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I just want to add that I planted this Gorilla Candy strain for my first grow (as well as Blue Dream) but at that time I did not know that the GC strain was prone to turn hermie and I may have stressed it out enough for it to turn but I did some research and I do know about this strain prone to turn hermie but I’ve always liked a challenge and experimenting, the reason I went ahead and grew these hermie clones is because I wanted to experiment a little and not just with growing clones. Besides the pain in the *** job of removing the pollen sacks I wanted to test mainly for quality and seed production compared to my first grow. It looks and smells like it’s going to be decent quality though!If it's chlorinated, you shouldn't have to boil it, because there won't be anything alive in it (that's why they chlorinate it, lol). As for removing the chlorine, you can let it sit in an open container overnight, for a couple hours outside in sunlight, or pour a couple capfuls of 3% H₂O₂ (regular consumer-strength hydrogen peroxide) into a gallon of the stuff, stick the cap on the jug, and give it a little shake for a few seconds. As mentioned, you can't remove chloramine using the same methods.
I've never been a fan of "homemade" pH adjusters. They don't seem to be as stable, and there's not as much that's of use to plants. Commercial pH down, for example, is largely phosphoric acid - and plants do use phosphorous.
I used it some in DWC and observed that I had to use some kind of calcium supplement, like calcium nitrate, and Epsom salt (or pay for one of the "fancy" (expensive ) "Ca/Mg" products). With tap water, just a little Epsom salt. I remember talking myself into spending money on store-bought (machine) water "to treat my plants right" - and then noticing the telltale leaf tissue necrosis of a calcium deficiency, lol; I ended up feeling mildly stupid over that. I wouldn't mind having a bunch to mix with the tap water here now, though. Or finding that a gardening store had mistakenly sent me a big bottle of "hardwater micro."
Cannabis seems to use a good bit of nitrogen during the first 40% of the flowering period. They call it "the stretch," after all.
That sucks - but probably more so for those "cannabis nutrient" companies than for you. I used General Hydroponics' three-part Flora series for years, and they listed everything from apples to zucchinis (lol) on the label, but not cannabis. Plants aren't like children - as long as you provide what the plants need, and in the correct ratios/strengths, they'll "eat it and be happy about it." For the less nutritionally-sensitive strains, I don't think we even have to be all that close to "the optimum." I've used African violet food during flowering before when I had nothing else and needed something to get me by until I could restock. And a lot of us have successfully used Osmocote Plus controlled-release (time-release?) general purpose plant fertilizer.
I might be mistaken, here, but: I don't think it's that the chlorinated water harms plants directly (although I doubt it could be considered to be good for them); I think it's that chlorine and chloramine in the water reacts with the nutrients we feed them. And in that regard, I consider chloramine far worse.
Some people add extra lime to that stuff. That's probably more important if a plant is going to be in the soil for a longer period of time.
It's "hotter" than Happy Frog soil. I don't know that it's too hot for seedlings, per se. Remember, there are thousands of strains of cannabis, not just one. Some African landrace sativas, evolved/naturalized/whatever to thrive in soils that have very poor nutritive characteristics... seems like some of them will burn if you walk past them whilst carrying a bottle of nutrient. Other strains are known to be "heavy feeders." So, yes, it's entirely possible that it is capable of burning some seedlings. But I don't believe it's nearly the issue that it has been made out to be. Could be like... You grow a cannabis plant and find some opposite-sex flowers. You post about it on your favorite cannabis forum. Before you go to bed that night, 27 people have read that and told their friends - online at cannabis forums, of course - not to grow that strain by that breeder because it's well-known for being a hermaphrodite-prone strain. By the time you wake up the next morning, a couple hundred people have posted everywhere they can think of that people shouldn't buy any strains from that breeder because everyone knows a lot of his strains are known to turn "hermie." Meanwhile, lol, maybe you have a good think and decide, yeah, that particular plant must be a hermaphrodite - or maybe you decide that you've simply stressed the sh!t out of it. And maybe... If you line 100 people up in a row and whisper to the first person, "I'm going to grill some hot dogs when my girlfriend comes over this evening - pass it on," by the time it gets to the 100th person, it'll be so mangled that he'll run to the phone and call the police to report that there's going to be a big orgy at your house and you're going to molest a bunch of dogs before torturing them over hot coals. <SHRUGS> The human factor can sometimes muddle things up "a bit."
Could be shock, I suppose, if someone starts a seed in "seed-starting soil" (generally really light and probably not chock full of nutrients) and then transplant into a relatively hot soil. Might be worth starting 100 seeds (too allow for phenotype/etc. variation), half in FFOF and half in something else, then transplant the "something else" ones into FFOF at three days above ground, seven days above ground, 14 days above ground, and 21 days above ground, and observe which sets (if any) seem to have some kind of issue.
I'm just rambling. I... do that .
This grow was basically for fun. If you actually noticed the hermies then good eyes!, I was wondering if and when someone was going to say something about that lol.