First Grow Ever: HSO Blue Dream in DWC

[The Average White Grower]

As I suspected, the stretch is coming to a close. My canopy was basically unchanged from last night, whereas flowering days 4 thru 7 would see the plants stretching 2-3" overnight. I moved a few stalks around, but in general it was kind of a boring trip into the grow... UNTIL



A first pistil! I had to look hard to find it, but there's a little white hair poking up out of the node... It confirms what I thought was true... the girls are about done with stretch and will start flowering in the next few days.

The screen isn't as full as I hoped when I dreamt up my grow... but being that I'm on my first grow... I'm just happy to not have killed them yet... I'll do it right next time. Here's some pics of the 2/3 full canopy, with no real changes from last night:



And a shot from under the canopy:



Things in the humidity dome are going well too. Nothing to show, so no pics, but they're looking lush and green and well-fed and healthy. I can't wait to see roots!

 

[The Average White Grower]

I also should have mentioned that the sativa traits are becoming a bit more apparent now that we'rein the flowering stage. The fan leaves got longer and thinner... New growth is a pretty good mix of sativa and indica... I'm really getting excited for a smoke of this stuff...

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

My guess is that the stretch is not over. It's only been about 10 days right? Any light getting into grow space? Make sure all is light tight. People even claim the little orange light on some power strips can mess with flowering. I sort of doubt that cause the moon gets pretty bright in the outdoors.
The under canopy looks good. I take off all fan leafs and any shoot that looks like it will not amount to much up until the net.

I too can't wait to taste this stuff. I'm about 2 weeks ahead of you but I think we might finish about the same time. What have you read about finishing time? From what I have seen it can be as early as 56 days but most come in about 63-70 days. Hard to wait.

 

[Bleedmaize]

Looks awesome man!

 

[The Average White Grower]

My guess is that the stretch is not over. It's only been about 10 days right? Any light getting into grow space? Make sure all is light tight. People even claim the little orange light on some power strips can mess with flowering. I sort of doubt that cause the moon gets pretty bright in the outdoors.
The under canopy looks good. I take off all fan leafs and any shoot that looks like it will not amount to much up until the net.

I too can't wait to taste this stuff. I'm about 2 weeks ahead of you but I think we might finish about the same time. What have you read about finishing time? From what I have seen it can be as early as 56 days but most come in about 63-70 days. Hard to wait.

SeedFinder says 9 weeks (63 days)... I'm not in a hurry; I can wait another week or two...

You're right, the stretch isn't "over"... But the growth through the screen is minimal... I was down there right after lights on today for a peek and there is nothing new in need of training. The same was true last night, and very minimal canopy manipulation the night before... I don't expect much more vertical growth at all... I'll head back down to check the rez levels and whatnot in a bit... The nightly update will follow.

As for light leaks? The tent is in a room with no windows and one door which opens up into my basement. The only light which could get in comes in through the gap under the door trust me when I say it's plenty dark in that room even in the daylight. To be on the safe side though, I don't even go in there during the day. Inside that room, I have a bookshelf holding my clone dome and one 23w CFL which is on 24/7. The whole shelf is covered with a black tarp which leaks so little light that you can't see in the room except for where the light comes through the tarp. Even still, the girls are in a light tight tent inside that room. Only the intake vent could let light in, and trust me when I say during the dark cycle, it's pitch black inside. Everything is good down there. Maybe I'll take a quick video of my grow op tonight.

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

That sounds dark enough for me.
I'm terrible at cloning, 50% success/failure, do you use a heating mat? I've got some that have been going for 3+ weeks and nothing, others sprouted roots a week ago. I too clip them, dip them, put them in rockwool and cover with a clear plastic bag.

 

[The Average White Grower]

Ok, so I decided to post a quick youtube video to show off what I'm doing... I start in the clone room where I'm attempting my first ever clones... If they fail, they fail. I should have clipped them a while back... I know you can take clippings while in flower, but sometimes it takes longer to get them back into veg and root... Ah well... I'm just learning and having fun

It's plenty dark in there... I'm not worried about it.

Things are getting hairy in the flowering room though... In a good way I can definitely see the calyxes sprouting hairs... Small and white, twisting around away from the stem. They're really small and I couldn't get a good picture of anything, so I didn't bother trying too much. I did have a bit more work to do on the canopy than I thought I was going to have to, but in general, not much growth. I'm regretting not screening this grow sooner... It's getting tricky at this point.

I also pruned some... Mainly on the bottom. I pinch/tugged with a certain firmness... If they didn't pop off, I left them. If they did, they ended up in a trash bag. I was doing this as much out of necessity as a growth technique... I was having problems accessing the tanks for the top off tonight... I thinned out (not completely bare) the bottom 1/3 of the plants... I'll do that again in a few days to space out the stress...

I topped off the reservoirs too... They're picking up the drinking pace a little... I added back a gallon (1/4 strength) and I'm under the 6 gallon line on my indicator... I'll mix up 1.5 gallons for each plant instead of just 1. I didn't adjust the ph on the new batch of nutes... Just dropped them into the reservoirs and tested the ph there (5.6 on plant 1, 5.7 on plant 2). I corrected back to 5.8... PPM is still the same, so I think things are going good down below.

I'm heading out of town for three days at the end of the week... I'll over fill the reservoirs by a half gallon before I leave... They way my tanks are set up, when I get back on Sunday night, the soup level will be low, but not so low I'd have to worry... I'll take advantage and do a full rez change. Here's a few pics and a video for you





A video

[video=youtube_share;oCGWk3mn_jQ]http://youtu.be/oCGWk3mn_jQ[/video]

 

[The Average White Grower]

Another day down... That makes 12 full days into flowering. Things are good, however I'm a little concerned about some yellowish-looking tops and fan leaves. I'm wondering if my plants have a little nitrogen deficiency going... I've heard N additives can help, but nitrogen makes buds more airy?? The yellowing is occurring on both plants and not from tips inward or anything... The whole leaf (leaves) are a faded yellow. It's particularly noticeable on the new tops I'm getting, so maybe it's just pale green new growth which looks yellowed under the HPS? That infernal orange light messes with my eyes something fierce! I'll wait a few more days and see if those sites darken or if the yellowing seems to be spreading. Under the canopy, things look fantastic... So maybe it is just my eyes... This I guess was more of a "thinking out loud" moment.

As I mentioned last night, bud sites are definitely forming. I've got popped calyxes all over the place with sprawling white hairs poking out all over... They don't photograph, but I assure you they are there! It's exciting!



The canopy is still pretty much even... No new training tonight...



And finally, the clones are.... well... Doing nothing special, lol:


(oops, upside down)

I give them some fresh air while I tend to their mommies, mist them, soak the rockwool if needed and replace the humidity dome... I didn't check for roots tonight... maybe tomorrow.

It's iOS 7 release day... I'm off to do that on my iDevices... Until tomorrow night.

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

Not really sure what the problem might be but I doubt nitrogen deficiency. You are running the full strength GH schedule and that is waaaay more than your girls need, in my opinion. When was the last time you calibrated your ph meter? I ask that because just yesterday i checked mine and it was off by .8(read 5.6 but after testing was really 4. Took me 3 days to notice so I hope no real damage was done.
How far away are the lights and what is the temp at the top of the canopy and in the res? I think 600w's should be about 16" away. But that depends a lot on the canopy temps. I keep mine at 10"-14" if I can keep the temps low enough. Also too much light intensity can bleach out the leaves. I doubt that in your case though.
Your canopy looks really good. Keep training any new growth out over your lights footprint for the next week or so..

 

[The Average White Grower]

The glass lense on the air-cooled hood is cool to the touch. Holding my hand under the light I can "feel" the light, but I wouldn't even use the word warm to describe it... I could probably cut the height of the light down by half, but my single 600w light won't reach the edges of the screen if I lower it any more... It's somewhere between 10" and 12"... Fine with me. Like I said, it could just be an illusion. Tomorrow at 5:29pm, I'll check them early and see if they're yellow or if it's my eyes playing tricks on me under the HPS.

In any event, I'm loving the new flowers coming in... I hope they get fat like an ear of corn!

 

[The Average White Grower]

After adding the screen to my grow, I've done only one rez change... It was a nightmare. The next day I went to my local hydro store and picked up a submersible pump. As I was doing a full rez change tonight, I thought I'd use it... It made draining the tanks super easy and fast. I topped off each tank to almost 7 gallons. If my measuring was correct, the water level inside is about a 1/4" from the bottom of the net pots. I usually keep them at 6 gallons but I'm going away tomorrow morning and I won't be back until late Sunday night. The plants are sucking up about a gallon per day each, which means my rez level will be low when I get home, but not dangerously so. Also, I must have pleased the hydro gods, because my ph level when I'm done mixing a new batch of nutes is exactly 5.8. When I top off the tanks between rez changes, I have to adjust the ph, but only about .1 in either direction.

I went into my tent a few minutes early and took a few pics... What I thought was yellowing is actually just pale green newer growth. Nothing but 1-2 day old leaves are that color. The rest of the fan leaves are nice and green right now. I don't think I have any problems here...



The flowers are a comin' for sure... Because I check on them so often, I don't notice the changes as much until I compare the pics. I'm excited to get away from the grow for a few days so when I get back I hopefully have some fun stuff going on.

I'm noticing a change in the odor too... Is that normal? In veg and during the stretch, the smell was very very sweet. The odor now is a little different. It's still sweet and fruity, but there's an added scent I can't identify.

Humidity is in check. Temps between 70 and 80... Reservoirs topped off... I'm comfortable leaving for a few days.

Some pics... See the little flowers coming?



Until Sunday...

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

Thats funny you mention the ph gods being on your side as i was thinking the same thing for me. My tap water starts out at about 7.4 but after adding nutes it comes in at about 6.0. Sometimes I will leave it there and after a couple days it drifts down to just about perfect. Never had that kind of luck when using RO water. I was always chasing the ph.

I too noticed an odor change 2-3 weeks into flower. Use to just smell fruity but now I get the fruit smell at first then it turns into a slightly musky/spicy aroma. I think that's the haze part of the plant coming through. I've got some blue widow going that smells exactly like fruit loops cereal. Smells so sweet it makes my cavities hurt.

You will have some tucking to do when you get back. Those are going to be some nice full colas. When you get the chance put up a couple more shots of the flowers, in particular I want to see the node spacing. Looking good.

 

[kentuckyboy]

You are definitely working that Blue Dream out! It looks great! I got completely bashed on her a while back for even saying that I liked HSO's Blue Dream because it isn't the clone-only version. My buddy grew 1 out that I gave him, and I loved it. It is one of my favorite smokes now, so I decided to grow 1 myself. This strain looks to be very stable. They all look very similar with little variation between plants. I am about 27 days into flower, and it is looking great! I think HSO hit a homerun with this one.

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

You mentioned that you recently bought a dehumidifier. You might want to check this out.

ProductEntry

 

[Spittn4cash]

Are you monitoring your PPM's?? I personally aim for around 1000 ppm's until week 3.

Blue dream is definitely sort of a lime green color, but it doesn't stand out in the new growth like that. It may absolutely indicate either a nitrogen deficiency, zinc deficiency or micro nute deficiency. I would recommend a boost in supplemental nutes (B-12, enzymes, bud sugar, kelp/sea weed) , micro nutes (cal mag, zinc) and a nitrogen increase.

Fantastic job so far. Keep in mind you're supposed to start counting flowering days when you see the first hairs, not when you switch to 12/12. It gives you a more accurate harvest time window.

A+ on the SCROG.

-cash

 

[The Average White Grower]

Are you monitoring your PPM's?? I personally aim for around 1000 ppm's until week 3.

Blue dream is definitely sort of a lime green color, but it doesn't stand out in the new growth like that. It may absolutely indicate either a nitrogen deficiency, zinc deficiency or micro nute deficiency. I would recommend a boost in supplemental nutes (B-12, enzymes, bud sugar, kelp/sea weed) , micro nutes (cal mag, zinc) and a nitrogen increase.

Fantastic job so far. Keep in mind you're supposed to start counting flowering days when you see the first hairs, not when you switch to 12/12. It gives you a more accurate harvest time window.

A+ on the SCROG.

-cash

Yea, I'm keeping my PPM's around 1200 for the rest of the grow (except flush)...

With the lights out and a flashlight or camera flash, color looks good. I'm no longer worried.

I'm keeping a journal, but I'm not concerned about a schedule. These plants have told me everything they need or want so far... I just have to listen to them and be observant... They'll tell me when it's time to harvest I think of all the things I've learned on this first grow... it's that there is definitely a conversation going on between grower and plant. It's a cooperation. Sounds silly, but it's true...

Update coming....

 

[The Average White Grower]

Ok, so I was out of town the last few days. My last entry talked about my preparation for the trip. I think it went well... Usually, I give the update first and the pics second... but these pics are worth posting first. This is what I came back to:



Buds! Full on buds! Lots and lots of buds! Both plants are showing flowers now... Ok... Question time:

1. The fruity smell in the grow room is all but gone... There is a very MILD spicy scent at this point... But the odor is virtually nothing. Is this normal? What's happening?

2. PPM Question... Hydro/soil nutes are always of the N-P-K variety. I achieve the right ratio of each for the current stage of growth by using the right amount of GH Gro/Micro/Bloom. Follow? When the PPM's drop is it equal across the N-P-K spectrum typically? If I'm mixing a batch of nutrients to bring the PPM reading back up to where I want it (without doing a full flush and refill of the tanks) How do I know which of the Grow/Micro/Bloom the plant needs more of? Does this make sense? I start with pure water (0 ppm) and add a tsp of Grow... the PPM goes up to 100. I add a tsp of micro, it goes up to 600. I add a tsp of bloom and it goes up to 950. (all estimates)... So each is contributing a different amount of the total PPM of the solution. When adding back, should I be concerned with the chemistry at this level or just make it as the label suggests and dilute with water as necessary?

The clones... OH MY the clones!



Of the 8, 4 have popped... Peeling back the rockwool though, I can see two more with root buds. I'm taking two out of the dome and giving them to their foster parent I'm taking two more and putting them in hydroton under the T5's.... I'll put them into veg in 3 weeks from transplant, which should mean smaller plants than what I've got going in my flowering tent right now... This month's HT talks about a hybrid grow technique.... It's more or less an ebb and flow but instead of hydroton, it's a soil mix in felt 1 gallon bags. I might have to try that... It will all depend on how well these babies do... My "foster" parent is going to grow two of these out bonsai style under two 27w 6500k CFL's in potting soil with plain water, just to keep them growing as mothers for my op. It should work nicely

I don't have much else to do from here but keep the girls fed and ph'ed... I'll keep posting pics though!

 

[Chronicknowledge42o]

Very nice for a smaller setup man ! Keep up the great work I Will forsure be tuned in to see how this progress's & if you do more journals of this grow setup.

 

[The Average White Grower]

Very nice for a smaller setup man ! Keep up the great work I Will forsure be tuned in to see how this progress's & if you do more journals of this grow setup.

Awesome and thank you!

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

I'm jealous of those clones. I've got to get my technique down. How long for them to get to that stage?

The fruit smell is gone in mine too. Left in week 3-4. I guess it's normal.

Nutrient uptake is not equal at all. in veg you need more N. By mid-late flowering N is much less important. I wish there was a meter that could tell you exactly what your n-p-k as well as mg,cal,mn etc levels were. That way we could know exactly what the plant was eating and thus just feed what was optimally needed. As it stands we don't have access to such equipment. I think that is one reason the nutrient manufactures recommend such heavy feeding schedules. That way the plant will have an abundance of nutes just in case the plant needs it. Since we do not know which of the big 3 (NPK) the plant is using more or less of, the thinking is give more of everything and let the plant sort it out.
You say your starting ppm's are about 1200? What are they before you need to top off? Ideally you want the number to stay the same even as the water level goes down. That means she is drinking and eating at the same rate. If the ppm's go up, to say 1500, she is drinking more than eating and you might just want to top off with plain ph-ed water. Ppm's go lower, say to 900, then she's being a hog and wants more to eat. You might want to do a top off to bring the ppm a little higher than the starting point. Once you find that sweet spot just keep topping off at that ppm level. Sorry if I am telling you something you already know but others might find this useful.