ClosetCase420's - RDWC - 600W MH/HPS - Wonder Woman - Grow Journal - 2015

[Papageno]

Yes perfect. I basically take off anything that wont get through the canopy by the end of stretch. You can take a little each day from different areas or different plants. Basically anything under the canopy is wasting nutes and sugars that can be used in the flowers in the direct light. So we prevent that waste. The potency thing is just the average of the bag is now all tops that we have in the direct light. We don't have and "popcorn" buds in the bag.

Fan leaves down there that are not being used will start to yellow and that is normal and not bad. They will come off by hand with a gentle pull when ready. When the canopy is full and blocking their access to light they will yellow and that is totally normal and not a problem. The plant can't use them anymore so it is sucking out all the stored elements like it would in fall.


There is a very different very controversial technique I will show you later but lets keep things simple for now. This spring I am going to do an experiment running clones for the same mother side by side doing 2 different techniques and I will explain it then. I might even make my own journal for that because a few have asked me to.


Keep up the great work!

 

[rhetorrikz]

Please do V I .

 

[Papageno]

If you wanna see what I have going right now this thread has some info on the plants growing on the side of my tent...

New Grower Question

 

[closetcase420]

Indeed.. I'd like to see and end to end tutorial..

I forgot to mention my concern.
The top leaves have lightened in color.
It is hard to take a picture that shows the true color under the HPS bulb but they aren't as dark green now.
They are a much lighter green.
Wondering if that is a nute deficiency?

 

[skunkpilot]

Mine do that too. The change from 6oo watts MH to 1000 watts HPS and the fertilizer change to bloom, having less nitrogen causes the leaves to change color.

 

[Papageno]

Yeah that is what it is...Nitrogen def. is the number one issue in cannabis. Most common problem. The nutes typically do it wrong. the ratio needs to change to up phos mainly and Potassium for bloom...what they shouldn't do really is lower nitrogen, just up the other two.

So I will use a standard veg nute through transition but add in the MOAB which is like a 0-52-34 additive to runup the bloom without messing with the nitrogen. The plant never stops needing nitrogen.

That said it aint a big deal. The plants will break into the new program just fine. What you will notice is that they will start stealing it from the lower leaves under the canopy if they need to. Lighter is usually better. Deep dark green looks great but is a sign of toxicity. You really want a light vibrant green not a dark heavy green.

 

[closetcase420]

Day 52 (4 Days in Flower)

Good timing, MOAB came today. I added 15ml per the guidelines of 5ml to 5 gallons. Seems like a lot.

The PH dropped and PPMs rose when I added the MOAB.

It went from 5.7/460 to 5.3/610

Also meant to mention the PPMs were steadily dropping over the last 2 days.

After the last topping off of the tank she was at 550.
The next day she was 510.
Then today 460 so I definitely needed to increase the nute level.

Now after the MOAB its 610 so we'll see if we go up down or nowhere tomorrow

 

[PTSDgrower]

I'm not too big on AN, I read a lot of stuff saying they are overpriced products. I recently just started adding a bloom booster, I got a sample of heavy 16 fire, which I will never buy, its like $80 for 500ml. For kelp I use floralicious plus, it was a decent price, like $25 that makes close to 500 gallons. I am seeing a lot of things that I should be doing, that I am not. Closet, your dwc run is much better looking than my first dwc.

 

[Papageno]

I recommended Nirvana because the main ingredient is Alfalfa and I don't know another company that makes one off hand. I make my own alfalfa tea but that is too much for a for this grow. One thing at a time. If he had a major res problem it would be different but for your first few grows it is best to buy stuff and learn how to make it later once you know what and when to add it.

The kelp is also something good to add at this point and it just so happens Nirvana is both. But yes everyone makes a kelp fertilizer. I have 3 kinds on the shelf. Alfalfa and Atlantic kelp are the best things you can give these plants.

 

[gangadoctor]

just want to give you some reps closet grow on your endeavours and the fact that you are listening to village idiot.

village idiot, you're my new hero man... i can't believe the detail you go into to help others, including myself, and thank you for that.

 

[Papageno]

I am working in a lot of journals my friend. This is really the only one that isn't disaster recovery. Most of them are after people posted stuff somewhere about the plants they have messed up and I told them if they start a journal I will hold their had to get them to the finish line. This is like the only one that is someone asking for help from the beginning before they crashed the grow. I am excited to see this one finish. I have another one where I call it the Zombie journal. This guy waited way too long before asking for help and had a complete mess on his hands. So we flushed them and worked on reconditioning the soil and chopped them in half and are recovering them and in about a week we will be chopping them in half again and getting back to restarting the grow.

I am subed into 8 active journals..3 of them are much more active than this one and I have daily correspondence. Some people have real catastrophes on their hands.

This one always makes me smile!!!

CC is doing an excellent job!!!

 

[closetcase420]

Well thanks guys.. makes me smile and MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone

I managed to sneak away from the family and get a few minutes with the girls for readings and updates.

Everything is still just moving along.
I've noticed they aren't drinking as much water now as they were before.
It was up to 1.5 to 2 gallons a day.
I'd say I'm around 1/2 to 1 gallon a day right now.
The PPMs have been steady so I'm not worried about nute burn or anything but I would like to see the plants start drinking more again.

Is there anything else I should be doing now or just try to be patient.
Any canopy maintenance?

 

[Papageno]

Hey when I logged in your new photos were on the front page!

Only maintenance I would be doing right now is fan leaf tucking. Trying to get light to covered nodes to get them to grow up.


Looks good mate!

 

[closetcase420]

Day 57 (9 Days in Flower)

Ironic I mention the water drinking the plant drinks a good 5 gallons in the next day and half.

I decided today was a good time to go ahead and do a full water change since the plants had been sitting in this stew for the last 16 days.

I also increased the nutrient concentration with this water change, hoping it doesn't bite me in the ass.

Previously I was giving approx 45ml of each of the supplements which broke down to about 3ml per gallon. Today I increased the dosage to 4ml per gallon so approx 60ml of each supplement.

The tank is sitting at 6.3 / 890 right now. I'll be keeping a close eye on it tonight and tomorrow morning.

 

[Papageno]

So I don't know if I ever posted this for you before but I am adding a chart below. It has a lot of good data. But what I want you to recognize is the nutrient concentration over time. There will come a time mid bloom where the nutes need to start coming down. You are no where near that yet but well before flush we will want to have dropped it off. I am just forewarning you and we will get there when we get there.


But still looks like you are doing a great job!

 

[closetcase420]

Day 59 (11 Days in Flower)

The plants are still drinking nicely and the PPMs are staying steady.
Over the last three days..
6.3/890
6.1/870
5.7/910

Since it jumped a bit over night I may need to top off the tank to bring it back down.
I'll wait till tomorrow unless you think its urgent.

Picture Time..

Just an overview, I can't really tuck anything because the growth is so thick. Should I let it go or get in there and trim some of those fan leaves?

These are lower fan leaves under the SCROG obviously not getting any light. Should I trim them or just leave them to rot?

Are the bumps normal?

My failed attempt at the SCROG, they just straightened themselves out. Next time I know the SCROG needs to be much lower and I really need to start growing them sideways early.

Just a shot of how tall they've gotten. They have grown almost 14 inches in 10 days.

 

[Papageno]

Solid work my friend!

So Lets see starting with the bumps yes that is totally normal nothing to see here...move along.

So now you see what I was concerned about the whole time with the space being cramped. 14 inches in 10 days is not amazing but is very nice. In your setup that is probably about as good as you can do unless you went with way fewer plants. 2 inches a day is not hard to achieve. Especially during stretch. When we flip the lights if you put on the HPS during the first 2 weeks of bloom it can make stretch worse. Stretch goes for a good 2 weeks into bloom. We talked a bit about this and I was suggesting bloom early to let stretch fillin the SCROG. It actually cracks me up a lot on this topic.I only use HPS. The only reason for MH is to reduce stretch. Then people go into bloom and immediately switch to HPS and don't use the MH through the stretch period and just waste there money on an extra bulb they don't need or worse on 2 ballasts / hoods if they get ones that only work for one.

Anyway now you have a good idea of what your stretch is possible of doing. I try to bloom with some SCROG left and I tuck the scrog through stretch. I took a pic last night of mine that is about 3 weeks into bloom and I tucked all the way up to a few days ago (maybe last Friday so a little bit through the stretch) and I have a nice even canopy at 33x28 inches for this one plant.

So you may recall I stated that space was great for one plant and good for 2.... That one there is a single plant so that's how I do it. A few extra weeks but then you have much easier control. I could bloom 8 plants in the space where I do 4 but then I have twice as many things to screw up. I actually have 4 plants in there now...2 autos and 2 regulars but that one is doing the best. The autos are done.

Anyway back to yours.

Taking off fan leaves below the canopy does nothing to help. They are not blocking light getting to the flowering sites. They are however a place of stored up nutrients and as leaves yellow in the fall the unused ones will wilt and hang and yellow as the plant scavenges them since they are useless. When they come off easy by hand then the plant is done with them. The one right above your comment about the bumps is exactly what I am talking about. it will be used up in a few days and come off easily by hand.

The broken one with holes is probably up against the wall and is getting both burn and abrasion from the wall from the light and fan. Or maybe it got damaged in tucking...but it is not a nute problem or anything that is just physical damage that is no big deal.


So there is a very advanced technique I would not recommend you try and you can't actually do it this late in the game any way to properly remove the upper leaves.

If you do feel the need that you must trim them take only the very largest ones out and leave the ones that are still growing. I would just keep tucking. the best way is to come up from underneath and pull them down. not push them down from the top.




I think it looks absolutely beautiful but cramped as predicted. So next time maybe 2 plants. If you are using Fems I might say go with one, top it after 3 node sets and Scrog it out. Start bloom at 85% SCROG fill and you will have a better density in there. Those are going to be fighting for light I think.

 

[closetcase420]

Day 63 (15 Days in Flower)

Dang VI that looks sweet. Can you take a picture under the canopy? I'd like to see how you managed the structure of the plant.

As for my girls, everything is looking good. No new news, just hoping to start to see some flowering beginning soon..

My PH/PPMs for the last month.

I did clear out some of the lower vegetation and I tied down some of the stems to try and even out the canopy more..

 

[Papageno]

Good!!!!



Okay okay I will hijack your thread some more....


First off I do a lot of fan leaf tucking instead of pruning. So what you see under the canopy is not droopy leaves it is leaves I have forced under that now are not getting any light. I had to use my arm to hold them back to show better what is there.

You can see I had to do a bit of a band-aid because when I was removing a male from the other side of the SCROG I broke this one...twice. But as you can see form the top no big dealio.

Also it was straight up until about 10 inches...then I started training...now it looks like it grew out sideways but that is purely due to the training. It was going straight up until I started aggressively training it.

Also it is like 28 degrees outside and supper dry. Also it is about time for me to water...so that is why the canopy is not standing up. I am letting it dry another day and probably tomorrow I will water. I can't get my tent humidity to a good spot so I probably have some slow growth happening right now.

So first here is the top shot...so this is like 5 days older than the previous one.

Here is from kind of far away

Here I lifted the leaves a bit

Here is a closer shot

 

[closetcase420]

Awesome.. so that is exactly what I am doing. My problem is when I pull them down there snapping so I just went ahead and removed them.