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First lil' grow

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2 years ago
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Germination
2 years ago
Sowed the seeds directly into soil in two separate 12L fabric pots from Root Pots on Friday 02.06. Strawberry Banana Auto took 4-5 days to germinate, Haze Berry 1-2 days more. I think I packed the soil too tight with the Haze Berry, so maybe the seedling had a harder time breaking through. I was a bit worried by the 4th day because my ambient room temperature was around 68 degrees and humidity between 40 - 50%. To remedy this, I filled up a hot water bottle and cushioned it between the two fabric grow pots, gave the soil a good spray soaking with warm-ish water and then lay a towel loosely over the top so there was still oxygen coming through. The popped up soon after.
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Used method
Directly In Substrate
Germination Method
1
Week 1. Vegetation
2 years ago
9 cm
18 hrs
24 °C
6.5
No Smell
50 %
21 °C
12 L
38 cm
After their first few days as seedlings I realised my 40w LED plant light (actually only drawing 8w...) wasn't gonna cut it. The strawberry banana auto seedling, which sprouted first started getting very leggy, which even after a light replacement it still seems to be suffering from. In this case, the Haze Berry seed sprouting a day and a half later actually benefitted it. Anyway, I invested in a Viparspectra P1000 LED (100w) and they are much happier. Bought a water filter today but until now I've been using tap water. Haven't been able to measure the mineral content but the pH level is around 6.5. Trying to decide whether or not to invest in a grow tent or not. My room climate is pretty hospitable, only challenge has been maintaining a 70% humidity level for the seedling stage. But after that, the average humidity in my room is perfect for vegetation and flowering.
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2
Week 2. Vegetation
2 years ago
12 cm
18 hrs
27 °C
6.5
No Smell
65 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
35 cm
Bought a humidifier which helped. Plants seem happy, developed their first set of true leaves. Watering only when needed.
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3
Week 3. Vegetation
2 years ago
15 cm
18 hrs
26 °C
6.5
No Smell
65 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
40 cm
I've been using emergency blankets as a reflective surface. They were lazily attached to my wall and not pulled tight, now sort of rectified. I had been having trouble reaching an adequate humidity so bought a humidifier which fixed the problem. The plants are looking very healthy and achieving some real growth. Turned the ViparSpectra P1000 from 50% intensity to 100% this week. No real problems observed so far!
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4
Week 4. Vegetation
2 years ago
27 cm
18 hrs
24 °C
6.5
Normal
60 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
40 cm
I was tossing up this week whether or not to top but decided against it as I want to see from my first grow what I can achieve without too much fiddling. I did however remove the bottom pair of nodes on both plants and gently pushed a couple of larger fan leaves underneath stems they were blocking from the light. I also constructed a bit more of a sturdy grow space for them. Dialing in humidity has been challenging this week as it has been rainy and stormy. A couple of weeks ago I was struggling to keep humidity above 40%, now it's a struggle to keep it below 60%. Unfortunately I don't have a dehumidifier nor the money to buy one at the moment. Both the plants are really going for it. The Strawberry Banana has all but caught up to the Haze Berry in terms of node and leaf production and almost caught up in height. It's also started pre-flowering with little white haired pistils forming at the node sites. The Haze Berry on the other hand still appears to be in veg mode. But let's see, I feel like it's on the edge! They both have 6 nodes now. I'm not using any fertilizers at the moment. Just relying on the Biobizz Light Mix Soil and the DynoMyco inoculants I mixed through before planting and 500mls of filtered water p/day. I've been thinking to add some organic veg growth nutrients over the next week and a half to encourage a last growth spurt. I plan to wait to start using Biobizz Bloom until a couple of weeks when the plants are well into their flowering stage so that I avoid jump-starting the process and missing out on valuable growing time. Loving the process so far! Learning a lot and changing a lot as I go. My set-up has come a long way since I started.
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
Grow Questions
Dakta_Phil
Dakta_Philstarted grow question 2 years ago
Should I defoliate my plants more? I removed the bottom pair of nodes on both plants but they are still quite bushy. I'm hesitant to cause the plants unnecessary stress and negatively impact my yield, so would love any advice. Today is day 27 and they're pre-flowering.
Solved
Techniques. Defoliation
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HeavyHittah
HeavyHittahanswered grow question 2 years ago
Leave it . You can always take more off once the root mass is established and after the plant has grown more . Unneeded stress at this point . ✌️
5
Week 5. Flowering
2 years ago
30 cm
18 hrs
27 °C
6.5
Normal
60 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
40 cm
I'm posting this late so my memory of what was going on then is not so good but they both progressed through early flowering good, especially the Strawberry Banana Auto
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6
Week 6. Flowering
2 years ago
45 cm
18 hrs
27 °C
6.5
Normal
60 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
30 cm
Nutrients 1
Bio-Bloom - BioBizz
Bio-Bloom 3 mll
I think I did a bit of lower defoliation in this week and started to notice something that looked like CalMag deficiency. I believe I introduced Biobizz Bloom nutrients to the Strawberry banana toward the end of the week. Also did a bit of a branch training on the Haze Berry.
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
7
Week 7. Flowering
2 years ago
70 cm
18 hrs
27 °C
6.5
Normal
40 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
30 cm
Nutrients 2
Bio-Bloom - BioBizz
Bio-Bloom 3 mll
Calmag - BioBizz
Calmag 1 mll
Now they have both stretched significantly and the buds are getting denser and denser on the Strawberry Banana everyday, buds also also getting bigger on the Haze Berry. Added some Biobizz CalMag and it seems to have helped. Did some more defoliation, probably won't do anymore from now on. Feeding Biobizz Bloom every 2-3 days. Fan stays on 24/7, they getting about 500ml of water in the late afternoon everyday. I wrapped emergency blankets around cardboard to create a makeshift grow space, still some light leakage and it's not pulled as tight as it should be but hey, the plants still seem happy! Using only filtered water.
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Used techniques
LST
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
8
Week 8. Flowering
2 years ago
75 cm
18 hrs
25 °C
6.3
Strong
48 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
30 cm
Nutrients 2
Bio-Bloom - BioBizz
Bio-Bloom 3 mll
Calmag - BioBizz
Calmag 1 mll
Its day 50 and the buds on the Strawberry Banana are fattening up nicely while the buds on the Haze Berry are also starting to flourish. Orange pistils are appearing on the Strawberry Banana and the leaves closest to the budsites are taking on a frosty hue. The SB-Auto is 68cm tall while the HB-Auto is 75cm. There are quite a few leaves on the Haze Berry showing signs of stress/damage/nutrient deficiency. I should be paying closer attention to whether it's also new leaves showing these signs or just the same ones from before I amended the soil with BioBizz CalMag. The person working at my local grow shop had a look at some pics and asked if I'm using LED's and said she thought it was likely symptomatic of a CalMag deficiency so I have since fed them twice in the last week w/ a BioBizz CalMag solution at a ratio of 1ml to 1L of distilled water (each plant receiving 500ml). I also checked the pH-level of the soil with one of those cheap yellow box testing kits, the accuracy of which I'm skeptical of, but it showed a deeper blue colour that could indicate the pH-level of the soil had moved closer towards 7, which worried me. Due to work I didn't have time to visit the store, so I diluted 3.5ml distilled white vinegar in 1L of distilled water, which my cowboy maths suggests should result in around a 6.3 pH-level watering solution. I've done this the last two waterings, so I'm hoping this will have a beneficial effect on lowering the soil pH-level. Next investment will definitely be a decent quality pH-testing pen! I was worried for a hot minute that my SB was a hermaphrodite because I confused the calyxes for male reproductive parts 😅
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Grow Questions
Dakta_Phil
Dakta_Philstarted grow question 2 years ago
I am worried that my Strawberry Banana Auto is a hermaphrodite. I would love if someone could please look at the pictures I uploaded of the balls/sacs at the node sites and confirm whether this is the case or not. It's day 50 and I noticed them yesterday. Cheers.
Solved
Plant. Other
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HansGoat
HansGoatanswered grow question 2 years ago
High bro, this plant is 100% female! The flowers that you see are calyxes and the brown hair stucking out of the calyxes show you that this is a female plant! Your plant is looking amazing! Enjoy your grow buddy.
9
Week 9. Flowering
2 years ago
78 cm
18 hrs
25 °C
6.3
Strong
48 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
30 cm
Nutrients 2
Bio-Bloom - BioBizz
Bio-Bloom 2 mll
Bio-pH- - BioBizz
Bio-pH- 0.5 mll
So this was a real panic week for the Haze Berry. The Strawberry Banana just continued to do its thing, buds fattening up, orange hairs increasing, trichomes increasing. The Haze Berry on the other hand had a lot going on and I think this week I really learnt a lot about what not to do. I noticed some of the leaves had dark necrotic spots, yellowing and also tips curling upwards among other various symptoms. I scoured the internet for diagnoses but it was confusing, it could've been any number of things. Finally, after posting a grow question on here, someone told me it probably had nutrient lockout, a result of me overfeeding it, and recommended a flush. I followed their advice and it took days and days for the soil to dry so that I could water it again with a much lower dose of nutrients, the whole time its condition becoming progressively worse. It was hard to sit there and watch and do nothing. Although the advice was fair and sort of correct, I had a feeling the nutrient lockout might've actually been the result of a soil pH problem, even though I couldn't figure out why the SB-Auto was running so smoothly. I invested in a decent pH-reader, bought some Green Buzz Nutrients Fast Plants Spray, some 1ml and 10ml measuring syringes, and a bottle of BioBizz pH-, (also a bottle of Green Buzz Nutrients Clean Fruits for later on). I tested the pH of the filtered water I've been using and it was 6.3, though the BioBizz Bloom feed, drove it up to between 6.6 and 6.7. Sure enough, when I measured the run off from the Haze Berry Auto's soil, it tested 6.7. This was even after 1-2 waterings using a few mls p/L of distilled vinegar to try and drive down the pH level (before I was even certain it was a pH problem, but you know, panic mode...), meaning it might've been even closer to 6.8 for awhile. When I measured the run off from the SB-Auto, it was 6.3/6.4, so for whatever reason in a much more acceptable pH bracket, which sort of explains why it hasn't really had any problems. I watered til the run off of the HB-Auto was 6.1 and then fed it with a pH 6.2 solution, to see if this helped. Sure enough, some of the redness on the main trunk dissipated, the buds began to look a little healthier and some new growth appeared without problems. By this point though, it had already lost so many leaves to the whole stressful ordeal, I knew it would be a long recovery if it at all even managed to recover. The problems were compounded by the fact that I had defoliated the plant a little over-ambitiously the week prior (rookie mistake, I know), and so when all this stuff began playing out, it had a significantly reduced availability of nutrients stored in lower leaves and fan leaves to access. The plant then had to draw from the next layer of leaves to get through the hard times, which left it completely bare in comparison to what it once was. I now believe the problem was also connected to over-watering, which is why I'm not sure in hindsight if flushing it was a good idea. I feel like I further compacted the soil in that process as well as drenched it, leading to more difficulties for the roots to access oxygen. Not only this, but the fact it had lost so much foliage meant that in comparison to the SB-Auto, the plant had very little surface area through which water could evaporate, meaning it drank much slower. I think over-feeding, over-watering, not having a reliable pH meter, excessive defoliation all joined forces to fuck the plant. Notes to future-self and other first timers out there: Don't skimp on spending when it comes to buying useful tools like a pH meter! So invaluable to accurately narrow down the list of potential causes when your plant is struggling! Avoid making decisions in the dark and don't panic. Be really careful when defoliating and err on the side of conservative! Those leaves could come in super handy if there are problems later on. Go easy on the watering and feeding and don't respond to symptoms of nutrient deficiency by immediately feeding/watering more. I'm now giving the plant a lot less water than I was as well as feeding it significantly less. When I do water/feed it, I test the pH-level of the solution and adjust it accordingly. I'm using the Foliar Spray from Green Buzz Nutrients every now and then to give the plant at least some nutrients through its leaves while it recovers instead of overloading the soil and roots with water and nutrients. It was saddening at first but now I've accepted that the plant is fucked and will just see what happens with it and whether I am able to bring it back to an okay-ish state before its time to harvest. It still has buds so worst case scenario it can be used in baking or to make hash. In any case, it's been a lot of learning curves, which will hopefully prepare me for future grows.
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10
Week 10. Flowering
2 years ago
78 cm
18 hrs
25 °C
6.1
Strong
50 %
22 °C
19 °C
12 L
1 L
30 cm
Nutrients 2
Bio-Bloom - BioBizz
Bio-Bloom 2 mll
Bio-pH- - BioBizz
Bio-pH- 0.5 mll
Just continuing to take it mega easy this week on the watering and feeding as well as testing and adjusting the pH-level of every watering/feeding solution. Keeping an eye out for any changes or further signs of stress on the Haze Berry Auto, but otherwise trying to avoid doing too much or overcompensating.
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