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Hello and welcome to my diary,
I am very excited to be back in action after injury, in my absence I have been finishing up another run of autos that I haven't documented so this will be my 3rd run. (My last diary failed due to a hospital stay so that one doesn't count ;) )
I have learned a lot already and will be trying to improve again here, 6 plants is a tight squeeze but it's an experiment to see whether I can get a larger yield in the same space as 4. I will be working on improving my LST as so far I've been staircase shaped skeletons and have been told working in an upward spiral will give more exposure and will make larger, taller plants, which will take advantage of extra height that I've not been using in the tent each run. Unfortunately I had overestimated how much spare substrate I had and the pots are only about 9L full but this shouldn't hold me back too much as the plants will be competing for space anyway. I am aiming for 1Oz of dry per plant, if I can't reach 6Oz overall I will be running only 4 plants all the time as the extra cost in seeds, substrate etc doesn't give me as good of a ROI.
New things this grow: new tent (perpetual growing here we come), new nutrients, new auto release from Barney's with Cookies Kush which was a cup winner back in 2014 when I visited 'dam, I can't wait to take a trip down memory lane after it's dried! We have 2 Cookies Kush (CK), 2 Runtz, 1 Watermelon Zkittlez (WZ) all from Barney's Farm and 1 Gorilla Cookies (GC) from Fast Buds. Runtz is becoming my favorite strain so far, loves to veg more than others in my set up, the WZ were free with the order and the first seed was DOA, I tried to give it time but the seed went black so I gave up on it, hopefully it's not an old promo, the 2nd seed is in the soil directly this time the others were all a success using the paper towel method. The GC seed was also a promo, I'm growing a couple of other strains from them but one plant was came out weird straight away and had stunted deformed growth throughout, the other had explosive growth but flowered earlier than I'd have like (probably why they're called Fast Buds), we're going to see if we can get some justice with this GC.
This time we're using Biobiz because I wanted to go organic and because I ran out of Big Bloom from FF and that shit's expensive. I am a fan of FF and I am seeing good results so far with the flowering trio the buds are getting quite fat compared to last time, I'm hoping with the Biobiz line I can achieve the same or better results. Also I've gone with the Light Mix substrate, I'd been using Canna products which are very good but I figured the same brand mix will work well with the feeding schedule and it saves me from buying additional perlite and humus etc. We are going to be making some teas for the first time too, to use in conjunction with the nutrients.
I got a decent deal on a 2nd hand Lumatek 200w LED, I was looking at getting another P1000 but the outsides of the tent don't get great PPF for flowering, the 200W light will comfortably cover the 0.8mx0.8m for flowering, whilst I wait for it to arrive I'm using my old blurple LED to get things going, maybe I will use the 200w on my other current flowering run whilst these plants are small and use the P1000 for a few weeks. I will be switching in a carbon filter extraction system when the plants transition to flower unless the smell gets too noticeable in which case I'll have to order another, and I had forgotten to order a fan for air movement inside which I will have by next week.
These seeds went into paper towels on Wednesday 7th, and into the forever pots Sunday and photos were taken Tuesday, I will try and update my diaries on Mondays. Hopefully next week the WZ sprouts and the tent will look nicer with the blurple gone.
Updates probably won't be this long in the future either, just know these ladies are going to be loved.
Thanks for reading!
Hello, here we are at the end of week 1.
I had some treats arrive, the Lumatek light is looking fabulous and is hopefully going to provide well for these ladies, it is set at 20% currently. My order was missing the carbon filter extraction fan I ordered so I just need that to have a fully functional grow space, for now I'm hoping the small extraction fan and clip-on fan will suffice. The pots were also topped up making the ladies less stretched looking, I'm hoping new roots will form rather than the stem rotting away. WZ popped up on Thursday 15th so she will not be too far behind. Helmets were removed manually from 2 ladies, they slipped of very easily and satisfyingly. I've added a humidifier to increase the humidity for the first few weeks.
I will be following the Biobiz feeding schedule, but starting off with half the dosage until I see signs of deficiency/excess. I've the whole Biobiz line minus the microbes which are very pricey, I also have typical natural fertilizers applicable via top dressing or with a tea mix and some Ecothrive Charge and Neutralize. This week we should be focusing on root development, I believe Root-Juice is mostly liquid kelp so I will not be adding extra kelp to the water mix, I will be adding mycorrhizae at around 0.5g/L through the early veg stage. I brewed a very light tea using EWC, fish, blood and bone meal, molasses, liquid kelp, biochar and Charge, the tea was spread around the seedlings to "activate" the soil and let the microbial life begin. I am not making the tea for it's nutrient value but for the biological benefits.
The first few weeks are quite boring, not much to do at the moment until later on.
Thanks for reading!
Welcome to the end of week 2 :)
Not much to say this week:
My extraction fan arrived however it's fairly loud, I'll have to buy another fan speed modulator as the plug and play RAM controller makes the motor buzz louder than the fan noise unless it's down real low, I've had some success with a fairly low priced controller for a ceiling fan so I will probably go this route again. I also need some duct tape to seal between the carbon filter and fan. I swapped the smaller fan around to create an intake fan but this causes the tent to inflate with positive pressure unless I crank up the noise on the extraction fan, thanks to nosey neighbors I have to be very covert so the passive air vent is shut to keep the light in and the fan was swapped back to an extraction, I'm hoping I can create a better air flow by next week after I wire in the fan speed modulator.
I've been manually turning on my humidifier for an hour or 2 every day to boost the humidity.
The light was increased to 40% and slightly raised about half way through the week.
This week we introduced Fish Mix to the feed, very smelly stuff and I've heard good things about it, this will be part of the feeding schedule until week 4/5/6, I'd like to include this in the transitioning period as a foliar spray before putting it away.
No tea this week I feel the plants aren't thirsty enough yet and the soil plenty saturated, next week maybe, along with the start of LST.
See you next week
Hi, it's Monday again so here's the next update
Lazy week I just let them grow and did the LST today before the pictures, they're all looking really well. I'll be keeping a closer eye on them now the LST has begun
My intake fan broke already, would not recommend the cheap black orchid fans, at least now I don't have to worry about positive pressure in the tent.
They were fed a gallon of feed between them over the week, next feed will include more P and K.
In another couple of weeks when growth explodes I'll be moving 2/3 plants into another tent with a 100W light, there's going to be issues with humidity and airflow when these ladies get bigger.
See you next week!
Hello and welcome to the end of week 4, this will be the last veg week before the flower.
I have been doing daily LST trying to keep the plants down, in doing so I accidently topped a Runtz, yikes, I guess we'll see how she competes with her sister. I've never topped an auto before so this will be a good learning experience. I also nipped a few bud sites way below the plant.
The extraction system is now fully functional, I wired it into a fan speed controller which was a bit fiddly but I managed it in the end, it's running at 3/5 the speed and is a lot quieter with no motor humming.
Raised the light to 80% power and about 3/4 inches up.
A lot more nutrients have been introduced, brown areas developed on one of the CK due to me holding back the PK I believe. I've switched Root-Juice to plain old liquid kelp so I can get through my old bottle and save some pennies. I added some epsom salts for magnesium content, normally I would apply it as a foliar but I just added it to my feed bucket, I will also be applying a foliar later this week of some of the biobizz feeds and more epsom salt. I had just applied this feed before taking the pictures today which is why they might look a little parched.
I am still waiting on my other grow to finish before I move 2 of these ladies out to free up some space, I'm really hoping they'll be ready by next weekend.
Thanks for looking
Welcome all to the end of week 5, flowering has well and truly begun.
Unfortunately I'm still waiting on space in the other tent, these ladies are running out of horizontal space. The LST on CK #1 has caused it to be a lot smaller and bushier (forgot to snap a close up of her but you can see her front and centre), and the topped Runtz has stretched at the top but I've now tied them down to canopy level. I'm thinking these 2 will be moving into the other tent and I'll keep the bigger ladies in here with the stronger light I am very happy with the plants so far, minimal LST has given me quite big plants, whilst there's not too many bud sites developed I'm hoping to get some long dense colas, I've not had plants this big at this stage before I think the 200W light was a sound investment.
I've switched from Fish Mix to Bio Grow now we're flowering, a 1L foliar spray of Alg-A-Mic, Fish Mix, Acti-vera and epsom salts were fed over the week.
That's all to say this week, thanks for looking
End of week 6 a day late so we're technically week 7.
Plants finally transferred on Thursday after chopping and hanging the last grow. Let's see how they do. The plants in tent 1 are showing N deficiencies despite being fed the same, the 200W light is pushing more growth out of these girls, I will add a top feed of worm castings and bat guano to replenish the soil and water more frequently. Removed most LST ties today.
I'm a little underwhelmed with the amount of bud sites, this may be my fault due to overcrowding and the lack LST on some plants. Now I'm a little more experienced I may look into photos. I'm quite impressed with the size of the plants, hopefully they'll produce large buds and colas.
Thanks for looking :)
Hi all. welcome to the end of week 7.
5/6 plants are showing yellowing leaves heading from the bottom of the plants, I'm really confused why, possible overwatering? I'm not familiar with the biobizz light mix.
Not much to say this week, just concerned with these potential watering/root problems, I highly doubt it's deficiency I am feeding these girls a lot of nutrients.
Thanks for looking :)
Hey
After going thru what you're using. I do see some potential issues that could be causing this.
Your using too much of nearly the same thing.
Algi magic, acti Vera, top max, liquid kelp and more. If you're using all these in 1 sitting in a week.. there's your issues. To many ph makers.. also, I do see some issues with your roots. The light green is signs that show me they're struggling. So, go thru what you're using. And drop a few. You can use them. But, try make it so they don't meet each other in the same hallway. You'll actually get better uptake with less nutrients that promote nutrient uptake. (Too many cooks and all that) so, even at 1 end of the week to the other break up the nutes. Give your core NPK with 1 and then for your follow up water feed. Then just give another. Then water and at the end of the week or the week after then apply another one of them. I'm sure if you check the biobizz chart. They'll have 1-2 of those in their pro chart with others.
Feel free to mes me if u need me to expand more on my theory
Good luck
Week 8 finished, more damage from overfeeding present. Plants have been flushed a week ago.
This week I had just been giving the plants water with a tiny bit of alg-a-mic.
Many of the plants are looking quite unhealthy, buds aren't developing much. More yellow, dying leaves slowly creeping up and purple stems are becoming more apparent. CK#2 has been struggling the most, she looks in pain.
Sorry for late post this feed situation has killed off a lot of desire to post with these plants looking so bad.
Let's try and get these ladies to the finish line so I've got some smoke for the winter.
Will try and post again on sunday, thanks
@Phykys, Thank you, I've ordered another 20L bag to top up the pots, I don't know why they're stretching so much but I've moved the light down a bit too
Thanks for the replies from my question, I feel so foolish I had been overfeeding. I gave all plants a flush and the leaves are now looking a lot better already, no more wilting, they're going to be having just water for now on the road to recovery.
Goblinman
