DWC - ILGM - Fire OG

[ --- I guess GrowDiaries has a germination week now! Splitting my week 1 log entries to accommodate for this new feature --- ] Since germination happened midway through the first week, this first week is from the point of germination until the end of the week (so 4 days for this split week). Introduction - Week 01 Summary - There are a few important overall changes I made to this grow: - The water chiller and top drip ring have been removed. - Went from an 8" to a 6" net basket. - Greatly lowered the overall light intensity (25% strength instead of 100%) - I reduced overall PPMs (306 instead of 850) - I simplified the nutrient mixture (CalMag + beneficial bacteria only - No grow nutrients) - I changed the way I structure my feeding schedules (going by growth instead of time spent growing) So far, these changes seem to have worked beautifully because she's looking healthy and strong! Overall, this week went quite smoothly! Had a slight hiccup when I dropped the temperature meter into the bucket solution as well as a bit of low humidity problem towards the end of the week. But no slime all week! Also had more root growth in this one week than any of my other attempts (no visible deficiencies that I'm aware of at least) so I'm happy! By the end of the week, temps and overall humidity were dialed in too. Great! For this week, I decided to hold off on changing the bucket solution and will keep the current brew for another week. I'll most likely change the reservoir when there's a more developed root system. Or whenever I decide to add grow nutrients into the mixture. Until then, I'm going to continue to only feed her straight CalMag. [START OF WEEK 01] Day 01 - Thursday - 10/08/20 - Total Days: 06 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Good morning little one! --- She's a bit warped because of the shell, but she is looking really green! Also her first set of leaves have already started to form! --- Temps under the dome were at ~75°F with a humidity of around 64% which is great! --- There was still quite a bit of water in the tray, but the water did lower as expected. --- Checked the tray solution. --- PPMs were at 197 --- PH was at 5.9 --- Great! So the PPMs were just under 200 in the tray which was a bit lower than I expected, but very good! The bucket will be around 300 PPMs to start so this tray feeding will hopefully help to acclimate her to the higher PPMs. - [1000]: Temporarily removed the cube from the tray to adjust the solution. I just set the cube on its side for a bit. The tap root was longer than yesterday, but still short enough to not reach the table when laying on it. --- Added straight distilled water to dilute the solution. --- PPMs dropped to 107 --- PH'd down the solution to 5.6 --- PPMs went up a bit to 118 --- I poured out a bit of the solution so the water level was just enough to fill the lower channels. --- I then carefully place the cube back and partially covered the tray to allow for more evaporation. --- Since I plan on transplanting tonight, going to leave the lights on for another 24/0 cycle. I will switch to 18/6 tonight. - [2100]: Aye looking good girl! --- Checked the final tray solution. --- PPMs were at 173 --- PH was at 6.4 - [2115]: Boiled both the hydroton and air stones in distilled water. --- Took the tray and dome out of the tent. - [2130]: By now the water has been boiling for a bit. So drained and placed the hydroton in distilled water PH'd down to 5.4 --- Also connected the clean air stones to their respective airlines within the bucket. - [2145]: Mixed her first batch of nutes! --- Going very basic for this first week. --- No grow nutes. --- Of course I'll be adding beneficial bacteria in the form of Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice. But not adding any enzymes for now. I really hope this will be enough to keep the slime under control. --- Since I don't want to use my tap water to feed her. I'm going to feed distilled water with straight CalMag. That's it. No grow nutrients until she develops some roots. --- Filled the bucket with 3 gallons of distilled water (PH 7.1 - 11 PPMs) - Turned air pump on. --- Added 15mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 7mL of Hydroguard (PH 7.1 - 13 PPMs) --- Added 10mL of CaliMagic (PH 6.3 - 303 PPMs) --- PH'd to 5.4 (diluted with distilled water a bit before adding to bucket) --- PPMs went up a bit to 306 - [2200]: Okay! TRANSPLANT TIME! --- Placed the new 6" net pot into the bucket. The water is a good 2" below the bottom of the net pot. --- Added enough hydroton to fill the bottom of the net pot. --- I removed the rockwool cube from the humidity dome and removed the plastic wrapper. --- I carefully placed her in the center of the hydroton. --- Then I very carefully added more hydroton to fill around the cube along with just enough to cover the top of the cube. --- Nice! I only needed about half of what the larger net pot used. --- Finally I top fed about 10mL of the solution to wet the rockwool cube. --- Transplant done! --- Now that she's in the DWC bucket and closer to the light, the distance between the light and the top of her leaves is 30". Hopefully this is not too close. --- Temps were around 77°F with the humidity at 54% --- Adjusted the AC/exhaust fan temps a bit and lowered them to 75°F --- Also switched the light to from 24/0 to 18/6. --- So from 10am to 4pm, it's lights out. - [2230]: I checked basket for light leaks and ran into issues.. --- I kept finding light leaks through the net pot. I took way too much time rearranging the hydroton. But light leaks along the edges were really obvious.. --- To check for leaks, I basically lifted the basket out of the bucket and held it above the reflective floor of the tent. Then, while looking straight down above the net pot, I checked to see if I could see any part of the floor shining though the basket.. --- I kept seeing bits of light. Damnit! --- I really didn't want to risk damaging a leaf again so I did not want to fill the basket all the way yet with hydroton. --- Once she gets larger, I can easily fill the basket with more hydroton to seal the leaks, but until then I needed a temporary solution. --- I started to think of a ways to seal the leaks. Maybe a lid of some sort? --- After a bit of thinking, I found a quick fix in the form of a sheet of aluminum foil! --- I took a sheet of foil and pressed it over the top of the lid of the net pot. This made a clean circle outline. Then using a pair of scissors, I carefully cut a slit to the middle of that circle. Then I cut out a small diamond shape in the center. That's it! I'll draw a simple diagram for later referencing. --- I was able to easily shape this foil to fit into the net basket to cover the top of the hydroton. I sealed the slit I cut earlier with aluminum tape. Then used a bit more tape to secure the foil to the top of the lid. Done! Light leak issue solved! --- Side note: --- Apparently an air gap between the nutrient solution and the bottom of the net pot is very important when growing in DWC. This space gives room for proper drainage and aeration of the rockwool cube along with keeping the top roots from drowning in nutrient solution. The bubbles in the bucket not only oxygenate the water, but as they pop along the surface of the water, they create a mist that sprays and slowly wets the bottom of the net pot. This constant misting gets wicked by the hydroton and eventually reaches the roots. --- Basically learned that you should never need to soak the hydroton directly in the nutrient solution. Day 02 - Friday - 10/09/20 - Total Days: 07 ----------------------------------- - [0830]: Good morning! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 296 --- Tent temps were at 77°F --- Humidity was at 47% --- Aye no slime! The foil cover along with the beneficial bacteria in the res seemed to have kept the slime away! --- Also, even though it's only been a day in the bucket, she is looking really healthy! Each OG Kush seedling I attempted to grow (RIP) had a bit of yellowing around the edges and their leaves were more of a yellowish green. But this Fire OG is looking great so far! The green in her leaves is a lot darker and there is no yellowing at all! --- The new adjustments in both the lighting and feeding seemed have fixed a lot of those issues I encountered during my last run. It could also be the strain too, but I am happy with the results so far! --- The green in her leaves is nice and even. --- Now hopefully I can keep it this way! - [2000]: Nice! still looking healthy! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 296 --- Tent temps were at 77°F --- Humidity was at 54% --- Still no slime! --- Top feed about 10mL of the solution. I did this in another bucket so runoff would not affect the bucket solution. Day 03 - Saturday - 10/10/20 - Total Days: 08 ----------------------------------- - [0700]: Looking great! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- Nice! Tap root is already shooting out of the net pot! --- Opps. Dropped the temperature/humidity meter into the bucket.. I hope this doesn't contaminate the solution. Damn it Ensign. --- PH was at 6.2 --- PPMs were at 303 --- Still no slime, but I'm not sure if dropping the meter into the water, or my own arm reaching all the way down into the water to take it out, could have affected the solution.. For my own sake, I'm definitely going to do a reservoir change tomorrow. This way I can be sure that everything will be clean. --- I decide to add more beneficial bacteria to the solution. --- First I removed about 2 cups of the solution. --- Then I filled a measuring cup with 1 cup of straight distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- Then added a squirt of PH down --- Poured the entire solution into the bucket. --- PH dropped to 4.8 --- Added some diluted PH up to bring it up to 5.3 --- PPMs were at 296 --- If the water isn't slimy by tonight, I'll top feed. - [0730]: On the positive side, even though completely submerged for a few seconds, the temperature meter seems completely undamaged! Initially the screen was dead, so I removed the battery and tried to dry the unit under a fan. After about 15 minutes, I popped the battery back in and everything seems to be working just fine. Great! - [1845]: Aye looking bigger! --- Okay I think I am doing something right this time! Since this morning, her root literally doubled in size! --- What a relief! I guess dropping the temperature meter into the nutrient solution had no negative effects. I'm still going to be careful from now on. Lesson learned. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.5 --- PPMs were at 292 --- Everything looks clean and no sign of slime! --- Top fed outside the bucket (about 10mL) and placed her back. Day 04 - Sunday - 10/11/20 - Total Days: 09 ----------------------------------- - [0745]: Growing nicely! --- Checked the bucket solution and still no slime! --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 286 --- Nice! I think a steady slow increase in PH along with a decrease in PPMs means that she is uptaking nutrients. --- Wow! Her root is looking longer too! Without a doubt, she's growing the fastest of all my attempts. --- With the reduced nutrient mixture (basically straight CalMag), this seedling's root is longer than any of my previous grows. This proves that yet again, less is more. --- Debating on whether to do a reservoir change tonight or not. --- It would be of the same strength and everything still looks really good with this current batch. I may try and go another week before changing out the nutrient water and a just add CalMag as needed. --- Temps look good a ~77°F --- But the humidity has been really low at 19% --- According to a VPD chart for veg, the optimal humidity should be closer to 60% at 77°F --- I sprayed a bit of distilled water on the top of the lid and table to hopefully bring up the humidity. To keep her dry as I did this, I temporarily covered her with a cup. - [0800]: The water seems to be drying pretty quick. So using a glass bowl as a humidity dome, I placed it on the lid of the bucket. --- If this works, as she grows bigger, I may need to find a larger dome, but for now this bowl is a perfect fit! Just enough room for the temp meter as well. Left an air gap to allow for air ventilation. --- After placing the bowl over her, the humidity meter immediately started to rise. Nice! --- At least for now, I think using some sort of a dome should fix my humidity issue. --- I also placed the humidity dome's tray on the floor of the tent and fill it with tap water. Maybe the evaporation from the fan blowing across the water will help increase the overall tent humidity? --- I can't afford a humidifier at the moment, so I'm trying to figure out cheap ways to keep humidity under control. If the dome doesn't fix the humidity issue, I might try hanging wet towels or spraying the walls of the tent later. - [0930]: Humidity is ~45% which is almost perfect! I'll check the meter again after the night cycle to see how the humidity changes. - [1915]: Okay! The humidity dome seemed to have fixed the issue! --- Humidity was at 59% --- Temperature was at 73°F --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 292 --- Solution temperature was 74°F --- Hmm.. PPMs went up a bit. Could be that she's drinking more water now. But all levels are within acceptable limits. --- Not going to worry. Water still looks clean and no slime. --- Top fed another 10mL outside the bucket. --- Still only have one visible root, but it's continuing to get longer! Stay healthy girl! [END OF WEEK 01]

Introduction - Week 02 Summary - Okay so another great week of growing! Overall, this week was a success! She's only been in the bucket for less than 2 weeks (writing this summary, it's been 10 days). But I'm amazed with the amount of root growth that has happened so far! None of my other seedlings came close to the amount of root growth this one has. She still only has one main root. But by the end of the week, it's reached all the way to the bottom of the bucket. So I'm very happy and hopeful for this one! So the low humidity readings at the end of last week were false. The issue has since been corrected (Obvious note to self: Do not drop the meter into the bucket solution). Midway through the week, I did add a bit of grow nutrients to help ease her into next week's reservoir change. After adding grow nutrients into the bucket, I did experience a bit of browning on her roots, but I quickly remedied the issue with a root inoculant consisting of Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice. Roots look nice and healthy now! Around the end of the week, her leaves started to curl in due to over saturation of the grow medium. In soil based growing, this is caused by overwatering. But in DWC, this issue is caused by too much water being wicked up through the hydroton/rockwool. So I fixed this by simply lowering the water level in the bucket. Now instead of 3gal of nutrient solution, the bucket only has around 2gal of solution (the water level is about 6-8" from the bottom of the net basket). Since then, the net basket is a lot drier and she seems happy about it! As expected, not much top growth, but excellent root development! Once the grow nutrient concentration is increased (next week), I should start to see vertical growth (I think). [START OF WEEK 02] Day 01 - Monday - 10/12/20 - Total Days: 10 ----------------------------------- - [0730]: Okay so I think the meter I dropped in the bucket is giving false humidity readings. --- Thankfully there are three meters in the tent (2 portable ones and one on the exhaust fan). --- I removed the bowl and placed the two meters on the lid right next to each other. --- The one that was under the bowl is reading about half the humidity (22%) than the other two (~53%). --- At least the temperature is still accurate. I just won't it for humidity readings anymore (so don't drop anything in the water). --- Looking back at last week, the humidity readings dropped right after I dunked it into the bucket. So using the dome was unnecessary. Great! --- At least I'm glad I noticed this early on. Plus the extra humidity for a day did not seem to slow down growth. --- Checked on her root and wow! I has gotten longer! But what I'm stoked about is I'm starting to see 'fish-boning' starting to form on the upper parts of the tap root! --- None of my previous seedlings had any kind of root growth even close to this one so I'm very happy with the current nutrient mix. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 295 --- Other than the false humidity readings, everything seems be going right with this grow. --- If her roots keep growing at this rate, I'll most likely be able to start feeding her grow nutrients next week! But again, I'll continue to check on the progress and will decide this weekend depending on overall growth. - [2030]: Wow! Looking good girl! --- Checked the root and wow it's grown! --- Checked the solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 294 --- Tent temps were at 77°F --- Humidity was at 63% --- Everything is looking perfect! --- Top fed about 10mL before placing her back into the bucket. --- Not too much vegetative growth, but enough to be noticeable. This is expected since I've only been feeding her straight CalMag and no grow nutrients. --- But wow on the root growth! Very happy with the development so far! Keep on growing girl! --- In a few days, hopefully the root will be long enough to reach the bottom of the bucket! Stoked to see what will happen after I add some grow nutrients! Day 02 - Tuesday - 10/13/20 - Total Days: 11 ----------------------------------- - [0800]: Okay Looking larger! --- Roots are looking great too! More fish-boning and growth! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 295 --- Just going to let her to continue on growing! - [2045]: She still only has the one root, but there's more growth! Nice! --- Checked bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 294 --- Top fed 10mL before placing her back into the bucket. --- I think I'm going to hold off on a reservoir change until Monday. --- Because of this, I'm thinking about adding a little bit of grow nutrients to the bucket tomorrow or Thursday. --- Maybe 2mL each of Sensi Grow A&B along with 4mL of B-52. Then dilute the resulting solution down to 300-400PPMs before adding Hydroguard/Voodoo Juice. --- This way she can better acclimate to the grow nutrients before the reservoir change on Monday. Day 03 - Wednesday - 10/14/20 - Total Days: 12 ----------------------------------- - [0800]: Good morning! --- She still only has the one tap root, but the growth is looking great! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 296 --- Keep on growing girl! --- I will most likely start adding grow nutrients tonight. - [2045]: Okay time for a nutrient alteration! --- Plan to up the PPMs a bit (~400) and add some grow nutes! --- Checked the bucket solution. Roots are looking great! --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 295 --- Added 3mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 3mL of Sensi Grow B --- Added 3mL of B-52 --- Checked the PPMs which was at 426 --- I removed about 2 cups of the solution. --- Then added about 2-3 cups of straight distilled water mixed with a few drops of PH down. --- Basically I added a cup of water, then checked PPMs. Then repeated this until the PPMs dropped to the desired level. --- Final PPMs were at 399 --- PH was at 5.9 --- Finally I added additional beneficial bacteria to help keep everything clean. --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- Checked the solution again and PH and PPMs did not change at all. --- Great! - [2100]: Top fed about 10mL before placing her back into the bucket. --- I really hope I did not shock her too much with the increased PPMs. --- Please keep growing strong girl! Day 04 - Thursday - 10/15/20 - Total Days: 13 ----------------------------------- - [0845]: Okay looking good! --- Roots are looking a bit brown. But still mostly white and definitely more growth. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 378 --- If more brown develops on the roots, I'll add more beneficial bacteria tonight. Worse case, I can always add a bit of Sensizym. Just a bit paranoid that the enzymes will also dissolve the young root so I'll add it as a last resort. - [2130]: Nice! More top growth! --- Hmm... Roots are really looking brown where they contact the nutrient solution. But still white above the water. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 406 --- 378 to 406? Could have been a false reading in the morning? --- Mixed up a concentrated Voodoo/Hydroguard spray solution. --- Added 250mL of straight distilled water to a measuring cup. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- Then PH'd down to 5.6 --- PPMs were only at 13 --- I poured the entire solution into a spray bottle to use as a root inoculant. --- In another bucket, I sprayed her roots until the brown algae build up was mostly gone. Thankfully the roots looked white and healthy underneath. --- Checked the air stones and brown build up seems to be forming there as well. --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard to the bucket solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 407 --- I gave her roots another spraying before placing her back into the bucket solution. --- If the brown algae/slime continues to build up, I may have to do a reservoir change early. --- Or I can add Sensizym? I really don't want to add any this early, but I may have to if the Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice can't keep the algae slime under control. I just don't want to dissolve her roots again. --- The good thing is that overall, the roots still look healthy and I'm starting to see a few more starting to poke through the side of the net basket. --- Plus top growth seems to be unaffected and healthy so going to wait on a res change. --- I just hope the slime doesn't get out of control again. --- I'll check in the morning to see if anymore build up occurs. Day 05 - Friday - 10/16/20 - Total Days: 14 ----------------------------------- - [0800]: Checked the roots and everything looks white now! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 409 --- Sprayed her roots with more of the Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket solution. --- Seems that she's been drinking more water than nutrients. --- Going to add more water to the bucket and drop the PH a bit tonight. --- I'm also deciding on whether to reduce the PPMs or leave it the same for the next res change. For now, I think I plan to leave it the same (~400 PPMs) and will wait another week before upping the concentration. - [2130]: Leaves are looking larger! --- Roots are still white and healthy. Nice! --- Sprayed roots with more Voodoo water. --- Checked bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.2 --- PPMs were at 393 --- Added about a cup of distilled water mixed with PH down. --- PH dropped to 5.6 --- PPMs were at 399 --- Sprayed her roots again before placing her back in the bucket solution. Day 06 - Saturday - 10/17/20 - Total Days: 15 ----------------------------------- - [0815]: Morning! --- More leaf growth! Leaves are looking green with no yellowing. But growth is curling downwards. --- Checked the roots and they're still white and clean! Sprayed them again with more Voodoo water. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 393 --- Sprayed roots again before placing her back into the solution. - [0830]: After doing a bit of research online, I think the curling is either overwatering, or nitrogen toxicity/over-fertilization. --- PPMs are ~400 so I don't think it's over fertilization. --- Going to lower the CalMag ratio for the res change on Monday anyways. --- Since grow nutrients already have high levels of nitrogen, lowering the CaliMagic dosage (which has nitrogen) should balance out the nitrogen concentration when I add more grow nutrients. --- As for the potential overwatering issue, Not too sure how to address this. Growing in DWC, she's pretty much constantly watered, so the only thing I think of is to lower the water level. The increased air gap between the net basket and the surface of the water should allow the net pot to dry out more. I think. - [0845]: Removed 10 cups of water from the bucket. This dropped the water level by about 2 inches. --- Since she has roots reaching pretty far into the solution, I'll probably removed another 6 cups (16cups = 1gal) tonight or tomorrow to drop the levels even more. --- Also noticed the tent humidity was getting a bit low (~43%). The tray on the floor was drying up as well, so filled it with more tap water. Also I wet a towel and draped it over a corner of the table. As this dries, I hope the moisture released will increase the tents humidity as well. - [1600]: Aye she's looking better! --- So the curling and wilting of her leaves must have been due to over watering or in my case, oversaturated grow medium (hydroton was too wet). The lower water level seemed to have fixed the issue. Great! --- Root's still look healthy too! But I sprayed them again with more Voodoo water. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 384 --- Sprayed her roots again before placing her back in the bucket. --- Removed another 6 cups of water from the bucket. So now there's ~2gal of solution in the bucket. --- I think I'm going to leave the water level at this height for now. The basket was already a lot drier than before and I think I can see more roots forming. But what's most noticeable is that her leaves are starting to perk up a bit! --- If she is healthy with this water level, I'll probably be mixing 2gal (instead of 3gal) for future res changes. This will save me a bit of nutrients too which is great! Day 07 - Sunday - 10/18/20 - Total Days: 16 ----------------------------------- - [0845]: Voodoo water is getting a bit low so mixed up a fresh bath before checking the bucket. --- Added 300mL of distilled water into a measuring cup. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- Then PH'd down to 5.1 --- PPMs were at 13 --- Then poured solution into a spray bottle. - [0900]: Good morning little one! More top growth! --- Checked her roots and they're already reaching the bottom of the bucket! But they're looking a bit brown where they contact the water. --- In a different bucket, I sprayed the affected area clean with the Voodoo water solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 380 --- Added 3ml of Hydroguard --- PH stayed at 5.8 --- PPMs went up to 409 --- Sprayed her roots again before placing her back into the bucket. --- Her leaves are still looking a bit curled. but better than before. Hopefully her first reservoir change tomorrow night will correct any nutrient imbalances she may be having. --- Thinking about for 2gal of water: --- 8mL of Rhino Skin --- 4mL of CaliMagic --- 6mL each of Sensi Grow A&B (12mL total) --- 10mL of B-52 --- 8mL of Voodoo Juice --- 5mL of Hydroguard --- Then I'll add distilled water until the concentration is ~400 PPMs before PH adjusting to 5.5-5.8 --- Now that she has roots reaching to the bottom of the bucket, I think I'm going to be adding Rhino Skin for silica uptake to thicken her roots and stems. But still no Sensizym. - [1615]: Looking good girl! --- Checked the roots and they look white! Also I can see a second root poking out of the side of the basket. Nice! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 385 --- Sprayed roots again with more Voodoo water. --- Tomorrow is res change day so going to leave everything alone until then. [END OF WEEK 02]

Introduction - Week 03 Summary - Another great week of growing! Had some CalMag deficiency issues after Monday's res change, but I solved it by increasing the dosage of CaliMagic. Going to now keep at least 250-300 PPMs of CalMag in the bucket. This should hopefully prevent further deficiencies. This week was a bit of trial and error on the PPMs as well. I think I could have given her way more. PPMs started at ~400 and were gradually increased throughout the week with the final PPMs being ~700. Most of what I added was CalMag, but I did also increase the grow nutrients a bit as well. Also, been having issues with browning on her roots. But no slime nor bad smell so not too worried about it. Her roots have been growing nicely and new shoots are forming which is great! I've been inoculating her roots with a combination of Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice (and Sensizym towards the end of the week) everyday which seems to be helping with the browning. Also lowering the water level really helped to keep the top roots nice and white. Midway through the week also I decided to place her on the floor to increase her distance from the light. I'm hoping that this will encourage her stretch a bit taller to increase inner nodal spacing. Towards the end of the week, she really started to take off! Grew a good half an inch in just a day! Going to up the nutes a bit for Monday's res change. To be safe, going keeping the PPMs around 700-800. It's truly amazing how many variables to consider while growing in DWC. This gives you a ton of control over every aspect of the grow, but at times, can also be very overwhelming and confusing. Especially with little no experience. But hey, I'm learning how to dial in the nutrients and will apply what I've learned this week to hopefully improve the next. Just keep on grow'n girl! [START OF WEEK 03] Day 01 - Monday - 10/19/20 - Total Days: 17 ----------------------------------- - [0945]: Looking good! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 381 --- Sprayed her roots with more Voodoo water. --- Going to do a res change tonight, so going to leave everything alone until then. --- Her leaves are still a bit clawed, but hopefully the lower nitrogen and increased phosphorus ratios tonight will correct the nutrient imbalances. Plus she's been in the same water for almost 2 weeks so a fresh change is needed anyways. - [2100]: Aye! Time for a res change! --- Cleaned an empty 5gal bucket and filled the bottom with a bit of distilled water. --- Removed her from the bucket solution and sprayed her roots with more Voodoo water (Her roots are still looking nice and white). --- Turned the air pump off. --- Then drained the bucket solution and removed the air stones. --- I then boiled the air stones in distilled water. --- While that was boiling, I scrubbed the bucket clean in a bathtub. Then rinsed with a bit of distilled water. --- By now the air stones have been boiling for a bit. So removed and rinsed them with distilled water. - [2110]: Okay time brew up a new batch of nutrient solution! --- Filled the bucket with 2gal of straight distilled water. I did this one gallon at a time and marked the water level on the tube after each gallon. I then connected the air stones and turned the pump on. --- Added 8mL of Rhino Skin --- Added 4mL of CaliMagic --- Added 6mL each of Sensi Grow A --- Added 6mL each of Sensi Grow B --- Added 10mL of B-52 --- Added 8mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 5mL of Hydroguard - [2130] Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 512 --- Added about a half gallon to a gallon of distilled water (with a bit of PH down). --- I did this a little at a time because I was not sure how much water to add, but eventually the PPMs dropped to an acceptable level. --- Final PPMs were at 426 --- PH was unchanged at 5.8 - [2145]: I sprayed her roots again with more Voodoo water before placing her into the new bucket solution. --- Since the bucket had around 3 gallons, I removed a bit to drop the water level. --- I removed 8 cups of nutrient solution. --- Now the water level is higher than before the res change, but is still a good 4-5" from the bottom of the net pot. --- I will remove a cup or so every day until the water level is around 2 gallons. --- Now all there's to do is hope that I did not screw this up (again) and that she will grow strong and tall. --- Since I diluted the solution, I will probably have to add more Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice in the morning. But I'll check on her in the AM and hope if the brown slime does begin to build up, I'll add it then. Day 02 - Tuesday - 10/20/20 - Total Days: 18 ----------------------------------- - [0900]: Good morning! More top growth! --- Roots are looking white too and have begun to 'ball-up.' --- Checked the nutrient solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 396 --- Wow PPMs dropped a lot. But could have been due to the nutrients settling in. Either way, it's still within the range I want, so going to leave alone. --- Sprayed her roots with more Voodoo water before placing her back into the solution. --- Noticed that the bottom set of leaf tips are beginning to curl. Not sure what this could be. Maybe nutrient shock from the res change? Or the begins of CalMag deficiency? They're overall still very green. I'll check back tonight to see if things get worse. If it does, I'll add a bit more CalMag to the solution and raise the PPMs to around 500. --- Removed another 2 cups of water from the bucket. - [2115]: More top growth! She looks like she's grown a quarter inch! --- Her bottom leaves look about the same. But there is definitely more growth. --- Her roots look a bit brown. So sprayed with more Voodoo water. --- Checked the nutrient solution. --- PH was at 6.2 --- PPMs were at 380 --- Added some diluted PH down the solution until the PH was at 5.3 --- PPMs went up to 409 --- Added 1mL of CaliMagic --- PH was at 5.4 --- PPMs were at 474 --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- Added 4mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH was at 5.5 --- PPMs were at 475 --- I sprayed her roots again before placing her back into the bucket. --- PPMs have been steadily dropping, so I hope the added CalMag and increased PPMs will be okay for her. --- But compared to my previous attempts, I am very happy with the growth so far! --- Keep on grow'n girl! Day 03 - Wednesday - 10/21/20 - Total Days: 19 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: More top growth and roots look a bit better! But still a bit browning. --- Mixed up some fresh Voodoo water for her roots. --- Filled a measuring cup with 250mL of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- PH'd down to 5.5 --- I did not bother checking PPMs and just poured the entire solution into a spray bottle. --- In another bucket, I re-inoculated her roots with this solution. - [0920]: Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 455 --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- PH stayed at 5.8 --- PPMs went up to 472 --- Sprayed her roots again with more Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket solution. - [0930]: The tray on the floor was drying up so added more tap water to keep the humidity under control. --- Also dropped the water level a bit by removing another 2 cups of the bucket solution. The water level is at the 2gal mark now. --- I'm thinking about placing the bucket on the floor tonight. I hope this will promote a bit of stretching as she tries to grow more towards the light. --- Not sure on this one. But if the bottom leaf tips keep curling, I may add more CalMag to increase the PPMs to ~600. But most likely I'll just leave the solution alone until the next res change and will increase the PPMs and CalMag ratios then. - [2115]: Roots are looking kind of brown. Sprayed her roots in another bucket with more Voodoo water. --- Checked bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 458 --- PH'd down with diluted PH down. --- PH dropped to 5.6 --- PPMs went up to 473 --- Added 7mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- PH stayed at 5.6 --- PPMs went up to 475 --- Sprayed her root a bit more before placing her back into the bucket. - [2130]: I decided to remove the table and place the bucket directly on the floor of the tent. --- So now the light is 55" from the top of the bucket. --- I'm hoping the increased distance will cause a bit of inner nodal stretching. --- Basically, she's still looking a bit short so I hope this will encourage her to grow a bit taller. Day 04 - Thursday - 10/22/20 - Total Days: 20 ----------------------------------- - [0845]: Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 459 --- Her roots still look brown where they contact the water. --- Filled a measuring cup with 250mL of distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- PH'd down to 5.7 --- Did not check PPMs and poured the solution into a spray bottle. --- I re-inoculated her roots with this solution before placing her back into the bucket solution. --- Feels like I've been using a lot of Voodoo Juice and Hydroguard lately with little to no effect on getting rid of the browning. --- But she seems to be growing steadily and her roots don't look slimy. Just brown. Could be just root stains from the nutrient water? - [2030]: Nice! Getting taller! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 476 --- Decided to add more grow nutrients to increase her phosphorus uptake. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 1ml Sensi Grow B --- Poured this mix into the bucket and checked the solution. --- PH went up to 6.2 --- PPMs went up to 536 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added diluted PH down --- PH dropped to 5.1 --- PPMs were still at 536 --- Sprayed her roots clean with more Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- Top leaves are looking healthy, but starting to see signs of interveinal chlorosis (yellowing in between her veins). Have to do a bit of research on this. --- But her roots are still brown and no slime nor smell. So going to just let her grow! Day 05 - Friday - 10/23/20 - Total Days: 21 ----------------------------------- - [0500]: Could not sleep. Worried about my girl. Is this what being a parent feels like? --- Last night, reading up on interveinal chlorosis, I think I have been underfeeding her. Could be calcium, magnesium, or potassium (or all 3). Since I added a bit of grow nutrients last night (which has potassium), I decided to bump up the PPMs even more with additional CalMag. --- Checked her roots and they're still brown where the roots touch the water. But no slime. Also I can see a third root shooting out of the bottom of the net basket! Nice! --- Top growth is looking a bit better! But her first set of leaves are still slowly necrotizing from the tips inwards. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.6 --- PPMs were at 536 --- Added 2mL of CaliMagic --- PH went up to 5.7 --- PPMs were at 660 --- Sprayed her roots a bit more with Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- Depending on how she looks, I may add more grow nutrients later tonight. - [0930]: Looking better! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 638 --- Roots still look brown but not slimy. --- Sprayed her roots a bit more with Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- Keep on grow'n girl! - [2100]: Nice! More vertical growth! I think she is finally getting taller. She is about at the same level as the top of the bucket now with her top leaves just growing pass the top. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 638 --- Sprayed her roots a bit more with Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- PPMs have not changed so going to continue on with this concentration level. --- I think the bottom leaves have slowed or stopped decaying. Great! --- Not going to adjust anything. Day 06 - Saturday - 10/24/20 - Total Days: 22 ----------------------------------- - [0645]: Decided to mix up another batch of Voodoo water with a slight bit of Sensizym. --- Filled a measuring cup with 300mL of straight distilled water. --- Added 3mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Sensizym --- PH'd down to 5.3 --- PPMs were really low at 44 --- Poured the entire solution into a spray bottle. - [0700]: She's getting bigger! Her leaves are finally growing beyond the diameter of the net basket. Nice! --- Checked roots and they are looking healthier. But still a bit brown in some areas. --- Checked nutrient solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 662 --- I inoculated her roots again with the fresh Voodoo solution before placing her back into the bucket. --- Not sure why PPMs went up. But still way below 800 PPMs so I'm just going to leave alone. --- I think I'm going to do a reservoir change tomorrow and will increase the PPMs to around 700. Day 07 - Sunday - 10/25/20 - Total Days: 23 ----------------------------------- --- Went on an unplanned 'away mission' last night and could not check on her for over a day. --- So no res change today. I'll change it tomorrow. - [1615]: Oh wow! She has grown! --- Checked her roots and they're looking a lot less brown. Sprayed them again with more of the Voodoo water. --- Checked the nutrient solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 663 --- I re-sprayed her roots again with the Voodoo solution before placing her back into the bucket. --- The tray on the floor was dry, so refilled it with more tap water. --- She also seems to be drinking a lot more water. The water level has noticeably dropped by about a centimeter. Until now, the water level never really changed. Nice! --- Res change tomorrow so going to leave everything alone for now. --- Keep on growing girl! [END OF WEEK 03]

Introduction - Week 04 Summary - Overall, this week went better than expected! She's still struggling with brown roots and I think I incorrectly diagnosed a nutrient toxicity for a nutrient deficiency. But she grew another inch and pretty much doubled in size from last week. So even though things could have been better, I'm still happy with the growth so far! I was cleaning her roots twice a day (once in the morning and again at night) but towards the end of the week I decided to only clean them once at night. Same for checking the PH and PPMs of the nutrient solution. This simplifies things quite a bit and should reduce disturbance of her root zone. I also placed her back on the table and closer to the light. I think I incorrectly diagnosed her nutrients for this week. Should have given her way more. She's developing (what I think is) some potassium deficiencies and her lower leaf tips are continuing to dry up. Also I can see more interveinal chlorosis. At the beginning of the week, I thought she was suffering from a toxicity. So I lowered the PPMs a bit. While lowering the PPMs, I also reduced the CalMag and increased the grow nutes. I started the week at around 700 PPMs but dropped it to around 635. I think this was a mistake because throughout the week, her lower leaves were still drying up. Towards the end of the week, I decided to increase the PPMs by adding more grow nutrients (I increased the PPMs to 740). By the end of the week, PPMs settled to around 687. I should have increased the grow nutrients to 1/2 strength this week.. But now that she's a good 4 nodes tall, I plan to make the adjustment to next week's res change. I'll significantly reduce the CaliMagic (or cut it out completely) and increase the grow nutrients to 1/2 strength (I hope the Sensi Grow nutrients have enough CalMag to compensate). I'll probably shoot for 800-1000 PPMs. This will be more than double the amount of grow nutrients I've been giving her. I really (really) hope this won't shock her roots. I think that since she has a decent amount of root growth (or at least way more than my previous grows), she should be okay with the higher dosage. This should also hopefully fix the deficiencies she's been having throughout the week. Her leaves overall still look nice and green, but due to the drying lower leaves, I think she's still suffering from nutrient deficiencies. But hey! Regardless, she's still growing way better than my previous attempts. None of them even came close to making it this far. So despite the deficiencies, I'm still very happy and hopeful for this one! [START OF WEEK 04] Day 01 - Monday - 10/26/20 - Total Days: 24 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Looking good girl! Res change tonight so just going to take readings. --- Checked nutrient solution. --- PH was at 6.3 --- PPMs were at 663 --- PPMs are staying the same with the water level dropping about a centimeter every day. Nice! --- Apparently I'm doing something right for once. From what I understand, this PPM level is perfect. Basically she's drinking both water and nutrients in equal parts which is great! --- Roots are looking a bit brown still. But no smell nor slime. --- PH is also a bit high, but not going to adjust anything until the res change tonight. - [2115]: Okay time for a fresh res change! --- Filled a measuring cup with 300mL of straight distilled water. --- Added 3mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Sensizym --- PH'd down to 5.6 - [2125]: Cleaned another bucket and filled the bottom with a bit of the Voodoo solution (about 100mL) along with some straight distilled water (about 200mL). --- Using a spray bottle, I re-inoculated her roots with more of the solution and placed her into the temporary bucket. --- Turned the air pump off. --- Disconnected, boiled, and rinsed the air stones in a bit of fresh distilled water. --- Drained and cleaned the bucket out in the bathtub. Afterwards I rinsed it out with some distilled water. I did not check the final PPMs or PH (Opps). - [2145]: Filled the cleaned bucket with 2gal of distilled water and reconnected the air stones. Then switched the air pump back on. This time, going to check PPMs as I add nutrients to the reservoir. --- Starting PPMs were at 12 --- Added 8mL of Rhino Skin (19 PPMs) --- Added 4mL of CaliMagic (223 PPMs) --- Added 6mL each of Sensi Grow A --- Added 6mL each of Sensi Grow B (449 PPMs) --- Added 10mL of B-52 (555 PPMs) --- Added 8mL of Voodoo Juice (556 PPMs) --- Added 5mL of Hydroguard (557 PPMs) --- After all the nutrients were added. I added additional CalMag until PPMs were around 700. --- Added 2mL of CaliMagic (717 PPMs) --- Checked the PH and it was at a perfect 5.8 --- Did not adjust PH levels. - [2200]: I re-sprayed her roots with more of the Voodoo water before placing her into the newly brewed nutrient solution. --- Not sure on this one, but I may not adjust PH from now on. I'm still kind of paranoid about PH drifting too high. So I'll continue to monitor PH levels. If the PH gets too high (maybe above 6.5), I'll adjust it down. But for now, going to let the 'PH perfect' technology do its thing. --- Keep on growing girl! Day 02 - Tuesday - 10/27/20 - Total Days: 25 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Wow! Not sure if it's because she's getting bigger, but I think she's starting to smell a bit dank! --- Checked her roots and they're looking pretty healthy as well! --- Checked the nutrient solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 698 --- Again, leaving the PH alone. I'll probably adjust it once it gets above 6.4 - 6.5 --- Also if the PPMs stabilize at around 700, I may add a bit more grow nutrients and increase the PPMs to around 800. This will make the overall grow dosage at around 1/4 strength which I think should be safe at this stage of growth. --- I think I see a bit of interveinal chlorosis on her second set of leaves. She may have a bit of a phosphorous deficiency but not too sure. - [2145]: Looking good girl! Leaves are perking upwards! But the lower leaf tips are starting to show signs of nutrient deficiency. --- Roots are looking a bit brown. But again, no slime nor smell. --- Made a small batch of Voodoo solution. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of straight distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Sensizym --- PH'd down to 5.1 --- Placed her in another bucket with about half of the solution diluted with a bit of distilled water. Sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the nutrient solution. --- PH was at 6.3 --- PPMs were at 646 --- Decided to up the grow nutrients a bit. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow B --- Then poured the entire solution into the bucket. --- Added 4mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- Checked the nutrient solution again. --- PH went down to 6.2 --- PPMs went up to 755 --- Re-sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo solution from earlier before returning her to the nutrient solution bucket. --- I really hope I did not shock her roots with the increased PPMs. - [+0015]: Decided to raise her up closer to the light by placing the bucket back onto the table. --- So now she's about 30" from the light. --- Keep on growing girl! Day 03 - Wednesday - 10/28/20 - Total Days: 26 ----------------------------------- - [0800]: Uh oh. Looking a bit wilted. --- Checked her roots and they were brown again. --- Made another small batch of Voodoo solution. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of straight distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 2mL of Sensizym --- PH'd down to 5.4 --- Placed her in separate bucket with a bit of the solution diluted with distilled water. Sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.3 --- PPMs were at 746 --- Decided to PH add down --- Also added another 4mL of Hydroguard --- Final PH was at 5.4 --- PPMs went up to 786 --- Re-sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- At this lower concentration of grow nutrients (less than quarter strength at the moment), I'm still going to adjust the PH. The 'PH perfect' technology doesn't seem to be working.. --- The water level also has not changed since last night so I'm a bit concerned. --- I think I stunted her. Damnit Ensign! Not again.. --- I'm really hoping that the lowered PH will allow for more nutrient uptake. --- If things get worse. I'll do another res change tonight or tomorrow.. --- Please recover! - [1600]: Oh wow! She got taller! At least a good inch of growth! --- That or her leaves are just perking up really high. Extremely happy (and relieved) that I didn't mess up by adding more grow nutrients. --- I guess PH was the issue. Lesson learned. --- Even though I'm feeding her 'PH perfect' nutrients, I'm still going to monitor and adjust PH from now on. I'll continue to keep it between 5.3-6.3 for optimal nutrient uptake. --- Also the water level has begun to drop again. Nice! --- Not going to check the nutrient solution until later tonight. Just going to leave everything alone for now. --- I am stoked that she's finally starting to gain height! - [1930]: Okay time to check the roots. --- Still look really brown. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH'd down to 5.4 --- Placed her in separate bucket with a bit of the solution diluted with distilled water. Sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 733 --- Re-sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- Not sure why her root keep developing this brownish color. I can spray it off, but not sure if this is really helping. --- She's still growing so going to continue to clean them daily. Day 04 - Thursday - 10/29/20 - Total Days: 27 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: More growth but looking a bit wilted. --- Roots look brown again. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Sensizym --- PH'd down to 5.1 --- Placed her in separate bucket with a bit of the solution diluted with distilled water. Sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 788 --- Decided to drop the PPMs by diluting the solution. --- Added about a half gallon of straight distilled water. --- Then PH'd down to 5.4 --- I then drained water from the bucket until the water level was around the 2 gallon mark. --- Added 6mL of Hydroguard. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.5 --- PPMs were at 587 --- Re-sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before placing her back into the bucket. --- I hope the lower PPM concentration will be okay for her. Otherwise, I'll add more grow nutrients tonight. --- With all this constant root cleaning, I feel like I'm just wasting Voodoo Juice, Hydroguard, and Sensizym. Probably will cut Sensizym again. --- Anyways, keep on growing girl! - [2215]: Aye looking taller and perky again! --- Roots look brown but no smell or slime. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- PH'd down to 4.7 --- The PH was a bit lower than I wanted but this solution is only used to spray and clean her roots so I just left it that low. --- Placed her in separate bucket with a bit of distilled water. Sprayed her roots clean with the Hydroguard solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.6 --- PPMs were at 585 --- Decided add some grow nutrients to increase PPMs a bit. Trying to go for around 660. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow B --- Then poured the entire solution into the bucket. --- Then drained the bucket until the water level was around 2 gallons. --- Checked the nutrient solution again. --- PH went up to 5.8 --- PPMs went up to 661 --- Added a bit of diluted PH down --- Added 5mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 5mL of Hydroguard --- Checked the nutrient solution yet again. --- PH went down to 5.4 --- PPMs went up to 683 --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Hydroguard water before returning her to the bucket. --- Grow well my girl! Day 05 - Friday - 10/30/20 - Total Days: 28 ----------------------------------- - [0900]: Checked on her and she's looking bigger! --- Kind of wilted, but not worried about it. --- Not going to check PH nor PPMs right now. I'll check tonight. --- To limit disturbance of her roots, I'll be checking the nutrients and cleaning her roots once a day from now on instead of twice. This will also save on Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice a bit. --- Grow on girl! - [2145]: Wow! Looking good! --- Roots look brown again. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH'd down to 5.1 --- Placed her in separate bucket with a bit of the solution diluted with distilled water. Sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 641 --- Great! Not going to adjust anything. --- Cleaned her roots a bit more with the rest of Voodoo water solution before returning her to the bucket. --- Be healthy and keep on grow'n girl! Day 06 - Saturday - 10/31/20 - Total Days: 29 ----------------------------------- - [0715]: Good morning! Looking great! --- She keeps getting bigger! --- I'll check the PH and PPMs tonight. - [1915]: Looking bigger! --- Roots look brown but still no smell or slime. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.3 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH stayed the same at 5.3 --- Placed her in separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 639 --- Decided add some grow nutrients to increase PPMs even more. Trying to go for around 740-750. --- Filled a measuring cup with a half cup of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 1mL of Sensi Grow B --- Then poured the entire solution into the bucket. --- Added a bit of diluted PH down --- Added 5mL of Hydroguard --- Checked the nutrient solution again. --- PH went down to 5.6 --- PPMs went up to 740 --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before returning her to the bucket. --- Okay I think I've really been under feeding her again. --- Next res change, I think I'm going to up the nutrient strength to either 1/2 or 3/4 strength (8mL-12mL/gallon). Since I'm going to be mixing 2 gallons, this would mean adding 16-24mL of Sensi Grow A&B. --- Anyways, keep on growing! Day 07 - Sunday - 11/01/20 - Total Days: 30 ----------------------------------- - [0715]: Just did a visual check and everything looks pretty good! --- Leaves are still showing signs of deficiencies, but tomorrow res change should fix all of this. --- I'll be sure to give her another root cleaning and check the nutrient solution tonight. - [1730]: Okay time for another root cleaning! --- Roots really brown where it contacts the water but roots look white underneath. Also still no smell or slime. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of straight distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.1 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Placed her in separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 687 --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before returning her to the bucket. --- Plan on changing the res tomorrow night so going to leave everything alone until then. [END OF WEEK 04]

Introduction - Week 05 Summary - Well this was a stunted and deficient week of growth.. I think I also incorrectly diagnosed the reason. But she's still alive! Basically throughout the week, she was showing signs of deficiencies on her lower leaves. So I thought I was not giving her enough nutrients. But instead, her roots were suffering from (what I now know as) root rot and could not uptake any nutrients. At the beginning of the week, she continued to show signs of deficiencies so I kept increasing the PPMs by adding more CaliMagic. I increased the PPMs throughout the week to around 1220 but the lower leaves kept decaying. So I diluted the bucket solution towards the end of the week to bring the PPMs down to below 1000 with slight improvements but did not solve the issue. At the end of the week I learned that too much CalMag can cause nutrient lockouts and that while using AN nutes, I shouldn't need to add any extra CalMag. So for next week's res change, I'm going to leave everything the same except I'm going to cut the CaliMagic to see if thing improves. This will also lower the PPMs to around 840 which is also great. If things get worse, I'll just increase the grow nutes. I was cleaning her roots everyday throughout the week with Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice to prevent the browning. I later found out that this browning was indeed root rot. After doing a bit research online, I discovered that root rot can slow or even stop nutrient uptake. So I should have been trying to cure the root rot instead of increasing the PPMs of the nutrient solution. Once I determined that she had the rot, towards the end of the week, I tried cleaning her roots with hydrogen peroxide. This treatment seems to have fixed the issue! Her roots are now looking a lot healthier. But since this took me the whole week to figure out, her top growth seems to have suffered for it. At least she's finally recovering from the root rot and should be able to start uptaking nutrients again soon. Her roots are also un-clumping and are looking a lot more white. With these peroxide treatments, I hope that within a few days, the rot will be completely gone. I also placed her back on the floor again. Hopefully the lower temps on the ground will keep the rot at bay. Plus it's finally getting a lot cooler overall so I hope this helps as well (less AC will be needed which is also great). Not sure if this was a good idea, but throughout the week, I also defoliated the lower sets of damaged leaves. At the end of the week, I filled the net basket with hydroton and replaced the foil on the lid with a fresh sheet. I'm really glad she's a photoperiod and not an auto flower (I almost wanted to try autos for my first grows). If she was an auto (with limited veg time), I think this damage would have been too severe to recover from. But since she's a photoperiod, I can veg her for as long as I need to. I hope for her to recover fully before even attempting to flip to flower. So all of this stunted growth will extend her veg cycle by a month or so. Going to be a longer veg than I expected but I'm okay with this. I'm pretty much learning as I grow and making a ton of mistakes (sorry girl). I'm just happy she's still alive. With the root rot now (hopefully) under control, I'm hoping to see more overall growth next week! [START OF WEEK 05] Day 01 - Monday - 11/02/20 - Total Days: 31 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Opps! Opened the tent for just a second to complete darkness.. --- Daylight saving time ended yesterday and I forgot to adjust the light timer to add the extra hour. - [1000]: I made the adjustment to the timer and offset it by an hour. So lights off will be 10am-5pm again. --- Tonight she'll be getting a fresh res change! - [2130]: Looking a bit bigger, but her leaf tips are still drying up. --- Okay time for another res change! --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of straight distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.9 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice - [2140]: Cleaned her roots with some of the solution and placed her into another bucket. --- Turned the air pump off. Then boiled, and rinsed the air stones in distilled water. --- This time, I checked the final PH/PPMs before draining the bucket. --- The PH was at 5.8 --- The PPMs were at 711 --- Drained and cleaned the bucket. Afterwards I rinsed it with distilled water. - [2200]: Filled the cleaned bucket with 2gal of straight distilled water and reconnected the air stones. Then switched the air pump back on. Like last time, I'm going to check PPMs as I add nutrients to the reservoir. --- Starting PPMs were at 15 --- Added 16mL of Rhino Skin (24 PPMs) --- Added 16mL each of Sensi Grow A --- Added 16mL each of Sensi Grow B (719 PPMs) --- Added 10mL of B-52 (838 PPMs) --- Added 16mL of Voodoo Juice (840 PPMs) --- Added 6mL of Hydroguard (841 PPMs) --- Added 2mL of CaliMagic (962 PPMs) --- Checked the PH and it was at 5.9 --- Added diluted PH Down until it was 5.4 (965 PPMs) --- I let the solution brew for a few minutes before taking the final readings. --- Final PH was at 5.5 --- Final PPMs were at 946 - [2230]: I sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before placing her into the newly mixed nutrient solution. --- The tray on the floor was almost dry so I refilled it with tap water. --- Checked her distance from the light source. --- She's about 27" from the light. --- Tent temperature was at 73°F --- Humidity was at 55% --- I really hope I didn't add too much.. Please be okay and thrive girl! --- I'm also a bit concerned about cutting the CaliMagic too low. But if I added more, it would have pushed the PPMs well above 1000. I may add another 2-4mL if the deficiencies continue. --- The base nutrients (Sensi Grow A&B) have both calcium and magnesium in it so I hope the increased concentration will compensate for the lowered CaliMagic ratios. --- Trying not to get ahead of myself, but if things go well, I may start low-stress training soon. --- At least by the end of the week I hope to defoliate the bottom sets of leaves. --- Until then, keep growing stronger and taller girl! Day 02 - Tuesday - 11/03/20 - Total Days: 32 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Looking better! --- Going to monitor the lower leaf decay and hope it slows down. --- I'll probably do a bit of defoliation on the lower leaves tonight or tomorrow. --- If the deficiencies continue, regardless of PPM levels, I'll add 2-4mL of CaliMagic. This will raise the PPMs by about 200-300 but I'm hoping that her roots can take the higher PPM levels. --- Hopefully her roots won't dissolve like my previous attempts. --- But she's looking perky and I'm hoping for strong recovery. --- I'll take PH and PPM readings tonight. --- Grow well girl! Please recover! - [2230]: Looking taller but leaves are still drying up. --- Roots are getting a bit bigger as well! But still look brown (no smell nor slime). --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.0 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 916 --- Going to add a bit of CalMag to hopefully fix this deficiency. --- Added 4mL of CaliMagic --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- PH went up to 5.8 --- PPMs went up to 1040 --- Added a bit of diluted PH down --- PH went down to 5.5 --- PPMs went up to 1070 --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before returning her to the bucket. --- If PPMs drop lower, I'll add more CalMag, but for now going to hope that the added CalMag is enough. --- Decided to defoliate the bottom two sets of leaves. I used a pair of clippers to carefully snip them off along with the cotyledon. --- Damnit I hope I didn't screw things up.. --- Please recover girl. Day 03 - Wednesday - 11/04/20 - Total Days: 33 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Looking better! --- Leaves are nice and perky! --- Still can't really tell if the deficiencies have stopped. But will check again tonight. --- If need be, I'll increase the CalMag by adding more CaliMagic (up to the recommend dosage on the bottle). - [2215]: Okay! time to check the roots. --- Woah! Her roots are really brown! But no smell nor signs of slime. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.4 (a bit low, but oh well) --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- I placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 1040 --- Going to add more CalMag. --- Added 4mL of CaliMagic --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- Added 5mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added diluted PH down --- PH went down to 5.4 --- PPMs went up to 1210 --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before returning her to the bucket. --- In total, there should be about 10mL of CaliMagic in the nutrient solution. This should be around the recommended dosage (5mL per gallon). --- With the exception of Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice, not going to add anymore nutrients until next weeks' res change. --- I'll only adjust PH for the rest of the week. --- Hoping for the best. Grow well girl! Day 04 - Thursday - 11/05/20 - Total Days: 34 ----------------------------------- - [0845]: Since her roots were really brown last night, going to do another cleaning this morning. --- Nice! Roots don't look too brown. --- New roots are also developing so I think this is a good sign! --- Filled a measuring cup with 300mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.6 --- Added 3mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 1160 --- Not going to adjust anything. --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before returning her to the bucket. --- I'm digging the new root growth but will check again tonight. --- Kind of hard to tell, but I think the deficiencies have slowed down. --- Her lower set of leaves are still yellowing at the tips, but I'm hoping that the added CalMag will solve any deficiencies she's been having. I'll keep them for now to help monitor the decay, but by the end of the week, I'll most likely trim them off. - [2200]: I think the deficiencies have stopped. But I'll give it another day or two before trimming hrt lower set of leaves. --- Her roots are still brown. But no smell nor slime. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.2 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- I placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the Voodoo solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 1160 --- Added 3mL of Hydroguard --- Added 3mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added diluted PH down --- PH went down to 5.5 --- PPMs went up to 1190 --- Sprayed her roots again with the rest of the Voodoo water before returning her to the bucket. --- Tomorrow night, I think I'm going to clean her roots with diluted 3% hydrogen peroxide (I can't get anything stronger so 3% will have to do). --- I think for a cup of distilled water, I'll add 3-5mL of peroxide and spray her roots clean with it. I've found a few recipes online that say up to 15mL (1 tbsp) per cup, but I'll start low and if it does not harm her roots, I can always increase the concentration. --- Since I'm running beneficial bacteria in the bucket, I'll probably let the peroxide sit for a few minutes before rinsing it off with straight distilled water. Then let that sit for a few more minutes. --- Finally, I'll re-inoculate her roots with Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice before returning her to the bucket. Day 05 - Friday - 11/06/20 - Total Days: 35 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Nice! looking perky! --- Her lower leaves seemed to have stopped decaying! I think. --- Not going to check or adjust anything until tonight. --- Going to give her roots a hydrogen peroxide cleaning tonight. - [2230]: Checked her roots and I can see new growth! --- Okay! Time to do a peroxide cleaning. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.0 --- Added 3mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution (making sure not to spray the net basket). --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 1010 --- Not going to adjust anything today. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of straight distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.2 (kind of low, but only using to rinse) --- I dumped the peroxide solution from the bucket and sprayed her roots with the distilled water. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.9 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice - [2255]: I inoculated her roots and the net basket with the entire Voodoo solution before returning her to the bucket. --- I'm hoping that these daily peroxide cleanings will reduce the browning on her roots. --- Since her roots aren't soaking in the peroxide solution for a long time, tomorrow, I'll probably increase the concentration of hydrogen peroxide to 5-8mL per cup. Day 06 - Saturday - 11/07/20 - Total Days: 36 ----------------------------------- - [0730]: Did a quick visual check. --- New growth is looking healthy and I think the lower leaves have stopped decaying! --- Next res change, thinking of either keeping everything at the same ratios (1/2 strength) or increase the grow nutrients to 3/4 strength (24mL of A&B for 2gal of water). I'll be keeping the PPMs around the same (1000-1200) by adding CaliMagic after adding the grow nutes. --- I'll decide depending on growth development over the next day or two. --- I'll check and clean her roots tonight. Until then, grow well girl! - [1930]: Checked her roots and I can see new growth! --- Okay! Time to do a peroxide cleaning. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- Added 8mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 1170 - [1740]: Adjusted the PH to 5.3 --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- Added 4mL of Voodoo Juice --- PPMs were at 1230 --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.1 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- I dumped the peroxide solution from the bucket - [2000]: I inoculated her roots with the entire Voodoo solution before returning her to the bucket. --- I also decided to place the bucket on the floor again. So she's now about 52" from the light source. --- I'm hoping that the lower temps on the ground will help to prevent further root rot. --- The higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide seems to be cleaning the roots a bit better. So I'll try the full 15mL per cup tomorrow night. Since I'm only using it as a spray on root cleaner (and not adding the hydrogen peroxide to the nutrient solution), I may even increase the concentration even more. --- The leaf decay has definitely slowed down, but I don't think its stopped. I'm really not sure what to do. --- If I lower the PPMs, I'm afraid the deficiencies will only get worse. So going to leave everything as is. --- Please recover girl! Day 07 - Sunday - 11/08/20 - Total Days: 37 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Looking a bit taller! But leaves are till slowly drying up. Going to do another root cleaning. --- Checked her roots they're looking a lot whiter! --- I think these peroxide cleanings are helping to control the browning. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 6.0 --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.6 --- PPMs were at 1220 --- Since I'm going to do a fresh res change tomorrow, I decided to lower the PPMs to bellow 1000 to see if it makes a difference. --- I added straight distilled water (about a gallon) --- PH went up to 5.7 --- PPMs went down to 993 --- Added 10mL of Hydroguard --- Added 8mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH was unchanged at 5.7 --- PPMs went up to 996 --- To lower the water level a bit, I removed about half a gallon of nutrient solution. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.0 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice - [0935]: I inoculated her roots with the entire Voodoo solution before returning her to the bucket. --- Her roots are definitely looking a lot more healthier since I started cleaning with the peroxide. --- I think 15mL of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide per cup is a good and safe amount to use for root cleaning. --- If she looks healthier tonight, I think I'll be trimming off the lowest set of leaves and filling the basket full of hydroton. - [1130]: After doing a bit of research online, I think I've yet again been trying to fix the wrong thing. --- I was thinking that she was deficient because of inadequate nutrient concentration. --- But her deficiencies could have been due to the browning of her roots (root rot?). --- Apparently browning along with clumping of the roots is a sign of root rot (pythium?). --- So no matter how concentrated the nutrient solution is, the root rot was prevents nutrient uptake, thus causing signs of deficiencies. --- Well I'm glad that the peroxide cleaning has fixed the issue (hopefully). --- Going to back things off a bit to around 1/4 strength and upping the CalMag ratios. --- If the root rot was the issue and not the nutrient ratios/PPM levels, I'm thinking of keeping the same ratios for another week to see if thing improve. --- With her roots all cleaned from rot, she should be able to uptake more nutrients and the deficiencies will (hopefully) go away. - [1615]: Time for another hydrogen peroxide cleaning! --- Checked her roots and they are actually looking pretty healthy! --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.4 --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 967 --- Did not adjust anything. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.9 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice - [1630]: I drained the peroxide solution from the bucket and inoculated her roots with the entire Voodoo solution before returning her to the bucket. --- Since her roots are looking pretty good, I went ahead and trimmed her lowest set of leaves. - [1700]: Decided to remove the foil from the lid and took her final height for the week (which was 4") before filling in the rest of the net basket with hydroton. --- I checked for light leaks and even though the basket is now full, I could still slightly see through the sides. --- I added a fresh sheet of foil to cover the lid again. This should prevent any light leaks. --- I really hope her top growth recovers as well as her roots have been. - [2200]: After more online research, I think another issue I've been having is too much CalMag? --- I guess too much CalMag can cause nutrient lockouts of other nutrients. --- So by adding the extra CalMag (via CaliMagic) may have been hurting her more than helping. --- Next week, I'm going to cut CaliMagic out and solely rely on the Sensi grow nutes for CalMag. --- Anyways, tomorrow will be res change day! [END OF WEEK 05]

Introduction - Week 06 Summary - Well this was a tough and depressing week of growing to say the least... I hate root rot.. I wish I was a Vulcan (🖖) because things just got too emotional.. Basically I lost the battle to pythium (root rot) and had to end the current run... The only uplifting thing to say about this week is that at the end of the week, I started a new seed and I'm changing the way I'll be feeding. Throughout the week, she just kept getting weaker and weaker. I just could not get the root rot under control. No matter what I did, the rot just would not go away.. I kept adding beneficial bacteria to no prevail.. Poor girl.. RIP. So for this new seed, I'm scrapping all of my beneficial bacteria additives and will be trying to run a sterile reservoir. So no Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice for this new girl. Going to be using UC Roots (a plant safe, chlorine based product) along with Hydrogen Peroxide (3% pharmacy grade at the moment, but want to eventually get the food grade quality) to help keep the root rot (pythium) from ever forming. I'll be using UC Roots (3mL per gallon) in the reservoir and if her roots turn brown again, I'll use the peroxide to spray them clean. Not sure how well this is going to work, but at this point, I just want to see if there is a difference between growing with beneficial bacteria versus sterile. In a way the sterile approach should simplify things down because I won't be needing about half of the additives I own. This is also kind of bad too because there will be a lot of wasted nutes.. But if she makes it to flower (a big if..) and is healthy, I may try to inoculate her roots again with beneficial bacteria and go organic for a week to see if the rot returns. Either way, for now, going to cut the beneficial bacteria out and will try to run a sterile system. I really hope this works because I don't know if I can take another depressing loss.. But I'll never succeed if I give up. So have to keep on trying.. [START OF WEEK 06] Day 01 - Monday - 11/09/20 - Total Days: 038 ----------------------------------- --- Did some research online last night and learned a bit about CalMag and nutrient lockouts. I think the concentration of CalMag is too high, so cutting out for this week to see if things improve. --- Also decided to change the res in the morning for this week. If she is experiencing nutrient lockout, then better flush and restart now. - [0830]: Okay time for the res change! --- Checked her roots and they look healthier and less brown. Great! --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 4.6 --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) - [0830]: I placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Turned the air pump off. --- Boiled and rinsed the air stones in distilled water. --- Did not bother checking final PH nor PPMs. --- Drained, cleaned, and rinsed the bucket with distilled water. - [0845]: Filled the cleaned bucket with 2gal of straight distilled water and reconnected the air stones. Then switched the air pump back on. --- Starting PPMs were at 14 --- Added 16mL of Rhino Skin (23 PPMs) --- Added 16mL each of Sensi Grow A --- Added 16mL each of Sensi Grow B (643 PPMs) --- Added 10mL of B-52 (784 PPMs) --- Added 16mL of Voodoo Juice (785 PPMs) --- Added 8mL of Hydroguard (786 PPMs) --- Checked the PH and it was at 6.2 --- Added diluted PH Down until it was 5.5 (789 PPMs) - [0910]: I let the solution brew for a bit before taking the final readings. --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.5 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- I inoculated her roots with half of the Voodoo solution. - [0915]: Checked the final bucket readings. --- Final PH was at 5.4 --- Final PPMs were at 783 --- Okay time to transplant her back to the main bucket! - [0920]: I re-sprayed her roots with the rest of the Voodoo solution before placing her into the newly mixed nutrient solution. --- I also refilled the floor tray with tap water. --- She's about 52" from the light. --- Tent temperature was at 68°F --- Humidity was at 57% --- I hope that cutting the CaliMagic was a good idea. --- I can always add more grow nutrients if things get worse. --- Please recover soon girl! - [2145]: Checked her roots and they are nice and white! --- I'm still going to do a peroxide cleaning but starting tomorrow, I'll only clean her roots if the rot returns. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.5 --- PPMs were at 799 --- I did not adjust the PH. --- Going to add some more beneficial bacteria to the bucket. This will hopefully help prevent against more root rot. --- Added 4mL of Hydroguard --- Added 4mL of Voodoo Juice --- PPMs were unchanged at 799 --- Filled a measuring cup with 200mL of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.6 --- Added 2mL of Hydroguard --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice - [2215]: I inoculated her roots with the entire Voodoo solution before returning her to the bucket. --- Her top growth still looks really stunted. Poor girl.. --- But at least her roots are looking healthy again! --- I'm hoping that in a day or two, she'll start uptaking nutrients again. --- Going to leave everything alone for now and just hope she recovers. Day 02 - Tuesday - 11/10/20 - Total Days: 039 ----------------------------------- - [0935]: Did a quick visual check on her before lights out. --- Looking about the same. But this is as expected after last weeks' struggle with root rot. --- This week will be a lot of recovery. --- I check her roots tonight and clean them if needed. --- I may dilute the solution down to around 600 but for now, going to leave the nutrients the same for a bit longer and monitor PPMs and PH. - [2130]: Okay time to check her roots. --- They look a bit brown but still okay. --- If they continue to brown, I'll do another cleaning tomorrow. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 799 --- She's looking very deficient. --- I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Poor girl.. - [2200]: I decided to add 5mL of CaliMagic to the nutrient solution. --- Added 5mL of CaliMagic --- Added 5mL of Hydroguard --- PH were unchanged at 5.8 --- PPMs went up to 1050 --- I'll check her again tomorrow to see if anything improves. - [+0045]: She's just looking really deficient. --- Thinking about popping a new seed.. Again... --- I don't think there's anything I can do to keep her alive.. --- I may do a res change tomorrow night and try to feed her 3/4 strength as a last attempt to keep her alive. --- But by the end of the week, if she's show no sign of recovery, going to trying again.. Damnit Ensign.. --- For the next attempt, I'm thinking about just feeding her only grow nutes and Hydroguard (no other additives) for the first few weeks. --- Also I'll try not to adjust PH. I'll take PH and PPM readings, but will ignore the higher levels. --- Seems that for some reason, no matter what I do, they all just keeps dying.. Day 03 - Wednesday - 11/11/20 - Total Days: 040 ----------------------------------- - [1000]: Kept the lights on for a bit to check and clean her roots. --- Checked her roots and they're brown again.. --- Did a peroxide cleaning.. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 1040 --- I did not adjust the PH. - [1015]: Did not bother rinsing her roots with anything. I just let the peroxide sit for a bit before returning her to the bucket. Then I switched the lights off. --- Since I doubt she'll recover, I don't see a point on wasting more Voodoo Juice and Hydroguard.. --- Going to check on progress tonight to see if things get better.. --- It's really depressing to see her like this.. --- Everything I do just seems to make things worse for her.. --- Damnit.. - [2145]: Top growth still looks stunted.. --- Checked her roots and they're really brown... Again.. --- What the heck is causing all of this rot... I have plenty of Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice in the res... --- Water temps are in the high 60s to low 70s (68.7°F at the moment)... --- Did yet another peroxide cleaning.. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 1020 --- Going to increase the dosage of grow nutes to 3/4 strength.. I doubt this will help, but as of right now, I have no idea what else I can do for her.. --- Added 5mL of Sensi Grow A --- Added 5mL of Sensi Grow B --- PH was unchanged at 6.0 --- PPMs went up to 1230 --- I did not adjust the PH. - [2200]: I rinsed the peroxide off her roots with straight distilled water before returning her to the bucket. --- This is all I can do for now.. I really don't want to.. But if she doesn't show any signs of recovery, going to end this one and start a new seed on Sunday or Monday... --- I'm not sure what else I can do for her now.. Seeing her wither away like this is heart breaking... Sorry girl... --- I actually quit smoking to save on cash (this grow has been quite a financial toll, more than I ever expected). But tonight, I really wish I could smoke a bowl.. or ten... Day 04 - Thursday - 11/12/20 - Total Days: 041 ----------------------------------- - [0815]: Did a quick visual check and everything for the most part looks the same.. --- Still stunted and no signs of new growth.. --- I'll check her roots tonight... - [1300]: Okay! So after a visit to my local hydro store, I have a bit of hope for this grow! I think. --- Got a bottle of UC Roots and am going to give it a try tonight. --- This should sterilize the entire res and should eliminate the root rot issue. Should.. --- Of course all of the beneficial bacteria will be sterilized as well (Hydroguard/Voodoo Juice) but I am perfectly fine with this. So long as she starts to recover, I was told that once the rot is gone, I can always re-inoculate her roots later with beneficials. --- The bottle recommends anywhere from 1-7mL per gallon. A bit broad, but I was told that about 5mL per gallon (10mL in my case) should be enough to cure the rot. --- Then if she makes it to next week, I'll run the same amount of nutrients with the exclusion of Hydroguard and Voodoo Juice (which will be substituted with UC Roots). --- Over the past few days, I was getting really depressed that I'd have to kill this one off and start a new, but now I think I'll wait another week and hope that she recovers using UC Roots. --- Worse case, I got a fresh set of rockwool cubes along with a heat mat to germinate a new seed. But for now, I'm hopeful that UC Roots will save this girl! - [1620]: Okay time to give UC Roots a go! --- Filled a measuring cup with 2 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of UC Roots (I bit strong, but I'll be using this to clean the initial rot off her roots) --- Placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the UC solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- PPMs were at 1080 --- Added 10mL of UC Roots --- PH was unchanged at 6.1 --- PPMs went up to 1230 --- Added diluted PH down --- PH went down to 5.7 --- PPMs were unchanged at 1230 - [1630]: Re-sprayed her roots with the rest of the UC solution before returning her to the bucket. --- Hmm, first impressions are not too great. Hydrogen Peroxide seems to do a better job at cleaning her roots. But I'll check tomorrow night to see how well UC Roots works. --- Tomorrow, I may just do a peroxide root cleaning while adding 4mL of UC Roots into the res (which would be 7mL per gallon). --- For now I'm going to let everything brew and just hope for the best. Day 05 - Friday - 11/13/20 - Total Days: 042 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Well she still looks the same. --- I don't know what to do. I think it's time to call it quits and start another seed.. Damnit Ensign.. --- I'll check her roots tonight, but I doubt there will be any improvements. - [2200]: Damnit. Nothing I've been doing has seemed to help at all... --- She just keeps dying.. --- Going to clean her roots again.. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of distilled water. --- PH'd down to 5.4 --- Added 15mL of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% strength) --- I placed her in a separate bucket and sprayed her roots clean with the peroxide solution. --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 1220 --- Added 4mL of UC Roots --- PH went up to 6.0 --- PPMs went up to 1250 - [2220]: I did not bother to rinse off the peroxide and just placed her into the bucket solution... --- Damnit... --- This is just too depressing.. --- I just can't seem to do anything right... --- She just keeps getting weaker and weaker... Brings tears to my eyes.. --- Going to end her tomorrow night... Will also start a new seed. --- Damnit... I thought that she was going to make it to flower, but I don't see how it's possible.. --- I think for the next attempt, I'm going to run a sterile res (UC Roots in the res and Hydrogen Peroxide for root cleanings). --- This is really depressing me... Way more than it probably should be... Sorry girl... Day 06 - Saturday - 11/14/20 - Total Days: 043 ----------------------------------- - [0825]: Damnit... --- No sign of recovery.. --- Going to chop her down tonight and reset for a new seed.. --- I hate to do it, but I failed her... Fuck you root rot!!!!! --- I'm going to try to run a sterile res for the new one so going to cut out all organic additives (Hydroguard/Voodoo Juice/Sensizym/etc.) and run UC Roots to (hopefully) keep the root rot from ever forming. --- Any sign of browning will automatically make me assume its root rot and I'll clean her roots with peroxide. At that point I may even flush the res out and refill with a new batch of nutes. - [1900]: I'm sorry girl... --- Turned off the air pump.. --- Chopped her at the base.. RIP... --- Dumped the net basket.. --- Checked her roots and the cube was saturated with water.. More than I thought it would be. --- There was also more roots than I expected. --- Poor girl... Sorry.. --- Out of all my previous attempts, chopping this one down was the most painful.. She's lasted about 6 weeks, so I guess that's good. But ultimately I failed... Again... --- Dumped the res and cleaned the humidity tray and bucket with soap and tap water. --- I boiled the air stones and hydroton in distilled water to quickly sterilize them. Going to do a more thorough sterilization closer to transplanting. --- A day before transplant, I plan to re-boil and rinse the hydroton in distilled water. Then I'll soak them overnight in a gallon of distilled water with 30mL UC Roots. I'll do a quick rinse with distilled water before transplant. --- I also plan to sterilize the bucket a day before transplant by using 3 gallons of tap water and 90mL of UC Roots (30mL per gallon). Then run the system overnight before rinsing with distilled water. --- I hope that this will eliminate any form of Pythium (aka root rot). --- To maintain the sterile environment, I'm going to cut all of my organic additives. At the moment, this will be about half of the additives (Hydroguard, Voodoo Juice, Sensizym, Bud Candy, and Nirvana). Some of which I haven't even opened yet. --- Once I feel confident that the root rot is gone, I may use the organic additives later in flower. That is if I can even make it to flower.. --- Just have to keep trying.. - [1930]: Placed the table back in the tent and prepped for the new seed. --- I cleaned the table with Hydrogen Peroxide. - [1945]: Filled a measuring cup with distilled water and dropped a new rockwool cube in. --- I PH'd the water down to 5.3 --- Going to let the cube soak for a bit and will plant the new seed tonight. --- I dried the tray and cleaned the humidity dome. --- This time, I'll be using a heating mat to help germinate. --- I placed the heating mat on the table and the tray on top of it. I filled the tray with a bit of distilled water before covering it with the dome. --- Going to check temps in a bit to see if things need adjusting. - [2100]: Checked the rockwool water (6.3) and adjusted the PH down to 5.1 --- Checked the tray and temps and they were a bit high at around 87°F. --- I placed two layers of cardboard in between the heat mat and tray to help dissipate the heat a bit. - [2215]: Okay! time to plant a new seed! --- Tray temps were around 82°F, I added another layer of cardboard to further buffer the heat but overall I'm happy with the current temperatures. --- Checked the rockwool water again and the PH was at 5.9 --- PH'd the water down to 5.2 --- Removed the cube from the water making sure not to shake any water out. --- Flipped the cube upside down and placed it in the tray. --- I poked a small shallow hole in the center. --- Then I carefully placed the new seed in and pinched it closed. --- I covered the tray with the dome. But did not spray any water. With the dome on, the humidity eventually maxes out the meters at 99% so won't need to worry about humidity. To allow for a bit of air circulation, I have the vents 3/4 of the way open. --- Tent temps are set to 73°F --- Until she sprouts, going to be running the light on 24hrs. --- The distance between the light and the dome is about 38" --- The light is set to ~100W (the lowest setting). --- I'll check the tray temps later tonight to see what it stabilizes at. Going for around 78°F to 84°F for optimal germination. - [2130]: Tray temps look good at around 81°F so going to leave her overnight and check in the morning! --- Grow well girl! Please.. Day 07 - Sunday - 11/15/20 - Total Days: 044 ----------------------------------- - [1000]: Good morning! --- Checked on the new seed and things look perfect! --- Tent temperatures are around 73°F which is good. --- Dome temps look steady at ~81°F and there seems to be plenty of water in the tray. --- I'm really liking this method to germinate! The cooler external temps along with the warmer temps in the dome by using a heating mat is working out great! --- This is also keeping the dome nice and moist with minimal evaporation in the tray which is a plus! --- Usually I have the tent temps set higher to control the overall temperature of the dome and tray. --- This is okay and works well, but the water seems to evaporate really quick. --- So by now, I usually have to re spray the dome, but since using the heat mat, everything looks ideal for now. --- I'll check later to make sure things don't change. - [2000]: Checked on the cube and conditions are holding pretty steady. --- Did not add any water because the tray was almost completely dry, but humidity dome was still moist. --- I'll add more water in the morning. --- As soon as she sprouts, I'll remove the dome. --- But until then, going to leave everything alone. Grow well little one! [END OF WEEK 06]

Introduction - Week 07 Summary - As far as growing, this week was a bit uneventful. Started the week with one cube and ended the week with 3 cubes. I'm still trying to get one of them to sprout.. I'm not sure if these seeds are duds (or old?), or it's my lack of experience (most likely the latter), but I can't seem to get anything to germinate. The first cube was started at the end of last week, but has yet to sprout. Midway through this week, I planted a second seed. Throughout this week, I tried to keep temps at what I normally had them at (around the 80s) but later found that I may have been trying to germinate my cubes at temps that are a too high. On ILGM's website, they stated that the ideal temps are 68-72°F. So I adjust my tent conditions to try to keep temps around that level. On previous attempts, I've germinated at higher temps (80-85°F), but at this point, I just want one to sprout so going to give the lower temps a try. At the end of the week, I planted a third seed. I also switched my light to an 18/6 cycle. Maybe the added darkness will help in germination. Days are getting colder so this is the first time I'm using a heat mat to help control temperatures. I don't have the thermostat for the heating mat so been dissipating the heat to try and keep the temps at a reasonable level. Maybe this could also be why nothing is germinating. On the positive side, I contacted Advanced Nutrients via email and received a lot of useful information on feeding and I hope to implement what I've learned as soon as I can get a seed to sprout. I'm going to hold off on running a sterile reservoir and will try AN's recommend feeding regiment. Not going to check PPMs anymore and will focus only on PH at a wider range (4.0-8.0). To not interfere with the 'PH perfect' technology, I won't be adjusting PH anymore. As for feeding, I'll be using the recommend feeding schedule via AN's online nutrient calculator (I already have an approved week one nutrient recipe too which is great). Not sure if this will work, but if it does, then feeding will be a lot simpler. I've also been looking into growing in coco coir. Advanced Nutrients assured me that all of their products are fully compatible with coco. Also from what I've researched, once the medium is properly cleaned and buffered with CalMag, growing in coco is similar to DWC. Instead of reservoir changes every week, I'll be hand watering nutrient solution on a daily bases. Also, for the most part, I already have everything I need and would only need a coco brick, a bag of perlite, and a few fabric pots. I only have one more seed for this strain, but I may try coco for the next journal (Skywalker OG by ILGM). Otherwise I may try growing in coco for the strain afterwards (which would most likely be Sour Diesel from Humboldt Seeds or OG Kush from Phoenix Seeds). I'm still researching, so I'll most likely wait to try coco, but I'm glad it's viable alternative to what I've been doing. The last strain I tried to grow (OG Kush by ILGM), only 2 out of the 5 seeds sprouted (2 did not germinate and the 5th one was cracked and damaged). This time my germination rate seems to be worse. Only 1 out of 4 seeds has germinated (still haven't planted the 5th seed yet). Until recently, with all these seeds failing to pop, an alternative to seeds I didn't consider are clones from cannabis nurseries. I found a few locally and they seem to offer deliveries and in store pickups! If none of these 3 pop by the end of the week, I may reach out to one of them and get a clone or teen. If so, then I'll end this diary as another failure and start a new one with a freshly rooted clone or (depending on price) a teen that's been vegging for a few weeks. This way I can skip the germination process all together. Seems like a good way to make up for a bit of lost time and may be a viable way to get to my first harvest. Also this way I can save the seeds I still have and try can again later when I have more experience. As for now, I'm still hoping for a sprout and will germinate for another week. Just have to keep trying. [START OF WEEK 07] Day 01 - Monday - 11/16/20 - Total Days: 045 ----------------------------------- - [0945]: Good morning! --- Room temps are holding steady at around 75°F --- A bit cold but dome temps are looking solid at 81°F --- There doesn't seem to be a need to water anything. Neither the tray nor dome is dry so going to leave everything alone again. --- I'll check again tonight. - [2130]: Looking good! --- The dome is still wet and temps inside the dome are still holding at ~81°F so great! --- It's nice that I haven't need to add any since she was planted. --- Hoping that this method works. If she doesn't sprout by mid week, then I'll start another seed using the way I usually do and not use the heat mat. --- But everything is looking good so going to leave everything alone for now. Day 02 - Tuesday - 11/17/20 - Total Days: 046 ----------------------------------- - [1015]: Checked the dome and everything looks the same. --- Dome temps were at 83°F at 99% RH. --- I'm a bit concerned that this seed is a dud. --- I'll check again tonight. - [2115]:Checked the cube and the tray and dome were almost dry. --- The cube still looks the same. --- I added some distilled water into the tray. --- Temps in the dome were a bit high at 85°F --- I'd prefer them to be around the high 70s to low 80s. --- I think the heat mat is making the dome too warm. So I unplugged and removed it. --- Instead I raised the tent temperature to 85°F and will try to germinate using the room to control the overall temp. This has worked before and should keep the dome temps from getting too high. --- Since the days are getting cooler, to hopefully help keep the tent temps a bit higher, I also turned the oscillating fan off. --- Without the heating mat, the dome temps usually are a few degrees cooler than the outside temperature so I expect it to drop to the low 80s. --- Of course now with the higher tent temperatures, I'll probably need to spray the dome more often. --- I really hope I don't need to, but if she doesn't sprout by Thursday night, I'll plant a new seed. --- Going to still hope that she'll sprout soon. --- I'll check again tomorrow. Day 03 - Wednesday - 11/18/20 - Total Days: 047 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Checked the cube and still no change. --- I did not need to spray the dome again. --- Dome temps were at 76°F at 99% RH. --- A bit cold, but going to leave it alone. --- Going to check on her tonight. - [2215]: Checked on the cube again. --- Nothing has changed, I think she may be a dud. --- Dome temps were at 80°F at 99% RH. --- If there is no sign of sprouting by tomorrow night, going to plant a second cube. --- On a more positive note.. --- Throughout the week, I've been in contact (via email) with AN's customer support team and learned quite a bit about their nutrient line. --- So going to yet again, change the way I feed. --- Apparently, I've been feeding my girls all wrong. --- I sent a few questions about the way I've been feeding during veg and they responded back with a lot of useful information. --- "Our pH Perfect base nutrients will contain enough cal/mag for your needs and you will not need to buffer your water with cal/mag first." --- "When using our pH perfect line of nutrients there tend to be many other components besides dissolved fertilizer in the water. (eg. pH buffers, humic and fulvic acid, amino acids etc…)" --- "Because of this an electrical conductivity (EC, TDS, PPM) reading can be difficult for the grower to properly ascertain." --- "Instead of reading the PPM/EC we recommend following our nutrient calculator, starting off at 1/4 strength of your base nutrient for small clones and seedlings, gradually working your way to full strength as the plant matures over a period of 3-4 weeks." --- "The pH Perfect technology not only works to adjust your nutrient mix pH but also makes the nutrition available at a wide range of uptake from pH 4.0-8.0; you should not require further adjustment after mixing. If you find you are drifting extremely to either 4.0 or 8.0 please reach out to us and we can address any underlying issues." --- "Make sure your reservoir is changed weekly, topped up at 50% strength of the shown amounts in the Nutrient Calculator in between changes." --- "Week one of the vegetative phase schedule begins when a seedling has it's second set of two leaves or a clone/cutting has it's second set of new growth leaves." --- I later asked a few more questions about PH levels, DWC transplanting, and pre-veg feeding and they helpfully responded back with more useful info. --- "It is worth checking pH once in a while to ensure everything is ticking along well and if the pH does begin to sway to one extreme or the other it is usually a sign of an underlying issue that we should address. However, our pH Perfect technology takes a lot of the work out of growing! If you do encounter any pH swings or have other questions reach out to us at that point in time." --- "You do not have to wait until the second set of true leaves form before transplanting, however, you do have to wait until they have appeared to begin feeding." --- "Before that point straight distilled water is fine. The seed itself will have enough within itself to get to it's second set of leaves." --- This is a lot of useful information which is going to change few things I feed my next girl. --- First, I'm cutting CaliMagic from my feeding regiment. --- I'm also going to continue to use beneficial bacteria (holding off on using UC roots and will continue to use Hydroguard). --- Next, as per AN's instructions, I'm going to ignore PPM levels. I'm not even going to check them. But I'll continue to monitor PH levels daily. This one is going to be a bit difficult for me, but I'll give it a try. --- Also, I will no longer use any form of PH up or down and will have a larger PH range (4.0-8.0 instead of 5.5-6.3). If the PH drifts close to either extreme, I'll dump the res and remix a new batch of nutes (I'll also contact AN's support team). Again, this one is going to be a bit of a challenge to do. --- Finally, I'm going with the instructions on AN's online calculator for feeding dosages. --- I actually sent my week one feeding dosages and got approval from AN's support team. --- So for week one of veg, for 3 gallons of water (11 liters), I'll be using: --- 22mL of Rhino Skin --- 11mL of Sensi Grow A --- 11mL of Sensi Grow B --- 22mL of B-52 --- 22mL of Voodoo Juice --- 4mL of Hydroguard --- Just for my own curiosity, after mixing this brew, I'm going to check the PPMs, but will not alter the ratios throughout the week. --- As for Rhino Skin, I asked about adding it for week one of veg and AN's support team helpfully responded back. --- "Although Rhino Skin is not shown on the vegetative phase schedule it can be used in the first three weeks at a rate of 2 mL / L given to the plants." --- Also, whenever I add distilled water to top off the res, I'll be mixing in half of the recommend dosage for that week. --- So if I need to add more water during week one, I'll mix a liter of distilled water with: --- 1mL of Rhino Skin --- 0.5mL of Sensi Grow A --- 0.5mL of Sensi Grow B --- 1mL of B-52 --- 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- 1mL of Hydroguard --- I would then use this solution to top off the res. --- I will continue to transplant as soon as a tap root pokes out the bottom of the cube. --- As for pre-veg feeding, I'm only going to feed her straight distilled water (PH adjusted to 5.5-5.8). --- To prevent pythium (root rot) and depending on her root development, I may also add Voodoo Juice and Hydroguard during pre-veg. But no grow nutrients. --- Only after her second set of true leaves form, I'll start the week one nutrient feeding. --- A lot of changes, but I'm hopeful again and can't wait to give this a go! --- Now I just need her to sprout! --- I'll check the cube again tomorrow. Day 04 - Thursday - 11/19/20 - Total Days: 048 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Checked on the cube. --- Tent temps feel colder than I'd like at 75°F --- As expected, the cube looks the same.. --- I think the erratic temps throughout the week did not help with the germination process.. That or she's a dud. --- Dome temps were at 75°F at 99% RH. --- There is still a bit of water in the dome so not going to do anything. --- I'll clean the tray and start another seed tonight.. - [1145]: Sprayed the dome with more water. --- Because days are getting cooler, the tent temps are staying a bit cooler than I'd like for germination (current temp is 75°F). --- Even though my exhaust fan temps are set to 85°F, the tent itself is not getting that hot. This wasn't an issue during the warmer days a month or so ago. But days are now getting considerably cooler. --- Plus the cube itself is feeling a bit cold which can't be good. --- I need more heat. --- I could have tried to lower the light or increased the wattage. --- But instead I decided to add the heat mat back. --- But this time, to hopefully dissipate the heat better, I used the heat mat's box along with some cardboard and foam. --- This basically made an air gap between the tray and the heat mat. --- This extra air gap provided by the box and foam, along with the cooler tent temps, will hopefully keep the dome temperature between 75-85°F (ideally at 80°F). --- I wish I had the thermostat for the heat mat, but since I don't, going to try again with dissipating the heat. --- Since there's a bit of down time, I decided to clean the oscillating fan. It was getting a bit dusty, so cleaned and re-greased to the motor with a bit of 3-in-1 oil. --- Afterwards, I decided to use the oscillating fan again. --- This will hopefully help to cool the underside of the table that the heat mat is resting on. --- I'll check later to see what dome temps stabilize at. --- Regardless, I'll be planting yet another seed later on today. - [1630]: Okay time to add another cube to the dome! --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of water. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH'd the solution down to 5.4 --- Dropped in a rockwool cube to soak for a bit. - [1700]: Okay! time to plant a new seed! --- Checked the rockwool water and the PH was at 6.0 --- PH'd the water down to 5.0 before removing the cube from the water. --- I did not shake any water out. --- I flipped the cube upside down and placed it in the tray to the right of the first cube. --- I made a small shallow hole in the center. - [1710]: I dropped the new seed in and pinched it closed. --- Tray temps looked good at around 80°F with 69% RH. --- I had the dome off for a bit while planting the new seed, but once the dome is back on, I expect the relative humidity to eventually max out again at 99%. --- I added a bit of the rockwool water (which has a bit of Voodoo Juice) to the tray and poured the rest into a spray bottle. I sprayed the dome with the same solution and covered the tray. --- To allow for better air flow, I made sure that the air vents were all the way open. --- Now there are two cubes! The first one to sprout and has roots poking through the bottom will be transplanted into the bucket. --- The cube on the left has been germinating for about 5 days and I think has suffered due to unstable room and dome temps. --- My previous germinations were in warmer conditions, But I think I've dialed it in for these colder days. --- I'm hopeful for the one on the right. --- Will check temps and RH later tonight. - [2115]: Checked up on the cubes. --- Tent temps are now at around 79°F. --- Dome temps were at 82°F at 99% RH. --- Conditions within the dome look and feel great! Humid and warm. --- Also the tent feels nice and warm too which is good. --- The extra air gap between the heat mat and tray seems to be dissipating the heat a lot better than just using layers of cardboard. --- Plus the oscillating fan is both cooling the table while dissipating the heating into the tent, thus increasing the overall tent temperature. --- I'm liking these new tent conditions so adjusted the exhaust fan and dropped it from, 85°F to 80°F --- I'll check in the morning to see if the temperatures hold steady overnight. Day 05 - Friday - 11/20/20 - Total Days: 049 ----------------------------------- - [0945]: Good morning! --- Cold morning, but everything in the tent is nice and warm. --- Tent temps are at 74°F --- Dome temps were at 78°F at 99% RH --- The dome was dry, so sprayed it again with more of the Voodoo water. --- I'll check again tonight. - [2115]: Checked on the cube. --- Tray and dome were pretty dry. --- Tent temps were at 79°F --- Dome temps were at 82°F at 72% RH. --- I added more Voodoo water to the tray and sprayed the dome. --- I'll check again in the morning. --- Grow well little ones! Day 06 - Saturday - 11/21/20 - Total Days: 050 ----------------------------------- - [0745]: Checked on the cubes. --- Tent temps were at 74°F --- Dome temps were at 77°F at 80% RH --- Sprayed the dome again with more Voodoo water. -- Going to leave everything alone and check again tonight. - [1915]: Did a bit of research on ideal temperatures to germinate in rockwool and I think I've been setting temps a bit too high. I found that the ideal temperature is 68-72°F (ILGM's site). --- In the past, I've germinated at higher temps (80-85°F), but I guess this could explain the low germination rate I've been recently experiencing.. --- I checked on the cubes. Still no visible change. --- Tent temps were at 79°F --- Dome temps were at 83°F at 71% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with more Voodoo water. --- I also sprayed the cubes a bit to cool them down. - [0800]: I increased the gap even more from the heat mat to the tray with two pieces of foam. --- I also lowered the tent temps down to 72°F --- Okay so if neither cube pops, by tomorrow night, I'm going to plant yet another one.. Damnit Ensign. --- Going to try to maintain this new temperature range of 68-72°F with 75-80°F as the maximum. --- I only have two more seeds of this strain and have had one sprout. Not a good germination rate. Day 07 - Sunday - 11/22/20 - Total Days: 051 ----------------------------------- - [1045]: Checked on the cubes. --- Tent temps are at 72°F --- Dome temps were at 74°F at 87% RH --- The dome was dry, so sprayed it again with more of the Voodoo water. --- Temps seem to be holding steady at the new settings. --- I'll check again tonight and will most likely plant another seed as well. - [1215]: To save on electricity a bit, and to see if it even makes a difference on temperatures, I tuned the light off and set it to 18/6 (so lights off between 10am-4pm). --- I'll plant another seed tonight. - [1615]: Checked on the cubes and still no sprouting.. --- Tent temps are at 72°F --- Dome temps were at 75°F at 99% RH - [1620]: Time to add yet another cube to the dome. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of water. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH'd the solution down to 5.2 --- Dropped in a rockwool cube to soak for a bit. - [1630]: Okay! time to plant a new seed! --- Checked the rockwool water and the PH was at 5.5 --- PH'd the water down a bit to 5.2 before removing the cube from the water. --- I did not shake any water out. --- I flipped the cube upside down and placed it in the tray to the far right of the first two cubes. --- I made a small shallow hole in the center. - [1635]: I dropped the new seed in and pinched it closed. --- Tray temps looked steady at around 72°F with 83% RH (this should go back up to 99% once the dome is back on). --- Now there are 3! --- The one on the far left has been in her cube for 8 days. I don't think she's going to sprout, but have no reason to remove her. --- The middle one has been in the cube for 3 days. Not too sure on this one. --- I really do hope that one of these 3 sprout soon. --- The cooler germination temps along with the extra hours of darkness, should hopefully help. --- Hmm. Not sure on this one, but what I originally thought was a product number on the bag of seeds, could be a date that the seeds were bagged? If the number on the bag of seeds is indeed a bin date (in my case, 03-03-07), then maybe these seeds are too just too old? --- Anyways, I'll check on the girls tomorrow morning to see if anything has changed. [END OF WEEK 07]

Introduction - Week 08 Summary - One of the cubes finally sprouted! Was starting to feel a bit down again, but to my surprise, the middle cube sprouted about two days into the week (5 days from planting). I was both glad and relieved that one of the cubes actually popped! She's definitely the smallest of the seedlings I've germinated, but couldn't be more happier! Even though she's tiny, by the next day, her tap root was already poking out the bottom of the cube. So I transplanted her into the DWC bucket that same night! As per AN's instructions, I'm not feeding her any grow nutes quite yet. So for now it's a combination of beneficial bacteria and CalMag. Afterwards, I ended up adding a bit of silica (Rhino Skin) and increased the CalMag (CaliMagic) concentration a bit. By the end of the week, her first set of leaves have started to grow! But she's a bit droopy. At least her tap root has already grown through the net basket! To (hopefully) fix the wilting, I lowered the water level and am going to increase the PPMs for next week's res change. I also added a humidity dome to increase the RH a bit. Also looking into foliar feeding for next week. I'm just happy she's growing. Once pre-veg is complete and she has her second set of leaves, I'll begin feeding the week 1 grow nutrients using AN's recommend feeding ratios. Just have to keep on growing! [START OF WEEK 08] Day 01 - Monday - 11/23/20 - Total Days: 052 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Checked on the cubes. --- Still no visible change. --- Tent temps were holding steady at 72°F --- Dome temps were at 76°F at 99% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with more Voodoo water. - [2215]: Checked on the cubes again. --- They still look the same. --- Tent temps were holding steady at 72°F --- Dome temps were at 74°F at 99% RH --- I sprayed the dome again with more Voodoo water. --- Not sure why none of the cubes are sprouting.. --- For the last seed, I may try to germinate in a cup of distilled water and Voodoo Juice. --- Then if the seed cracks open, I'll transplant her into the rockwool cube. --- I'll wait another day or two before trying this method. Day 02 - Tuesday - 11/24/20 - Total Days: 053 ----------------------------------- - [0830]: Ho damn! --- One of the cubes finally popped! --- Woo hoo!! --- During the night (or since the lights were on, I guess for the cubes, it was day), cube 2 sprouted and is just starting to uncurl her cotyledon leaves. Nice! --- To be honest, I was starting to feel a bit depressed again. --- But seeing her, just brings joy and hope back! I can't believe how happy this is making me! --- A bit surprised though, because she was the second seed of the three and was planted five days ago. --- Still no activity from cube 1 or 3. --- Going to leave them in for now. I doubt cube 1 will ever sprout, but cube 3 may sprouting soon. --- Again, I plan on using the first who's roots poke out the bottom first so there's still hope for cube 3. Also, if cube 3 sprouts soon, and looks healthier, then I may transplant her instead. But for now, I am just happy and relieved that at least one of them sprouted! --- Tent temps were at 70°F --- Dome temps were at 75°F at 99% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with more Voodoo water. --- Once her leaves fully uncurl, I'll remove the dome. --- What a great way to start the day! --- I'll check on them again later tonight! - [2030]: Wow! she seems to have fully sprouted! --- But her leaves look a bit yellow. --- Hopefully they green up a bit after a full day under the light. --- Tent temps were at 72°F --- Dome temps were at 74°F at 91% RH --- Since I'm not going to feed her any grow nutes until she sprouts 2 sets of true leaves, I mixed up some fresh Voodoo water. --- Filled a measuring cup with a cup of water. --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- PH'd the water down to 4.9 --- Poured the solution into a spray bottle and lightly sprayed the cubes. --- Now that both cotyledon leaves are fully sprouted, I also removed the dome. --- Still going to leaving the un-sprouted cubes in the tray. Still hopeful that cube 3 will sprout, but I'm perfectly fine with cube 2. --- Tray temps dropped to 72°F at 75% RH --- Going to check in the morning to see what everything stabilizes at. Day 03 - Wednesday - 11/25/20 - Total Days: 054 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Good morning little one! --- Tent temps were at 70°F --- Tray temps were at 71°F at 52% RH --- She's looking a lot greener! Great! --- Oh nice! --- Checked the bottom of the cube and she already has a tap root shooting out the bottom! --- I also noticed that the seed was just barely visible at the base. So using a pair of tweezers, I carefully removed it. --- Anyways, transplanting her tonight! --- I did not expect her root to develop that quickly! - [0940]: To prep for tonight's transplant, going to sterilize everything with UC roots. --- I re-attached the air stones and placed them into the bucket. --- Filled the bucket with 4gal of distilled water. --- Added 120mL of UC Roots - [0945]: Plugged in the air pump. --- I decided to block off the top two row of holes in the net basket. To do this, I used a few strips of aluminum tape. I hope this will eliminate the need to cover the top with foil. --- Then I place the net basket into the bucket to sterilize in the UC Roots solution. --- Since the hydroton was previously boiled and dried, I opted to not boil them again and just soak everything in UC Roots. --- To do this, I filled another bucket with the hydroton clay pebbles. --- I filled a gallon jug with distilled water and poured in about half. This was just enough to fully soak the pebbles. --- Added 30mL of UC Roots --- Then poured in the rest of the gallon of distilled water. - [0955]: Going to let everything soak for the day and will begin the transplant tonight! --- Being about 5 days since she was planted, she's taken the longest to sprout out of all of my previous seedlings. But that is perfectly okay with me! My little runt! --- But because she was such a late bloomer, I'm a bit concern for her health. --- So I think during pre-veg (after transplanting), I'm going to be feeding her a bit of CaliMagic and Voodoo Juice. --- My logic is that since I'm using distilled water with very low PPMs (10-15 PPMs), I'll add just enough CalMag to reach about the same consistency of ideal tap water. According to ILGM, the best water is soft water and has a PPM of 100-150. So going to shoot for these readings with a PH of around 5.5-5.8 for optimal nutrient uptake. During my last attempt, I had the PPMs at around 300 so I'll use that as an absolute maximum. --- I'll begin with AN's recommended feeding as soon as she sprouts her first two sets of true leaves, --- Extremely stoked for tonight! --- Keep on growing girl! - [2020]: Okay time to prep for the transplant! --- Filled a measuring cup with 2 cups of distilled water. --- Added 2mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of Hydroguard --- PH'd the solution down to 5.2 -[2030]: Time to inoculate the hydroton! --- Poured the hydroton into a strainer but did not rinse. --- I poured about half the Voodoo solution over the freshly drained hydroton. Going to re-inoculate with the rest of the solution right before transplant. --- I unplugged the heat mat and removed the table and tray from the tent. --- Unfortunately had to toss out the un-sprouted cubes. RIP. --- I unplugged the air pump and disconnected the air lines from the bucket. I did not remove the air stones. --- I removed the net basket and drained the bucket. Again, I did not rinse. - [2045]: I filled the bucket with 3 gallons of distilled water, reconnected the air lines, and turned the pump on. --- Starting PH was at 5.9 --- Starting PPMs were at 10 --- Added 15mL of Voodoo Juice (11 PPMs) --- Added 8mL of Hydroguard (11 PPMs) --- Added 5mL of CaliMagic (164 PPMs) --- PH'd down to 4.9 (a bit low right now, but will go up as it stabilizes) --- PPMs stabilized at 163 - [2100]: TRANSPLANT TIME! --- Covered the bucket with the net pot and checked the water level. --- The water was at least 2-3" from the bottom of the net basket. --- I re-inoculated the hydroton with the rest of the Voodoo solution from earlier. --- Then added just enough hydroton to fill up the bottom two rows of the net pot. --- I removed her from the tray and removed the plastic wrapper from the cube. Wow! Her root nearly doubled since I last checked. Nice! --- I carefully placed her in the center of the net basket. --- Then very carefully, I added more hydroton to fill around the cube. --- After that, I continued to add more hydroton to cover the top of the cube. -[2115]: Transplant done! --- Did not top feed this time. I'll top feed her tomorrow night. --- Since she's in the bucket and on the floor, her distance from the light is about 55" --- Temps were holding steady at 72°F with 58% RH. --- The light is also still set to an 18/6 cycle (lights off between 10am-4pm). - [2130]: Checked the net basket for light leaks. Everything looked pretty good! --- Blocking off the top two rows with tape seemed to have fixed the issue I was having with light leaking through the basket. So no need to cover with foil this time! --- I did not recheck PPMs. --- But I did recheck the PH and as expected, it stabilized at a perfect 5.5 --- As far as seedlings, she is definitely the smallest one I've transplanted, but based on her root growth over the past day, I'm hopeful that she'll grow up nice and strong! --- Going to check on her again in the morning. --- Please grow well girl! Day 04 - Thursday - 11/26/20 - Total Days: 055 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Good morning! --- Did a quick visual check. --- Temps were at 70°F at 74% RH --- I'll check the solution later tonight. - [1700]: Checked up on the little runt! --- Nice! Everything is looking pretty good! --- Temps were at 71°F at 78% RH --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the bucket solution. --- PH was still at 5.5 --- PPMs were also unchanged at 163 --- Top fed 10mL before returning her back to the bucket. --- She looks really tiny in the basket. But just going to let her keep growing and will check again tomorrow morning. - [2000]: Decided to add a bit of Rhino Skin to the bucket. --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.2 (Not sure why it dropped, but still okay) --- PPMs were still at 163 --- Added 15mL of Rhino Skin --- PH went up to 5.4 --- PPMs went up to 180 --- Going to leave the PH alone for now. But if the PH does not rise above 5.5 by tomorrow night, I'll adjust it closer to 5.7 to ensure its at an optimal level. --- As for Monday's res change, I think I'll continue to add Rhino Skin for silica uptake. Because she so small, this should help strengthen and bulk up her stems. Also should make her more resistant to diseases. --- But still no grow nutes until her second set of leaves fully form. Day 05 - Friday - 11/27/20 - Total Days: 056 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Did a quick visual check. --- Looking good! --- Temps were at 68°F at 72% RH --- Will check the PH and PPMs tonight. - [2130]: Looking a bit bigger and taller! --- Temps were at 70°F at 65% RH --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.5 --- PPMs were at 165 --- Added bit of PH up --- PH was at a perfect 5.8 --- PPMs went up to 175 --- Top fed 10mL before returning her back to the bucket. --- Usually the PH drifts up so I'm really happy that things seem a lot more stable. --- The sterilization and presoak using UC Roots seemed to have fixed any drifts I was experiencing in the past. Great! --- I think I may use UC Roots to clean the bucket in between res changes. --- Anyways, keep on growing girl! Day 06 - Saturday - 11/28/20 - Total Days: 057 ----------------------------------- - [0745]: It's getting a bit colder. --- Did a quick visual check! --- Temps were at 67°F at 65% RH --- A bit cold, but still okay. --- If temps continue to drop, then I may have to raise the bucket closer to the light. - [2000]: Checked up on the little one! --- Temps were at 71°F at 61% RH --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 175 --- Top fed 10mL before returning her back to the bucket. --- She's looking a bit droopy. - [2100]: Placed her in a separate bucket before adjusting the bucket solution. --- Added 2mL of CaliMagic --- Added PH down/up (added bit too much PH down. Oops.) --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 285 --- I also decided to lower the water level a bit. --- I removed about 8-9 cups of water (~2 liters). --- Hopefully she perks up a bit by morning. If not, I'll remove another 4 cups and recheck the solution. Day 07 - Sunday - 11/29/20 - Total Days: 058 ----------------------------------- - [0915]: Good morning! --- Still looking a bit wilted, but looking better than last night. --- Temps were at 68°F at 58% RH --- Okay going to lower the water level even more and check the runoff. --- Drain the bucket solution to just above the 2gal mark and checked the readings. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 296 --- Going to do one more check tonight. - [1930]: Okay! Checking up on the little one. --- Temps were at 72°F at 57% RH --- Looking really wilted. --- Oh damn! I see a tiny root! --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the bucket solution. --- PH was at 6.0 --- PPMs were at 282 --- Added a bit of PH down --- PH went down to 5.6 --- PPMs went up to 295 --- Did not top feed. --- Going to do a fresh res change tomorrow night, so I'll leave the PPMs alone for now. --- Since she only has her first set of true leaves, going to wait another week before feeding her grow nutes. But I do plan to increase the PPMs of CalMag. --- So for 2gal of water I plan to use: --- 16mL of Rhino Skin --- 16mL of Voodoo Juice --- 6mL of Hydroguard --- 6-8mL of CaliMagic --- Going for around 300-400 PPMs. --- Hoping that she can make it past pre-veg (her 2nd set of true leaves). According to AN, the seed should have enough food within itself to make it. But I'm not sure. --- Seeing the root already poking out does make things promising, But she is still really wilted. --- With the lowered water level (at the 2 gallon mark), the net basket should have enough of an air gap to prevent any over watering. --- Perhaps it's a lack of nutrients? --- So going to increase the PPMs of CaliMagic. --- Next week I'll contact AN for help if the wilting continues a day or two after the res change. - [2015]: Decided to increase the relative humidity (RH) a bit. --- Since I don't have a humidifier, I decided to use a makeshift humidity dome again. Basically I covered her with a clear glass bowl. The humid air being pushed through the hydroton from the air stones should increase the RH by quite a bit. --- So I did not fully cover the net basket (left about 3/4 opened). --- Going for an RH of around 75-90% --- I'll check the meters in the morning to see the difference in RH. Then I'll adjust the air gap accordingly. [END OF WEEK 08]

Introduction - Week 09 Summary - Growth has been slow, but she is still growing. Throughout the week, I was slowly increasing her CalMag intake by upping the CaliMagic concentration. But growth has been slow. So towards the end of the week, I contacted AN and they told me to stop all feeding. So I stopped all feeding and have only been feeding her straight distilled water. Since there's nothing in the water (except a bit of UC Roots), I won't be doing a res change on Monday. For root rot control, I'll just flush the net basket and add more UC Roots to replenish the hypochlorous acid within the bucket solution. Not sure if she'll recover, but I'll give her one more week. By midweek, if there's still no sign of healthy growth, then I'll try to pop the last seed. If this seed doesn't germinate by the end of the week, I'll have to end this run as another failure and either try a new seed strain or go for a clone. [START OF WEEK 09] Day 01 - Monday - 11/30/20 - Total Days: 059 ----------------------------------- - [0945]: Did a quick visual check! --- Temps were at 70°F at 99% RH --- I adjusted the bowl a bit to let more air in. --- I'll check on her tonight to see if the RH as lowered. --- Also res change tonight! - [2315]: A bit late, but time for a res change! --- Temps were at 72°F at 92% RH --- I placed her in a separate bucket while I cleaned and prepared the new nutrient solution. --- Turned the air pump off. --- The air stones were very clean! No brown slime at all. Great! --- Boiled and rinsed the air stones in distilled water. --- Did not check final PH/PPM readings (Oops). --- Drained and cleaned the bucket with distilled water and UC Roots (15mL for half a gallon). Then rinsed with distilled water. - [2335]: Filled the cleaned bucket with 2gal of straight distilled water and reconnected the air stones. Then switched the air pump back on. --- Starting PPMs were at 9 --- Added 16mL of Rhino Skin (18 PPMs) --- Added 16mL of Voodoo Juice (19 PPMs) --- Added 6mL of Hydroguard (19 PPMs) --- Added 8mL of CaliMagic (387 PPMs) --- Checked the PH and it was at 5.9 --- Added a few drops of PH Down. - [2345]: I'll let the solution brew for a bit before taking the final readings. --- Filled a measuring cup with 2cup of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of Rhino Skin --- Added 1mL of Voodoo Juice --- Added 1mL of B-52 --- PH was at 6.0 so did not adjust. --- Going to use this as a foliar spray. --- Since I'm not going to top feed her, I'll be spraying her every night with this solution. Not a lot, just enough to wet her leaves. - [2350]: Checked the final bucket readings. --- Final PH was at 5.7 --- Final PPMs were at 371 - [2355]: I placed her back into the newly brewed nutrient solution. --- Then gave her one spray of the foliar feeding solution. Again, just enough to wet her leaves. --- To help with evaporation, I'm not going to use the glass dome. --- That's it! Going to check on her in the morning to see if anything improves. Day 02 - Tuesday - 12/01/20 - Total Days: 060 ----------------------------------- - [0940]: Good morning! --- Checked up on the little runt. --- Temps were at 69°F at 67% RH --- Less droopy, a bit bigger. Nice! --- I'll check the PH/PPMs tonight. - [2230]: Still looking yellow and wilted, but not as bad as yesterday. --- Temps were at 71°F at 64% RH --- Time to check the PH and PPMs. --- Nice! Her root seemed to have grown a bit longer. --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.9 --- PPMs were at 370 --- Added a few drops of PH Down --- PH was at 5.6 --- PPMs were at 392 --- Placed her back and gave her another foliar spray with the B-52 solution. Just enough to wet her leaves. --- I really want the humidity to be around the 80s so decided to try the dome again. This time I raised the glass bowl up a bit using some foam. Last time using the bowl, the RH got as high as 99% so I hope the extra air gap will allow for more moisture to escape. --- I'll check tomorrow to see if things improve, if not, I may have to reach out to AN for help. Day 03 - Wednesday - 12/02/20 - Total Days: 061 ----------------------------------- - [0940]: Did a quick visual check. --- Temps were at 70°F at 83% RH --- I'll check the solution tonight. - [2215]: Checked up on the little one! --- Still a bit wilted and yellow, but looking bigger! --- Temps were at 72°F at 80% RH --- The RH was perfect! --- Nice! Her root is getting a bit longer. --- Decided to flush the net basket with a bit of UC Roots to clean out any salt build up. --- Placed her in a separate bucket. --- Filled a measuring cup with 2 cups of water. --- Added 1mL of UC Roots --- Since this is a flushing solution, I did not adjust the PH. - [2230]: Poured the entire solution over the hydroton to flush the net basket. --- Did this once more with another 2 cups of distilled water (and 1mL of UC Roots). --- I'll probably be doing this hydroton flushing once a week during her weekly res change. --- While the basket was draining, I checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.6 --- PPMs were at 358 --- Decided to up the PPMs a bit more. --- Added 1mL of CaliMagic --- PH was at 5.7 --- PPMs were at 445 --- Shook off as much of the flushing solution that I could before placing her back into the DWC bucket. --- I then gave her another foliar spray with the B-52 solution to wet her leaves. --- I covered her again with the glass dome. - [2235]: Earlier today, I purchased a cheap $7.00 USB humidifier (looks like a white floating doughnut) and decided to give it a try. --- I filled the humidity tray with about a gallon of tap water and placed the humidifier in it. --- After plugging it in, I was quite surprised with how much vapor that little thing could produce! We'll see how long it will last. --- The tent humidity has been really dry lately (currently at 39% RH) so want to see if it makes a difference. --- This whole week, I feel like I've been starving her and want to start feeding some grow nutes. But she only has her first set of true leaves. --- I sent an email to Advanced Nutrients about my concerns and am currently waiting on a response. Day 04 - Thursday - 12/03/20 - Total Days: 062 ----------------------------------- - [0940]: Good morning! --- Temps were at 66°F at 94% RH --- Will check PH and PPMs tonight. --- Since the humidifier has an LED light, I had to unplugged it before lights out. --- I accidentally broke the humidifier trying to open it up (Oops). I wanted to block the LED light, but that failed. Oh well, it was a cheap unit. So not too bummed about it. I may try to fix it later. But the dome seems to be good enough for now. - [2310]: She's still looking yellow and wilted. --- Temps were at 70°F at 70% RH --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the PH and PPMs. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 420 --- Placed her back but did not foliar feed. --- Not sure what's wrong with her. She look really yellow. --- Still no word from AN neither. --- Whether she has her 2 sets of true leaves or not, I decided that I'm going to try to feed her grow nutes next week. --- If she doesn't recover by the end of next week, I'll try to germinate the last seed in a cup of water. --- If that fails, then I'll have to end the run soon and start a new strain.. --- I may try a new seed bank entirely and try my luck with some OG Kush seeds from Phoenix Seeds. --- Or try and contact a local nursery for a clone. --- I'm still going to give this one a chance so I hope that next week will be better. Day 05 - Friday - 12/04/20 - Total Days: 063 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Did a quick visual check. --- Temps were at 67°F at 86% RH --- Still looking wilted and yellow. --- I'll PH and PPMs tonight. --- Okay so received an email response from AN and basically was told to flush and stop feeding her nutrients. Also to stop foliar feeding. --- I thought I was starving her. But I guess I've been doing the exact opposite and have been over feeding? --- "There is enough within the seed from it's point of germination to take it to the point of producing two sets of leaves." --- "There is no need for anything but plain water up until the point of it's second set of leaves regardless of the medium." --- I asked about using distilled water at 10PPMs, and they responded back saying. ---"Yes, the water you describe will be fine." --- Okay well going to stop feeding her. --- So going to flush the system tonight and only feed her straight distilled water along with a bit of UC Roots to keep things sterile. --- At this point, I'm just going to do as what the experts say and just hope for the best. --- If things don't improve in a week or two, I'll end this run as another failure and just start a new journal with a clone or new seed (leaning more towards a clone). - [2345]: Checked up on the little one. --- Still looking wilted.. --- Temps were at 71°F at 85% RH --- Okay time to flush the bucket! --- Filled a measuring cup with 2 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of UC Roots --- Did not adjust the PH. --- Placed her in a new bucket and flushed the net basket and hydroton with the UC Roots solution. --- I then repeated the process and flushed again with 2 more cups. - [2355]: As the net basket was draining.. --- I turned the air pump off and disconnected the air lines and air stones. --- Then started to boil the air stones in distilled water. --- The entire bucket solution was then dumped (did not bother checking PH nor PPMs). --- I first scrubbed the bucket clean with hot tap water. Then scrubbed it again with about a liter of distilled water and 15mL of UC Roots. --- The bucket was then rinsed out with straight distilled water (about a liter). --- By now the air stones were boiling so rinsed those with distilled water as well. --- I reconnected the air lines and freshly cleaned air stones. - [+0010]: I filled the bucket with 1 gallon of distilled water and turned the pump on. --- Added 10mL of UC Roots --- I let the air stones sterilize for about 5 minutes in the concentrated UC Roots solution. --- Then added 1.5 gallons of distilled water to dilute the solution to plant-safe levels (about 4mL per gallon of UC Roots). --- PH was at 6.5 --- PPMs were at 14 --- Added a few drop s of PH Down --- PH dropped to 5.7 --- PPMs went up to 15 - [+0025]: I top fed her a bit (10mL) before placing her into the freshly cleaned bucket and sterile solution. --- To keep RH within acceptable levels, I covered her with the glass dome. --- Not too sure on the logic of not feeding her anything in DWC. --- Even in soil, there would be some sort of nutrients within the medium. In DWC there are no nutrients at all so I still feel like I'm starving her. --- Even tap water has some sort of CalMag. So not sure if this is a good idea. --- But I'm no hydro expert so going to do as AN suggests. --- I'll check on her in the morning to see if she improves or gets worse. Day 06 - Saturday - 12/05/20 - Total Days: 064 ----------------------------------- - [0815]: Did a quick visual check. --- Temps were at 67°F at 82% RH --- Still wilted. Hard to tell any difference. --- I'll check the PH and PPMs tonight. - [1930]: Okay time to check the solution. --- Temps were at 70°F at 73% RH --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the PH and PPMs. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 15 --- Top fed another 10mL. --- Placed her back and placed the dome back on. --- She still looks the same. Her root is getting a bit longer, but no change to top growth.. --- I'll give her another week, if no signs of recovery appear, then going to end the run and hit up a local nursery for a clone. Day 07 - Sunday - 12/06/20 - Total Days: 065 ----------------------------------- - [0845]: Quickly did a visual check. --- Temps were at 67°F at 85% RH --- Hmm. I think she's less wilted. Again, hard to tell any difference. --- I think she's stopped growing. --- I'll check the solution tonight. --- Doesn't look like she's recovering, but at least she doesn't look worse. --- On the positive side, since I'm only feeding her straight water, I don't need to do a res change. --- I'll just be adding another small dose of UC Roots to keep the root rot under control. - [1615]: Okay time to check the solution. --- Temps were at 69°F at 87% RH --- Placed her in a separate bucket before checking the PH and PPMs. --- PH was at 6.2 --- PPMs were at 15 --- Added a few drops of PH Down --- PH dropped to 5.6 --- PPMs went up a bit to 16 --- Top fed another 10mL and placed her back. This time I did not add the dome. --- Earlier today, I finally got a humidifier for the tent! --- I hope that this will solve my overall RH issue. Because it's winter, RH has dropped into the mid 30s. --- On a side note, I'm medicated again! --- Picked up a bit at the local dispensary and now remember why I started growing in the first place.. --- To help me stay medicated! --- I kinda forgot about that and was utterly consumed by the grow. Even stopped smoking to save cash for rent and bills. --- I started growing not to be miserable (and sober), but to help me save cash and to grow my own medicine. --- Well to be honest, things have not gone that way at all. --- I recall saying "How hard can it be!?" --- Well after a few months of utter failure, I have to say that DWC is insanely difficult. --- It's kinda like saying, "how hard can it be to build a house" without any experience at all. --- It's been both draining financially and mentally (almost had a mental breakdown with the last attempt). --- But now I feel like if I was stoned, it probably would not have bothered me that much. --- Anyways, I'm still completely determined to making it to my first harvest, but after 8 seeds, and 3 failed plants (maybe 4), I said fuck it! I'm getting stoned! --- I'll check on her later tonight or in the morning to see what the RH has stabilized at. --- Please recover! - [1730]: Woah! RH was up to 99% in the basket (80% on the floor of the tent)! --- Lowered the setting on the humidifier half way to see what happens. [END OF WEEK 09]

Introduction - Week 10 Summary - Ending this grow log and will start a new diary for next week. Throughout the week, she did not improve so decided to end her midweek and tried to germinate the last seed for this strain. Tried the cup of water technique and got a bit of hope when the seed cracked open but she never sprouted from the cube after transplant. Out of 5 seeds, only two sprouted. But only one was healthy. Not sure if it's the genetics or me (most likely me), but I could not get these seeds to grow. This run was yet another failure.. I was really hoping to make it to harvest, but maybe next time. Anyways, time to begin another grow log! I'll be trying to grow some 'OG Kush' from 'Phoenix Cannabis Seeds!' - LLAP [START OF WEEK 10] Day 01 - Monday - 12/07/2020 - Total Days: 66 ----------------------------------- - [0835]: Did a quick visual check of the room. --- Temps were at 66°F at 99% RH --- I'll check the water and add more UC Roots tonight. - [2245]: Time check to do another net basket flushing. --- Temps were at 69°F at 88% RH --- Filled a measuring cup with 2 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1mL of UC Roots --- Did not adjust the PH. --- Placed her in a new bucket and flushed the net basket and hydroton with the UC Roots solution. --- I then repeated the process and flushed again with 2 more cups. - [2300]: Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 16 --- Added 8mL of UC Roots --- PH was still at 5.8 --- PPMs went up a bit to 20 --- Top fed 10mL of the new solution and placed her back. - [2305]: The humidifier was looking a bit low so refilled the tank with more tap water. --- Her root does look a bit longer. But she still looks yellow. The yellowing is mainly inner-veinal. --- I think her second set of leaves are starting to form, but they look yellow. --- Well the week just began, so going to leave everything alone and will check again tomorrow. Day 02 - Tuesday - 12/08/2020 - Total Days: 67 ----------------------------------- - [0840]: Did a quick visual check. --- Temps were at 68°F at 99% RH --- Going to plant the last seed for this run tonight. --- I'll be using the 'cup of water' method. --- Going to be soaking the seed in PH'd balanced (5.6-5.8) distilled water. --- I need to keep the water temps between 68-77°F --- I'll also need it to be dark. --- If she does not germinate, I'll end the run and next week will try a seed from a different seed bank. - [2330]: Okay! The last hurrah for this strain. Time to (attempt to) germinate the last seed! --- I cleaned and filled a small mason jar with distilled water. --- I PH'd the water down to 5.7 - [2340]: Then dropped her in! --- Temps were at 70°F at 94% RH --- Sealed the lid and wrapped the jar in foil. --- Then placed the jar on top of the bucket in the tent. --- The humidifier was getting low, so refilled that as well. --- I'll check every night to see if a tap root forms, when it does, I'll wait for it to get a few millimeters long before transplanting her into the rockwool cube. --- If nothing happens by the end of the week, I'll end the run and start a new diary (deciding between trying a sativa like Sour Diesel or another indica OG strain). --- Not going to check the bucket solution tonight and will wait until tomorrow to check PH/PPMs. Day 03 - Wednesday - 12/09/2020 - Total Days: 68 ----------------------------------- - [0700]: Did a quick visual check of the room. --- Temps were at 72°F at 80% RH --- I'll check both the jar and the water tonight. - [2315]: Okay! Time to check on the bean! --- Aye! I see a tap root! It's just barely breaking the shell, but it's there! --- Okay! Going to let her soak overnight and will transplant her into a rockwool cube tomorrow morning! --- Checked the bucket solution. --- PH was at 5.8 --- PPMs were at 20 --- Humidifier was almost empty so refilled the tank with tap water. --- Her root looks longer and there's a bit more top growth, but she is just too yellow.. Sorry girl. She's just way too stunted. --- I'll end her tomorrow morning.. --- On the positive side, stoked for the new seedling! She cracked opened within a day in the water so hope is restored for this run. --- Going to reset the tent tomorrow morning! Day 04 - Thursday - 12/10/2020 - Total Days: 69 ----------------------------------- - [0925]: Time to prep for the rockwool transplant! --- Filled a measuring cup with 1 cup of straight distilled water. --- Dropped a fresh rockwool cube into the solution. --- PH'd it down to 5.3 --- Going to let this soak for a bit while I clean the tent out. - [0930]: Okay time to reset the tent for a new seedling! --- I did not bother checking the final PH or PPMs. --- Unplugged the air pump and disconnected the air lines. --- Dumped the net basket out and drained the bucket. --- Going to soak the bucket, air stones, and net basket in bleach overnight before rinsing and drying. --- Took the tray out of the tent and gave that a good cleaning. Also cleaned the humidity dome. - [0945]: Cleaned the tent a bit by wiping down the walls and floor with hydrogen peroxide (3% strength). --- Also cleaned the fan and removed the front cover. --- I added the table back along with the heating mat and tray. --- To dissipate the heat, I used foam and cardboard to make an air gap in between the tray and heating mat. --- The light turned off at 1000, so turned it back on. - [1020]: By now the cube has been soaking for a bit so I checked on the rockwool solution. --- PH was at 6.1 --- Adjusted the PH to 5.4 --- I let the cube soak for a few minutes before removing it from the solution. --- I flipped the cube upside down and made a fairly wide, but shallow hole in the rockwool. --- I opened the jar and carefully poured out the water (making sure to leave the seed in). - [1030]: Using a pair of tweezers, I carefully placed the seed into the rockwool cube's hole (tap root down). --- I carefully pinched the hole closed. --- I sprayed the dome with distilled water before covering the tray. I opened the air vents all the way. --- Done! --- She is about 39" from the light. --- Temps were at 68°F at 60% RH --- Humidifier was turned off. --- Going to leave the light on 24/0 for a day before switching to 18/6. --- Temperature controller for the tent was set to 73°F at 55% RH --- If I did everything correctly, Hopefully she'll sprout from the cube in a day or two! --- I'll check on her again tonight. - [2245]: Okay time to check up on the cube! --- Dome temps were at 75°F at 92% RH --- Looking good as far as conditions! I finally think I've managed to dial the temps to an ideal level. I hope these levels continue to hold. --- I re-sprayed the dome with distilled water. --- I'll check again tomorrow morning. --- Thinking about a pre-veg brew for transplant. --- I still don't see the logic of not feeding her anything in a DWC setup. Maybe in soil, but not in hydro. --- For her DWC transplant, going to go with half of the recommended dosage for week 1 of veg. --- So for 3 gallons of water (11 liters) I'll be adding: --- 12mL of Rhino Skin --- 6mL of Sensi Grow A --- 6mL of Sensi Grow B --- 12mL of B-52 --- 12mL of Voodoo Juice --- 4mL of Hydroguard --- Out of curiosity, I'm still going to check PH and PPMs. But only adjust the solution if the PH goes out or range of 4.0-8.0 Day 05 - Friday - 12/11/2020 - Total Days: 70 ----------------------------------- - [0945]: Did a quick visual check. --- Dome temps were at 73°F at 83% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with distilled water. - [2200]: Did another quick visual check on the cube. --- Dome temps were at 75°F at 73% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with distilled water. --- Not much else I can do right now so going to check on her again tomorrow. Day 06 - Saturday - 12/12/2020 - Total Days: 71 ----------------------------------- - [0815]: Checked on the cube. --- Dome temps were at 72°F at 75% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with distilled water PH'd to 5.5 - [1915]: Checked up on the cube again. --- Dome temps were at 74°F at 82% RH --- Sprayed the dome again with distilled water PH'd to 5.3 --- Not looking good for this run. --- I'll check again tomorrow. Day 07 - Sunday - 12/13/2020 - Total Days: 72 ----------------------------------- - [0940]: Checked on the cube. --- Dome temps were at 71°F at 71% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with distilled water PH'd to 5.3 - [1600]: Checked on the cube again. --- Dome temps were at 71°F at 71% RH --- I re-sprayed the dome with distilled water PH'd to 5.0 and poured the rest into the tray. --- Not looking good for this run.. --- --- Going to start a new diary tomorrow using a different seed bank. --- --- I'm thinking about giving Phoenix Seeds a try by attempting to grow their OG Kush strain. Or I may try a sativa and attempt to grow some Amherst Sour Diesel by Humboldt Seeds. --- --- Going to end this run as another failure, but will start a new seed next week! --- --- There will be no further log entries. --- --- LLAP. [END OF WEEK 10]

[ Did not make it to harvest ] . [ Did not make it to harvest ]