to my little journal. Wait a minute. Didn't I just do an entry? Seriously, it's been a week already. What!? Do you really think anything has changed that much since the last update? Sigh. How I wish that statement was true. So without further delay, let's go!
So as you may be aware we had a little hot weather in parts of the U.S. this week and with temps ranging from a lights off low of 72 to a lights on high of 88, it seems I survived the frying pan only to have to deal with some fire. I mentioned previously that the Magic Bud plant was starting to look a little peaked. Well peaked turned into full blown "what the fuck? Why is my plant all yellow with thick green veins this morning"?
Top Pale - Copy.jpg Top Pale2 - Copy.jpg Ooops close - Copy.jpg
Damn, I know I was pushing it a bit and there was a nitrogen problem before I introduced her to the flowering room, but something like this now? So for once instead of just pouring some Cal/Mag on top of the plant I decided to dust off the old soil PH meter and give the plant a proper PH reading. Good thing I did because the reading was a big fat 8½! 8½ to me is a movie by Fellini, not what marijuana should be grown in. Fuck! Then I checked the Blue Cheese and while not an 8.5 was still reading an 8. Fucking fucker! I then went to my soil mix and it read an 8. FUUUUUUCK!!!! This explains so much why I've been struggling with my grows and plants lately. I haven't checked my soil PH in 7 or 8 months and man am I paying for it. So without delay I added some Espoma Soil Acidifier, 4 tablespoons in 1 gallon of water and slowly added 32 oz in the Magic Bud and 24 oz in the Blue Cheese on Wednesday.
both - Copy.jpg
The plants seemed to respond positively and while I've got the BC's PH down to 6.9 , the MB's PH is at 7.3 and I'll be lowering it a bit more this week but not with such a intense blend of Acidifier. My mix is running 7.5 right now and I'll give that another week before I test it again since I dumped a boatload of Acidifier in there and it's a lot more soil to adjust. The good news is the plants seems to be responding well and are drinking again. Growth has picked up after a few off days, especially the BC.
Opening - Copy.jpg
So as you can see I've been adding more SLH to the room. Looks like we'll have about 11 of these and they've yet to have their PH checked. Some are small and the timing is screwed up , but we'll get something out of them. Plus I've also introduced a dozen Blue Cheese plants to give those stray tigers some place to live, so things continue regardless of the bumps in the road.
SLH - Copy.jpg BCSOG1 - Copy.jpg Tiger Sog - Copy.jpg
Here's some views of the BC. It's really starting to take off and I just can't seem to get any good pictures to show off how wild it's coming out. It's just bud heaven. And that's not mold or mildew btw. Some sections are starting to get covered in crystals and a few of the lower buds are getting digested due to lack of light.
Budz1 - Copy.jpg Bush1 - Copy.jpg Bush2 - Copy.jpg Bush3 - Copy.jpg Budz2 - Copy.jpg Chunk2 - Copy.jpg Budz3 - Copy.jpg Budz4 - Copy.jpg
Here's the MB plant in all it's fading glory. It's just amazing how south it went in so little time. I'm calling it Lime Induced Chlorosis right now since I did add a little too much lime to my mix this time. What can I say, Cal/Mag paranoia got the best of me
. It might be an excess of P. And the BMO Flower Power and Grow It Green do have quite a bit of K so there's a possibility of too much K. Hopefully getting the plant down to a proper PH will save it and once it gets under 7, I'll worry about any deficiencies. Right now it appears Calcium and Manganese are being locked out, and it may also need a little boost of Nitrogen. Man if I get this plant back to health and to harvest I'm going to be pretty proud of myself.
Bush - Copy.jpg colas3 - Copy.jpg Cola - Copy.jpg Cola2 - Copy.jpg Close - Copy.jpg close2 - Copy.jpg Twins - Copy.jpg twins2 - Copy.jpg
And a little LED news now. You may have noticed I'm trying to use a serving dish as a reflector/limiter and while ghetto it seems to be working. I just cut the bottom of one along the outline of the opening, and taped it to the interior of the case with foil tape. I was also able to seal off the gap between the case and the LED, which I always felt was wasting light. This is a simple mod that works on any generic Chinese panel, and is even easier to do with the glass removed from the panel beforehand. And for some bizarre reason I decided to cover most of my BS240s in foil tape. Made em look like wanna-be Pro Grows, huh
? Actually I always hated the black cases and decided now was the time for a little mod.
3 - Copy.jpg Ghetto1 - Copy.jpg BS1 - Copy.jpg BS@ - Copy.jpg
And it looks like I'm also a victim of the Blackstar degraded UV diode problem. I was dusting the diodes and heard a crack when I was cleaning the UV one, which had darkened by now. On further examination it seems it's the LED's protective cap that discolors, not the LED itself, which is fine under the discolored plastic. So I just knocked off the darkened plastic and they're running fine, though I don't know if they're UV or just blue now. The only problem I see is if those diodes go out, they'll take out a row or three of LEDs, because without that cap the current cannot pass through to the next LED. Or at least that is how Ryan at LED Star explained it to me.
UV diode - Copy.jpg
So peace to all my compatriots and I'll be back soon with hopefully some good news.
Bye - Copy.jpg
And don't be so bold you little bastard, you're only two votes away from the blender!
Bookmarks