This time around I'm going to run a bunch of gear from old-school breeders who do it right. Oh, and I'm starting this grow off with a thrip invasion in process. I beat back a spider mite onslaught over the past few months and was just starting to feel good about how the grow looked when I found the first little bastard. Cucumeris and orius will be here in a couple weeks to slaughter the evildoers.
Here's where the plants are so far. They're not happy about still being in their starter pots, but I always overplant my veg to compensate for any weaklings or any males that I have to cull. The drawback is that I usually end up overvegging everything because I don't have the space to move the plants.
Images below follow this order:
Zap Oaxacan x (Vietnamese x Thai)--Bodhi
The Hardcore--Hartigear
Purple Columbian x Kashmir--Bodhi
Congo Kashmir x Gold Star--Bodhi
Big Mountain Gold--Snow High
It seems like a good time to elaborate on my choice of groups for this challenge. My medium looks like soil, but if it is, it's an odd mixture.
There is no coco or or peat in my mix, so I know those categories don't work.
My base medium is Container Blend Potting Soil from Organic Mechanics. I'm on my 3rd to 4th run with the medium I'm using and will use throughout the grow. I amend each time I up-pot, with the inputs and ratios dependent on the size of the original and the destination container. I primarily reinvigorate the mix with alfalfa meal, aloe vera powder, azomite, Big Foot granular, epsom salts, Optiveg, rock phosphate, Roots organics veg and bloom powders, and worm castings, with a mulch layer of rice hulls that gets mixed in with each repotting. Occasionally I use a cover crop of alfalfa.
Because I use all-natural inputs, including for IPM, my plan is to prepare the mix for the next plant rather than the current one. So far, I've been able to keep the minerals, nutrients, and other necessary materials for plant growth available in decent proportions, but I know that could change easily.
This may be a soil, but it's such a customized composition that it's probably best in the misfit category.
My challenge plants are still sitting behind the roadblock of an overstocked veg space, so here's a Wormwood (Triangle Kush x 88G13HP) x Bandaid Haze IX 3.0. This is from Vernal Heirloom seeds. It's also stacked up in the traffic jam. It may not look like it, but I planted this thing on 12/8. What I really need is more room!
