Grow Journal #8: DIY Hydro & Making Feminized seeds with Colloidal Silver

2-23-2013 Day 42 & Day 35
Temp: 74°
Humidity: 45%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1550ppm

As stated earlier, I've changed the reservoir and bumped up the bloom nutes. The ppm has increased, but I try to keep the pH right around 6.0.

And now for my review of the Botanicare Cal-Mag....I've added 10ml/gallon and all I can say is "it's freaking awesome!" I think my plants have been deficient in Cal/Mag, and they may have been stunted because they literally have exploded with new growth since the addition of the Cal-Mag supplement. I highly recommend this product for anyone with cal-mag deficiencies!

Notice the new green growth

Group shot:





Here is the left side of the tent:
Left (top is Blue Mystic Baby, bottom is Blue Mystic 2), Right (top is White Widow Baby, bottom is White Widow):




Here is the right side of the tent:
Left (top is Pineapple Express Auto, bottom is Blue Mystic 1), Right (top is Deformed RoadRunner, bottom is RoadRunner):



See ya next update,
-Cash

2-26-2013 Day 45 & Day 38
Temp: 74°
Humidity: 45%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1325ppm

They're starting to look like bushes in there! Hopefully they show me sex soon, or else I may overgrow my grow box!

My Auto's are looking good, except the vertical growth..I expected much more stretching, but they've stayed nice and squat. They're well into flowering, so I've included a few bud porn pictures for your pleasure.

My tallest plant (Blue Mystic 2) is approx 12" tall, and my shortest plant (Blue Mystic Baby) is 8". I really hope Blue Mystic 2 turns out to be a female because she is just a gorgeous, smelly bitch! She smells like straight up strawberry jam with a hint of marijuana..But she isn't even my stinkiest plant..

The Pineapple Express is funking up my place! The Pineapple Express is my GF's favorite..it has a lemony citrus funk that just punches you in the nose...My GF loves pinching the buds and then taking a looonnng wiff of her fingers, she says "just the aroma gets me high. Lol " she can't wait till 4/20..I just hope that I get at least an oz off of her, and some self pollinated seeds.

Speaking of seeds, I'll post the Colloidal silver update next, but right now..on with the show!!


Group:





Here is the left side of the tent:
Left (top is Blue Mystic Baby, bottom is Blue Mystic 2), Right (top is White Widow Baby, bottom is White Widow):




Here is the right side of the tent:
Left (top is Pineapple Express Auto, bottom is Blue Mystic 1), Right (top is Deformed RoadRunner, bottom is RoadRunner):



Blue Mystic Baby:



Blue Mystic 1:



Blue Mystic 2 (My favorite):



White Widow Baby:



White Widow:



Deformed RoadRunner:





RoadRunner:
I think this plant was having the most severe deficiency with Cal-Mag, because once I started feeding them with Botanicare Cal-Mag the yellowing stopped, and I havent seen any new brown rust spots on her leaves. She's short as hell though....anybody have any thoughts on that??

I think that she's so short because of that week they were sick..they missed all of that vegetative growth..plus she's the one I'm spraying with CS and CS always stunts the growth of the plants.





Pineapple Express (my GF's favorite):






Im going to switch them over to 12/12 this weekend, because I'm starting to see some preflowers..I wont say which is which until I'm 100% certain but I have a pretty good idea of who my females will be. I'll post one more update before 12/12, and then we'll go from there.

Thanks for reading,
-Cash

Colloidal Silver Treatment Continued pt. 2

Here is the latest update for the CS treatment this week. I've seen some exciting things happening...small changes, but they are changes that show we are making progress in the right direction!


CS Treatment Day 5

Road Runner Auto:
I noticed the hairs are turning brown on the buds sprayed with CS. This is totally normal..



Pineapple Express Auto:
Also, I've noticed my leaves have started wrinkling and curling. This is also normal...




CS Treatment Day 11

Road Runner Auto:
The new growth is starting to curl, hairs are continuing to turn brown. I've also noticed some strange new growth..looks like some pollen sacks are beginning to form. I'll give it a few more days until they are more pronounced.







Pineapple Express Auto:
The new growth is looking really bizarre! This is totally normal for a bud that has been sprayed with CS. Also, not how this branch seems to be stunted, again this is normal for branches sprayed with CS.







CS Treatment Day 12
Notice how the growth is beginning to look more and more "scrawny and wrinkled"..that's totally normal.


Road Runner Auto:



Pineapple Express Auto:







I'm thinking about continuing the treatment for another 5 - 7 days just to ensure that the CS took....I should start to see pollen sacks within the next two weeks if everything continues to go according to plan.

Feel free to ask any questions, make comments or suggestions.

Thanks for following!
-Cash

Really well done journal, great pics, explained well and easy to read. Sub'd.

2-27-2013 Day 46 & Day 39
Temp: 75°
Humidity: 40%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1250ppm

Just a quick update --

The weather is getting warmer, and that's starting to affect my temps inside the tent, but just slightly. The plants are responding VERY WELL to the Botanicare Cal-Mag, they're growing about 1/2" per day. I'm starting to see more preflowers, so I'm pretty certain which ones will be my females now.


Group:






Here is the left side of the tent:
Left (top is Blue Mystic Baby, bottom is Blue Mystic 2), Right (top is White Widow Baby, bottom is White Widow):




Here is the right side of the tent:
Left (top is Pineapple Express Auto, bottom is Blue Mystic 1), Right (top is Deformed RoadRunner, bottom is RoadRunner):


More on the way, thanks for reading!

-Cash

3-01-2013 Day 48 & Day 41
Temp: 74°
Humidity: 45%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1200ppm

Huge Update!! -- Lots of exciting things have been happening lately:

• I suspected a few plants were males about a week ago, and so I shut off the reservoir pump, and began hand-feeding the plants.
• I was only feeding the females a nutrient solution, and I basically starved off the plants that I suspected were males.
• It turns out I was correct, and the plants that I thought were males turned out to actually be males.

Because of this, the females out grew the males, and became giant bushes - they were taller, had longer branches and much larger fan leaves. Today is the day I will be pulling out my males, and leaving only the females behind.

I will also be rolling back the clock to 14/10, and replacing the MH bulb with the HPS bulb.

Why 14/10 and not 12/12??

• After I pulled the males, I did a lot of pruning on the females..I want to encourage a "little bit" of vegetative growth for about a week to make up for what I've chopped off.
• Plus I figured that 14/10 was a good transition from veg to flower, since this occurs naturally.
• Also, I've got a few new additions to the grow tent..I have two clones of each female and some purple widow seedlings that just sprouted. 14/10 is a good light cycle to root clones, and will provide seedlings adequate light for vegetative growth. This is only temporary, as I am currently working on a Mother/Clone box for the seedlings and clones.

First off for the pics, I have the group before I pulled the males.

Group:






Here is the left side of the tent:
Left (top is Blue Mystic Baby, bottom is Blue Mystic 2), Right (top is White Widow Baby, bottom is White Widow):





Here is the right side of the tent:
Left (top is Pineapple Express Auto, bottom is Blue Mystic 1), Right (top is Deformed RoadRunner, bottom is RoadRunner):



Blue Mystic Baby:



Blue Mystic 1:



Blue Mystic 2 (My favorite):



White Widow Baby:



White Widow:



Deformed RoadRunner:





RoadRunner:



Pineapple Express Auto (my GF's favorite):



Stay tuned ... More to come

Thanks,
-Cash

3-01-2013 Day 48 & Day 41 pt. 2
Temp: 74°
Humidity: 45%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1200ppm

Second part of the update...

I pulled the males, gave them a proper memorial..then I chopped them bastards into pieces. I also pruned the two remaining females, and LST'd them...This is to prepare them for the SCROG that my GF is finishing for me.

First, here are the three males-

Blue Mystic 1, Blue Mystic Baby, and White Widow:




Here are their root balls:




Here is the tent BEFORE I pulled the males:




Here is the tent AFTER I pulled the males:





Here is the left side of the tent
Left(Blue Mystic 2) Right (White Widow Baby):




Here is the right side of the tent
Left(Pineapple Express) Right (RoadRunner):




Here is the Tent after the LST:




Here is the LST'd Blue Mystic:



Here is the LST'd White Widow:



Cloning:

I trimmed off the bottom branches, and used them for clones.





The top 2 are Blue Mystic, and the Bottom are White Widow:




I also have 4 new additions to the grow:

• 3x Purple Widow
  
• 1x Burmese Kush

I'll be back with an update on the Colloidal Silver treatment in a moment.

Thanks for reading,
-Cash

Colloidal Silver Treatment Continued pt.3

Everything is going according to plan..

I'm seeing some male flowers on the two plants that I've been spraying. I tried my best to get a clear picture of the pollen sacks, but they aren't pronounced enough for a clear shot. Now, I'm going to stop spraying so that the plants can start growing out some female AND male flowers.

Notice how the parts that have been sprayed are starting to wrinkle and crinkle - this is perfectly normal.

RoadRunner Auto:

Day 1



Day 14



Pineapple Express Auto:

Day 1


Day 14



I will update when I can get more pics of the male flowers...Till next time

Feel free to post comments, ask question or make suggestions!

Thanks for reading,
-Cash

booort said:

Really well done journal, great pics, explained well and easy to read. Sub'd.

Click to expand...

Hey booort! I appreciate your support!

+Rep to you!

Thanks,
-Cash

Out of curiosity how are you controlling the spread of pollen once those male flowers open up?

dellamore said:

Out of curiosity how are you controlling the spread of pollen once those male flowers open up?

Click to expand...

Hey dellamore, thats a good question...

I think I might wait until they are just about ready to release pollen, and then I'll pick the pollen sacks off and place them in an envelope. That way I can store the pollen for a while..

I'm open to suggestions though....

Thanks,
-Cash

That works! I put them in a little film canister. If you catch it right before it opens up, it will open up inside the canister and you can pick out the plant matter.

3-08-2013 Day 55 & Day 48
Temp: 78°
Humidity: 40%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1500ppm

Alright, I'm back with another update. This one will be short because I'm kinda in a hurry.

I'll start off by re-capping the past week, then I'll give you guys an update on the seedlings/clones, and finally a colloidal silver treatment update.

As you may recall, I pruned a ton of leaves off of the remaining females and this week they recovered. No major growth, but they are getting bushier everyday.

Group:

Day 49 & Day 42



Day 51 & Day 44



Day 53 & Day 46



Day 55 & Day 48



More to come, stick around.

Thanks.
-Cash

3-08-2013 Day 55 & Day 48 pt. 2
Temp: 78°
Humidity: 40%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1500ppm

As you know, I germinated a few more seeds after I pulled the males.

In my seedling/clone box, I now have:

3x Purple Widow
2x Burmese Kush
2x White Widow clones
2x Blue Mystic clones


Group:


Purple Widow #1





Some weird things have been going on with the Purple Widow seedlings.

First, one of the Purple Widow seedlings have 3 cotyledons instead of the normal 2. It seems to be stunted and not really growing at all.

Purple Widow #2





The third Purple Widow seedling has very small leaves, and also seems to be stunted. I'm not sure if this one is going to make it.


Purple Widow #3




I know I should give them more time, but I have 2 more Purple Widow seeds germinating in paper towels right now, just in case they don't pull through.





Burmese Kush:








The clones are looking good, they are all still green and perky, and it's been a week since I cut them. I'm spraying them down a few times per day, and I keep them covered with a humidity dome to keep the humidity levels at 100%.


Clones:

Colloidal Silver Treatment Continued pt.4

I've got some good news!

I'm happy to say that this CS experiment was a success.

I can finally show you preflowers!! They're starting to get a little bit larger, and I was able to capture them with the camera, I also circled them to help you guys see them.

Pineapple Express:
















RoadRunner Auto:











As always, feel free to ask question and make comments or suggestions.

Thanks,
-Cash

Awesome thread so far. Ill be following you along the way.

3-12-2013 Day 59 & Day 52
Temp: 76°
Humidity: 50%
pH: 6.0
TDS: 1500ppm

Hey guys, I'm back with another quick update!

So my GF finished the SCROG this past weekend, and Im so proud of her! I basically told her the tent dimensions, and said I needed the squares to be 2" x 2"..and voila!!! Let me know how you think she did.

I'm still trying to make sure it fits on top of the branches 'nice and snug'. It's been on for about 2 days, and the plants are adopting pretty well to it. I'm not sure if this is going to help the yield, but we shall see.

Group:




For the Blue Mystic, I tucked most of the leaves UNDER the canopy
Blue Mystic:





For the White Widow, I left most of the leaves ABOVE the canopy, I just want to see if there is a difference.
White Widow:




Pineapple Express:




RoadRunner:




Thanks,
-Cash

3-12-2013
Day 59 & Day 52 - Mother/clone/seedling box


I've also setup a temporary mother/clone/seedling box.

I built it using:

• a portable closet, courtesy of amazon
• Black and white panda film/poly film
• A 72-plant "professional" jiffy seedling tray
• 2x 26w CFL's with soda can reflectors

Like I said, this is temporary - I'm going to update to a 36" Secret Jardin grow tent.

For lighting I'm thinking about using either:

• 36" fluoro tubes
• 150w CFL w /reflector
• 250w MH w/ cooltube

But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

For now, I've got pics of the growth.

Group:


All of my clones have rooted except 1 Blue Mystic clone.
Blue Mystic & White Widow Clones:

2x Blue Mystic clones
2x White Widow Clones


Purple Widow:


5x Purple Widow seedlings
The oldest is about 3 days old.
*Reminder: I don't start counting days until the first set of leaves fully form.

Burmese Kush:


2x Burmese Kush seedlings


Let me know what you all think!

Thanks,

-Cash

Looks like things are full steam ahead. I was curious, you plant the female you want to treat before the females you want to polinate? or after? thanks man!