Sweet Amnesic Gorilla Girl in the Hazy Tropic of Canna.

[Amo]

Hey @jadenugs mate. 
All looking good in here, healthy an green an buzzing with life.
Filled with useful info as always, glad you getting your temp’s where you want em, pity you hadda pull the led though. 
 

Topping in order for next update then 

 

Looking good dude 

[Ccs141]

Looking good hope all goes well 

[sprog]

hi @jadenugs gorilla girl next on list for me mate, also liking the looks of the poison F1 so will be popping by from time to time to see how you get on if you dont mind,

all the best in the comp 

[growinggold]

Enjoying this @jadenugs 

 

where did you get your resi heater from? They expensive? might look to invest if the snow continues. 

[Punta Roja]

Healthy as mate... topping soon?

 

KUTGW

 

PR

[jadenugs]

@Amo  dude. I was pondering on lusing the LED as I know it will do well even with lowish temps, but they took ages to finish on my last grow and I can only put it down to the lower temps. A week longer than usual for the indica doms and about 2 weeks longer for the more sat leaning. I don't mind this as the LED will still save tons of leccy even with the extra 2 weeks, but pushed for time on this one so CMH it is  

 

@Ccs141 Thankyou kindly mate  

 

@sprog Cheers dude and good luck if you grow the GG and TP. Both new to me and I'm really hoping for some red flowers on the TP. Fingers crossed  

 

@growinggold Glad you're enjoying the diary mate. The heater was 11 quid from amazon, loads to choose from on there. This one is quite short so sits nicely in the bottom of my mixing bucket. I always thought they had to be vertical or at 45 degrees on the side of a fish tank but with this one they state it can be horizontal, so ideal for in the bottom of a res when the level drops low. I was  thinking about res temps with Blumats and thought a heater might not be needed because by the time the feed has gone through the hose in your groom it should be the same temp as your tent. I suppose that depends on how fast they're drinking though. How is yours doing without a heater? When I get mine set up I'll point an infra red thermometer at the hose close to the plants and see if the reading is close to tent temps, but will still probably use the heater anyway  

 

@Punta Roja Cheers P. Topped them on day 18, so 3 days ago and they're responding ok with no real slow down  

 

 

 

 

 

[jadenugs]

Jan 24th day 21.

Hi Folks, I topped the plants at the 4th node on day 18 so here's an update for that, and their recovery. If I'm going for bigger colas I normally top at the 3rd or 4th, mainly the 3rd as soon as possible to allow the branches from the 1st node to catch up. If they do catch up I go for 6 colas. If they don't amount to much and look spindly I chop them off and settle for 4. This time I've topped them at the 4th to try and make 6 decent colas if the the bottom ones don't do well. That could change though. If I see a lot of decent secondary branching coming from the mains I might train them for multiple small colas rather than prune them off. We'll see how they grow. It all depends on the height 6 main colas look like they might get to by the time the finals are rooted out. My tent is only 1.8m high. Also I have some regs in the tent and don't know how many females I'll get so if I get a good female ratio I might not have the room to train these low and wide. So for now I'm, going for 6 mains and less hassle training them  

Day 17.
All I did was check the nutes in my bucket. EC had risen to 0.89 and PH to 7.1 so In binned the mix.

Tent temps had been 21-27C for the 24hr cycle, roots 21-26 and RH 42-56%.

Day 18.
Temps 19-27C, roots 21-26, RH 39-49%.

I mixed a fresh 5L batch of nutes but this time replaced the IN root stim with VeloKelp. I had a bit left in a bottle so thought I'd try that and see if the PH holds more stable.

Background EC 0.5
Magnifical to 0.6
1.5ml of Mic, Gr and VK to 0.8

PH was 6.7 I added 0.75ml down and dirty to PH 6.3 and left this for half hour. PH was 6.9 so added a further 1ml D and D to PH 6.3

Gave them 300ml each with a run off about 100ml and that came out at EC 0.93

The nodes were stretching so I lowered the lamp from 45" to 40" above the tallest plant, the TP.

I then topped them at the 4th node. The TP was just starting it's 6th node so was easy, but the 5th nodes on the GG and SAH were only just giving me enough main stem above the 4th to top, so it was tight. What I do in this situation is slide a plastic plant marker carefully down one side between the fresh shoot and main stem. Then being more careful I place a clean sharp stanley blade down the other side and press the stem against the plant marker to get a nice clean cut without damaging the fresh new shoots. 

Day 19.
The girls were fine and showing no signs of shock.

Day 20.
Temps 19-25C, roots 21-24, RH 39-49%

The last mix wasn't very PH stable and carried on rising after the 2nd adjustment so I mixed another 5L batch.

Background EC 0.5 
3.5ml MC to 0.6
1.5ml VK,Mic,Gr to 0.8

5 drops of PH down to PH 5.9
So I tried phosphoric acid this time, left it 50 mins and it still rose to 6.3 so fed the plants 300ml each and the run off was 0.95 EC.

So the PH is still rising when using Phosphoric acid instead of the Down and dirty, and I think I know what's happening now. The water needs to be left to settle for a few days to allow gas exchange before mixing, so I've read. When I pot up into compost I think I'll carry this learning curve on by using the same nutrients, instead of going organic and top dressing the pots while feeding plain water. I won't need to PH in compost but I might PH (no lower than 6.5) just to try and get it right before trying coco again in the future, plus make it easier for the compost to buffer if the PH is going crazy. TBF the nutes are about 3 years old so that might be causing me problems too. This time I'll get enough water to fill the res and leave it standing for a few days to let the Co2 levels exchange and settle between the water and the air. Best get some VeloKelp ordered then to make up the full nutrient line When I pot up and set the Blumats up they'll be on plain water for a couple of weeks. This will give me time to try some mixes in settled water ph'd to 6.5 and see if it stabilises. 

Day 21.
Temps 19-24C, roots 21-23, RH 40-52%.

Here's the girls then. I took them out of the tent for pics on day 18 but it was really cold in the attic on day 21 so the recovery pics were taken in the tent with the lamp on. 

Gorilla Girl.
Before and after topping on day 18, then one focusing on her recovery and side branching forming on day 21.

 

 

Sweet Amnesia Haze.

 

 

Tropicanna Poison F1FV.

 

 

Group shot day 21.

That's all for now. Next update will see them being potted on. 
Happy growing, be lucky  

[jadenugs]

Jan 26th day 23 from showing.

The girls could have gone longer in the litre pots but the root balls were acceptable to pot up on day 23. Need to keep the grow on track for finishing with time to dry and cure. Then for once everything won't be a last minute rush for me  

Day 22.
Adjusted the previous mix back down to PH 6.3. EC was 0.81 and I gave them 400ml each. Run off came out at EC 0.95 

Temps 19-24C, roots 21-23, RH 40-59%

The girls were stretching since going under the CMH so I lowered the lamp to 36". Thought I'd give them a bit more fresh air so I turned the inlet fan up a bit that comes from the rad box. Left the one coming from the veg cab as it was. Then turned the tent extraction up from 50% to 60% until it just maintained negative pressure in the tent. The extraction fan is wired to low speed and plugged into a variac so the variac adjustment is 60% of low speed, whatever that is. If low speed is 50% of total fan speed then we're now on 30% of total fan speed. 

I prepped my 7.6L final pots by filling to lower level with House and Garden Bat special. Watered that with 400ml with added root stim at 2ml/L, then sat some empty 1L pots in and filled around them. I then watered around the pots with another 400ml, same solution, and put them in the tent to warm up. After a couple of hours I lifted the empty pots and the compost wasn't evenly wet around the sides so I gave them another 700ml of plain water to make sure they were soaked thoroughly. I also put my Blumat sensors in a bucket of water to soak. I've heard of people using a pipette to purge the sensor tops of air bubbles but I put my small pump in there, unscrewed the tops again under water and put them in the stream to push the air out. Worked a treat but I'll do it again before I set them up just to make sure. 

Day 23.
Temps 19-25C, roots 19-24, RH 39-57%

Checked the finals and the compost was evenly wet so I got on with potting up.  

Here's the girls (lights on) before disturbing them, side branching coming along well and looking quite happy. 

 

The empty 1L pots were slightly larger than the ones the plants were in, so when I removed them and dropped the root balls in I put them into a corner against 2 sides. I then got a lollipop stick and pushed the compost in around the other 2 sides to fill the gaps.  

A good teaspoon of TNC MyccorMax sprinkled up the sides and in the bottom. 

Gorilla Girl.
The roots before dropping her into her new home. As you can see she could have done with a few more days but there's plenty of root tips poking through ready to explore the compost. 

And in her final, stress free.

Sweet Amnesia Haze.
Her root ball was about the same as the GG so I never bothered with a pic of the roots.

Tropicanna Poison F1FV.
The roots were more advanced than the others so I took a pic, then wished I'd taken one of the SAH to make the update more complete. Never mind, too late now  

And in her final, stress free again. The whole process was done in the tent unzipped halfway with me halway in under the flap, to keep the warmth in and keep them happier than they would have been in the cold attic.

 

Group shot. 
I topped the pots up with more compost later on after the pics.
They all look to be growing at around the same pace for now. Side branching coming along evenly, the GG being just a little bit less stretchy. It doesn't look like the lowest nodes are going to do much so I'm glad I topped at the 4th for 6 decent colas. However, looking at how they're stretching in veg I'm gonna lower the lamp an inch a day until they stop stretching as much. If they carry on stretching then, I might top again for 12 mains and more of a bush type plant. We'll see how they grow This 942 bulb has done a few grows now so is losing it's strength so I doubt I'll keep it in for the first 3 weeks of bloom to try keeping stretch down like I usually do. One of my 930 agro bulbs has done the same amount of grows so that will be hung at the back for flowering and I'll put my new 930 over these babies. It's only been used once so should give these girls plenty of strong light. In fact I'm tempted to swap the 942 out for it now for the rest of veg but I'll see how things go as I lower the lamp. 

Thanks for looking. 
Happy growing, be lucky  

[Amo]

Very cool an informed update Jadenugs mate. 
Good decision on the topping a lil higher, I always take the 5th off an the 1st, it leaves you with three stronger growing nodes. 

I think your using a TD Silent fan, yea ?

If it is, then the lower speed setting is 80% off the full speed, I use one a looked this up when I got it, hope that helps some.  
 

An cool to see your using the TNC Mycorr Max as I had been looking at this stuff, it reads like it’s the bollock’s. 
What’s your thoughts on it ?

 

Good luck an  dude. 

[ANTHONY13]

well am not really bothered to do diaries anymore but to watch masters at work i am in.great choices of strains @jadenugs.i am sure it will be a beautiful representation of strains as always.

i am sitting in front row for this.

Atb

 

 

[Shumroom]

Great place to pick up some great growing tips,

excellent stuff mate 

 

I'm loving your clear explanation of why you're topping each plant where etc.

 

@ANTHONY13 don't put yourself down,

I'm pretty sure I remember seeing you produce some amazing flowers and enjoyed reading some of your stuff before  iirc

 

I'm really enjoying following all of the competition diaries,

learning new stuff and good banter

 

Atb

 

 

[sprog]

@jadenugs lookin sweet matey  

when i put mine in there final pots i put them in so that the growing medium is right up to the first node as it will be coming off anyway, just thought ad share.

your hygiene level is top notch to i must add  

[Punta Roja]

Informative and.. great plantsmanship J.

 

Nice side branching and looking a picture of health.

 

KUTGW

 

P 

[jadenugs]

Cheers @Amo mate. Yeah I was a bit late this time dude so went for the 4th. If I top at the 3rd nice and early the branches from the bottom node usually catch up quick before the tops get back into gear. Not always though  and they end up weak. Glad I've done it this way though as it hardly slowed them at all. They're growing nice and quick but the lower branches won't catch up so I've topped them again tonight. Just the top 2 from the 4th so hopefully the 4 decent branches underneath will catch up and give me 8 level(ish) colas. The bottom nodes will be coming off as they're doing fuck all  

 

Yeah man using the TD Silent and I've just had de ja vu. Have you told me this before about 80% and I've forgot? Thanks dude, that means I'm running at 60% of 80% so 48% of total speed which gives me peace of mind. I don't like running them at less than 40% of total speed really, I burnt a Systemair RVK out that way. 

 

Been using the TNC myccos for quite some time now and love it, just finished the last of a 600g pouch on these girls and it's lasted me 2 or 3 years. Very fine powder and goes a long way. Tbh there didn't seem to be a lot of fine hairs on the roots this time when I potted up, but new to coco and I didn't quite get the watering right in the early stages when in coco. Maybe that had something to do with it? Had some beautiful furry roots on past grow with it though.

 

@ANTHONY13 Great to see you in here mate, I was hoping you were gonna enter the comp. Would have been great to see your mastery with the coco bottom feeding and amazing scrogs of top class buds  Thanks for the kind comments, I try my best  

 

@Shumroom  buddy. I learnt the basics of growing from grow journals back in the day so to me they're not just a couple of pics and a quick explanation.  I've learnt much more from UK420 since so I try and give a bit back to help others if I can. Glad the details are of use  

 

@sprog Thanks mate   I've done that before  when they've been leggy, potted them lower down but never thought of cutting the bottom branches. I bet new roots fly out from the node. Nice tip   Dunno about the hygene level. I'm a right lazy bastard when it comes to cleaning up so I just try and keep things tidy along the way, save work later  

 

@Punta Roja Cheers P, side branching is coming on a treat since the pot up. Update soon. Haha you remembered the Plantsmanship, I think it was @botanics that put that word in my vocab.

 

ATB dudes and thanks for the good words. Be  

 

 

 

[Amo]

33 minutes ago, jadenugs said:

using the TD Silent and I've just had de ja vu.

 me too mate, when I was typing it out I was thinking I had this chat before, but I couldn’t remember properly if was with you or not 

 

Cheer’s for the TNC Mycorr Max review, an cool it lasted that long, this will be my first canna specific Mycorr an have been reading up on a few, an I liked the fact it has 5 species of trichoderma in it also. 
 

Glad I could help with the fan speed %’s 

 

ps: hey @ANTHONY13 mate, good to see you back having a look around these parts again