The doctor is in

I received a smoke signal distress call from a few friends who have recently undertaken the task of bud independence. They have a 1 x 1 x 1.8m Mars Hydro Tent, Silent inline extractor, a 720w Cobb Led, ghe FLora series, some Epsom salts a ph test kit and no real clue. I decided to take them under my wing to help them produce the best quality bud possible. Upon arrival the situation seemed dire and my first recommendation to them was to “start again from scratch” (after of course showing them how to re set up their system for optimum light and air flow). After a lot of convincing I was unsuccessful and had to except the fact that I was going to have to bring these ladies back to life.

After adjusting the set up and adjusting the feed to safer saturation the ladies are already picking up however really slowly. DO NOT let the before / after pictures fool you. These ladies are still in the danger zone. My main focus this week is recovery.

I have readjusted the feed and the clones seem healthier however not out of the woods just yet. They still show signs of deficiencies, toxicity, heat stress and over / under watering . Their growth rate is not optimal by any means however the guys are getting eager to learn and experience the various training methods and processes of the plant. The focus of this week will be teaching them about about lst - Low Stress Training. I kept the training very light as this is really not the time for this. In the back of my mind I am thinking " I could re grow this all from seed quicker". We solider on. What truly excites me here is this is my first experience with LED so I am grateful for the opportunity of being able to grow with one. Lets see what this futuristic technology can do. You learn, you grow, you grow :)

The ladies are starting to recover from their rough start and the light LST training last week (which turned into more of a LST/Defoliation session as I wanted to remove some dead leaf material). The nutrient solution has been readjusted once again. This is what I call my "week 4+ feed" as I will run it from now until I switch to flower. Initially my FloraGrow was at 9.9ml/5L however I have adjusted my feed schedule to FloraGrow at 7ml/5L. Re Epsom Salts : I use 1.36g per 5L water. Things now take a change for the better.

The ladies are finally starting to bloom! They have a nitrogen toxicity from the original "week 4+" feeding schedule. However with the 15% reduction of the FloraGrow to 7ml/5L from 9.9ml/5L (as I mentioned in my previous post) this problem quickly went away. A new addition to the tent is a Mycelium powered Co2 generator which is bringing the ppm (parts per million of Co2) up nicely. I must mention at this point that I am only advising at this stage. Which means that besides for our whats app group guidance and my weekly check up and of course the time they forget to ph the water (hence the yellowing on the new growth which was easily fixed) the guys are getting the swing of it and running the show. Its just shows what 5 weeks of focus and dedication can achieve.

Let there be life. The additional Co2 seems to be paying off. These ladies are back to their rightful glory :). Besides for minimal training here or there, the hand watering (which I insist the guys still do) and the odd popping of the stem the nutrient schedule has remained unchanged. On the 10th the ladies were over watered and looked a bit sad however this was rectified quickly. We will do one last LST session before installing the net. We are starting to get close to the much awaited switch to 12/12.

The Ladies are going to fill this net up quick 😎! We are all happy and healthy this side, The net has been installed however not yet lowered. I like to use this cheap netting from the hardware store. It allows me to cut out square sizes as I need to which allows me to easily compensate for "stretch" and "uneven growth" when we switch the scrog net to flower.

What a good week for the ladies! She showed us some vigorous healthy growth this week. The tent has been switched to flower and the nutrients adjusted accordingly (a more balanced mixture of FLoraGrow, FloraBloom and FloraMicro). You will see the extract ratios in week 9 of this diary. Let the stretch begin 🌱👨‍🌾🤗

The ladies are about to finish their first week of their transition into flowering (12/12 light cycle). The nutrients as mentioned in my previous post are more balanced. The Epsom salts is still 1.36g/5L. Everything is going really well. All training will be discontinued as of today giving rise to some good size colas. Canopy maintenance from this point is really minimal 😼 what a pleasure! As i said in week 1 this is my first grow not using HID lighting. So far I have been impressed with the 720w cobb. I am very interested in what it achieves and how it performs during late flower.

—