Stunger Tries Trough Growing And Attempts Fluxing On His Organic Living Soil Balcony

[Stunger]

What a great start to your grow, Stunger!

Thanks Carmen! At this point I am wondering if I started earlier enough.

Off to the races I'd say! I'm looking forward to them all competing for space out there, even if you're not.

Cheers Shed! Yes I am looking forward to how I am going to work around that too!

That planter/trough is working out real nice, Stunger
Lots of room for roots in there, those plants are going to be sooo happy...

Thanks Carcass! I hoping it provides well for the plants and the greater volume than my previous pots should retain a better level of moisture in these hot months.

Looking like you’re off to great start, nothing but good things to come . I got my seat for the show. CL.

Cheers CL! I am going to be crossing my fingers a lot, I can tell.

Looking good, Stunger

Having the all that soil volume should allow you the get the very most out of your beautiful soil.
I've been looking forward to this seasons Stunger, stealth grow. Love the fingers on the fans of the SLH.

Thanks Stinker! Yes the extra volume should assist nicely, hopefully I get a few years out of it.

Update

Greeting 420 enthusiasts! This just a quick progress pictorial of how they are doing since my previous post 5 days ago. I might soon give them their very first watering since I up-potted them to the trough, as it has been baking hot on the balcony this week altho they currently seem fine. I feel that they have started to grow a little quicker after settling in and plus the heat no doubt helps.

Mulanje Sherbert (being treated as female until deemed otherwise)

Mulanje Sherbert

• Stunger
• Jan 10, 2024

Frozen Black Cherry

Frozen Black Cherry

• Stunger
• Jan 10, 2024

Super Lemon Haze

Super Lemon Haze

• Stunger
• Jan 10, 2024

Mulanje Sherbert (potted as a possible male)

Mulanje Sherbert

• Stunger
• Jan 10, 2024

And all together from the side window

All together

• Stunger
• Jan 10, 2024

So some growth happening, I'm hoping for a fair bit more before flowering starts, but seems on course so far.
Thanks for dropping in. Keep well and may your own gardens be doing great.

 

[StoneOtter]

Yeah! One level dominance!

 

[ThirdUncle]

Nice to hear from u again sir , this will be interesting , great idea with the trough , take care dude & peace to all

 

[Trala]

You know it’s really summer when Stung gets his grow on!

 

[Stunger]

Yeah! One level dominance!

Thanks Otter! That's until I fall behind and get overwhelmed.

Nice to hear from u again sir , this will be interesting , great idea with the trough , take care dude & peace to all

Cheers Uncle! Today I watered the trough for the first time since the plants went in, nice to have the larger mass of soil.

You know it’s really summer when Stung gets his grow on!

Thanks Tra! As I am relying upon nature's lightbulb in the sky, it means that Spring/Summer and a little bit of Autumn is my only growing window, gotta make it count!

 

[InTheShed]

They're literally shaping up rather well!

 

[Stunger]

They're literally shaping up rather well!

Thanks Shed! The fun part is coming up...

 

[Jungle Joseph]

They certainly like that soil...

 

[Stunger]

They certainly like that soil...

Thanks Joe! It's gotta do them as well as the grows that follow.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Thanks Joe! It's gotta do them as well as the grows that follow.

Herbi does a great mix of amendments for rejuvenating the soil when the time comes. I've done two grows in a 10 gallon pot with the same soil, just using the amendments as a topdressing. To be honest I don't think it really needed it, but I like spending money on stuff I don't need

 

[Stunger]

Herbi does a great mix of amendments for rejuvenating the soil when the time comes. I've done two grows in a 10 gallon pot with the same soil, just using the amendments as a topdressing. To be honest I don't think it really needed it, but I like spending money on stuff I don't need

They do some top quality stuff for our neck of the woods. Another one is that Sth Island outfit who I think you're using some of their product. You have to pay for it but I am glad we at least have some access here to top quality products, I envy the folks in Nth America where there seems to be a lot of choices available for our specialised field of botany.

But yeah, I want to hang on to my soil because of all the good long lasting stuff that I have put into it over the years, it is easy enough to amend any needs as a top dressing from time to time, which after all is how nature does it.

 

[Maritimer]

They do some top quality stuff for our neck of the woods. Another one is that Sth Island outfit who I think you're using some of their product. You have to pay for it but I am glad we at least have some access here to top quality products, I envy the folks in Nth America where there seems to be a lot of choices available for our specialised field of botany.

But yeah, I want to hang on to my soil because of all the good long lasting stuff that I have put into it over the years, it is easy enough to amend any needs as a top dressing from time to time, which after all is how nature does it.

Ahoy me bro
Had a chuckle reading about the folks up this way having access to garden goodies. I searched the globe to source the Me/JA that I utilize in my cannabis runs. Found it down under the land down under.

Thanks for the eye opener on your layer concept.

 

[Stunger]

Ahoy me bro
Had a chuckle reading about the folks up this way having access to garden goodies. I searched the globe to source the Me/JA that I utilize in my cannabis runs. Found it down under the land down under.

Thanks for the eye opener on your layer concept.

Hey ahoy there Maritimer! I do remember that you sourced the MeJA from over this way, maybe I'm suffering from the grass being always greener elsewhere... haha, but we are out in the boonies with fairly high taxes and postage costs to get stuff in.

The layering I used was simply how I chose to include what I had available. I was tipping my hat slightly to a supersoil lower layer that should give the roots a feed when they reach it. Up to now I had drilled out my pots for aeration purposes, and then I had tried homemade aeration chambers, but this grow I have utilised a trough, and the aeration layer concept I borrowed from Bill's @Bill284 method, he's has done many outstandingly brilliant grows in pots.

 

[Bill284]

Hey ahoy there Maritimer! I do remember that you sourced the MeJA from over this way, maybe I'm suffering from the grass being always greener elsewhere... haha, but we are out in the boonies with fairly high taxes and postage costs to get stuff in.

The layering I used was simply how I chose to include what I had available. I was tipping my hat slightly to a supersoil lower layer that should give the roots a feed when they reach it. Up to now I had drilled out my pots for aeration purposes, and then I had tried homemade aeration chambers, but this grow I have utilised a trough, and the aeration layer concept I borrowed from Bill's @Bill284 method, he's has done many outstandingly brilliant grows in pots.

Hey Buddy thanks for the tag.
Can't believe I missed the beginning of your balcony grow this year.
Hi @Maritimer
I use layers of perlite , bokashi, frass & DYNOMYCO in my pots.
Improves air retention inside any pot.
I have pictorials explaining everything in my threads.
Here is a couple pics.

C1E6CC57-5D40-4B9E-A61C-FD6064BB2F60.jpeg

• Bill284
• Aug 19, 2023
• @bill284 method

Bill284 Method
5 gallon air pot coco

F37AD729-C5C0-4283-918C-E0A2EB4D6278.jpeg

• Bill284
• Aug 19, 2023
• @bill284 method

Bill284 Method
I mix 1 cup of Bokashi,frass,DYNOMYCO in 100l/coco with 30% perlite
5 gal air...

F2E10A38-EFC1-41C1-B11A-C647072030AD.jpeg

• Bill284
• Aug 19, 2023
• bill284 method.

Bill284 Method
Set root ball directly on perlite with mixture already activated

5CCDA309-0FD2-46DC-ABF6-B3C2A9ACE2CA.jpeg

• Bill284
• Jul 6, 2023
• bill284 method

Green house

ED72876D-39B7-4DAC-AC2F-DA99E05185AE.jpeg

• Bill284
• Jul 6, 2023
• bill284 method

Green house

3AF54B08-6E74-4F7F-8687-652C36430D77.jpeg

• Bill284
• Oct 14, 2023
• 1
• 1/23/23 apple betty

@Bill284 Method
@Herbies Seeds Apple Betty

 

[Maritimer]

Hey Buddy thanks for the tag.
Can't believe I missed the beginning of your balcony grow this year.
Hi @Maritimer
I use layers of perlite , bokashi, frass & DYNOMYCO in my pots.
Improves air retention inside any pot.

Hi @Bill284
Been too long since we said hello. This layering method of aeration has caught my eye thanks to your photography. I am not fully awake, but a thought has occurred to me. I have air pumps and lines plenty from my hydroponic gear. Has any of us like minded folks tried actually pumping air through the substrate? I have holes drilled in the sides of my kitty litter containers, can we put airlines in the holes???

I know... sounds silly
Dave

p.s. need to build a 4 season room also. please come help. haha

 

[Bill284]

Hi @Bill284
Been too long since we said hello. This layering method of aeration has caught my eye thanks to your photography. I am not fully awake, but a thought has occurred to me. I have air pumps and lines plenty from my hydroponic gear. Has any of us like minded folks tried actually pumping air through the substrate? I have holes drilled in the sides of my kitty litter containers, can we put airlines in the holes???

I know... sounds silly
Dave

p.s. need to build a 4 season room also. please come help. haha

You don't think we all thought about that.
My layering does away with that need.
I flood the top of the pots.
This forces nutrients down sucking fresh air in behind every time every day.
Constant fresh air and full pots of roots eating maximum daily.
I ran 5 rooms had a harvest every 4 weeks.
My experiments led me to develop this method.
Works in any pot with any medium.
You will see improvement.
But my jam as they say is airpots and coco Ala Bill284.
Hydro results with the convenience of a container grow.
Win , win.
I have many pictorials, anything I can help with just ask.
I'm in.
Thanks Stunger. sorry for using your thread.


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[Stunger]

Hey Buddy thanks for the tag.
Can't believe I missed the beginning of your balcony grow this year.
Hi @Maritimer
I use layers of perlite , bokashi, frass & DYNOMYCO in my pots.
Improves air retention inside any pot.
I have pictorials explaining everything in my threads.
Here is a couple pics.

Cheers Bill! Aside from my base layer of aeration I only have one other layer about half way up. Perlite is expensive here and I was concerned that it would eventually 'float' towards the top with repeated grows, and I want my trough and what I have filled it with to be suitable ideally for a few years. So I used pumice and scoria which are heavier than perlite and may also provide some benefit from their volcanic origins. Where I live there are a lot of 'extinct' Volcanic cones and the neighbourhoods around them are known to have particularly fruitful gardens, presumably from all the available minerals etc. But I felt reusing the trough for successive grows that it wouldn't take long before any perlite layer/s lost their individual layer and became blended in, which is not a bad thing either I guess.

Frass is something that I haven't yet found available here. For the past few grows I have been adding dried shrimp/prawns to my soil. I think this provides similar benefits to Frass because of the Chitin content. I originally added this because of a recollection of a friend who grew up in Malaysia, he said how one day they were carrying sacks of dried shrimp/prawns through his grandmother's bamboo grove and one of the sacks burst spilling the contents on the ground amongst the bamboo which they left there. The following year he said the bamboo grew like crazy, so that's why I have been adding dried shrimp to my soil.

Thanks Stunger. sorry for using your thread.

No worries Bill, thanks for the pics, they show your approach very well, especially that big base of the stem next to your fist, frigging outstanding!

 

[Bill284]

Cheers Bill! Aside from my base layer of aeration I only have one other layer about half way up. Perlite is expensive here and I was concerned that it would eventually 'float' towards the top with repeated grows, and I want my trough and what I have filled it with to be suitable ideally for a few years. So I used pumice and scoria which are heavier than perlite and may also provide some benefit from their volcanic origins. Where I live there are a lot of 'extinct' Volcanic cones and the neighbourhoods around them are known to have particularly fruitful gardens, presumably from all the available minerals etc. But I felt reusing the trough for successive grows that it wouldn't take long before any perlite layer/s lost their individual layer and became blended in, which is not a bad thing either I guess.

Frass is something that I haven't yet found available here. For the past few grows I have been adding dried shrimp/prawns to my soil. I think this provides similar benefits to Frass because of the Chitin content. I originally added this because of a recollection of a friend who grew up in Malaysia, he said how one day they were carrying sacks of dried shrimp/prawns through his grandmother's bamboo grove and one of the sacks burst spilling the contents on the ground amongst the bamboo which they left there. The following year he said the bamboo grew like crazy, so that's why I have been adding dried shrimp to my soil.


No worries Bill, thanks for the pics, they show your approach very well, especially that big base of the stem next to your fist, frigging outstanding!

I got very lucky and found a source for frass.
A proprietary blend with extra microbes.
Frass & Dazzle.
It's not an easy substance to find.
Looking forward to another beautiful grow in your wonderful part of the world.
Keeps us Canadians warm seeing your sunny balcony.
Talk soon my friend.
Take care.


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[CaptainLucky]

I got very lucky and found a source for frass.
A proprietary blend with extra microbes.
Frass & Dazzle.
It's not an easy substance to find.
Looking forward to another beautiful grow in your wonderful part of the world.
Keeps us Canadians warm seeing your sunny balcony.
Talk soon my friend.
Take care.


Stay safe
Bill284

Yeah I tried getting it in the U.S. but to no avail. I found something else online that was 0.0.0. but it was a little pricey for a small amount. But it is great stuff . CL.

 

[Azimuth]

I'm thinking about getting a small bug zapper to collect my own bug parts. It's the chitin in their exoskeletons that were looking for as far as triggering a plant response, although some of the commercial frass also contains bug poop from larvae which I imagine adds what other manures do ('cept worm poop. That stuff's in a class by itself).