First Time Growing Anything - OG Kush

Introduction - Week 06 Summary - Wow! This week for the most part went quite smooth! A few unexpected bumps, but I think she's looking great now! Called my local electric company and learned that they don't really send technicians out to service circuit breakers. I researched what it would take to change a breaker online and almost upgraded my circuit breaker to a higher amperage. However I later learned that was a really bad idea and could have caused the wires in the wall to overheat and possibly cause a fire. I guess breakers are rated for certain gauges of wire. So if I upgraded the breaker, I'd have to upgrade the wiring. Not going to upgrade my room's interior wiring. So no chiller. This was her first week in the bucket. The only difference was the increased concentration of nutrients along with higher reservoir temperatures. Had to keep the chiller off to keep the room's circuit breaker from tripping during this hot weather but was able to keep the water pump still on to ensure that there was no stagnant water in the tubing. On a more optimistic side, the great thing about this was that even with the higher temperatures (~78-86 °F), no slime! The enzymes and beneficial bacteria appears to have kept everything under control. She seems to be loving the new increased nutrients along with the reduced light levels! Decided to not use the drip ring at all and just top feed using a syringe. Next run already plan on using a new smaller net pot without a drip ring. Less is more I guess. Added more shade midway through the week, but later removed it to increase light levels towards the end of the week. Learned how delicate plant leaves are.. I accidentally damaged a leaf mid way through the week (Damn it...) but she seemed to recover quite nicely. Didn't really seem to slow down any growth. I think. She's already developing her 3rd set of leaves too! Discovered that I never received a bottle of Nirvana. Soo had to order another bottle. Stoner move... Since everything went so well without the chiller, during the end of week's res change, I opted to remove it completely. I really hope this was a good decision. Just going to keep an eye out for slime and refresh the enzymes/beneficial bacteria if more appears. [START OF WEEK 06] Day 01 - Monday - 09/07/20 - Total Days: 036 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Checked bucket solution. --- PPMs were at 690 --- PH was at 6.7 --- Decided to PH down and going to ignore PPMs --- New PPMs were at 717 --- New PH was at 6.2 - [1930]: Checked bucket solution again. --- PPMs were at 687 --- PH was at 6.6 --- PH'd down again. --- New PPMs were at 712 --- New PH was at 5.8 --- Top fed with a syringe again. About 10mL Day 02 - Tuesday - 09/08/20 - Total Days: 037 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Looking healthy! --- Oh no a spider! Had to kill it. Could find anymore. --- PH was at 6.2 --- PPMs were at 695 --- Added more enzymes and beneficial bacteria. --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 2mL of Sensizym --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- PH'd down again. --- New PH was at 5.8 --- New PPMs were at 706 --- Top fed with a syringe again. About 10mL - [1600]: Checked bucket solution again. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 648 --- PH'd down again. --- New PH was at 5.2 --- New PPMs were at 695 --- Top fed with a syringe again. About 10mL - [2130]: Looking good! --- Added a bit more shade to the screen in the form of a piece of cardboard. Day 03 - Wednesday - 09/09/20 - Total Days: 038 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Wow looking healthier! --- I think I saw a fly in the tent!? May have to start spraying neem oil soon. - [0945]: Damn it... If it's not one thing, it's another.. While lifting the basket out of the bucket to check the solution, the surrounding hydroton started to fill in around her (everything was sloping inwards already because of how low she's in the basket). As I was trying to dig her out, I accidentally tore one of her leaves... Damn it. Sorry girl. --- I checked the solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 693 --- I was just too shocked by the accidental damage I caused that I just left her alone. No adjustments to the solution. No top feed neither. --- Going to be worrying about this all day now. Damn it. Please recover. --- Removed a bit of the hydroton. --- From now on, going to be extra careful when checking the PH/PPMs. Damn it Ensign. --- Also, going to use way less hydroton next time during transplant.. - [2200]: Well she's actually still growing! --- I checked the solution again. Very carefully.. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 671 --- PH hasn't changed which is good. I think. --- PPMs went down a bit, but could have been a miss reading. I'll leave everything alone for now and check again in the morning. --- The damaged leaf is still mostly green. The piece that's hanging is starting to dry and yellow, but the rest still looks healthy and green. Poor girl. Day 04 - Thursday - 09/10/20 - Total Days: 039 ----------------------------------- - [0945]: Nice! Still looking healthy! --- Damaged leaf still looking green too. --- Carefully checked the bucket solution. --- A bit of foam on the top of the bucket, but no slime! --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 695 --- Just going to leave everything alone again. --- Removed a handful of hydroton from the basket. --- Since the slime seems to be under control at these higher temps, I'm deciding on removing the water pump and chiller tubing all together. This would simplify things a bit in the bucket and will also save me a bit of electricity. - [2230]: Getting a bit taller! I think. --- More new leaf growth. Lower leaves seem healthy too. --- Carefully checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 694 --- Just going to leave everything alone again. But top fed 10mL of the solution. Day 05 - Friday - 09/11/20 - Total Days: 040 ----------------------------------- - [0900]: Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 711 --- Just going to leave everything alone. - [2145]: Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 695 --- Just going to leave everything alone again. --- She seems to be growing just fine. Even with the damaged leaf. Day 06 - Saturday - 09/12/20 - Total Days: 041 ----------------------------------- - [0900]: Wow she's growing! the new leaf growth is looking pretty good too! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 712 --- Just going to leave everything alone. - [2145]: Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 731 --- PH'd down a bit. --- New PH was at 5.6 --- New PPMs were at 782 --- Did not top feed. --- To allow a bit more light, I removed the extra piece of cardboard from the shade screen. --- On a side note. *--Stoner face palm--* I realized that a bottle of Nirvana that I ordered a few months ago was never delivered. It was in a batch order of nutes so I must have overlooked it (also Nirvana is a more of a bloom nutrient so didn't really think about using it during veg). Going to contact the seller to see if anything can be done, but also ordering another bottle. Damn it Ensign.. Day 07 - Sunday - 09/13/20 - Total Days: 042 ----------------------------------- - [0800]: Reservoir Change Day! --- Checked the bucket's nutrient solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 716 --- So first week in the bucket seemed to go quite well. At least better than the last seedling. --- Only have one root still but aye the little root got bigger! --- Going to up the nutes a bit more as per AN's instructions (BudLabs App). --- Also going to add a bit of Rhino Skin to this brew as well. Heard that silica will help to strengthen stems and promote more nutrient uptake. --- I hope the increased nutrients will help to boost growth without burning her. --- Since there was little to no slime this week, made a big decision to remove the chiller and will continue with the enzymes/beneficial bacteria treatments to control any bad algae/slime. - [0815]: Removed her from the bucket and placed her in an empty one while I cleaned and prepped everything. --- Drained the system. Rinsed a few times with distilled water. --- Disconnected and removed both the water pump and chiller along with all water tubing. --- Soaked everything except the chiller in bleached tap water (pump, tubing, and fittings). --- Since I could not really soak the chiller, I just filled it with some isopropyl alcohol. Plan on also filling with bleach/water solution later. --- Going to let everything soak for a day, then drain, rinse, and dry. --- This will definitely simplify things a bit without the pump and chiller. I like it! - [0830]: Disconnected and boiled the air stones in distilled water. Then rinsed with more distilled water. --- Scrubbed the bucket clean again and patched the holes from the removed water tubing with some aluminum tape. - [0845]: Time to brew up next week's nutrient solution! This will be week 2 in the bucket so going with half strength for the base and full dose of everything else. Going for a total of around 900 PPMs. --- Filled the system with 3gal of distilled water. --- Turned the water pump and air pumps on. --- Added 23mL of Rhino Skin --- Added 23mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 23mL of Sensi Grow B --- Added 23mL of B-52 --- Added 23mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 23mL of Sensizym --- Added 6mL of Hydroguard --- Checked the PPMs and they were already at 920. --- Made a decision to not add any CaliMagic. There seems to be both calcium and magnesium in the base nutrients so hoping it's enough. --- PH was not adjusted at 5.5 --- Placed her back in the bucket. --- The water level was around 1.5" from the bottom of the net pot. May lower the water level a bit more in a day or so if more root growth appears. - [0945]: Top fed about 10mL of the new nutrient solution to the base of the stem. Looking a bit droopy, but still healthy. --- Going to check progress after lights out to see if any positive changes occur. --- Sweet dreams little one! - [1630]: Wow she's getting bigger! --- Have to say that I had doubts when I damaged her leaf earlier this week. My heart sank for a bit and I thought to myself, 'Damn it Ensign! Now I have to start yet another seed.' But I'm just stunned with her recovery and with the extra growth! --- Sorry for all the harm done girl. It's truly been a gnarly learning experience so far for sure. But very happy now that she is perky again! --- I'm trying to be more careful when handling her, but have to say that these plants can truly take a beating and still thrive! --- Checked the bucket solution. This is just after the night cycle. --- Aiming for a PH of 5.5 to 6.3 --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 880? --- 920 to 880 PPMs in just one night cycle? --- I'm thinking that the solution stabilized at the lower PPM. --- Or maybe she's starving for nutes? --- Hmm. Perhaps it could also be my inexpensive PH/PPM meters giving me false readings? I really hope it's not this. Funds are kind of low right now (too much smoking Ensign. ¯_(ツ)_/¯) so really not a good time to be spending cash on new equipment. Just going to assume for now that the pens are accurate. --- Not really sure. I'm going to leave everything alone for now and check later before adding more to the solution. - [1700]: Removed more hydroton to even out the grow medium to just about a thin layer above the rockwool. --- Can see the top row of holes but checked for light leaks in the basket and found none. Really glad I added that extra layer of aluminum tape to block out the top few layers of the basket. [END OF WEEK 06]