Grassmatch Tech That Changed My Gardens Forever !

[trichcycler]

I've got stacks of cannabis growing guides by all of the well known authors and some never heard of ones too. I learned a lot from all of them, but once in awhile a pearl of wisdom came my way. I loved hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics with a passion. I had several different systems operating for long periods of time, all equally successful. Seems delivering clean water, food and oxygen to the roots, and clean temperate c02 rich air to the leaves while bathing them in a quality light like metal halide, T5, high pressure sodium, etc is all that's needed. The rest was fluff, except for a few techniques I'll share here.

C02= The addition of C02 in my rooms, at a cost of 15$ monthly(propane) has changed my product forever. I see milky trichomes weeks sooner, enjoy heavier harvests and healthier plants. I should mention my stink socks need replacing much more often now also.

Then I planted a seed in a bucket of dirt with some fresh organic rabbit pooh. I never tasted or smelled any cannabis with these expressions in my life. I followed all directions and enjoyed great grow success in the past, thought all was perfect, then came this new to me/indoor dirt growing.  I couldn't believe the differences in every aspect of the plants' cycles. Leaves were tougher, smoke was thicker. Stalks were stronger and flowers were stinkier. Plants flowered at the same rate as before, but they did veg slower.

 

Organic Dirt Growing = better product for us, more potency, more expressions, complete control over food sources, no negative impact on the environment(dumping nutrients), and an earthly smell to my work, instead of a sterile chem. I suffer no exposure to raw basal salts any longer and feel much more connected to my garden. I put my meters up on the shelf, and never looked back.

 

Plant Pot Grounding= I have a simple system of electrical grounds to half of my garden. each pot has a copper wire leading to a main ground stabbed into the ground. I could wire up a plug with a dummy side instead and use my room electrical plug to do the same, but this felt better to me. It's all too obvious the differences between grounded and non grounded plants. So much so that I'm designing a different more friendly to the garden system. I hate wires, tubes etc, so figuring a different approach. I don't know why or how the differences are produced, but I have my suspicions. I also know if I shared them you some would fear the voodoo. lol

 

Cellular Phone Alerts= found this device that fits between a phone line and an electrical outlet. After programming it with phone numbers it will call with an alarming message of either "water detected" or  " power outage" . I lose power several times a year, once for two weeks straight! Last month it was four days straight.  this alarm has been a garden saver for me on several occasion. Maybe the best 40 bucks I ever spent on the garden.  well, maybe not, that one seed on seedbay-Cherry Pie- is still rockin it strong after years of exploitation.

 

Foliar Feeding= My way of reaching the veg speeds of hydroponic technique. I use organic worm tea to wet the vegging plants every other day. I mix a drop or two of tween/peg/coriander oil or even soap as a surfactant/wetting agent that allows the mist to stay on the leaves and completely saturate them. I cover the tops and bottoms of every surface, and include the stems and stalk. results are seen immediately while the new roots are searching out decaying matter, often scarce in new potting soil.
 

Edited October 9, 2014 by grassmatch

[free420country]

So grounding your pots had a noticeable differance......thats something to think about...

[trichcycler]

try it with one, nothing to lose.......

[t-pain]

you check out rock dust yet ? bio char?

what about mycorhyzza ?

companion plants?

you have beneficial microbes covered with the worm tea.

 

how are you watering plants?

drip?

buried water line?

top water? bottom water?

 

 

once you go cover crop / living mulch , you never go back.

[trichcycler]

rockdust =check, but not anymore

mycorrhyza=check, in every pot, naturally

companion plants=check=many, all of our herbs. Mainly basil and rosemary. I extract the essentials from both and they are idea indoor plans for me too.

lots of good nematodes

I hand water, kick the bucket style

 

I cook(55 gallon drums) used soil and compost it indoors now. I rotate the drums, stir in water, check temps, etc. I don't bother with the leaves, but the root balls

turn to dust by the years end. ridiculous amounts of room is needed to accomplish this. I'm fortunate to have it, but would be fine with new promix/happyfrog a couple time a year. am running partials on that now to see if the work is worth it. so far, throw away is the easiest I believe. and it works perfectly. I admit to watering the new dirt mix for a few weeks before use though, for obvious reasons.

 

good lookin out!

[pic book]

grounds on only half?

[trichcycler]

for my comparison,..... to showcase my laziness in fitting the other half....

[ilynnboy]

It's the same feeling you have walking in moist grass barefooted.

Never tried it?

You become naturally grounded to the earth.

Makes a lot of sense Grass.

Can you ground to your water pipes?

Copper wire to copper pipes?

Should work, no?

[imiubu]

Thanks for sharing grassmatch.

 

 

 

It was a lil cold on my tootsies this a.m. while grounding myself

[ilynnboy]

Nice one L

[trichcycler]

exactly the same ! 

 

I don't know about pipes. I drilled a hole in my floor, to the ground under my barn, rerod

[ilynnboy]

I know that copper Water supply pipes are grounded.

Not drains.

I will try it.

See if I notice a difference.

What should I expect?

Enhanced vigor?

Enhanced aroma?

Or just overall healthier looking plants?

Like when you use an Ozone gen?

[trichcycler]

yes, all of the above.

 

noticeable night time growth rates are accelerated

 

tell me more of the ozone use please?

 

I've never allowed it into the grow room. I read it reduces the smell of marijuana, the last thing I want to do.

Edited October 10, 2014 by grassmatch

[ilynnboy]

It always made Vegging plants happier.

Not flowering due to reduced aroma.

But works well in veg.

Most times one can be had at a garage sale.

Mine looked like a black pyramid.

[trichcycler]

nice!

[trichcycler]

NPK Values of Animal Manures

 

Cow Manure 0.6-0.4-0.5

Horse Manure 0.7-0.3-0.6

Pig Manure 0.8-0.7-0.5

Chicken Manure 1.1-0.8-0.5

Sheep Manure 0.7-0.3-0.9

Rabbit Manure 2.4-1.4-0.6

http://www.allotment-garden.org/compost-fertiliser/horse-cow-manure.php

 

 

 

Quote:

 

Farmyard & Animal Manures to Improve Soil Fertility

 

In the 19 th century the primary power source of transport was the horse and instead of carbon monoxide the waste productive was fertiliser. This waste product in turn powered market gardens and farms in crop production.

 

Nowadays obtaining these waste products is not as easy, but it is still possible and animal manures have the major benefit of adding humus to the soil. Humus improves the soil by acting as a sponge to retain and release water for plants as well as opening the structure, allowing roots to more easily grow and obtain nutrients from the mineral content of the soil. Finally, humus provides a base of the micro-fauna of the soil. Everything from bacteria and nematodes to earthworms rely on humus and our plants rely on them.

 

Horse Manure.

 

Considered by many gardeners to be the finest sort of animal manure you can use. Riding schools and stables often have large quantities of horse manure that they will be happy to give away or at least sell cheaply. Often they are prepared to deliver and even in a city you may well find sources. In London the army and police both have stables that have been know to give away their waste problem to grateful gardeners.

 

Check your local paper for an advert or just call local stables and ask.

 

The best horse manure comes from stables that bed their horses on straw. Manure from horses bedded on wood shavings takes much longer to rot down but is still well worth having.

 

Check the manure and if it contains a large proportion of wood shavings in relation to dung and urine, then pile it for a year before using it in the garden

 

Cow Manure

 

Often dairy farmers will deliver rotted cow manure for garden use, but usually in large quantities. Although not quite as good as horse manure, it is well worth using and will add humus as well as fertilise the soil. Some gardeners consider it a little wet for clay soils but by the same token better for light sandy soils.

 

With both cow and horse manure they can be applied fresh in the autumn on to dug ground and forked or rotovated in to the top soil in the spring. The action of rain will wash out some nitrogen though and straw and wood shavings may only be partially decomposed.

 

With large amounts of manure, the best way is to pile it up and cover with a tarpaulin, turning after a month or so. This will decompose any straw or wood shavings and also kill off any weed seeds that have survived the animal's gut.

 

Small amounts are probably best handled by mixing into the compost heap as an activator.

 

Poultry and Pigeon Manure

 

If you keep a few chickens then you will have a constant supply of chicken droppings as well as a daily delivery of fresh eggs. You can always approach local free-range egg suppliers who may well have poultry droppings to dispose of.

 

Pigeon fanciers are often in the same position of having a waste disposal problem you can help them with. Remember the pigeon fancier may well be in the centre of a city.

 

With all poultry manure it is generally too strong to use directly on the garden but it does make an excellent activator for a compost heap. There is little bulk in poultry manure so using it as an activator makes most sense. The only plant that you can apply it to directly is comfrey.

 

Pig Manure

 

Pig manure is only really useful if it is mixed with straw. If it is neat it will not have much organic matter and it should just be added to a compost heap. The main problem with pig manure is that it is unpleasant to smell and this can result in complaints from those around even if you are not bothered.

 

Goat Manure

 

Goat manure has a similar proportion of minerals and trace elements as horse manure so is well worth seeking out and using if you can find a goat keeper willing to part with it.

 

Sheep Manure

 

To obtain sheep manure you will probably have to collect it yourself with the permission of the landowner. It is unlikely that you would be asked to pay for it. Although it is a fair bit of work to collect it, sheep manure is excellent for making a liquid manure feed.

 

Just place the droppings in a hessian sack or any porous container that you can place in a barrel of water. After a couple of weeks remove the sack and use the contents on the compost heap. The liquid feed can be applied to boost ailing plants in need of extra nitrogen.

 

Rabbit & Rodent Pet Manure

 

These are actually quite high in nutrients but the quantities are going to be quite small. The best use of them is in the compost heap as an activator.

[pic book]

grass, thanks.  gonna ground 3 of my 6 hydro pots to the water pipe for my next run.  my panels are already grounded there, most of detroit is. 

Edited May 1, 2016 by pic book

[medmanmike]

I"m doing a similar "grounding" experiment this go around.  I bought one of those 'grounding straps' (a few bucks on Amazon) that techies use.  It has a plug/pin on one end (not an alligator clip) that fits by design into the ground (round) hole on a standard outlet, which in turn is grounded to the panel, which is grounded to the ground, etc.  The 'wrist' strap has a rounded disc that fits against the inside of the wrist.  I'll clamp this to a copper wire and stick it in the pot via a drain hole on the side of my pots. This method will keep the wires on floor of the grow trays/flood tables so they're out of the way. My only concern is having to deal with pulling the wires each time I need to move/turn the pots.  

 

If it works, I plan to install a 8' copper ground rod into the dirt (fortunately, the floor under the stairwell is dirt and is adjacent to the grow room) and run copper wiring into the GR, etc.  

 

grass, would you mind elaborating more on your CO2 system?  Tank with valve/regulator?  Manual (drip, drip) or automated with a controller?  

[pic book]

can plants in hydro really be grounded?  grass you ever done that?

[trichcycler]

grass, thanks.  gonna ground 3 of my 6 hydro pots to the water pipe for my next run.  my panels are already grounded there, most of detroit is. 

 

awesome !  Its not a fix all or anything, but more of an experiment that shows me some differences between earth bound plants(the way I'd prefer) and ones separated from the earth. If I thought the deal was a hands down one all of my plants would be grounded of course. I keep around half of my flowering girls grounded, about 7 at a time at this time. The first months I did this it was difficult to discern any differences, but after some time of grounding I do see the differences between same strain clones next to each other.

would you be able ot walk in my room and see the differences?  maybe, prolly not though. I only notice because I'm intimately involved with each from day one, so I can see nuances in their expressions. I can sense no smoke difference and never did send off grounded samples to the lab for comparison. No plans of doing so, I'm done testing a few years ago.

 

I waited till all was perfect in the grow room and I had dozens of well established girls, ones I knew inside and out, before I grounded. I figured I'd never see a difference anyways. it only a thing to entertain me, maybe some science behind it, I think so, maybe not. With a grain of Basal salts, I expect someone someday to expound on my grounding theories.  I know somewhere someone sells a contraption to accomplish the grounding, plugs in the wall, blah blah, if not, will be soon.

 

It like playing music in your room, some wil see no difference(myth busters?) and others will never grow without music for their plants. I understand. its just grow funnins is all. Grounding doesnt "help" any issues I think , but it does provide a link between the electrical messages(fungi, etc) and the earth. I see the most pronounced differences in the winter months for thought.

[trichcycler]

I"m doing a similar "grounding" experiment this go around.  I bought one of those 'grounding straps' (a few bucks on Amazon) that techies use.  It has a plug/pin on one end (not an alligator clip) that fits by design into the ground (round) hole on a standard outlet, which in turn is grounded to the panel, which is grounded to the ground, etc.  The 'wrist' strap has a rounded disc that fits against the inside of the wrist.  I'll clamp this to a copper wire and stick it in the pot via a drain hole on the side of my pots. This method will keep the wires on floor of the grow trays/flood tables so they're out of the way. My only concern is having to deal with pulling the wires each time I need to move/turn the pots.  

 

If it works, I plan to install a 8' copper ground rod into the dirt (fortunately, the floor under the stairwell is dirt and is adjacent to the grow room) and run copper wiring into the GR, etc.  

 

grass, would you mind elaborating more on your CO2 system?  Tank with valve/regulator?  Manual (drip, drip) or automated with a controller?  

I suggest the grounds be connected to each other, then to a main box, then to a single sided plug in the wall, a perfect ground I think.....but I have dirt under my floors, so I did it that way too.

 

I currently use CAP generators for my c02 needs. I have an electronic one, wall mounted, propane powered liquid cooled(antifreeze for me) o2 depletion sensor, tip/fall safety, CO sensor shut off, etc. Its actually triggered by the water pump that cools the unit very well. My c02 sensor/controller sends power to the unit to cycle it. I like it, I liked the cool running  inside my room.

 

The other unit is a standard CAP with a pilot, tip over safety, etc, hangs from the ceiling, gets warm but not hot. I dont use the electronic ignition/water cooled one anymore. I have a large ac unit and could care less about the added heat i find. the expense of  a sump pump cycling 12 is noticeable, and now avoided.

I keep my controller set to 1500ppm's, lights on only. The pilot light all by itself in my room keeps the c02 at around 600 ppm, so the unit doesnt need to cycle too often. I use a about 12 bucks of propane a month-bbq canister.

If my c02 unit broke I'd replace it quickly. I did run without it, and seems I could get away with it, but in the long run I know plants need more c02 than I can provide naturally in my room, and I wont starve them of anything while they're trapped in a sealed room.

[trichcycler]

can plants in hydro really be grounded?  grass you ever done that?

I did do that, but have no idea if it was redundant or not. my hydro reservoirs had pumps submerged full time, maybe that water was grounded already?? 

this one time I noticed a small charge in the reservoir contents. Hard to tel if the trickle was effecting plants, though my head was spinning with the possibilities at the time, I could care less now. 

 

to repeat, grounding my plants did not show significant changes in growth and none in sampling. its just fun, seems to show some healthy changes in growth, metabolism but definitely not required. Remember, I started with techy, went full circle. Currently the most expressed plant I've ever seen are the ones in my octopots, the ones with Organicare in the soil, and salts in the res.   As a hybrid system I just dont think it gets any better quality than this. Not closing doors, but this is it, I've arrived!

[medmanmike]

Everything is made up of energy. The human body is one big battery. What happens when the energy builds up in the body and doesn't have a means to escape?

 

You may know there's a whole "grounding" or "earthing" movement out there https://www.earthing.com/what-is-earthing/, for example.

 

The energy transfer is subtle, but humans have lost touch with the earth (ditto for plants) due to shoes, pavement, etc. so who knows.

 

We try real hard to mimic nature in our (indoor) grows, but obviously can't mimic the mass of the earth.

 

Does it work - who knows, but we certainly have lived for eons with a direct connection to the ground. It's only relatively recent in the history of humans that we've isolated ourselves from direct contact to the ground. Same for (our indoor) plants too.

Edited May 2, 2016 by medmanmike

[trichcycler]

what he said ^^^ I did not know that there was a social movement, but I do remember the hippies in my youth coaching me in yoga while talking about the bared feet connection to the earth while practicing. I still ground myself  outdoors many days. plus, I have an electric blanket I use sometimes, so.....and its grounded to the plug, so......    

 

I just didnt want any reader thinking  I could make my marijuana better, or now I only have to run my dehuey for an hour a day or something crazy like that.

some people talk to their plants. I'm one of those guys. grounding them seemed natural, as soon as i thought of the dirt underneath. 

Growing in greenhouses I alwasy took note of the potted plants compared to the ground planted ones.....the light went on.

I considered skipping the floor and using the ground itself as my floor. I would cultivate, water and grow near normal, but I didnt know anything of the insulative properties, pest possibilities, like skunks(we got some round here) of this decision so I opted for a wood floor. seems the dirt is not cold even in the winter, something to consider later, maybe, prolly not.

I've photo'd plants side by side and I cant tell the differences. I smoked both, same, but when I grow them, and tend daily, spy them at lights on/lights off, I know the score.

a real live noticeable trait of the comparison is heliotropism($$$$$). During lights on I can move flowering plants away from quality light and the ones grounded point to the light way faster than mine not grounded. interesting, but I'm no scientist...just keep assuming they like the earth wire is all.

 

The motion is performed by motor cells in a flexible segment just below the flower, called a pulvinus. The motor cells are specialized in pumping potassium ions into nearby tissues, changing their turgor pressure. The segment flexes because the motor cells at the shadow side elongate due to a turgor rise. Heliotropism is a response to light