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Soaked for 24 hours in Reverse Osmosis water with seaweed extract. Planted in small pots until they sprouted and then moved the largest seedlings to their final container. (3 gallon fiber pots). I counted germination as a two week period.
DURBAN POISON DESCRIPTION
Durban Poison was created by crossing South African land-race Durban and crossing it with our fastest flowering Skunk. The result is a hybrid that expresses more sativa dominance, however with a much shorter flowering time of 9 weeks maximum. We were able to enhance the best of both parents and create the ultimate sativa-dominant hybrid.
Durban Poison is well recommended to beginner growers who want to try a sativa dominant hybrid that is not too demanding time or skill wise. THC levels will hit the 15% mark and flowering time will range from 8-9 weeks depending on the exact phenotype, meaning Durban Poison is a fast-flowering cultivar ideal for commercial growers. Yields of 450 g/m² can be expected and when blooming, her resin coated buds will become compact, elongated and fill every branch from head to toe. Her terpene profile is a mixture of fruity and floral and can be described as earthy with a hint of anise.
The effects of this strain are immediate, long-lasting and with a trippy cerebral edge. She will kick start the mind and have it racing in all directions, allowing intense levels of focus, motivation, energy with a major creative drive. Smoking Durban Poison as your morning joint will stimulate the mind into a state of blissful euphoria followed by a soaring fast paced trippiness.
Wednesday: Plants are two weeks old now….just exiting the seedling phase. I have them on self watering plant bases from AC Infinity. I will be feeding exclusively through the reservoirs ….. bottom feeding only (once the roots reach the bottom). No top feeding planned. I am in a coco coir/perlite mix that wicks water well from the bases through fabric wicks. This system will keep the bottom 1/3 of the planter damp without overwatering. The only nutrient that I’ve discovered creates an issue with clogging these wicks are products with Iron added (Maxicrop seaweed with iron clogged my wicks). I have always used 5 gallon fabric pots. This time I am testing 3 gallon ACI fabric pots instead of 5 gallon. Note that I like the AC Infinity fabric pots better than cheap pots because it’s a tighter weave and fewer roots will poke out of the bottom of the pot.
Based on past self-watering grows, I anticipate flushing the plants at least one time (before flip) to flush out the excess salts and I will be replacing the wicks when I transition to flower. My small heater has failed…..but a new grow tent heater was recently released by AC Infinity so I’m going to install that tomorrow when it arrives.
I also plan to convert to the square Vivosun self watering bases since they have a few benefits over the AC Infinity ones…..easy access to the reservoir, larger reservoir at 1.3 gallons, convenient square shape, easier to read the water quantity.
I am planning to scrog which could be challenging given these self watering bases need to be emptied and cleaned a few times during the grow.
Lighting is managed using the Photone app and targeting a Daily Light Integral that follows the DLI chart (see photo). I am entering week three so I increased the DLI to 17.5. I’m working my way up to 20DLI by the weekend. I am using the dimmer to achieve this at 15” above the plants.
After doing more research on temperature and humidity, I learned that my humidity is way too high. Lowering that to 60-65%. VPD increases to 1.0.
I’m available to answer any questions about bottom feeding plants.
THURSDAY
Installed new automatic feeding bases. Replaced nutrients because they had a high PPM at 1500. New nutrient solution is close to 900 ppm. Installed led strip lights in the corners. I’ve noticed that I don’t need to run my humidifier when I use self-feeding bases and fabric pots…..the air blowing over the damp pots adds plenty of humidity.
FRIDAY - End of week 2. Seeing some yellowing on a few leaves. They have new nutrients in their base with more fertilizer than before. I’ll increase nitrogen if this persists.
This week I added a new controller to handle up to 8 functions. I installed a new heater, my old humidifier and some LED strips to the controller. Targeting a VPD at 1.0 day and night.
Trying to keep the nutrient ppm under 900 and ph at 6.0 in the reservoirs. Ordered a second ph pen because I don’t trust my readings. Will be here by Thursday.
Friday:
Checked the ppm in the reservoirs and it’s at 1,000. Added more RO water with extra nitrogen to bring the ppm level down to 925.
Saturday: I installed an updated AC Infinity controller 69 Pro Plus (controls 8 pieces of equipment) which allowed me to add a humidifier, corner LEDs and a heater to the controller. Overall I’m extremely impressed with this AC Infinity equipment. My VPD is within the range I want to achieve (.8-1.1). I programmed it to maintain 78 degrees and 67% humidity during the day, 73 degrees and 63% humidity at night. Charts posted also show the impact of an open tent compared to the closed environment. The heater is constantly pushing fresh air into the tent, so I don’t need to cycle the exhaust fan often.
Rewired the tent again and moved the controller later that night. I mounted the controller on the wall. Added Mars Hydro UV/IR lighting to fill out all 8 slots on the controller.
Sunday: I checked the ph in the reservoirs (6.8….i had filled it with 6.0 ph) and the ppm (1200 ppm…I had filled it with 900). So evaporation and possibly a mismeasurement of ph. I topped ff reservoirs with slightly stronger nutes and adjusted ph to 5.8 in the reservoirs. Poor magnesium absorption could be driving some leaf yellowing. Effective tomorrow, I’m switching over to Heads Formula which consistently feeds GH Flora series nutes at Micro (6ml/g), Bloom (9ml/g) and cal mag (3ml/g). Turned on the UV/IR lights for 3 minutes every 8 hours. I’m easing the plants up to 5 minutes every 6 hours which will provide the recommended 20 minutes of IR per day. This will help the plants stretch a little more.
Monday: checked ph and ppm in reservoirs. 6.1ph and 880ppm. VPD remains stable except when I open the tent.
Tuesday: checked ph (6.4) and ppm (880) in reservoirs. Added .5ml of ph down to two reservoirs. Still see slight yellowing between the veins but it’s not getting worse (might be improving). Adjusting ph down to 6.0 target might have solved this. The plants grew by 1-2” last night…..is the infrared light working already?
Decided to mix up fresh nutes for the reservoirs following Heads formula. 6ml Micro and 9ml Bloom per gallon of RO water. Added 5 ml of CalMag too. Ending ppm was 1080 which is too high, so I diluted down to 880 with RO water. 6.0 ph.
Wednesday: plants grew another .75 inches last night. I topped above the 5th node.
Thursday: added RO water with heavy cal mag to reservoirs to increase amount of CalMag available.
Welcome to week 3 of veg. They’ve been growing about 1” per day lately. I’m planning to SCROG these three girls with a portable scrog screen. Supplies arrive today and I’m anxious to test this. (Note that my portable scrog screen didn’t work, so I’m using a 2x4 stretch screen).
So far the self watering feeders are working well. The reservoir ph does tend to climb, so I make regular adjustments by adding RO water to the nutrient mix and using ph down. The PPM of the nutrients is climbing too, so adding RO dilutes that. As an example, it had climbed from 925 ppm to 1080 ppm overnight. I diluted it back down to 880 ppm.
Saturday: installed scrog net
Sunday: checked reservoir ph (6.4) and ppm (970). Added ph down. Adjusted scrog net. Discoloration in leaves appears to be worsening. Waiting for a new dehumidifier to arrive. With all of the humidity that the fiber pots put off, I’m going to need a dehumidifier in flower.
Monday: ran pipes for humidifier, heater and dehumidifier through a different tent outlet. I’m ready to start dehumidifying at flower flip. Removed humidifier since I won’t need it until after the harvest (I dry in my tent ideally). Topped off reservoir water with a heavy emphasis on CalMag. Reservoirs are at a ph of 6.0 and 750ppm. Lowered ppm due to start of burnt leaf tips on one plant.
Wednesday. Lowered ph in reservoir from 6.4 to 6.1 with ph down and diluted nutrients. Lowered ppm from 780 to 700. Removed growth below the SCROG net. Adjusted lighting to a DLI of 35 which proved too intense for the plants, so I backed it down to 30 DLI.
Thursday: wrapped up the week by giving them a foliar spray after lights went out. Feeding 5ml/g or CalMag and 30ml/g of Seaweed Extract. Topped off reservoirs using 6ml/g of micro, 9ml/g of Bloom, Seaweed and 2ml CalMag.
Welcome to Friday- Start of week 4 veg.
Today I adjusted the ph in the reservoirs from 6.3 to 6.0. Ppm under 800 so no added water. Damaged leaf seems to be from a magnesium deficiency, so I’m foliar feeding and bottom feeding with a mixture of CalMag. Doesn’t seem to be getting worse. My foliar feed consists of 5ml/g of CalMag, 30ml/g of seaweed extract, ro water and ph’d to 6.0.
Daily Light Integral at 35. Lamp is 18 inches above and dimmed. Extra scrog net has been purchased in case I decide to run two levels of screens.
Lowered the SCROG screen and wove branches laterally to encourage filling up the screen.
Saturday: raised the lamp by 2” to 18” above the tops. Adjusted dimmer targeting a 30 DLI.
-Checked nutrient reservoirs and ph is 6.2 and ppm at 780. Added .5ml of ph down to each reservoir to bring reservoir ph down to 5.9. Not topping off today.
-Foliar fed at lights off, also sprayed for bugs using Captain Jacks.
Sunday: defoliated below the screen and removed inward facing fan leaves that were blocking bud sites. Lowered ph in reservoirs from 6.4 to 6.0. Adjusted fans so they run faster under higher temperatures.
Monday: REPLACED NUTRIENT SOLUTION. First replacement in two weeks. New solution ml/g is Micro (6), Bloom (9), seaweed (30), 3% hydrogen peroxide (10) CalMag (3). 6.1 ph and 1200 ppm. Drained reservoirs and added new mixture. Added RO water to drop total ppm below 900.Plant looking good.
Tuesday: scrog net canopy filling in. Supercropped a few branches and wove branches under nets. Switched all lighting to 12/12 for flower, so tomorrow will be the first week of “flower” as I post here.
1 Wednesday- Flipped to 12/12 lighting last night after realizing that the SCROG screen is likely too full. Now I have to manage 3 weeks of stretch. Raised the net slightly. Now we wait. Still feeding all nutrients through the water in the reservoir, so no top feeding is taking place. Added RO water and nutrients.
2 Thursday: Checked reservoirs and observed that nutrient levels have fallen, PPM has increased and ph has increased. This is an indication that the plant is drinking more than it is eating, so I need to add more reverse osmosis water to lower the EC. See attached feeding chart that I use as my reference. Defoliated. Fed one gallon RO, 6ml of Micro per g. Added .5-.7ml ph down to each reservoir to achieve final reservoir ph at 6.0.
3 Friday: added one gallon of RO water among the three reservoirs. No need to adjust any ph levels. Added 6ml of micro to reservoir number one.
4 Saturday: added one gallon of RO water. Adjusted ph in reservoirs with 0.5ml of ph down in each reservoir. Added micro, bloom and CalMag.
5 Sunday: added one gallon of nutrient water. No ph adjustment needed today. Drinking 1/3 gallon per day each. Performed a small defoliation again to allow light to hit bud sites in the canopy.
6 Monday: Replaced nutrients….3 gallons of fresh nutrients mixed up. This time is used 5ml/g of Flora series Micro, Grow and Bloom and KoolBloom. I used 4ml/g of Terpinator and 2ml/g of CalMag. Had to use RO water to dilute to ppm below 900.
7. Tuesday added ph down to each reservoir and topped off with one gallon of ro water. Plants are now drinking or evaporating 1/3 gallon per day each.
Ooooooo-eeeeeee……she’s starting to smell wonderful. I rub the stems and I get a wonderful pine scent. This is my third scrog and I still have a lot to learn. My first two really shouldn’t count because it was nothing more than a support net. I’m actually bending and supercropping to move branches under the net this time. Looking much better on the left side of the canopy than the right side….more buds and more mature. The plant on the right isn’t growing as quickly.
Welcome to week #2 of flower. I update my journal daily based on daily activities. Average daytime temperatures are around 80;degrees. Most importantly, my exhaust fan is holding the VPD at 1.1-1.2.
Day 8. Wednesday - Added half gallon of nutrient solution, lowered ph in reservoirs from 6.4 to 6.0 with .5ml of ph down. Raised the LED by two inches to offset for plant growth. LED is now 15” above the plants on full blast and providing a daily light integral of 35.5. That’s ok for now, but I’d like to see it closer to 40 in weeks 3-5 of flower. I will likely need to lower my light to increase intensity. Reservoirs at 6.0 ph and 800 ppm.
Day 9. Starting to get concerned that the high nutrient content will result in the need for a flush in 2-3 weeks. In preparation, I’m reducing my nutrients slightly to prevent excess salt buildup at the roots. I’m updating this week to reflect the reduced feed.
Day 10: DEFICIENCY FOUND - Phosphorous. Added 6ml of liquid KoolBloom (0-10-10) to each 1.3 gallon reservoir, added 2ml of cal mag to each reservoir, topped off with RO water.
Day 11: Saturday I decided to perform a FULL FLUSH OF PLANTERS. These pots have stopped taking up enough water to support the roots based on how light each pot is. By end of week, there’s still some water weight in the pots and the plants aren’t drinking much from the reservoirs after the flush. I’ll be that water uptake improves post-flush.
One of the downsides of these self-feeding planters is the salt buildup at the root zone from my synthetic nutrients. It has always resulted in damaged leaves during flower as that salt builds up. I discovered that by flushing the fiber pots at least once to reduce the EC at the root zone, I can finish my grow successfully without damaged leaves. So I incorporate a flush into every grow now.
Flushed with 16 gallons of water treated with Florakleen to dissolve the salts. Flushing solution was probably around 200-300ppm when I dispensed. The first runoff water out of the root zone had a ppm on 1800ppm, so there’s definitely a salt buildup as expected but not as bad as I expected either. I ended the flush by running nutrient solution through the roots with a ppm of 750. Runoff ppm from the three reservoirs before the flush was 1500, 1795 and 1800. After the flush the runoff for the three reservoirs was 845, 1200 and 1100. I’m hoping this will be the only flush I need since this is a short veg and fast flowering strain.
Refilled reservoirs with nutrient water at 6.0ph and 800ppm.
Defoliated top and below net, focused on removing fan leaves that were blocking bud sites.
Day 12 Sunday: researched LEDs and ordered new LED to replace my 6 year old technology (cob)
Day 13 Monday added second scrog net 3-4” above the first one. Wove branches to expose more bud sites. Now I stop weaving branches and wait for the colas to develop. The second scrog net should help support the canopy in late flower.
Observed that new growth is starting to look light green, so added 3ml of micro to each reservoir.
Decided to flush the reservoirs and start with fresh nutrients.
New nutrients added at 900ppm and 6.1ph.
Day 14: Tuesday I installed new grow light. Wow is it bright…..12” above and 90% dimming for a DLI of 30. I like the light coverage from 3 bars instead of 3 cobs too (previous light). So 320 watts over 8 square feet should work well. This lamp provides more red spectrum to support flowering better.
As I close out the week, I’m seeing some infrequent purple stems, so I’ve been bumping up the phosphorous with Liquid Koolbloom (0-10-10) as the week goes on. Ph is in line. Hoping the plants continue to look healthy for 8 more weeks.
Welcome to the 3rd week of flower. The stretch should take place this week.
TLDR. Self wicking pots working well but proved the need for a thorough cleaning mid-grow to keep functioning. New lighting spectrum to support flowering. Starting new seeds for my next grow…..planning to clone first.
Vivosun self-feeding bases are still working well. The only work required was the flush last week. I have noticed that they uptake water more slowly over time. I regret using 3 gallon fiber pots…..5 gallon pots would wick and hold more moisture. I’m not sure that these 3 gallons will make it without needed top watering over time……or at least one more flush. (As of Friday, I believe the issue is dirty clogged wicks)
Starting the week under that new light spectrum with more red lights to support flowering. This LED is also 6 years newer so it should be more powerful for flower even at the exact same wattage.
Day 15 Wednesday: Saw a little leaf curl so I raised the lamps 1 inch to 13” above the plants. Dimmer at 86. Daily Light Integral averaging 30. I plan to creep the dimmer up daily.
Checked ph which had risen from 6.1 to 6.5. Added 1ml of ph down to each 1.3 gallon reservoir. I’m targeting a 5.8ph.
Ppm was around 1000, so I topped off reservoirs with 1g of RO Water to dilute the reservoirs.
Plants are looking healthy and I’m glad that I flushed the salts out of the coco last week.
Day 16 Thursday. HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Topped off with RO water in the reservoirs. Noticed a need for CalMag and phosphorous, so added liquid KoolBloom and CalMag to the 1.3 gallon reservoirs. Ph at 6.0. Ppm at 900.
Day 17: Friday pots feel extremely light today and not holding enough water again. This has historically indicated that they need a flush, but I completed one last week so I’m confused. Either I will need to flush more frequently due to being in a 3 gallon pot or there is another issue. I flushed one plant with 4 gallons of Florakleen mix and the runoff of the first gallon was only 700! So no salt buildup since the last flush. Decided to pull out the plant bases and inspect the wicks. See pictures above. Looks like mold growth probably blocking the wick uptake. So I cleaned and swapped out each reservoir. NOTE TO SELF….CLEAN RESERVOIRS EVERY 2-3 WEEKS TO KEEP THE WICKS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. I have always routinely cleaned my AC Infinity bases but they were never built into a scrog net like this. I think this slow water uptake has all been “user error”. We’ll see how well they keep the plants watered with freshly cleaned wicks.
Placed two new seeds into an aerogarden to start the plants. I’ve never used this approach. Soaked for 6 hours in RO water with seaweed extract then placed in the Aerogarden. (Also growing mini tomatoes and peppers).
Day 18: Saturday topped off reservoirs with ro water. Add .75ml ph down to each 1.3 gallon reservoir to target 5.8-6.0 ph. Plants are heavy and holding water from flush yesterday. No other activity needed.
Day 19 Sunday: planted seeds into spider farmer aerogarden for next grow. Planning to attempt my first DWC grow. Observed a phosphorous deficiency on plant #1 which received the most thorough flush. Added liquid KoolBloom to the reservoir of all three plants. For the one showing the deficiency, I flushed using the reservoir contents. Net, she has a nice strong 1100ppm dose of nutrients in her root zone now. Now we wait.
Also took the advice from another forum and added two 1/4 inch wicks. The Vivosun uses smaller 1/6 inch wicks. Given the clogging issue I experienced, I’m going to see if this improves wicking action over the rest of the grow.
Day 20 Monday:
Ran the remainder of the 1.3 gallon reservoirs (1100ppm / 6.0 ph) through the base of each plant. Runoff was 1300 ppm, so I did flush some salts out of thr medium. Drained each reservoir and replaced with fresh nutrients. 900ppm and 5.9 ph. I’m growing tired of dealing with these slow wicks so I’m going overboard with my modification. I added some 1/4 inch wicks. Let’s see which plant stays hydrated best now.
Welcome to week #4 since the flip to 12/12. This might be the shortest scrog I’ve seen…haha. i flipped them pretty young since I’m testing 3 gallon pots instead of 5.
I started off the week by feeling the weight on my plants to make sure they’re wicking sufficient nutrients. I’ve had problems with these wicks clogging. Plant #2 is feeling too light, so I installed a revised feeding base using 1/4 inch wicks to all three plants (instead of 1/6 inch wicks) see photo. I drilled larger holes for the wicks since I believe the rubber grommets used by Vivosun are too small. I’m hopeful that a tweak to the wick design will make these work properly. Fingers crossed 🤞 that this solves the wicking issue.
Day 22 Wednesday: topped off water, added .7ml of ph down to each reservoir targeting 6.0ph. 900ppm avg. i believe I’ve addressed the phosphorous shortage, but I don’t know if the leaves will repair themselves or if this is permanent leaf damage. It’s not severe, but it’s worse than I like.
Day 23 Thursday: success with the revised wick system for the Vivosun pots. The light pot now has more weight to it, so it’s starting to wick moisture again. Split one gallon of nutrients between three plants.
Day 24: Friday the plants each wicked almost one gallon per plant. They were thirsty and making up for lost time with the bad wicks. Spotted a potential potassium deficiency on plant 2. Will watch. Nutrient formula switching back to Heads Formula, so I’ll adjust the feed levels for the week. 6ml of Micro, 9ml of Bloom, 1.5ml CalMag per gallon each.
Day 25 Saturday: Topped off reservoirs with RO water.
Day 26: Sunday topped off reservoirs with one gallon of Head’s Formula and one gallon of RO water. Plants took two gallons!! They’re really drinking nutrients now that the wicks work. Still some leaf discoloration on plant #1 and plant #2, but I’m hoping the fresh nutrients will restore any deficiencies.
Decided that the nutrient burn on plant #2 needs to be addresses. Flushed with 4 gallons of a mild nutrient solution (3ml CalMag, 5ml koolbloom, 650ppm, 6.1ph). First gallon of runoff at 1350ppm. Second gallon of runoff 1150. Final runoff at 975. Vacuumed up runoff then filled reservoirs with 750ppm /6.0ph solution.
We’ve had a few issues these last two weeks, but we’re still alive at Week #5. Topped off reservoirs and snapped photos. I don’t think the leaves will improve from the nutrient deficiency last week or the nutrient burn on plant #2.
Day 29 Wednesday: topped off with nutrients. Ppm 790 ph 6.0.
Day 30 & 31: topped off with 2 gallons each day using 790ppm and 6.0ph nutrient solution
Purple Ghost Candy growing in a hydroponic unit. She will be the mother plant for my attempt to clone in a few weeks.
And so week 6 since the 12/12 flip begins. The leaves look a little rough on two of the three plants. I suspect a combination of old nutrient burn (flushed since then) and then a deficiency on one plant. Hoping that my latest nutrient mix takes care of everything. I don’t expect the leaves to improve. Two more weeks of feeding heavily and then I will start to taper my nutrients for the finish at week 10 (hopefully).
Sunday: while filling the reservoir, I observed some very small bugs swimming in my reservoir water. Look like Springtails. Completely flushed and treated all equipment with bleach water and added new nutrient solution. Sprayed plants with Captain Jacks Deadbug to be safe. Hopefully this will knock out the potential infestation.
Just waiting to harvest….added some airstones and hydrogen peroxide to prevent bugs from reservoirs like last week. Planning to flush and replace nutrients again this weekend in week 12.
Cornfed
