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My flower tent is about to be empty again so it's time to get another run going. This one is a special request from my wife, she a big cookies fan and Do-Si-Dos is a favorite of ours. Found a good deal on some autos at MSNL awhile back and have decided to give them a try. Also gonna dip my toe back into DWC after growing in coco for awhile. I've done DWC in the past but it's been awhile.
On 7/15 I got everything prepped and soaked my seeds overnight. I don't wait for them to crack open, I just soften them up a little. They go into my Rapid Rooter pucks the next day and go into my DIY humidity dome. I only start seedlings in a dome to keep the pucks from drying so fast once they sprout I take them out for the fresh air.
By 7/21 all 3 have sprouted and I set them up in their net pots. The taproot are sticking out the bottom of the pucks but they're still pretty short. I keep them in the reservoir but I'm not running any solution yet. I don't see any sense in mixing up 8-10 gallons of weak solution that will hardly be used anyway. I'm just misting the bottom of the net pots and the inside of the reservoir a few times a day until I get some roots hanging a little. By then I can probably step up to a mild veg ratio. They're currently under my 100w LED shoplight that I use for veg but once I harvest my tent they'll move under the PT-5000.
One week in and things are going OK. Plants are working on their 2nd set of true leaves. Roots are starting to emerge from the net pots. I might be running the solution a little too full, the bottoms of my pots are getting a little more wet than I'd like. Thinking I'll cut down to 8 gallons in the reservoir.
I'm using pretty hard water, it's about 450ppm before adding any sort of nutrients. Right now I'm keeping things pretty light. The light is set at 30 inches at its lowest power setting(about 270w)
Another week in and lookin good. I ran the dilute solution again this week but I switched over to a mild veg ratio today. Root growth is impressive, these girls are ready to feed. Lowered the light a few inches but still running at low power, I'm going to up it from 6 to 9 bars on(from 270w to approx 360w) this week though.
I'll have to make a decision on if I'm gonna top any of these this week. Since it's my first run with these, I'm leaning toward no topping and just LST but we'll see.
So as the week began I was beginning to get a bit concerned with Dosi 2. At first I thought it might just be a little extra hungry for CalMag but the progression had me worried. Examining the roots I stumble across the problem. Early pythium, aka root rot. The roots hadn't turned brown yet but a frothy slime was beginning to develop. This is caused by: a. Light leaks in reservoir, b. Warm solution temps in reservoir, c. Not enough O2 in the solution. I decided to spray the roots with H2O2 as a bandaid treatment and order some Hydroguard to add to the tank. It's basically bennies that help fight bacteria and promotes root growth. My res temps are pretty good so I don't think that's the issue. I made a light shield from a piece of emergency blanket for the to of the tank. Incorporated the Hydroguard on Thursday after cleaning tank and replacing solution. These steps seem to have helped but the plants still seem a little "sad" and appear overwatered. Decided the little airpump(4w) I'm using is too weak for the job so I have a bigger pump(18w) ordered, should be here by Wednesday or Thursday. That should straighten things out.
On 8/11 I begin some LST. I'll hang a net when they get a little bigger but might as well start training now.
The seller on Amazon didn't waste ant time shipping the new airpump, it arrived on Monday. I knew it wasn't gonna be big being on 16w but I was shocked how small it is...about the size of a baseball-but way more powerful than the pump I'm replacing.
Got it hooked up and it's working our great and the plants have responded as well.
Put up the netting to assist with training. By Friday my reservoir readings started reading a bit more acidic(5.4) and a decrease in ppm(850) so I added a couple gallons on full strength solution to top off. I didn't add the full amount of down to help pull the reservoir pH back up to about 5.8.
Starting to see some early preflowers, the transition will be approaching soon. Once the tops start to switch over I'll begin transitioning to the flowering phase of my nutrients.
I've been pretty busy and haven't updated the diary in a bit but they're still growing lol. I accidentally topped #3, I had the top tied down and forgot about it. Opened the lid to the res and snapped off the top. No repairs are gonna fix that one. She's still bigger than the others so I'm not stressing about it.
They're getting thirsty, had to top off with a few gallons of full strength solution. I've also began transitioning the nutrients from veg to flower ratios. Right now it's pretty balanced but next tank change will be at 1-2-3.
I'll drop the next week's entry over the weekend to get caught back up.
***Forgot to add that I raised the light a few inches to compensate for plant growth and turned up the light to 100% output.
I didn't do a tank change this week, just topped off using solution mixed to a flowering ratio. Plants are drinking heavy. I've been adding a couple gallons every 2-3 days.
Did a little under canopy cleanup on the 31st.
Pruned out a few limbs that weren't reaching the canopy and cleared out some of the lower leaf congestion. Included before and after picks. Tops have fully transitioned over, these girls are in flower.
I'm rethinking the single tote reservoir. I like the convenience of a single tank to manage but growing 3 makes training and other plant work kinda crowded. I liked how my last grow went with pots in the corners of my tent and training inward. Maybe I'll do 5gal buckets in the corners next grow.
The ladies are doing great. Since the tops are developed I've moved on to flowering ratios on my nutes. In addition to the listed stuff I also included 2.5ml of General Hydroponics KoolBloom(liquid) per gallon. Not sure what the TA equivalent is.
Did another light defol, mostly targeting the bottom and really tight clusters. I'll probably need toget a little more aggressive once the flowers fill out to eliminate the moisture pockets.
I went out of town a couple days this week but the plants didn't care. Just topped off the reservoir before and after the trip. They drank about 5 gallons.
They're still growing a little but I think the stretch has slowed down. The buds should start bulking soon.
Still working on thinning out congestion though it's getting better. Gotta use a light hand defoling during the stretch with autos. With a photo I'd have done one before the flip but autos don't really get the veg time for all that. Honestly I probably should prune out some more of the "sucker" branches but I've left these mostly intact. With the short space between the top of the rez and the net, reaching canopy level isn't a long journey lol.
The stretch is over, no height changes this week, so I lowered the lights 2 inches to bring more buds into the sweet spot. Under this light, buds that are 12-18 inches away from the light seem to do the best. Buds are beginning to bulk. Aromas are building. MSNL puts this strain at a 6-8 week flowering time, I plan to run these on the longer side-I want a good dose of amber to this grow.
Still just topping off the tank every couple days, drinking about a gallon a day on average. I should probably do a full tank change soon.
Another week in and I can see things starting to wrap up. Buds are plumping, larger fans are fading and aromas are building. Trichomes are still mostly clear though but I think the cloudy is starting to pick up a little. I want some amber to this run though. My early estimate is 3 more weeks.
With the buds getting bigger, I decided to defol a little between branches to allow a little more airflow.
Did a full tank change on the 25th since I hadn't in awhile.
My 3 week estimate last week might be a little long. Thinking 1 more week maybe. It's going cloudy pretty quick. We'll see how the week goes.
Tried to clean up a little more between branches today but the canopy is pretty ridiculous for only 3 plants(really two and a half since #2 got a little stunted from the early root rot). I really should have been more aggressive skirting out the lesser undergrowth. I left it because it managed to stretch to canopy level but it's really choked up some areas. Buds are basically laying on one another when you get deeper in. Gonna be plenty of fluff for extracts.
Great grow. Handled some early troubles well and produced a nice haul. They stay pretty compact, I honestly probably could have managed without training under the netting on these and not ran into height issues with my light. Even though the canopy was pretty congested, I discovered no signs of PM or mold during harvest so I'd consider this one pretty resistant to those sorta issues. Aromas are delightful and fruity. I'm sooooo looking forward to the smoke review!
***IGNORE WET WEIGHT, I DON'T WEIGH UNTIL SMOKE REVIEW***
Chopped the girls Friday night. #3 is the biggest plant by far but I think it's #1 that's gonna pull more weight. That pheno just had some really nice, dense buds. Wish the top cola hadn't broke off #3, it probably would have been pretty. That plant was by far the biggest, it was half my tent. That pheno had some nice color but the buds are a little looser. #2 was my runt from the early root rot. It's bud structure looks similar to #1. In the harvest photos I place each plant in the tray from a 2×2 tent to kinda give a sense of each plant's size.
All in all it's a great pull. I can't wait to give it a taste. Stay tuned for the weigh in!
Scrubbyjimbob
