What's new

Zen’s Winter Run 2025

Pipecarver said:
Its one of the songs that sent me south in my early years. No every word of it by heart.
Click to expand...
I know a lot of it by heart. It always comes to mind just before winter ever since I heard it as a kid.

Pipecarver said:
Brave....With your wife...lol.....it would be a hard sell for me. Even outdoors she doesn't want rats around so no compost. I know a properly kept Compost would be fine but its a hard no with her, she knows me too well and it wouldn't be properly kept for long and turn into a smelly pile of garbage.
Click to expand...
Once the mites got out the bottom spigot and the little cup had gotten moved so they landed on the counter top. They didn’t get far before dying. Think they got to dry.

That’s been the only time she’s complained so far.

Yeah we can’t have a compost either. Not because I’d get lazy with it, which I probably would after a while, but because of rats and raccoons. Her and my sister saw a bunch of rats in the public transit garbage, dozens, that possibly came from the food factory and mall down the street. She doesn’t want to see that here so no compost.

The worms I’m sure she’d allow outside but they wouldn’t survive our summer or winter. So inside was where I think I’d need to do it.

I only wanted them as 10kg bags of worm poop is about $20-$25 plus tax. Even with Willow we have a lot of food scraps that get tossed out, or fruit and vegetables that start to go bad, that I can use to feed the worms. It doesn’t take much or often.

I’ll keep going with this until it either fails and they die off or it does well and I upgrade. We’ll see if they make it to spring. 🤞
 
Maybe posting this here will help.

Keep forgetting to get new saucers. Mine are too large if I want the fan in there too. Steamroller’s suggestion is valid and I’ve done it in the past but I’ve been trying to keep things lower in the tents. That’s why no saucer and elevator, just the big green screen and the washing tray.

But getting runoff info is no longer useful as it could be from any of the plants including the sunflower which is on Fox Farm 6:4:4.
 
Is there a safe way to kill the mites that does not jeopardize the worms?
I need to research this...
 
steamroller said:
Is there a safe way to kill the mites that does not jeopardize the worms?
I need to research this...
Click to expand...
I looked into making a new bed but how do I clean the worms. Some have a few riding on them. AI said putting them in water for a minute to clean them wasn’t a good move, to easy to drown them.

When I see a “oh shit” amount of them on any of the veggies or fruit I toss it. At least keeps their numbers down. It’s gross seeing one covered in these bugs. I swear one was still alive but IDK?

AI is only so helpful and often partially wrong so further research is needed. I’m just doing this blind with some YT advice.

Anything you do find let me know. AI said they shouldn’t go after living things but if hungry who knows? 👊
 
20251127: GM & GGB#4

At lights on I’m going to feed them a pre flip mix. Using a fork to scratch up the top inch or so.

The plan is to flip by Sunday.

This is per 3 gallon pot.
1.5 TBSP Gaia 4:4:4
1.5 TBSP Gaia 2:8:4
2 TBSP Worm Castings
1 TBSP Biochar
.25 TSP Azos
1 TSP Azomite
1 TSP Mykos
1 TSP Gypsum
No epsom this feeding/watering.
A light amount of 4:0:0 Cal-Mag might be added to the water after top dressing is added. Half strength or less.
78594947788__9FCAE6EC-4229-48F3-89B6-65CC10378267.jpeg
 
steamroller said:
I read DE might help with the mites.
urbanwormcompany.com

Mites in Your Worm Bin: Why They're There and How to Control Them

Why are white and reddish mites taking up residence in your worm bin? We'll answer than and figure out how to get rid of them.
urbanwormcompany.com urbanwormcompany.com
Click to expand...
I got some. Let me check it out too. Thanks for including the link. 👍

I’ll let you now if I use it and how it goes. They might be okay mites as I mostly see them on the vegetation but there can be sooo many it freaks me out a bit.

When a worm is dead or dying they cover every spot like a mummy wrapped in bugs. And if I’m slow to feed I can’t believe they just die and leave the worms alone.

IMG_7866.jpeg
 
20251128: GM & GGB#4

After scratching up the top inch or so of soil I mixed it with all the dry ingredients from the previous post. Then watered it in with 1.5 litres water and 500ml water with .5ml Cal-Mag.IMG_7870.jpegIMG_7871.jpeg

I trimmed a few leaves off each to open up the bottom more for air flow and some large fan leaves from the middle. They look bushier than they are but I’ll trim more in stretch.

I left a few lower branches to remove after stretch for clones.

If all is good Sunday afternoon we’ll be switching to 12/12. 🤞
 
If you have any window screen place a piece ontop of the worm bin.the worms won't crawl through but the mites will.put bait onto screen .wait a few hours remove bait and submerge in water to drown mites.repeat until thier population is knocked down a little. Wet bread will work for bait.avacodos work best but a little more pricey. If you dont have screen just remove the worms from the bottom of the water bowl when you drown the mites.they will sink the mites will float.
 
stonemason said:
If you have any window screen place a piece ontop of the worm bin.the worms won't crawl through but the mites will.put bait onto screen .wait a few hours remove bait and submerge in water to drown mites.repeat until thier population is knocked down a little. Wet bread will work for bait.avacodos work best but a little more pricey. If you dont have screen just remove the worms from the bottom of the water bowl when you drown the mites.they will sink the mites will float.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think I might in the garage. I find when I blend up the pot leaves the really like that, so do the worms. 👍

You never warned me about the bug side of a worm farm. 🤣
 
Zen_seeker said:
Thanks, I think I might in the garage. I find when I blend up the pot leaves the really like that, so do the worms. 👍

You never warned me about the bug side of a worm farm. 🤣
Click to expand...
Shit man I have been paying $40 bucks a pop for a little container of those mites and rove beatles and spring tails mixed in.🤣😅😂🤪
 
20251201: GM & GGB#4 Flip Day

F-67 days and counting.
IMG_7943.jpegIMG_7944.jpeg

Winter came Saturday night and didn’t leave. Rains washed half of it away but left an ice issue.
IMG_7935.jpeg

Everyone is still tired all the time and trying to get through their days. Here’s hoping the world takes a break from the BS for a little while.

Happy Holidays peoples. 🎄🎅
 
Used a sharpy and a measured 500ml bottle to fill and mark each 2 gallon jug. (I’m in no hurry to do the 5 gallon and currently have no need too.) Now I can just toss the filter and hose into the jugs and spray to the proper line for each plant.IMG_7958.jpeg

Added probe covers to protect them and to make a platform for the Dummy 13’s.
IMG_7953.jpeg

IMG_7955.jpeg

I’ll give them a week before I trim more. I want to cut some nice clones. At least one of each.

IMG_7957.jpeg

I still have room above to raise the light a bit. Hoping I can slow them down before raising the light. LST/HST if need be down the road.

And yes, this grow I’m hoping to move the Dummy 13’s around a bit. Two are male and two are female.

😝 -=< I am not responsible for anything you may or may not see either in past or future posts. You have been warned. >=- 😝
 
20251205: GM & GGB#4 T-63

Flipped on the 30th, they seem to be growing quicker than I hoped. Two out of the three are neck in neck. I’ll need to raise the light again soon. After that it’s dimming and bending. IMG_8021.jpeg

IMG_8020.jpeg

The one GGB#4 up front just isn’t getting enough light and the colds not helping. I wanted to wait a bit longer before trimming but the humidity is going to be a problem soon. I’m using the dehumidifier to bump the room temp for now as a good trade off.

Lights on: 3.5 hours in, dehumidifier on.
IMG_8012.jpeg

Lights out: 30 minutes in, dehumidifier on.
IMG_8013.jpeg


Forgot to mention the large mammoth sunflower’s seeds were duds or it’s just too cold to pop them. IMG_7902.jpeg
 
20251207: GM & GGB#4 T-61

Getting to be a jungle in here. At lights on I’ll be trimming them.IMG_8031.jpegIMG_8032.jpeg

Had to remove the sunflower and put it in with the other and the runt.

With the doors open and the dehumidifier on full it’s keeping things at a reasonable level over night. IMG_8029.jpegIMG_8030.jpeg

Not happy with the rooms layout. Need to change it again but how? Through traffic, wall receptacles, space to open the tents…
IMG_8022.jpeg
 
Zen_seeker said:
20251207: GM & GGB#4 T-61

Getting to be a jungle in here. At lights on I’ll be trimming them.View attachment 120115View attachment 120116

Had to remove the sunflower and put it in with the other and the runt.

With the doors open and the dehumidifier on full it’s keeping things at a reasonable level over night. View attachment 120117View attachment 120118

Not happy with the rooms layout. Need to change it again but how? Through traffic, wall receptacles, space to open the tents…
View attachment 120119
Click to expand...
Wow a full house man, that's a lot of plant in the tent. Are you going to lollypop them? looks like you could use a lot of air flow through your canopy, Looks like a jungle in there. I love the smells that gives off, all lush and green feeling, a real moral booster for me. I can sit in my den 8ft deep all grey cement walls but an oasis of green behind me. The old joke of where's dad? sitting naked in his garden again comes to mind.......when I was growing with HPS I had a lot of open area I could sit with my plants. Tents make it harder to do that and the smoke stays in the tent....lol
 
Pipecarver said:
Wow a full house man, that's a lot of plant in the tent. Are you going to lollypop them? looks like you could use a lot of air flow through your canopy,
Click to expand...
A little lollipopping, a little from the middle and top. The front plant is the worst because I wanted it to catch up to the others. Figured any extra trimming would slow it down. The other two are open at the bottom, it made watering easier.

Pipecarver said:
Looks like a jungle in there. I love the smells that gives off, all lush and green feeling, a real moral booster for me. I can sit in my den 8ft deep all grey cement walls but an oasis of green behind me.
Click to expand...
I like it. I’ll often sit in there with Willow. She sun baths while I putter around or do things on the phone. Has that warm summer feeling and lifts our spirits when it’s yucky outside.

Pipecarver said:
The old joke of where's dad? sitting naked in his garden again comes to mind.......when I was growing with HPS I had a lot of open area I could sit with my plants. Tents make it harder to do that and the smoke stays in the tent....lol
Click to expand...
I don’t recall vaping in there honestly. Not that I wouldn’t, just not really a gathering place to smoke.

Thanks for the naked Pipecarver image that flashed in my head. 🤦
I guess it’s payback for the naked coffee club post. 🤣
 
Got them trimmed up. Most of the branches that won’t make it to the light. Any that still fail can come off after stretch. A lot of the inside fan leaves and some of the lower ones, to improve light penetration and air circulation. I did notice a fair bit of leaves had fallen into one pot that gets most of the fans air. I turned the fan down lower. Some small ones were yellow but others were pretty green. A few popped off like they were dry but leaked and ran. The soil and lowers are pretty cold. Going to put a hygrometer down there and get a second reading. In the mean time I’ve set the fan to the lowest setting.

Back two after some grooming.
IMG_8036.jpeg

All three done I till stretch is over or I have an issue. IMG_8039.jpeg

Going to have to raise the light again, the red guy got swallowed in just a few days. (Notice she’s not helping him at all.)
IMG_8040.jpeg

They really stretched out this last week. I’m going to try to leave the light at this hight for the week before raising it again. I caught the burn just a tad late last time but it stopped. If I can do that again or better it would be great.

Took off a good amount. Rotated each a few times on a TV tray then stood over them and cleared any very large leaves blocking bud sites. IMG_8043.jpeg

Had a few miscalculations with the humidity and temperature. Who expected so much damp and rain? It’s usually a problem raising the humidity. Trying to manage it with a dehumidifier, open tent doors and opening/closing room doors as needed. Doing well for the most part. Just the occasional cold spike early in the morning causing problems for about an hour.

The the automatic power switch that comes on when the humidity gets too high is great. I picked up a UIS switch I can use in the future to work the fan or other device when/if needed. The black box is an in-line off/on switch.
IMG_8045.jpeg
 
Last edited:
IMG_8060.jpeg

Just before lights out.
IMG_8058.jpeg

Swallowed the red guy pretty fast. I see a few leaves have some burn. I might not make it to the weekend. I’ll check tonight and see if I should raise it or leave it. The LED is at 7 of 10.

Feeling sick, headache, stomach pains, hurt all over. Sucks because I have to go downtown today and prove my case with the OEB.
 
20251210: GM & GGB#4 T-58

Watering while sick sucks. 🤣

Lights on.
IMG_8076.jpeg

Lights out.
IMG_8088.jpeg

They exploded with new growth. My trimming hardly shows other than the bottom lollipopping.IMG_8085.jpeg

The Grease Monkey is doing great. For the most part it’s cooperating and maintaining equal colas.IMG_8085.jpeg

The GGB#4 up front is shorter but also growing well. The one in the back left corner has a lot of long skinny inside branches I’ll need to remove soon. This is on area I don’t do well in. Which to cut and which to save. Same issue with which fan leaves to remove.IMG_8085.jpeg

A video for trimming/grooming or watching a more experienced grower select which things to chop would be great but I don’t know anyone else that grows locally. 🤷‍♂️
If I just go by removing everything below 18” from the top I rob the plant of all its energy and stored nutes.

Cut two branches I left for cloning this morning just before lights out. This cold and damp has me worried they won’t root quickly or well.

-1 to -0 outside with snow all night and this morning. Seems to be switching back and forth between rain and snow.

Keep warm peoples. 🥶
 
Can’t sleep so checking on the plants. Raised the light a few more inches to avoid leaf burn. Was hoping I could go the week before raising the light as I only have a couple inches left of space and I’m sure the stretch still has a week or so to go.

IMG_8100.jpeg

Grease Monkey is two weeks older than the GGB#4 and showing her pom poms.
IMG_8101.jpeg

Someone wants me to go back to bed. IMG_8103.jpeg

A compromise was reached.IMG_8105.jpeg
 
Hmm…

Tossing out the old dryer because my wife doesn’t want me to fix it. The in-laws borrowed it, didn’t tell me they broke it, then returned it. I saved it as a backup and when our new’ish Samsung crapped the bed swapped them.

After cursing for a while I found out the issues and Amazon said parts would be about $50-$100 depending if it was just the elements or other parts needed. But wifey thinks new will be better and that’s that. So out it goes…

But I have the top off and I’m wondering if I can make it a perfect fitting riser/elevator for the washer tray I’m using? I’ve never tried to drill holes into these older style appliances. But when this harvest is over I plan to dry fit it and if it’s a good fit I’ll give it a go. IMG_8129.jpeg

It will be a lot of holes and I’ll grid mark it first with a sharpy but it’s not a big deal with at least a 1/2” bit. 🤔
 
Last edited:
20251214: GM & GGB#4 T-54

Watered yesterday, 2.5L each. Mixing up a new top dress of dry nutrients tonight. I’ll post that later.

They are all budding out now and look good so far. I did another trim before watering last night.
IMG_8154.jpeg

The lights still at 70% but I haven’t measured the LUX at the canopy top yet.
IMG_8152.jpeg

I did manage to get the three saucers in there so I can check runoff later.
IMG_8151.jpeg

Going to try and leave the light alone again until stretch is over. Just watching for leaf burn again.

I did check the sunflowers. The Teddy Bear is doing well and starting to flower. The Mammoth is confused and gangly. IMG_8143.jpeg

My wife and I are sick and not eating. Soup and crackers are about it for me. She’s not even eating that much.

It’s a sinus flu or cold. Comes with headaches and sometimes nausea. Wasted the weekend, only doing the mandatory chores then resting. Drinking water and ginger ale.

I’ll be catching up on threads as I can. Hope everyone had a good weekend. 👊
 
Zen_seeker said:
20251214: GM & GGB#4 T-54

Watered yesterday, 2.5L each. Mixing up a new top dress of dry nutrients tonight. I’ll post that later.

They are all budding out now and look good so far. I did another trim before watering last night.
View attachment 120664

The lights still at 70% but I haven’t measured the LUX at the canopy top yet.
View attachment 120665

I did manage to get the three saucers in there so I can check runoff later.
View attachment 120666

Going to try and leave the light alone again until stretch is over. Just watching for leaf burn again.

I did check the sunflowers. The Teddy Bear is doing well and starting to flower. The Mammoth is confused and gangly. View attachment 120667

My wife and I are sick and not eating. Soup and crackers are about it for me. She’s not even eating that much.

It’s a sinus flu or cold. Comes with headaches and sometimes nausea. Wasted the weekend, only doing the mandatory chores then resting. Drinking water and ginger ale.

I’ll be catching up on threads as I can. Hope everyone had a good weekend. 👊
Click to expand...
I need a soup run, I could use a month or 2 of nothing but soup & steak, drops weight fast and you can eat as much as you want of it, Fridays were steak day and I could eat as much steak as I wanted, no soup unless I wanted it but after 6 days of soup steaks were great...Now there's a Pizza or 2 /week and that tips the scale in the wrong direction.
 
Zen_seeker said:
20251214: GM & GGB#4 T-54

Watered yesterday, 2.5L each. Mixing up a new top dress of dry nutrients tonight. I’ll post that later.

They are all budding out now and look good so far. I did another trim before watering last night.
View attachment 120664

The lights still at 70% but I haven’t measured the LUX at the canopy top yet.
View attachment 120665

I did manage to get the three saucers in there so I can check runoff later.
View attachment 120666

Going to try and leave the light alone again until stretch is over. Just watching for leaf burn again.

I did check the sunflowers. The Teddy Bear is doing well and starting to flower. The Mammoth is confused and gangly. View attachment 120667

My wife and I are sick and not eating. Soup and crackers are about it for me. She’s not even eating that much.

It’s a sinus flu or cold. Comes with headaches and sometimes nausea. Wasted the weekend, only doing the mandatory chores then resting. Drinking water and ginger ale.

I’ll be catching up on threads as I can. Hope everyone had a good weekend. 👊
Click to expand...
Hope you guys feel better soon.my family is just getting over the same thing.🤢plants look gorgeous.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom