GR's Fall '19 Coco Grow

[gr865]

/Day 10 of 12/12

I said I wanted to wait to do any trimming till the 21st day of flower, but they just got completely out of control. Ten days into 12/12 they have stretched 15 inches and the undergrowth is choking.
Here they are at the start of 12/12 on the evening of 9/7.

And here they are on 9/16 prior to trim and 9/17 after trim.
9/16 prior to trim

9/17 after trim

9/16 prior

9/17 after

9/16 prior

9/17 after

Have never had to trim the plants this early in flower before so I have no idea how they will respond to trim.
I am going to put the screen back on them and begin the tieing process for height control.

Running three irrigation cycles during lights on, still playing with the amount of runoff, have been running the first cycle to medium runoff, the second cycle is slightly less and the last is heavier runoff. Thinking of increasing the time of the first two cycles by 10 secs and the last on 20 secs to reduce any salt buildup in the root zone.

Made up another batch 20 gallon of nute solution and letting it stabilize prior to adding it to the rez in a couple of days. The last batch I made up and let stabilize for 3 to 4 days, held it's pH much longer than past rez fills. I was having to adjust the pH daily to 5.8 and it would float to 6.2 or so by the next day. Allowing for stabilization the ph of 5.8 only rose to 5.94 by the following day.
I have a three 32 gallon trash containers that I found in a ditch of the hwy someone must have lost off the back of their truck. I plan to make up 21 gallons of solution in each and try to let it stabilize for up to a week or more prior to adding it to the main rez.

I totally empty the rez and clean it before adding new solution. Do this when there is enough solution in the rez to do a good flush with the remaining gallons (prefer three or more). Hoping to get the solution to stabilize enough to get two to three days between pH adjustment.

Lot's of changes going on here that I had not planned but hopefully they will all be for the best.

Ok, time to makeup a 21 gallon batch in one of the 32 gallon containers. and will begin filling the other two 32 gallon with RO water for the next batch. My RO machine puts out 70 gallons a day, but I have to wait for the 3 gallon tank to refill before I can capture it for use.

 

[West Hippie]

Looking great in there GR , gave those girls some legs. Nice trim !
Since I got away from the ph perfect nutrients I have control of the ph with MegaCrop! I’m making plans to adjust to 5.6-5.7 with the MC and see how long it takes to rise to absorb all the nutrients it needs. The ph perfect took 5-10 days to rise to the occasion.

 

[gr865]

Looking great in there GR , gave those girls some legs. Nice trim !
Since I got away from the ph perfect nutrients I have control of the ph with MegaCrop! I’m making plans to adjust to 5.6-5.7 with the MC and see how long it takes to rise to absorb all the nutrients it needs. The ph perfect took 5-10 days to rise to the occasion.

What do you mean you have control of ph with Mega Crop? Are you saying that it is pH perfect or does it stay around the set pH?

 

[West Hippie]

What do you mean you have control of ph with Mega Crop? Are you saying that it is pH perfect or does it stay around the set pH?

Sorry for the late reply , I can put it where I want it using the MC nutrients. I use the GH ph up and down. No ph perfect for MC . When I mix it with the ro water and is 7.3 and the lowest it goes is 6.1 after you add the MC .

 

[gr865]

Sorry for the late reply , I can put it where I want it using the MC nutrients. I use the GH ph up and down. No ph perfect for MC . When I mix it with the ro water and is 7.3 and the lowest it goes is 6.1 after you add the MC .

Wow, my RO is lower, so it should test out close to perfect if I switched to MC. May give it a try next run.

 

[West Hippie]

Wow, my RO is lower, so it should test out close to perfect if I switched to MC. May give it a try next run.

I did 13 zips with the leds , going back to hps next grow with MC to see if I can get 1000 grams out of a 5’x5’ tent . If MC can hold up to that aggressive grow it’s the best on the market . Had gotten 713 grams out of three plants the last time I used it !

 

[gr865]

Put the screen on yesterday and then last night when the lights came on I bent/tucked them under the screen, broke a couple, taped them up, so a little involuntary Super Cropping.
Last night after bend/tuck

This morning after lights out, did a little more moving. Should be doing this for a few days to get buds where they need to be.

They have responded and began standing back up.

I love my hobby.

 

[gr865]

The clones I collected during the trim on Monday.
In a sorghum tub, coco/perlite. Clonex, and pH'd (high ppm) tap water.
Outside after planting the clones.

In the garage under a 23W LED and fan blowing on them.

Not sure how they will do in garage, temp have been moderate. If, due to heat, I have too, I will move them into the bath where the rez is located. It just getting crowded in there.

The clones I took in late August had an issue. I want out of town for a couple of days and lost the cooling unit in my shop where I had them and the temp went way high, Not sure how high but the water temp in the rez was 108. The plants were brown, wilted, the roots were brown and the rez stank, it didin't stink, it totally stank.
Oh well, hopefully I will get 50% plus from this last batch.

 

[gr865]

What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours, brought the sun and the flowers where there used to be rain.

Sorry, that song just came into my head,

Actually it has made a rapid recovery, of course as @Chris Scorpio said on Tuesday, "It's a weed, remember!
Or, @scrogster said, "They'll just come back more thicker watch you'll see."

And so I did the trim on Monday morning, put the screen on Tuesday afternoon and the Tuesday evening did the bending and tucking. They began responding very quickly and I did a bit more tucking last night.
Here they are today, growing like a "Weed", Bought ready for another trim,
Rez was low. 1.5 to 2 gallons, this morning and the EC 1.58, added 6 gallons of RO and 7.5 ml of CaliMagic, EC 1.36, adjusted pH 5.92 and ran the entire amount through the smart pots. EC of rinsate was 1.39 and pH was 6.01

I am glad I remembered to stabilize the nutes prior to adding them to the rez, holds pH much better, but I still adjust the mix back to 5.8+ nightly. Was talking to my Hydro guy yesterday, he said he had a product for stabilizing RO water. Going to check it out, he said I could get stabilize rez for up to a week. Now that would be nice.

It's a nice day, been hitting G13 Haze Rosin this morning! Got about 7 inches of rain yesterday, sure need it. My ex lives about 40 miles from me and got over 20 inches. Got to love topical storms, except when they are able to build into Hurricanes.

 

[HayStack]

The clones I collected during the trim on Monday.
In a sorghum tub, coco/perlite. Clonex, and pH'd (high ppm) tap water.
Outside after planting the clones.

In the garage under a 23W LED and fan blowing on them.

Not sure how they will do in garage, temp have been moderate. If, due to heat, I have too, I will move them into the bath where the rez is located. It just getting crowded in there.

The clones I took in late August had an issue. I want out of town for a couple of days and lost the cooling unit in my shop where I had them and the temp went way high, Not sure how high but the water temp in the rez was 108. The plants were brown, wilted, the roots were brown and the rez stank, it didin't stink, it totally stank.
Oh well, hopefully I will get 50% plus from this last batch.

Love your cloning method. Keep us posted, if it works I'll give it a try. I'm always looking for better ways to clone.

 

[gr865]

Love your cloning method. Keep us posted, if it works I'll give it a try. I'm always looking for better ways to clone.

I built a DIY EZ Cloner and the clones I did last December gave me 100% rooted.
The clones I took earlier in this grow I put in my shop that has everything I need during cloning, water, power and cooling. Well I went out of town and my cooling system crashed, when I returned a few days later the shop was hot, hot hot, the water temp was 108. The clones were all limp and the cloner stunk and we had root rot bad. So will not use it except during cool weather.

So I gone back to the old standby coco, usually use Solo cups but with this many clones I decided to try the tub. Being in coco/perlite I will be able to pull them out in bunches and separate them individually for transplanting. We did this a few years back when I thought it would be a good idea to plant 3 plants in a 23 gallon sorghum tub, this is half that size,. Planted them as clones and they were doing great but then I need to move the tub to the tent, could not get it moved at all. So I took each plant out with very little damage to the roots and transplanted into three gallon smart pots.
This one is a shorter version of that 23 gallon one and I can lift and move it. Another thing is it can handle the heat in the shop, will just keep the door cracked during the day and my big fans going. All will be good.

 

[HayStack]

I built a DIY EZ Cloner and the clones I did last December gave me 100% rooted.
The clones I took earlier in this grow I put in my shop that has everything I need during cloning, water, power and cooling. Well I went out of town and my cooling system crashed, when I returned a few days later the shop was hot, hot hot, the water temp was 108. The clones were all limp and the cloner stunk and we had root rot bad. So will not use it except during cool weather.

So I gone back to the old standby coco, usually use Solo cups but with this many clones I decided to try the tub. Being in coco/perlite I will be able to pull them out in bunches and separate them individually for transplanting. We did this a few years back when I thought it would be a good idea to plant 3 plants in a 23 gallon sorghum tub, this is half that size,. Planted them as clones and they were doing great but then I need to move the tub to the tent, could not get it moved at all. So I took each plant out with very little damage to the roots and transplanted into three gallon smart pots.
This one is a shorter version of that 23 gallon one and I can lift and move it. Another thing is it can handle the heat in the shop, will just keep the door cracked during the day and my big fans going. All will be good.

Thanks for that info. I'm definitely going to do it the next time I clone, which won't be that far from now. Your's look like they will be just fine. And yeah, when you use a cloner or even hydro, the heat can be a killer. I tried hydro for a while, but I have no way to control the heat in the grow room. So when the days got really hot and the water in the buckets got too warm, it just burned them up and that grow was almost a complete fail. So, from now on I'm sticking to soil only.

Edit: Oh and as usual, your grow looks stellar. I'm sure your harvest will be great!

 

[gr865]

I prefer doing them in Solo's, much easier to work with, but I just had so many this time. Hell my last grow was that 24 plant pseudo SOG and that were all started in Solo's, lot's of hand watering, lol.

 

[gr865]

Getting good growth, tucking/bending daily. They are drinking tons of solution, getting very good runoff, maybe too much, but no signs of any problems so that is good.
Still micro adjusting the irrigation as I think we have just a bit too much runoff. Running three cycles per light period, total of 5 minute run times. 1st 1.5 min, 2nd 1.5, and last is 2 min. At present I am getting about 4 days per 20 gallons for 8 plants or approx .75 gallons per cycle. I just up the rez to 21 gallons. The last cycle prior to empting the rez I will run whatever amt of solution left in the rez, if needed I add extra treated gallons to ensure a good flush.
This is the latest worksheet, I added this 21 gallons to the rez last night after allowing it to sit for three days prior.


This mornings pics just after light out.

Love it when they start showing their sex at the tops of each bud. Nasty ladies,

 

[gr865]

Day 14 12/12

Couple of pic's from this morning, with lites on and just after they shut down. Thick mess,
The different strains are showing flower at different times, looks like the G13 Haze is the last to show, should as it is a sativa dom and the BB and Skunk are both indica dom. The stretch is different also, lot's of work, this is why I usually run single strains but different pheno's. Sometimes they show different tendencies also.

Thinking I will remove a few fans covering bud sites this week, then next weekend do the 21st day major trim. Gonna be tough on this ol' body bending, crawling and reaching to the back of the tent to do the trim. But that will be a good excuse to do more Rosin,
Wish I could grow outside or had the space indoors to dedicate a rooms to grows so I would have room to work around the grow.

 

[scrogster]

Looking good. Yes I like doing scrogs but damn its lots of work to get down under . but well worth it .

 

[Preston9mm]

Late... but here.

I got some catching up to do...

 

[Preston9mm]

Garden looks phenomenal homie!


Definitely got your grow dialed in.


I'll be hangin' around if ya ever need anything. I lurk more that I talk, but I'm always around. Just tag me wherever & I pop up from nowhere.

Well done buddy, I can't wait to see em finish!

 

[gr865]

Garden looks phenomenal homie!


Definitely got your grow dialed in.


I'll be hangin' around if ya ever need anything. I lurk more that I talk, but I'm always around. Just tag me wherever & I pop up from nowhere.

Well done buddy, I can't wait to see em finish!

Thanks Bud,

I am glad you dropped in, and yes we can have some conversations, can never learn too much..
Do you have a current journal going, would like to find out about your grow methods, irrigation (rez, type of system. how you use it, etc.
I grow only for me and my GF's med's and recreation. I do both vertical and horizontal grows, 5 plant vertical and 5 to 24 plant horizontal, I normally run 6 to 8 plant per horizontal grow.

 

[gr865]

Day 19 of 12/12

Lot's of things going on with the grow. Everything is fine, stretching about what I expected, drinking well and roots coming out of the Smart Pot's everywhere.
Few things noticed this week. One is the difference in strains, the two Indica dominant strains (BlueBerry and Original Skunk) started showing flowering on the 18th.

Last nights pic of one of the indica strains.

And one from today.

Here is the Sativa dominate G13 Haze, has just today begun to show flowering. 8 days after the Indica's.

Monday 9/23

9/25

Showing the difference between the Sativa's and Indica's. Right front, middle front and back right and back left are the Sativa and you can see the difference in flower. in the middle front you can see where I bent an India branch inside the Sativa.

By letting the irrigation solution sit for 3 to 4 days prior to adding it to the rez has paid some benefits in that the solution stabilizes and when added to the rez holds pH better.
Prior to letting it set I would mix the solution in the rez itself, pH and the solution would fluctuate upwards from 5.8 to around 6.2 plus over the light cycle.
Now i mix 21 gallons of the solution in a 32 gallon can and let it sit for three to four days before adding it to the rez and it holds the pH much better, start at 5.8 and will rise to around 5.95 to 5.99 in the light cycle.
I was at my hydro store Tuesday and he gave am a bottle of House and Garden PH Osmosis/Stabilizer, said to mix with RO first then mix solution and it should hold pH within range for days up to a week. I hope it works, hell, even if I get 3 days of pH stable solution that would be a great thing. Rate is 1 ml/liter.
I have noticed that the new Xtrasun ballast I bought to replace the dead Nanolux puts out much more heat than the old Nanolux did. I put a digital thermometer gun on the 2nd of my Nanolux and the temp is 130 +/- and then did the same with the Xtrasun and the temp was 180+. I do not have them in the tent but in close proximity to the tent, so i am sure the temp has some effect on the heat in the tent. My Hydro guy is looking to me a Nanolux ballast but so far can only get the whole light kit.

Peace out!

GR