DWC - ILGM - Fire OG

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]