Blueberry Grow

I just discovered that I am better off doing a grow journal in this forum as a thread, rather than using the 'grow journal' feature.

These are 3 blueberries from Seedsman, currently finishing week 4 of flowering. Two were 'mainlined', and the third was 'fluxed'. The veg period was for 8 weeks, under 200 watts with 3590 cobs. I am flowering under 400 watts of 3590 3500K cob, with bin DB.
Media is Coco, hand watered, with the waste vacuumed.
Food is Canna line, at lowered PPM's.
I have also added some Cal-Mag, and Mammoth P.
I will try and back-fill some of the earlier development with previous photos.

This is my third grow. I am trying new strains and techniques each time. I am trying to get my beginner grows completed to gain experience. I have 10 (different) heirloom tomatoes growing in soil outdoors, in addition to this medicinal grow. My spring spinach/bak choi is completed for 2017.

The biggest problem I am facing is that a portable AC did not ship, and I will be needing it soon, or I will have to put a window AC in a street facing ground floor window.

Comments welcome.



This week


Last Week


Closeup

I trimmed the bottom 1/3 of the 3 plants going into week 5. The stakes used for mainline and flux training are still more or less in place from veg.
The closest plant was fluxed, and I managed 6 outside stalks and a stray.
The 2nd plant was mainlined and I have 8 stalks, and 4 strays.
The 3rd plant, which is on a milk crate in the back, also has 6 main stalks. 6 rather than 8 due to beginner clumsiness. (Training not so supple material)


The view stepped back a bit.

Nice. Ive got 4 JOTI BB in week 5 right now.

Completing week 5. I deviated from the Canna Nute schedule, and added PK in week 5. Flowers swelled, but fan leaves burned too much on the weaker plants at EC 1.3. I also have a downward inverse curl on the leaves on the upper buds of largest plant. Too much light? I plan on going back to no PK boost, and will lower the EC to 0.8 to 1.0 for week 6. Next (probably last) PK boost week will be week 7 or 8.

Top the hell out of it.

Defoliate, keep bud sites.

LST and HST.

$0.02

These pics show the structure of the veg training to get to a mainline or flux setup. The middle of the three was my first broken pair of nodes, which were removed shortly after. I tended to make the topping cuts early, with only a fraction of an inch of the 2 future nodes showing.
The pots are 12 inches in diameter.

A couple of wide angle shots of the 3 blueberry plants. Week 6 has ended, and week 7 is starting.

The front plant is approx 3 feet. The middle 2 feet, and the rear plant 1 foot (on a milk crate) The front plant has been fluxed; The rear 2 mainlined. The 2x4 tray is on a set of wheels, which allows me to roll it into the 40 inch alley with the lights, and out again for feedings.

The biggest change this week is that I am running a dehumidifier 24/7, and I added an AC in an adjoining room to lower the temps. I am current in the 77-79 degree range. Fans moving air above and below.

This week is PK boost week, following the Canna nutrient line. I am wondering how much of the PK boost is actually required by the plant, and how much is manufacturers hype. I do know, that even at low levels, it tends to incite fan tip burn. Jacks 3 2 1 for the next grow? Maybe! The last one utilized Flora Nova Bloom the entire grow.

EC approx 1.3 (+0/-.5) for week 7.

I wonder what happened on the server to the photos in the first post of this thread?

Finished week the 7 pk boost @EC 1.3. Week 8 will be 1.0-1.1 EC, using Canna line + CalMag + Mammoth P. I will be out of my sample of Mammoth P at the end of week 8. Only the middle plant is to show some red hairs. Trichomes are mostly cloudy, with nary an amber in sight. This is supposed to be an 8-9 week flower, but it is looking like 10+ for two of them.

Some bud porn:

Taos said:

Finished week the 7 pk boost @EC 1.3. Week 8 will be 1.0-1.1 EC, using Canna line + CalMag + Mammoth P. I will be out of my sample of Mammoth P at the end of week 8. Only the middle plant is to show some red hairs. Trichomes are mostly cloudy, with nary an amber in sight. This is supposed to be an 8-9 week flower, but it is looking like 10+ for two of them.

Some bud porn:
View attachment 3975776 View attachment 3975777 View attachment 3975778

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What a beauty

End of week 8 Blueberry mainlined/fluxed flower.

BB #2 has increased red pistils, as well as a larger percent of the pistils turning in. I'm sure that it will be the first to finish. I do not see amber on BB#1, BB#2, or BB#3 yet through a 40x loupe, and 60x pocket microscope.

Most of the closeup pics are of BB#2, as I moved it to the near end of the 'alley.' To get closer, I will need to use a tripod. The idea was to see if I could capture the 'edge' trichomes handheld. 1 pic of the alley (near to far #2, #1, #3), and two buds from BB #3, which started out as the shrimp, but will finish with the largest buds. BB #3 is also starting to exhibit new small buds growing perpendicular out of the larger existing buds. Is this a good thing?

The plan for week 9 is to maintain the environment, keep BB#1 and BB#3 at 500 PPM Canna + calmag + Mammoth P. I have until tomorrow to decide whether to lower BB#2 to 200-250 PPM, or go to 0 PPM. With almost all milky trich's, I feel like I am nearing the earliest part of the harvest window. After watching GML, I feel that I should be going for earlier flushes.

Been flushing most of the week at 3x the normal feeding with distilled water. Today's run off is between 150 ppm (500), for 2' and 1' plant, and 250 ppm for the 3' plant. No fade in almost a week. Orange pistils only on the 2' plant. Several GIANT colas (larger than red bull can) on the 3' plant. Should be a record for me. New micro buds forming on the older buds.

I think my flushing game needs to improve. Listening to GML, I should begin while the plants are still growing. He flushes over 2 weeks in 1/3 promix and 2/3 pearlite, including 3-4 major flushes, the first 2 with a clearing agent. I had planned on 1 major, and water 2x-3x the last feeding amount for a week. The week is almost up with no fading. The 2' plant is coming down in a day or two. The other two are only a day or two behind.

Today's images with a cell and and 'cozy magnifier' program.

2 days to look for a fade, then Chop chop. Will hang with 55% RH, and hopefully will have the buds at 60% 7-10 days after.

'
The most mature of the 3 plants is down and hanging in 50%-55% RH. I did a wet trim. It is about 25% of the original weight after 48 hours. I hope that is not 2 fast. (This is my weakest part of the grow, and I am a geek when learning.)

The other two plants are still up, and are receiving a 2 week flush. I swear by the trichomes that they could stand another week.

The image above isn't great - Smart phone through a 10x optical glass Hastings Triplet made by B&L. The small loupe IS very good though.

Trim Jail, part deux Two down, about 13 to go. . No Larf, which was a goal for this grow.

The growing part of my 3rd beginner grow is completed. I learned a lot

The wet results are
#1 (the 1 foot 6 cola mainlined plant): 570 grams.
#2 (The 2 foot 8 cola mainlined plant): 497 grams.
#3 (The 3 foot 6 cola fluxed plant): 753 grams.

For an estimated dry weight: Dividing by 5, 1820 wet grams should yield a bit more than 364 grams total, or approx 13 oz. If I hadn't broken 4 potential colas when veg training, I think I would have achieved a pound in a 2x4 area with 400 watts of Cree COB. (1.4A)

Plant 2 was taken a week ago, and is currently in jars. I smoked it twice, and I really liked it. It is a bit heavy, and takes a good 10 minutes to develop fully. A bit tingly too. At small doses I didn't feel couch locked, but I was probably a toke away from that. I can't comment on the taste of uncured bud. Mine did not turn blue at all.


So, What did you learn Dorothy?

· Creating multiple flower sites at equal height, produces multiple main colas.

· Clean the bottoms. If there is anything you don’t want to trim later; Don’t let it grow!

· Cree 3590’s rock!! P600 for sale.

· Canna nutrients are expensive. I am seriously thinking about trying Jacks 3-2-1 next run.

· Plan on 2 weeks for flushing Coco. I don’t know where I got the 1 week flush in coco idea from. Get well below 200 PPM in the 1st week, and watch the leaves fade in the 2nd week. Clearing agent? GML 4 flush?

· It can become 48 degrees at night in July, and lower your humidity a ton during drying.

· Seeds can produce very different results from one another, making a uniform grow hard to achieve. The positive is in seeing different phenotypes.

· The veg runt became the prize winner weight wise. (It was also the only plant fluxed, instead of mainlined.)

· 50% ambient humidity is too low for drying buds longer than 4 or 5 days.

· In this run, the fluxed plant beat the mainlined plants in weight. Structure was good on all.

· If I hadn’t broken 2 nodes on 2 plants early (4 colas overall), I think I might have made a lb in a 2x4 area. I am very happy that my 3rd grow produced 13 potential oz's in a 2x4 though.

· The tomato cages allowed for great plant mobility. The only error was I didn’t fix the bottom ends in a way that the cages didn’t fall out of the bottom holes, and thus I was using catch pans inside of the 2x4 tray to keep the bottoms of the cages level.

· Putting the 2x4 tray on wheels, to gain access was a sweet accident. I am wondering if that can be done with a 4x4 tray.


The immediate future is to monitor the dry and cure, bring a White Widow autoflower indoors to finish, and to plan a 4x4 area for the fall and beyond. At my current level of expertise, a 4x4 area means 4 bushes, or up to 9 plants fluxed/mainlined for 8 colas.
I need to learn GML's and Dstroy's leaf removal method for slowing growth on selected stems to produced more flower sites, and scrog.
I also want to try a small tray of 12/12 from seed of multiple strains.

The roll-it-up grow journal did not replace a lab notebook, but made me feel less guilty for not keeping one this grow.

Thanks all!

Im new and LED as well. Nice grow! I'm switching to Canna nextbround myself. I've also heard needing to flush is more so a myth, I seen you mention you like researching so look into that as well!

JohnDoeTho said:

Im new and LED as well. Nice grow! I'm switching to Canna nextbround myself. I've also heard needing to flush is more so a myth, I seen you mention you like researching so look into that as well!

Click to expand...

From my limited experience, I think I have to disagree.

My 1st grow, was a single Northern Lights, in soil, and flushed for 2 weeks. That bud is smooth, even in a small glass spoon hand-pipe. I am still utilizing it, especially if I want solid sleep. It is about a year old at this point, and it stored very well.

The 2nd grow was in Coco, with 2 White Widow auto's. One ripened about 2 weeks ahead of the 2nd. The 2nd had a decent flush. The 1st was barely flushed - just 10-15 gal through the pot once. (They had to be harvested at the same time, as I could only climate control one room.) One burned smooth, with a light gray ash, and the other is noticeably (to me) harsher, especially when hot. The ash tends to be a mix of light gray and darker gray. I really like the effect of an 80%/20% Indica/Sativa , but rarely smoke the remainder.

The idea (with chemical fertilizers anyways), is that there are still salts (the ferts) in the soil, in the roots, and in the plants. If you can catch the last 2 weeks, you can pretty much eliminate the ferts from the soil/pant with large and small waterings of nothing buy ph'd water, or water + sweeteners. Once the soil is void of nutes, there is nothing to uptake, and the plant will start to cannabilize (sp) itself for food. The main leaves will fade, and later the smaller leaves. During this time, there is a fairly decent swelling of the calyxes in the buds as well. This bud should burn clean, as you are smoking bud, not bud plus chemicals. I try to keep the water ph'd, as to let the plant keep trying (and failing) to uptake nutes, rather than to lock the plant out from doing anything.

There are metrics you can use to see how clean your soil is - Measure the EC (or PPM) of the water running out the bottom of the soil. This run, I was able to lower from about 600/700 to well under 200. The last week, I only used distilled water.

In a purely organic situation, this could be different.

I am still at the beginning of learning, but this is my basic view of what goes on with flushing, and why I do it, and why I want to do it better.

Thanks for the kind word, and good luck with the LED grow. It is fun to be sure - both growing, chilling, and learning!

Yea I can buy it, my girls have naturally told me they want less and less. I'm in DWC so with your thinking a fresh bucket swap and they would be good rather quickly. Wouldn't hurt for me to run them a day or two in just ph water

Edit: yea I use a PPM meter.

Very nice grow and impressive results!

I have one seedsman blueberry in week 5 that looks much weaker than yours.

By the way we will never know now, as I had reconsidered ignoring the flush after chatting with you.