Letters to Rev – General Cannabis Growing Questions

Greetings and welcome to today’s Letter’s to Rev. A little Q&A with yours truly, general cannabis growing questions today. Germination issues, inoculants, and all-natural sources for micronutrients (and macronutrients) are on the menu for today. Better buckle up buddercup, heh heh.  

In a recent article I Am the Egg Man, I was trying out a new thing with an egg. See the update below.

Alright then earthlings, let’s rock and/or roll with today’s “Letters” to Rev…

General Cannabis Growing, Question #1: How Can Germinating be so Hard?

FROM: Tommy T.

“Rev man, I sure hope you can help me out. It’s been a few years since I germinated seeds, but they always sprouted and grew. Recently starting a new garden, the last 3 attempts have all ended badly. Either never come up or just pop above ground, then never grow again and slowly die. WTF? I sprout in living soil, I use distilled water, and my lighting is a 250w Blue Metal Halide. Please help.”

Rev’s Answer to Q1

Hey Tommy—whew—the variables are massive, to say the least. I would switch over to bottled Springwater for one thing. I assume you know the basics here. Sometimes it’s very sneaky, sometimes it’s just in your face, like letting them get too dry, or wet, or nuking them with fertilizers yada-yada. Here’s a little list I think might help ya out homie…

La List

• Sprouting Containers: Make sure these aren’t leaching anything “funny” into the soil. Like if you are using some kind of repurposed containers. Anything ‘Food Grade’ is all good.
• Environment: Make sure something like uber-high humidity isn’t happening during lights-off hours. Mold is always lurking, and loves-loves wet and cool. Of course, you also want air movement and air exchange to some degree.
• Source/Age & Storage: Seeds need to be stored light tight and airtight, and refrigeration is needed for extended storage, but they should always be kept cool. Your source for your seeds may play a part.
• Lighting: Your lighting choice is bomber, assuming you have a Hortilux there, however, this is also a very demanding light. Using a height of about 3 feet above sprouts for their first week above ground and you can slow things down a bit—metabolism-wise—and this gives you a buffer for any mistakes. Also, you may want to invest in a laser-thermometer. These are great for growing in general, but you can get a very accurate read on sprouts with one of these.
• Meters: If you rely on any meters for anything, like pH or TDS, double check it hasn’t gone all caddywhompus and is giving you wildly inaccurate readings.

Every once in a while, like once a year, I have some seeds I know 100% are viable, that just never sprout, LoL, and to this day I have no idea why. I also like to sprout in higher temps (mid ’80s F.) myself, like your 250w halide certainly takes care of heat-wise. Lastly, make sure something isn’t polluting your air, don’t use any cleaners around sprouts obviously, but just make sure here. I found this one with a damaged paint can in the room, I didn’t know was damaged.

General Cannabis Growing, Question #2: Inoculants?

FROM: Mark H.

“So let me just say first, that your suggestion of companion planting dill around our backyard cannabis garden paid off in spades. We haven’t seen a spider mite for two seasons now, so big ups to ya Rev. It’s so badass that you know how use nature as the cure to nature.

My question is about living inoculants. Do you use anything besides Mycorrhizal inoculants? My garden is outdoor in raised beds, so I already have Mycorrhizal I assume. Do you think I need anything else?”

Rev’s Answer to Q2

Howdy Mark. My inoculants are mostly natural ones, like worm farm castings/leachate, and aquarium water. Besides stuff like that, I use a granular Mycorrhizal on freshly rooted aero-clones when I place them into soil for the first time. But I do have another product I use here and there, it’s Bigfoot.

This product is super helpful when very young plants are having small issues, especially landrace/heirloom types. In say… a 3-inch container, I put about 1/8^th teaspoon around the edges of the soil away from the stem, I then cover it with a very thin layer of soil and then water. Sometimes plants take a bit of time to get their “sea legs” on when very young. They are still learning how to use what is available to them and developing a symbiosis with the microlife. Heirloom/landrace types especially start out freight train style, slow to get going, but once they do, look out!

The Bigfoot really makes a lot of difference here and gives youngsters a real boost. There are many things in this product, nutrient elements along with Mycorrhizal fungi. A little bit goes a long way. I would still inoculate my plants with a Mycorrhizal product if I were you. Just do it in their last container, or as sprouts/clones, before they go into the ground.

General Cannabis Growing, Question #3: Easy Soil Amending?

FROM: Dick W.  

“Greetings Rev, I can’t wait for the new book. I am running a really simple soil recycling routine, using root balls and extra plant matter to just recycle with my soil, which was Ocean Forest to start with. I have recycled it 3 times now and it’s definitely losing some punch. I’m really too broke at present to go out and buy nutrient editions, I always add some bone meal and dolomite lime as well. What can I use here to give my soil back the magic? I know my N and P and K are all fine. Thanks.”

Rev’s Answer to Q3

No sweat Dick, this is easy as pie man. I would try to acquire some blood meal amigo. It’s worth its weight in gold, not just for booming N that supercharges recycling—which I call cooking—but also adds a lot of exotic trace elements like iron, which as far as I’m concerned is one of the biggest biggies. If you’re not a “poopaphobe” toss in some deer, horse, cow, steer, rabbit, bird or bat manure as well, for reals.

Other things I would add, if I were you would be things around me anyways. Something like ground pumpkin seeds can really replenish a lot of subtle nutrients in the soil. Rice is always a good addition too, a lot of iron and calcium. Mushrooms are kickass for micronutrients. Coffee grounds are fantastic (see image below). Kelp from the beach rinsed off and dried is sublime for your purposes.

Here’s what I would do, man, if I were in your shoes … Assess your surroundings, as far as what is easily available to you. No need to spend any coin, my man. Just toss in some “heavy hitters” here. Seeds are badass, and pumpkin seeds are easily available usually to anyone, especially around All Hallows Eve. If you got the blood meal and used spent coffee grounds along with your bone meal, that will make a huge difference. Or, like kelp and melon rinds, that would jumpstart you with all kinds of great secondary and micronutrients. Potato skins are awesome.

Afterword

Well-alrightythen, that Bigfoot product is mighty handy to have on hand. Just as one example, recently I had let a small plant (about 6 inches tall) get so badly drought stressed that it was almost dead. Shit happens, and I had missed her in the watering routine because I was Magoo-like I guess LoL. Anyways, just before watering her, I sprinkled some Bigfoot down on top of and around the bark mulch. About ¼ teaspoon. Insanely fast bounce-back, I mean noticeably supernaturally fast—wink.

Stop on over at Kingdom Organic Seeds and grab yourselves some exotic princesses. Recently there are a couple of Black Forrest crosses, and the Black Forrest is a serious Vietnamese Jungle Sativa heavy hybrid herself that goes 16 weeks flowering, yowza. Not for peeps without killer indoor skills really. But damn, she is truly exotic AF and as powerful as a demoness. Deep Chunk is also back in stock.

Check out my 2^nd Edition TLO book for great advice when it comes to recycling your soil and using all-natural means in containers especially. I’m outty for now but I’ll be seeing you again soon. L8r G8rs…

• REv 😊