Hempy nutes - PPM levels showing way lower than what they should be?

Thanks @WattSaver, that is not good news. I guess I am hoping this little LED that could, can prove you wrong? I do have some CFLs from my last grow, I might have an 85-watter, not sure though. I suppose I could hook a strong CFL up in here and it wouldn't do much harm, and could only do good. It may increase the heat a bit though, not sure.

Today's update: I am still getting vertical growth, which you won't see in this pic cuz I just 'tucked' her back in as she's about to go nite-nite. BTW, anyone know if it's better to do your tucking/training before/after/during night or day?? Is there any advantage one way or the other - I was thinking during the night would be easiest as she'd already be relaxed and hanging low.. ??

I am now seeing tons of little flowers bud-lets as I call them, beginning to form at just about every node joint. One of the 'colas' already has several up and down one side of it.

A teensy tiny bit of nute burn finally. On most of the tips. Barely a smidge, almost didn't even see it. I added some fresh tap water and also my next batch I mixed the nutes back down to where they should be (I had been going a little heavy, but didn't go overboard - maybe 20% extra). I'm back down to the 1/3 full flower feed schedule. Will keep an eye out for more nute burn in case my res is getting more concentrated.. I also tipped the tub a few times today.

I also just raised up the LED light - though not sure I should have done that now based on what @WattSaver says.. I should try to keep it closer, but it's just a PITA to keep having to move and it's really hard to tuck and check on it when the light is too close. I still see a big shadow from the plant onto the below hydroton so I think the light is getting good penetration. I just hope it can do it's deed and make me happy....

I hope you prove me wrong also. That light will grow some bud I just don't think you'll be impressed. I played with LED's about 5yrs ago. I bought one of the first led panels that that had 3w diodes. It is a 350W panel with a mix of 1w and 3w diodes this as I found out was a serious design flaw. The panel had to be raised to the level where the 3w didn't bleach the tops, and at that distance the 1w were much less effective. In the end I augmented the panel with 4 - 105W cfls and had T8's on the side walls. One day I added it up and it was 898 watts, I went straight to the store and came home with a hood and 2 - 400W CMH bulbs. Hope you don't mind here's a shot of a scrog during the augmented led set-up.

@WattSaver - were you using full-spectrum white LEDs?

Update: Day 9 of flower, everywhere I look I see little pre-flowers forming. Some of them are as big as the end of a pencil, most of them are about the size of a pencil's lead still. Starting to see a bunch of pistils now too.

Mostly been scrogging/tucking everything - staying on top of it. It seems like the tops are growing budlets, and also both sides of every node. Is it OK to top a cola if it is growing too tall? I have one (of my ~30) tops which I don't know where to move to so was thinking if I topped it now I wouldn't lose any growth/flower instead it would go to the node(s) below it - right?? I can't find a way to tuck it, so I might have to top it.. My scrog is totally full now, so I'm glad I went into flower when I did. I will keep tucking for another week or so, and then I guess it shouldn't stretch much more, huh?

No pics this time because there's nothing to see and I couldn't get a good shot of the pistils or pre-flowers really (just using my iPhone). I'll shoot some pics in another week or so, hopefully by then there's some buds..

Day 55 (Day 13 of flower). Lots of pistils everywhere. Here's a closeup of one of the tops, but there's a lot of other shoots that are already about this same size. Starting to noticeably drink more water too.

You guys think I need to trim some of the leaves below the screen? Seems like I'm out of space already and below the screen is getting thicker. But I figure as long as it's below the screen it won't block bud sites, and might as well leave them and as they will help it photosynthesize as much energy as it can, right??

Any idea if it will keep stretching or will it slow down and just focus on budding?? I'm running out of spaces to tuck, and some squares are just like 5 layers of leaves thick by now. I have one zip-tied already because I don't know where else to tuck it (it's one of the two main/topped colas). Any feedback is appreciated..

Also, about to go out of town for 7 days (eek!!!) but have rigged up a minute-based timer to pump a minute's worth of water a few times a day, and will let it drain to another bucket or could just recycle it - thoughts? It's been on DTW this whole time.. I think if I do recycle I better lower the ppm a little as it may nute up a bit.. Thoughts/recommendations??

BTW, more magnetic tips - I gorilla glued magnets to the back of this little digital hygrometer/thermometer which works perfect, and I also got this really strong magnetic hook (says it holds 65lbs vertically-mounted) which I am using to hang my little cross-flow fan you see in the pic there. Worked out great and since the box is 100% metal, I can basically hang this stuff anywhere I need to!

Thanks!

Another quick update. These pics are from day 23 flowering. I was gone for a week, but set up an auto irrigator with recycle (just in case it drinks too much). It did fine. I made the nutes a bit weak because I knew it would be recycled. It ended up drinking about 3L in the process (some was lost due to evap I'm sure too). This was over 7 days though.

It did a bit of stretching still, unfortunately, and so it is kind of out of control now. I tied down a few of the higher branches with zip ties (after this pic was taken), but today being flower day 25, I sure hope it is done with the stretching very soon as I'd like to keep it flatter with the light right close to it.

You guys think I need to do any more trimming? Lots of fan leaves, getting bigger overnight.. I try to tuck and move them as best I can so the bud sites are exposed..

I am trying to learn more about these plants in general - I have taken a pic of one of my tops and numbered several key areas: 1/3/7 are bud sites and 2/4/5/6 are fan leaves.

I am considering trimming some of the fan leaves on some of my stalks, but I am not sure how these all interact with one-another.

For instance, if I trim fan leaf 2 will that affect bud site 1? If I trim 4 will it affect 3? If I trim 5 and 6 will it affect 7? Doesn't 7 have it's own leaves though?

See how this guy trimmed all of his fan leaves??? https://www.420magazine.com/forums/abandoned-journals/169789-sqwheels-garden-bonsai-style-35.html#post1692856

I am trying to understand the inter-dependency of the fan leaves and the buds. I obviously want the plant's consumption of water/nutes to be focused on the bud sites and not the leaves themselves, so I was thinking of removing them, but not if it negatively-affects my (larger) bud sites.. Thoughts???

TIA...

Note: If you can't read the numbers in the attachment pop-up, try this view: https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/foo-jpg.3555232/

Another quick update: Day 31 of flower. No pics, sorry. Buds are getting slightly bigger and getting very frosty. I upped the nutes slightly to basically the max level for Flora Duo (see other thread with @rkymtnman if you're interested in more detail) and so far, so good - still looking awesome. Still too many leaves for my liking, but I am not gonna go nutes and mass de-foliate - too risky at this point. I think next grow I will use scrog to lay out 4 tops and just strip off all other leaflets and let it focus on the 4 tops instead, as this go around I'm likely to end up with lots of smaller buds/larf..

Will update in another week or so when there's something to show.

Here's a pic of one of my buds - getting pretty frosty as you can see (though the picture doesn't do it justice). Not the most frosty, but one which I could easily snap a pic of.

Day 37-ish (week 5.5) of Flower.. Calyxes forming all over now, each with their own orange pistil. Several tops are super frosty.. I guess I'm doing something right. Each cola is only about the size/length of my thumb but I'm hoping they plump up a lot in these last 2.5 weeks or so.. Still on 1/3 nute ratio for A/B for Flora Duo.. It's a micro Hempy grow, but it's working out perfect thus far... Here's the closeup of #1 - #superfrosty https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/img_0019-jpg.3563981/