Icedrgn027's First Grow, DWC stone-less, multi-strain, mainline

I wonder if I should have taken more leaf from the tops which are now clones. I also wonder if the heavy defoliation on the NL will prove to be beneficial or detrimental in the long run to it's growth. I know it is about 1week ahead of the other 2 ladies. Time will tell... One more top and I shouldn't have to do anymore the rest of the grow.

Partial update... It's been 10 days since the break and she is trying to shed her bandage. It wouldn't come off the bottom so we snapped a pic and put the bandage back on. Couple more days I'm thinking and hope it will fall off. Here you can clearly see how this branch was hanging by skin and healed up.

3/27 update

3/28 - NL received third top on one side. LA received second top.

We left some extra foliage on the LA to see if it will help it catch up to the NL. The GG has the most foliage remaining. Left the second node after the first topping. Want to take those as clones when they are bigger. The one side is throwing a double (interesting) which should make for a nice clone.

There are 2 trains of thought when it comes to defoliation and I'm not sure what to believe.

One is that by removing foliage that you don't want, the plant can focus it's energy on growing what you do want. This also saves neutrients for the parts you do want as well.

The other is that by removing parts of the plant, you are taking away it's energy producers that are needed to grow. This will stunt or slow growth. We know removing all should kill it normally.

With as heavy as the NL is defoliated, if there is an energy loss to be had... It will be there. Likewise, if there is a growth spurt, it will also be there. Maybe even the plus and minus cancel each other out.

Maybe the extra growth left on the LA will help it grow and maybe they will just drink resources for that area and not help other areas as much or at all.

I'm too new to growing to know for sure and couldn't find any definite answers but if there is anything to be learned here. We shall see if we can change the amount of time between plants growth rate. This would need to be tested against other growers, grows and setups. For now, This will just be my test case. I'm still hopefull the mainline process and extra veg will be worth it in the yield.

3/29 - Well, the NL got the other side topped tonight. The other ladies got cleaned up and topped as well. So that should put NL prepping for flower and the LA & GG with one more top to go. I read up some more where a guy used his grow to prove that leaving extra leaves on did actually slow his growth on one side. It's all I needed to hear to cleanup my branches. I'm looking for that yield ...not to sure about some of those clones yet.

This NL photo was taken right before I decided to go ahead and precision remove the new growths for the final tops.

No clone photo tonight. Lights kicked on right before i took the redo but after I deleted the first one. The clones aren't what everyone wants to see anyway, bunch of weaklings lol.

In the last photo, the NL still has it's fan leaves from the second top. Here's seeing if they help the other 2 girls catch up

Made a few adjustments tonight. One being trying to tie down that NL just a little bit. Dropping the light lower for the short reaching GG. I also noticed my NL fan leaves bottom leaves are smooth edged. I wonder if that was the stress from the break showing there now or if this was some nutrition thing im not picking up on.

Wife also gave me the go ahead to buy a small veg tent and another led light. I really dig these 1000w bestvas for around $116! The tent was coolgrows 2x2x4... So technically, I could fit it inside of my big tent. Not sure if that's a good idea or not. But I believe it will fit well in there. I just worry about extra light inside my flower tent from a veg tent. Worst case I'll put it on the outside of the flower tent if I worry too much about the light.

Clones showing me roots near their base. I was surprised to see those. I am having some bleaching issues with the older and larger clones. Some days I fed ro water and most other days I fed water from the other plants. Thought the water could be missing calmag so I started stealing from the other plants as I checked on their waters.

Man these topped sprouts are doubling in size each night.

Ok.... Man... I figured out my clones...I think lol. My tops were showing roots through their cubes, so it was time for them to join their sister NL. I hadn't checked the NL for roots in a couple days. I also didn't think about that water only having hydroguard. It was clone water after all. Anyway... I realized that the NL had been drinking water without calmag in it for a couple days. They had foot long roots tonight, drinking away. That may not be every clones problem... But I'm hopeful these 2 turn around.

Main NL is showing signs of root rot(no pic). Increased hydroguard and gave some extra water to top it off. LA was about half gallon low. After photos I tied down some of these growth sites more so than already done.

Apparently I also missed a photo of one of the girls tonight. Good thing I take one everyday lol

I did it again...broke a branch, actually it was a growth shoot. This time I was ready to learn from my mistakes and feel like I should have better results than last time...and I really could not have asked for better then. Those pics will be last since I decided to rearrange and wire things down in a better matter for me to do water changes.

So some befores...then the room rearrange with the clippings and tie downs.

And now the rearrange...

So the GG is now far right, with the LA above in the middle and the NL on the far left. The broken spot was in my growth too closest to us on the GG. Medical tape like before but instant this time and she was surrounding and filling the bandage with fluids on her own.had to tie down some stuff though.

Okay. My RH is too high. I believe I am seeing signs of septoria. Going to have to clip some leaves and leave the humidifier off.

I have been seeing a couple buckets showing signs of root rot also. Going to give everything fresh water tonight it's better than losing all of my plants to this crap. Gave a healthy dose of hydroguard to the affected plants. 2 quickly turned around, clone water had to redose last night. Thinking it would be best to keep changing water and cleaning till I get it under control again. My temps in bucket are about 23c which is high. Need to research ways to bring it down efficiently. Hydroguard will have to do for now.

I also wasn't wanting to set up another air set-up on the other side where I have been sitting but I need my clones to be separated already. And dealing with root rot or what I think are the first signs ... Couldn't hurt.

Alright. Fresh water for everyone but the NL, just got fresh Thurs or Fri. Trying to get them all on the same weekly change schedule. I'm fairly confident I'm learning. My buckets only hold 3 and a half gal. I was giving neuts for 4. So now treating for 4 gal with hydroguard and everything is still getting minimum GH recommended dose at 3 gal for seedlings. Still puts me around 500-550 ppm.

NL got final tops tonight with GG prob getting hers tomorrow minus the broken growth. I plucked it's leaves in half since they were so wilted. Should have done it from the jump but wasn't sure if the small size made it acceptable.

Plucked all burn spots as well. Thinking about clones still. Need to separate a couple of them and get them ready for round 2.

Not much for tonight. Balanced phs. Hit clones with more hydroguard. Need to separate them. GG branch appears to be coming back to life finally.


Just realized I never hit the post button....been a little crazy lately.

Staying on top of pH. GG got topped...minus the broken sprout that needs a few days to catch-up. I also got my veg tent put up as well as set up and everything moved. I'm still hopeful I can get this root rot under control. I was able to get the heater off of the floor which should help with my water temps.

Ok. So it appears I am in the root rot clear today. Everything appears to be blond but that NL that was the worst was replanted in a bigger pot. So we'll see. Top feeding hydroclear water for a couple days to top off as needed.

GG broken branch got precision topped tonight. I'm starting to shift my lights to longer nights. 1 hr extra last night and 2hrs tonight. Once 6 have been added they will be in full flower schedule.

Census says I should move that veg tent out of there. Re-arrange tomorrow.

I think I'll be fighting that root rot on that NL top for a hot minute. Just keep seeing that brown come back. Thinking I could just take it straight to flower as well since at 6-7 nodes. Not sure yet but I have a flower spot available, I wanted to top it a couple times before moving... Well just have to keep an eye on it. Going to keep hitting it with hydroguard.

I got things moved around tonight. Waters Phd. And the high dose of hydroguard appears to have worked for one plant but now the other troublesome one is showing slightly again. Hit it with a shotglass of concentrated hydroguard as well tonight. Flower tent will be going into it's first 12hrs of dark tomorrow.

Water changes and shot glasses full of hydroguard seem to be the answer to root rot. Fingers crossed.

O man. Tonight was the first serious full round of water changes. During veg. I did it as needed, which really means I didn't. Now I'm trying to hit everything once a week with fresh water and scrub down. What a chore... It's going to be totally worth it, that and I can't get away with slacking during flower.


Couple of these girls might need haircuts

I'd pass on giving them haircuts (for the time being) and I'd do whatever I can to not have to scrub a bunch of buckets every week. But that's just me.