GrowLab 80 - G13 Pineapple Express ... [200w T5 veg / 400w HPS flower]

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
Question for Sr. Verde, how long or how much growth did you let pass before you started your regular nute schedule? Thanks.
Hmm tough question actually :lol:

I gradually brought the nutes up from like 1/8 strength to 1/1 (full strength).. Over like 8 waterings.. I did the first 3 waterings with plain water, and let the fox farms ocean forest nutes get used up in the soil.. Then I started adding super light doses.. For instance one of my inital feedings was like 3mL Grow Big per gal ... I just get the feeling that the plants would rather have 1/8 strength from the start, slowly increasing... Rather than just starting off with 1/3 strength 3 weeks into veg after only using plain water. So far it seems like the ladies agree! No burns, and they are growing like hell.

Basically - I'm just used to when a plant starts to need food, and made sure I was feeding them enough for them to stay healthy green a week before that. They are pretty nice and healthy now, I'm nearly to full strength veg-phase feedings.


I just fed yesteday.. with /gal

Grow Big 12mL
Big Bloom 20mL
BioWeed 6mL
CalMag 8mL
pH @ 6.5
 

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
Day 29 today

started zip tie training on #1.. will do the same on #2 shortly..


Going to transplant to final pots tomorrow... veg them hard, screen them up.. turn on the 400hps on 12/12 and watch them goooooo.! They are looking healthier and healthier each day - very vigorous strain! :weed:





zip ties
 

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Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
Low Stress Training... Ahh...

Yes, always training and bending.. Always!

I'm going to throw a simple plastic screen up in there once the plants get more than a few inches from the ground.. I'd say I'm about half way through veg right now, if not slightly past that. Hopefully from here on I can just push these girls and watch them blow up... I'll buy a 400w MH, to slap in my hood, if the 200w floro isn't enough power!
 

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
Day 31 today (technically begins in a few hours)

Transplanted, from their first small pots... Into their final large pots..

To be honest I've never worked with these pots, so they are new to me. Slightly larger than I'm used to. 5 gals it says... my old ones were 10.5Liters.... I'm hoping the plant will be able to fill up the new soil with some firm roots over the next 2-3 weeks..

I will take it another month MAX for veg, then flip the 400w HPS on for around 55 days and hope we can pull some weight! I will find out in about 2 weeks if the 200w floro is enough veg light for these girls! They seem to be vegging more vigorously each day, and starting to smell like some top shelf cannabis..
 

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JHock08

Member
Sr. Verde, when you topped, did you cut, break, or pinch? Also, do you plan on doing topping/FIMming again? Thx.,
 

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
I clipped the top growth above the first true node to produce two tops.....

Not topping again, vegging for a couple more weeks then going 12/12 under 400w HPS
 

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
I clipped the top growth above the first true node to produce two tops.....

Not topping again, vegging for a couple more weeks then going 12/12 under 400w HPS
 

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
Day 34... Doing good so far, pretty much on schedule I'd say.




#2 is a triploid.. + some weird mutated leaves from it.. Oh well




They are starting to get vigorous in their veg, I will drop back to half strength nutes for a bit until they really need it. They have fresh soil to get into now.

Will do some algae foliar spray/soil soak to get the roots to fill out that pot a little faster.:weed:
 

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jacknpurp

Active Member
Looks good man, I have the same strain currently in my grow of 6 different strains at 25 days, and it is the second strongest/largest so far. Couple questions if you don't mind..

1. Where do you get this 'kelp'? is it powder or what? brand/where you can buy?

2. How have you kept your pH stable?

I just had a problem last week, where I would lower the pH to around 6.5 since I'm in soil, yet the run off was testing at 5.2! Plants were showing signs of trouble, so I started flushing them like crazy and still took tons of gallons just to get them back up to 6.5. Some are still at 6.2 or so but I don't want to overwater everyday as I give them at least 4-5 days to dry out between watering. I'm thinking that the previous 3-4 waterings since I used a pH lower everytime to get it to 6.5, it has built up each time and lowered the soil overall to 5.0-5.2 which was killing my plants? you think?
 

Someguy15

Well-Known Member
Possible, also peat moss tends to go acidic after a little use, and most soils are composed of peat. The lesson learned is you can't just ph your water to 6.5 and let it ride. I would b checking the run off at least once a week to make sure it's where you want it.
 

Sr. Verde

Well-Known Member
comin along nice verde
Thanks man! I think so too. ;)


Looks good man, I have the same strain currently in my grow of 6 different strains at 25 days, and it is the second strongest/largest so far. Couple questions if you don't mind..

1. Where do you get this 'kelp'? is it powder or what? brand/where you can buy?

2. How have you kept your pH stable?

I just had a problem last week, where I would lower the pH to around 6.5 since I'm in soil, yet the run off was testing at 5.2! Plants were showing signs of trouble, so I started flushing them like crazy and still took tons of gallons just to get them back up to 6.5. Some are still at 6.2 or so but I don't want to overwater everyday as I give them at least 4-5 days to dry out between watering. I'm thinking that the previous 3-4 waterings since I used a pH lower everytime to get it to 6.5, it has built up each time and lowered the soil overall to 5.0-5.2 which was killing my plants? you think?
Hey man, first, congrats on the grow ;). Sounds like fun!

1. Kelp, from the ocean :).. AKA seaweed... No but seriously.. There are a lot of products out there from what I've seen, ranging from liquids to add to your nutes/foliar sprays all the way to powders that you mix in with your soil. There used to be a really good thread on RIU that I can no longer find about KELP, with information on whats in it, and what the best kind is... From my recollection, there are good and bad kelps to use, however mostly all kelp.. for-PLANT products are ascophyllum nodosum.. If you look closely, some products contain it in small amounts already- such as GROW BIG by Fox Farms..

Personally I use a product called, "Bio-Weed" from GO (general organics).. I just went for 100% kelp, organic, to add to my nutrients. This stuff is a green muck, 5mL per gallon is the highest dose on the bottle. Just thick, seaweed. Makes the grow /soil smell like the ocean, because of the seaweed. Very pleasant, actually.

You want cold processed kelp, the kelp that is processed ASAP as to capture all the growth hormones, auxins and etc. Seaweed is naturally high the plant chemicals required for growth - which is why seaweed grows like HELL (see: california kelp fields, 100ft long reeds of kelp). By grinding that stuff up and processing it cold we can then add it to our soil, and cover our roots with natural hormones that makes the roots/cannabis grow like hell :).

That's a pretty basic outline of what kelp is/does, I'm no scientist, just regurgitating what I've read /heard and believed to be true.


2. Honestly, I sort of wing my pH. I water with water that has been pH balanced to be in the proper pH range, then I just assume that the pH buffers in my Fox Farms Soil will keep my pH steady if I keep watering with 6.3-6.8. (not to totally go against someguy 15 below me LMAO)..

However, last round when I started bumping up my Fox Farms nutes (tiger bloom and big bloom) I started to notice some deficiencies, very very SLIGHT that didn't affect the crop whatsoever, however the def. did kind of fry up some foliage. Maybe 5-15%. -==-

This made me realize that the Fox Farms line was way more acidic than I was used to, and that I needed to flush my soil every once in a while to clear out all the dissolved salts when using Fox Farms nutes in high amounts. You see, last crop was my first time using the fox farms lineup, and I plan on using it again this run. This leaf burn occured about 40-50 days into flowering, with me never have flushed the soil, even after 50 days of veg. So my soil was probably about as acidic as it would ever get. As a note I measured my pH runoff at like 5.3 initally, after 3 gals of fresh water @ 7.0pH , it was at like 6.1 and that was cool with me, and the plants seemed fine. I figured my soil would be slightly more acidic than my nutrient solution anyway, and I just kept feeding with 6.8 pHd water figuring they would average somewhere from 6.3-6.5 once it settled into the soil.

Possible, also peat moss tends to go acidic after a little use, and most soils are composed of peat. The lesson learned is you can't just ph your water to 6.5 and let it ride. I would b checking the run off at least once a week to make sure it's where you want it.
Yeah, like I said above I don't really do that and don't have many problems. Not to be a dick, or claim to know the right way, but it just works for me. But different strokes for different folks, I always say. Not saying I don't ever have a problem, I just don't have consistent problems and my soil runoff is between 5-6 at any given time that I measure it..


To everybody - my BASIC recommendations for growing are: A decent pH meter (electrode replaceable, and reads to .01. Mine is both and cost $45), pH up/pH Down, CalMag, GOOD soil, & lastly some type of filtered water. Using all those, it's pretty easy to control the variables. City water sucks - flouride, chlorene. I use a brita filter on the tap, and it gets rid of those terrible chemicals. The pH meter lets you know your measurements are reliable, Calmag adds the essental micronutrients that is the MOST COMMON deficiency BACK into your water (once your filter takes it out), good soil keeps the pH steady, and you know its bug free. Everything else after that should be personal preference :).

Lookin Great!
Thanks!
 

jacknpurp

Active Member
I appreciate the detailed response! I'm using FF nutes but I'm going to see if the store has that Bio Weed. Thanks

I just noticed the pineapple express is getting some dark red stems. Some of my others are showing a little red, but the pineapple is dark red down all the fan leaf stems. You ever have that problem?
 

C.Indica

Well-Known Member
My Headband has some intense vigor.
Trichomes are super thick already on new growth, at day 11.

I might do a round of these seeds if my pheno turns out to be stellar.
 

JHock08

Member
Sr. Verde, would yo say it's necessary to use a cal-mag supplement if you're not noticing any deficiencies?
 
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