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

[Smokebelch]

@jadenugsAll looking good in early flower dude, that’s interesting stuff about the Silicon and PH of your water. Anyway good luck with the rest of flowering and keep up the good work.

 

[jadenugs]

Day 15 Bloom Update

Hi all, time for a Sweecret update for day 15 bloom which was 12th Feb and things aren't looking too bad. I must admit I was getting a little worried about the CCFV but she's looking loads better now IMO.

Day 12
Temps 19-27 (sitting at 27 when I opened the tent)
Roots 20-26 (25)
RH    40-53 (43)

They were fed 2L each apart from the SPCBD, having only 1.8L
The feed contained 1ml/L Epsom salts, 1.5ml/L Bio Bizz bloom and 2.5m/L Bio Bizz Fish mix.

Day 13
Temps 19-26 (25)
Roots 19-24 (24)
RH    44-56 (46)

No feed

Day 14
Temps 19-25 (24)
Roots 19-26 (23)
RH    44-54 (49)

 

Canopy temp average across the tops 22C. I check this from time to time with an infra red thermometer. Just lately the girls are praying for the light all the time apart from straight after feeding and then they still don't droop, they're just not as perky. Hope it stays this way as it's a wonderful sight to greet you when you open the tent.

Feed was the same as on day 12

I cleaned up the undercarriage on the SPCBD and the C47.

Day 15
Temps 18-25 (24)
Roots 18-24 (24)
RH    46-57 (52)

No feed

Stretch
The highest points of each plant from the floor and total stretch so far were:

Crystal Candy FV 25" (5")
Cream 47         24" (4")
Sweet Pure CBD   24" (6")
Green Poison CBD 22" (4")

Pics of their progress
Group shot at 15 days bloom

Crystal Candy FV
Looking better now I think and I reckon there'll be some nice colas if I can keep things sweet

A bit more of a side on view

Some of her flower tops forming nicely

Cream 47
I haven't turned her on her axis for a few days but this will be resumed to get more even light to all her tops. There are a few small buds forming down the middle of the plant at the bottom,  which I was gonna prune when I did the tidy up but why waste light with gaps! The plant just needs turning so they get more light.

A bit more of a side view
I'm really looking forward to seeing this one in full bloom. The LST was done late but she's ended up a decent shape for getting even light to all the tops if she's rotated often.

Full on side view to show the undercarriage and stem/trunk.
The main top is proper giving the frame some stress with her strength. The bulldog clips are holding well though.

Close up

 

The other 2 to follow.

 

[tokenroll]

@jadenugs everything is looking stunning great plant training with excellent pictures to boot. Cool as.

Toke...

[jadenugs]

 

Sweet Pure CBD
Still a bit behind the others with the bud formation.

And the undercarriage

A normal round stem has branched off from the fasciated stem. Sorry, you can't see the joint here, I'll get a better pic next time.

I was thinking of cutting it off close to the normal stem but decided to leave it on just for the diary, see how it ends up.
Looking a bit like a dandelion. So here we have 'Sweet n Dandy'

Some close ups

Same top with different camera settings

Green Poison CBD
Getting stronger by the day. I haven't thinned the colas out, I think I'm just gonna take a couple of middle leaves per day from now and see how she looks for getting light in there to the colas

Side view
Stretching nice and steadily across the canopy

Here's a close up of the damage on the older leaves between the veins that seems to be growing out as the leaves get bigger. From a distance it looks like salt and that might be what it is, excess salts damaging the cells??

And one of the newer leaves. I think we're in the clear now, just gotta watch what happens with feeding low doses of Epsom salts every watering. It seems to be working ok for now.

 

And a flower top to finish the update

for looking
Happy cultivating and be lucky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jadenugs]

@tokenroll thanks mate, trying my best to do these girls justice after their cruel start.  They've definitely showed their strength already so let's see what they can do in flower.

[Serpent]

Looking bang on in here  @jadenugs with plenty of budsites developing, it's going to be a jungle in here soon

[jadenugs]

@Serpent

[jadenugs]

Day 19 Bloom Update

Hi gardeners, hope your gardens are green and healthy. My girls were at day 19 of the bloom phase on 16th Feb, here's an update for then. Sorry it's late, had a lot of other stuff to deal with

Day 16
Temps 21-26 (26 when I checked)
Roots 19-24 (21)
RH    48-59 (49)

They were all fed with 2L containing 1ml/L Epsom salts, 1.75ml/L Bloom and 2.25ml/L Fish mix.

Day 17
Temps 19-26 (21)
Roots 19-24 (22)
RH    50-59 (57)

No feed

I removed 4 of the main inner fan leaves from the GPCBD to allow more light to the middle of the plant, just a few so not to stress her.

Day 18
Temps 19-26 (25)
Roots 18-25 (23)
RH    44-59 (49)

All were fed 2L containing 1ml/L Epsom salts, 1.75ml/L Bloom, 2.25ml/L Fish mix and 1ml/L Seaweed.
The SPBD had an extra ml/L of Epsom salts.

Day 19
Temps 20-27 (27)
Roots 19-24 (21)
RH    46-58 (51)

No feed

Took a few more middle fan leaves from the GPBD and tidied the CCFV up a bit by removing a few old damaged leaves.

I'm more than happy with my environment at the moment, it has been great with min/max temps nice and close to keep the stretch in control. The lamps are about 23/24" from the highest plant tops and the girls are perky all the time. Average leaf temps across the tops of the canopy have been 22C.

 

Pics of their progress
Group shot day 19

Crystal Candy FV

 

Healthy pistils and a nice coating of resin forming

Cream 47
Loving this plant. The older leaves are taking on a lighter more vibrant green. All the plants went a little bit dark with a blueish hint when I started giving regular Epsom salts and feeding bloom but I think they're getting used to the feed levels now as the buds get bigger and more demanding

Bud shot
Nice thick healthy pistils and a nice coating of trichomes appearing.
The young leaf tip twisting that I think was caused by excess Ca has nearly ironed out now.

Sweet Pure CBD
On day 18 it looked to me like she was showing Mg deficiency on some of the older leaves so I gave an extra ml/L of Epsom salts. I think this was a mistake as the veins have now faded too and there's no brown patches appearing like there would be in later stages of Mg deficiency. So more likely an N problem. The fresh leaves are still dark with no sheen to them so it's probably a lock out through feeding too strong bloom feed or possible salt build up at the roots from too much calmag. There's a bit of downward boating on some leaves. The Epsom salts has since been cut out and I'll watch to see what happens. If problems persist I might have to lower bloom feed. As usual we'll see how it grows and try work things out I think a good reset flush would be beneficial after all the problems, but I don't wanna mess my watering regime up. I might give a plain watering though if problems persist.

Bud shot
Quite long pistils on this girl. She might be behind on the bud formation but there's more trichs than I expected to see on a high CBD strain this early on in flower.

Sweet 'N' Dandy

 

Green Poison CBD

She's doing ok I think. These girls have been through the wars but they're soldiering on regardless of my early abuse. Just shows how resilient good genetics can be. As you know, I recently thought my problems started with too high a ph caused by Bio silicon. After further reading about ph in soil growing I realise that the readings I got were fine and a run off of 6.6 is ok, even if it is a little on the high side. So it looks like I was right about low temps in my veg cab locking out Ca/Mg in the first place. I then fed calmag in a desperate attempt to put them right and ended up overdoing it and causing more lockout. I never realised just how hard my water is but I think I've learnt valuable lessons from this grow and I'm hoping I can improve on future grows.

And a bud shot to finish the update. It's reassuring to see the red leaf stem problem not appearing on the newer leaves near the top

I'm hoping I'm over the problems and can concentrate more on some nice pictures as the flowers develop.

Thanks for looking, happy gardening and be lucky  

 

 

[Punta Roja]

Fighting the fight @jadenugs...

 

I've had similar probs with lockout on one of my plants....

 

The pot took ages to dry out which is what I needed before I took any action. It's a problem with PH I think which has been caused by low temps which has manifested itself as Phos lockout...your pics show classic symptoms..

 

A good dose of Bicarbonate of soda (heaped tablespoon per 10l) or Calcified seaweed as a top dressing should do the trick as opposed to Calmag which in itself could cause lockout.

 

Looking very nice though..

 

KUTGW

 

PR

[jadenugs]

@Punts

Cheers mate, I'm with you on the low temps and ph thing but my temps have been fine since they went into the tent, roots never below 18.

I think my earlier problem was lockout due to too much calcium  from adding the calmag, and the later problem of over dark leaves being from too much bloom feed and maybe Epsoms.

I'll keep an eye out and consider your suggestion dude

Will bicarb not raise the ph? My water is hard with a ph of 7'6

[Punta Roja]

@jadenugs

 

With you on the Calmag...yes the Bicarb will raise the PH...your water should raise the PH on it's own to an extent.

 

I'm off looking for an image...

 

Found it courtesy of @AutoMaster Cheers.

 

 

As you can see, it only takes a slight drop in PH for the plant to struggle obtaining P, Ca and Mg.

 

Things should improve now your temps have stabilised.

 

ATB

 

PR

 

 

[Serpent]

Good to read you're getting through the low temps/pH issue @jadenugs as your plants are looking bang on, and that canopy wow credit to ya on how you've got it so even

[jadenugs]

@Serpent

Cheers dude, yeah I wanted them level (ish) at the start of flower but I expected I'd have more work to do.  It's a real bonus that they've stretched more or less evenly and spared me more work during the stretch

The main on the C47 has managed to get back in front of the two side branches that were competing. I'm surprised she's not broken the tie down frame, she's a strong one.

 

Thanks for looking in

 

[jadenugs]

Update day 23 Bloom

Hi dudes, time for another update on what's happening in the Sweecret laboratory. The girls were 23 days into bloom on Wed 20th and I think they're doing ok but as always, could be better. Starting to look a bit hungry on the older leaves so I started upping the bloom feed a bit.

Day 20
Temps 20-27 (sitting at 21 when I checked)
Roots 19-24 (22)
RH    48-59 (57)

They were fed 2L each, containing 1ml/L Seaweed, 1.75ml/L Bloom and 2.25ml/L Fish mix

I lifted the circulating fan a few inch to compensate for the stretch, so it's only just catching the tops of the plants and not blowing directly on them.

Day 21
Temps 19-27 (24)
Roots 20-24 (23)
RH    49-61 (53)

No feed

I took a few more leaves from the middle of the GPCBD

Day 22
Temps 20-26 (26)
Roots 19-26 (25)
RH    45-58 (45)

They were each fed 2L containing 1ml/L Seaweed, 2ml/L Bloom and 2ml/L Fish mix

Day 23
Temps 20-27 (25)
Roots 19-26 (23)
RH    44-60 (51)

No feed

Stretch
The stretch is over I think and the measurements from the floor to the highest tops are:

CCFV    26"- total stretch 6"
C47     26"- total stretch 6"
SPCBD   26"- total stretch 8"
GPCBD 23.5"- total stretch 5.5"

Pics of their progress
Group shot day 23
I'm getting sweet aromas now when I open the tent.

Crystal Candy FV
Some nice colas forming

Couple of bud shots frosting up nicely.
Sweet smelling and I think I can smell bubblegum. Hard to tell with the complex aromas coming from these plants

Cream 47
Plenty of nice tops forming, can't wait to see this girl in full bloom

Bud shots
Getting sticky and smells like fruit salad chews

 

Closer of the the one above

 

And a few more

 

The others to follow:

 

[jadenugs]

Sweet Pure CBD
The fasciated branches have stretched more than the other main tops and the central canopy, and are multiplying rapid, albeit very leafy due to the whorled phylotaxy.
Smells familiar to other CBD strains I've grown, smells like orange with a hint of rubber to me.

Bud shot
The bud structure reminds me of some Jamaican I brought back once.

Green Poison CBD
Looks like it should yield well this one, nice looking colas forming.
Very sweet smelling of jelly tot sweets or something like that

The canopy a bit closer

Couple of bud shots

A side on canopy view

Here's one I took over a week ago for the monthly best pic contest, a lacewing guarding my sweet girls from pests. She was that sweet she had a sugar cube on her wing Unfortunately I found her dead, must have flown into the lamp.

That's another update closer to the finish. Time to watch the girls hopefully fatten up now if I can keep them healthy.
Thanks for looking, happy growing and be lucky