i need help guys

[Cannabissapean]

Mangotree,

 

OK, I understand that due to circumstances at home, you cannot mix a large amount at this time, but that you will mix the large part at the other location later.

 

So, at this time, we are mixing only for the single seedling's initial cup.  OK, we will resume amending this bag that you have already started as seen above.  But it may be necessary that we have to make a bit more than fits into just the one cup;  Because we need to get the mixture right, we might have to mix just a little more than just one cup's worth.  We just won't try to mix it all, OK?

(If there is a little bit left over, that is actually good, because then, you will have a sample-reference batch against which to compare your future mixes.  Understand?)

 

The sand you found looks OK, but you had said that it is sand that was intended to be mixed into cement for concrete and that it was sold at the construction store in open bags, and it has no certification of cleanliness, and that it has been laying around somewhere at your home also open.  Because it is not certified clean, and because it was supplied from a construction store in open containers and stored open, we cannot be sure that something unwanted has not fallen into it.

 

It should be washed to ensure, that if somewhere along the way it had become contaminated with cement or salt or motor oil or herbicide, we will clean that out.

 

To wash it, fill a bucket about half-way with this sand, then fill the bucket with tap water.   Stir, stir, stir, stir for a couple minutes, then decant the water out of the bucket. Decanting means to pour the water out without pouring out the sand.  Repeat this 5 times.  After the last time, pour the sand onto a hand towel or beach towel and allow the water to drain away.  Now the clean, wet sand can be measured into the mix.  Sand doesn't hold much water, so after it is well mixed with the other components, it will release its moisture into the other components.  Not a problem.

 

As discussed earlier, we will use your cup to measure from here on.

 

To what you have already mixed, add 1-cup of this cleaned sand, add 1 additional cup dry Perlite, and add 1 additional cup dry-to-moist garden soil.  Mix that up very well, and if there are any clumps, break them up and mix them in.  Then make another picture of the mixture.  <- picture 1.

 

Then take a handful of the soil in your hand and squeeze it in your hand, then open your hand and take a picture of it sitting on your palm.  <- picture 2.

 

Then drop it on a papertowel from about 6 inches high and see how it crumbles.  Take a picture of that too.  <- picture 3. 

 

I know this all sounds a bit crazy, but this is a standard procedure that some supersoil experts recommend in order to test their soil's consistency.  They don't normally make photos for themselves, unless they wish to include photos of this procedure in their journals.  You are making the photos here so that I can try to discern the consistency with you, and as well, if anyone else is following us in your journal, they may find this interesting or informative.

 

Do all of this, and we'll see each other again tomorrow at the appointed time.

 

 

[Cannabissapean]

Mangotree,

 

The following picture is that from a friend of mine in another part of the world.  I show it to you as an encouragement for you.  These are 4 plants, blue dream, blue OG, purple trainwreck and one other.  These flowers are still many weeks away from harvest.  They still need to stretch and expand, which I am sure will happen in his excellent care.

 

I want you to look at the walls of his tent.  This is a reflective surface called the diamond effect.  If you surround your future plants with something similar, it will help you to deliver more lumens to your plant.  Without a reflective surface similar to this, the light energy from your lamps will be wasted as light that goes into the rest of the grow-room.  A really inexpensive source for a similar reflective material is a couplle mylar rescue blankets, often used by rescue teams when they need to  help a  victim stay warm.  if you can get some of that stuff, and then wad it up a couple times, the wadding action will create the thousands of wrinkles that will simulate the diamond effect.  If you can surround your lighted area with such a material and if you can tape it together, that will also help somewhat to keep the moisture from escaping so fast.

 

If you cannot get the mylar, then matte white paint will do also good.  Better than nothing.  White matte will reflect all wavelengths.

 

A little food for thought as you advance your grow set-up.

 

https://postimg.org/image/wv6k8x0e7/

 

 

[Cannabissapean]

Mangotree, I promised to send you a picture of a grow where the mylar is used to increase the reflectivity within the grow area.  This mylar material can also help you to retain the moisture within the grow area as well.  Of course, you would need to create some kind of frame, and the use of duct tape or similar materials would be important in order to kelp keep the grow area as air-tight as possible, although it will need to have a little circulation.

 

So here it is:  It is found in g22's journal in his post on Tuesday, 20 Sept 2017:

 

 

[Mangotree]

[Cannabissapean]

It does clump in the hand, and it does fall apart after a 6 inch drop, so that part seems Ok.

 

As far as the mixture goes, I have no idea what you mixed together, but it looks a whole lot better than your garden soil alone.

 

Without having mixed a larger volume in parts that make sense to me, I can only say that it seems to be approaching what one sees when one views other photos of supersoil for cannabis in the internet.

 

But remember, I did suggest that for the initial cup, you should use seedling soil instead of this mixture, because the seedling soil is designed to be mild for the seedling, whereas the mixture here may be a bit sharp.  But you had informed me that the shops in your area do not have seedling soil.  So, we have no choice except to use this for the initial cup.

 

I recommend that you now moisten this mixture (all of it please) and put it in a bowl or something and allow it to sit covered as long as possible to try to activate some of the microbes within it.  Remember, the seed is already germinating in the papertowel.

 

Remember also that in a few weeks you will need to have available another 10 to 15 liters of another mixture similar to this mixture for your final pot.  It would have been so much better if you had followed my instructions and mixed it all at the same time in a larger amount, because that larger volume will also need to sit for 3 or 4 weeks to activate the microbes, but you decided otherwise and mixed only one soda-cup.  This is your grow.  I am just trying to help.

 

[Cannabissapean]

You would be looking for an "electric/mechanical" timer switch similar to this:

 

https://www.google.de/search?q=household+electric+mechanical+timers+bilder&client=firefox-b&dcr=0&tbm=isch&imgil=HHLGtzKozBUleM%3A%3B408YM649OBNsUM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.co.uk%252Fbhp%252Fmechanical-timer-switch&source=iu&pf=m&fir=HHLGtzKozBUleM%3A%2C408YM649OBNsUM%2C_&usg=__1hk9W93xNcV3c8Ha53IcjTft9jc%3D&biw=1600&bih=791&ved=0ahUKEwjC1KiunbjWAhUFWhQKHeAbDwMQyjcISA&ei=PbbEWYLCN4W0UeC3vBg#imgrc=HHLGtzKozBUleM:

 

There are also "electrical/digital" timer switches available, but they are too expensive and unnecessary for your purpose. 

 

Make sure it is rated for 220-Volts (230-Volts is the same rating).

 

When you look at the ring of little switches used for setting the on-and-off times, the better one to get has four tiny switches for every hour.

 

Most likely you will find a timer switch that is suitable for 24-hour settings.  This type is called a "DAY-Timer" or "24-hour Timer".  That is the type that you want.  It allows you to set the on-and-off times for a single day, and as it runs, it will control the lamp the same for each and every day.

 

There is another type that you should NOT get.  It is called a "Weekly-Timer".  A Weekly-Timer allows you to set timings for 7 different days, that way, each day you can set differently.  This is too much, and they are sometimes more expensive.

[Cannabissapean]

Something like these:

 

https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_odkw=mechanical+timer+switch&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xelectrical+mechanical+timer+switch.TRS0&_nkw=electrical+mechanical+timer+switch&_sacat=0

[Cannabissapean]

Mangotree,

You told me that you had put the seed with a 1/4 inch taproot into soil on or about 23 Sepiember.

How is the seedling doing now?  Hopefully it is standing by now.