2010 #1 - Indoor Coco-Perlite Hindu Kush & Hailley's Comet 400w

strange. yesterday i watered the soil plants + feed. They were very dry, pots were very light to lift. I fed them a very light dosage of biogrow+biosevia grow. (less than 2ml/L all and all). All except one seem badly overwatered now, as if they had been sitting in drenched soil for weeks. How can this be? perhaps something bad with the fertilizers. It was the first time I used biosevia this grow, I guess I should stick to the biogrow. The only problem is that I've noticed that biogrow has only macro nutrients in it. I guess I should just give them hydroponic nutrients and that's that!

what now though? flush?

Edit: some of them seriously look like they are going to die soon. not only the leaves drooping, the stems are just falling down. I don't know why, it looks exactly like a bad case of overwatering, but one of them had not been watered for 2 weeks before that! and the others were also quite dry. How can this be? what should I do? Also, one of them that was also watered looks very good like always - it's a different strain than the rest, they are hindu kush and the healthy one is hailey's comet. wtf!

You'r soil isn't aerated enough.
I don't know what Biosevia is but BioGrow has everything the plant needs as far as I'm concerned. 2ml of BioGrow is what you should count as a big feed.

If you suspect the fertilizer went bad on you flush the medium ASAP and tilt the pot to let water drain more than usual.
If you'r not sure its good, flush them anyway and try the fertilizer on a test plant. If it doesn't seem good - flush it down the drain.

They don't look anywhere near dying.

Underwatering looks pretty similar to overwatering. Make sure they don't LACK water.

McFonz said:

You'r soil isn't aerated enough.
I don't know what Biosevia is but BioGrow has everything the plant needs as far as I'm concerned. 2ml of BioGrow is what you should count as a big feed.

If you suspect the fertilizer went bad on you flush the medium ASAP and tilt the pot to let water drain more than usual.
If you'r not sure its good, flush them anyway and try the fertilizer on a test plant. If it doesn't seem good - flush it down the drain.

They don't look anywhere near dying.

Underwatering looks pretty similar to overwatering. Make sure they don't LACK water.

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well, they bounced back after their night. I have no idea what happened - and why. I think you're right about aeration - they're also a bit root bound, feeling cramped in there when I put my finger in it. unfortunately repotting is not an option right now with so many plants in there. I think I spotted my first male today - preflowers of small balls on sticks. i'll wait a few days just to be sure. It's actually the same plant that i showed last night.
View attachment 1532445

I'm actually hoping for a few more males so I can get them out of there. It's very hard for me to handle so many plants, and I can't give them proper attention like that.

i do need your advice about the cal mag for the coco Fonz - how do you handle it? mixing RO + tap water + nutes is enough? do I need to work out an additive for that? coco plants are very good but I still have a feeling they are lacking something. I water once every 2-3 days now with 600-700 EC.

SALUT

I can't see anything in the photos.

If they are so rootbound its hard to stick a finger in you really need to transplant. You can just stack the pot on top of another pot letting the roots penetrate the bottom pot through the drainage holes.

I told you before, mixing in some tap water will give them enough cal-mag. In late flowering mag. defiency is pretty common and you could fix that with molasses.

0.6mS EC is pretty low. My tap water is 0.6mS. I give 4 weeks old vegging plants around 1.5mS

McFonz said:

I can't see anything in the photos.

If they are so rootbound its hard to stick a finger in you really need to transplant. You can just stack the pot on top of another pot letting the roots penetrate the bottom pot through the drainage holes.

I told you before, mixing in some tap water will give them enough cal-mag. In late flowering mag. defiency is pretty common and you could fix that with molasses.

0.6mS EC is pretty low. My tap water is 0.6mS. I give 4 weeks old vegging plants around 1.5mS

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sorry fonz i can't rep ya no more but your patience is a gift for me. do you think the pot over pot will work with hydroton at the bottom of the pot? I really shouldn't have dont that :\

to me it seems like the best way to space up for roots, but I fear it might be a bit prone to very serious accidents. I'll have to find a way to eliminate this risk, such an accident will surely kill a plant.

The hydrotron shouldn't pose a problem - when you stack pots the humidity rise a LOT and its more than enough for the roots to grow through even if there was only air.

When they plants roots well (2 weeks) into the bottom pot you can pick the whole thing by the plants stem.
If you'r really worried about knocking them off tape the pots. But I don't like that idea because the gap between the pots could let air in the medium and in your case its more important considering your medium is pretty heavy.

When you mix the medium for your bottom pots I suggest 30% coco\perlite (or 20% perlite, whatever you have around), 50% Marom Golan \ Dishnit and 20-30% good compost (should be MOIST and should smell good. The package should look NEW and not like it sat in the sun for a week)
After putting the bottom pot you shouldn't need to fertilize for 10 days or so.


Cheers

aight, i'm down from 18:6 to 16:8. Some have now passed 30cm. some only 20. I should be flowering within a week to ten days I believe. Do pure indicas stretch in flowering? I wonder.

EDIT: using this post to show a pic in a private message. I would like to wire the switch of the electric shutters to a timer, at least to shut them off automatically so I won't have light accidents during flowering. If anyone's done it or think it's possible to do this safely of course without too much hassle I'd like to know... though from what i've gathered this will be tricky.
EDIT: should also point that the shutter switch is on the right hand side and the left switch is the lights.

I'd say wait 2 weeks after up-potting and then flower them.
Pure indicas stretch. Not as much as sativas but they do. Its really up to the phenotip - I got a cross that didn't stretch AT ALL. It stopped the veg and went to flowering right when I've pulled the switch. Other phenotips from the same pack stretched normally.

McFonz said:

I'd say wait 2 weeks after up-potting and then flower them.
Pure indicas stretch. Not as much as sativas but they do. Its really up to the phenotip - I got a cross that didn't stretch AT ALL. It stopped the veg and went to flowering right when I've pulled the switch. Other phenotips from the same pack stretched normally.

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Up to now they actually seem like big time stretchers. Their side shoots just went up with one small node at the bottom and then all the way up with no nodes at all to reach the light! This girls totally dig light. I'd get the bulb even closer if it wouldn't reduce my light area. Currently about 25-35 cm far from tops of plants through the area.

Tomorrow I will feed all plants, upping the food with caution. perhaps 1000microS tomorrow (for most of them the last dosage was about 650). They took a bit of a light green now, I think they are hungry.

With a cooltube I get my 400W up to 10cm from the tops. 15cm is my ideal distance. They get ultra phat this way


When handling nutrients you should increase the dose 0.2mS at a time up to the amount that burns the plant.

For refference; my 40cm tall Jilly Bean takes up to 1.8mS. My 50cm tall and 50cm wide with about 30 branches Jack The Ripper takes 2.2mS. My 30cm tall Sweet Deep Grapefruit can take over 2.5mS but I keep it around 2.2mS.

You could train your plants to take up to 3.5mS, but thats pretty much a waste of nutrients as with this high salenity there's nothing left in the soil to hold nutrients.

When using high EC levels enzyme boost and \ or molasses helps the plants to process the food and I like to add thoes on every watering.

Firstly I want to treat these important issues:

McFonz said:

With a cooltube I get my 400W up to 10cm from the tops. 15cm is my ideal distance. ... molasses helps the plants to process the food and I like to add thoes on every watering.

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So like I said, the lights is conflict for me - on one hand I want to lower it to give better intensity, on the other hand with a large area (a tiny bit larger than what 400w can cover well), the lower I move it, less light the side plants will get. Another reason why I'm hoping for just a few more males (just no hermies...). So this is why I'm compromising all of them - and they all stretch very much as you will see soon. This problem will be even tougher when I transplant into wider 11L pots, which is due to take place in the weekend, and will only resolve when I get males out, or choose to prefer some plants that will get intense light over plants that will mainly sit in the side an be a bit of a waste of (my) energy. I'll have to see about that and figure it out somehow.

I have read somewhere that plants can actually do just as well (?) with low EC levels, and I think what you said about boosters is connected to that. Even with 600EC, only in the last day or two they started to take a bit of a uniform light green, with no yellowing at all in the bottom. What they mostly seem to be lacking is magnesium right now. I am very limited in budget, and all I have besides the coco nutes are old bottles of biobizz (heaven etc.). I also have that little bottle Supervit. Then again, last time I tried to add some stuff was a bit of a disaster in my mind. Though I can't find a specific cluprit for that, I decided to focus on the basics this time and just give them a dose of coco nutes that should satisfy them. The thing is, what is most important to me about this grow is that it succeeds in meeting my not very high expectations of a proper, good quality yield, rather than trying to maximize quant., simply because I'm not there yet. Perhaps a screen is indeed my answer, if it's not too late.

I totally envy your strains. Do you use them medicinally?

Alright, I am very tired so I will show&tell you everything tomorrow I hope

reffer to this chart:

I like to be on the top part of the chart but suit yourself.

I usually arrange my plants in a stadium kind of arrangment. I find it to be the smartest with horizontical growing. (I'm going to start a vertical flowering cycle in a few days and see if its better)

The closer they are to the light the less they stretch. You can play with that.


Plants need low EC in order to maintain turgur pressure. They also need minerals. They also get used to stuff. You just need to find the right balance.
If you ever want to pump a plant with water (growing tomatoes for example) you can give them straight RO water and because the salinity of the water is so low the roots will pump them up much faster than usual.

BioBizz go bad pretty quickly. ALWAYS check their smell, color and check for residue. ALWAYS shake the bottles before you use them.
Supervit is nice. I don't know how well it works but I use it anyway. A drop per gallon isn't that much work and the tiny bottle goes a LONG way so why not.
Paling of new growth when the plant lacks nutrients in veg is most likely the start of a Nitrogen deficiency, thats the element plants use the most in the vegitative state.

You don't need to be a genius to get 250 grams from a 400W. You need to keep the plants healthy to get a smokable harvest. You need good genetics. You need to know how to process you yield properly (I'll tell you a secret - thats what people usually don't do. If you do it you'll get a much better smoke than pretty much everything that is sold in here)
To get an average yield of high quality buds you can just mix 40% compost with 60% coco\perlite in 20L paint buckets with drainage holes give them 4-5 weeks of veg (strain dependent) and flower them. Use nothing but de-chlorinated water and a teaspoon of molasses \ dexterose (grape sugar) \ sylan per gallon every week.
Keep the small plants in the middle and the bigger on the rims and your done.
Adding 1\3 strengh organic bloom nutrients (any) will help yield. No EC or pH needs to be checked.
Sounds cheap, huh? It is.
If your going to run all advanced techniques and fertilizers and stuff - aim higher or just go simpler.


I got some nice strains going. I had quite a few and refined my selection. Right now I got running:
TGA Subcool - Jilly Bean, Jack the Ripper, 3rd Dimension
DinaFem - Sweet Deep Grapefruit
Sannies Seeds - Hericules (my main strain for the vert run) and Lady Cane. First time running those two.
So far the best is the Jack the Ripper, in all aspects. The downside is that I got from the 3 pack another weak male and a hermi so I don't know how common my pheno is.

I got a pretty varied collection of buds (up to 2.5 years old), each packet is used for a different need.
IE, GHS White Rhino for muscle relaxation, Nirvana's Blue Mystic for munchies and sleeping aid and also to mix with other buds, DinaFem Cloud #9 for social occasions, GHS Great White Shark for pain relief etc...
I'm also familiar with their potency so I know exactly how much to use. IE, I usually need around 0.10 grams of Blue Mystic for sleeping aid while 0.07 grams of GHS Great White Shark is enough for me.



Cheers

tough times!

I am flowering today. My plants have already grown up most of the height of the closet, now about 80 cm from the floor, 50cm from pots. Today I was working on making the box light and air proof. I pretty much failed, but at least I have slightly better access. I think the plants will just have to deal with a constant and very low amount of light during flowering. It can't be that bad. I don't care I guess if it takes 5% off my yield, as long as they don't go hermie.

It's been one week since I repotted them, to double the amount of medium (more than 90L right now), and they have pretty much rooted it by now, perhaps a bit too much? they seem tight in there, I hope I wasn't late. This could be because of low EC (1000). Today I flush and water with 1300. Above ground, they are taking up about 60-70% of the closet space right now, and I am quite concerned. Perhaps only a screen can save me now? I have one. I think it's time to place it there. The canopy is full anyway, and I can supercrop them for quick screen training. If I do it it should be within the next 24 hours, I think.

I was thinking about defoliating - but not cut off the fan leaves, perhaps just move them a bit lower and tuck them down, so they can keep the storage and continue to function, but not block the whole canopy. The disadvantages is that they are closest to the light. Reducing their exposure to light for lower buds seems to be loss of lumens.

Right now, the light is about 15cm from the center of the canopy.


A few tops are showing signs of either deficiency, or burn, I am not sure but I think it's the former:

Take a picture of the whole cab to help us see how filled up it is.

Sounds like you should flower them now.
You could either supercrop or simply bend sideway and go SCROG or you could just top the plants to keep them shorter.

Why should the plants not get enough light?
A lot of light = bigger buds.

To proof my cabs I use a lot of panda film and AC ducting.
I also get a sheet of panda film attached with velcro where the door is.

so yeah... this is the best i could get... not much. it's a little more than half of the height space, but there's also the light and clearance to account for. All depends on early stretching, i suppose, but i'll handle it.

I'm flushing them now with 0.300EC and pH 6.5 for a nice restart. then i'll fill up the tank again and feed with 1.300. They are taking A LOT of water right now.

Looks fine to me.

Growth burst started yesterday, one leaf burned to serve as a warning. I'm supercropping like crazy in there - today i'm leaving for about 24 hours, so I set the lamp as high as i could for clearance. Problem is I have to leave before lights on, and I cant be sure I gave them enough distance. Maybe I should bend them in the dark.

Hag Sameach, Fonz, happy Passover/Easter to all

Supercrop them more agrressively if you think they'll jump up too soon.

Happy passover

Have you recieved my PM?

McFonz said:

Supercrop them more agrressively if you think they'll jump up too soon.

Happy passover

Have you recieved my PM?

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not recently. guess it got lost. i sent you one just now

three males have been positively recognized and removed from the box. Two more are suspected and will probably be removed tomorrow or the next day. This is good, like I said before I really needed some space in there, too many plants. I'm just praying for no hermies, make them not herm, Jah!

So with the five males out I am down to 7 females, 5 in big pots and two more will be repotted soon, they are kinda poor but it's not too late for them, I believe, to give a nice yield.

I would very much like to flower one of those males for breeding. But where. I could keep it outside, but it's spring now and I think it'll just go back to veg, unless maybe I cover it every day at 6pm. Another option is to improvise a male chamber in the adjacent room (my room), and tolerate it for a couple of weeks until they open. The question is, will it be safe in terms of pollen pollution? They will be in a closet that has two vent holes (but I won't bother with vents). I must not have un-deliberate pollination. I will breed within the strain (which should be safe for growing, right?). I've read about how to do it carefully with a brush and stuff, but I am an anxious person So I need to be super reassured about the pollution thing, how to avoid pollination. In the meantime they are outside the room waiting for the fate of their maleness to decided. At any rate I assume I won't need more than one, the others will be chopped soon enough. Is it worth to try and extract hash from them?