Secondhand Bloombox - First Grow

[redmud]

That's awsome video!!! looks just like one of those green earth specials on Discovery channel.

.........

 

[BassBuds]

Haha thanks. I set up another one so hopefully I'll get some flowering action in a time lapse as well

 

[BassBuds]

More Pictures.

 

[redmud]

They look great

.........

 

[BassBuds]

I decided to try mainlining (manifold technique) on my plants. There are two varieties. The original method and the updated version. They both start the same so I'm not yet sure which I'm going to go with. Any advice?

I also did a bit of defoliation. The bloombox is starting to look like a forest. Just a few more inches on most of them before I flip the switch to flower.

Here's some pics

 

[redmud]

I like the mainline version a bit better than the Flux versions I don't really do either since I leave the bottom branches and train the top branches to height of them in a similar way to mainlining.

.........

 

[BassBuds]

Thanks for the advice redmud. I think that's the only plant I'm going to mainline this time around. Next time I may try to do a few more, but I have to see how much time I lose from it.

I haven't said much in terms of ph or tds recently so I figured I'd lay out my strategy.

I try to ph adjust once a day to 5.5. Usually over the course of a day or so it will drift up to 5.7-5.8 and by 2 days its around 6.
In terms of tds, I try to stay under 1500ppm. When the water level goes down, I adjust the amount of nutes I'm adding based on how low the ppm is. I also recently added CalMag+ to my routine. I've also been sprinkling some great white into the tank every now and then.

Since I've been giving nutes as I top up the res every few days, I've been able to do reservoir changes every 9-11 days instead of every week. Is there any issue with doing this?

Here's some more pics I took today (about 1 month into veg)

 

[redmud]

You have some beauties in there that box filled up nicely

.........

 

[BassBuds]

You have some beauties in there that box filled up nicely

.........

Thanks. I'll post more pictures later.

Some of the bigger plants started blocking the light from the smaller plants so I moved the smaller ones back over to the veg side of the cab and under the net.
I recently added calmag+, as the guy at my local hydro show said my roots were too brown, and it would help grow healthy white roots... And it totally has.

I also did a reservoir change. . . The next morning I woke up to find a plant with droopy leaves. I pulled the net pot out to find that the roots had completely detached. I pulled the roots out of the reservoir. Then I used a blade and stripped the bottom of the plant down to try to make it a clone, but I didn't have any honey, molasses, or rooting gel. So for now its just sitting in a cup of water. The leaves have picked up a bit, but no roots yet.

The mainline is going along well. I think this will be my last reservoir change before I start flowering these guys. The seeds aren't feminized, so I'm praying I don't end up with too many males.

They've started stretching a bit and are growing ~.5" a day.

Any advice for switching to flower. I heard something about having a 36 hour dark period before the switch. Also Ive heard of people gradually changing from a veg nute to a bloom nute. (floranova grow & floranova bloom)

 

[redmud]

Yeah I used those exact nutes in soil once glad you got the Cal mag, also you might want to look into a bloom booster.
I personally start bloom nutes at flip, but a lot guys start after the buds set or after the second week of flower.
I figure why not have all the nutes there when she needs them.
On the flip side the available amounts of nutrients in part A should be enough up till vigorous flower growth.

At most I would do 24 hours of dark I have seen some bad leaf burn on plants after 48 hours of dark.


.........

 

[redmud]

I forgot to address the res change question, I have gone 2 weeks between changes those benificials really work wonders

.........

 

[BassBuds]

Hey. So I decided to make the switch to flower. I did it kind of impulsively, but the plants were getting to the point where they were over a foot tall, and I only have 3.5 feet to work with so I wanted to make sure they didn't get too close to the light.

I noticed one branch got bent somehow, so I figured I'd call it a supercrop and do the other side too. (this is one of the chemdawgs that I fim'ed).

I also did some pruning around the bottom of the plants.... an attempt at lollipopping. Hopefully I didn't do too much damage. also, I increased the co2 to around 4psi. It turns on for about 5 seconds every 15 minutes or so.

Is it better to have an 80ºF air temp, and 75ºF solution temp, or a 70ºF air temp with a 65-68º F solution temp. When I turn the space heater on, both the air and the solution temp rise. I know with co2, hotter is better.

also it looks like the plant on the back left has some damage on it. The co2 tube is directly above it. Do you think the plant could show damage from the co2 coming down directly onto it?


Here's some pictures:

 

[BassBuds]

Man, that eyehortilux bulb is strong. Light leaks immediately became apparent. I had to go in there with some silicone and seal up the cracks.

 

[redmud]

I would keep those res Temps down right now you don't want to get algae and bad bacteria growth. Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen and gives anaerobic bacteria a chance to get a foot hold and take over.
At work we keep res Temps between 65 and 68 with water chillers, you can pretty small water chillers to run in your system.
Not to sure about the Co2 causing problems. I know most plants in front of the cold air intake show some weird leaf growth and kinda get leathery looking

.........

 

[BassBuds]

Hey. Here's some pictures. Also, if you have a cluster of preflowers (not just a single bump, but several), does that mean that it is a male? or can it have multiple calyxes at one node each with a pistil.

 

[BassBuds]

btw... had to kill one of the plants (the biggest one) because it was a dude. The second tallest one also looks like a dude, because it has a cluster of things that look like seed pod preflowers . Really hoping my grow box isn't a sausage party.

 

[BassBuds]

redmud. What do you mean by bloom booster?

Here's my current regimen (along with some pics I took yesterday):
Flowering Side: (per gallon)
3-5 ml of calmag
6 drops Floralicious Plus
5ml FloraNectar
a shake of great white
10ml of FloraNova Bloom



Veg Side
3-5ml of calmag
5 drops of Floralicious Plus
a shake of great white
8ml of FloraNova Grow



I've had to kill 1 more male plants (2 total out of 5). The other plants seem happy to take up the room though.

I also took some pics through a macro lens. Are these trichs forming?

 

[redmud]

Man sorry I get busy sometimes with 3 grows to look after mine, my Dad's, and at work. I'm glad you caught that dude before be dropped pollen in your box!!

.........

 

[redmud]

By bloom booster I meant basically about when you start seeing trichomes if you give them specific nutes to grow flowers they explode.
Basically more P, and K plus micros and some molasses or sucrose and less nitrogen so they don't want to keep growing leaves and focus on bud growth
.........

 

[BassBuds]

So I accidentally knocked out the power cord for the bubbler. I didn't realize until roots started growing up the stem . I had to search around the forums to find out why that was happening.

Here's some pics. Am I screwed?