After having an abundance of issues growing organic in soil I am going to try these newfangled pyramid thingys.
Plants
3 x Purple Punch - Barney's Farm
1 x Gorilla Glue - bag freebie
1 x Durban Sunrise - Twenty20 Mendocino
Lights
20/4
Nutes
AN Sensi PH Perfect Grow and Bloom A+B
AN Carboload
AN Overdrive
AN MagXtra
Feeding Schedule
DrAutoFlower's Schedule
Setup
2x4 tent
2 x 100watt spiderfarmer lights
humidifier
ac infinity exhaust fan
2 x small fans for circulation
Plants
3 x Purple Punch - Barney's Farm
1 x Gorilla Glue - bag freebie
1 x Durban Sunrise - Twenty20 Mendocino
Lights
20/4
Nutes
AN Sensi PH Perfect Grow and Bloom A+B
AN Carboload
AN Overdrive
AN MagXtra
Feeding Schedule
DrAutoFlower's Schedule
Setup
2x4 tent
2 x 100watt spiderfarmer lights
humidifier
ac infinity exhaust fan
2 x small fans for circulation
Germination
Germinated all seeds with wet paper towel in ziplock bag laying on top of my audio receiver. All seeds popper within 24 hours. Yay! I then soaked the eazy plugs and deposited the popped seeds in the hole. Humidity set to 80%
Day 2
I almost lost all of them on day 1. I used the eazy plugs and wasn't sure how wet to keep them after the initial soak. It is so easy to drown seeds in soil that I wanted to make sure I didn't drown them. Well, they were too dry and it showed. I re-soaked the plugs and covered them with clear plastic cups and they greatly appreciated it and promptly bounced back. They were dry for about 12 hours so hopefully not permanent damage was done (except for one).
I started 4 seeds at first and when one of them looked ill I started another one as a replacement. So, the last one has popped but not sprouted yet. The 4 that sprouted all look good except for the ill one. It is at least a full day behind and may not make it at all. If it does make it I assume it will be stunted.
I moved the plugs to the pyramids after I saw the tap roots coming out of the bottom of the plugs.
My plan is to give water only for the first 7-10 days then start with DrAutoFlower's feeding schedule.
I started 4 seeds at first and when one of them looked ill I started another one as a replacement. So, the last one has popped but not sprouted yet. The 4 that sprouted all look good except for the ill one. It is at least a full day behind and may not make it at all. If it does make it I assume it will be stunted.
I moved the plugs to the pyramids after I saw the tap roots coming out of the bottom of the plugs.
My plan is to give water only for the first 7-10 days then start with DrAutoFlower's feeding schedule.
Day 3
The girls are all doing well for the most part. The purple punch that I thought wasn't going to make it is still hanging in there but definitely not feeling great. The "replacement" purple punch is looking good and should be sprouted tomorrow or the next day.
Light - was at 9900 lux and I increased to 14,000 because a couple of the seedlings looked like they were stretching a little too much.
Water - The eazy plug for the one that is germinating felt slightly dry so I watered it and covered it back up with the clear plastic cup. I can't tell you how good it feels to know that it is impossible to overwater these eazy plugs. As for the others, I soaked the pyramids yesterday before putting the plugs in and they are still wet and have pretty good weight to them so I didn't water today. Probably will water tomorrow.
Light - was at 9900 lux and I increased to 14,000 because a couple of the seedlings looked like they were stretching a little too much.
Water - The eazy plug for the one that is germinating felt slightly dry so I watered it and covered it back up with the clear plastic cup. I can't tell you how good it feels to know that it is impossible to overwater these eazy plugs. As for the others, I soaked the pyramids yesterday before putting the plugs in and they are still wet and have pretty good weight to them so I didn't water today. Probably will water tomorrow.
Day 4
All is well with the exception of the leaning one (the one I thought would not make it). It looks healthy except for stunted height and leaning due to damage to the stalk. My plan is to prop it up and hopefully, it will strengthen up on its own and grow straight.
The germinating one has sprouted so it is day 1 for it. Between the heated paper towel method and these eazy plugs, the germination period is much shorter than I am used to. 72 hours ago it was a dry seed in a bag and now it is a seedling. That blows my mind.
Water - I really thought I would have to water the pyramids today but they are still pretty heavy and damp to the touch so I am going to let them ride one more day. I am going to water them tomorrow regardless because they are impossible to overwater and I don't want to risk underwatering. I did water the newly sprouted one and all is well with it.
The germinating one has sprouted so it is day 1 for it. Between the heated paper towel method and these eazy plugs, the germination period is much shorter than I am used to. 72 hours ago it was a dry seed in a bag and now it is a seedling. That blows my mind.
Water - I really thought I would have to water the pyramids today but they are still pretty heavy and damp to the touch so I am going to let them ride one more day. I am going to water them tomorrow regardless because they are impossible to overwater and I don't want to risk underwatering. I did water the newly sprouted one and all is well with it.
Day 5
All is well. I transferred the final eazy plug to its mini pyramid. You can see in the pic that I waited a day too long, the tap root is wondering where the rest of the media is. The plugs fit pretty tightly into the pyramids so I pre-soaked the pyramid and pulled one side of the hole out a little (where you can see the cracks) in order to attempt to get the tap root down in there without damaging it. Fingers crossed.
Water - watered all pyramids today
Other - lowered the RH from 80 to 75 a couple of days ago and forgot to include it in the update. Daytime temps are around 72f and nighttime around 68f.
Water - watered all pyramids today
Other - lowered the RH from 80 to 75 a couple of days ago and forgot to include it in the update. Daytime temps are around 72f and nighttime around 68f.
Day 8
2022-10-31
A few developments since the last update.
Issue 1: PH. I will be using the ph perfect line of nutes from AN so I have not been checking my ph level. Which means, the genius that I am, I have been giving straight un-ph'd water up to this point since seedlings don't need much of anything nute wise. Unbeknownst to me, my tap water is a whopping 8.7. I noticed the issue because the leaves were beginning to turn green. Thankfully I caught it pretty much instantly and was able to flush the pyramids with water ph adjusted to 5.8. So, hopefully I'm back on track with this issue. This would have been a major problem with soil but with the pyramids I can get ph problems fixed instantly!
Issue 2: Mold. Yep, leave it to me to find a way to screw up the easiest method of growing known to mankind. Not sure what happened but one of the pyramids began forming really smaller, light white circles which looks a lot like the beginning of mold growth. I added some H202 to the water at 30ml per 10 liter so hopefully that will take care of it. I plan to keep H202 in the res the entire grow to keep all the boogey-boos at bay.
Other than those two issues everything is going smoothly. I lowered the light a coupe of inches and it is now at about 15k lux. I will begin feeding nutes in the next few days after the lockout clears up and the leaves (hopefully) turn back to their normal green.
A few developments since the last update.
Issue 1: PH. I will be using the ph perfect line of nutes from AN so I have not been checking my ph level. Which means, the genius that I am, I have been giving straight un-ph'd water up to this point since seedlings don't need much of anything nute wise. Unbeknownst to me, my tap water is a whopping 8.7. I noticed the issue because the leaves were beginning to turn green. Thankfully I caught it pretty much instantly and was able to flush the pyramids with water ph adjusted to 5.8. So, hopefully I'm back on track with this issue. This would have been a major problem with soil but with the pyramids I can get ph problems fixed instantly!
Issue 2: Mold. Yep, leave it to me to find a way to screw up the easiest method of growing known to mankind. Not sure what happened but one of the pyramids began forming really smaller, light white circles which looks a lot like the beginning of mold growth. I added some H202 to the water at 30ml per 10 liter so hopefully that will take care of it. I plan to keep H202 in the res the entire grow to keep all the boogey-boos at bay.
Other than those two issues everything is going smoothly. I lowered the light a coupe of inches and it is now at about 15k lux. I will begin feeding nutes in the next few days after the lockout clears up and the leaves (hopefully) turn back to their normal green.
Day 11
2022-11-03
Got a pretty good report today. The leaves returned to their normal green color after watering with ph 5.8 on day 8 (still can't believe my tap is 8.7). It is day 11 now and I am beginning to see stems turning slightly purple and the leaves just not looking very healthy, almost dehydrated looking. I know it isn't lack of water since I water them daily so I figured it must be time to start feeding. I had intended to use AN sensi ph perfect bloom for the entire grow but accidentally ordered grow instead. So, I went ahead and opened the grow and fed them 1ml / liter. The ppm was 300. I am a nervous nancy at the moment because I am worried about screwing up the nutes. This is my first grow that isn't organic soil. In soil if you screw up, it takes forever to fix and sometime it can't be fixed in time to save the plant. So, I am still in that frame of mind even though I logically know that fixing nute issues with these pyramids is pretty much instant. No pics today, feeling lazy.
Oh, one other note. The ph perfect brought the ph down to 6.7 so I still had to use lemon juice to get it down to 6. I am hoping that when I begin increasing the amount I feed them it will do a better job of bringing the ph down to the 5.8 range.
Got a pretty good report today. The leaves returned to their normal green color after watering with ph 5.8 on day 8 (still can't believe my tap is 8.7). It is day 11 now and I am beginning to see stems turning slightly purple and the leaves just not looking very healthy, almost dehydrated looking. I know it isn't lack of water since I water them daily so I figured it must be time to start feeding. I had intended to use AN sensi ph perfect bloom for the entire grow but accidentally ordered grow instead. So, I went ahead and opened the grow and fed them 1ml / liter. The ppm was 300. I am a nervous nancy at the moment because I am worried about screwing up the nutes. This is my first grow that isn't organic soil. In soil if you screw up, it takes forever to fix and sometime it can't be fixed in time to save the plant. So, I am still in that frame of mind even though I logically know that fixing nute issues with these pyramids is pretty much instant. No pics today, feeling lazy.
Oh, one other note. The ph perfect brought the ph down to 6.7 so I still had to use lemon juice to get it down to 6. I am hoping that when I begin increasing the amount I feed them it will do a better job of bringing the ph down to the 5.8 range.
Day 15
2022-11-07
Not sure if the girls are having issues or not. They look healthy overall and I am pleased with their progress at 15 days but something is off. The green in the leaves is not a consistent color, there are variations of green (meaning the green color isn't completely even, sometimes splotchy) but nothing that makes me think we have a serious problem. Also, some of the leaves, especially the new growth, almost look like your fingers do when you've been in water too long. Kind of wrinkly like over-watering but without the droopy leaves. They also feel thin and paper like. I know they aren't under-watered because they are getting fed daily. I also know they aren't over-watered since that is impossible with the pyramids (at least that is what they say). For now I guess I will watch them, they are still growing great so not sure I should change up anything just yet.
Now let's talk about the ph perfect nutes. I am experiencing significant ph drift in my reservoir. Each day I have to ph down it to 5.8-6 and in 24 hours it is at 7.1. I am not giving up on the ph perfect system just yet. After digging around on their website I discovered that it is supposed to auto balance ph for water with a ph between 4.5 and 8.5, my tap is 8.7. I would assume starting at either extreme (4.5 or 8.5) likely won't produce the best results, so my plan is to ph down to 7 the next time I mix up a new reservoir, prior to adding nutes, and see if that works better. Fingers crossed.
One other note: RH is still at 70 so I am going to lower it to 60 since we are well into veg at this point. Maybe the high RH is preventing the leaves from releasing enough moisture and that is the cause of the wrinkly leaves? Temp is around 76-78f.
Not sure if the girls are having issues or not. They look healthy overall and I am pleased with their progress at 15 days but something is off. The green in the leaves is not a consistent color, there are variations of green (meaning the green color isn't completely even, sometimes splotchy) but nothing that makes me think we have a serious problem. Also, some of the leaves, especially the new growth, almost look like your fingers do when you've been in water too long. Kind of wrinkly like over-watering but without the droopy leaves. They also feel thin and paper like. I know they aren't under-watered because they are getting fed daily. I also know they aren't over-watered since that is impossible with the pyramids (at least that is what they say). For now I guess I will watch them, they are still growing great so not sure I should change up anything just yet.
Now let's talk about the ph perfect nutes. I am experiencing significant ph drift in my reservoir. Each day I have to ph down it to 5.8-6 and in 24 hours it is at 7.1. I am not giving up on the ph perfect system just yet. After digging around on their website I discovered that it is supposed to auto balance ph for water with a ph between 4.5 and 8.5, my tap is 8.7. I would assume starting at either extreme (4.5 or 8.5) likely won't produce the best results, so my plan is to ph down to 7 the next time I mix up a new reservoir, prior to adding nutes, and see if that works better. Fingers crossed.
One other note: RH is still at 70 so I am going to lower it to 60 since we are well into veg at this point. Maybe the high RH is preventing the leaves from releasing enough moisture and that is the cause of the wrinkly leaves? Temp is around 76-78f.
Day 16
2022-11-08
I did quite a bit of work today.
First, I mixed up a fresh res, here is the lowdown:
1 gal tap water aerated for 18 hours, starting ph 8.7, ending 7.4
Ph'd water down to the 6.8ish range
4ml Sensi Grow Coco A
4ml Sensi Grow Coco B
2ml CalXtra (25% of what AN recommends since I don't have any obvious deficiencies)
15ml H202 (3 tsp)
The resulting ph is 6.4 and ppm 300
I resisted the temptation to PH down to 5.8 so I can see how ph perfect works without any PH'ing at all. Fingers crossed.
I also plugged up the second light and re-arranged the girls. They are getting 500-525 ppfd which should be just about right for this stage.
Temp is now around 80 and RH remains 65%.
I bumped up the exhaust fan to help with the heat from the second light.
I did quite a bit of work today.
First, I mixed up a fresh res, here is the lowdown:
1 gal tap water aerated for 18 hours, starting ph 8.7, ending 7.4
Ph'd water down to the 6.8ish range
4ml Sensi Grow Coco A
4ml Sensi Grow Coco B
2ml CalXtra (25% of what AN recommends since I don't have any obvious deficiencies)
15ml H202 (3 tsp)
The resulting ph is 6.4 and ppm 300
I resisted the temptation to PH down to 5.8 so I can see how ph perfect works without any PH'ing at all. Fingers crossed.
I also plugged up the second light and re-arranged the girls. They are getting 500-525 ppfd which should be just about right for this stage.
Temp is now around 80 and RH remains 65%.
I bumped up the exhaust fan to help with the heat from the second light.
Day 17
2022-11-09
A few interesting things today.
I am not sure if it is the CalXtra or not but the girls all seem to look healthier now. I noticed a few hours after feeding them yesterday that the uneven green color was evening out and all the leaves are now pretty much the same shade of healthy green. The CalXtra is in the res so the girls got some more today. I am pretty sure you typically only add a calmag product for one feeding but since I only used 25% of the recommended amount, I am hoping it won't hurt for them to get it about 4 days in a row. After that, I will be mixing up a new res and increase the base nutes from 1ml/L to 2ml/L.
The ph perfect system still doesn't seem to be working correctly. The res ph was 7.1 today prior to feeding. I resisted the urge to ph it down and fertigated at the 7.1 level. I will watch the girls closely to see if it has any ill effects. I am wondering if the ph perfect system will work better once I increase the dosage from 1ml/L to 2ml/L in a few days (around day 21)
There is a strange spot thing going on with one leaf on one plant. Really strange. At first I thought it might have been a water drop that bleached the leaf and that still may be the case but now there are smaller dots on the leaf as well. I'll keep an eye on it, right now I am not going to try to treat it since it is so isolated and the plants all look healthy.
These suckers are going to be short. I knew they would since I am using the pyramid minis but the purple punches are particularly short. All 3 are right around 4 inches. If it was just one of them I would assume it was stunted but since it is all of them, I guess that is just the way they grow in these small pyramids. Node spacing is really close so I am not sure how that is going to workout as the grow progresses or if I will be able to use lst clips on them.
The gorilla glue and durban sunrise are both taller with better node spacing, they are each around 6 inches.
A few interesting things today.
I am not sure if it is the CalXtra or not but the girls all seem to look healthier now. I noticed a few hours after feeding them yesterday that the uneven green color was evening out and all the leaves are now pretty much the same shade of healthy green. The CalXtra is in the res so the girls got some more today. I am pretty sure you typically only add a calmag product for one feeding but since I only used 25% of the recommended amount, I am hoping it won't hurt for them to get it about 4 days in a row. After that, I will be mixing up a new res and increase the base nutes from 1ml/L to 2ml/L.
The ph perfect system still doesn't seem to be working correctly. The res ph was 7.1 today prior to feeding. I resisted the urge to ph it down and fertigated at the 7.1 level. I will watch the girls closely to see if it has any ill effects. I am wondering if the ph perfect system will work better once I increase the dosage from 1ml/L to 2ml/L in a few days (around day 21)
There is a strange spot thing going on with one leaf on one plant. Really strange. At first I thought it might have been a water drop that bleached the leaf and that still may be the case but now there are smaller dots on the leaf as well. I'll keep an eye on it, right now I am not going to try to treat it since it is so isolated and the plants all look healthy.
These suckers are going to be short. I knew they would since I am using the pyramid minis but the purple punches are particularly short. All 3 are right around 4 inches. If it was just one of them I would assume it was stunted but since it is all of them, I guess that is just the way they grow in these small pyramids. Node spacing is really close so I am not sure how that is going to workout as the grow progresses or if I will be able to use lst clips on them.
The gorilla glue and durban sunrise are both taller with better node spacing, they are each around 6 inches.
Day 19
2022-11-11
Ok, not a great update today. I did not ph down the res 2 days in a row and watered with 7.1 ph because the ph perfect system is supposed to be awesome sauce and no worries, right? Wrong. I woke up this morning to what appears to be a Phosphorus deficiency on one plant and a mag deficiency just getting started on most of the other plants (lower leaves turning a slightly lighter color of green than the other leaves).
I bought the ph perfect grow on Amazon and there were several reviews that said they were sent expired product with the barcodes marked out. Well, mine barcodes are marked out too. So, the grow is going back to Amazon and I guess I will buy direct from AN from here on out.
Here is what I did today to try and fix all the issues. I hope the ladies will forgive me because I am sure they are feeling pretty stressed right now. I did this for all plants.
Ok, not a great update today. I did not ph down the res 2 days in a row and watered with 7.1 ph because the ph perfect system is supposed to be awesome sauce and no worries, right? Wrong. I woke up this morning to what appears to be a Phosphorus deficiency on one plant and a mag deficiency just getting started on most of the other plants (lower leaves turning a slightly lighter color of green than the other leaves).
I bought the ph perfect grow on Amazon and there were several reviews that said they were sent expired product with the barcodes marked out. Well, mine barcodes are marked out too. So, the grow is going back to Amazon and I guess I will buy direct from AN from here on out.
Here is what I did today to try and fix all the issues. I hope the ladies will forgive me because I am sure they are feeling pretty stressed right now. I did this for all plants.
- ph'd res (still with grow nutes) and fed but after a few hours I could tell the problems were getting worse so...
- I flushed with distilled water to get all the grow nutes out
- mixed up new res using distilled water and ph perfect sensi bloom (ph was 6.1 when finished so I didn't ph down)
- fed to waste instead of recirculating in the res like I normally do
Day 21
2022-11-13
Well, live and learn. The cool thing about growing is that you are constantly learning. The bad thing about growing is that the reason you are constantly learning is because you are constantly making mistakes.
Without going into a bunch of details, here is what I have done since last update.
PH'd water to 5.9 and fed. Tested runoff and it was 6.4. Not good so I continued to fed and test runoff until I got the runoff to 6.1. I fed to waste, not recirculation. I will continue to feed to waste with little runoff for now.
I decided that my tent temps were too low. The heater in the house hasn't been working great and the temps in the tent with lights on was right at 70f. I turned on a little 300w heater that I have in the tent and set the climate control thing to 78f.
Speaking of temps, I also added a fish tank heater to the res. The water temp was around 63f due to the house heater not working. I did not realize how important water temp was, apparently the ideal water/root zone temp is 68-72. Anything much outside of that range and it can cause all sorts of issues with the root system.
The combination of feeding until runoff was 6.1 and raising the temp in the tent seems to have done the trick and they are growing again (they hadn't grown much if any in 4 days). The girls have been through a lot these past 4 days. I don't think they will survive any more stress so I have to watching all conditions very closely to keep their environment as stable and ideal as possible.
Oh and I have no idea why I can't get the ph perfect stuff to work. I mixed a fresh res today and the resulting ph was 6.4. What? AN brags about how it will normally land right around 5.8 pretty much no mater what the starting ph is. Speechless.
Well, live and learn. The cool thing about growing is that you are constantly learning. The bad thing about growing is that the reason you are constantly learning is because you are constantly making mistakes.
Without going into a bunch of details, here is what I have done since last update.
PH'd water to 5.9 and fed. Tested runoff and it was 6.4. Not good so I continued to fed and test runoff until I got the runoff to 6.1. I fed to waste, not recirculation. I will continue to feed to waste with little runoff for now.
I decided that my tent temps were too low. The heater in the house hasn't been working great and the temps in the tent with lights on was right at 70f. I turned on a little 300w heater that I have in the tent and set the climate control thing to 78f.
Speaking of temps, I also added a fish tank heater to the res. The water temp was around 63f due to the house heater not working. I did not realize how important water temp was, apparently the ideal water/root zone temp is 68-72. Anything much outside of that range and it can cause all sorts of issues with the root system.
The combination of feeding until runoff was 6.1 and raising the temp in the tent seems to have done the trick and they are growing again (they hadn't grown much if any in 4 days). The girls have been through a lot these past 4 days. I don't think they will survive any more stress so I have to watching all conditions very closely to keep their environment as stable and ideal as possible.
Oh and I have no idea why I can't get the ph perfect stuff to work. I mixed a fresh res today and the resulting ph was 6.4. What? AN brags about how it will normally land right around 5.8 pretty much no mater what the starting ph is. Speechless.
Day 22
2022-11-14
Another day another round of learning. They are all on the rebound but I am now seeing that the different strains have different problems that aren't quite cleared up.
Durban Sunrise - rust type spots on leaves that started with lower leaves and is working its way up. I that this was a phosphorus deficiency but it is continuing to spread although not as fast. I mixed up some calxtra at 2ml/L and fed it that without the normal base nutes.
Gorilla Glue - dark green leafs at the top and talon shaped clawing so it has a nitrogen toxicity. I watered it with ph'd water and nothing else. Hoping that will bring the N back into balance.
Purple Punch - for the most part they look good but one was showing a small amount of the dark/rust spots that the DS was so I fed it half calxtra solution and half base nutes. The other two I fed base nutes, no calxtra.
I have figured out that it is better to mix up a batch of calxtra and keep it on standby to use as needed instead of trying to mix it in the res with the base nutes. That way I can fed a little here and there as needed.
Lowered RH from 60 to 55.
I think the DS is showing the first signs of hairs so I will be watching it and the others to see if they are starting to move into preflower.
Another day another round of learning. They are all on the rebound but I am now seeing that the different strains have different problems that aren't quite cleared up.
Durban Sunrise - rust type spots on leaves that started with lower leaves and is working its way up. I that this was a phosphorus deficiency but it is continuing to spread although not as fast. I mixed up some calxtra at 2ml/L and fed it that without the normal base nutes.
Gorilla Glue - dark green leafs at the top and talon shaped clawing so it has a nitrogen toxicity. I watered it with ph'd water and nothing else. Hoping that will bring the N back into balance.
Purple Punch - for the most part they look good but one was showing a small amount of the dark/rust spots that the DS was so I fed it half calxtra solution and half base nutes. The other two I fed base nutes, no calxtra.
I have figured out that it is better to mix up a batch of calxtra and keep it on standby to use as needed instead of trying to mix it in the res with the base nutes. That way I can fed a little here and there as needed.
Lowered RH from 60 to 55.
I think the DS is showing the first signs of hairs so I will be watching it and the others to see if they are starting to move into preflower.
Day 24
2022-11-17
Once again, a lot has happened but only a couple of things worth mentioning.
The little heater bit the dust and I woke up a temp temp of mid 60s and a root zone temp of low 60s. Ran to the gettin' place and got a new heater. I also increased the tent temp to 80 and now the leaf temp is 73ish and root zone (pyramid) is 71ish. Much better. So from here on out I believe I will leave the tent temp at 80 and check the leaf and root zone temps daily to make sure they aren't too high.
I have been checking the previously damaged lower leafs and comparing them against pics I took several days ago and they all look good, very little to no progress. Yay. I mixed up a 2L batch of calmagxtra and give a little bit here and there to the plants that had the deficiencies. So far so good.
Bud sites have starting to get going and we are officially in early flower. Yay. I have been tucking fan leaves behind bud sites as much as I can. I have decided not to do any lst since they have already been through so much.
Still feeding 5ml/L base nutes and will be bumping it some and adding carbo load beginning on day 30. Currently ppm in is around 360 and ppm out is around 245. Ph out is around 5.7.
Green algae has been slowly buildup on on the pyramids but they still soak up water like a champ and the girls don't seem to mind. I was hoping the H202 would keep the algae way but apparently not.
Lights are still in the 525ish range. I may start lowering them a little bit at a time but so far the girls seems to be doing really well at the current level.
Once again, a lot has happened but only a couple of things worth mentioning.
The little heater bit the dust and I woke up a temp temp of mid 60s and a root zone temp of low 60s. Ran to the gettin' place and got a new heater. I also increased the tent temp to 80 and now the leaf temp is 73ish and root zone (pyramid) is 71ish. Much better. So from here on out I believe I will leave the tent temp at 80 and check the leaf and root zone temps daily to make sure they aren't too high.
I have been checking the previously damaged lower leafs and comparing them against pics I took several days ago and they all look good, very little to no progress. Yay. I mixed up a 2L batch of calmagxtra and give a little bit here and there to the plants that had the deficiencies. So far so good.
Bud sites have starting to get going and we are officially in early flower. Yay. I have been tucking fan leaves behind bud sites as much as I can. I have decided not to do any lst since they have already been through so much.
Still feeding 5ml/L base nutes and will be bumping it some and adding carbo load beginning on day 30. Currently ppm in is around 360 and ppm out is around 245. Ph out is around 5.7.
Green algae has been slowly buildup on on the pyramids but they still soak up water like a champ and the girls don't seem to mind. I was hoping the H202 would keep the algae way but apparently not.
Lights are still in the 525ish range. I may start lowering them a little bit at a time but so far the girls seems to be doing really well at the current level.
Day 28
2022-11-21
Another good update today. I've pretty much just been feeding daily and tucking fan leaves to reveal bud sites. I'm trying to figure out if I should feed twice a day, I tested it for 2 days and got some minor burned tips so not sure if I should continue. Still feeding 5ml/gallon and mixing 3 gallons at a time. Just mixed up a fresh res today and added 3.5ml/gallon of carbo load to get the buds some sugary goodness.
All the girls have really been stretching the past few days and bud sites looking good. No trichs yet but shouldn't be too long.
Lowered RH to 50 today since we are officially out of pre-flower and into flower.
Trying to figure out if I should do any defoliating. With as much stress as these girls have already endured I'm not sure if I should mess with them or not. I'm gonna do some research and make a decision. The only one that looks like it could really use some defoliating is the Durban Sunrise. It is also shorter than the rest. Must be a genetics thing.
Also, ph perfect is still not doing its job. I have to ph down every day. I ph to 5.8 and the next day it is up to 6.2 or so.
Another good update today. I've pretty much just been feeding daily and tucking fan leaves to reveal bud sites. I'm trying to figure out if I should feed twice a day, I tested it for 2 days and got some minor burned tips so not sure if I should continue. Still feeding 5ml/gallon and mixing 3 gallons at a time. Just mixed up a fresh res today and added 3.5ml/gallon of carbo load to get the buds some sugary goodness.
All the girls have really been stretching the past few days and bud sites looking good. No trichs yet but shouldn't be too long.
Lowered RH to 50 today since we are officially out of pre-flower and into flower.
Trying to figure out if I should do any defoliating. With as much stress as these girls have already endured I'm not sure if I should mess with them or not. I'm gonna do some research and make a decision. The only one that looks like it could really use some defoliating is the Durban Sunrise. It is also shorter than the rest. Must be a genetics thing.
Also, ph perfect is still not doing its job. I have to ph down every day. I ph to 5.8 and the next day it is up to 6.2 or so.
Day 47
2022-10-09
Haven't taken the time to update in a while. The past several days I have been battling more deficiencies. I think it was due to salt buildup but not certain. PPM in has been a little over 600 and ppm out has been a little over 900 (girls were showing some nute burn tips and leaf edges). I was ph'ing to 6.2 but I think that was too high. The eazy plug website says to ph between 5.8 and 6.0 so that is what I am doing now. I flushed all of them really good with ph'd tap water then feed just base nutes at 25% AN recommended (4ml/G). That was yesterday and today it looks like the leaf damage has slowed or possibly completely stopped so hopefully I am on the right track. I am going to feed with the same res today then mix a new batch tomorrow and include carboload and overddrive to get back on track with dr autoflowers recommendation but I may use lower quantities of all of them. I am supposed to be up to 8ml/G base nutes now and they were burning at 7ml so I think I will try 6ml tomorrow and see how it goes. I have also been supplementing with calimagic because I believe coco requires daily calmag because it doesn't bind to coco the way it does other media. Not sure if I need to supplement since my base nutes are made for coco, so I may hold off on using calimagic to see whether or not it is needed.
It has been a real roller coaster learning all this stuff. I've only grown in soil before so this is a completely different world.
Haven't taken the time to update in a while. The past several days I have been battling more deficiencies. I think it was due to salt buildup but not certain. PPM in has been a little over 600 and ppm out has been a little over 900 (girls were showing some nute burn tips and leaf edges). I was ph'ing to 6.2 but I think that was too high. The eazy plug website says to ph between 5.8 and 6.0 so that is what I am doing now. I flushed all of them really good with ph'd tap water then feed just base nutes at 25% AN recommended (4ml/G). That was yesterday and today it looks like the leaf damage has slowed or possibly completely stopped so hopefully I am on the right track. I am going to feed with the same res today then mix a new batch tomorrow and include carboload and overddrive to get back on track with dr autoflowers recommendation but I may use lower quantities of all of them. I am supposed to be up to 8ml/G base nutes now and they were burning at 7ml so I think I will try 6ml tomorrow and see how it goes. I have also been supplementing with calimagic because I believe coco requires daily calmag because it doesn't bind to coco the way it does other media. Not sure if I need to supplement since my base nutes are made for coco, so I may hold off on using calimagic to see whether or not it is needed.
It has been a real roller coaster learning all this stuff. I've only grown in soil before so this is a completely different world.
Day 48
2022-12-10
I am not going to add calmag anymore unless I am certain there is a deficiency. I saw on another thread that it is easy to lock out calmag since AN coco already has calmag in it. Maybe that was one of my issues, too much calmag? It could just as easily have been salt buildup or a little of both. Salt builds up and shows deficiencies even though it is actually lockout so I add calmag which make it worse. I also just learned that salt buildup can/will cause nute burn. Gotta keep salt from building up.
I mixed a new res today 25% less concentration than drautoflower's schedule. So I did 6ml base, 3ml carboload, 3ml overdrive (all per gallon). Resulting ppm was 503. I will keep the ph between 5.8-6.0
I am also going to recycle runoff from now on as a rule and just feed right over the res bucket. Getting a bunch of runoff with each feeding should keep any salts from building up and keep the ph and ppm the same as the res. At least that is what I am hoping.
Fingers crosse.
I am not going to add calmag anymore unless I am certain there is a deficiency. I saw on another thread that it is easy to lock out calmag since AN coco already has calmag in it. Maybe that was one of my issues, too much calmag? It could just as easily have been salt buildup or a little of both. Salt builds up and shows deficiencies even though it is actually lockout so I add calmag which make it worse. I also just learned that salt buildup can/will cause nute burn. Gotta keep salt from building up.
I mixed a new res today 25% less concentration than drautoflower's schedule. So I did 6ml base, 3ml carboload, 3ml overdrive (all per gallon). Resulting ppm was 503. I will keep the ph between 5.8-6.0
I am also going to recycle runoff from now on as a rule and just feed right over the res bucket. Getting a bunch of runoff with each feeding should keep any salts from building up and keep the ph and ppm the same as the res. At least that is what I am hoping.
Fingers crosse.
Day 52
2022-12-14
Things are back to smooth sailing. I rigged up a fish pump to my res and have been feeding directly over the bucket so runoff is recycled. I have found that if I don't get a good amount of runoff when feeding I eventually get lock out. So, I run the pump over each pyramid for 3 minutes to flush out unused nutrients and keep the ph stable.
Buds are putting weight on nicely. A few hairs started darkening a couple of days ago. Looks like the gorilla glue will finish first followed by the purple punch plants and finally the durban sunrise, I have no idea what kind of yields to expect. I was hoping for 2 zips per plant but not holding my breath since all the girls have been through a good amount of stress.
Things are back to smooth sailing. I rigged up a fish pump to my res and have been feeding directly over the bucket so runoff is recycled. I have found that if I don't get a good amount of runoff when feeding I eventually get lock out. So, I run the pump over each pyramid for 3 minutes to flush out unused nutrients and keep the ph stable.
Buds are putting weight on nicely. A few hairs started darkening a couple of days ago. Looks like the gorilla glue will finish first followed by the purple punch plants and finally the durban sunrise, I have no idea what kind of yields to expect. I was hoping for 2 zips per plant but not holding my breath since all the girls have been through a good amount of stress.
Harvest
Ok, so I dropped the ball on keeping up with this journal but I wanted to pop back in to give a post mortem on the grow.
- Average yield was approx. 2 zips
- I had to reduce Dr. Autoflower's feeding dose by approx. 25% to prevent nute burn and salt buildup
- The best quality flower was from the first 2 plants, harvested approx. 70-75 days
- I let the other 3 plants go too long ( approx. 90 days) waiting for amber trichomes, the leaves dried out/died and flower was airy and subpar compared to the first 2 plants
- PH is important, don't trust the PH perfect system. Check and balance PH daily, 5.8-6.0 target
- I had good success watering the plants daily for approx. 60 seconds and recirculating the runoff back into the res. I wasn't sure how well this would work but it did great and since you are basically flushing the plants daily, there aren't any salt buildup issues (salt buildup caused lockout earlier in the grow so this will prevent that from happening)
- Need to keep light strength below 750 ppfd during flower (500-550 for veg)
- AN ph perfect coco nutes have enough calmag in them that extra should not be needed as long as PH is good and there is no salt buildup
- Aerate water for 24 hrs prior to use
- Add 10ml h2o2 per gallon of water
- Keep temp at 78f
- Plastic cups over plugs during germination to keep from drying out
