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

[Papageno]

That is a very good one for the price. The best ones are well over $100 and this works just as well. It auto calibrates and measure res temp as well. So you put it in either 7.0 or 4.0 calibration fluid and hit the cal button and a few moments later it is calibrated. Piece of cake.

Make sure if you get a good one that you also get storage solution because if the tip goes dry too long it dies. That is cheap too and one bottle lasts a lifetime.

 

[closetcase420]

This is what I've been using

I'm thinking about this one.

I found it on sale on another site for $90 bucks shipped but i need it like yesterday

I'm drooling for this one.

The HMD is atleast $20 bucks cheaper
Hmmmmmmmmm.. what to what what to do..

 

[closetcase420]

Day 36

No PH readings. As I mentioned above my PH meter broke and turns out it was a piece of crap anyway.
I took a reading just now from my tank, it says 6.2.
I then dropped the reader into some 7.1 calibration solution and it's reading 4.7.
God only knows what is really inside of my tank. Scares the hell out of me actually.

With that being said I bit the bullet and went with a BlueLab combo reader to replace both my cheap broken PH pen and my cheap PPM pen. I'll have to survive until Wednesday.

My Orca also showed up today. I think I might go ahead and do another full res change after I get the BlueLab reader so I can have accurate numbers.

A few pictures to share..

Just an overview of the growth.
The middle girl is topping the net now.
The front left and back right are catching up slowly while the front right and back left continue to struggle.

On this one I've circle a strange cut in one of the leaves. It's the only one I found but I have no idea what caused it.

On this one I've pointed out two things.
The first is the yellowing tip, nute burn?
The second is the discoloration between the leaf body and edges.
The body is a nice shadow of green but the edges seem darker.
Once again, concerns?

 

[Papageno]

Are you using any silica potash treatment? I can't remember I am in too many journals right now

If not it is a must especially if you are training at all. But it really helps when you get tall and have heavy buds. It may help to fix the broken leaf if it actually grow that way and wasn't damaged mechanically.

Yeah you have some low nute burn going on but nothing to kick yourself about. With he issues you were having with the old meter we may have uped the dose too fast. I wanted to top off slowly bringing it up but I think we dumped and went straight to half nutes right? No matter it wont hurt. a little burn never hurt no body...a lot of burn is a different issue.

No matter and it's water under the bridge...or in this case under the lid.

Lets top off with just pH'd water with some silica for a bit until weez good.

How was the water level over the last 24 hours?

 

[skunkpilot]

You are stressing too much. They are plants and as such, will take a lot of abuse and will continue to grow. You can stunt them a bit but they will continue to grow. We had a bush outside the barracks that everyone emptied their coffee cup in the planter several times a day and it continued to grow. They are resilient. It is fun to try to get the best out of your plant, just don't drive yourself crazy.

My advice..... do this, several times a day as needed. And I would listen to me... I was an amateur Pharmacist for years.

 

[Papageno]

LOL....Did you read the beginning? He is a total perfectionist....it is fun to work with someone who cares so much!


Yeah you wont get everything right ...maybe never...but that don't mean we can't get pounds of sticky icky dank.

 

[VladimirPutin]

Great Journal C.C.

It's fun micromanaging and learning at the same time what the plants really need.
I have been dialing in my grow for 3 months and still in veg. I've changed from DWC to RDWC and just now am getting the root structure I was looking for.
You have a great grow so far and they get better each time.
I hear the word "perfectionist" thrown around a few times on this journal, nothing wrong with that! They are "your" plants, some people treat their plants as if they were baby humans. It's all a part of learning this magnificent science

Vlad

 

[closetcase420]

Are you using any silica potash treatment?

I am using Botanicare Silica Blast at the recommended dosage of 2.5ml per gallon.
That is there recommendation for Hydrogardens and mid size plants.
Should I increase the dosage to the 5ml they recommend for mature plants?

How was the water level over the last 24 hours?

It's been a bit more than 24 hours (4 days now) but the water level is continuing to go down.
I'd say it looks to be between 1/2 - 1 gallon a day right now.

Lets top off with just pH'd water with some silica for a bit until weez good.

With knowing the HG is probably no good and my base PH/PPM readings are skewed I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and dump/refill the tank now.

You are stressing too much.
My advice..... do this, several times a day as needed.

That's exactly why I'm stressing. I'm running out of product, this grow needs to come through for me.

He is a total perfectionist....it is fun to work with someone who cares so much!

Well thank you

but that don't mean we can't get pounds of sticky icky dank.

I like the sound of that.

Great Journal C.C.
I have been dialing in my grow for 3 months and still in veg.
I hear the word "perfectionist" thrown around a few times on this journal, nothing wrong with that! They are "your" plants, some people treat their plants as if they were baby humans.

12 weeks in veg? Did you start over?
They are my babies until I smoke them

 

[closetcase420]

Day 38

BlueLab combo meter arrived today.

I calibrated it and took an initial reading, not far off from where I thought I was before. Maybe my $15 PH pen wasn't so horrible. Time will tell I suppose.

PH 5.6

PPM 710

The middle girl is about 2 inches above the SCROG now.
I tucked her down and tied her off so she can start to grow sideways hopefully.

 

[Papageno]

 

[VladimirPutin]

Nope, every time the roots got sick in the DWC I would just slough them all off.
My res was too cold all the time and I had lots of air but roots would get nutrients and crap stuck on them and then suffocate. I run amino acids and other organic stuff so I needed more water movement rather than just bubbles.
It's a purple strain, I couldn't let it die, and I couldn't send it to flower. Had to get rid of dwc and go to rdwc.
I farted around with DWC for 10 weeks then changed.
Now the system is doing fine and I am looking forward to flip to 12/12 in 2 weeks.

When are you going to flip to 12/12 ??

V

 

[closetcase420]

A purple strain? Do tell?
The only thing I've grown is Wonder Woman.
I'm trying to decide what I want to grow next.

I'm not sure when I'm going to flower yet. It depends on how long I can keep the middle girl growing under the SCROG before the others catch up. I'm hoping at this point 1-2 weeks or whenever VI tells me to do so

So yesterday after I had calibrated the meter I took the initial reading of 5.6 / 710.
This sample was taken in a glass cup with water drawn from the level tube.

Later last night I took another reading from the same glass and it was spot on.
Randomly I decided to take a reading from another glass and it was 4.3 / 710.
I then grabbed three other glasses and took more readings. All were 4.3 except the cup I took the original sample from.

I decided best thing to do is take a reading directly in the tank so I'll be doing that for now on.
Inside the tank also read 4.3 EEK
I added about 20ml of PH up to bring the PH up to 5.8

Last night reading
5.8 / 690

Reading just now
5.7 / 690

Looks like I've got her stable.

Also can't believe how fast the middle girl growing sideways has turned back up.

 

[skunkpilot]

Bondage picts! Ya gotta love that. I know what you mean about running out of product. It seams wrong to buy your meds when you are growing, but it happens. I have thrown away several plants while harvesting due to finding Powdery Mildew. Won't smoke that crap, even though I used to.

 

[Papageno]

I trained this auto a few weeks back....

To a newb that may look hard bending them all over like that

But they rebound like this...

And it shouldn't take 2 weeks for the others to catch up if you are keeping everything in the SCROG.

You can do as much as you want. I am just telling you that it will get cramped and that can cause issues. You don't want the buds leaning against the wall. It CAN be alright but it CAN cause major problems. You can fix that with some twine. When you start getting big buds you can tie a circle around them all and they will hold each other up. 2 or 3 single loops around the whole bunch with like one big edge bud pulled in a direction and it will all work out.


I take readings in the res. taking it out can cause misreadings depending on how much stuff got in your cup and how clean it is. Besides it is good to get in there and inspect the roots so I take a straight reading out of the res.


Still looking great my man.

 

[closetcase420]

VI.. what is your suggestion for when I should switch?

I was thinking about lowering the SCROG 2 inches which will bring it down to about an inch above where the front left and back right are right now. I could then let it grow for about a week before switching to flower.

What do you think?

 

[Papageno]

Understand that typically when you flip the the light schedule you will have what is called stretch. To increase the chance of pollination when the plant see the light schedule change it will try to do a quick last burst of "vertical" growth. Some people use 2 different lights for slowing that down. Some people actually prefer having it happen for reasons related to training and trying to maximize yields in spaces that are not small. People with small spaces sometimes prefer to not have this stretch. It is really the only reason to use MH lights, as you are using, to reduce stretch at transition. Otherwise an HPS works fine in veg. A MH works fine in bloom just not as good as HPS.

If you are using MH light and don't want as much stretch to happen then you continue to use it through transition. If you want stretch to occur or don't care you just use HPS for the whole grow. If you are using LEDs then there is a different thing all together.

I have always just used HPS and most big scale operations do HPS the whole time too. Again Stretch isn't bad at all, its natural. If you can handle the space it takes up it allows for more light penetration so lower buds can get bigger and more potent and mature more in line with the top buds. But in cramped spaces it can cause the plant to grow too big.

So if you have SCROG space you can use this to your advantage and start the bloom a little early with your HPS and keep SCROGing away. If you wait until the whole SCROG is filled it will be forced to stretch upwards and you may have a space issue.

Based on the last pics I see I would probably have lowered it about 3 inches. Can you do some fan leaf tucking to get them under the lower branches and take some pics of the SCROG as it looks today? I think in your case at about 80% full you may want to switch to HPS and start bloom and fill it out with the stretch. The SCROG does not need to be full.

And you want to get this stuff done so you can get onto your second grow. Have you read up on drying and curing yet? And while you are at it find the thread on washing your buds.

 

[closetcase420]

I have always just used HPS and most big scale operations do HPS the whole time too. Again Stretch isn't bad at all, its natural. If you can handle the space it takes up it allows for more light penetration so lower buds can get bigger and more potent and mature more in line with the top buds. But in cramped spaces it can cause the plant to grow too big.

So if you have SCROG space you can use this to your advantage and start the bloom a little early with your HPS and keep SCROGing away. If you wait until the whole SCROG is filled it will be forced to stretch upwards and you may have a space issue.

Say I'm able to keep it all under the SCROG until i switch to flower, let's say 9 days from today which would be 7 weeks of veg. I have 22" inches between the SCROG and the bottom of the light and I could raise the light upwards a good 12 inches if needed. That would allow for upwards for 3ft of space for the light. If we're sure to keep the light at min 12 inches away from the plants then that leaves me 24 inches. Do you think they'll stretch two feet?

Based on the last pics I see I would probably have lowered it about 3 inches. Can you do some fan leaf tucking to get them under the lower branches and take some pics of the SCROG as it looks today?

Pictures as requested. I literally tucked all of the large fan leaves down, I assume this is what you mean by fan leaf tucking.

And you want to get this stuff done so you can get onto your second grow.

A full grow takes min 16 weeks, this grow needs to produce to get me through those 16 weeks. Unfortunately I'm going to be dry all through flower

Have you read up on drying and curing yet? And while you are at it find the thread on washing your buds.

I have racks in a dark closer and jars with humidipaks for the curing. Never heard of washing my buds, I'll have to read up on that.

Lastly.. Today is day 40 under the lights

The tank was down a good 5 gallons so I went ahead and did a full water change. PH 6.2 / PPM 650

 

[Papageno]

So I wouldn't lower the SCROG now. You have a good plan. I was gonna say about a week and a half and you are saying 9 days we we jive.

Don't worry so much about how much you are going to get and if it gets you through the 16 weeks. What you want to be concerned with is learning and growing to optimal potency. If you go an extra week but it is way more potent then it will last much longer than 1 more week right?

The reason I brought up curing is drying is 2 weeks. Popper cure is 2 - 6 months. No reputable medical store will sell stuff that isn't cured at least 2 months. Max potency sometimes take 6 months.

You are going to be wanting to smoke it down long before it is ready that is just normal but that is where the patients you are learning is the most valuable.

This number you have of 16 weeks for a full grow is totally whatevs man. It takes what it takes. If you have too low a temps or humidity it takes longer. But that doesn't mean you harvest on a time schedule you harvest when it is ready. You dry it until it is ready, you cure it until it is ready.

I only brought it up to prepare you to have your bubble burst.

But trust me if you keep learning and improving then the next batch will have more yield and potency and last longer. And each grow you should get better and eventually you may get enough out of that mini closet to be able to keep up. One way of getting through the lean times is you can cook down all the leaves and trimmings and make cookies and you can do that as soon as you harvest and don't have to wait for curing. You will want to decarboxilate it but you wont have to wait.

I wouldn't use the humidity packs but that is just me and I had a bad experience once. The intent of curing is to get the water out of the stems so it smokes down properly. If you leave it out to just dry then the flowers get too dry. So you "can" it and let the stem evaporation even out with the flowers and burp it regularly. If you do it right you don't need the packs. If you do it wrong you can get mold that will ruin the whole thing and the packs don't help that. Not that they don't work I just prefer to cure it aw naturaal.

5 gallons is awesome. Them girls is growing. Was the PPM stable? So like 5 gallons gone and same PPM?

 

[closetcase420]

Burst my bubble? Are you telling me I shouldn't expect a good yield?

If that's the case tell me what I should have done differently for a better yield.

I actually just built this cabinet space specifically for this sized grow.

I've managed to get 5, 5, and 7oz on the last 3 grows. I'm just trying to get to a lb.

PPMs were steady but slowly moving up. They went from 680-690 to 690-700 to 700-710 from day to day.

 

[Papageno]

Naw I was thinking this is your first grow so you might not be prepared for waiting 3 months after harvest before you got some smoke.