LED Grow Light Forum

This is going to be what I am calling a salvage grow....while starting some AK-47 from seed to re-establish some good, clean genetics to become Mother plants.

My last grow went way past expected finish date...something like 3 weeks past....which giving them the extra time did pay off, but it bit me in the ass in other ways! I had enough babies, in DWC tubs, in a tent, to fill my Aeroflo and then some for a follow-up grow. While the big girls were enjoying the last weeks of their life basking in the light, my babies were getting too big...and too thick for their location.

The babies developed a case of White Powdery Mildew(WPM) due to too long in the tubs, over crowding and all conditions getting out of control!(I think) A lot of my babies looked like they had taken a beating, and most were growing this white funk up from the base. I googled it and what I found was not good! I was pissed & started pulling the pots and trashing the babies. During this process it sunk in just how long it was going to be before I would be seeing buds again if I didn't salvage something! I had to at least try!!!

This is why I am calling this my "Salvage Grow"! And while trying to salvage something from my infected babies, I am going to try to re-establish some clean, healthy Mothers, from seed, for future grows.

WPM sucks! Avoidance is the best way to deal with it... There is no cure, control is the best you can hope for!

I did some searches and found a few methods of knocking the wpm down. I started treating some of the babies for the wpm and discovered slimy, discolored roots....as if things weren't bad enough already!!! Oh, and during this same time frame my inline fan controller failed AND my big oscillating fan burned up as well!!

I was panicky and scrambling...I tried more than one method of treatment, in a short amount of time...so I am sorry but I can't tell what was most effective....but something was!! Some of my babies were starting to perk up!! But they were still crowded in the tubs. I kept treating the babies while I burned a lot of midnight oil and got my Aeroflo put back together and running with the chiller..

I gave the babies a good long bath, in a tub of cold, high ph, peroxide water...then I gave them each a long flush with tap water, before placing them into the Areoflo. I filled the reservoir with real low dose nutes & Aquashield. After giving them a day to settle in, I mixed some high ph water and Hygrozyme. I poured about a cup and a half of this around the base & stem of each plant, down through the Hydroton. I did this 3 times, once every 3 days.

Between the constant conditions in the Aeroflo, the treatments they were getting, the new inline fan controller, and the new wall mounted oscillating fan, the girls were doing 100% better!!! Just about all had nice, new, green growth on top, and nice, crisp, white roots underneath....as expected, there were/are a couple of laggers...

Last Thursday, Oct 3rd, the girls were looking great...several of the tallest measured 5-5.25". So I drained and flushed the system...and refilled with GH Flora nutes, using LF 1:2 ratio and Aquashield....then I set my timer for 12/12. Since then ppm drifts 780-800, ph settled at 5.8, but drifted up...to 6.1 in 3 days, then I adjusted back down to 5.7-5.8, where it has held steady since....and I have no nute burn on my tips!!!

These girls are going crazy!! And look as healthy as any MJ I have seen...and just over 3 weeks ago I was going to put em all in the burning pile...

I have sprouted some AK-47 seed. I put 5 sprouted seeds in Rockwool, in Hydroton, in pots, in tubs, in the newly sterilized tent...damn, that sounds deep... Only two have come up...so I am sprouting more seeds. I don't know if I mis-handled them or didn't let the tail get long enough.... Hopefully I will get 4-6 seedlings to sex, in hope of getting 2 sturdy females to re-veg into Mothers.

Time will tell...but in the meantime check out the pics and tell me what ya think...

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Happy...

Why do the pics post in reverse order?

First pics loaded are at the bottom...

I was looking back through some pics and this pic jogged my memory...it was taken around 20th of Aug. Looking back I believe this was the start of my problems...with WPM & root rot. At the time I thought is was kinda like the law of averages. Trying to raise that many, I figured I would lose a few.. Just having a couple shrivel up I thought they were just weaker babies.



I could not see signs of WPM or root rot at this time....I removed and trashed the affected plants, and let the rest keep going.....until....

Happy

Wow!! Lights just came on for my girls, and as of this morning (9 nights of 12/12), several are over 13"!!!

Plus it seems they took a gulp of nutes. PPM is about 30 less than yesterday, about same time of day. If it keeps dropping I will bump it up slightly when I top off Sunday or Monday. Ph is still stable.

Everything is looking great at this point!!

Happy

HappyWeedz wrote:Why do the pics post in reverse order?

First pics loaded are at the bottom...

When you add more pictures to a post the new one is added to top of the list instead of bottom. There's probably a MOD that would fix that sort order but, now that you know, you can easily compensate.

Are you still doing the high pH underside/foliar trunk/stem spraying once in a while? Any signs of resurgence? You won't want to keep spraying once flowers starting getting fuller. Keep the humidity low to help prevent it coming back too. I think ozone would be an effective treatment as long as the plants were strong enough to survive the ozone and I'm not sure what kind of exposure would be needed to kill off the PM. You wouldn't want to run it at high concentrations too long and you wouldn't want to hang out in that much ozone either. It's bad for people (and plants (among other things)) in effective concentrations.

They are getting big...and filling out, so it is getting pretty thick. I haven't seen any signs of WPM reappearing, but thinking I might go ahead and give them one last spray this afternoon, before things get too thick. I gave them a final top feeding with Hygrozyme yesterday, and it was not easy getting to base of some plants. So I am thinking a preventive treatment, while I still can. My reservoir has dropped to the point I will have to top off today or tomorrow...so if the treament raises ph at all I will be able to bring it back down when I top off.

Humidity is hanging around 43%. New inline fan controller is hold temps pretty good. The fan that burned up has been replaced with a King-Air wall mounted oscillating fan that keeps the girls dancing... I am hoping between the lower humidity and increased air circulation I can keep WPM from coming back!

My two seedlings are doing well...they are about 1.5" and have their 2nd set of leaves. I am still trying to get the twins a couple of siblings...lol This morning the 2nd batch of seeds have cracked open. Figure I will give them a couple days to poke that root out, then I will get them into the tub.

Happy

Time will tell...

Time will tell this as well, but at what point will my girls stop getting taller??

They were flipped on October 3rd, with the tallest several measuring 5-5.25".. This evening, after 11 nights of darkness, I have several that have grown past 16" tall!!!! Most have already tripled in size!!

When I flipped them I made sure that the lights were 12" above the tops. With this rapid growth I have had to raise the lights several times....I have intentionally let them get as close as 7-8" before raising...in hopes of slowing the upward growth...it hasn't slowed them & but I haven't seen any burning or bleaching. Right now the lights are hanging about 8" above the tallest.

I am tempted to raise them again, but I would like to see vertical growth slow down... a lot!

Previously I read and was told that the plants could double or even triple in height during flowering. I have shot past that in less than 2 weeks...I flowered this grow at 5" in hopes of ending with ladies that are about 18-22" or so. Not the monsters I had last time....FYI, my last grow I flipped big and they got way too big! But it wasn't all at once...

When will they slow down on height and start producing?? They have white hairs poking all over the place, but no real flowers yet... (Yes, I know....patience Grasshopper...)

Can anyone offer opinions/experience on this??

Happy

They'll grow until they die but the flowering stretch usually lasts from 2-4 weeks depending on strains. If the clones were from a immature mother they could be stretching more because they weren't biologically ready to flower but I doubt that's it. It could just be the specific strain (have you grown it before?) or even a different phenotype within the strain. While double/triple is most common there are some that will get even bigger.

Are the taller plants on edges or directly under a light?

For some plants that had such a rocky start, I am amazed!! Today my girls have had 15 nights and the tallest ones are just a hair above 22"!!! Most of the rest aren't far behind, at 18-19". This growth is blowing me away...and these are some of the healthiest girls I have ever had! LOL

The tallest girls are, for the most part, closer to the middle of the lighting...but scattered. All plants under the middle of the lights are not among the tallest. All the plants are doing so great!! The smallest girls are on the sides, but running only 4 chambers, I am getting pretty descent coverage to the edges...and the Orca panels I made could be making some difference...dunno?? I purposely left 2 corner sites empty, thinking they would get the least amount of light. But I would guess that the laggers are only a few inches behind the largest.

And all are really getting a lot of flowers. I have included some pics...

Happy!