Sweet Amnesic Gorilla Girl in the Hazy Tropic of Canna.

[jadenugs]

Jan 9th day 6.

Hi folks, here's an update for day 6 of their lives. Not a lot happening really. In fact they're quite slow off the mark, but nice and healthy nonetheless. I never watered them for the first 4 days and then gave them a feed on day 4 of EC 0.7 PH 6.3, consisting of Magnifical, root stim, micro and grow. Run off was 0.9 and I fed them some more until run off was 0.7. Mistake, this extra saturation over watered them and caused them a bit of stress. As you'll see in the pics The GG was looking a bit droopy by day 6 and the TP was showing a bit of twisty leaf, probably brought on by the start of a Ca problem. I put that down to a delay in watering and then being totally saturated afterwards. So I raised the lamp back to 24" to give them some stress relief, after previously lowering to 22" over a couple of days. I also slowed my extraction in the cab right down to maintain temps and humidity. Pot level temps were 26C, root temps 25C and RH 38%. These conditions are great compared to usual in my veg cab at this time of year so hopefully they'll get some roots down soon and take off. They should have been started in smaller pots really but I started them in 1L pots to give me a safety net if work gets in the way and I have to leave them for a few days.  

Here's the young ladies trundling along on day 6.

Gorilla Girl.

Sweet Amnesia Haze.

Tropicanna poison FV.

That's all for now. 
Happy growing, be lucky  

[delagdo]

Great start, lovely pics of the seedlings. I love coco, but one thing I don't like so much is the watering. I did try autos in coco with blumats previously including diaries here, but I didn't have great success, I got lockout as the grows progressed. I think I set them up too early and should have grown more roots first, maybe they would have been better for me. So I don't have any real tips I'm afraid besides a template of what not to do  Your plan to do regular waterings from the top to runoff the salts sounds good to me, better than tanks of plain water. Steady conditions and small smooth changes tend to be the way to go with coco. But I don't really know how to do blumats and I might well be wrong.

 

Nice selection of heavy hitters  Best of luck my friend!

[Punta Roja]

Drooling already...

 

Nice choice of specimens as well.

 

ATB

 

PR

[badbillybob]

great pics Jadenugs man, they look nice and healthy, off to a great start.

im looking forward to seeing them grown out man, all the best with this adventure. 

[jadenugs]

Thanks for the pointers @delagdo mate. I remember your winning photo with the dripper and the mound of roots  I knew it was a lot for me to take on, novice with coco and first time with Blumats, and I know I could maybe pull it off if I could be there all the time keeping a close eye on them. However mate, I  mixed up 5 litres of feed for practice and within hours the EC goes up but the PH goes up quite a lot over night. I was under the impression a circulation pump, as opposed to an airstone, would keep the PH more stable but it doesn't seem to be working    No problem if I top up with plain water to take the EC back down, then PH before feeding. I asked the missus about helping me out if I have to go away for a few days and she's all for it but TBH I don't want her messing about with acid. So for this reason I ordered some Bat special in the other day and that should be here soon. So these babies will be going into compost when potted up to their finals and Blumats will be used with plain water, top dressing with bat guano throughout flowering, with no need to worry about PH. You watch, I won't have to go away in the next 4 months but I don't wanna chance it  I'm hoping to go back to this idea some time in the future with automated feeding in coco but will probably opt for timer feeding and a system to get rid of run off, rather than Blumats. I haven't got time to do that right now. I was thinking about PH perfect nutrients or maybe Chempac powder but don't trust it without doing a lot of review reading first. Never mind, there'll still be something new for me to learn in this grow with the Blumats, should be fun.

[jadenugs]

@Punta Roja Cheers buddy, I'm looking forward to the specimens, seen lot's of good reports on the GG and SAH but not much on the TP yet, it being new. ATB.

 

@badbillybob Thanks Billy mate. All the best with your adventure too, I'll be along for a look in soon  

[jadenugs]

15th Jan day 12.

Hi folks, update time. Hope everyone is having a good weekend   

Day 7.
I ran 400ml through each of them at EC 0.7 PH 6.3

Day 8.
200ml each at EC 0.7 PH 6 to see how they'd do kept wet from the day before. No signs of over watering.
Temps at pot level 26C, roots 25C, RH 38%.

Day 9.
I turned the lamp up to 70w and reset it at 24" from the plant tops.
Temps 26, roots 25 and RH 36%.

Day 10.
My extraction fan in the main tent that also draws through the veg cab is wired to slow speed but I plugged it into my variac controller to slow it right down. Temps in my cab went right up to 30C so this allowed me to turn my rad down in the rad box and also turn my cab extraction up slightly to get more air exchange. Temps at pot level in the cab settled at 26C.

Day 11.
Not much sign of roots at the drainage holes so I'd left them 3 days to dry out a bit.
Gave them another good run through with 500ml at EC 0.72 PH 6.1. Run off was EC 0.88.  

I checked my bucket of nutes half hour after feeding the plants and the PH had risen to 6.4 Maybe I'm not leaving it long enough to settle when I first set it before feeding my plants. That seemed to be a big rise over such a short time. 

Day 12.
Temps were nice at 27C, roots 26C and RH 34%.

The girls had started looking more on point for this age, main stems starting to thicken up and shed some skin. This normally happens with my seedlings between day 10 and 14. A couple of roots were starting to show at the drainage holes. I wish I could keep these going in coco but for the reasons mentioned earlier I don't want to risk it and will pot up into compost. 

Gorilla Girl.

The cube is sitting a bit higher in the pot now. That's because I tipped her over while feeding  And she just happens to be the first one to show roots at the bottom of the pot. I've heard of people roughing up root balls in coco to allow more air to the roots so maybe this accident benefitted her a bit. Anyway I've settled on watering every 3 days until they've rooted out. Long enough for the coco at the bottom to dry a bit, but not too long that the EC rises too much in the root ball.

 

Sweet Amnesia Haze.

The most squat of the bunch so far.

 

Tropicanna Poison F1FV.

The auto in her showing as she pushes on in front, a bit bigger and more advanced than her neighbours.

 

Group shot.
Starting to sag a bit with moving them in and out of the cab for pics but it's better than leaving the door open to take pics in there. The cold attic temps soon cool the cab down while I'm messing about setting the camera settings. 

I'm gonna start dialling the main tent in now. Take my LED out and reinstall the CMHs ready for the grow, one switched off until needed in bloom and one set to 18/6 with lights off between 10am and 4pm, when the daytime ambient temps will be warmest. I'll see how it goes with lights off temps before moving the girls in there. Hopefully they'll have rooted out these pots enough by day 21 to repot into compost. 

That's all for now folks.
Happy growing, be lucky  

[Fragg]

@jadenugs all looking on point mate The GG is doing super well but the auto genetics starting to show with the vigour of the TP, think she will push ahead this week.....

 

Lovely photos too btw

[ratdog]

nice crisp pics so far, mate

 

atb with the comp

[jadenugs]

Hey up @Fragg Cheers mate.

 

@ratdog Thanks mate. If I can keep the pics crisp and the leaves not I'll be happy  

[Punta Roja]

Steady away mate... great pics. Hope the TP gives us a show.

[jadenugs]

@Punta Roja  P, me too. Hoping to get some nice red flowers.

[delagdo]

Hey @jadenugs your pictures are looking great and it all seems to be going very well so far.  I saw your reply at the weekend but didn't get chance to get back to you until now. I see you are going to use compost for this grow, but I have some ideas for when you do go back to coco, whether that's with hand-watering, blumats or timer feeding.

I have no experience of water pumps at all, I have never used them. My blumats have always worked by siphoning only, and I have never used an airstone or circulation pump, so I can't speak about their possible effects. I'd always mixed very small batches of nutrients up and small individual reservoirs for blumats, so it doesn't have long to sit around, no longer than 48 hours before they were drained and I had to refill.

I am really not sure why your EC would rise when you leave the solution stood, this is not something I have ever experienced. 

I know the pH would usually rise when the solution is left overnight. I see yours is rising very quickly - like you say, perhaps you could just leave it to settle for longer before giving it? I will usually mix mine up and leave it for at least half an hour before reading the pH and making a final adjustment if necessary.

When I first grew in coco the rising pH would stress me out and I tried to always get it exactly what I wanted it to be, but these days I am more confident in the ability of coco to buffer, so long as it's in the right area. I'm also more wary these days of adding too much P via the pH down. Nowadays I will pH to 6.0-6.2, and a day later I will find it has risen to 6.4-6.5, which I will happily continue to use with coco. If I want to use the same solution 48 hours after mixing I will check thr pH again. If it's still reading 6.5 or lower I will use it, but 6.6 or above and I will add a tiny bit more acid to bring it down slightly.

I know what you mean about the acid, it's absolutely horrible stuff, truly the worst regular part of hydro growing is handling pH down. Like you, that's a bit of a barrier for me to ask anyone to help out. I'd hate the idea anyone might hurt themselves. These days I make a dilute mix of pH down which is easier to handle and I can measure with a syringe, e.g. I prepare a small bottle with 100ml of water in, and count out 100 drops of pH down. I then add this at a rate of 1/2 ml per litre of nutrient mix, which usually gets me into the 6.0-6.2 zone, or else I'll add a tiny bit more if it doesn't. If you do dilute your pH down, please be very careful with the bottle - keep it safe, label it 'poison' and make absolutely sure nobody will drink it as it is still potentially very harmful.

[jadenugs]

Hi @delagdo thanks mate. That's how I did my last coco grow, mixed up enough for 1 day. I used half and just left half sat in the 5L bottle until they were ready for their 2nd watering in the early hours. Gave the bottle a shake to oxygenate it, then PH'd it again. The grow did really well, 196g under 100w of LED in a small space. The only problem here is if I have to go away for a few days. 

 

On the last mix I did last night I left it half hour, then ph'd again to 6.3 before feeding. Tonight when I checked the bucket the EC had risen from 0.8 to 0.89 and the PH had risen to 7.1 It's to do with gas exchanges between the solution and the air I think mate, especially when you're oxygenating the solution.( Although it still rose on the last grow when I wasn't oxygenating the mix.) I had read that using a pump to do this would have less effect on the PH than using bubblers but it doesn't seem to be working here  I am using Intense Nutrients dopwn and dirty which is Methanesulphonic acid and Citric acid.  I read up on Citric acid last week and learnt that the PH will rise using that. So on the 2nd adjustment I added phosphoric and it had still risen the next time I checked. Maybe I should try using the Phosphoric from the start, leave it half hour and re adjust, then see if that stays stable. Like you say though mate, I don't want to be adding too much Phosphoric in veg. It's better left until flowering when P is needed more. I'll feed them tonight with the mix I have left, then start a new batch with the Phosphoric acid only and see if it holds after the 2nd adjustment. I doubt it would keep stable for 3 or 4 days though. Maybe it's something in my water, comes out the tap at PH 7.6 The next issue is I only bought the Down and dirty because they say it keeps your lines from clogging with mineral build up so if I use Phosphoric I might not have that privelage?

The girls are growing well now they're rooting out the pots so I'd love to keep them going in coco, but I've only got a few days to try sorting this out as I want to pot them up around day 21 to have the grow on track to finish in time. If I can't keep the PH stable for more than a day they'll have to go into compost, which arrived on time thankfully.

 

It's great to know your plants still thrive up to 6.5PH, I'll bear that in mind for next time. Thanks again for the tips mate and taking the time to write a long post. All the best  

[jadenugs]

19th Jan day 16.

Over the last few days I've started seeing more roots at the bottom of the pots and the girls are taking off , growing well.

Day 13.
There was yellowing and brown spots on the Amnesia's first leaves and the next leaves up were starting to be affected so i raised the lamp an inch to 25". I think this may have been caused by leaving them 3 days between feeds as the plants got bigger, or maybe the sudden rise in temps when I turned my extraction down. I also thought about the two feeds I'd given them at PH 6 and 6.1 on days 8 and 11 so I raised the PH back to 6.3 and also upped the feed a bit the next time I fed them. Temps were sitting at 28C at the pots, roots 27 and RH 33%. 

Day 14.
I mixed 5L of feed in the bucket.
Background EC 0.45
6ml Magnifical to 0.6
10ml root stim 0.6
2ml of micro + 2ml grow to 0.84
1ml down and dirty to PH 6.3

I left it for half hour and had to re adjust the PH with another 0.8ml D and D

Final EC 0.84 PH 6.3

I ran 500ml through each and run off was around 0.9 for them all, 0.91 collectively.

Day 15.
Temps 28C
Roots 27C
RH 32%

Day 16.
I started dialling in the tent in the afternoon with one 315w CMH 942 hung at 45" and set the timer to come on at 4pm and go off at 10am. Electric blanket was plugged into the Inkbird thermostat set to 21C with a cool down increment of 0.1C, so it comes straight back on if it cools below 21. Circulation fan on lowest setting, oscillator on and plugged in 24/7. As you know I'd already dialled the extraction down with a DIY variac controller. I checked after 2 hours while the lamp was still off and the stats were 23C, 22C and 49%. The 22C root temps were simulated by putting the hygrometer probe and Inkbird probe into my nutrient bucket taped together. The bucket is sat on the floor of the tent. I waited until 2 hours after lights on and checked again. The stats were 26C, 25C and 47%. Good to go so I moved the girls in. 

I then mixed a fresh batch up, same nutrients to EC 0.8 PH 6.3 and fed them 300ml each. That gave me about 70ml run off for each and run off EC was 0.95 

Here's the girls not long after going in there. Just a tad droopy compared to when they came out of the cab.  Lamp is on for the pics.

Gorilla Girl.
I've included one a bit closer of the side branching starting to take off. She's looking nice and stocky

 

Sweet Amnesia Haze.

You can see the problem just starting on the second set. Halted for now though.

 

Tropicanna Poison F1 FV.

They'll be getting topped very soon.

 

Group shot.

lamp and circ fan.

I had the fan like this on my last grow to blow the warm air down from my LED. It's in the way of installing the other CMH reflector and tying it to the side bar of the tent until I need it like I did on my last Sweet seeds grow.  I'm gonna leave the fan like this for now though while there's only one lamp lit and keep the warm air blowing down. I'll just move the plants out the way when it's time to put the other lamp in. If temps get too high when both lamps are on then I'll have to move it. I doubt it though as I'll be turning the extraction up as the plants get bigger. 

Pump and water heater. 
The heater is 50w and on it's lowest setting at 20C. Pump is a cheapo but keeps the nutes moving. I've got a maxijet on standby, something more reliable if I end up using my bigger res for Blumats.

That's all for now.
Happy growing, be lucky