Dianfem/Intense Nutrients Comp - Blueberry Cookies and Orange Juice. Budget Compost Grow.

[2Fat2EatThat]

 

Welcome to the first of my two competition diaries.

I'd like to thank Intense Nutrients Matt and Dinafems Mark for supporting me, all of those chosen for the competition and the site in general.

Cheers chaps! and I hope we can all do your products justice.

This diary is one of a pair. It will be running 3 Orange Juice and 3 Blueberry Cookies in compost using Intense Nutrients Dirt Grow and Dirt Bloom. The second will follow using a different plan,technique,technology but same update layout that I'll explain at a later date.

In here I wanted to put together a relatively simple but effective grow "recipe" that people with minimal experience can follow to achieve good quality results.

I'm going to pretty much ignore anything specific around EC or PH etc etc as a focus, although its addressed in a passive way later.

Many compost growers ignore it, rightly or wrongly, anyway in the early days at least and to be absolutely honest I still do in the main.

 

 

 

 

I'll be using low budget equipment and a few cheap add in's here and there. Infact the only real luxuries here are Dinafems seeds and Intense Nutrients products themselves both of which I couldnt normally stretch to. So I genuinely appreciate the supply of both, @Dinafem-Mark and @Intense Nutrients Matt thank you again.

Getting everything laid down in this intro will take some effort but the updates and diary itself will be the absolute opposite.

 

I've added a little colour here to break up the word count. (They're not just filters, I do it "proper" by working through layers,adjusting contrast levels,saturation,highlights etc etc.) 

So grab a cup of tea, sit down and bear with people, bear with.

Let There Be (cheap) Light -

For this grow I will be flowering using 2 base model Mars Hydro LED units (125w actual each) as they are of a type commonly used first time around for those with very limited budgets.

Amongst more established growers they take some flak but I've grown great flowers with them. The common mantra of "buy cheap buy twice" is often spurted towards most things budget but some people simply have no choice and I'm one of those people.

Vegging will be done under 3 x 35w CMH G12 with digital control gear in a DIY board. They put out alot of light for 35w and three of them are plenty enough but they are all switched so I regularly only use 1 or 2. A few pics -

 

 

 

 

 

 

The board is mounted under the flower deck as a false ceiling type of fitment to ensure not to much heat gets forced upwards. The diy reflector is earthed and there is also a perspex diffuser to protect the plants from exploding single jacket bulbs. Although, I've used them for years and never had one fail let alone blow.

 

Best stay on the safe side as always though.

 

Altogether the whole grow will be done with a maximum of 345w draw making it quite economical really.

Prevention is Better Than Cure -

To be happily floating through a grow only to discover one day you have Thrips or Spider Mites whilst having zero knowledge on the subject is hard to get your head round and many people panic watching their crop turn to aphid crap or dressed up like a Christmas tree in webs.

We've seen that happen time and again here at UK420 and it happened to me not so long ago after a few years of growing. I went of researched and am back sharing that basic knowledge here.

I will be using a preventative routine right from the start as a deterrent to those pests. That will come in the form of a weekly Organic Cold Pressed Neem Oil emulsion misting all through veg alongside Diatemacious Earth dusting right of the bat and all the way through.

 

Heres what your looking for -

 

 

In a following post I'll lay out how to use both correctly and how to create simple micro barriers on your plants to deter insects crawling up and around them.

New or inexperienced growers adopting a basic routine like this right from the start means they will not only have everything at hand to treat the plant if those crawly freaks turn up but they will also know the correct techniques needed to switch from preventative to treatment mode and deal with the problem, no dramas.

 

I've also found plants appear to love Neem Oil and have rarely had such healthy looking plants.

 

 

My Chamber of Green Dreams -

I grow in a DIY timber built cabinet with a full length shelf splitting it into two. It's a simple 2" x 4" timber carcass covered with tounge and groove cladding that's sealed then lined with the fossilized remains of a long dead tent.

 

Having the low power veg lighting under the flowering deck timed correctly means the cabinet holds very stable temperatures lights on or off.

The dimensions of each space are as follows -

Veg space 120cm x 90cm x 90cm

Flowering 150cm x 90cm x 175cm


Extract and Filtrate -

My 6inch Ram filter and 6 inch twin speed fan are hidden in their own spot above the grow space extracting through the cabinet ceiling. It leaves a more adaptable space for lighting adjustment and growth height and really helps fight the noise.

Compost and Nutrition -

I'll be using standard Levingtons multipurpose compost that you can get from B&H homestores or pretty much any similar store.

 

Here it is if your looking for it -

 

 

The only added nutrition will be Intense Nutrients feed but I will use Organic Seaweed Extract as a health measure.

Here are those fine Intense products in the flesh, thank you Matt  -

 

 

 

( Matt,I pinched the images from your site matt as mine havnt arrived and I wanted to get going) 

 

The only amendment I will add is Diatemacious Earth. It's the second use of it here so is good economy.

When dry, DE guards against soft body insects but it brings with it a few extra general advantages whilst being inert in all other ways.

Those free bonuses are -

- Excellent increased moisture retention.

- Good buffer against minor PH changes.

- Once wet it slowly breaks down delivering Silica that all plants love.

Those bonuses are gained simply by adding DE at the start and forgetting about it.

If you want to try it you can get it online easily. You need to buy "food grade fresh water extracted Diatemacious Earth". A bag this size is £10 and will last many grows. 500ml of Neem Oil will outlast you so plenty of value for money there to - 

 

 

H2O -

All water will be from the tap that's aired and bubbled for at least 48hrs before use. As we're very close to the aquifer source our water is only lightly treated but is harder than a Rhinos horn on viagra.


In The Beginning -

Germination will be in an ice cream tub with wet kitchen roll.I will do a short tutorial before my first true update.

Pots -

I will use 3 inch pots for seedlings filled with Levingtons compost as it's not a hot mix.

The seedlings will be kept warm by my grandads good old fashioned plastic water bottles with the bottoms removed retaining the lid as a simple humidity control.

Once at a suitable size the plants will be potted up into 6 inch pots and will go on to finish in square 11 ltr pots.

 

 

 

 

Training -

What I'm going to do is not commonly used and is a little difficult to explain in words whilst being very simple. I have quietly tested it a few times though and it works really well. It combines elements of supercropping,HST and LST and results in a very compact plant yielding 8 equally sized colas.

 

 

Diary Updates -

Once I got this intro done, I decided to challenge myself and leave out as much ancillary guff from updates as I can, focusing 99% on detail. Ive spent a fair while putting together a layout with the aim of presenting that information for quicker reference access.

Having to dive through multiple pages of a 10+ page diary scanning for randomly placed facts and figures in an update to find one small piece of information can be frustrating at times. That may just be me though!

Here is the layout I'll be using. It will be used for every update on the same day every week -

Date -

Time of day -

Grow day -

Flower day -

Light schedule -

Light timings -

Temperature Lights on -
Lights off -

Humidity -

Feed and levels per litre -

Preventative and supportive foliar feeds -


Update specific details -


Accompanying images -

Training progress -


As soon as the seedlings are established I will begin using it and use it the whole way through. I know I'm going to struggle using so few words

                 -----------------

Just incase anyone really wants to do something similar to this, here are the ingredients for everything other than hardware (tent/lights/fan/filter) -

Levingtons Multipurpose Compost.
(Found pretty much everywhere)

Intense Nutrients Dirt Grow & Dirt Bloom. (Available through the site sponsors and widely online)

3 x 3inch pots.
3 x 8inch pots.
3 x 11tr pots.
(Easy to find online or in stores with garden depts)

3 x Plastic Water Bottles.
(Kids school bags or back of your car from pesky kids )

Freshwater Food Grade Diatemacious Earth.
Cold Pressed Organic Neem Oil and Horticultural soap.
(Both the above are available on Amazon/EBay)

Misting bottle.
Organic Seaweed Extract.
Epsom Salts.
20ml Syringe.
(Online is simplest for all the above but also found widely in garden centers,stores etc)

Phew!!!

I dont know about you but I badly need a cup of tea, a Tunnocks bar and a lie down but that's it all done and laid out.

The only thing left to do is to get some seeds germinated and that will be done in the next few days which I'll cover in a short tutorial.

Thanks for reading this through and I wish the best of luck to all the other entrants.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by 2Fat2EatThat

[tokenroll]

Looking good with plenty of detail. All the best with the grow and as usual I will follow along nice and quite in the corner.

Toke...

[ROCKSTEADY6]

Really thorough and enjoyable read 2fat. Looking forward to seeing these develop, you are going to smash it mate. 

[Dinafem-Mark]

@2Fat2EatThat Such a detailed intro post mate

 

I hope the whole diary has as much detail, very cool

 

Seeds have landed and nutrients are on the way

 

Time to kick of this first Dinafem X Intense nutrients grow off

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[soulfeeder]

Will take a seat, if you don’t mind, and may the force be with you.  Been interested in the BC ... looks tasty 

Edited October 15, 2019 by soulfeeder

[2Fat2EatThat]

@tokenroll well if your going to be in here much I must tell you I wont be in because I'm going to be in your diary actually learning stuff

 

@ROCKSTEADY6 thanks man theres a fine line between enjoyable and indulgent!! I have an annoying habit of using 100 words to describe something people do in 10  

 

Everyone I've ever known has suffered from regular temporary deafness,mind you my wifes permanently deaf  now

 

@soulfeeder welcome aboard my friend and thanks. I'm almost confident I can produce something worth showing you mate!!!

 

@Dinafem-Mark hope that's all good for you mate, thanks for accepting me in here,I'm far from a pro but am pretty good with compost and plastic bottles these days.

 

Thanks to everyone for popping in I just hope I can give you a show,take it easy chaps.

Edited October 15, 2019 by 2Fat2EatThat

[The Padawan]

Very cool man 

Nice detailed start to the diary. 

Best of luck with the comp. 

[2Fat2EatThat]

Ever get the feeling if youd waited for 12 hours things would have been clearer?!

 

My Intense package has turned up and not only are they not quite the type I used in my intro but theres more than expected

 

apologies @Intense Nutrients Matt

 

Will put up some pics and tweak my plan later on,hmmm my mum always said I was " to bloody impatient" I can hear her now.

 

Thanks again matt.

 

 

[Intense Nutrients Matt]

no apology needed bro hope  you smash it from the park

love the excellent start to your diary  

matt

[Smokebelch]

@2Fat2EatThatNice intro to your dairy, good luck in the contest dude.

[2Fat2EatThat]

Interim and unexpected update

 

My parcel from Intense arrived earlier and when I dived in like a fat kid at christmas I discovered a few extra treats!

 

I also discovered Matt had sent the Organix Range which I'm really chuffed about as was expecting the standard Dirt range and was more than happy with that. 

 

So I'm double happy as Mickey Flanagan would say.

 

Have a peek - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new products dont really change my grow plan other than I can add the OG innoculant to my compost and can treat my seedlings to some cannabis spa treatments  

 

Back on track and seeds going in soon, take it easy folks.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by 2Fat2EatThat

[Amnesia]

@2Fat2EatThat A nice and easy read grow diary with plenty of detail, a pleasure to read.

I'll be doing the Blueberry Cookies myself although not for a few weeks yet so looking forward to seeing how yours progress. Orange juice sounds tasty too and was torn between that or the OGC, anyhow all the best.

[zen-ken]

Nice diary well put together and I love the presentation.

 

Last place for me again then

[Amo]

Could only be a 2fat intro that one haha

Hey m8, nice start full off info, an this should be a good fun comp too...

 

[vince noir rock n roll star]

oi oi ..bit of graphic designery going on in here ..is that allowed ..

 

cracking start 2fat ..all the best with the comp chap.