Search for a mother - diary 2012

[Artificial Emotion]

Hi everyone,

this diary is a lot later than I had anticipated due to ongoing problems with LSF. I was too embarrassed to post up pics of my girls because of how poorly they looked but I've overcome the infection so I've got some catching up to do to share my progress so far. So part of the purpose of this competition diary will be to search for a keeper and once I've found it it will be used in a vertical system that I'm going to be trying out which I'll be documenting in a separate diary.

The strains I've been doing are

- Black Jack

- Psiodelica

- SAD S1

They were started in Root Riots:

Once rooted they were placed in pots of sowing and cutting compost compressed slightly and watered with SM3 seaweed extract:

at each stage I give my compost a good riddle:

which seems to make a huge difference!

which were placed under a simple 125W CFL in a DR60 tent.

Once they got to this stage they were placed in small pots of Plant Magic Soil Supreme mixed with Biobizz pre-mix (5%), worm casts (10%) and a handful of rockdust per 6L total compost. They were then moved to a DR150 tent with a 600W HPS in a simple euroshade reflector. Ventilation was a 6" extract through a pre-existing hole in the wall and a passive intake.

Extraction running through hole in the wall (this is quite handy!):

Once they started to reach this size:

SAD A:

Psiodelica A:

Psiodelica B:

Black Jack A:

Black Jack B (confused it with a Blue Widow at the time):

I then moved them to my DR120 tent which has a 1kW HPS bulb which is being used all throughout, a 6" high powered Ruck intake and an identical extraction fan connected to a 6" Rhino Pro CF. Intake is slowed down by a DIY twin variac fan speed controller.

I was at the point where I was going to start uploading photos for the diary when I noticed this:

So I started applying essence like mad. Unfortunately it started going downhill from this point on and I was almost going to have to throw the plants away. It's at this point I was so desperate to try anything, so I took a suggestion from an old member some of you no doubt remember, Tutu, and tried an ozone generator shipped in from Hong Kong via a certain popular online auction website.

The unit came with a timer that went up to a maximum of 30 minutes. I decided to take it apart and physically take out the timer as you can see, so when plug in it runs continuously. What I did was just plug it into a simple segmental timer. I ran it like this for half an hour every 3 hours during lights off for a week. Apart from unintentionally inhaling small amounts of ozone a few times, it seemed to work well and now I'm back on track.

So after a long rough period I managed to veg the plants a bit more:

and then decided to flip to 12/12.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Artificial Emotion

[Artificial Emotion]

Unfortunately I got a bit lax and then LSF came back with a vengeance, so it was back to the ozone again which did trick. The plants started to flower just fine:

Black Jack A:

Black Jack B:

Psiodelica A:

Psiodelica B:

SAD A:

SAD B:

Basically that's where I am up until now!

[Smurfy]

man you got me hooked already. this is going to be good. Good luck

[Sweet Seeds-tommy]

Hi Artificial Emotion!

Nice one, thanks for starting this interesting experience

I'll keep passing to check how things are going, sweet smokes!

tommy

[bibs64]

Alrite Artificial Em. Loving this so far and only just realised yer a fellow S.Eastern-nearer than you'll think...I bet!

Anyways great to hear the ozone and Essence mix seem to have the dreaded LSF at bay,it was your comp.mix that intrigued me!

I know Plant Magic is a light mix,enough fer a weekish,have you mixed worm castings and Biobizz to nutrify for longer between pot ups or what?It was something I'm trying meself on my next outing after me bust(happening very soon,whoop whoop)though more so for an outdoor mix!

Will be popping in regularly mate,great so far,be safe,be lucky,.....B

Edited May 8, 2012 by bibs64

[bibs64]

Alrite Artificial Em. Loving this so far and only just reigned yer a fellow S.Eastern-nearer than you'll think...I bet!

Anyways great to hear the ozone and Essence mix seem tohave the dreaded LAF at bay,it was your comp.mix that intrigued me!

I know Plant Magic is a light mix,enough fer a weekish,have you mixed worm castings and Biobizz to nutrify for longer between pot ups or what?It was something I'm trying meself on my next outing after me bust(happening very soon,whoop whoop)though more so for an outdoor mix!

Will be popping in regularly mate,great so far,be safe,be lucky,.....B

[bibs64]

Oops-how the bugger did that happen,heh heh!

[Artificial Emotion]

Thanks guys

Alrite Artificial Em. Loving this so far and only just realised yer a fellow S.Eastern-nearer than you'll think...I bet!

Anyways great to hear the ozone and Essence mix seem to have the dreaded LSF at bay,it was your comp.mix that intrigued me!

I know Plant Magic is a light mix,enough fer a weekish,have you mixed worm castings and Biobizz to nutrify for longer between pot ups or what?It was something I'm trying meself on my next outing after me bust(happening very soon,whoop whoop)though more so for an outdoor mix!

Will be popping in regularly mate,great so far,be safe,be lucky,.....B

Interesting to hear you're near by! I live near Paddock Wood and Matfield (can't say exactly where for obvious reasons). It's very quiet here so it's perfect if you like to keep to yourself.

The worm castings were not to add nutrients at all but rather to both inoculate the soil with beneficial microbes and also to add food for the microherd from the Plant Magic granules which I used at each pot up. The same goes for the rockdust - it provides food for the microherd and fungi from the granules and worm castings so it can flourish and benefit the plants. PM Soil Supreme consists of peat moss which on it's on is very sterile and doesn't provide a good environment for beneficials to live, so both worm castings and rockdust really help with the granules - so much so the difference is like night and day. Because the Plant Magic Soil Supreme is a light mix, it doesn't contain very much in the way of nutrients as you say, so the Biobizz pre-mix mixed in at a rate of 5% adds the needed base nutrients for the plants. Although I think in future I might just not bother adding this and will just use Biobizz fishmix instead since it's so easy to use and it also helps the microherd to thrive as well.

[bibs64]

Hi there Artificial,cheers for the reply,just shows ya learn summat everyday,never realised Worm C`s were so much use working in harmony in soil with the Rockdust for the microherd from Granules and in inoculation.

Think the fishmix is a good idea,really beneficial to plants when used correctly.

I did live in Coxheath,but now am further away,Wrotham....ish!

Loving what your doing with the landraces and will keep a watch on this topic also.

Take it easy mate...............B

[Artificial Emotion]

Right just at the most opportune time I had to replace my camera so I could upload the images properly Nothing is going right for me at the moment! Anyway it's sorted now.

Since the buds have started packing on weight I've had to employ the use of a dehumidifier.

Here's some photos to update you guys on my progress so far.

SAD S1:

SAD S1:

Black Jack:

Black Jack:

Black Jack:

Psiodelica:

Psiodelica:

SAD S1:

SAD S1:

Psiodelica:

Psiodelica:

Psiodelica:

SAD S1:

Black Jack:

Black Jack:

Black Jack:

Black Jack:

Black Jack:

SAD S1:

Edited May 25, 2012 by Artificial Emotion