shithouse.

Umm, I used Aussie baked beans 2 years ago but haven't since and dunno if they still operate.

Dab Culture I recently used.
They not too shabby actually mate reasonable prices and fast delivery and a menu that is pretty interesting with some reputable breeders seeds available.

 

[Hudo]

How's it goin mate.
As far as domestic seed banks go there's a few I know of.

Kanga seeds is one I've tried.
Cheap, fast postage but strain selection is bit shithouse.

Umm, I used Aussie baked beans 2 years ago but haven't since and dunno if they still operate.

Dab Culture I recently used.
They not too shabby actually mate reasonable prices and fast delivery and a menu that is pretty interesting with some reputable breeders seeds available.
I've been eyeing off Dab culture but 50 but a seed turned me off but he's got some reputable breeders seeds and he obviously knows it hence the price

 

[itchybro]

Hi veritas

I'm not to familiar with the vegepod , you say you don't have a fill point for the rez
so the way the vegepod works is like having a drip tray under a pot plant

you water through the top & the run off is collected in the rez , everything you
put in your water like fish hydrolysate could possibly end up in the rez along with anything else
that gets flushed out of the soil , which means depending on how much the plants are consuming
the rez water is sitting stagnate ( standing water ) possibly rez water could have gone anaerobic

as i said before watering from the top & bottom is walking the fine line of over watering

when I've used earthboxes with a shower cap i had no prob with any stem rot , the shower cap has a hole
for the plant to stick through which is not tight around the stem so air will still get round the stem

def be handy to know how much water is in the rez before deciding to water
you could do what pug said & use a cover crop which will help a little like a shower cap
but i suspect it's a over water situation , anaerobic conditions has changed PH & lockouts
are in play = why everyone is suggesting nitrogen problems

 

[veritas629]

Just for reference, this is my Vegepod garden bed. It was a lot cheaper at my local garden centre!
https://vegepod.com.au/collections/raised-garden-beds/products/raised-garden-bed-medium

Itchy, you are pretty much bang on about how the water collects. However, I'm pretty sure I'm good on soil moisture. I dig my fingers down periodically, just a small hole away from the plants, and feel around for wet/dry. Actually, when I did this early this week it was pretty dry and I gave a big watering. This seemed to perk up the plants. Might have diluted the nutes a bit...

Regarding seeds, I recently found a guy on Instagram. I now have two packs of CSI Humboldt + CSI freebies and four packs of Mass Medical on the way. Set for a while!

 

[Donothing-garden]

I'm not even close to help rectify this for soil but is molasses (for accelerated breakdown) or Nitrifying bacteria (Aquariums use this) a way to amend this?

@Donothing-garden

I would say no to both of those things. The only way to reduce nitrate and other excess anions that I know of is to leech your soil and to keep humus levels up. Then you could experience overwatering though, just my 2 cents. I'd definitely leech some of that excess out, then apply worm castings and allow moisture content to get back to normal.

 

[veritas629]

After a few days of watering more than normal, the plants seem to have stabilized somewhat. Not getting worse and a little healthier looking. Plenty of buds sites that appear to be developing per usual. I probably have too much N in there, but if I can get through this crop, the next crop of vegetating plants should hopefully suck up the N. I'll just keep plain watering this crop and hope for fat bags of tasty goodness.

 

[Tugboat]

After this run, I'm considering drilling an access port to add water to the SIP res. At the same time, I'd add a sight-glass so I can monitor the SIP water level. However, the manual water is working pretty well....

Whilst doing some planter/container research in prep for a foray into living soil indoor gardening I found an example of a basic hack to these vegepods to fill via the res here - but I guess there's a number of ways you could do it ...

Still tossing up what to use - one of these or a fabric planter like posted up earlier in the thread. Liked the idea of the wicking planter for a couple of reasons. If I went down the vegepod / SIP path I think I'd also add a sight glass to know how much water is in the res. My main concern was like someone mentioned - having standing water in there - but I guess once plants are fully up & running it wouldn't be standing very long. Was thinking the fabric planter might be less forgiving on a newb to living soil indoor growing if overwatered ~ and quite a bit messier

 

[veritas629]

I'll watch that video soon, thanks! Regarding the pod holding stagnant water and this creating root rot, I don't think it is a great concern. The res under the soil has a few overflow holes. This creates an air gap between most of the soil and the water. So the roots are dangling down from the soil, through some air, and the tips are drinking from the water. There are a few areas where the soil meets the water and that function like wicks. You could water log the soil, but this would only happen if you're ignoring the water pouring out of the overflow holes. Possible, but you've got other problems if this is happening!

I know this to be true, because I've made that mess and cleaned it up twice! Initially I had autopot valves in the res and connected to an external res. The idea was I could walk away for a week or two and at least the plants would have water. Unfortunately, my valves kept sticking open and those overflow holes dumped about 150L water into my tent. Each time, my tent held in the water and the plants were fine. I didn't water for a few days and let the soil dry out a bit. The valves are now disconnected and I hand water. Zero issues with overwatering doing it this way.

Is this system better than smart pots? Dunno, but I've got it working well now and my plants look great! Harvest time is this weekend...