LED Grow Light Forum

MC,

here's my 2cents: if you are using a decent nute line, i think any of the less common nute deficiiencies are caused by pH being incorrect. the cal/mg should fix most problems. what water do you use? tap? well? i'd switch over to RO from walmart for a week and try your same nutes with better water. i have 5 of those 5 gal jugs and fill them up once or twice a week.

here's a local vendor: rays of colorado. pick up some neem oil and use it as a soil drench. will kill most things naturally. just don't spray anthing on flowers now. you'll risk mold.

i'm a week behind you flowering wise on one of my plants. has been cool seeing how yours are just ahead of mine.

Hi everyone,

We're now on day 50 of flowering, and things are looking and smelling very sweet. Still have some yellowing, as discussed earlier primarily on the pineapple chunks. I spoke with our master grower at work, and he says it looks like they're hungry, and asks me what my PPM is. I told him around 700 at my last feeding. After laughing a little, he reminded me that this far along in flowering I should be feeding like 1400 PPM. D'oh! So at my last feeding, I doubled the nutrient recommendations on the Canna nute line I'm using. That breaks down like this:

10 gal tap water*
250 ml Canna Bio Flores
30 ml Canna Bio Rhizotonic
250 ml Canna Bio Boost
20 tsp General Organics Cal/Mg
* RKY, I will pick up some RO water sometime soon. Truly though, my PPM is so low in my tap that I'm not sure how much good it'll do...

So that's all well and good right? Let's talk just a bit about the cost of these nutrients... The Bio Flores is $26/L, the Bio Boost is $96/L. Assuming that the Rhizo and the Cal/Mg are negligible, the cost of the other two ALONE is $122 per 1000ml. If I feed per the above schedule, 2x per week (which is really pretty light, it's more like 2-3x)... that's 1/2 a bottle a week, so $61/week.

I can't tell you how unreasonable I think this is. Besides the problems I had with pH earlier, the fact that I added a bunch 'o dolomite lime to combat it, and now the true cost of the nutes is apparent, AND that I'm probably still not feeding them enough has completely soured me on Canna. Sorry guys. I can't do this again.

So my next grow will definitely be the super-soil mix from Subcool I've been reading about for the past few months. Tap water and compost tea alone have too much appeal to pass up. Unfortunately... I think I won't be able to complete a grow journal on here, since I now have exactly zero LED lights in my grow. I do have an extra 79w LED warehouse-isle light I might conceivably be able to use for seedlings, but that's all she wrote folks.

Here are some macro photos I managed to grab over this last week. I experimented with my loupe by strapping it to my phone with a small bungie cord.... It works great, lol! Enjoy.



When I flipped them to flowering 50 days ago, I set a bunch of reminders in my calendar so I'm reminded when I'm supposed to do flushes, etc... so when I got a reminder that I need to harvest my Money Makers in 5 days, I laughed a little. As you can see, they're not ready. #1 is further along, with fat, FAT buds (compared to the others) while #2 is still dark green with tall, stringy buds that look like they're going to fox-tail like this strain is known to do.

The two Pineapple Chunks are quite a bit more homogenous, but #1 seems to be suffering more from the nutrient deficiencies now, and perhaps that is why her coloring has always been slightly off. Hmmmm... I pictured the Money Makers using more nutrients based on what I've read.

Temperatures have been 73*F to 92*F, while RH has been 35% to 54%. The dehumidifier does a pretty good keeping the area dry with temperature fluctuations that big. That 54% reading was right after a watering (which I now do during dark cycles as much as possible) which raises the humidity for a brief period.

My yellow sticky traps have caught <20 aphids during the week that I've had them up, and seem to have caught nearly the entire population by now. I haven't noticed any flying around in the past few days, but I'll keep the papers up anyway. Neem oil spray around the base will be my next step if I see them again, thanks for the recommendation RKY!

Here are some other things I've been thinking about, unrelated to this grow specifically, but more to how my operation should proceed in the near future.

• As far as keeping a mother plant, and cloning off her for future grows: I think it'd be more economical to start new from seeds every time (in my situation) rather than keeping a mother plant and clones under a 400w MH (or my 1000w MH if I decide I truly wanna veg them properly) for months and months (at 24hrs/day), all while running my 1000w flowering chamber. My electricity bill is already high enough, and temps are difficult to control with 1 light in the room. That'd cost me way over $100 in electricity alone, not to mention nutrients and other misc. I can buy 10-20 seeds with excellent genetics for that.
• Sea of Green (SOG) growing versus Screen of Green (Scrog): In my mind SOG goes much better with mothering/cloning than it does with seeds. For that reason, and because I've always had decent results with Scrog, I'll elect to continue that. This will also allow me to grow at least 2 different strains at the same time, which I would not be able to do with clones. Different strains than the last grow if I choose.
• Curing and storage: I acquired my four 4-liter C Vaults a few days ago, so this is really a no-brainer. I also got 16 boveda packs, so I should be good to cure and store for a year.
• Hash: I also got my bubble bags the other day with my C Vaults, and I'm trying to decide between ice water extraction and dry ice extraction... Dry ice looks so easy, but it seems like the results from the ice-water are slightly superior. Does anyone have experience with either or both of these?
• Hash pressing: I got a cheap 3.5" pollen press, and am debating whether or not I should press my hash for storage, or store it in an uncompressed dry fashion.
• Hash pills: I've been experimenting with this using keif with pretty good results. I'm excited to use better quality bubble hash for this, and wonder if I should just make a ton of pills and freeze them, rather than pressing as mentioned above.

Long post this time folks. We're getting close to the finish line. Thanks for following along this far.
MC

MC,

I'm hardly a master grower like you have at the dispensary but I keep my EC at 1.0 for veg and all of flower (converts to 550 to 700 ppm depending on what brand of meter you use) which I learned from a guy in the UK named Heath Robinson. Google him and you'll find pix of his grows. He also gets between 1.5 to 2 grams/watt which is God-like. Maybe it needs to be around 2.0 (1400 ppm) for soil which could be what your grower is telling you. Does he grow in hydro or dirt for the shop?

back to the water, have you ever got a water analysis from your water company? I would. And you do know you have to let tap out-gas for 24 hrs prior to using to dissipate the chlorine?? just more FYI...

ice water bubble is the SHIT! love it. super easy to make to. i did a few batches of QWET (ethanol) extraction which gave me a decent amount of really good wax too. But love, love, love a nice chunk of bubble hash on top of a bowl.

You sir, are a serious grower. I am but a hobbiest. I suggest (after you stockpile) trying Kmart nutrients. I use bloom or veg @ $5 for a 6 month supply. I have G-13, Pineapple Express, Blue Dream, Trainwreck and Death Star in rotation (it is my head that is rotating). I savor different flavors though E-Nano and love variety. I am in a Med legal state and am 1/2 hour away from clone shop with a diverse menu. It has changed my life! I don't worry about clones or seeds or mother plants. I just watch menu and swoop in when I see something I like.

Here's another quick update with pictures from last night. They're looking quite a bit bigger, and I'm excited to watch them bulk up all the way.

Pineapple Chunks


Money Makers


Canopy


RKY, I haven't gotten a water analysis done, but that might be something I do one day. I think you said they're like $75? Might be worth it. I do always let my water off-gas for a good period of time, 24-48 hours, and then re-bubble it for an hour or so before watering. Like I said I add ice too, probably unnecessary, but I feel water a couple degrees colder couldn't hurt.

Truly though, I think they're looking pretty good now. I'm not sure if I really think the little yellowing I'm seeing is worth too much effort. Increasing my PPM during this last feeding did seem to help, so I'll keep it up.

My shop grows hydro, using an ebb and flow system very similar to my first garden. It works great, and we're having excellent results. Our grower has grown soil primarily before and prefers it. He wants to get me on Fox Farms nutes, and so if my super soil mix doesn't pan out that's my next plan.

TJ, thank you for your kind words. This is truly a passion of mine. I've thought about clones many times, and there's a few places that I could get them... but my shop isn't one of them. I still have three each Money Maker and Pineapple Chunk seeds, so next grow I will probably just replicate this one as far as genetics.

On a related note, guess who's allergic to cannabis? This guy. I've started wearing long sleeves in the garden in addition to my normal gloves. Check out how my wrist looked last night:


So that's fun. Obviously this won't affect what I do for my hobby, nor for my living, but it's a little ironic.
MC

MC

love the PC forest pic. awesome!

i'm pretty sure that a muni water company has to provide you free of charge a water analysis. i get my well checked every few yrs or so and it's about 50 to 75. they send a few vials which you fill up and mail back.

good luck with the bubble bags. i came up with a decent way to do it if you want some advice when you get ready to do a batch.

i think you'll be happy with the subcool mix and tea. subcool strain of jacks cleaner 2 is one that i'd like to grow one of these days.

now that you're allergic, i'll take all that product off your hands

Today is the beginning of week 8, day 56 of flower, and we're getting pretty close. The canopy is looking nice and even for the most part, and the yellowing I was noticing is getting much better. You can still see that the Money Maker 2 (front right) is far darker green than any of the other plants. I haven't started flushing yet, but very soon folks.

Side note: I chopped a branch off of one of the pineapple chunks because it was spindly and kept falling below the canopy last week. I trimmed it, dried it, and figured "what the hell" so I threw it in a C-Vault for a quick cure. We'll see how the pre-mature buds smoke probably about the time I harvest the main batch.

On to the canopy:



Here are some other bud photos:



And a few photos of the side canopy, or as I like to call it, "the forrest":



Finally, here are some close ups of some trichromes. Have I mentioned how excited I am about making some hash from this trim? More than somewhat.


Well folks, it's Saturday night. I'm out. Have a great weekend!
MC

rkymtnman wrote:MC

love the PC forest pic. awesome!

i'm pretty sure that a muni water company has to provide you free of charge a water analysis. i get my well checked every few yrs or so and it's about 50 to 75. they send a few vials which you fill up and mail back.

good luck with the bubble bags. i came up with a decent way to do it if you want some advice when you get ready to do a batch.

i think you'll be happy with the subcool mix and tea. subcool strain of jacks cleaner 2 is one that i'd like to grow one of these days.

now that you're allergic, i'll take all that product off your hands

Rocky, I'd love some tips on your way to do the bubble hash whenever you want to give them! I'm all about reading up a few weeks before... so if you want to post 'em, feel free! I'll be interested to find out how you mix it up, whether you use a kitchen mixer or a spoon, or something else.

Subcool seeds makes some genetics that--a few years ago--was the most chronic weed I've ever had. Jack the Ripper. They say it's killer, and that's not an understatement. It's probably the strongest sativa I've ever had, and I really look forward to growing it in the next year or two.

Oh this allergy of mine.... it's hilarious! You should see me at work, trimming or de-stemming. Dressed up with long sleeves, gloves and a face mask. I'm sorta-but-not-really-kidding when I tell people I'll be decked out like Walter White in a yellow hazmat soon.

how soon until you want to do a batch of bubble?

i have a decent size box of trim in the garage I need to make into a batch. maybe i'll put some pix up of my method...

some supplies you need or already have:

a heavy duty paint stirrer. not just a wimpy one with a plastic end. this one looks like a beater off of a stand mixer kind of. very thick metal.
shitload of ice (2 20 lb bags for me)
2 home depot orange buckets (or similar)
a colander that has decent sized holes in it.

basically, you mix up the trim, ice, water in the bucket. then pour off the stuff thru the colander to get all the big chunks out. then pour this mix into the bubble bags. let filter. scrape out the residue from each bag onto cardboard and let dry. bingo! the lower the mesh number on the bag, the better the hash.

Well everyone, we are very close to the finish line. I thought for a while I might be cutting them down tomorrow, but... Actually I'm thinking this would be a great Christmas day activity, so I will probably wait until Thursday. Maybe even longer... These two strains look pretty close to me, but I've read a lot about them going 10 weeks, or even 11. However, I am seeing amber Trichromes already.

Here are the most recent photos.



As you can see, the Trichromes are still mostly clear or cloudy, but there are a few amber ones in there. It's a fine line, and I want to make sure I get it right.

I knocked off the nutrients about 5 days ago, and used final flush 2 days ago. Still not seeing much yellowing of the leaves which I would like to before harvest. Next time I water... which probably should be today actually... I'll use the final flush again. The instructions on the feeding schedule for the Canna nutes I'm using says to continue the bio-boost until the very end, but I have absolutely zero intention of dropping another bill on a 1 liter bottle of boost nutrients. Especially when I'm flushing.

For my bubble hash, I have an 8 bag set, easy access to shitloads o' ice, plenty of buckets, a colander, and everything else I need except the heavy duty stirring instrument, thanks Rocky for the suggestion! If you do want to take photos of your process, I'm sure it'll help people who have never done it before. There's plenty of YouTube videos on the process too, but even Jorge Cervantes uses a kitchen mixer which I've heard is a big no-no if you want hash that's not green with plant matter. So many different opinions.

Thanks for watching everyone! Harvest pics coming soon, and I may just do my own bubble hash "first timer does it" photos.
MC