Things I Learned From This Grow:
1.
Kill The Runt
I had one plant that was a serious underperfomer. It barely reached the screen in time before I flipped to 12/12 because the other plants were filling it out so nicely. The following two plants were both cloned on the same day.
It contributed 10% of my canopy even though it represented 25% of my plants. The buds it grew were smaller and the canopy was thinner in it's section. It also had 3 tops do this while the rest of the canopy was lush and green.
If I could re-live this grow I would have yanked this plant.
2.
Less Nutes
I ran my plants at 80% of the recommened dosage during veg and for the first 5 weeks of flower. I then ran them at 70% until I flushed. This was way too much. You can see the nute burn in photos like this;
Two things to note. I wasn't that vigilant about adding water during the week to maintain PPM. The other thing is that Grape Krush is known to be a light feeder and nute burn sensitive.
3.
Trim Fan Leaves During Flower
Once I started hacking through the canopy I realized that the density of the leaves was blocking some viable bud sites.Some thinning would have been a good idea.
4.
Lower the CO2 PSI
I ripped through a tank in 3 weeks when I had it set to 5 psi and it was this size.
This time I'm going to run it at 3.50-4.00 psi. I'm was debatng running it during veg but I'm not sure that the cost makes sense. That tank is $30 to refill at my local hydroponic store. The horticultural ninja that gave me the strain said to run CO2 throughout but he uses a propane CO2 generator (which is way cheaper to produce CO2). I'm not sure yet. I might just do it for the sake of science.
5.
Phosphoric Acid NOT Sulfuric Acid
I bet most people already knew this but I didn't. I walked into the fish store and bought ph down. It made my ph levels really swingy and unstable and my young leaves ended up twisted like this:
The fish store ph down was also expensive and I needed a lot of it to move the dial. I bought phosphoric acid at the hydro store and everything has been copasetic. It is also really cheap and you use very little of it.
6.
H2O2
I'm going to use H2O2 in my next round. Throughout the grow I had a few minor outbreaks of algae on the exterior surface of the res like this;
6 days before harvest I had a moderate outbreak of algae in the res itself. I never had to deal with it as they were getting chopped but it would have been a big pain if it had been week 3 of flower.
7.
Mix Nutes 24 Hours In Advance
The first 3-4 times I changed my res I would add a bunch of nutes to my mixing bin and then start ph adjusting immediately. I was all over the map and had to dump numerous fresh batches of nutrients because the ph would be so far out of balance. Now I add them to the water the night before and then ph adjust the following afternoon. very easy and simple.
8.
RO Water Needs Cal-Mag
This is obvious once you experience it or google search it. I wish I had google searched it rather than experience it.
9.
Don't Top This Strain Under the Screen
I don't want to speak for all SCROG's but this strain does not need topping to fill the screen. All I did was slow growth for a few days. On my next run of Grape Krush I will be doing no training before they hit the screen. I will supercrop above the screen to maintain an even canopy in the first few weeks of flower.
That's it! I had some limiting factors to this grow but I've learned (and laughed and loved, if you believe the movies) and will bring this to my next grow. Things to come in this journal are a link to my next grow, the final weigh-in and a detailed review of BC Northern Lights products and then it's a wrap.