My Sweecret laboratory. 5th Sweet Seeds competition grow diary 2018/19

[jadenugs]

@Punts

Thanks mate, had flu since new year and just struggling to kick it into touch. On the mend though  

 

@Serpent

I've never checked the ph either mate but I'm trying  it with a plant in my veg cab that's been through hell and back through negligence, just for a little understanding of what's going on in the pot. It's been confusing me why I'm having to add calmag when my water is hard. Maybe the ratio of Ca and Mg is out.  I've read that people have had problems with this before. 

I lowered the calmag and they got worse, upped it and they're getting better. So I'll just keep adding it for now  

 

@Smokebelch

Cheers dude, hope your harvest is drying nice and steady  

[jadenugs]

Day 7 bloom

The girls were 7 days into bloom on Mon 4th and the crowns were starting to form. Happy days.

Day 5 Bloom
Temps 16-25 (sitting at 24)
Roots 19-25 (20)
RH    40-55 (42)

No feed

Day 6 Bloom
Temps 16-25 (17)
Roots 20-25 (24)
RH    39-53 (49)

They were fed 1.8L containing 0.5ml/L Magne-Cal+, 1ml/L PM OT grow and 2ml/L Fish mix. The Sweet Pure CBD had 1.6L.

Day 7 Bloom
Temps 16-25 (21)
Roots 18-25 (24)
RH    37-57 (55)

No feed

Stretch
Crystal Candy FV started at 20" to the highest point from the floor. Now sitting at 23", so a stretch of 3" in a week.
Cream 47   20"-22" (2")
Sweet Pure CBD 18"-20" (2")
Green Poison CBD 18"-21" (3")

No work done on the training, apart from loosening some ties to allow the outside mains to keep up with the middle canopy. I'm really pleased with how the girls have shaped up. All seems to have gone to plan in that respect. Maybe I should have cut some middles back on the CCFV when I did the GPCBD for a flatter canopy  but I like the way she's grown and some of the middles will be good I think.

Pics of their progress
Group shot at day 7 bloom. I'll leave the trays of water in there for a while longer.

Crystal Candy FV
Nice structure and I think she'll bud up well. I'll tidy up the undercarriage soon and get rid of any scabby leaves that aren't needed.

Side view

Close up

Cream 47
Loving this girl, she's strong with solid side branching

Side view

Close up

 

 

More to come:

 

[jadenugs]

Sweet Pure CBD
If you look at the 8 main colas across the top and bottom, 2nd in from top left and 2nd in from bottom right are the branches from the 1st node that I was gonna cut off in the early days. I'm glad I kept them now because they've ended up being quite sturdy. The fasciated branches bottom left and top right are gonna be really leafy but it will still be good to watch what happens with them. I've had them before and the buds weren't too bad, quite a lot of leaf sandwiched in the middle of the buds though. This plant will mainly be used for oil but I'll keep a few buds back for cocktail vapes.

 

Side view

Couple of close ups

Green Poison CBD
Loving the canopy on this one.

Side view

close ups

That's another update closer to the finish.

Happy cultivating and be lucky  

 

[Punta Roja]

Excelente! @jadenugs.

 

GP looks like a winner..

 

ATB

 

PR

[Serpent]

Looking good @jadenugs and let us know what you find pH'ing Bio-Silicon as I'm curious, I should check myself, but I let my pH meter dry out and don't have any buffer to calibrate it so I wouldn't trust the reading

[vince noir rock n roll star]

yeah cant fault your grow at all chap ..nice .

[jadenugs]

@Punts

@Serpent

@vince noir rock n roll star

 

Thanks for the comments lads

 

Serps I made half a litre of feed up for my poorly plant in the veg cab. 1ml/L calmag and 1ml/L fish mix took the ph down to 6.6. I added 10 drops of white distilled vinegar which works out at 1ml/L and that took it down to about 6.2. Fed the plant and checked the run off. That was about 6.2 so looks like the compost is fine.

I'll add 1ml/L Bio silicon to the same feed on the next watering and see if there's a difference in ph. I'll let you know mate. This is measured with a liquid test kit btw so it's only a rough test

[jadenugs]

Day 11 Bloom update

Hi growers and welcome to my Sweecret laboratory for another update, day 11 bloom which was Friday 8th
The girls are doing great and I think I'm on top of the issue for now. Well I'm hoping so anyway. The CCFV has certainly picked up and the rusty spotting isn't getting worse so I'm pleased about that.

Day 8
Temps 17-26 (sitting at 25)
Roots 19-24 (24)
RH    44-55 (47)

They were fed 1.8L containing 1ml/L Magne-Cal+, 1ml/L Bloom and 2ml/L Fish mix apart from the Sweet Pure CBD which had the usual 1.6L.

I cleaned up the lowers on the Green Poison CBD. The side branches that face down when the mains are trained horizontal, they never seem to catch up by the time they've curled back up around the branch so they came off early before the stretch is over. This will direct more energy to the stronger ones that count. When the stretch is over I'll probably thin out the colas and have less of them, with more space to breathe. As usual, I'll see how it grows before I decide.

Day 9
Temps 17-26 (24)
Roots 18-25 (25)
RH    43-60 (53)

No feed

Day 10
Temps 19-27 (26)
Roots 18-26 (25)
RH    44-57 (44)

They were fed 1.8L containing 1ml/L Epsom salts, 1.5ml/L Bloom and 2ml/L Fish mix, except the SPCBD which is still drinking a bit less and had 1.6L. If the only differences I have to think about are volumes and not different feed requirements between the girls then I'll be well pleased.

 

As mentioned before, I knew my water was hard but adding calmag in small regular doses was ok on previous grows. This time it's not working for me as I've probably given too much, so I've cut it out altogether.

Anyway they'll be needing plenty of Mg as they hit the main flowering phase so instead of just cutting out the calmag I've replaced it with a small regular dose of Epsom salts. This way, opposed to one large dose 3 weeks into flower, I can hopefully keep check on things and not overdo it. If there's an imbalance of Mg/Ca in my water this might also balance it out. I've read somewhere that Epsom salts help dissolve other salts that have built up. Some flush formulas have Mg in them apparently. So if I've got a build up of Ca this might help to dissolve it and unchoke the roots.
I'll be keeping the dose low and regular so I can keep an eye on things.

Day 11
Temps 19-26 (25)
Roots 19-25 (24)
Rh    45-58 (49)

No feed

I cleaned up the lowers on the CCFV. Only the SPCBD and C47 to do now, and then a final tidy up as the stretch finishes.

Pics of their progress
Group shot at 11 days bloom

Crystal Candy FV
She seems to be a lot happier now and her leaves have perked up a bit

Side view
Nice strong trunk and side branches

Close up of a forming bud

Cream 47
Loving this girl, she's quite happy and strong as an ox. I really wish I'd trained her like the others from the start.

 

Side view
The biggest 2 side branches on the main stem are still fighting for apical dominance while I've kept the top down, they've both been supercropped at least twice too. The main stem aint half putting some tension on the training frame but the glue is holding out well.

 

The forming budlets are starting to tighten up nicely.

 

Part 2 of the update to follow

 

 

[jadenugs]

Sweet Pure CBD
She's surprised me this one. Was a bit slow at getting going in veg but came on strong later. Same is happening again, with the buds being a bit slower to form. Hopefully she'll surprise me again

Side view
I'll prune this one up next and leave the C47 until last, there's not much to do with that one I don't think. This girl defo needs a tidy up underneath, plenty of suckers that won't reach the light. It's hard to see from the pic because I've lowered the exposure to take the glare off the tops from the lamps.

Close up

Green Poison CBD
Still rocking along nicely and her canopy has stayed relativly level with no further training as she stretches steadily.

Side view.

Cleaned up to reveal her trunk and branches which look nice and strong

 

And to finish off with, a close up of a flower forming.

That's all for this update. I'll record the stretch figures in the next update for day 14/15.

As always, thanks for looking.
Happy cultivating and be lucky

[jadenugs]

@Serpent

Here's the results of testing ph with a liquid test kit for the other plant in my veg cab. I could have just tested the Bio silicon for ya mate but thought I'd share the whole thing.

 

Just to recap,

"I made half a litre of feed up for my poorly plant in the veg cab. 1ml/L calmag and 1ml/L fish mix took the ph down to 6.6. I added 10 drops of white distilled vinegar which works out at 1ml/L and that took it down to about 6.2. Fed the plant and checked the run off. That was about 6.2 so looks like the compost is fine.

I'll add 1ml/L Bio silicon to the same feed on the next watering and see if there's a difference in ph."

 

Plain tap water stood for 24 hours showed 7.8

 

So I made the same feed up of calmag and fishmix, adding 1ml/L of Bio silicon and this is what I got. The result looks to me to be at least 7

 

I added 10 drops of distilled white vinegar like last time and this is what I got, still about 7. Nowhere near enough to take the Bio silicon down.

Last time, without the Bio silicon 10 drops took it down to 6.2  so that's a fair difference but I should mention the water was straight from the tap last time and not left standing for 24 hrs.

 

I fed the plant slowly so that the mix never ran through the sides of the fabric pot and then checked the run off. Looks like somewhere near 6.8 to me which is on the very high side IMO so my conclusion is what I suspected. Bio silicon mixed with my high ph water isn't suitable for the compost and that's what's caused my issues from day 4 of this diary. As soon as I gave them their first feed with Bio silicon, the next day the tips started yellowing and rust spots appeared. I should have realised but thought it was down to cold temps.

 

Afterwards I checked the ph of the tap water with 1ml/L of Bi silicon added and this was the result, about 8.4

 

I'm gonna buy a ph meter and some ph down so next time I use Bio silicon I can ph down and avoid these problems

I've since flushed the poorly plant with 3 times the pot volume of ph6 water followed straight away with a feed of 2ml/L Fish mix and within a day I'm seeing nice white healthy roots growing through the bottom of the pot. The plant had more or less stopped growing before.

Hope this helps someone out there who's growing in compost, using tap water with a high ph and adding Bio silicon.  If more nutes were being added for bigger plants, that might take the ph down some more and it might not be an issue. New to me this ph thing like but it's fun working it out and I think I've saved my poorly plant

 

Happy growing

 

 

 

 

 

[Serpent]

That's interesting @jadenugs thanks for posting your findings as you could be on to something, I know the pH from my tap is a lot lower than yours but food for thought with future grows if I use Bio-Silicon.

[jadenugs]

@Serpent

A proper check with a ph pen would be more accurate I think mate. At least this gives a good idea how alkaline the Bio silicon is in combination with my water though

[Punta Roja]

Nice growing J

[jadenugs]

@Punts dude

[Serpent]

12 hours ago, jadenugs said:

@Serpent

A proper check with a ph pen would be more accurate I think mate. At least this gives a good idea how alkaline the Bio silicon is in combination with my water though

 

Yeah it probably would, I've actually got two, a cheapo one from fleabay and a BlueLab, the latter I've never taken out of the box as I was given it. I should get them calibrated and test the pH, maybe next grow.