BakedArea's 1st Grow! 2019 Outdoor/Greenhouse: StrawDiesel x Critical+

[BakedARea]

Added a nice little feature to my grow. I got a WiFi thermometer and hydrometer. Remote tracking of temps is kind of cool. I can stress out about them away from home where I can do anything about it anyway! Got notifications today that my temps were jumping past 100. I was able to text my son and he opened up the tent. I'm sharing the same story on a post I made about spiking temps and humidity. Has me worried. Need to add a second fan ASAP.

Figured I would share a couple pics and screenshots. The soil sensor is pretty cool. Thinking about adding some to the other plants. Up to 8 soil sensors.

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• BakedARea
• Aug 8, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 8, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 8, 2019

 

[HayStack]

Ok...I was about to do the supercropping and then I got psyched out! I started thinking about when the best time to do it is. In the morning to allow them a full day of energy to heal? Or is it better in the evening? Or does it matter at all?

Since I hesitated, I decided to do something else. I pulled this one back a little bit more. You like my pot anchor? I'm sure these won't last too long but it would be cool to find out. It's an easy way to anchor the lines. Also, the area where those branches snapped are healing up! It is starting to look darker and looks like it is thicker. Maybe I'm seeing things. I was going to remove that flexible plastic I used to wrap it in tape. I got nervous about taking it off. LOL I think tomorrow, I'm going to just tape over it to minimize. Thoughts?

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• BakedARea
• Aug 7, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 7, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 7, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 7, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 7, 2019

Nicely done on the training. That will get you a few more tops.

 

[BakedARea]

Nicely done on the training. That will get you a few more tops.

Thanks. I'm trying to get a couple other branches to bend to an open spot. I've got a few small branches that are stuck below some of the larger ones. Should I just prune those lower branches out at this point to focus energy in the upper canopy?

Another question was about supercropping. Should I just go ahead and do it now on those two in these pots? I imagine they still have a couple weeks to fill up that pot size before moving them up. I was going to transplant them into a 5 gallon fabric pot later. Will it be harder to transplant after they are supercropped? Or should I just go ahead and get that task done and stop procrastinating? LOL

 

[HayStack]

Thanks. I'm trying to get a couple other branches to bend to an open spot. I've got a few small branches that are stuck below some of the larger ones. Should I just prune those lower branches out at this point to focus energy in the upper canopy?

Another question was about supercropping. Should I just go ahead and do it now on those two in these pots? I imagine they still have a couple weeks to fill up that pot size before moving them up. I was going to transplant them into a 5 gallon fabric pot later. Will it be harder to transplant after they are supercropped? Or should I just go ahead and get that task done and stop procrastinating? LOL

I'd leave the lower branches on for now. They might catch up to the rest of the tops now that you've trained the upper half of the plant.

And yes, do the supercropping before you transplant. It only takes about a week before the supercropping heals up enough to transplant it. The days are getting shorter fast, so you'll want to supercrop now so they have time for the new tops to grow upward. Know what I mean?

 

[BakedARea]

I'd leave the lower branches on for now. They might catch up to the rest of the tops now that you've trained the upper half of the plant.

And yes, do the supercropping before you transplant. It only takes about a week before the supercropping heals up enough to transplant it. The days are getting shorter fast, so you'll want to supercrop now so they have time for the new tops to grow upward. Know what I mean?

Gotcha! I will do it today.

 

[BakedARea]

Wheeeewwww...My first supercrop attempt! I have no idea why but that was kind of stressful. I just took my time and slowly broke the fibers down between my fingers and then used more pressure to finally squeeze the stalk. Bent over super easy after that. What do you all think?

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• BakedARea
• Aug 10, 2019
• bakedarea critical + strawberry diesel

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• BakedARea
• Aug 10, 2019
• bakedarea critical + strawberry diesel

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• BakedARea
• Aug 10, 2019
• bakedarea critical + strawberry diesel

 

[HayStack]

They look great! I've never had a plant that grew that tall before supercropping, but ill bet it be just fine. How old are those two now?

 

[BakedARea]

Just over 8 weeks. They were very late seeds. Not sure how likely it will be that they will be ready to start flower when I switch the other two. Just I extend the veg for the other two for another few weeks to get some extra growth?

 

[HayStack]

When are you planning to flip? I would say they need at least a few more weeks of veg. They will need a few days to recover from the supercropping and then at least 2-3 weeks to get some vertical growth on the upper part of the plant that has been bent over.

I've never grown in an outdoor tent. But I would assume that the tent let's in a good amount of light. And then you are supplementing the light with your own light. Is that correct? If so, you can go for at least another month in veg if you want. But then you have to worry about outside temps. When are you planning to harvest? In late October or November?

 

[BakedARea]

I noticed this yesterday and it was a bit more intense today. I also noticed some yellowing in the veins. I was looking into the plant problems threads and my thought is a magnesium deficiency. Would you agree with that? Best way to turn this around? Calcium and pH? I can get some more pics tomorrow if needed.

Thanks

 

[Emilya Green]

I know you misspoke, but calcium wont fix magnesium. CalMag+ is what you need and be sure you pH is down near the low end of the range.

 

[BakedARea]

I know you misspoke, but calcium wont fix magnesium. CalMag+ is what you need and be sure you pH is down near the low end of the range.

Thanks so much. I recently read your DIY CalMag+ recipe. Something on my to-do list! Wife is a Baker so there is never a shortage of eggs in our house.

I guess misspoke and ignorance are one in the same for me. Although I will likely lean on the latter. LOL

What I was trying to say is if my balance of calcium is off, will the Mg not absorb correctly?

One of the other things I need to figure out regarding feeding is I have backed off A LOT from watering after reading your post on watering in containers. Should I plan on foliar feeding of CalMag+ until my next watering or just go ahead and give them what they need via another watering? Or do some shallow waterings over the next week to keep pumping nutes into the soil?

Thoughts on Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate). I use it almost exclusively for my other garden as a regular part of my feeding regimen throughout the spring and summer.
Epsom Salts: a natural hack to grow healthy cannabis plants

Also, I have been holding off on getting a pH meter but it seems I need to make that decision and just bite the bullet. I will test my soil tomorrow and adjust accordingly for any other nutrients. I also recently purchased a hose in-line filter to help remove chlorine and other typical tap water contaminants. Thankfully we have fairly clean municipal water. Hopefully with a few corrections, everything will be back in balance.

 

[HayStack]

Like @Emilya said. Add Calmag and the discoloring of the leaves should go away. But other than that, the plant looks great. And I'm loving the temp and humidity sensor you got. I may need to get some for my indoor grows.

 

[Emilya Green]

Thanks so much. I recently read your DIY CalMag+ recipe. Something on my to-do list! Wife is a Baker so there is never a shortage of eggs in our house.

I guess misspoke and ignorance are one in the same for me. Although I will likely lean on the latter. LOL

What I was trying to say is if my balance of calcium is off, will the Mg not absorb correctly?

One of the other things I need to figure out regarding feeding is I have backed off A LOT from watering after reading your post on watering in containers. Should I plan on foliar feeding of CalMag+ until my next watering or just go ahead and give them what they need via another watering? Or do some shallow waterings over the next week to keep pumping nutes into the soil?

Thoughts on Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate). I use it almost exclusively for my other garden as a regular part of my feeding regimen throughout the spring and summer.
Epsom Salts: a natural hack to grow healthy cannabis plants

Also, I have been holding off on getting a pH meter but it seems I need to make that decision and just bite the bullet. I will test my soil tomorrow and adjust accordingly for any other nutrients. I also recently purchased a hose in-line filter to help remove chlorine and other typical tap water contaminants. Thankfully we have fairly clean municipal water. Hopefully with a few corrections, everything will be back in balance.

The problem with Ca and Mg is that they will lock each other out... too much Mg and you cant absorb Ca, and vice versa. This is the primary reason we don't totally load the soil up before hand with either of these... it is best to supplement slowly all through the grow when needed.
This is not a crisis... I would not do anything different except add calmag+ on the next watering. If you really have nothing better to do, a foliar feed of epsom salt can act as a band-aid, but I would just wait till the next watering and add it to the roots, and then knowing that this plant needs extra Mg, I would keep with a maintenance dose with each feeding, the rest of the grow. As far as adding Epsom Salt to the soil... any more than 1 tbls on the surface one time would be way too much. I would not add it to my soil in a live grow... as I am composting, yes... but not to fix this.
You can not test soil pH with a meter. Any reading you get will just confuse you. If you have bought a typical commercial potting soil, you can assume the pH to be around 6.8, right where it needs to be so that when you water at 6.3 pH, everything works as it was intended.

 

[BakedARea]

Like @Emilya said. Add Calmag and the discoloring of the leaves should go away. But other than that, the plant looks great. And I'm loving the temp and humidity sensor you got. I may need to get some for my indoor grows.

Thanks! I will give that a shot. As for the temp and humidity sensors...it's awesome! The fact I can add soil moisture sensors and calibrate them is a huge added benefit. They are short sensors though which sucks.

The problem with Ca and Mg is that they will lock each other out... too much Mg and you cant absorb Ca, and vice versa. This is the primary reason we don't totally load the soil up before hand with either of these... it is best to supplement slowly all through the grow when needed.
This is not a crisis... I would not do anything different except add calmag+ on the next watering. If you really have nothing better to do, a foliar feed of epsom salt can act as a band-aid, but I would just wait till the next watering and add it to the roots, and then knowing that this plant needs extra Mg, I would keep with a maintenance dose with each feeding, the rest of the grow. As far as adding Epsom Salt to the soil... any more than 1 tbls on the surface one time would be way too much. I would not add it to my soil in a live grow... as I am composting, yes... but not to fix this.
You can not test soil pH with a meter. Any reading you get will just confuse you. If you have bought a typical commercial potting soil, you can assume the pH to be around 6.8, right where it needs to be so that when you water at 6.3 pH, everything works as it was intended.

I appreciate the wisdom more than I can express here. I will go get that CalMag today. Also working on your DIY recipe. I tend to prefer to do things in a DIY style. Which leads me to the soil. I made it myself. I posted the recipe in the first post. I did add some granular organic fertilizer at the beginning. I am guessing they are using it up quick. As for the soil pH, I bought one of those at home testing kitsch that you have to manually check for each N, P, K, and pH by adding a solution to the soil and then putting that soil and solution to the viles with the reactor to see which color it turns into. It primarily use it for my blueberries which prefer acidic soils. I was going to give that a try to see if that would give me a starting point. Have you tried those before by chance? Thoughts on accuracy?

 

[Emilya Green]

No, havent tried it but it sounds like it must be accurate. If you still have a choice I would add dolomite until the soil had reached 6.8 or so, just so you get a postitive drift out of the soil

 

[BakedARea]

No, havent tried it but it sounds like it must be accurate. If you still have a choice I would add dolomite until the soil had reached 6.8 or so, just so you get a postitive drift out of the soil

Sounds good! I just added some Fox Farm CalMag. How often should I use it? Only when I water and for as long as I see a deficiency? Or just keep adding it all the way through flower? I'm going to give the newly added calmag a couple days and I will check the soil pH. I'll also be getting a pH solution meter for future waterings and making sure that stays in the right range during watering. Thanks again @Emilya

 

[Emilya Green]

A plant that shows a mag deficiency usually has that problem the rest of the grow, so I put that plant on a maintenance dose every time I feed.

 

[BakedARea]

A plant that shows a mag deficiency usually has that problem the rest of the grow, so I put that plant on a maintenance dose every time I feed.

Gotcha! Good wisdom to keep. Next season, I will be better prepared and will be growing from seed. I will have to keep a stricter regime of record keeping, nutes, and water cycle so I know how to prevent these issues from the get go. Kind of happy to experience these issues to be honest. Helps me grow better plants in the future.

 

[BakedARea]

Some updates pics. A closeup of the magnesium deficiency on the short and stout lady that is in the back right of the group photo. Also a new issue I am trying to figure out. I try to search through the forum for answers prior to asking but sometimes I don't know what exactly I'm searching for. Any thoughts on these white splotches? This is primarily on 1 of the younger plants that I supercropped.

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• BakedARea
• Aug 15, 2019
• bakedarea critical + strawberry diesel

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• BakedARea
• Aug 15, 2019
• bakedarea critical + strawberry diesel

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• BakedARea
• Aug 15, 2019
• bakedarea critical + strawberry diesel

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• BakedARea
• Aug 15, 2019

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• BakedARea
• Aug 15, 2019