Simpleleaf's grows

I staked my younger plants and did some topping. I just use bailing wire from the hardware store for the stakes.



The potting mix is drying faster, and I like the way they're growing with the sharp sand added to the potting mix 1:5, leaves seem a bit wider than prior grows of the same strain.

I flipped the grow tent plants into bloom back on the 11th.



They have been actively stretching since the 12 hour dark period, I'm not sure yet if the stretch is finished. They got lollipoped again, but not super aggressively. I may lollipop one more time at around 18 days, another week or so.

I attached a PDF which is how I record my light fixture changes.

I did some more clone topping today, in hindsight, I slightly over did it, it should have been done a few days ago, before their last irrigation after which they grew quite a bit. I'm not trying to grow them fast, I won't move them to bloom for at least 2 more months.

The first picture is of clones under their vegetative grow light (not pictured) that per sales specifications pulls about 47 watts or so at the wall. The plants certainly like it, but it seems like it's barely enough light.



Different lighting mostly via camera flash.



Blooming plants are pictured 25 days after flip.



This next view shows the non-aggressive lollipopping. I had planned to take a little more, but couldn't find the time to do it.



Not too long ago I made a new batch of 5 gallons of nutrients and I changed the prior 1:1 nitrate to ammonium ratio to 2:1. With the new blend, the vegetative plants pour-through pH went to 7.1 which is higher than I want it, under 1:1 it had been 6.1 pH (nutrient pH typically adjusted to near 6.0). This means that I'll want to try a ratio somewhere between those two values: it will end up being something weird like, 1.2:1 or 1.3:1.

My blooming plants are going on week 6.7, almost 7 weeks of 12 hours darkness. I'm going to increase that to 14 hours in the next few days.



I up-potted the clones 11 days ago. The white stuff on the leaves are lighting artifacts, I believe from the camera's flash.



They're growing fast now. Current pot size is on the left:



You can see the roots before up-pot. It appears the bailing wire stakes leave what I presume is Fe oxide in the rootzone. It's visible in the photo.



During this season, I decided that 1000x dilution was too much for the micros I use, I was having to weigh out 350 g or so when mixing up 5 gallons of nutrients, which was a large volume that needed a larger scale and which necessitated frequent mixings of yet more diluted micros, so I changed to 100x dilution and should only need 35 g or thereabouts for 5 gallons. It's tedious to mix the micros, they're so dark in their concentrated form I can't see the markings on the syringe, so I use a caliper to measure:



On the subject of fertilizers, I'm pretty happy with the vegetative formula I've developed, the clones are growing faster than I've ever prior seen, but my bloom formula needs work. This grow I was going to use 3-1-2 NPK throughout, including during the bloom. I was influenced by this report:


The above report in part concludes, "... we recommend providing plants with a nutrient solution containing N and P at approximately 194 and 59 mg L−1 , respectively, to achieve maximal inflorescence yield."

So, during bloom, I gave them basically the same NPK as the veg formula (about 3-1-2), but with a different nitrate:ammonium ratio to raise rootzone pH.

Unfortunately I had an incident a week or two ago when pour-thru PPMs soared, 700 in, 1500 out (approximately). It seemed unprecedented, a more typical rise is 900 out. I decided it may have been due to excessive N so I changed back to the basic MasterBlend Classic formula during bloom, which I've calculated is roughly 1-1-2 NPK when an arbitrary divisor is applied.

I will see how they continue to develop on 14 hours of darkness.

I took a bunch of photos and wrote some text, then decided I didn't want to post all of it. In brief, my most recent crop was harvested. A few weeks before cutting, trimming and hanging, I increased their dark period from 12 to 14 hours, and that seemed to accelerate harvest. A few days before harvest:




A couple weeks later (today):



That's about a 2-quart jar filled with popcorn and thumb-sized buds. I see that the humidity inside the jar has risen slightly over 65%, it was 63%, so they will need a little more time in the paper bag.

I still have 3 plants in the vegetative closet, one is intended as a mother, the other two will be put in the bloom tent when I have made up some more potting mix.

A few weeks ago I flushed them in pH'd tap water:



About a month ago:



The last batch of potting mix grows mushrooms:



I presume the mushrooms are from earthworm castings, but it's the same bag as prior years and this this is the first year I've had the mushrooms, so not really sure why.

No pics today. I made 3 clones (also today). I still use the same method I've used for some years. I would have preferred to make 4, but I can't legally have more than 6 plants, so 3 it was. I'll know in 2 or 3 weeks whether they root. My vegetative plants should be in the bloom tent, but I'm not desperate for another crop. I'll be moving them certainly before the new year.

I've been using 1:1 NO3:NH4 for vegetative nutrients (sometimes 1.3:1), but still don't have a good ratio for bloom. I deem the ratio as nitrate:ammonium, much literature on the subject deems it as ammonium:nitrate.

My last harvest was fertilized mostly with MasterBlend with no ammonium added, only calcium nitrate, I know that works and I can fall back on it when needed, even though it's an alkalizing potting-mix reaction. I found this neat little study which may have answered some questions about an optimal bloom ratio.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.830224/full

Let me quote from the abstract: "Secondary metabolite production, inflorescence yield, plant height, inflorescence length, transpiration and photosynthesis rates, stomatal conductance, and chlorophyll content, were highest under NO3 nutrition when no NH4 was supplied. Ratios of 10–30% NH4 did not substantially impair secondary metabolism and plant function, but produced smaller inflorescences and lower inflorescence yield compared with only NO3 nutrition. Under a level of 50% NH4, the plants demonstrated toxicity symptoms, which appeared only at late stages of plant maturation, and 100% NH4 induced substantial plant damage, resulting in plant death. This study demonstrates a dramatic impact of N form on cannabis plant function and production, with a 46% decrease in inflorescence yield with the increase in NH4 supply from 0 to 50%. Yet, moderate levels of 10–30% NH4 are suitable for medical cannabis cultivation, as they do not damage plant function and show only little adverse influence on yield and cannabinoid production. Higher NH4/NO3 ratios, containing above 30% NH4, are not recommended since they increase the potential for a severe and fatal NH4 toxicity damage.

During next bloom, I'll be trying the above strategy, or something close to it.

I made 3 cuttings on 11/20/22. It was extraordinarily cold for SoCal so I left the heating mat on all the time. Only one survived and I learned not to use the heating mat! I threw the dead clones on the ground outside and was surprised to find they had well developed roots, so the continuous heat seemed to give them some kind of disease.

I made 2 more cuttings on 12/15/22 to replace the 2 that died, and didn't use any heat. This batch got a significant fungus gnat infection while the dome was still on, apparently I made some kind of mistake with the potting mix sanitation.

The one on the left is the oldest survivor which is 69 days old & two others are 44 days old.



The one in the middle just started growing more vigorously. The last two irrigations were with a bloom formula of 2-2-2 NPK, I was hoping the extra P would stimulate root growth. The pH was a little high at 6.7 and N only from nitrate, but the little plants liked it well enough, PPM input was 650. Their next irrigation will be with the normal vegetative formula of 3-1-2 which includes some ammonium.



I have a couple of plants in the bloom tent, one was the mother, but the photos didn't turn out well. It's been too cold and the stems have turned purple. They've been under a bloom photoperiod for 15 days are aren't showing much bud growth yet.

Last season I had some issues with my fertilizer, I had been cutting back PPMs each season, and last season I found a point of sickness of somekind, I think it's a P deficiency. I make the nutes up from bulk chemicals and MasterBlend 4-18-38, so I can make mistakes and changes as needed! I'm moving from 3-1-2 to 2-1-2 this season, that's a "relative NPK" which is a sum of NPK numbers that have an arbitrary divisor applied. It's just so I can see the relative ratio. In prior seasons I had tried 3-1-1 and also ran into problems (weak stems), so moved to 3-1-2 which worked great for a season, then as PPMs were decreased, deficiencies became apparent.

Yesterday, I watered my 3 clones with 3-1-2 (no added ammonium), and spots showed up where prior there were no spots.



I think that's a P deficiency, but also another which I'm unsure of, I don't believe it's N deficient, yellowing is not starting at the bottom, rather in the middle. I'm thinking maybe it has the beginnings of calcium lockout. Every time I water with the 3-1-2 formula, all last season runoff PPMs were often high. Yesterday's clone irrigation, 630 PPM nutes, and 1200 PPM runoff.

Today, to correct the deficiency, today I watered again with 1-1-2 relative NPK, basically MasterBlend Classic, but with reduced PPM of 630. Runoff was 720 PPMs. With 3-1-2 I get a PPM rise of > 600 PPM, with 1-1-2 the rise is only 100 or thereabouts. I believe that's a sign that there's too much calcium nitrate in my 3-1-2 formula, other than that, the two formulas are the same. So this season I'm going to try 2-1-2, and if need be, I'll reduce again to 1.5-1-2 or something like that.

I will no longer observe a 1000 PPM upper limit on runoff, which should put an end to needing any flushes. Also, if deficiencies continue then I'll be increasing nutrients PPM slightly.

I should add some pics of the bloom tent. They get a 2-2-2 formula that has added MKP. Unfortunately I no longer have a suitable photography light, these are all illumined with blurples, they've been under 12 hours darkness for 39 days.



Some deficiencies from the prior vegetative period are visible. It looks like pics I've seen of calcium deficiency.

This winter has been far too cold for them (coldest Southern California winter I ever remember), and it's like bloom is slowed overall at times suspended, with a little growth during warmer spells. I figure it will increase the time in the tent under lights to harvest.

I have a cooking project which might be of interest, germinating pinto beans to (maybe) reduce flatulence, hehe.

After looking around for info, it seems more sparing use of ammonium and less nitrogen overall is needed during winter.

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For ammonium toxicity they suggest a tablespoon of gypsum per 6" pot, watering it in, then 2 hours later followed by a nitrate-based fertilizer. I believe I've read some folks use yucca schidigera similarly, as a leaching aid. I don't have yucca juice on hand, but I do have plenty of solution grade (powdered) gypsum.

Does my older clone in the solo cup display ammonium toxicity? Perhaps. There's probably be no harm in treating it with gypsum whether it does or not. It will need irrigation in a day or two. Guess I'll use about a teaspoon.

I'm really happy with how the gypsum is working. I decided against top dressing with it, instead am dissolving it in the nutrients. Within a few days it was obvious the little plants were happier and their growth no longer seemed slow.

At 20C (68F), calcium sulfate dihydrate – the form most commonly available – has a solubility of around 2.4 g/L. In practice this means that you can have up to around 550 ppm of Ca in solution from calcium sulfate dihydrate before you observe any precipitation happening. This is way more than the normal 150-250 ppm of Ca that are used in final hydroponic nutrient solutions that are fed to plants. You could supply the entire plant requirement for calcium using calcium sulfate without ever observing any precipitate in solution. At the normal temperature range that hydroponic nutrient solutions are kept, the solubility of calcium sulfate is just not an issue. To add 10 ppm of Ca from calcium sulfate you need to add around 0.043g/L (0.163g/gal).

Click to expand...

A Lot Of Mistakes

Maintaining the health of these clones has been a struggle this winter.

I cut the older clone back so it was the same height as the younger ones, the central mainstem was mostly removed. The branch I cut was unusually stiff and hard, which marks awareness of a new symptom, though the specific cause, if a single one, is still unknown. The two younger clones got their growing tips pinched.

Yesterday I watered all my plants, and recorded runoff pHs along with gypsum usage rates. The gypsum is raising my runoff pH a little, the more I add to the gallon, the higher the runoff pH (small changes). I'm getting a better idea of how much to use.



They are planted in recycled potting mix in which I bloomed my last crop. I just realized this today. I learned long ago not to reuse potting mix, plants didn't grow well in it. I decided to try again since my nutrients are much improved. The used potting mix was screened, and most of it had decomposed to the point of passing through the screen, all of which was put in the yard, maybe 75% of the prior volume, an awful lot of discard.

Screening is one of my more important potting mix preparation steps, I even screen new potting mix --- to insure I have consistent drainage. The portion which didn't pass through the screen got an overnight soak in a large volume of boiling tapwater pH'd with a little sulfuric acid, then drained. No fresh organics like earthworm castings or guanos were added after the sanitation step (which I would typically add for uppot mix). That's what these little clones are planted in, recycled potting mix. Is that why they're struggling?

I keep thinking about uppotting the plants into more fertile growing media, but the leaf problems are showing me issues hopefully leading to improvements to my nutrient formulas and care techniques. I'm also wondering about the huge task (to me) of analyzing my nutrient formulas with Hydrobuddy. Every time I look at it I end up thinking I need to set aside at least a few days to make progress with it and I close it back down.

I'm also considering obtaining some aglime to play with. I've avoided using it in my potting mixes, but I understand a small amount will dissolve, something like 0.015 g/L, and that little bit interests me. My plants in the bloom tent have had an unusually low runoff pH 6.2 to 6.3, so I'd like to find out by trial and error if I can use dissolved aglime to raise it to 6.7 or so.

The two younger clones reacted poorly to the watering with 500 PPM of formula 1-1-2, the top newer leaves curled down with classic overwatering symptom. I didn't take a pic yesterday, today the droop is improved but still evident. It didn't happen with the older clone that was cut back to its secondary branches (which are also unusually stiff). I'm wondering if I need to further restrict volume of water during winter?

All clones were yellower today, particularly the top fan leaves. Were the PPMs of the nutes too low? I decided to raise future PPMs to at least 600, and maybe restrict irrigation volume, which is currently 0.15 L. It drains through and the plants sit in runoff for some time, about an hour for some bottom watering, allowing the potting mix to soak it up. How about not letting it sit in runoff?

Mistakes have made with these clones: recycled potting mix (this may not be as much of a mistake as a challenge requiring better nutrients). Too much nitrogen of both kinds for the cold winter (just a few irrigations before course corrections). PPMs too low on some irrigations. Imperfect hydroponic formulas.

Most likely there are other mistakes I haven't yet ID'd. Sometimes growing is easy, other times it's challenging. This past winter has been challenging for me.

I started dissolving gypsum in my nutrients with positive results. Historically I mix my nutrients up days and weeks ahead of their use, and store in either 1 gallon or 5 gallon bottles, ready to irrigate. Prior to adding the gypsum, the pH of these nutes was stationary during storage. If it was 6.4 when I mixed them, they were 6.4 a week or a month later. The dissolved gypsum addition has changed that. Not long ago, one of my clones went into wilt, so I irrigated with nutes, but the plants all looked unhappy afterwards. In tracking down the issue, I found pH of the nutes had dropped to below 5.0! I readjusted pH and irrigated again, and the plants recovered. I don't want to check pH every time I use already pH'd nutrients. I'm wondering if it would be better to put the powdered gypsum in the potting mix, perhaps as a top dressing. The same phenom may happen at the root zone, but it should dissolve more slowly. Online search results are quite clear, my pH meter is obviously hallucinating, soluble gypsum has absolutely no acidifying effect, not the calcium nor the sulfate. I reckon I'll go with what my meter and plants say.

I included a couple of photos of the Hefty-cup plants, I've trimmed most of the bad fan leaves off. Normally I would have up-potted them long ago, but I was wanting to refine the nutrients, make a more complete fertilizer. Besides being a healthier shade of green, the newer leaves are larger, I reckon another good sign of improved health.



In looking more closely at the plants, I notice a lot of stigmas on the older growth (my camera isn't that great). These plants are under continuous light with no dark period. However, the newer growth after the addition of some calcium has fewer stigmas. I guess that means that stressing the plants nutritionally causes them to grow more stigmas? How does a higher number of stigmas relate to bloom dynamics? When it's time to bloom, should Ca be reduced or eliminated? More questions than answers at this point, perhaps I'll look for some science on the topic.

I've been thinking about cutting the plants back, possibly before the next irrigation. I want the two younger clones to branch out lower on the mainstem. I'm not in any hurry for bud, I'm having more fun with the puzzle of the nutrients.

I found this nice cannabis anatomy picture during a recent search:


That site has some interesting articles.

No pics today. I cut a couple plants back as I had planned.

Because of the pH instability caused by adding soluble gypsum to the nutrients, I decided to try another solution. I obtained some dolomitic lime and put 1/4 teaspoon in each pot on last weeks watering. Runoff pH was higher than input, which was new, it had been approaching 3/4 of point lower. My nutrients were set at 7.1, and runoff was 7.2, a bit too high. A few days after the irrigation, the plants began to look bad, a lot of yellowing. They weren't due to be watered until tomorrow, but today one plant was on the verge of wilt.

I made new nutrients today at a higher base PPM of 900. No gypsum was added to the nutrients to regain a stable storage pH. Instead each plant got 1/4 teaspoon of soluble gypsum as topdressing. Then the plants got irrigated with the new nutrients. This time the nutrient and runoff pH were about the same, 6.6. But runoff PPMs were over 1800. Pretty sure that was due to the gypsum topdressing. In both irrigations, the prior one with dolomitic lime and today's with soluble gypsum, some of what was added as topdressing came out with runoff. I have no easy way to quantify the amount to judge how much was retained in the cups.

Unless I uppot, the gallon of nutrients I made today will last all month. My tentative plan is to continue monitoring runoff pH to tell me if or when more lime might be needed. In the future, if runoff pH declines significantly over several irrigations, indicating a need for more lime, then I'll probably do another lime topdressing, and I'll include gypsum at the same time.

I got my clones healthy again. I needed to 1) give them more calcium, 2) alkalize the potting mix, and 3) increase the PPMs of the nutrients. All three did the trick, the new growth is now a nice shade of green and leaves are larger.



In another discussion I was reminded that my potting mix is recycled Kellogg's Palm Cactus & Citrus, which has no lime in the ingredients. It is not the similarly named G&B Organics Palm Cactus & Citrus which includes both dolomite and shell limes. Because of how I sanitize my potting mix with a soak in boiling water, the Kellogg product is a good choice, it has few ingredients, no manures or fertilizers added so little to nothing to be diluted and washed away during sanitation.

The calcium deficiency was solved with soluble gypsum dissolved in RO water as a saturated solution of 2.4 g/L, and is mixed at 18% of total irrigation volume. 1/4 teaspoon of powdered soluble gypsum (which equals 2 teaspoons/gallon) was topdressed to each Hefty™ cup as a one time application. To correct slightly low runoff or pour-through pH, 1/4 teaspoon powdered dolomitic lime was also topdressed. That's 1/2 teaspoon total, gypsum + lime, then watered in with nutrients as a one time application. Occasionally I'll monitor runoff pH and if and only if it drops below 6.4 to 6.3 then will give it more dolomite to raise pH and gypsum for slow-release calcium.

With regards to two of my vegetative nutrient formulas, 3-1-2 and 2-1-2 (relative NPKs), the first one has more calcium nitrate than the second one, other than that they're identical. I was using the 2-1-2 formula, it adds less than 100 PPM of electrical conductivity to the runoff, there's no significant salt build up in the potting mix over successive irrigations, no flushing is required. However, I perceived the plants could use more N so increased calcium nitrate. The 3-1-2 formula with roughly 2x more adds so much residual salt to the pot's runoff --- salt buildup which keeps increasing on each irrigation --- flushing is frequently required. I'm trying to find a good balance between maximizing calcium nitrate and optimizing salt build up, the solution seems to lie somewhere between those two formulas. My current gallon of nutes is 2.6-1-2 and pour-through increase is about 400 PPM. 2.5-1-2 is planned next.

The plants in the solo cup were irrigated with 125 mL nutes each, with about 40% runoff. Total volume for all three cups was 375 mL with about 150 mL runoff. Saturated gypsum of 550 PPMs of Ca is used at a rate of 18% for 99 PPMs added Ca. With 1/4 teaspoon dolomitic lime added to each Hefty™ cup, and nutrients mixed to about 6.5 pH, runoff is about 6.6 to 6.7 pH, a small overshoot.

To make the nutrients: 375 mL x 18% = 67 ml of saturated dissolved gypsum solution is added to irrigation container, then add nutes to it for the full 375 mL total. Storing them separately and combining at irrigation time is an attempt to eliminate pH-decrease acidification during storage, hopefully making the premixed nutrients more pH stable.

Weighing by grams is my newest water-measurement technique, 1 mL water is about 1 g. It seems intuitive that as calcium nitrate is added --- which leaves more salts behind --- less saturated gypsum may be needed.

The clones were cut in late November and mid December 2022. They are 177 and 152 days old, 5 to 6 months. They were growing so nicely today I decided the nutrients were good enough and up-potted. I was careful to make sure each pot weighed about the same, they're all around 2100 g without the drain tray.

I didn't put quite as much dolomite in the new potting mix, 1/3 teaspoon each pot of dolomite and gypsum, and a little more earthworm castings followed by a good mixing. Each bleach-sanitized pot is measured at 2.2 L. The potting mix was 1/2 recycled mix from last grow, re-screened and re-sanitized (which resulted in diminished volume due to breakdown of particle size). I'm not certain I'll ever recycle potting mix again, but I'm certain my nutrients are improved. If pour-through pH is too low going forward. I'll add a little more dolomite and gypsum as topdressing. The rate I used is less than 1 teaspoon per gallon, just a little bit. I'd like to get the same pH running out as pouring in, and 1/4 teaspoon in each plastic cup alkalized a little bit too much.



Here's a good PDF by Richard Evans at UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. He has a nice description of how potting mix particle size relates to saturation levels during irrigation (which explains why I screen even my new potting mix) and how water flows differently in soil versus pots. When growing in soil under the sun, supplemental N and maybe P are all that's needed.

A recent photo:



Its now summer and they are growing better, presumably due to summer warmth.

Here they are back on May 21:



The bottom plant got sick immediately after its uppot. I'm pretty sure I unintentionally damaged a main root due to a poor root-trimming technique. It took about a month for it to recover.


I've been keeping the plants trimmed or cut back on a regular basis to encourage branching. My most recent trimming technique is to remove the upper inward-facing fan leaves, which allows light to reach the lower auxiliary branches.



They are growing slowly, and seem difficult to keep looking healthy. I suspect and am pretty sure they are infected with one of the viroids. For that reason I decided to end this strain by bringing these three clones through a bloom and not cloning it again. If I grow another crop it will be from a new seed-grown plant. I kinda expect the buds from these current clones will be disappointing.

Looking closely at the most current photo, there are dead spots on some of the leaves, one or more up to 1/4" long, and some irregular chlorosis spots, one in which a fan leaf curled around a chlorotic margin while remaining flat with respect to leaf plane.

After doing some online reading about plant viroids, I've updated my tool sanitation procedure to soak the pruning scissors in 20% bleach solution. Prior I'd been using a gas flame for long enough to warm the blades (not just a quick pass through a flame). For the bleach solution, I'm using a repurposed 1-gallon plastic mustard container with a wide mouth, and drop the scissors in the solution for a few minutes before I trim.

Earlier this year I wrote about recycled potting mix. From the reading I've done since then, it's occurred to me that even with a boiling water treatment (soak) between crops, recycled mix seems more likely to spread a viroid. For that reason I'm going to resist the urge to recycle potting mix again in the future. Looking back, when I recycled it for the first time (when I began these clones), that seemed to begin a series of growing difficulties.

Ultimately, I don't know for sure whether the plants are infected, but they're not growing as easily or quickly as prior crops.

I’m sorry to hear that’s happened to you. Have you considered restarting with new soil and possibly watch / ween out sick or unhealthy clones genetics ? I’m familiar that viroid issues are quite the issue in alot of gardens and are also on the rise.

Hey @Vbz.420, thanks for your interest! All the uppot mix for these clones is now made with new potting mix that I've screened and sanitized. But the solo cups in which the current clones were rooted was filled with recycled potting mix.

The clones will remain in the current veg closet for another few weeks then I"ll move them to the bloom tent (probably all three, normally I only put two in there). At that point this indoor closet will be empty and I'll give more thought to sanitizing the area. Once I have everything sanitized, I'll consider starting a new plant or two from seed.

After posting earlier today, I irrigated and noted I've developed some bad watering practices. When I weigh the nutes, if I go over, which happens sometimes, I noticed I'm pouring the overage back into the ready-to-use nutrients bottle. Whoops! In making sourdough this is called back slopping. I need to eliminate all of those instances of back slopping to keep the nutes uninfected.

I also noted I haven't been sanitizing my pH and PPM pens, which frequently measure runoff as well as new nutrients. I presume the runoff is infected with root-ball microoranisms. Another whoops!.