Good in da Hood

mulch 100% Coco (some Canna, some Char) , in fabric pots, eventually to flower under two 1200w Meizhi LEDs . I planted 10 beans to start, 2 of each strain plus 2 Mango Creams. Sadly, I screwed up somehow, only 5 sprouted and when I checked the Rapid Rooters on the ones that didn't sprout, I found 4 out of 5 of them with tiny taproots seemingly frozen in place. I didn't spray the rapid rooters several times a day like last time, so it may have been my fault. Lesson learned. All grow bags have 8 grommets installed to help anchor LST wires. The Seemango in the Canna had a rough transplant (don't ask, mistake in germination), so hopefully it will recover and stand up. Beans were dropped in water on 8/6/18 for about 26 hours (it would have been closer to 12 but my Rapid Rooters developed a "white beard" in the fridge, so I had to wait until the following day to make the 90 minute trek to the hydro store leaving the beans to soak longer than I wanted. ). Then dropped in damp Rooters that were soaked in distilled water with a tiny bit of Roots Excelerator. Coco was charged with 1/4 nutes and PHed water along with full strength Cal Mag and Roots Excelerator prior to rooters going in. A week later, a similar feeding based on week 1 of GH guidelines (quartered). A similar feeding was done a week later. Sprouts were moved under 1 light, the other disabled for heat/electricity use. The light, unlike last time, only has the Veg LEDs turned on for now. As the plants grow, the other light will be engaged and as they flower, the flower button will be deployed. The week of germination/sprouting and the first actual week of growth are combined in this diary. At this point, they are given about 1.5 gallons until about 30% runoff. They will be treated like they were in soil during veg until they get fully rooted, with a wet/dry cycle, then feedings will increase coco style until once daily. My last grow proceeded that way in 7 gallon pots, I hope switching to 5 gallon pots won't increase the frequency to multiple times a day.

mulch Moved up to half strength feeding, full strength calcium and supplements. Despite precharge of coco, the Sleepy Yoda had some significant signs of calcium deficiency (a little on a Seemango aand NLxBB as well). I am wondering if the roots just haven't discovered it yet, but I am going to up CalMagic to 3.5 ml/gal to stay ahead of this. Because of an error, both Seamango plants were transferred from a solo cup and seem a little behind the rest. Otherwise, just cruising along as they start to get to the height where I can begin to tie them down.

mulch New leaves lack evidence of calcium deficiency, Halted once again successfully I think. I suspect using hard water Micro while growing in coco is the culprit. Next bottle of micro will NOT be hard water. Lots of leaf growth. I expect an explosion pretty soon.

mulch Sleepy Yoda got another Cal def, so upping to 3.75 ml/g, but I was right, explosion of leaves. They are staying short, as well, so I have not LSTed them yet. If I have not mentioned, I PH down with white vinigar, worked great last grow. And cheap.

mulch Still chugging along in Veg, getting really bushy. I attempted to LST but the plant is currently so low and bushy leaves were forced into the coco, so I am hesitant to LST any further. The grey spots were likely wind damage from a fan, which has now been reconfigured to indirectly blow air around. I noticed some red stems so a little Epson salt was added to the last feeding. The numbers in my nutes on GrowDiaries is moving by itself, so I will probably just list my nutes next time.

mulch Still vegging, sex has shown. One more feeding of late stage nutes (half strength), then likely move to transition nutes. My water tests at 0.34 EC I PH down with white vinegar Floramicro 2.5 ml/gal Floragrow 2.5 ml/gal Florabloom 1.25 ml/gal Roots Excelerator 0.55 ml gal Drip Clean 0.4 ml gal Floralicious Grow 1.25 ml/gal Photosynthesis Plus 5 ml/gal Armor Si 0.5 ml/gal FloraBlend 2.5 ml/gal CaliMagic 3.75 ml/gal BioAg Ful-Power 9 ml/gal SM-90 3ml/gal EC= 1.65 Ph 5.7-5.9 (9/24/18, one day late for my next week updaTE)tei should be doing my week 7 update right now but i am PISSED. 4 of the 5 of my plants are both Cal/Mag deficient. I have been increasing not only the CalMagic, but adding epson salts. my first run alerted me of the needs of cal/mag in coco and cation exchange. i used canna coco my first grow. this grow, after culling, i have 4 char coco plants, and 1 canna coco plant. I have 4 different strains the only one not haveing problems is the one in canna. the auto seemango, which is the ONLY strain i have growing in both canna AND char. every single char plant is suffering from both cal and mag def. the canna isnt perfect, but it it is not only bushier than the others, but less cal or mag def signs. i know it is not advisable to check runoff in coco, but ever single char tested around 6.4 in runoff during transition week, while the canna came out as it went in, at 5.9. im super Super SUPER pissed at char for even thinking they were on the same level as canna, and also pisse at my local store for selling me on it as a perfectly fine alternative 4/5s of my crop has serious cation exchange/lockout issues, and the only canna plant, which is sistered with another of them in char which is sufferi9ng. I am flabergaster in how supposedly cleaned and buffered coco could have such extreme buffereing or CEC issues going on. completely unacceptable and highest recommendation to avoid char coco after this run. i am NOT happy with char right now. canna is awesome, perhaps even worth shippijng it in as i cant get it locally anymore (which is why i let myself get talked into char)

mulch Had a rough week on the personal side of things, so not much to update. They are getting large, bushy, and transitioning, so week 8 will be transition nutes. Sorry for the sparse update, not feeling it and the calcium def scars are disheartening. OBSERVATION: the 2 plants that were transplanted out of solo cups appear on par in size and maturation to the others that started in their final 5 gallon bag, which leads me to wonder again how resilient autos are and how their time to flower may not have to do so much with time, as with conditions. i cant experiment to test these thoughts, but i think conventional wisdom on autoflowers is probably too cautious and we just dont understand their patterns yet and they can be manipulated the same traditional ways that photos are, in some ways specific to their temperaments, to improve things like efficiency and yield, etc anecdotally, i have experienced better than expected results LSTing during and post transition, while pre transition, LST seemed utterly useless. common wisdom says only to lst pro transition, particularly for autos. i would have loved to FIM, but common wisodm says don't

mulch Still mentally and emotionally elsewhere, sorry for not being so detailed. Transition nutes at 50%, basically. More evidence of both cal and mag deficiency, so further upped calmag and added a few scoops of epson salts as well. I did bend the main stems of all plants successfully creating a fairly even canopy. Those grommets I added to the grow bag combined with plant wire are now ESSENTIAL to me for even canopy LST. Will try to heal enough to start detailing further

mulch Did some mild nute flush (mostly 1/4 strength), with lots of Epson salts and about 4ml/gal of calmag and full strength floragrow, and the plants seem to have not only stabilized, but really started thickening out and fattening up. The smell is very nice in the tent, as well. They are also VERY thirsty. They MUST be fed every other day or there isnt enough runoff. I am concerned the daily feeding is sooner than I experienced last time being as they are in 5 gallon bags, where last time it was 7 gallon bags I am VERY concerned if they get fed every day and dont have sufficient runoff. twice a day would be too much labor for me to handle. EDIT: I think the problems with the leaves are either a sulfur deficiency, a manganese deficiency, and/or root aphids (God I hope not) To combat this, I am 1st going to re-calibrate my ph meter (and verify PH with the drops) to about a 5.9-6.0 solution, then I am going to first go an additional day to dry out the medium further, then add 2 teaspoons of Epson salts per gallon, a full feeding of micro/grow/bloom per my GH flora drain to waste schedule (currently doing 50%), continue with my larger dose of cal/mag, and do a massive flush (double feeding) after the extra day of not watering using this solution, which should eliminate the possibility of some sort of lockout. If the problem persists, I will have narrowed it down to root aphids or manganese deficiency, in which case I will purchase whatever it is I need to to deal with that (and hope it isn't an iron lockout). I see no physical evidence of root aphids with my eyes or yellow stickies, so I hope it is not that. The plants overall seem very healthy, but the leaf problems are persistent, although not spread through all the plants structure, just 4 or 5 leaves per plant every 2 days or so. Overall, they all look healthy except occasionally the sleepy yoda looks "sad," but other points of the day looks quite happy. i raised the LEDs a bit as the stretch seems to be over. if it was light stress, that should alleviate that, and i have more room to grow upwards considering my last autos got WAY too tall and got heat/light stressed because of it and i did my best seamango via pot size and LST to prevent that this round, with apparent success in that department. I can still bring the LEDs up much further this time if needed to avoid that problem this time (i hope yield doesn't suffer too much because of this decision, but i would rather have healthy medicine properly grown in lesser amounts than botching it because i was too ambitious). The seamango in char is by FAR the most developed and might be ready weeks before the rest, or just have a massive cola despite the LST. I grew 1 seemango before in Canna coco in my last grow, and i didnt have any problems whatsoever and is my current go to medicine. I again think Char coco is VERY suspect. The seemango is the only strain that i have in both Char AND Canna coco, and while they both suffer some effects, the char coco seems much closer to harvest than any other plant in the tent, while the Canna coco Seamango seems to not only be a different phenotype, but much healthier and still progressing in structure where the char version structure seems to be formed. The Canna seems more stable, less problematic, and ready to yield much more than the char seemango considering all other things are equal

mulch Upped my nutes to full strength GH drain to waste along with a teaspoon of Epson salts per gallon for a ridiculous 3.1 EC, with just a slight hint of burn. These girls are hungry. The yellow leaves were likely hunger and were not getting light. Things seem good now, will monitor. The Seamango in the Char coco looks much further along than all the rest, as in maybe a couple weeks sooner. It also seems to have resisted the LSTing and has a definate main cola where the rest look fairly even. The Seamango in the Canna suffered from none of the yellowing or calcium deficiency of the rest (all Char coco). I will ONLY use Canna coco from now on. Sleepy Yoda doesn't really seem to want to get it in gear, still looks early flower. Reek'n is the BEAST of the tent, tons of budsites and the tallest of them all. I noticed strange temp fluctuations and I remembered that the dehumidifier, which is now deployed, exhaustewd heat into the tent. So I added some ducting and now pump the dehumidifier exaust out the top of the tent for a much more cool and stable temp. My house smells much better, as well. Unfortunately, I have a plumbing repair job. Gotta figure out a solution to not alert the repairman (not cuz of laws, mind you, I am in compliance. I am more concerned with theft) They are drinking about 5 gallons a day. I have a 10 gallon feed bucket and a 5 gallon supplementary feed bucket. Waiting 2 days does not produce enough runoff, so I guess it is every day now (as often as I can). I I am also running a range of PH. one day 5.7, the next, 5.8, the next, 5.9. the next, 6.0. I am experimenting with dropping the feeld amount by 1 gallon a day as I am certain 3.1 EC is completely unsustainable, so even if I use 10 gallons, I am dropping it to 9 gallons of feed the next day, then feed for 8 gallons in 10 gallons, then 7 gallons, etc until the runoff becomes more sane (I am getting over 4 EC runnoff in a couple of plants, and all over 3 EC). I will DEFINATELY defoliate lower brances and popcorn budsites next time. Far too difficult as it is so thick and lush underneath. I can't see through it to find problem areas, and it is harder by the day to water. Learning even more this time. The plants do talk, if you listen. I wasn't listening when they told me they were hungry until corrected in the comments sections (thanks for all the advice everyone), but they were talking. As labor intensive as it is, i don't see people growing in dirt have such thick and full canopy to the ground level. It is a blessing and a curse I guess. Next time, I will experiment more. I still have a lot from last grow in jars at 58%-62%. It's not like I am going to run out if something goes wrong next time. Per GH schedule, this is the last week for Florablend. I am considering dropping roots excellerator as well, as we are pretty well established and it is QUITE expensive (but worth it, imho). We shall see what this next week brings

mulch Ok, apologies for being late with this update. The next one will follow pretty quickly even though we are talking the better part of 2 weeks since my last update so i gotta do 2 now. The pics are more balanced in time frame than the text at this point This update I was doing week 7 GH drain to waste schedule. Full strength. No problems with burn. I dropped the Epson salts as it didn't seem to do anything but to make my EC nuclear and I STILL had red stems. I have upped Cal/Mag to 6 ml gallon. I am doing full feedings every time (every day unless something stops me and i have to add an additional 5 gallon bucket of feed to ensure sufficient runoff), of everything including supplements. I am running a range of PH tho, and will likely adopt this strategy through the end of this grow, again in the future if there are no problems I can associate with that style of feeding For instance, one day 5.7, the next 5.8, the next, 5.9, the next 6.0 and then loop back to 5.7. Now, as far as "all of my bottles" that my secret crush @Mrs_Larimar pointed out and was concerned about, I think I shall go into a bit of an explanation of the "why" each bottle is there for those that think it is too much (and clearly 3.1 EC is VERY high, but that was part of the Epson salts, and I saw no physical harm from that stupid high EC. I wasn't willing to keep it that high, but it was both notable AND impressive that the plants seemed to respond to such high nutes with a "is that all you got" attitude). I first have to acknowledge that what i am doing is not AT ALL my invention as i had great inspiration to explore and perfect my situation that i am currently experiencing. so i must confess that i owe most of my personal results to the work of Ironhead who refined the Lucas and H3ad formulas that I have used as a BASIS for my study and execution of the botany of cannabis. I have to give Ironhead MAJOR props, because I worked backwards from his results, specifically, finding his experiences in achieving the exact results that I wanted. I wanted 2 liter bottle sized colas that I grew in coco from seed, and Ironhead provided a road map to get there using GH nutes and some very specific additives/supplements. I manipulated what he did based on that previous work to come up with my own method. Is it better? I don't know or care. My plants seem to love it and that first yield was more than satisfying (i still have over a pound left from last year, much of it sitting in jars between 58% and 62%) . While I am no longer seeking out 2 liter sized buds for a variety of reasons, I am refining what I have learned to get what i specifically want now, and never would have gotten to this point without Ironhead. If you ever read this, thanks dude. You introduced me to a whole new way of approaching this. So, if you like my results, I give a word of advice that I was given as an early musician: "dont get your inspiration by your own influences, find out who your influence was based on and get your inspiration from your own personal influences own personal influences. Go to the source. In this case, that, for me, is Ironhead. He will also direct you to his sources (Lucas/H3ad/GH schedule), but that will allow anyone who likes/questions/wonders about my grow to go to the important part: WHY so many many bottles, in this case, but to the reason why these choices are made, more generally. Ironhead will show you the path of where I am today with my grow and choices of nutes and sups. My current EC with hard water is around 2.1, which, while very high, my plants not only seem to tolerate, but to actually thrive on and almost make me consider pushing things a bit. Then I remember that I have a bag of dry Koolbloom that would likely be able to more than cover a few football fields in overdosed flower. in due time... I hope that this post into my specific nutes and more importantly, WHY I use them, in some part makes up, at least in part, to my anemic updates this grow compared to last. To show what I did, why I did it, and with actual photos of the results. I didn't just blindly buy things. I was looking for results, and am VERY happy with the results of my first grow, which is why I refined what I did last time. PART 1 GH FLora trio of grow, bloom, and micro: Not really an explanation needed about the specifics because if you are using nutrients, these are the basic macro and micronutrients. Since I am growing in coco, the medium is inert and has nothing. These are the basics and except for Cal/Mag (as the coco's cation affinity for those often produces deficiencies), it is likely all you need to grow a plant from seed to flower. I chose GH because while they refuse to address our specific needs and are owned by Phillips, they had YEARS of experience on perfecting this for basic plants, and like it or not, we are dealing with an agricultural product. Using coco (which allows me to quickly correct any mistakes if needed if i tinker with the formula) provides a great flexible base while supplementing very specific issues/needs. Canna and/or House and Garden are probably easier at the least to our specific crop, and more specific at best than GH, but GH covers the basics well while allowing for manipulation of the basic formula quite easily. It is also pretty inexpensive compared to the more boutique products, but those are a couple of reasons why I why I chose GH (who also uses this formula to grow food) 3 part formula as the basis and as partial supplementation CalMagic: I grow in coco, which means I need this stuff, and tons of it. I always think I have enough and end up seeing reasons to add more. Don't underestimate this if you grow in coco or you will be sorry. ArmorSI: Silica, it turns out, has a ton of benefits for plants, including helping to protect against white powdery mildew, fungus, and even pests by strengthening the plant and cell walls. It also creates thicker, stronger stems and branches, better to hold fat fruits without bending, or worse, breaking off. It also helps regulate micro nutrients to prevent toxicity and help with absorption and helps the plant deal and survive extreme temperature fluctuations in the event it happens to you. Do a little research and you can clearly the see the benefit in this bottle (or just the additive itself, no matter where you obtain it.) Some grasses are over 10% silica in their total composition, so it is not open for debate whether plants can and do utilize silica. I added it later in my last grow, so hopefully the benefit from starting it from seed will be apparent at the end of this grow. It also makes your leaves a very lovely dark shade of green, which I like. I resisted using it the first time because "why do i need silica," but then I realized it was the ONLY supplement on the GH schedule that I wasn't using. I wouldn't EVEN THINK of not using it again because it's benefits are so massive for such a small amount used in the feed. If you haven't used Silica, whether GH or not, I suggest you look into WHY. It is "an ounce of prevention" for a shit ton of potential problems. Use it from day 1. Liquid Koolbloom: While Bloom has a nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratio of 0-5-4, Liquid Koolbloom kicks it up quite a few notches with a ratio of 0-10-10 in addition to the bloom nutrients. My plants were clearly hungry for more, so Liquid Koolbloom gives them MORE. While my plants are loving it, careful with this one as you can burn your plants with this one. When adding to your stack, I would advise starting at half strength to make sure your plants can tolerate it. If they do, pump it up to full, these are the nutes that make your big fat flowers AKA buds. Be ready with plant yoyo's, a wire cage, or bamboo stakes as the flowers do FATTEN for sure. Floralicious Bloom: I used Floralicious Grow all last grow because I didn't know that there were actually 3 types of Floralicious. There is Grow, Bloom, and Plus. I will only focus on Bloom right now, but I did use grow during veg. It fortifies the plant with Seaweed, minerals, vitamins, and GH's humic acid from Leonardite. Humic and fulvic acids provide enhanced absorption of nutrients through plant roots, as in you need less food when supplementing with fulvic/humic acids. I opted out of using GH Diamond Nectar because Floralicious provides the Leonardite humic acid, and I am more concerned with Fulvic acid and I found another delivery method. There is controversy about Fulvic acids, which I will cover below in the "controversial" additives, but I did want the benefits of Seaweed kelp, which I am not supplementing anywhere else and has tons of benefits, as well as GHs Leonardic Humic acid, so Floralicious was my choice for delivery. Floralicious plus is apparently concentrated and balanced for both grow and bloom, but I would prefer it to be more targeted to the grow cycle and less concentrated, which is what the Floralicious grow and bloom apparently do. I am happy with this supplement (even without definitive "proof") and would continue using it even tho I am after fulvic acid, which is addressed more in the "controversial" supplement part of this update. There is apparently a CHARACTER LIMIT on grow diaries and my post was cut short, SO part 2 of my bottles will be posted in next weeks update soon.

mulch SO this is part 2 of make up posts, explaining, in detail, the WHY of every bottle in my current stack. Week 11 has part 1 otherwise, i am still doing GH drain to waste schedule, and am on week 8, which is identical to week 7. i think i need to up my calcium AGAIN. The frost is showing up this week PART 2 Drip Clean: House and garden stuff is VERY effective. It's effectiveness is balanced, quite frankly, by its price, which is off the charts expensive. Doing drain to waste in coco with daily watering, I couldn't afford to use a full House and Garden line, but there are 2 additives of theirs that I simply REFUSE to do without regardless of price. Drip clean is one of those. Drip clean was made for hydro systems to prevent gunk and salts from building up in the hardware such as drip lines. It uses a process called "ionic bonding" to prevent salt buildup and allows the gunk/salts to "slip" off of the hardware. It also works in coco to help prevent salts from accumulating and more easily wash away, and since I run coco in fabric bags with 30%+ runoff, this is WHY i use drip clean. I only need a super small amount (0.4 ml per gallon) and I am proactive against coco inspired cation lockout. I have no proof, except for my grow and harvest, but the problems it addresses have never been a problem for me, and that is why I continue to use it and why I STRONGLY recommend using it for coco (as well as fabric bags, daily watering in flower, and over 20% runoff). According to the House and Garden website, it works like this: "Drip Clean contains potassium and phosphorous compounds, two very useful elements. By removing one of the electrons and altering the state of these molecules, they will seek to form ionic bonds with oppositely charged ions in the nutrient solution to become stable. When Drip Clean is run through the system, it grabs the excess salt molecules and flushes them out with it. This provides your nutrient program a clean slate to work on, without excessive salt build-up or nutrient lockout." According to me, it just works. IMHO, if you are growing in coco or hyrdo, it is MORE THAN WORTH IT. It also apparently works in soil as well. Read the warnings if you introduce it after seedling, as it may release enough salts to actually burn your plants because, as I have stated a couple times now, House and Garden stuff, like both GH and Canna, in my experience, actually does what it says it will. Most of the problems of excess salt, at least in coco, take place in mid to late flower, precisely the time you can't afford problems. Start and finish with this, feed to runoff, and you WON'T have the problems I am describing (mostly, cation related nute lockout that takes a good deal of effort to correct). While it can fix problems if introduced later in the cycle, it can also cause some (nute burn from released salts) if the plant is not used to it. I mentioned "an ounce of prevention" earlier, and this additive is pretty much a pound of prevention for coco if you use it from the start. The price is high, but read the reviews. No one says that they spent too much on this product. It absolutely does what it says and it is a part of every grow for me from now on, regardless of price (it is super concentrated, so you use very little per feeding, even if feeding daily or more often as some do). It is THAT good. No debate possible. Worth every penny. Cannazym: for as much as a fanboy as I am of Canna coco (I will NEVER grow in any other coco if there is even a slight chance I can get Canna coco), this is the only Canna supplement or nutrient that I use. I originally got this because I planned to reuse my coco and wanted to turn my dead roots into food for the new plant, and this was the ticket to that, but I switched course (after i bought a HUGE jug of expensive cannazym, per my luck) and bought brand new coco (which, as you may have noticed, let me down as Char coco is HIGHLY inferior to Canna IMHO). I have benefited greatly, in my own body, by supplementing with different enzymes to aid in digestion, and saw all of my digestion issues (including heartburn) go away. So I am ALL IN on enzymes (and probiotics). I get it. It is a catalyst. Since I am not reusing my coco, it can be debated whether this is necessary to use at all. Enzymes work for my body, so I am comfortable giving it to my plants. Since I am using fabric pots and my roots are self pruning, the enzyme should still do it's thing with dead organic cannabis matter. That should, in theory, increase nutrient availability, as well as helping to feed the micro herd I have cultivated (see below, PP specifically and Floranectar supplementary) as well as adding resistance to disease by turning potential toxic dead plant matter into food for both the plant, and the micro organisms that help the plants extract nutrients (more below on this). Therefore, it is a staple for this grow, my last grow, and future grows. I see no downside to using it aside from a slight NKP ratio change (additional P and K), and based on using enzymes on my own body, a huge potential upside (while I have very very slightly nute burned my plants, it is ever so slight without even the slightest hint of toxicity, and mostly when adding huge amounts of salts in the form of Epson). There are far cheaper enzyme alternatives for plants, and herb specifically, but Canna has a PROVEN track record in this field of targeting specific needs and results for this particular medicinal plant, and even though I spent more than I could afford at the time to buy it, I would buy it again in a heartbeat because of both the results I have seen, my belief in the power of enzymes, and the commitment of Canna to the cause. ESPECIALLY if you are using bennies in your grow, Cannazyme will reinforce what you are already doing by breaking down the dead matter to a form usable by your microherd, is preventative medicine (ounce of prevention), and even help the plants themselves to get access to more specific nutrients that they need, when they need them; it is a catalyst, after all. Expensive, but worth it, yet I can't PROVE it. I still trust it. I still use it. I have seen NO downside (aside from price) and will use it again. Without question. Alternatives may be better and/or cheaper, but I don't want to risk it because in my limited experience, Canna =Quality and better than expectations. Floranectar Cane: Sugar for the bennies, sulfur for the plants. I use unflavored after a run in with some dispensary herb that tasted like sickiningly sweet fake orange soda. I don't want to alter the taste of the bud, just supplement it. I know there are many who say not to use any sweeteners. I had no problems using it last time so I used it again this time. Even if molasses, the big alternative, was appropriate for coco, the extra 5 minutes daily to mix it properly is too much to save a couple bucks. I would rather have that extra 5 minutes and this product fits the bill. Controversial Supplements/Additives Roots Excellerator: This is only controversial since there was apparently an ingredient that used to be in it that was the reason some people bought it and why they say it worked. It's a House and Garden product, and it is QUITE expensive, but I regret nothing about using this product and would use it every grow. My roots are beautiful and thriving. Even without the missing ingredient, this stuff is legit as far as I am concerned. Bio-Ag Ful-Power :Controversial because apparently California and Oregon don't recognize Fulvic acid as an ingredient, it just becomes humic acid. This stuff came well recommended and is golden in color (different that the black inky stuff usually sold as humic acid). Some reading between the lines is necessary if you are like me, in California or Oregon. I am very happy with this bottle. Check thier faq for more info on the controversy and humic vs fulvic. Photosynthesis Plus: A foul smelling brew of proven bacterial bennies that apparently isn't sold in many states (they redirect you to a product called Plus C instead on their website if in California, for instance.) I am not sure what the controversy actually is, but I got bottles of PP anyway and am very happy with the results. I can't fully articulate how bad this stuff smells (think decomposing corpse in a well used, sun baked porta potty that got egged with rotten eggs), but the plants seem to love it very much. Those who use it seems to swear by it, and I am one of them. SM-90: Officially, it is a "wetting agent" to help break surface tension of the water to allow the feed to penetrate the medium better. Those in the know say that SM stands for Spider Mite, but for whatever reason, they can't claim that it helps with pests. Its basically coriander oil, and it is the yang to Photosynthesis Plus, because as bad as that smells, SM-90 smells absolutely delightful. It is hard to describe how good this stuff smells. It smells so good, it makes you actually smile when smelling. Despite the fact that my water is wet with it, and I have never had a spider mite or other pest, I would likely continue to use SM-90 just for the smell. Especially after using PP, it makes the smell go away. The grapevine says this product makes the medium inhospitable to pests. I can't be sure, because of the "controversy," but I have had NO pests, and the smell is the best. Will Always use. As an INTJ, I did a TON of research into these bottles. Check Amazon reviews and forum posts on these bottles, and you will see many happy gardeners using them. And while I don't see my roots very often, when I do (if i disrupt the coco and one pots out or the medium gets too dry) and i can see the bristles of the ends of the self pruning roots everywhere at the edge of the pot, my roots are pure white. Healthy. The leaves that are exposed to direct light are dark green, strong and healthy AF> so here is my update, hopefully making up for my neglect!

mulch Ok, so this week will be light on pics AND i obtained new problems. I had long prepared to go to a Halloween spectacle in Vegas, and while I got to enjoy the tunes of the Scandinavian Legends Kasvot Växt’s album i Rokk performed in it's entirety live on Halloween night, and also, as a consolation prize, got to to see the Phish from Vermont for a few days, made my week great. I even had a buddy emptying the dehumidifier and feeding strategically (my premix) during the middle of my extended leave, (from dodgy coco as the single Canna coco is unaffected by this) only to come home to basically orange leaves on my biggest plants, the sugar leaves at that. This CAN'T be good so my warning (about lockout at this point last week) and my secret fear happened. I kept attributing things to Calcium and/or mag deficiency. I am pretty sure now that it's actually lockout. Worst possible time in bud development. I think my Epson experiment was a disaster and I came home from a magnificent much needed vacation to plants that need serious attention. My runoff (>20%) was between 4-5 EC on all plants. this is NOT good (even tho runoff cant be trusted, these numbers are way too high to ignore considering the symptoms of what i ruled out already) so I am doing half strength of micro and bloom (grow is done now), 2x calmagic, and full drip clean at every daily feeding, that's it until runoff is more "healthy." A "coco flush" until i get runoff to reasonable levels and can be confident cation exchange is restored correctly and can go full aggressive ripening at end stage. the 3 plants not or only slightly in danger from this problem are getting close to finishing soon, much closer than the monsters who turned orange on me (the canna plant is fine, tbh, with the same attributes from the dodgy coco on the other 4 plants) and before someone suggests rust, my humidity has been <40% for a couple weeks now (balanced with VPD), and I lowered it to 35% to be safe immediately on return home. I live in a desert, so it isn't that hard to lower humidity. I have been, the whole time, controlling humidity to take advantage of VPD and lower the risk of any type of fungi whatsoever... so if overdosing them didn't cure the deficiency, it HAS to be a lockout. process of elimination unless anyone knows better SPECIFICALLY with coco and salts, then i am all ears Anyone have any other advice besides lowering runoff EC to realistic levels like I am already doing, and then when lockout if eliminated and cations are restored, I can do a big finish? clean water flush is absolutely out of the question because of cation exchange, so low EC to try and balance the cations of the medium seems like the correct strategy I will return to the aggressive ripening schedule once i return balance to the force... i mean, the medium, if i can finish these and keep them healthy AND prolific The bright orange leaves on my sugar buds of my biggest plants (still blowing up with white hairs) are alarming, but i think i finally know what is going on with this dodgy char coco. i just hope i am treating and fixing it correctly for a decent harvest. I solved a lot of my problems first grow, but using dodgy char coco this time fucked up my rhythm that made me way overachieve on my first grow. pride comes before the fall This grow has been problematic for a variety of factors; not just the dodgy coco but my distraction to the signs and analyzing things correctly and inattention from serious distractions in real life that has forced me to change almost everything about my life. anyway, great week for me as far as blowing off some steam, bad week for my plants because of both my absence and trust in a scenario with high amount of variables combined to have me return to sick plants in prime fattening mode, and i gotta restrict their PK at this point to restore balance to the force any advice from someone who uses coco in fabric pots, understands vpd, dodgy coco, and novice mistakes? I would appreciate input, even if i think you are incorrect. Information isn't bad, even when its bad information.