Grow 'potpouri', comments welcome

[raggyb]

No time like the present to start my first journal. I'm intrepidly trying a vertical grow on the cheap. Suggestions are welcome.

Medium is a simple 2 parts pete moss, 2 parts cotton burr compost, 1 part mushroom compost, 1 part vermiculite and 1 part perlite. In the nutrients aresenal is tap water, pHdown, Fish fertilizer, Grow Big, FF flower somethings, Calmag and for the first time, Kelp.

I want to understand varietal difference so I'm trying many different during this grow. To start I have Ehiopian, Candida, Blueberry, (Cannatonic x Afgan) x Ethiopian, and Candida x Ethiopian.

Out of concern I may not get enough females for the outer perimeter, I started 3 more sativa fems. Wild Thai, Maui Waui and Blue Dream CBD. I should add even more in a month or two.

May as well start from the beginning. Here were the babies...

 

[raggyb]

That was about 40 days ago. I think I learned some lessons with this set of babies. It was super cold and dry in the basement. They started ok in the dome, but the temps were slightly off even with a space heater, and the cheap led light, which was a very welcome gift, turned out I think to be no good for seedlings, unlike it is advertised.

So skipping ahead a little, I got a little temp mat and learned here that cfl's are really good for seedlings. Decided to use the soil to start so I could try planting them head first, meaning root tip up. Here are the new 3. They're a little stretchy but it may be hard to see in a photo?

 

[raggyb]

Moving slightly back in time, these were the main plants 34 days after dropping in water. They are slow goers from the early problems I hope. To get better temp I moved under MHs and raised slightly above the space heater. They are not stretched that's for sure.

 

[raggyb]

7 days later. Same amigos. One on left is a runt Ethidida. The far right is it's sibling. Three Ethiopians in middle are small. They are really slow starters as they were last grow. And last grow 3 of 3 ethiopians were male. I don't give the Ethiops N yet as it's a warning not to. Well just today I tried quarter strength fish fert to see what happens.

 

[raggyb]

seven days later, topping time. First 2 to top are these Ethiopians

These show my soil appears to be a little hot I think. See the darker vein lighter edge? Ethiopian is nute sensitive, and they are the only plants demonstrating a problem. I haven't fed them, so it must be in the soil. Didn't expect this and don't know how to adjust the soil. Watered plain to runoff to get a baseline. Going in was 148ppm 298ec, washing out was 958ppm and 1916ec.

 

[raggyb]

Here the back 2 are those Ethiops topped.
Look like shit, but I topped above node 2 on purpose. The front right is an Ethiopian topped at node 3. I can't recall what the 4th one is. Next image are the cloned tops.

 

[raggyb]

First attempt at cloning. Fingers crossed.

Clones under the dome. Plan is to use these to ID the sex of the photos.

 

[raggyb]

2 Canafdidas in back topped at node 3. Blueberry topped at node 4.

 

[raggyb]

New sativas may look like they caught up but not really because the untopped Ethidida on the left front is a runt and the one on the right just topped at node 2. The 3 new ones are 14 days from drop and old ones 49 days

 

[raggyb]

1 week later, those topped last week follow.

2 Ethiops in backed were topped at Node 2 showing a little life. Front right Ethiop N3 topped. Front left Candida.

 

[raggyb]

Also 1 week after topping,

Back 2 Cannatonic,Afghan x Candida topped N3. Front Blueberry top[ed N4.



3 young sativas in back 20 days. Front runt untopped looking better. Right front Ethiop x Candida topped N2 hanging out.


thumbnail, the better of the 3 ethiops topped at N2, recovering.

 

[farmerfischer]

can I make a suggestion, ease up on watering ... the last pic( thumbnail pic) is developing the claw... either it's caused by the mix not drying fast enough or being over watered or th rh. is to high....
I'm seeing algae on a couple cups there..

 

[Samblakaka]

Definitely way too heavy of a watering regimen going on here...let the girls tell you when they need something, and at a 900+ ppm runoff, this is a deadly mix of too much water and too many nutrients. They're doomed if kept on this path of throwing up a hard middle finger to the roots...

 

[raggyb]

can I make a suggestion, ease up on watering ... the last pic( thumbnail pic) is developing the claw... either it's caused by the mix not drying fast enough or being over watered or th rh. is to high....
I'm seeing algae on a couple cups there..

Thanks for the input. Is the algae the white stuff you see? I've been wondering what it is but hypothesizing it is the hard water flake off the humidifier I have. rH is on the low side. Ranges from 30-50. Also that small one you mentioned went through a lot of shit.

Definitely way too heavy of a watering regimen going on here...let the girls tell you when they need something, and at a 900+ ppm runoff, this is a deadly mix of too much water and too many nutrients. They're doomed if kept on this path of throwing up a hard middle finger to the roots...

I'm worried about the strength of the runoff. Should I repot? I was not sure what to use to thin out and cool off the mix. Only thing I have is Pete Moss.

 

[farmerfischer]

I see algae on the side of the jiffy cups .. first pic you posted yesterday.. looks like it may be starting to grow on some of the perlite as well .. not the white stuff...

 

[raggyb]

I see algae on the side of the jiffy cups .. first pic you posted yesterday.. looks like it may be starting to grow on some of the perlite as well .. not the white stuff...

Hmm, maybe because I'm using some kelp? My clones of the tops look like shit too. They have been at 100% humidity for 7 days and I saw a mold or algae on the little wooden id tags, which were touching water, so I took all the id tags out immediately. Some of the leaves of those clones are yellowing and kind of spotty. Then again it's my basement and mold's abound. I don't think I'm watering that much.

 

[raggyb]

Giving those troubled and sensitive Ethiopian pure breads just 1 shot of plain H20 today instead of 2, to see if it can change the clawing. Yesterday they got no water. Day before was 2 shots each. Sigh. Patience.

 

[raggyb]

can I make a suggestion, ease up on watering ... the last pic( thumbnail pic) is developing the claw... either it's caused by the mix not drying fast enough or being over watered or th rh. is to high....
I'm seeing algae on a couple cups there..

@farmerfischer, I wanted to ask you also, is the claw seen in the small new growths leaves at the top? I see it in those old node 2 leaves, but those are never coming back.

After watering only 1 shot glass two days ago, I weighed pots yesterday and again today before watering. I guess they were a over watered because weight went down 19g where a shot is 54g. Was hard for me to believe as I only gave them 2 shots every other day, and they are 8 weeks old. It is slightly perked up but still a bit soon to tell.

 

[farmerfischer]

Yeah the claw can show up in the new growth... As long as you keep the moisture in the soil and/or humidity in your grow space in check they'll straighten up... I get the claw still from time to time but in my case it's the humidity causing this on my plants.. I'm currently in a small cabinet and when the lights go off my r.h. climbs high.. This causes the plants to have problems transpireing (expelling excess moisture) so the leaves curl..

 

[raggyb]

Thanks again for the feedback. It's got to be moisture in the soil in this case. I can't get the humidity over 40 right now. So I'm dialing back the watering even further, esp. on these little ones.