BiggMakk's Pure Tranquility In Soil Regular Photo

JiggiLotus · Apr 2, 2024

I'm completely illiterate when it comes to the pH testing water nutes stuff. However, could the water from the shot glass, could evaporation contribute to the lowering pH?

BiggMakk · Apr 6, 2024

JiggiLotus said:
I'm completely illiterate when it comes to the pH testing water nutes stuff. However, could the water from the shot glass, could evaporation contribute to the lowering pH

I won't rule anything out at this point. However, the first run of this test, all containers had a rise in pH. I think something may have dropped into the shot glass to lower the pH but I don't see any visible debris. So far, all of the evaporation has increased the pH except for the shot glass in the 2nd test.

BiggMakk · Apr 6, 2024

Day 64

Day 49 of vegetative stage

Watered 1 gallon of filtered water with 1 tbsp each of Big Bloom and Grow Big. Water/nutes poured into the SWICK base.

pH: 5.8 (a little lower than the 6.0 I have been aiming for since the pH drift upward is being observed)
EC: 1540
PPM: 3026

Averages over the last 24 hours:
Temperature: 73.5° F
Humidity: 58.0%
VPD: 1.22 kPa

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

BiggMakk · Apr 10, 2024

Day 68

Day 1 of flowering stage

After 52 days in veg, I flipped to 12/12 on the lights to begin flowering. Not sure what I was waiting for other than it's my first time making it to flowering on a regular plant and I don't know when to flip for sure. The plant has filled the tent horizontally as much as it can, so I flipped it. Still no clear indication of gender but I hope that changes in the next week. Sealed up the holes as much as I could to prevent light leaks.

Watered 1 gallon of filtered water poured into the SWICK base.

pH: 5.5

Averages over the last 24 hours:
Temperature: 74.0° F
Humidity: 60.4%
VPD: 1.15 kPa

Thanks for stopping by and having a look. By look, I mean here's a picture!

Time to start making flowers of some kind

BiggMakk_PT2_Day068-1.jpg

BiggMakk
Apr 10, 2024
flowering indica dominant indoor grow regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility grow #2
Day 68 overall
Day 1 of flowering stage

BiggMakk · Apr 12, 2024

Day 70

Day 1 of flowering stage (take 2)

I mis-programmed the light timer. Instead of setting it up for 12/12, I set it up for 24/0. DOH! It is now programmed correctly and a 12/12 cycle confirmed so I declare this Day 1 of flowering stage.

BiggMakk · Apr 18, 2024

Day 76

Day 7 of flowering stage

Well, crap. We're supposed to learn from our mistakes. I went down and checked on the plant yesterday. The plant looked fine. The floating water level indicator said the SWICK base was about half full. I guess my brain was about half working. I KNOW those floats stick. I have a new digital soil moisture meter that was reading 0% but I ignored it because I just started using it and wasn't sure it was working. Of course, the plant was dry. Today when I looked, it was drooping, severely. Shame on me.

So I mixed up some early flowering nutrients and supplements according to the FoxFarm schedule: Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, Big Foot Mycorrhizae, Open Sesame, and Cal-Mag. All that in 1 gallon of RO water. Applied a little bit to the top and the rest in the SWICK base. I'm sure it will recover but I have to learn from the mistakes. More water in a couple of days. It's already perked up considerably. The soil moisture meter says 33% so I know it's working.

pH: 5.6
EC: 2761 µS
PPM: 1392

Averages over the last 24 hours:
Temperature: 74.2° F
Humidity: 51.1%
VPD: 1.46 kPa (need to work on getting this down closer to 1.00)

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

(No picture tonight as I'm too embarrassed. Trust me, it's drooping.)

BiggMakk · Apr 21, 2024

Day 79

Day 10 of flowering stage

As expected, the plant recovered just fine from my mistake. Finally get to make the gender reveal!!!

It's a boy!!!

BiggMakk_PT2_Day079-1.jpg

BiggMakk
Apr 21, 2024
flowering indica dominant indoor grow male flower regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility grow #2
Day 79 overall
Day 10 of flowering stage
Gender reveal. It's a boy!!!

This doesn't change much for this plant. Since I don't think this strain is available anywhere (the breeder got out of the business) it is important that I collect some pollen so I can propagate some seeds of this strain. I still have 8 seeds so I should be able to create seeds from a future female. Doesn't hurt to get practice keeping a plant flourishing during the flowering phase.

Added a gallon of RO water to the base.

pH: 5.4
EC: 11 µS
PPM: 5

Averages over the last 24 hours:
Temperature: 69.6° F
Humidity: 64.4%
VPD: 0.89 kPa (much better)

Thanks for stopping by and having a look. And here's a post-recovery picture.

BiggMakk_PT2_Day079-2.jpg

BiggMakk
Apr 21, 2024
flowering indica dominant indoor grow male flower regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility grow #2
Day 79 overall
Day 10 of flowering stage

BiggMakk · Apr 24, 2024

Day 82

Day 13 of flowering stage

This grow is nearing its end. Lots of male flowers. They look like they are ready to start opening so I'm checking it every day. I turned off the circulating fan. I don't want pollen blown all over the tent if they do open before I can harvest. Added a gallon of RO water to the SWICK base. Looks like I can start a couple of new plants this weekend.

pH: 5.6
EC: 111 µS
PPM: 54

Averages over the last 24 hours:
Temperature: 69.5° F
Humidity: 64.7%
VPD: 0.88 kPa

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

LOTS of 'naners!

BiggMakk_PT2_Day082-1.jpg

BiggMakk
Apr 24, 2024
flowering indica dominant indoor grow male regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility grow #2
Day 82 overall
Day 13 of flowering stage

Big growth in the last week

BiggMakk_PT2_Day082-2.jpg

BiggMakk
Apr 24, 2024
flowering indica dominant indoor grow male regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility grow #2
Day 82 overall
Day 13 of flowering stage

BiggMakk · 2024-05-01T15:21:54-0700

Day 84

Day 15 of flowering stage

Last Saturday I harvested pollen. Two stems had grown up to the light. Put the harvested plant parts into 1 gallon Ziploc bags. Put them in the closet but left them open to facilitate drying. I just cut off the tops of stems including some smaller leaves that had visible pollen coating them. I have to say he was growing hard until the end. I think he grew about a foot in the last 10 days.

Pushing up past the light

BiggMakk_PT2_Day084-1.jpg

BiggMakk
Today at 1:53 PM
harvest indica dominant indoor grow male plant regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility #2
Day 84 overall
Day 15 of flowering stage/harvest
Growth up to and past the...

BiggMakk_PT2_Day084-2.jpg

BiggMakk
Today at 1:53 PM
harvest indica dominant indoor grow male plant regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility #2
Day 84 overall
Day 15 of flowering stage/harvest
Growth up to and past the...

The post-harvest plant carcass

BiggMakk_PT2_Day084-3.jpg

BiggMakk
Today at 1:53 PM
harvest indica dominant indoor grow male plant regular photoperiod tent

Pure Tranquility #2
Day 84 overall
Day 15 of flowering stage/harvest
The remnants of the plant

Now comes the job of cleaning. The light and exhaust fan and filter are visibly coated with pollen. Fortunately the cloth pre-filter can be removed and washed. I'll vacuum the light, exhaust fan, circulating fan, and carbon filter. I can reverse the ends of the carbon filter to run air through it in the opposite direction. I will wash down the walls, ceiling, and floor of the tent with some kind of cleaning solution. I haven't decided what yet.

It also turns out, you don't have to have bad allergies to be affected by that much pollen. I had burning eyes and sneezing after spending time in the grow room after the harvest. Even though I don't think I have allergies, maybe that much pollen is going to cause some physical reactions. I put our HEPA air filter in the room in the hopes it sucks most of the pollen out of the air. It claims to trap particles down to 0.3 microns.

Lessons Learned this grow

1. Shorten veg cycle. This is only my second photoperiod grow so I'm still trying to figure out timing on how long to veg. 54 days is too long for this strain in a 3' x 3' tent. Might be different for a female plant vs. a male plant. I haven't had a female of this strain yet.
2. Do a better job at keeping plants watered. There were a couple of times during this grow that I UNINTENTIONALLY let him get too dry. Fortunately, these plants are very resilient and can recover nicely but it is still unnecessary stress.
3. This was my first grow using the SWICK watering bases. Still learning the ins and outs of their use. Overall, I say they did a good job of keeping the plant watered as long as I don't trust the floating water level indicator.
4. Pollen collection. Never done that before. Kind of a mess but I want to create seeds of this strain since they aren't available at seed banks as far as I can tell. Right now, I don't think the mess is worth doing this on a regular basis. (Get it? REGULAR, like the seed.) I understand that one round of pollenating a female plant will create lots of seeds so I should only have to do it once. Maybe try cloning next time.

Taps on the back

I will take credit for working the nutrients well. There was no evidence of nutrient burn so I didn't over do it. He grew plenty so there was no lack nutes to promote growth. No yellowing, curling, or other leaf defects that indicate lack or over abundance of nutrients. Score 1 for me!

There will probably be one or two more posts in this journal regarding the drying and storing of pollen. Can't wait for another grow SO I DROPPED 2 SEEDS in water and H2O2. See the next grow journal.