Zen_seeker’s DIY Mixmash

[Zen_seeker]

What do you grow in?

Currently Sunshine Mix #4. A buffered Canadian peat with perlite.

Pipecarver soil I’ve only found at Home Hardware.

I use coco coir and PH seems to be important, at least when mine is 5.7-5.9 my plants seem to like that better. I've never checked PH in the pot or runoff, just when I mix i chk 1 and assume all the others should be in the same range.

Since my soil is buffered I don’t need to PH it. I’ve done the checking and PH’ing the nutes until in the sweet spot but had it pointed out that it didn’t really matter unless the buffer was gone.

I still check if things go wrong or I’m chasing a deficiency but for the most part I don’t check any longer.

I agree, each grow i learn something new. Even if it's a strain I've grown before.

Hardest thing I deal with lately is keeping multiple strains happy at the same time in the same tent.

One will be fine, another a little off, while another excels.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20241216: Day 77F W11

Jilly Bean is on her own.


Chopped and hung Haunted Banana to hang with the rest.

Strawberry Lemonade is almost dry. Purple Diesel, Haunted Banana and Jilly Bean are just starting.

Bathroom reeks so strong your eyes water when you go in and close the door. (Funny, wife says the same thing about me when I use the bathroom. )


The branches i pollinated are showing swollen seed pods so I’m hopeful that was a success. I’ll trim off these three branches first and do separately. I tied orange string to each so as not to lose them.


Neoprene plugs/collars arrived too.


Son started his grow. Had him follow Bandits online instructions. Pretty straightforward.

These are my regular seeds so popping four hoping for two or more females. He’ll take two for SCROG and I’ll take two for a side grow as backup in case any of his end up male.


I hate these mats but I fear we’re going to need one. I’ll pick one up in the next day or so. Give him the best chance at success.


Trimming will start any day now. Cold temps are just dragging it out an extra few days. Strawberry Lemonade was hung 10 days ago. Took just enough to do a vape test. Wife tried it with me. She likes it. Says it’s like a kief joint.

Lots of cleaning still to go. One plant left to chop. And a new grower to help out. (He’s not keen on doing a journal so I’ll just update here.)

 

[Pipecarver]

I bought a heat mat without a temp controller too. I have to use a spacer under my cups or they get too hot. Those neoprene plugs work well under the cups or lids off my water jugs, just enough lift to not cook the seeds. But $15? I paid $30+ a good deal you got there.

 

[Zen_seeker]

I bought a heat mat without a temp controller too. I have to use a spacer under my cups or they get too hot.

I have these I use when things don’t have switches.

Those neoprene plugs work well under the cups or lids off my water jugs, just enough lift to not cook the seeds.

Nice. I have plenty to spare. Great idea.

Hard parts making it flat at the moment. Colds not helping so going to plug it in with weight on it later.

But $15? I paid $30+ a good deal you got there.

Hope so. I did get a $140 tent for my son. Got it for $95 plus tax. It’s the 2 in 1 so he can put all his printer stuff in it.

Oh, and some Christmas swag like this shirt along with a few lighters and a plastic grinder/stash jar.
That’s fancy talk for pot snob.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20241217: Day 78F W12



Jilly Bean is still swelling some.


Two tops.



Good chance I’ll be trimming Strawberry Lemonade tonight. Colds taken it to day 11 hanging.


Never seen a Medtainer before.


Works.


VG is fine but I need to find a place for it and the heat pad. Probably setup in the top tent zone I made for clones and seedlings.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Put his tent together yesterday. Need a proper table then move it into a corner.

Wondering if a bathroom mat/rug that’s like a bed topper would be good for keeping things vibration free, dampening noise too? Put that in the tent with a steady table.

Still cleaning things. But it’s time to see if I can find a gear my son can print to fix the clip fans oscillation.

I clean this every grow. This is one of the worst. Need to vacuum when the house is awake.


Only issue I’ve had with these cheap fans, other than the tent stopping the oscillation, is the speed. It has off, high, and to fucken high.

I thought I had an in-line dimmer switch that acts as a switch at the plug but it’s gone. Just the on/off one left.

 

[Zen_seeker]

After taking the fans apart ones fixed as it was the swing arm that was loose. But the other still stops oscillating once in a while. None of the gears are worn as expected.




I’ll have to open the one again and look deeper at the gears and the pull pin that enables oscillating. How it’s seated seems part of the issue.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20241219: Day 80F W12





One more week. Then this grow is over. Just the trimming and jarring remains.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Got the tent for son. Early Christmas present. Needed it to keep the temperature in check. He says it’s stopped the stringing and has helped with infills.



That was before we put everything inside. Shorter than I expected but a good size.

Newest grow item(s) printed. To be used/tested on his seeds shortly.


I made sure we could use it for clones and seedlings. Has to fit on the heat pad and under one of my domes. Looks good I think.

I like the built in scoop for removing the plant later. Jiffy peat pucks fit fine too. I’ll use them for the veggies still.

Now I just hope the reservoir doesn’t leek so I can put it on the heat pad/mat.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20241221: Day 0

Seeds have been in the VG for about 5 days. Moved to the heat pad three days ago. Put a dome over it last night. Don’t care about the humidity much but the bathroom can get to 17*.

Heat mat doesn’t seem very hot to the touch. But the hygrometer sitting on it says it’s 91*f. So 30*c.


I have some foam I use for my coffee can cloner that should insulate just enough. Already helping.

I think it was too cold this week. I never do well with seeds this time of year. I don’t want my sons first run to stall out but we have more of these seeds if needed. We can wait another week.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20241222: Day 0+

We peeked yesterday and it looks like at least three out of four popped with the two end ones doing the best.

This morning one was out!

84*f or 29*c with low humidity at the moment.

I’ll move the heat pad over when all four are up. Hope the new setup does well.



Hanging plants are okay. Temp ranges from 17* - 22* and humidity 70% - 30%. Day 8 but they are still limp and damp.


Jilly Beans on her own. Day 83F W12.

Looks like Christmas is going to be real busy. Chopping, trimming and transplanting. Then the whole Christmas thing.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20241223: Day 0+

Two seedlings have popped up. One at either end. Just the two middle ones remain. One of which I know is open.

I put a inline dimmer switch on the heat pad. Trying to keep it near 27*c. Tricky when the basement hit 13*c this morning at 3am.

Resizing the home made elevator for the washer tray. Will probably need four supports for the corners.

The cold seems to have helped stop any new pistols from developing. Need to scope her today. Day 84F W12

 

[Zen_seeker]

Tents and equipment all clean. Just two soft pots soaking in the PH down bucket water left to go.

Both fans are fixed and oscillate again. Everything was wiped down twice with peroxide wipes.


Harvest is still drying, slowly. Day ten for the first three, JB on the right is day 1.

Still just the two up on day 8 after putting in the VG. Might have to transplant the first two. Get his going ASAP before putting in SCROG.

Busy the next few days so I want this done and off the list. Get them in the tent in the new seedling tray. I’ll check later today to see if the other two are still viable.

 

[Zen_seeker]

My son is getting ready to print some models and figures for his game. This was a test run.


I’ve now stolen it for the tent. Going to hide it places in his grows.


Screw elf on a shelf…

 

[Zen_seeker]

Everything grow related is here atm. Both should be out by now but nothing is going to plan. Ah well. What’s another few days?

 

[Stoneyluv]

so jelly of that setup.... i can't count the number of times i get downstairs to check on the plants and all of sudden i gotta take a squirt!!

Merry Christmas to you and fam!!!!

 

[Pipecarver]

Hey, I got my little blue electric rolling machine yesterday and it works great. I'm real pleased with it. I don't have much trouble rolling as is but this little unit pushes the weed into the paper and smokes great afterwards. I have to break the weed up a bit but as I feed the hopper it grinds it down and fills the paper up tight. 3 setting but there's not much difference in the roll. I know you've said you have trouble rolling.....I thought they'd be a novelty but it actually works

 

[stonemason]

Hey, I got my little blue electric rolling machine yesterday and it works great. I'm real pleased with it. I don't have much trouble rolling as is but this little unit pushes the weed into the paper and smokes great afterwards. I have to break the weed up a bit but as I feed the hopper it grinds it down and fills the paper up tight. 3 setting but there's not much difference in the roll. I know you've said you have trouble rolling.....I thought they'd be a novelty but it actually worksView attachment 84810

Do you have to use cones?

 

[steamroller]

Do you have to use cones?

I am curious also about pre rolls or how this works.

 

[Pipecarver]

Do you have to use cones?

No just the king sized tubes, set on the first setting and I cut 90% of the filter off. Smoking one now stuffed from it, a bit of rolling with my fingers to loosen weed rolled/stuffed from it and it smokes great. Still have to grind it first, it doesn't do chunks well but I've been smoking all day from it and to giver a good test Its probably stuffed 10 joints for me so far.

Until you asked if I was using the cones I couldn't figure out what this...cone shaped plastic tube was for that comes with the roller. I still can figure out how it would attach but now that I know what it is I'll figure it out..

 

[Pipecarver]

Dec 29...all stop. the fkin thing is gummed up and doesn't want to push my smoke into the roll. The spring drive screw has resin build up. I'm not sure how well these things are going to work with gummy weed....it took like 3 min of button pushing and moving the weed around in the hopper to get 1 joint rolled. The first few the first day were done in like 10 -15 seconds......Hello Nasa I think we have a problem with the drive screw, Hold all launches until further reviews

 

[steamroller]

Dec 29...all stop. the fkin thing is gummed up and doesn't want to push my smoke into the roll. The spring drive screw has resin build up. I'm not sure how well these things are going to work with gummy weed....it took like 3 min of button pushing and moving the weed around in the hopper to get 1 joint rolled. The first few the first day were done in like 10 -15 seconds......Hello Nasa I think we have a problem with the drive screw, Hold all launches until further reviews

Can it be taken apart for cleaning with ISO?

 

[Pipecarver]

Can it be taken apart for cleaning with ISO?

I'm not sure the image shows 2 springs but there was only 1 in the package and the description doesn't mention getting 2. Trying to pull it off stretches the spring and I don't want to fk it up stretching it out of shape. I'm sure it can be cleaned but after just 1 days smoking? pain...

 

[Stoneyluv]

what happened to Zen?? he out of data or what? his kid was downloading all kinds of 3d print models and used up all his data???

hope you're well Zen!!! happy new year man!!

 

[Zen_seeker]

so jelly of that setup.... i can't count the number of times i get downstairs to check on the plants and all of sudden i gotta take a squirt!!

Merry Christmas to you and fam!!!!

Only #1 if the plants are hanging!

You too sir. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and yours.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Hey, I got my little blue electric rolling machine yesterday and it works great. I'm real pleased with it. I don't have much trouble rolling as is but this little unit pushes the weed into the paper and smokes great afterwards. I have to break the weed up a bit but as I feed the hopper it grinds it down and fills the paper up tight. 3 setting but there's not much difference in the roll. I know you've said you have trouble rolling.....I thought they'd be a novelty but it actually worksView attachment 84810

Nice. Now I can tell my son. Looks like it does two cone sizes.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Do you have to use cones?

I think the straight ones are for normal cigarette shells.

 

[Zen_seeker]

what happened to Zen?? he out of data or what? his kid was downloading all kinds of 3d print models and used up all his data???

hope you're well Zen!!! happy new year man!!

We had a house guest until today. Life got busy, then it got real lazy.

Robots, jarring weed, making hash. Why did I think a Christmas harvest was a good idea?



IDKW but I keep getting the urge to pose these Dummy 13’s. Start putting them in the tent when the plants take off.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Seedlings didn’t go well. The peek might have mucked them up. Looks like one got moldy. We tried to transplant the best one on the left but it didn’t survive the night. One on the right had a deep indentation from the shell, floppy and almost detached. Probably due to peeking.

Second try in the tent now. First one up today.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Thanks again @Bandit420

Got 4 jars filled and a lot of hash from your lady. She’s also given me a lot of seeds from the three branches. Two I’ve harvested today.



HBF2

I’ll use the buds for a test vape tomorrow. See if I can find that last seed branch…yarn came off.

 

[Zen_seeker]

 

[Zen_seeker]

 

[Zen_seeker]

20250102: First day in soil


Second attempt is doing better. Transplanted today. The tap root curled back up after going down a CM. Not sure why but it helped with the transplant.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20250103: Day 5 since up

I find if it makes it 24hrs it’s good unless mold gets it.


Waiting for more out of the VG. Green guys slacking.
—————

Now that I have more than one strain I need to organize them better. They are in the dark and in a cool spot of the grow room in a drawer but need to get put in the refrigerator bottom crisper.

I’ve been moving them to test tubes because they are easier to look after, stack and already have labels.

Current storage and containers.

We need the fridge space so I don’t want something huge. Preferably a holder that goes into a black box or something. Anything I have, like a small ammo box, isn’t square or rectangular.

Maybe 3D print a holder & box?

G$ found an okay one for $20. But up here was $65. Amazon sucks these days.

 

[midwestcannaman]

20250103: Day 5 since up

I find if it makes it 24hrs it’s good unless mold gets it.
View attachment 85509
View attachment 85520
Waiting for more out of the VG. Green guys slacking.
—————

Now that I have more than one strain I need to organize them better. They are in the dark and in a cool spot of the grow room in a drawer but need to get put in the refrigerator bottom crisper.

I’ve been moving them to test tubes because they are easier to look after, stack and already have labels.

Current storage and containers. View attachment 85513View attachment 85514

We need the fridge space so I don’t want something huge. Preferably a holder that goes into a black box or something. Anything I have, like a small ammo box, isn’t square or rectangular.

Maybe 3D print a holder & box?View attachment 85516


G$ found an okay one for $20. But up here was $65. Amazon sucks these days.

I can only imagine without mail service on top of the extra fees, shit sucks for you guys eh..........

 

[Zen_seeker]

Time to start a fresh thread. Thanks for following along.

If you’re still interested in what I’m up to try the new journal here.

Zen Garden 2025

Starting a new thread for 2025. Starting off with my sons try at growing. So far we were 2 out of 4 but they were stringy and didn’t make it. This time we have one up and transplanted on January 2nd. It seems to be doing fine. We added a small desktop clip fan to keep mold off and strengthen...

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