Sweet Amnesic Gorilla Girl in the Hazy Tropic of Canna.

[jadenugs]

Feb 16th day 44.

I switched the timers on day 44 so here's an update for up until then.  

Day 40.
I gave them another prune of the lowers, taking the side shoots from the next node up from last time on all the main branches apart from the 2 top leaders. I also removed more shading fan leaves from the middles. 

Turned the dripper adjusters down by half a notch on the SAH and TP as they were still a bit droopy on the lower leaves. 

There was still 10L plain water left in the res at EC 0.46 I added 0.2mlL each of Magnifical (Mc), Velo Kelp (VK), Micro (Mi) and Grow (Gr).  

EC 0.55
PH 7
Temp 21C

Pot level temps 19-27C, roots 17-20, RH 41-74%. 

Day 41.
Temps 17-24, roots 17-21, RH 43-75%. 

Lights off temps and root temps were getting lower so I turned up the dial on my rad from 2/3 to 3/4 and the extraction back down from 60% to 50% on the variac. I also pushed the rad right to the back of the box in front of the outlets to make sure most of the incoming air was passing over it.  

I checked the res and temps were 20C, EC 0.55, the PH had risen to 7.5 
I've not added any PH down as there's no need here, but I now know the PH still rises with these nutes after sitting the water for a few days before adding to the res. That's whether I PH down or not. So when I have another go at coco I'll try some different nutes, possibly Maxigrow and bloom as I've read they keep stable after the first adjustment. 

Day 42.
The res was getting low and I noticed an Mg defficiency setting in so mixed a fresh batch of 20L. 

Background EC straight from the tap 0.37 PH 7.4
0.5ml/L Mc to 0.43
O.5ml/L VK to 0.45
0.5ml/L Mi to 0.51
0.5ml/L Gr to 0.6

When mixed into the tank final EC was 0.59

The above was a mistake. I meant to up the Mc and Vk to combat the Mg def but upped the Mi and Gr on auto pilot and paid for it   The tips were burnt on the SAH and TP after a few hours so I added 10L of plain water. This took the EC back down a bit to 0.57 

Temps 16-25C, roots 17-20, RH 40-76%.
I was scratching my head at the low temps since insulating the tent and checking ducting so I checked the ducting over again. Low and behold, a tear in one of the ducts coming from the rad box in a hard to spot position. Can't believe I missed it, maybe I pulled the ducting when I had previously added extra tape at the other end to the fan. The tear must have already started though because the sudden drop in temps was the reason I added the tent insulation! 2 fuck ups in one day but I sorted it  

Here's the offending tear hiding unerneath the duct going to the veg cab, sneaky little bastard  

1.5L water bottle with ends cut off fits snug inside the ducting. 

Inserted and taped up. Was a fuker to get at without disturbing the veg cab ducting. Temps went straight back up  

Oh yeah, one of my RCD adapters packed in recently so I fitted a double socket with built in RCD. It's the latching type that doesn't need resetting after a power cut so I don't have to worry about my extraction if there's a power cut when I'm out. If you don't use rcd's peeps, they are a must I now have a spare non latching type RCD adapter in case the one my rad is plugged into packs up. The rad is on it's own separate cable coming from elsewhere because of the current it draws.  

Day 43.
I was a bit worried about the mix still being too strong after the previous day's calamaties so I emptied the res and filled with 20L. 

0.5ml/L Mc to 0.42
0.5ml/L VK to 0.45

I never emptied the res fully as I don't want air in the line. Wedged the tank up at the back to keep the outlet covered and got another couple of litres out so there was only about 3L of the old mix left in there. 

Pot level temps were high now during lights on so I turned the rad thermostat dial back down from 3/4 to 2/3rds, then again later on down to 1/2. The main switches have been set on 2 out of 3 the whole grow. 

Pot level temps 22-29C, roots 19-24, RH 39-64%.

Day 44, last day of veg.
I was still a bit concerned about Mg def on the Tropicanna Poison and the EC had already risen in the res to 0.56 so I added just an 1/8 ml/L Mc which took the EC to 0.58  0.02 doesn't sound much but I already burnt my girls so don't wanna overdo it, with the compost still being fertile and the Mc having 3% N. The Mg problem has been halted for now so all's good and I'll start back on a low strength mix of all the bottles soon. 

Pot level temps 21-28C, roots 22-25, RH 48-78%.
I turned the rad thermostat down again to 5 o'clock on the dial because I want lights on temps lower and lights off temps higher to keep them as close as possible to minimise stretch. After the stretch I'll raise the lights on temps again. The milder weather should do this for me to a certain extent, but extraction will also be raised. 

They'd been in their finals for 21 days and the TP was getting tall so I switched the timers to 12/12 as planned. 

 
Pre stretch measurements.
(From pot level)

Gorilla Girl 16"
Sweet Amnesia Haze 15"
Tropicanna Poison 22"

I normally get temps of 21-25C in the room in winter and that keeps the stretch down most of the time, along with making sure the pots are fully rooted. Since insulating the tent and getting higher lights on temps I decided to re introduce my old tube heaters I used before the external rad box was built. They've got home made heat deflectors fitted to direct the heat towards the root balls/plants. I used to have them in the middle of the tent with the deflectors facing out to the plants but this time I've placed them at the front and back of the tent facing inwards, as I don't want them in the middle in case I burn the Blumat feed tubes. So I had to strip one down and turn the deflector the other way. Easy done, just copper wires punched through the aluminium and twist tied around the brackets. the longest is 165w and the shortest is 120w I think (decal sticker is missing).

 

They're plugged into a digital thermostatic plug halfway up the tent wall on an extension gang attached to the tent brace. I can't lower it level with the canopy as the extension cable is at full stretch. The temp there was showing 31C while pot level temps were about 27 so I set the plug at 26 so it doesn't come on at lights on but should keep temps good at lights off. I could have just plugged them into a timer for lights off but I don't want them running the full 12 hours on top of the rad and leccy blanket if I can help it. They'll probably be running constant anyway to attempt 26 at that height in the tent during lights off. I'll see how it goes and make necessary adjustments. 

Onto the plants then.
Not much else to say really, I've mentioned the Mg def and burnt tips earlier. One more thing, the root balls of the SAH and TPFV seem to be shrinking as if they're not getting wet to the outsides. This could well have contributed to the burnt tips. I don't want to open up the drippers any more just yet though as they're looking really happy as they are, as if they're getting the right amount of water. The lower leaves are standing bolt outwards, no more drooping. I might adjust the drippers a bit as they go into flower and drink more. Gonna be a nightmare trying to water from above if I need to flush, I can get my fingers down the sides of the pots easily. The run off drainage racks were removed so I could sit the pots directly on the tent floor when my temps dropped. So these will have to be put back in place at some point if I need to flush them, or quick fix deficiencies on individual plants. 

Group shot.
Taken before I put the tube heaters in. 

Gorilla Girl.

 

 

Sweet Amnesia Haze.

 

 

Tropicanna Poison F1FV.

 

Still no pistils on the pre flowers and she's a fast version. Thought she would have been first, she's just teasing  

Tent is smelling sweaty and humid when I open it but no obvious aromas yet. Soon be smelly flower time  

Happy growing, be  

[Openairbud]

Nice update mate, loads of info there. I have an rcd double socket that powers my cupboard. Is there an obvious way to tell whether it's a latching type? Aside from flicking the power 

 

They are looking good sturdy plants, big buds on the horizon! 

[jadenugs]

@Openairbud Cheers dude, happy with their structure so hopefully there'll be some big buds  

 

I'm not sure if there's a way to know the type from looking at it. Like you say though, just flick the power off and on at the mains. If you don't have to reset the socket you know it's latching  I should get a latching type adaptor for my rad really, as it messed up one of my grows after a massive drop in temps after a power cut. Was off for about 4 hours. I was struggling to find one when I searched though, will have another look.

 

 

[shire]

Great detailed diary with brilliant sharp pics, n1 

 

Looking forward to the flower bit  

[jadenugs]

 @shire mate  

 

Main plant pics are a Nikon 50mm and the close ups are with my shiny new Sigma haha. I'd been reading reviews on it and it was always in the top 3 so after your comments I took the plunge  

I just need to get used to it now for when I have some flowers  

[shire]

Nice one mate. I don't think you will be disappointed  with your new toy.  Looking forward to the flower bit even more now,  atb 

[tokenroll]

@jadenugs great job and cracking pics m8, enjoy your sigma. Wish i has known you where buying one as im selling mine shortly, typical lol. Make sure and turn the os off when used on a tripod or you will end up with not so sharp images.

Toke...

Edited February 23, 2021 by tokenroll

[Sweet Seeds Apolo]

I love the growing area you have set up for yourself. 

 

I'm sure you enjoy growing more and more this way 

 

You are doing very well, keep it up!

 

Sweet smokes,
- Apolo
 

[jadenugs]

@shire Thaks mate, defo no disappointment with the new toy. Getting to grips with it  

 

@tokenroll Haha yeah typical, cheers anyway. I would be wary of buying a lens 2nd hand in case it had been dropped but I know yours will have been treat with respect  

Cheers for the advice mate, I already found out the hard way. Had to play before reading instructions and decided to read them when things weren't looking too good. I wouldn't mind but I already knew to turn VR off with Nikon lens when on tripod and it's same thing innit  

 

@Sweet Seeds Apolo Thanks mate. Adds fun to the grow adjusting and adding things to beat the attic environment. I never realised that the old AC type fans still use the same wattage when slowed down but do now so I might be investing in a fancy environment controller and EC fan sometime in the future  

[jadenugs]

Feb 22nd day 6 bloom.

Hi dudes, the girls were 6 days into 12/12 on Monday so here's an update They're not stretching too much but the Tropicanna poison is still pulling away as expected with the Cookie genetics. We'll see what the next 2 weeks bring but I'll more than likely have to do some bending on the TP. I was hoping to grow her as more of a natural looking plant, but it makes sense to flatten her out to maximise the space so she yields better and I can also turn the LED up more to maximise the shorter plants. It's a shame the CMH isn't dimmable or I'd be able to dial it down just enough to keep temps up and give the LED some welly. I think both lamps with the LED up full will be too much for this space, we'll see how it grows   

Day 1.
I pinched the highest tops on the TP to try and slow her down a bit.

Pot level temps 20-27C, roots 23-25, RH 52-76%.

I made a simple venturi from old aquarium gear I saved, to add some more oxygen to the res. So it cost me nowt  

1/2" hose with valve and some 8mm air pump tube cut at an angle. 

The hose fits the Maxijet outlet nice and tight after heating in hot water and shrinking on cooldown. 8mm hole drilled into the hose and top of the valve outlet so the tube is a nice push fit and doesn't come loose. The opening of the angled tube faces towards the outlet to the right, creating enough reduction in pressure to draw the air down through the tube as the liquid passes around it. The aquarium filter material in the pump inlet has since been removed, as the pump sucked it in and severely reduced flow. Maybe a pipe gauze between the filter and pump inlet would do the job but would have to be a good fit so it doesn't get pulled in and ruin the pump.

  

Airflow can be adjusted by raising or lowering the 8mm tube and changing the amount of restriction in the main hose. It's pushed right in to the bottom at the moment and creating plenty of bubbles for what I need. I know you hydro boys need a lot more DO with smaller bubbles but this seems to be doing ok for my needs, just to put a bit more oxygen into the res It's chucking out more bubbles than this now I've removed the filter at the pump. 

Day 2.
I turned the thermostatic plug for the tube heaters up to 27C and raised the LED power up from 105w to 110w, so that's 425w total power with the CMH. 

The res was getting low but it was late when I checked and I wasn't sure what my next mix was gonna be. So I just topped up with 2L plain water to see them through the next day until lights on. EC in res 0.55 

Pot level temps 22-29C, roots 23-25, RH 42-64%. 

Day 3.
I pinched the tops on the TP again, every one this time so some have been pinched twice. Just enough to flatten the stems and slow the juices but stay upright. 

Mixed a 20L batch for the res.
Background EC 0.36 straight from the tap (It rises to 0.45 when sat in buckets for a day).
1/4ml/L MC, VK, Mi and 1/2ml/L Nature's Candy (NC) to 0.46
I'll make a dedicated post about the nutrients if I get time. 

Total volume in the res 25L, final EC 0.49

Pot level temps 21-28C, roots 22-25, RH 42-51%.
After the readings I placed the hygrometer at canopy level in my usual place at the side of the tent, so I can keep an eye on canopy temps as they flower. I have an infra red thermometer but I think I knackered it while making oil and I'm sure it reads low but I still use it from time to time. I'm getting readings of 23C with it lately just below the upper fan leaves a few hours after lights on.  

Day 4.
On checking the res the EC had risen to 0.58 as expected after gas exchange. 20L remaining so all 6 plants including the others had used 5L total in 24 hours, average of 833ml per plant. When hand watering these pots every 2nd day they'd be on maybe 1.4-1.6L at this stage so the girls are drinking nicely from the Blumats. Still confuses me that the root balls shrank though Fuckit, it aint broke so I aint fixing it. If they start looking thirsty I'll open the drippers up a bit.  

Canopy level temps 23-28C, roots 22-25, RH 44-55%.
I've managed to raise the lights on temps to 28 and still keep lights off within 5C so I'm chuffed with this. Let's hope it stays that way or the TP will go wild  

Day 5.
EC 0.58

Canopy level temps 23-28C, roots 23-25, RH 46-57%.

Day 6.
EC in res 0.58

Res getting low, but rather than a 20L mix I decided on a 2L mix to see them through the next day again. This time with different nutes added to suit the oncoming bloom phase and see how they liked it. 

Background EC 0.38 (sat for an hour first).
1/4ml/L MC to 0.41
1/4ml/L VK to 0.42
1/4ml/L NC to 0.44

1/8ml/L Mi to 0.46
1/8ml/L Bl to 0.49
1/8ml/L Astro Flower (AF) to 0.5

Added to res, combined EC 0.57

Canopy level temps 23-29C, roots 24-25, RH 48-62%.
As an added note I round up or down from the hygro readings. Canopy level temps were 23.4 to 28.7 so still close to the 5C max difference I aim for. 

Onto the plants.
The group shot and main plant pics were taken on day 5 with a 50mm lens but the pics of tops and roots were taken with my new Sigma and I messed them up for the exact reason Toke mentioned above I've included the first root pics to show the root population on the surface but took some more of the tops and closer root pics on day 6 that were better.  

Group shot.
The earlier Mag def is still under control, just the old damaged leaves showing on the TP and GG. New growth on all 3 is a bit twisty with pale leaf ends but should be ok as I get a balanced feed into them and up the MagnifiCal, as the compost nutes are used up. My last grow in Bat Special was top dressed with guano at one week into 12/12 and that was a bit late as I had to suplement with liquid feeds. Should have more control with these mineral nutes if I can get the balance right with what's left in the compost, he says! 

As of Aug 19 my water has:

Calcium..........47.8 ppm
Magnesium........31 ppm
Sulphate.........4 ppm

This tells me I have moderately hard water with a medium level of Calcium, high level of Magnesium and low Sulphate. The Ca/Mg ratio is 1.54:1 which only gives me 3/4 of the Ca needed to make the recommended ratio of 2:1 

So I believe the twisted, yellow tipped new leaves are the start of a Ca problem caused by the ratio not being right. This is why I add calmag in already moderately hard water, to try and get the balance right. And of course all this new high intensity technology puts high demand on the plants. When I used to veg under flourescents and CFL my plants were always lush and healthy but since using leds I always run into problems early if I don't stay on toppa tings with calmag. I should really look into adding Calcium carbonate alone without the Magnesium so I'm not putting too much Magnesium in. I'll up the MagnifiCal steadily and see how they look in a week  

 

Gorilla Girl.
Smelling of deep mixed fruit on the stem rub. 

Surface roots aren't as well populated as with the other girls but her root ball hasn't shrank as much either, so her root ball must be more saturated than the others. She's happy enough though and defo aint over watered. 

Upper fans have faded as she gets closer to the lamp and the demand for nutrients rises. Same for the other girls.

Close up of roots emerging from the root riot cube.

 

Sweet Amnesia haze.
Stem rub still produces the lemon, and getting stronger. Loving the structure of this girl. The front and rear tops are more or less of equal height. Just the angle of the photo makes the rear one look taller.

Some furry un focused roots for ya   Nice supporting roots from the base of the stem.

Upper growth.

Nice healthy furry roots, in focus this time. Sorry about the white fibre, didn't notice it at the time of taking the photo.

 

Tropicanna Poison F1FV.
Gangly but good solid structure. Next time we haffi train dem from a sprout Very potent sour citrusy smell from the stem rub. In fact I don't have to rub, just touch the stem and the aroma is released into the air. Gonna be a stinker me thinks, can't wait for the buds. 

 

More surface roots than the others and extra supportive roots just starting to grow from the main stem. I think I'll top this one up with compost/coco mix and shove some down the gap around the root ball.

I finally noticed pre flower pistils on day 5. Not the best of photo's though.

 

Crowns forming nicely. MagnifiCal will be upped soon, see if it sorts the twisty fresh growth out. 

TNC MyccorMax doing the do.

Well that's another long winded update out of the way. Thanks for looking and good luck with your grows  
Happy growing, be  

[Amo]

16 hours ago, jadenugs said:

adding Calcium carbonate

This got me thinking last night, as I have got the mag issue’s under control but they still always wanting more calcium. 
When I web searched calcium carbonate last night I also came across calcium nitrate and calcium sulphur an also gypsum an ended up a lil  confused shall we say. 
Then just to add to the confusion some more, when I searched “add calcium to soil” I seen several sites/ppl say to use Epsom Salt’s to replenish your soil with calcium, confusing as I understood Epsom salt’s to be for mag deficiency, an now understand it to be for both mag an cal, though more for mag. 

So I don’t know if to just add more Epsom salt’s to the feed mix with the fear off over feeding with mag or to look for something similar to yourself or just add something like mono cal. 
Just when you feel ye is getting some knowledge built up as to what your doing, this hobby has a way off making you feel like a child learning to read 

 

Don’t mean to de-rail your comp diary mate, you just got me thinking an reading. 
 

ps: the tnc root porn. 

[jadenugs]

Hey up @Amo  no problem dude, thanks for popping in  

 

Right then, I'm no expert, forgot more than I've learnt over the years but here's what I think and you can make your own mind up  

Not so sure about gypsum which is the same thing as Calcium sulphate I think. The only time I've read about that is when I've wanted to break clay down for outdoor grows in shitty thick stodgy clay places but still never used it and opted for coco and dolomite lime. Plants don't need much sulphur AFAIAA so might cause lockout. Would mess with the PH. 

Calcium nitrate has a lot of Nitrogen so I don't think I'd use that, especially for flowering plants.

I don't know much about the calcium content in Epsom salts. Like you I've only ever used it to add Magnesium.

Dolomite lime is Calcium carbonate based so that's the one I'd go for mate. It also has mag but is more Ca, so with my water being high in mag and only moderate in Ca I think it would balance things out and get my ratio more on point. I don't think it's that easy to OD with either Ca or Mag cos the girls use quite a bit for cell building, photosynthesis and uptake of other nutes. But as always take it easy and move up gradually until you either see things get better, or worse, see signs of toxicity/lockout. This is why I'm not too keen on learning to mix soils while I'm still doing competition diaries. If you wanna top dress with dolomite I'd go for the finest powder form you can get so it breaks down and becomes available sooner. Hope this helps mate and thanks for mentioning the mono Cal, I never thought of searching for owt like that. I'll have a look into it. 

 

The nutes I'm using have 6 bottles for flowering and there's Mag in more than just the MagnifiCal bottle so I've gotta watch what I'm doing. I'm relying on them being well balanced and I'm trying to get the right ratios into the girls as soon as i can. Last mix was 1/4ml/L of all 6 bottles so I'm there, just gotta up them all together steadily and watch the plants. But also trying to bear in mind what's left in the compost with the slow release guano I would have been much better using Clover where the nutes are used up quite quickly. Also these bottles have been in my attic for over 3 years just in a box and you know the winter/summer extremes up there  My organic nutes keep fine in a coolbag but I didn't have room for these and they were just forgotten about until last year when I had a go at coco and they worked fine. I'm just a tight cunt and didn't wanna throw them out haha. I'll defo be looking at coco again but with Grower's Ark or Intense Coco  

 

Have a good weekend dude  

 

Ps, 3 times I've been signed out while trying to answer ya   Internet not playing game.

 

[Punta Roja]

Excellent update J, loving the Venturi and... you're a bit young for grey pubes aren't you? 

 

ATVB

 

P

[Amo]

18 hours ago, jadenugs said:

in my attic for over 3 years

Yea mate, elbows as we can’t shake hands  haha

I have couple backups stored similar  

Some say tight, I say efficient. 
 

An cheer’s for the info/reply, as reading that was helpful in unconfusing the confusion  

Gonna try calcium carbonate when I learn about doses, so mono cal for now, water is 0.0, calmag to 0.6ec an still they want more cal. 
 

I like to learn, so kutgw mate 

[jadenugs]

@Punta Roja Cheers dude, yeah the venturi is simple but doing the job.

 

Haha I hope so. How old you have to be for grey pubes like?   Makes you wonder about dealer weed when they stash it down their knackers   Always grow yer own everybody  Unless your dealer is a bird  Not a 100 year old bird, there'll be no juice on it  

 

@Amo  Yeh man  

 Waste not, want not  And we can't  forget the environment  

 

You're welcome to the info Bro, just what I think though, no expert  

 

I like to learn too, every day  

 

ATB lads