Seedstockers Purple Punch - Old Dog/New Toys

[Goodbloke]

Bollox @samhighI put a post up last week basically running through how veg was going & then wabbling on at length about the humidifier I used (mainly to have something to talk about & because it's a pretty good unit), to now find out thanks to you that it's not here. Guess I ballsed up the posting bit, oh well.

I'll try to make this right today & get an update sorted, getting this up to date. 

Really glad you put your comment, I thought the replies were a bit slow. 

[Goodbloke]

Couple of things to report, one piece of advice is sooooo good, that despite fairly limited experience I'm tempted to tag it as a TOP TIP, as feel sure it will apply to and be useful for a large majority of the membership.

so let's address this first.

If you have plans to get 'stuff' sorted and generally have a productive day (In my case it was addressing the lost post & generally getting this excuse for a diary somewhere around about up to date) and a courier arrives with this.....

Do not under any circumstances unpack, assemble and have a toke.

 

Bloody hell, that can hit hard.

 

The other item was that upon starting this update, all the 'lost' information was still sitting there in the editor, result. So what follows was from a week or two back.

 

 

No grow related dramas as they progress through Veg. The light dimmer has incrementally increased to 290w, it's quite a change swapping to LED, the main noticeable differences to the HID's is just how much nicer it is to work under, pop on some sunglasses, turn the dimmer down and enjoy true colours under white light, perfect. The reduction in heat is also obvious from the get go, have had to juggle a couple of oil rads to get where needed and mounted a 12" recirc fan above the light blowing straight down.

 

 

 

 

I popped a pair of Eluteng 120mm 12V 1A speed controlled fans to replace the recirc at canopy level. Anybody got their hands on the new AC Infinity clip on recirc fans yet? Still seems a gap in the market for a good quality, long lasting, reliable, safe and affordable product, hopefully these will be it.

 

I took some PAR maps using the Uni-T UT383BT coupled with the PPFD meter app as per the MIGRO video 

 

 

I also took a set with the same setttings using the Photone app and have some PAR maps from the site sponsor for the Scopex 350. I'll get everything compiled and post the results.

 

Paying WAY more attention to environment than previously, the AC Inf extraction kit with environment settings available on the controller has proven to be a real advantage, pretty much set and forget. When the plants were small my RH couldn't get close to a ball park minimum. It was time for a new gadget. After some minimal research, I looked for a top fill humidifier, either small enough to fit into the tent or have a suitable supply pipe/s to keep the unit itself outside and with sufficient capacity to last a day. The Elechomes 5.5l ultrasonic unit was chosen.

 

 

Initial thoughts were mixed, I checked/filled it twice daily, and it probably averaged about 3litres/12Hrs raising the RH from 40odd to 75%. The biggest frustrations were the lack of a natural tactile feel to the virtual buttons on the front, the illuminated symbols, the default settings (including heating) that it defaults to as opposed to last used settings if the power goes off. Most of these issues were negated when I went to chuck the box out and found the remote control it comes with.

 

This makes a huge difference, it's got proper buttons and the display on the unit can be turned off.

 

The rotatable outlet arrangement can be removed and a delivery pipe bodged onto it for remote siting if required. Now the plants are bigger it's no longer being used, I'm happy I got it, it was a minor comfort seeing the RH at a more favorable number. In a square metre of space I found it the ideal size for ease/frequency of filling and its ability to keep the RH up. I used a standard kitchen jug filter to provide the water supply and at somewhere between 4-6 litr4es/day this worked fine.

 

The plants have seemed fine, the front right expressing a greater Indica trend than the others and it's going to struggle to fill its area of mesh before running out of room for the others and making the flip. It is a looker though, compact and dense.

 

Nothing particularly noticeable smell wise yet, just the warm humid forest smell that hints at the delights (fingers crossed after last time) to come.

 

Scopex 350 18/6 @ 290w 24" above canopy.

Temps 23/24 lights off 26/27 lights on - Res tank 24

EC 1.4-1.5 Canna Aqua Vega 2 part

PH 6.0

Potassium Silicate 6% - 0.5ml/l

6" Extract - Fan off speed 2

Tap water EC 0.8 PH 8.0

 

Next stop flower.

 

As usual cheers for dropping by and taking the time. Stay safe.

 

[somelad]

Nice grow, a little tip I'd remove the sliver hanging bracket on the scopex and just mount it directly to your rope ratchets, as if you accidentally knock the led it can come off the hangers 

[Goodbloke]

Yeah cheers @someladI did get the supplied metal hangers flying off on the initial hanging of the Scopex.

It seemed far more secure once suspended as its weight keeps the hanging brackets in place. 

Think I'll take your advice though and remove, I'd really hate it to end up on top of the girls. 

Will be a height saving also.

[Goodbloke]

Got pitched a couple of curve balls at the beginning of flower, doubly concerning to one that knows absolutely nothing about American rounders. One skimmed past with little damage, the other, straight in the bollox.

I found myself having to go away unexpectedly for a few days & as my life is hardly a non-stop social whirl, my setup requires daily attention which is usually not a problem.

I could already remotely monitor the environment, monitor being the key word, I can't make changes remotely. The tent seems to be happily dialed in though, the AC Inf extraction kit with Cont67 is a good value upgrade to the previous on/off RVK setup. The res needs a daily top-up in flower, so I used a 100l slimline water butt and cobbled on a WiFi stop valve actuator. This along with a WiFi water level sensor thingy & a WiFi camera (I wanted to be able to see the valve actuate and get a visual on the res level) worked fine. The stand the 100l tank comes with provided an adequate head.

 

 

 

3 of the 4 plants did their bit admirably in veg and filled their section of the screen, the 4th, was much slower to spread and is a real dense, stocky specimen. Being concerned mainly about almost empty jars (I previously used all my skills and produced a tent full of budrot) I flipped to 12/12 on 01/04.

April Fool?

April Tosser.

 

Day 5

 

 

Day 10

 

Day19

 

Colours starting to show

 

Day 

 

No particularly noticeable smell as yet, they all smell identical to me, pleasant but nothing specific. 2 of the 4 appear identical visually, with a 3rd stretching a tad more and a 4th (the dense/stocky one) stretching a lot less. I think it's a very pretty plant, the colouring is swift to change during stretch and varies from subtle to in your face. Beautiful.

Stretch had finished within 3 weeks.

 

I'm going to stab the 'Submit Reply' button now (hopefully more successfully than last time) as I want to grab some current pics at lights on, and post ASAP as I have some concerns I'd like to grab the opinions on of people who do this with their eyes shut. I also need to relate the curve ball to the bollox problem.

 

Cheers all, as ever many thanks for taking the time, it's incredibly heartening and much appreciated. Stay safe.

[MindSoup]

Love the space age water butt mate, we're well and truly living in the future aren't we. Girls are shaping up lovely and living up to their name. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by MindSoup

[Goodbloke]

Thanks @MindSoup, will be very interested in your view on these pics.

 

Soooo, following the 12/12 switch (01/04) things have started to unravel somewhat.

 

I keep forgetting to make allowances for my advancing age and blindly think I can ask my body to perform the type of tasks it used to handle easily 40 years ago. I put my back out cleaning my teeth. Well, for full disclosure and accuracy it went as I bent down to pick up a dropped toothpaste tube. Bollox. Lollipopping below the screen was at least mostly achievable as I could lie on the floor and trim, reaching the rear left plant proved too much to properly tackle as my tent is in a corner. I did manage to tidy up a bit and it can only improve airflow over what it was like.

 

Above screen proved a tad much and I retired to my sickbed. Before I knew it I was past the point where I would normally stop any defoliationor training and decided (mainly in the interest of minimising pain) to let them go native.

 

I need some help with what is going on in the next set of pics, so here is some general data.

Temps 23/25 off. 27/28 on.

RH mid flower 50/55

Extract on auto with temp/rh triggers

Scopex 350 @ about 16" on full 12/12 - No light leaks

PH 6.0

EC 2.0 (tapwater 0.8)

 

The back left plant (which i can't reach) is trying to say something, hopefully you peops who can speak 'plant' might be able to translate for me. The colour difference to her sisters is clearly noticeable from this overhead from Day 28 & Day 35

 

 

Same plant various views

 

The plant to the right of the one in question in the above pic  is the same distance from the lens, the colouring, leaf size differences etc 

 

All plants are fed from a single res.

 

I have had some pheno differences, the small/dense plant that was very slow in both veg and flower has a different leaf size but its current colour is more inline with the others

 

Any insights gratefully received. Thanks for dropping in. Stay safe.

 

[Shumroom]

It looks to me like she(back left) is a bit sensitive to the feed levels. 

 

@NezA @fatboy77 what do you think?

 

Atb 

 

 

[NezA]

I don't have any hands on experience of hydro, but I am looking very closely at switching to Coco at the moment. An EC of 2.0 is very high. Most people on here smash it at an EC of ~1.3-1.4 I've seen the occasional 1.5... but 2.0 is huge IMO

[Goodbloke]

Agreed @NezAit is high. I'm adding 50% of my tap water's 0.8 on.

Saying that, I haven't checked the plain tap water in a month, will check now. 

 

[NezA]

You might want to look at what GA can do for you if your background EC is 0.8 I hear they offer custom feeds for people in your situation.

[Goodbloke]

Interesting. Thanks for the GA tip. 

Water testing service kit ordered. 

[Goodbloke]

Good fast service from GA with the water analysis, I'll get the results posted up.

 

Need some immediate advice though. The burnt plant continues to degenerate. I have ignored the high EC of my tap water with a zero allowance and been running at EC1.8. Everything else to my untrained eye seems to be ok.

 

Bad back aside, should I get this plant cut out? I'm paranoid about rot, or is it safe to continue and see what happens? They are very nearly at the 7 week mark.

 

 

[Seedstockers-Mark]

@Goodbloke How's things going since your last update my friend? 

 

I hope all is well 

[Goodbloke]

Oops, sorry @Seedstockers-Markforgot this was out there hanging.

It was all a bit of a disaster mate. All problems were caused by myself & your genetics were not provided with an environment in which to shine. 

While they were finishing up I had my water analysed & custom nuits made and started over, just at 3 weeks 12/12 now and things are looking much better.