SoilBible · Episodes · Ep 012

Ep 012: Pre-Flower Checklist and Earth Box Top Dress

· Jeremy walks the 10x10 tent eight days after transplant, quadrant by quadrant, checking each plant's health as he builds toward the flip to flower. He opens in the BuildASoil Family Farms greenhouse previewing a possible greenhouse series, then returns to the tent to drop lights into target PAR range, diagnose a water-stressed Los Oli plant, defoliate blocking fan leaves, and lay out his pre-launch checklist so every plant is 'fully running' and none are 'limping' at flip. The practical core is a full Earth Box 3.0 top dress sequence — craft blend, worm castings, and kashi blend — plus rationale for recycled vs new containers and why cannabis leaves can be used as their own mulch.

Topics

pre-flower checklist and flipping when plants are fully running · dropping the light to hit target PAR range for flower · quadrant-by-quadrant walk-through of the 10x10 tent · Earth Box recycled vs new container comparison and watering differences · diagnosing a water-stressed Los Oli plant and correcting course · selecting a keeper from seed-run genetics (Halitosis, Branson's Royal Revenge) · hunting keepers from seed vs running clone-only for comparison · defoliating blocking fan leaves and cleaning bare legs under the canopy · top dressing Earth Box 3.0 with craft blend, worm castings, and kashi blend · using the plant's own chopped leaves as mulch / cannabis leaf meal · bottom watering an Earth Box until overflow runs out the bottom · clone selection timing and labelling individual plants for the keeper hunt · mounting fans inside the tent and the little monkey fan trick · greenhouse tomatoes, peppers, arugula and the long-season crop preview · mushroom log re-flushing after harvest

Sections

0:00 — 0:55

Greenhouse intro and season preview

Before entering the 10x10, Jeremy invites viewers into the BuildASoil Family Farms greenhouse to preview a potential weekly greenhouse series. He points to tomatoes being transplanted now that soil temperatures are finally above 50 degrees, shows an arugula bed managed by his wife, and highlights a movable hose system that lets him reposition the hose without damaging crops. He asks for viewer feedback on whether to spin up a dedicated greenhouse show.

  1. 1. Confirm soil temperature is above 50 F before putting out long-season crops
  2. 2. Transplant tomatoes and cucumbers as the warm-season rotation
  3. 3. Use a repositionable hose system to water without trampling beds
  4. 4. Ask viewers to comment if they want a greenhouse series
0:55 — 2:00

Walking into the tent and pre-launch checklist

Jeremy puts on sunglasses because the tent is bright and explains he has dropped the lights a little to hit target PAR range as the plants approach flower. He frames the whole episode around a 'pre-launch checklist': every plant must be fully running and none limping before the flip. He notes the Earth Boxes have roughly quadrupled in size in only eight days since the previous Monday transplant.

  1. 1. Lower the light slightly to drop into target PAR range for flower
  2. 2. Put on sunglasses to actually see the canopy in the brighter room
  3. 3. Walk quadrant by quadrant and confirm every plant is healthy and vigorous
  4. 4. Do not flip to flower until every plant is 'fully running'
2:00 — 2:30

Quadrant one — Earth Box recycled vs new comparison

Jeremy shows the two Earth Boxes in quadrant one: one recycled, one brand new (3.0). He flags that one of them needs water and the other does not, and promises to come back to them later in the episode to demonstrate a top dress and bottom-watering workflow. The side-by-side is a deliberate trial run for the viewer.

  1. 1. Keep recycled Earth Box and new Earth Box side by side as a comparison
  2. 2. Check which container needs water before doing anything else
  3. 3. Plan to top dress and bottom water only the one that needs it
2:30 — 6:30

Quadrant two — pepper fruit and seed-run keeper hunt

Jeremy first celebrates a maturing pepper plant (leaves that are 'huge' with dozens of flower sites developing into fruit) and uses it to pitch the greenhouse series. In the 3x3 he shows Halitosis and Branson's Royal Revenge side by side, notes leaf shape is similar but branchiness is different, and explains the philosophical split: train heavily to fill a canopy, or run naturally to see each plant's true structure so you can pick a keeper. He highlights that for this 10x10 he has done zero training because the round is an educational seed-hunt, not a maximum-yield run. He also points at his mushroom log (already harvested once) and says he will soak it to chase another flush.

  1. 1. Decide up front whether this run is for yield (train hard) or keeper selection (run natural)
  2. 2. If running from seed, avoid heavy training so you can read the plant's natural structure
  3. 3. Count leaflets — 9 to 11 on a healthy fan leaf is the peak-health target
  4. 4. Plan to build a trellis net into the corners of the 3x3 before the flip
  5. 5. Super-crop taller plants by pinching and bending to even up the canopy height
  6. 6. Plan to take clones before flower so the keeper lives on after selection
6:30 — 9:30

Quadrant three — diagnosing the water-stressed Los Oli

Jeremy walks into a quadrant running Los Oli and Los Malibu recipes and immediately flags his favourite plant of the round: Branson's Royal Revenge number 12, a confirmed female with a very loud smell when he touches the branches and a geometrically beautiful leaf structure. He then diagnoses a weaker plant: during a humidity failure it went slightly underwater and drooped while its neighbours stayed happy. He corrects course by deliberately overwatering just enough to see runoff out the bottom (about a quarter inch), confirming peak saturation, and says he will let it rebound. He uses the moment to teach that in organics, watering is effectively your only control knob, and he does not want to flip to flower until this plant has full colour, turgor and vigor.

  1. 1. First thing in the morning, scout for droopy plants before any other work
  2. 2. If a plant is underwatered and stressed, correct course by watering to runoff
  3. 3. Watch for about a quarter inch of runoff as the signal you have hit peak saturation
  4. 4. After correcting, leave the plant alone and let it rebound into full turgor
  5. 5. Do not flip to flower until every plant shows full color, turgor and vigor
9:30 — 11:00

Container sizing philosophy and canopy defoliation prep

Jeremy explains his rule of thumb that an organic plant should be flipped when its veg size roughly matches the footprint of its container. Grow a plant two, three or four times the size of its pot and you are effectively running hydro because you will have to feed constantly to keep up with the biomass. He says he will top dress the smaller 3x3 containers with Craft Blend before flip, brew a tea for kick-off, and compare those against the Earth Boxes where he does little tea work but top dresses differently. He also starts cleaning up blocked lower branches and oversized fan leaves to open up light penetration.

  1. 1. Size veg plants so they roughly fill the container before you flip to flower
  2. 2. Avoid running plants 2-4x the container size unless you are prepared to feed heavily
  3. 3. For smaller 3x3 containers, top dress with Craft Blend before flipping to flower
  4. 4. Brew a compost tea right at the flip-to-flower kick off
  5. 5. Pull big fan leaves that are shading lower branches to rebalance light
  6. 6. Strip the deep inner and bottom branches that will never see light
11:00 — 12:30

Fans, mounting tricks, and the little monkey fan

Jeremy adds two more fans to the tent for more airflow. He flags that he ran two screws straight through the Gorilla tent wall into the drywall behind it to mount one fan, acknowledging it is 'an expensive tent' but saying he will patch the holes with duct tape if he ever moves. He then introduces the little monkey fan — a cheap clip-on pole fan with multiple mounting kits — and warns that their plastic motors break, so treat them as fixed-place fans. A common trick is to clip a monkey fan down inside a trellis to keep air moving under the canopy and prevent gnats.

  1. 1. Add supplementary fans if airflow feels insufficient in the tent
  2. 2. For a fixed tent, screw a fan mount straight through the tent into drywall; patch later with duct tape
  3. 3. Alternatively use zip ties in a top corner if you do not want to pierce the tent
  4. 4. Clip a monkey fan onto a trellis pole inside the canopy to kill stagnant air below the leaves
  5. 5. Treat cheap plastic-motor fans as disposable / fixed-place units, not adjustable long-term equipment
12:30 — 14:30

Quadrant four — greenhouse move-out and Carolina Reaper plans

Quadrant four is 'a jungle' of healthy tomatoes and peppers that have been nursery-growing under the BuildASoil light. Jeremy plans to move them into the greenhouse to free the space back up for the 10x10. He walks the over-harvested lettuce bed (cut too short after overseeding) and says it will rebound, celebrates a tomato throwing its first pollinated fruit, and explains that dropped flowers can be rescued with a bit of Craft Blend added for fertility. He plans to top dress a three-gallon tomato pot with Craft Blend, harvest most of the kale, and eventually plant Tulsi basil, radishes, sprouts, and Carolina Reaper seeds — admitting he has never grown a pepper that hot.

  1. 1. Move hardened-off tomato and pepper racks out to the greenhouse to free tent space
  2. 2. If an overseeded lettuce bed was cut too short, give it a week to rebound before intervening
  3. 3. Tap or disturb open tomato flowers to improve pollination and fruit set
  4. 4. If tomato flowers are dropping without setting fruit, top dress with Craft Blend for fertility
  5. 5. Top dress three-gallon tomato containers with Craft Blend to sustain fruiting to the top of the vine
  6. 6. Plan the next rotation — Tulsi basil, radishes, sprouts, Carolina Reaper
14:30 — 19:30

Earth Box top dress — craft blend, castings, kashi

This is the practical set-piece. Jeremy explains the Earth Box 'hybrid' philosophy: nutrients loaded on top where feeder roots explore and worms break them down, clean water roots in a reservoir below so plants are never forced to drink nutrient-laden water. He then walks through recycled vs new boxes: the recycled one (previously ran Max Stomper, already cover cropped, worms visible with tails sticking out making castings) still feels heavy and moist, so he leaves it alone. The new 3.0 box is bone-dry down the tube, shows mycelium and predator mites but no feeder roots yet, so he top dresses it: half a cup of Craft Blend spread across the front, another half cup toward the back for a full cup, then roughly half a bag of worm castings spread over the top to bring the biology in contact with the amendments, then a layer of kashi blend (fermented grain product, optional but adds biology and fertility). He finishes by bottom watering until water runs out of the overflow tube (about three gallons).

  1. 1. Inspect both Earth Boxes; look for worms, mycelium, castings, and feeder roots
  2. 2. Check down the reservoir tube — if bone dry, this box needs a bottom watering cycle
  3. 3. On the dry new 3.0 box, spread a half cup of Craft Blend evenly across the front
  4. 4. Spread another half cup of Craft Blend toward the back for a full one-cup dose
  5. 5. Dump roughly half a bag of worm castings over the top of the Craft Blend
  6. 6. Spread the castings so they incorporate with existing soil rather than sitting as a pure layer
  7. 7. Add a layer of kashi blend (fermented grain product) for extra biology and to break everything down
  8. 8. Lightly mist the top to settle the dry amendments
  9. 9. Close the lid and bottom water through the fill tube until water runs out the overflow
  10. 10. Check the next day to see if moisture has wicked all the way to the top; mist the top if not
  11. 11. Leave the recycled, still-moist Earth Box alone today — do nothing to it
19:30 — 22:30

Defoliating the Halitosis and bare-legging the lowers

Jeremy removes the biggest fan leaves from a naturally branchy Halitosis to open up airflow and give side branches a chance to jump up and compete. He frames plant training as mimicking nature: an animal bites a branch, the plant reacts by redistributing growth. He then 'shaves her legs' — pulling all lower branches that are stuck under canopy and will never produce meaningful bud — and explains this is easier to pinch by hand than to cut with scissors on tender growth. Finally, instead of binning the defoliated material, he chops it up and throws it into the new Earth Box as 'cannabis leaf meal', and explicitly pushes back on the old gardening-book rule that says you should not mulch a plant with its own leaves because of disease risk. In his experience it is not an issue — it is how nature works.

  1. 1. Remove the biggest fan leaves that are blocking undergrowth and lower branches
  2. 2. Leave enough fan leaves that the plant still has energy-producing surface area
  3. 3. Walk the plant and pinch off every lower branch that is shaded out under the canopy ('bare legs')
  4. 4. Pinch with fingers rather than scissors for tender growth to avoid nicking neighbours
  5. 5. Chop the defoliated leaves and branches up small so they break down faster
  6. 6. Throw the chopped cannabis leaves into the Earth Box as 'cannabis leaf meal' top mulch
  7. 7. Accept the old rule against mulching with the plant's own leaves as outdated in Jeremy's experience
22:30 — 23:30

Sign-off and FAQ pitch

Jeremy wraps the episode, confirms he has top dressed and cleaned up the 3.0 Earth Box and left the recycled one alone, and teases episode 11. He asks viewers to put questions in the comments so he can pick some for FAQ-style videos once the plants enter the more automatic flower phase.

  1. 1. Subscribe and share the channel
  2. 2. Drop questions in comments for future FAQ episodes
  3. 3. Expect more FAQ content as the plants 'do everything on their own' in flower

Notable quotes

"We need all of our plants fully running — we don't want any of them limping."

Framing the entire pre-flower checklist and why he will not flip until every plant is ready.

"When you're in organics and watering is really the only control you have, proper watering is everything."

Explaining why he is correcting the stressed Los Oli plant with a deliberate overwater to runoff.

"Before we flip the flower I want to see full color, turgor and vigor on this plant."

Setting the explicit gate for any recovering plant in the tent.

"In nature that's what happens — an animal comes along and bites a branch off and the plant will just kind of change its shape to react. So we're taking advantage of some of those aspects of how plants work to take the shape that we want."

Justifying defoliation and training as a mimic of natural browsing and self-pruning.

"As a grower it's more than just bag appeal — sometimes it's ease of trimming, ease of growth, and it has to combine with the quality as well."

Explaining what he actually looks for when picking a keeper from a seed-hunt round.

"Now it's like my own cannabis leaf meal instead of alfalfa meal."

Chopping defoliated cannabis fan leaves into the new Earth Box as home-made mulch.

"It's how nature works — it drops its own leaves and fertilizes itself."

Pushing back on the old gardening-book rule against mulching a plant with its own leaves.

"In a living soil system if we have excessive nutrients put on top and we water through, that water will contain nutrients the plants kind of forced to take up. Here it's a little bit different — it's like a hybrid, it's got hydro in the bottom and living soil on top."

Explaining the Earth Box hybrid philosophy before the top dress.

Glossary terms from this episode

bare legs (shaving the legs) · Bottom watering · cannabis leaf meal · clone labelling per plant · confirmed female · container-to-canopy rule · craft blend top dress · defoliation for flat-light canopies · Earth Box hybrid system · Feeder roots vs. water roots · flower site development on peppers · fully running vs limping · humidity dropout stress · Kashi blend · keeper hunt · monkey fan · mushroom log re-flush · nine to eleven leaflets rule of thumb · pre-launch checklist · quadrant walk-through · quarter inch runoff · recycled Earth Box · soil temperature above 50 F · super crop · tapping tomato flowers · target PAR range · watering is everything in organics · worm castings cover

Products mentioned

Craft Blend · Zip ties · Worm bin · Watering can · Kashi Blend · Worm Castings · BuildASoil Light · Gorilla Grow Tent 10x10 · BuildASoil website · Earth Box (recycled) · Earth Box 3.0 (new) · Max Stomper · Tent fan with front cage removed · Monkey fan · Movable hose system · Logan Labs soil test · Take and Bake Kit · Los Oli recipe · Los Malibu recipe · Trellis net (future build)