Choppy's DWC Blue Cookies Grow Journal Oct 2018

[Grownicorn]

Thanks Chappie. Your next grow, at third node is when you start training. From all I read that seems to be standard. You have done a really great job with training your girls


If I am able to pull off what I am attempting, to use the first node from the one branch and grow them as main branches, then have 8 sets of nodes per side plus the main one, that will give me 34 nodes to make buds pluse probably 21 or 23 buds on the main branch for about +50 bud total from one plant. I should still easily meet and exceed my goal for this grow of 300 grams of dried buds.

I've noticed a bit of root rot on my girls, as well - brownish slime around the base of the roots. I've been keeping my res temps around 74-76 until now, but I'm gonna be adding a second peltier cooler setup to drop that down to 68-ish. This DWC stuff is fussy!

 

[chopdoc]

I've noticed a bit of root rot on my girls, as well - brownish slime around the base of the roots. I've been keeping my res temps around 74-76 until now, but I'm gonna be adding a second peltier cooler setup to drop that down to 68-ish. This DWC stuff is fussy!

The peltier will only take me down to 76-77. Im probably going to have to get the ice chest going again as a DWC cooler. Its a pain in the ass, swapping out 12 20oz frozen coke bottles every 24 hours but if it keeps root rot at bay, then its worth it. My last grow I had the same problems, used the cooler and brought them down to 67-68 and no more problems the rest of the grow.

 

[chopdoc]

Well crap, woke up this morning and the Blueberry plant is about dead with fresh signs of root rot and the blue cheese is showing signs of it too. 5 or 6 days ago I gave it a double dosage of hydroguard and still got root rot. Temp stayed around 77. Dragged out my cooler which is just a plain jane ice chest with 2 half inch holes in the lid. Coiled 60 ft of 1/2 in dark hose in it and hooked one end up to a pump in the main bucket that is controlled by a temp switch The other end of the hose is in to the same bucket at the top. Put in 12 20oz frozen coke bottles of water and enough water to cover the hose in the bottom of the cooler and turned it on. Its been running for 4 or 5 hours and the temp is down to 70.4 with a target cut off of 68.
I was hoping the peltier cooler would of worked but it only brought mine down 4 or 5 degrees which was still too warm. But the hydroguard should of protected me and I dont get why it didnt. Others grow in the same temp ( @77) using hydroguard with no problems.

 

[chopdoc]

Ok, looks like I saved the Blue Cookies girl and she is doing good.

This pic is from this morning after I plucked the root rot damaged leaves off. She is looking healthy.

Here she is after some more defoliating. The branch pointing to the right is the main branch. The first two nodes from that I am training to grow back 120 degrees from the main branch and they have both become main branches. So far the two branches being bent back each has two nodes and the main node for 5 cola sites when its flipped into flowering. I need 6 to 8 more nodes before flipping her. The main branch shooting to the right has 3 sets of nodes plus the main one for 7 total colas when flipped. Im gonna let that grow to whatever and use the two branches growing back as the deciding factor when to flip it into flowering. I want 50+ total cola sites.

And my blueberry girl. To be totally honest, I really dont give a shit about this plant anymore. If she grows and make buds, great. If it grows and makes pollen, great. If it dies, well thats also great because I just dont care lol The whole purpose of this grow was to flux train a blue cookies plant. Im doing that so its all good.

And the numbers. I added 30 ml Big Bloom and 20 ml grow big today. The PPM was down to 820 so wanted to bump it up. Friday is usual plant feeding day for me so I will bump up the PPMs to around 1500 then and it will be near full strength nutes. I have no plans on flushing until I am ready to flip her into Veg.

With the cooler, it took a while to cool the system down but now it should be good to go and just need to figure out how many 20 oz frozen bottles of water it will take every 24 hrs to maintain the temp.


Today makes 5 full weeks in veg and I am estimating 5 to 6 more weeks in Veg and then 10 weeks in flowering. Maybe a late Feb early March harvest but if it hits the goal, the extra time was well worth it.

 

[chopdoc]

A lil progress update on my Blue Cookies girl

She is coming along nicely and growing like a weed The two nodes off the main branch that I am growing as also branches each have 4 sets of nodes on them plus the main node gives each secondary branch 9 cola sites. Same with the main branch giving her a total of 27 bud sites so far. Around half way to what I am aiming for.

The plan is coming along nicely. It kills me I havent flipped her to flowering yet but the wait will be well worth it. When each branch has ten sets of nodes plus the main node will be time to let her grow upwards for a week or two then flippin to 12/12 lights. Probably another 4 weeks in flowering.


PPM's- 1300 PH-5.8 Water temp 68 RH %60 temp 77

 

[chopdoc]

Time for a quick update.

She is really doing awesome and the secondary branches have 7 nodes each plus the main node. 3 more sets of nodes and she is ready to grow upwards for a week or so. From what I was reading in Light Addicts help journal and others, she is already a mature plant and needs time to grow upwards because as a mature plant she wont stretch as much when put into flowering. Makes sense to me.

One thing I am learning from this grow style that I never ran into before is that she doesnt need a lot of fan leaves to grow. I been defoliating the hell out of her and then I went did some more reading in the help journals and see I need to defoliate a lot more. I trim a lot from her and daily she grows back a lot. In my mind this is making the plant grow more making her even stronger and bigger.

ok, the math. Going by what she has now there is @45 nodes/bud sites. The goal of this grow is 300 grams of dried buds. If I flipped her into flowering now and each bud came in at 10 grams then it would be a 450 grams and the goal met and exceeded. But what if the buds weighed 5 grams each. Then the final weight would be 220 grams and well below the target goal. So I am gonna keep her in veg until 60 total nodes/bud sites. That would be 300 grams total if the buds weighed 5 grams each and 600 if they weighed 10 grams which I have seen many times from main buds. With fluxing they should all be the same size as a main bud so I am positive with 60 nodes I will meet and exceed my goal.

7 1/2 weeks so far in veg, another 2 1/2 weeks and then 10 weeks in flowering and she will be done.

 

[chopdoc]

Another week has gone on by

And the update...

Here she is with 2 days of not defoliating. See how many fan leaves she has.

And here she is about an hour and a half laters.

The fluxing frame work is coming along nicely despite my screw up of breaking one of the main branches. I think I recovered nicely from that. I believe I am up to 8 nodes each on the two branches growing backwards so she is getting close to being ready to flip into flowering. I wanted 60+ nodes before flipping her and I am around 50ish right now.

This grow really is amazing. I never watched a plant this closely and its cool watching how she is growing and developing. All my previous grows usually I would top the plant until I had 16 o 22 cola sites and here I am with a plant that has around 50 nodes and I am going for more. Its simply amazing how much this grow has taught me and changed me as a grower.

The only bad thing that happened is the pump went out on my cooler. The reservoir temp went up to 75 before I could replace the pump. I am starting to wonder if growing hydroponics is that great. So many things can go wrong and kill your plant. I germinated a Purple Kush seed the other day and am gonna grow it in soil. Same training style, fluxing all the way. Do a comparison on it. How long it takes in veg to get 60 nodes in soil vs DWC Hydroponics. Its two different strains but still comparable.

 

[chopdoc]

Not much goin on with my girl this week. lil trimmin and thats about it. I did do a full flush on her today. That was the easiest flushes I ever did. Opened a window, pumped it all out onto the yard then put the water hose in thru the window and refilled it. I have well water so not worried about contaminants and the minerals in the water is very good for my girls.

Decided earlier today that I will keep her in veg another two to three weeks. I started a purple kush seed a week or so ago and put it in soil today. Gonna flex it also but want to keep it in the same tent for a few weeks until its ready to transplant. Longer in veg, the better the harvest

 

[chopdoc]

Getting close to flipping to flowering.

I removed the training board and am letting her grow now for about a week. Really had no choice but to remove the board. Pumps been crapping out on me all week and had to get into the bucket and replace its pump. Pump on my cooler also went tits up yet when the new one showed up it was working. Go figure.

Maybe on SUnday I will flip it to 12/12 lighting and start the flowering process. Im ready for it

 

[chopdoc]

Today I flipped her into 12/12 lighting. CKS says they are 9 weeks for flowering and I usually go a week more than they say because I like my herb to have lots of red trichones so March 10th is 9 weeks and March 17th should be harvest day. Then a week later o give them time to dry and we will see if I made the goal of this grow of 300 grams. She really is a monster plant now so should hit it with no problems.

Time in veg was 10 1/2 weeks.

 

[chopdoc]

Well guys, thats 1 week of stretch! Gonna be cutting a bunch of fan leaves off soon so the buds that are starting to develop can have plenty of light.

 

[Chappie]

Looking good chop! Looks like she's gonna turn into huge bush

 

[chopdoc]

I should of updated yesterday but got side tracked

Here is my girl after some basic fan leaf removal. She has turned into a monster After taking the pic I trimmed even more fan leaves off and every couple days I will do it again. Gotta allow the light to get to the lower buds so they will grow huge too.

This week she was very thirsty and drank about 3 to 4 gallons of water. I been giving her weekly 50 ml Fox Farms Big Bloom and 50 ml Fox grow big Hydro. Also started adding 3 pinches of Fox Farm Cha Ching and 15 ml bud candy. Last but not least a couple tablespoons of Recharge for root health. The PPM was 1600 this morning which is right where she should be.

2 weeks of veg down, 8 more to go before I see if I made my goal

 

[chopdoc]

There she is. Three weeks in flowering and many buds developing. She is a monster but I am starting to wonder if she is a 300 gram monster. Time will tell I guess in 7 more weeks. Each bud site should be a main bud. Thats part of what I like about fluxing.

Was an uneventful week until today when another damn pump went out and filled my tent with nutes water. This will be my last hydro grow with this kind of set up. Too much shit to break. The only way I will grow hydro again is in a single contained system. This bucket to bucket crap I wont do again. Just too many things to go wrong.

 

[chopdoc]

Man, look at those big beautiful buds developing. They are gonna be monster buds!

 

[chopdoc]

Well guys, the grow is still going, two more weeks and she gets cut down. Hope to get a few pics before then.

 

[chopdoc]

Well, harvesting day has arrived. Lots of red trichones on her.

The whole plant is sticky as hell. Just brushing against my arm to cut branches down makes my arm sticky.


The good news is how sticky she is, all the red trichones she has and a ton of branches to trim.

The bad news is the buds are light and airy.

Cut down well over half of her today and trimmed the buds. Probably 25 to 30 branches so far. Tomorrow I will finish harvesting her but my expectations are low. From what I am seeing now I doubt if the total will hit 200 grams. I dont know if its the genetics of the strain or I screwed the pooch royally but I will grow this strain again in soil and see hwo well she does.


In about a week will have final total for the grow.

 

[Barney86]

You're frying them with nutes mate. 300ppm is more than enough for bow. Pounders barely need 1000ppm. Whatever feeding schedule you're following I'd throw in the bin. It's useless.

 

[Barney86]

That was wierd. Was only showing me your first few posts. Then all loaded up after I posted lol.

 

[chopdoc]

OK guys, final tally is 193 grams. Well below the goal so back to the drawing board.

The herb is outstanding. Its curing now but smoked a little and yeah, it is good!