Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon Haze

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Oops, misread the plants.

The plant you did the trimming on will have the denser buds. But since it's in full bloom, it may not yield as much, since it likely won't grow many new bud sites. If you trim before the bloom hormones take over, you'll also get added calyx growth in the upper canopy.

Ah, OK, that makes sense. It sounds like ideally I'll want to do all or most of my trimming in veg instead of early flower then? And I take it that added calyx growth is a good thing, right !? I believe so because I think that means more bud growth, but I'm not sure.

I'm actually alright with slightly less yield if the buds themselves are more substantial and higher quality as a result of being closer to the light. Last evening I snipped off some lower branches, buds and leaves from Regina and Tori (the front two), but not nearly as much as I did on Regina two nights ago. Vera is now the biggest and bushiest of the bunch, which is ironic, because she was the one worst hit by root rot in DWC and was the slowest grower and most unhealthy looking back then too. I may keep her the least trimmed so I can compare yields amongst the group.

Appreciate the tips!

 

[Graytail]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Ah, OK, that makes sense. It sounds like ideally I'll want to do all or most of my trimming in veg instead of early flower then? And I take it that added calyx growth is a good thing, right !? I believe so because I think that means more bud growth, but I'm not sure.

Yep, doing it a week before you flip also gives you and them a chance to see how they took to the trimming before you flip 'em. We're actually growing trichs, and most of the trichs grow on calyxes, so more calyxes = more trichs, and more trichs = more happy.


You've done a marvelous job of nursing those sick half-dead clones into vibrant healthy beauties.

+reps

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Yep, doing it a week before you flip also gives you and them a chance to see how they took to the trimming before you flip 'em. We're actually growing trichs, and most of the trichs grow on calyxes, so more calyxes = more trichs, and more trichs = more happy.


You've done a marvelous job of nursing those sick half-dead clones into vibrant healthy beauties.

+reps

Thanks a million Graytail I literally could not have done it without your help.

You and the 420magazine community are really an amazing group and I feel proud and fortunate to be a member

 

[CCOiler]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Agreed

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I just have a few spare minutes, but here are some pics from last night. A couple show the before and after the snipping of Tori.

Also, I'm not going to freak out, but I did notice one of the hygrometers measure a low temp of 57.9 F yesterday. The other one showed a low of 61, so it's hard to say what is really true. I don't think I should let it get much cooler than that, but it's a little hard to control because certain people in my home like to have the AC on as it's getting pretty darn toasty in these parts.

A side view

Tori before her trim

Tori after her trim

A nice group shot

Side view after trimming

Some low temps helped by the AC

 

[Antics]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

ODOR:
I noticed as of two days ago the odor coming out of the tent has changed. I saw a couple of threads about this so am not terribly concerned, but prior to this, when I opened the tent I got a nice sniff of the wonderful cannabis smell. Now, when I open the tent I get a very small amount of that smell but more a soil and moisture smell or something along those lines. Hopefully it's not mold or something awful like that. Of course, I will monitor things closely over the next few days, but please chime in if you have any comments about that. And thanks!

If it smells like soil/moisture I wouldn't worry too much, but would check humidity. The last pic I see from you is 43% RH. So that's just fine assuming the meter is accurate.

Mold has a very distinct smell, you can't miss it. If you smell that, then I'd worry.
It just sounds like you might be opening the tent at different times, and experiencing times where she's producing more smell, and when she's producing less smell.

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Wow, this week has been really busy, but I plan to make a journal update later today. Thanks for your comments about the odor Antics!

I think I should try to get the humidity down a bit and maybe the temps up a bit too, because I've read that humidity that is too high along with temps that are too low (in the lower 60s) can encourage fungus growth leading to bud rot, which is pretty damn scary.

Lately, when it rain here the humidity is getting up into the 60% area, and has gone up as much as 70% at certain times. Setting the outtake fan higher lowers humidity, but it also lowers the temps, so I think I may need to invest in a humidifier.

Anyway, an update with more details and pics is coming later today...

 

[agent dank]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I think I should try to get the humidity down a bit and maybe the temps up a bit too, because I've read that humidity that is too high along with temps that are too low (in the lower 60s) can encourage fungus growth

Get a dehumidifier. It will reduce your humidity and increase your temps.

Powdery Mildew is not fun to deal with. At least thats what people say. I never had issues with it.

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Hi 420mag friends!

It's been a few days since I've been able to provide a proper update. May was a busy month and at this rate I expect June to be just as jammed. Such is life!

Anyway, let me get right to it Here's a peak from 5/28...

the back row

buds growing up fast

Temps have been about 58-72 F and
RH has been between 43% and 65%, give or take a couple of points.

HUMIDITY, TEMPS, and AIR QUALITY:
I've been reading a bit about root rot because I wanted to understand more about what causes it and how to prevent it, because I've seen some disappointed growers complain that some of their crop (or in some cases, all of it) had been ruined by root rot in the past. Yikes!! That sounds very scary. It sounds like I'm doing the right thing by taking off some leaves to allow more air flow and keeping the fans going, but it also seems like my temps are a little too low and humidity is too high.

I'm looking around at dehumidifiers and intend to get one very soon. My understanding is that in addition to lowering the humidity levels, it will also increase temps a bit, which sounds perfect. If that doesn't raise the temps quite enough, I suppose I can maybe put the heater back in there, but at this point the tent is very tight and the heater would be right up against one or two plants, so ideally I won't need the heater. The unfortunate thing is the grow is in a basement where the ambient temps are about 10 degrees (F) lower than the temps in the upper floors where the thermostat lives which activates the central AC. So, we want the AC where the people are, but we don't want the AC as much in the basement going and it's all on one zone, unfortunately.

I could try to close the vent in the grow room, to limit the AC air from coming in, but that would also limit the fresh air from coming into the tent, which isn't great. Hopefully a dehumidifier will take care of things sufficiently though. Since I (sadly) don't have the space to do multiple grow areas for a perpetual garden, I think I might try to time the next grow so the veg cycle is during a warmer time of the year (i.e. summer) and the flower cycle happens during a cooler time (the fall), since this should provide more favorable natural temps.

glowing buds under the HPS

close-up of bud

FEEDING, PH, EC:
On May 27 I mixed up a fresh batch of nutes using the FloraDuo DTW (drain-to-waste) flower schedule for week 4 of flower, which is week 7 overall (in the schedule). We're actually just starting week 5 of flower going by the calendar (but I think the feeding schedule is identical for both weeks, if I remember correctly). Anyway, there are a few notable changes to the nute mix which are:

RapidStart is no longer being used
LiquidKoolBloom has increased to double the strength (from 2ml/g to 4ml/g)
The Tea Blend is no longer being used
FloraNectar has doubled (from 2.5ml/g to 5ml/g)
I also increased the blackstrap molasses from 3tbs to 4tbs (in the 4g mix of water)

This nute mix was mixed using a 75% strength of the recommended amounts from the FloraDuo DTW schedule. I should maybe start checking runoff EC to see if the plants want more nutes or less. However, because the runoff ppm and pH was kind of wacky the last time I checked it, I'm not sure checking EC will really be a helpful indicator. The source of the clones did recommend using 75% strength in flower, so hopefully that will be cheerfully taken in by the girls.

The stats of this particular nute mix are:
pH - 6.0 (w/o pH adjustment, yet)
ppm - 1044
EC - 1.44
C - 17.8 celsius (at time of measurement)

I've been watering mostly every day, but occasionally skipping a day if there is too much runoff still hanging around. I've read that it's good to water them with a slightly higher pH in flower, so I'm thinking of using a target pH of 6.0 instead of 5.8. Any thoughts on that decision?

One of the girls, Sadie, in the front left is still displaying some signs of potential deficiency (or abundance?) with a few yellowing and brown spots on some leaves. I'm also noticing some very slightly burnt leaf tips (on all the plants I believe), which makes me wonder if I should back off on the nute strength a bit and/or raise the lights a couple of inches. Currently, the highest colas are about 13" from the light hood and most of the canopy is a bit farther than that. I thought I had some pics of Sadie's discolored leaves, but now I'm not finding them. I'll plan to take some more later today though.

colas forming under a green hue

colas forming under an orange hue

GNATS:
The adult fungus gnat population seems stable and not increasing which is excellent. Also, since I didn't know if some larvae or eggs were lurking in the coco, I poured a quart of hot tap water mixed with 5ml/g of hydrogen peroxide onto each girl to kill any that might be living. A couple of hours later I watered normally with the nute mixture. I like this technique because it is easy and cheap and something I can do once a week, presumably throughout the grow. Unless I find out this is somehow a bad plan, I'm going to do this in veg during my next grow, since it seems like the gnats like to launch their first attack at that time.

GLR (Gas Lantern Routine):
I also changed the timer to reduce the light cycle by another 30 minutes starting on 5/30.

TRIMMING:
On 5/28 I read a lot more about trimming during the flower cycle and came to the understanding that it is a good idea to trim bushy leaves off, but to leave new leaves toward the top, especially those that are close to a growing bud. I trimmed off some leaves from all the girls that were blocking buds that are lower down to allow more light penetration. I also took off some more leaves from Vera, who hadn't gotten any branches cut off like the others, but I opted to not remove any actually branches from Vera, just leaves for the time being. I'm very interested to see how these trimming differences will affect yields across the plants.

buds

the canopy

Well, that's pretty much all I have for now, or at least all I can remember

I'd be interested in hearing any comments on Sadie's discolored leaves (I'll try to provide pics soon) and the strength and pH of nutes I mentioned. In the meantime, I wish everyone a very green day

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

OK, as promised, here are some pics of Sadie's spotted and yellowing leaves...

Is this anything to be concerned about? Does it indicate a deficiency or abundance of some sort? I'm feeding her the same as the other 3 plants and the others are all green. One of them is SLH and the other 3 are Strawberry Diesel, so maybe Sadie is the SLH and requires a different concentration of nutes?

Here are some more pics of Sadie

 

[Major PITA]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I'm no expert and don't do DWC, but my guess is that may be a potassium deficiency.

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I'm no expert and don't do DWC, but my guess is that may be a potassium deficiency.

Thanks Major. Just a reminder that I'm not doing DWC anymore, but growing in Coco now.

I'm looking into threads about potassium deficiency to see if I see similarities. If it is that, I wonder how I can boost potassium on just that one plant - maybe add one specific nutrient to her feeding or something like that? You can also see the burnt leaf tips in those pics. Not sure if that's related to the yellowing and spotting issue though. More research is needed!

On a separate note, when I get a dehumidifier is it important that it be in the tent, or can I get good dehumidifying by keeping the unit right outside the tent? The room the tent is in is enclosed and is about 12' x 12'. I don't think the dehumidifier will actually fit comfortably inside the tent anyway, and it would also make it difficult to empty the bucket once it is full if it lived in there.

 

[Major PITA]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Doh!
Oh well, I've never done coco either.
From my limited experience in non-soil growing, I'd make sure to flush between feedings. When I was feeding, a PH of 5.8 or 6.0 made little to no difference I could tell. I think it would take a long trial of each to see any difference. Even then, it would be difficult to know what actually caused the difference.
I'm think the dehumidifier would work outside the tent, but you would need a bigger model and keep the room very low in RH. That air will gain a lot of moisture once inside the tent. I was lucky enough to be able to keep RH and temp's reasonable with just my fan pulling the air out.
All in all, they look great!

 

[CCOiler]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Agreed Snacks, your girls are looking great.

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Because of the burnt tips, and those are actually somewhat visible to at least some degree on all the plants, I think they may be getting a bit of nutrient burn. I've decreased the next feeding strength back down to 50% and will see how things look after a week or so of that. I wonder how quickly they might respond to that change?

And I can see why people say it takes a few grows of a particular strain to really dial in the nutrients.

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

Hi gang.

I've run into a potentially serious issue and am wondering if someone can let me know whether this is going to cause a real problem or not?

I'm currently traveling for a few days and have a trusted person looking after the grow for me. Well, I found out today that when they went to water them today, the lights were out when they were supposed to be on. On no!!!

We figured out it was a blown (HPS) bulb and I promptly had them replace it with the only other bulb that was on hand there, which was my MH (veg) bulb. We estimate that there was at most 4 hours of lights out yesterday when it should've been on and at most 3 hours today of lights out when they should've been on based on yesterday and today's feedings. (The outage appeared to happen surrounding the normal dark period; either sometime before normal lights out yesterday or the bulb just didn't come on at normal lights on time today.)

The replacement MH bulb came up without a problem, but I've never had to deal with a blown bulb in the middle of the grow before where I couldn't replace it with the same kind (HPS vs MH).

Is this going to mess things up for the budding ladies?
I did have a blown MH bulb during my first grow, but I was around and was able to replace it quickly with the same bulb.

Also, is the extra dark time they received yesterday and today going to cause an issue? I'll be back to see them in a couple of days, but in the meantime I'm really concerned about them. It would be so very awful if this issue caused the whole growth to go south. Should I worry or will it be fine? I'm planning to pickup a new HPS bulb, but won't be able to do so for another couple of days.

Thanks for any helpful comments!!! I'm really worried about them.

 

[Major PITA]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I think you will be fine. MH vs HPS won't matter for a few days and a one-off light shortage surrounding their dark period probably won't do anything either (just guessing on this part). All you can do is watch for nanners, but IMO, you are good.

 

[Hungaluz]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I think the same like Major Pita

 

[snack420]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

I think you will be fine. MH vs HPS won't matter for a few days and a one-off light shortage surrounding their dark period probably won't do anything either (just guessing on this part). All you can do is watch for nanners, but IMO, you are good.

Cool, thanks MP and Hungaluz. I am very eager to get back and see how they look and check for signs of stress. Hopefully they won't be impacted by this and turn hermie! My last grow (of one plant) hermied and half the bud weight ended up being seeds, which kind of sucked. At least the buds themselves were decent, but of course, I'm aiming for sensemilla this time around. I can't believe this happened while I was away, but I guess that teaches me to have an extra bulb around at all times.

Is there a specific location on the ladies to look for nanners, like near the bottom or top of the plants?

 

[CCOiler]

Re: Snacks - DWC Bucket - 600W MH/HPS Grow Journal - Strawberry Diesel & Super Lemon

WOW!!! lesson learned, always have extra bulbs, timers, fan and anything else that might be needed. I've taken notes on this one snacks. Get home your girls are waiting for you.