Do-Si-Dos or Sour Diesel?

Dirty_Mushroom Hello all, I haven't grown in over a decade. Tech sure has changed over that time and LED's are everywhere. I can't say I'm sorry to see the back of those bulbs and magnetic ballasts, the sound they sometimes used to make and the anxiety it caused me when they started misbehaving... is it going to go bang today? So these LED's must work then, right? Right!? Well, with the help of Mars Hydro, Flora-Flex, Canna and a few DIY bits and pieces... keep up with this diary and let's find out together :) *********************** Firstly, this will most likely be the format for all future diaries. This is due to completing the diary well into, possibly even after the grow. So a big blob of writing in the first week about pretty much everything and then follow ups with what ever photos I collect, aligned with notes I've taken for that particular date/time period. If I can help you make sense of these ramblings and/or if you would like an explanation of anything I've made myself then please comment/DM. I'm here to help. I'm not sure what these Barneys Autos are, I forgot to make a note so maybe the community can help me identify them? Maybe Poll it out if there is an option or a website to host a free poll? They are either Do-Si-Dos Autos or Sour Diesel Autos. Do-Si-Dos were acquired third party and the Sour Diesel's were acquired direct, both in Nov 24. Whilst I always keep seeds in the fridge, I was amazed they came through... and with such vigour! I have had some this year that had an exceptionally high failure rate (80-90%)... and that was using them immediately from supplier. So I'm rooting for these guys, I believe in you Barney! I set 4 in motion and whilst three took off lovely...one of them looked like horror from The Pagemaster. Ugly as sin and buckled like inbred teeth. She pulled through though and she's the lady on the top right. You will be able to notice her in future photos as the other three have quite a lot of volume. She also decided to shoot past the led's. I can't make exceptions in height for one lanky lady... that stuff works exponentially you know. The three little ones on the floor I am working on turning bonsai. They are Barneys Blue Gelato 41 and Europa seeds Purple Diesel Daze. I germinate in well soaked, damp tissue paper which I then seal in a plastic bag and completely cover/insulate in fabrics such as a towel or thick jumper. Light out, warmth in. 48hrs has always done me well, if not, I reseal and check again in 24hrs. I then planted them once they had just broken out of their husk (if that's the correct name?) and the tap root was showing. I sometimes leave them go a bit too long and it can get a bit messy. I sat the flora flex drip plate on top of under-filled, 5 gallon (US/imperial?) fabric pots (they came with a kit from Mars Hydro) with a mix of coco-perlite (70-30% ish). PRO TIP: Don't under-fill your pots if using drip plates (I forgot the name of them). The ladies were planted straight after germination into these pots. I had around 2 inches from the top of the fabric pot to the substrate layer, don't do this... and I'll tell you for why. As you can see in this photo, the ladies are trying to get up through the Flora-Flex drip plate centre which I thought was no problem at all. I assisted them by hooking and tucking them up gently so they were getting light and room to gain height without restriction. This was perfectly fine and not a problem, they grew happily. Skip ahead and you will see that LST, plant structure and growth ended up forcing the drip plate top out of level, twisting it slightly with growth structure that has resulted in the soup flooding one edge and just pouring into one side of the pots. I strongly feel this would have been avoided if given extra substrate height. I have compensated for this by doing more frequent, less intense feed cycles and then every 2 days I manually cover the plate with an elongated watering can (about 4 foot extension of 22mm copper pipe... the back pain is real I tells ya). My reservoirs are 80 litre strong plastic black bins, so maybe 70 litre full capacity? I'm not exactly sure. I call them R1 and R2, 1 being primary... somewhat obviously :) They're both modded to contain mains connected float valve's and holes for the relevant pipes and cables. The mains also has its own shut-off valve. R1 contains the feed pump, 4 air stones (in pairs) using dual air tubes from a '4 out' air pump and a custom float switch. I created the float switch to shut off the transfer pump in the other reservoir. R2 contains the transfer pump and also has 4 air stones (in pairs) using dual air tubes. Some points about my reasoning for this current set up. I mix and probe my soup in R2 as R2 has far less going on inside it which inhibits my truncheon waving (Bop!) and restricts the water from getting a good stir on. Then, I flick the main switch and R2 pumps out to R1, shutting off the transfer pump with the float switch once R1 has sufficiently filled. I then Isolate with the main switch. This allows me to make a soup of whatever strength and dip into it for whatever reason. Once I'm low or in need of an R1 refill it's easy to pimp it up and pump it out. I'm not sure if it's that good of an idea to dissolve different additives in different orders ie. A, then B, then calmag/rhizo/zyme etc, then A, then B (lol). I haven't had any sediment form that I can tell as of yet and they seem to be very happy. For this week the soup contained 100ml part A, 100ml Part B, 50ml Rhizo and 25ml Cal-mag. I'm quite fortunate with my PH's right off the bat so I rarely need to adjust. I will get PH and EC deets of my tap water if anyone wants to know. I use the BlueLabs pen and truncheon (Bop!). Nutrient mix info PH: 6.2 EC: 1.2 Temp: 19c I feed every three or so hours for 20 seconds pump time, using the red insert for flow speed with the Flora-Flex bubbler head... or whatever that 8 out connector head thing is called. I had some large plastic...saucers? I suppose you could say that's what they are? So I flipped them over and the Flora-Flex drip trays sit pretty perfectly on top. This gives me the extra height for drainage to the low profile AC condensate pump to pump out the run off. I found without the extra height, the run off back-logged and overflowed for the furthest pots, sometimes all of them. This occasionally still happens but the saucer lip then catches that run-off, effectively keeping my tent floor clean. Later in the grow I made and printed some little hooks for LST that I assembled with fishing line. After a few trial and errors, redraws and testing I got them to work pretty damn well. While they need a little something else, they worked sufficiently well enough to not warrant a redraw. I would come to realise later on, the 'soil sifting plastic pan' I purchased at the garden center to use on my garden compost would have been the perfect accompaniment to this LST setup. It would not only allow for drainage to the tray and aeration for the base of the pot but also act as an anchor point for my LST hooks. This, combined with an easy disconnect for both feed tubes, allows plant pot removal so I don't have to bend over and straaaaiiiin... when working on them :D I have the STL's and can draw a little guide how to set them up. If anyone wants them I can put them on the line :)

Dirty_Mushroom My nute mix is now 100ml of A, 100ml of 25ml rhizo and 25ml Cal-Mag. Nutrient mix info PH: 6.5 EC: 1.0-1.2 Temp: 19c LST began the day before this photo was taken. They started getting quite bushy so I knew I had to pin them down somehow. That's when I made the hooks for LST. I almost forgot to mention this. While setting the initial LST hooks, I forced the main cola stem down a little too much. The back left lady snapped but was still hinged somewhat. I bent it back and secured it with a hook to keep it from falling over... it's still growing I believe. The lady front right, well, she wasn't so lucky. She snapped when I was away, most likely through delayed stress and lights on growth/shifting. Snapped the top clean off! Lesson learned, gradually introduce LST over many days.

Dirty_Mushroom First defoliation. Nute mix is now 130 ml A and 130ml B, 50 ml rhizo, 25ml Cal-Mag and 25ml PK13/14. Nutrient mix info PH: 6.2 EC: 1.4 - 1.6 Temp: 19c Around this time I noticed a few bluey purples coming out in the back right lady. After speaking with a friend, they reminded me that the cold can do that. Yep, could be that is what caused it because at one point, lights of temps were getting as low as 18.6c. So I pulled out the old thermostat with a plug socket on the end, set up a little heater on it's lowest setting and monitored the temps. We are consistently between 26 and 27 now and have been since around the time this photo was taken. Humidity is beginning to increase to around the high 60's mid 70's mark.

Dirty_Mushroom Nute mix is now 150ml A, 150ml B, 50ml PK13/14, 100ml Rhizo, 25ml CalMag and 25ml cannazyme. Nute mix information PH: 6.4 EC: 2.0 Temp: 21c They are doing far better than I would have thought but the proof's in the pudding. Not that smelly except for lights off.

Dirty_Mushroom Nute mix is now 200ml A, 200ml B, 100ml rhizo, 50ml PK13/14, 25ml Cal-Mag and 25ml Zyme. Nute mix information PH: 6.3-6.4 EC: 1.8 - 2.0 Temp: 17c I've been bumping up the base nutes as I don't want the ladies to be hungry. They're too polite see and they won't say anything if you're feeding them just under. (I talk/type out of my a***) The week leading into this week and onwards raised some challenges with getting the humidity under control. So out came the dehumidifier to get it down from 80-90(not even joking) to 60%. Going forward I will keep at these levels and try to drop the temps come final flower stage to try get a hue or two. I won't be increasing/decreasing food. I will have to get in and do the third and final defoliation soon.