So we are in the middle of week 10 and I feel pretty comfortable feeding them now, pretty much the same until next week when I give more Top Max. I've seen much more explosive growth on other diaries but I have to say I'm pretty proud so far for my first attempt. Staring at those fresh furry little balls of life is surreal, getting to this point is great, but it's far from over.
So I kept the same feeding this week, still adding the Great White with mycorrhizae (and like 40+ other microbes) once a week as it says per directions. The BioBizz products are easy to use and hold up well, so I'm feeling better about going with them even though I had some issues at the beginning (all my fault most likely). I can dial in the feeding mixture PPM now first try to where I want it, so far 700ppm of a gallon every 2 days has been working out. I feel like at the start I was over watering because people say water everyday in coco, well that seems to be for the coco bricks. I am using FoxFarm Bush Doctor Coco Loco (long ass title just for some coco coir) with additional perlite and it has a lot more holding capacity than just normal bricked coco coir. For checking on when it needs water I still use the method of digging into the topsoil an inch and weighing the pots by hand. Also I've noticed if they are pretty tired looking after lights on then I'll water. Like everyone said, consistent fertigation has been the hardest part as a beginner.
First week I'm posting a video, the fan can't oscillate so I turn it to the right, left, and keep it center as well as raise and lower it so there is decent airflow. I wouldn't say it's optimal but it works for now.
I've raised the lights about 3 inches just so the top colas don't get burnt, I've also found the sweet spot on the potentiometer (power knob) where I can get maximum power without raising the temperature above 77f, which it quickly goes above 80f if I exceed it.
I've done minor defoliation before each feeding (so like every 2 or 3 days), mostly just clearing the leaves from above while keeping the important sugar leaves and some fan leaves, even though most the large fan leaves have long died/turned. If you watch the first video I've posted you'll notice an injury on her, unfortunately I didn'
I feel like I've failed on the C99 X Blueberry Auto, in fact I took it out of the title. I definitely kept it in nutrient lock even after repeated flushings, it seems to have grown a little and even looks like it's accepted its new life as a stunted sideshow geek never thinking of being the in the spotlight under my grow tent. On the plus side, the two normal Desert Lemon photo's look great, even if one is starting to look leggy. They haven't shown their sexes but it looks like they soon will, because frankly I don't have enough room and would like the leggy one to be gone. The two other shortest plants looks nice and green, shortest being the Black Sugar photo that I did some minor LST with tent stakes - and the very beautiful Gelat.OG photo that is so symmetrical it makes me want to put her in the spotlight (aka position 1 which I give most room/light priority too).
Okay so that's it for this week folks, thanks for checking in and please comment or critique on my first grow! Any questions also welcome.
-AthanasGrow