Who You Callin' A Sugar Mama Auto LED RDWC

[b0rker]

New Year.. New Grow.

After my last popcorn grow.. I decided not rip my setup apart and just use it for a quick and painless Auto Grow.

So I am doing 2 Sugar Mama Autos in the RDWC.

Total Water is 10g in 2 Tubs and 16g in res so 36g total size. I started with water that is
51ºF (brrr) and 6.3ph EC .3 / TDS 130 / PPM 180 (never know what to use here so doing all three)

I've then added 18mL each of the z7 and 90mL each of Micro / Grow / Bloom (Flora Series as usual)
Now I'm working on getting the Temp up (shouldn't take maybe a day or so) and ph down to 5.8.

I have the water adjusted to right at the bottom of the pots



I doubt I'll use the new tie downs as the last autos didn't really care for the topping. but I put them on none the less

 

[Alienpus]

I'm in, good luck

 

[Griffen loki]

I’ll tag along

 

[b0rker]

Welcome to the thread =)

Nothing new to post other than some new shots.. they still haven't broke through with their roots so not doing any type of water changes. still holding at 460 / 67 / 5.9

I did a top water on the plugs as they were dry but the stones are wet.. Probably not needed but why not =)

 

[b0rker]

Roots started to pop out I noticed today so figured I'd bump up the nutrients to the next level in the res. Upon opening the res I found this.

uggg. SLUDGE really.. Never had it this bad. and I figured I wouldn't have a problem seeing as the entire system sat bone dry and washed out for 2 weeks. none the less I poured bleach in the res and let it set for a few mins and hopefully will kill all the crap. Washed it out a few times and drained and hopefully got it all out.

So after 9water changes.. I have 16g of new water.. did 10mL each of z7 .. I thought the z7 prevented this stuff =/ .. but guess not.

then added in 14mL of Floralicious and 35mL of Calimag then added in 105/140/35mL of Micro Gro Bloom

Which leaves me around 800/5.9 now that the system is circulating.. And the smell of Bleach in the air. =(

Here's some updated shots of the saps .. they look great.. Just hope the bleach doesn't harm them lol.. =p

 

[b0rker]

Little Photo Update

Growing nicely.. nothing to update on anything other than the photos.. Oh and the sludge isn't reappearing so I hope the bleach handled that.

 

[b0rker]

It's taking everything I have to just let these babies grow untouched.. =/ I want to lop off their heads! =p maybe next week.. or maybe not at all.. I really just want to see if these grow better untouched.. seeing as they are autos.. I'll just let them be.

Did a complete Res drain and refill doing the same feeding as I had..
Started with 760/6.0 drained to a 220/7.1
added
10mL z7
14mL Floralic
35mL Cali
105/140/35 or Flora series
which brought me to 1080 and ph'd to 5.7 now circulating it's 880/6.0 so I'll add in a lil more phdown to get it lower

 

[b0rker]

I've been letting these plants just grow on their own.. they've not really drank much and I've only refilled maybe 4g over the past week or so.. I noticed they're looking odd so I figured I'd start with the next feeding. Soooo.. I started with
810ppm 67º 5.9ph
And added 16 G fresh water

Base of
240ppm 60º 6.7

To which I added
10mL z7
16mL Floralic
80mL CaliMag
160mL Micro
160mL Grow
80mL Bloom
gave me 1730/63/6.1 (dropped it to 5.3)
Which is now circulating at
1220 66º 5.7

Here's some updated shots..



Same breed.. two completely different looks

here's some of the discolor leaves.. but roots look great


And I'm starting to see preflowers



So won't be long now before they go into flower

 

[b0rker]

Now that the plants are starting to go into Flower I did a Transition feeding today. started with 1120/67/5.6 and drained the res to start with 240/59/6.8 to which I added

14mL z7
15mL Floralic
40mL CaliMag
105mL Micro
105mL Grow
105mL Bloom

I'm seeing my numbers are a little weak.. seeing as I used 14g rather than 16g.. but I'm ok with that.. the end result is 1190/63/6.0 (I'll add in some ph down to get that down)

It's killing me not to defoil these! but alas I sipped up the tent and let them be.. It's funny how one is completely diff than the other..

 

[Scrogdawg]

They look good in there b0rker. Are your sludge problems cleared up?

 

[b0rker]

They look good in there b0rker. Are your sludge problems cleared up?

Yup! at least for the major part of it.. The bleach destroyed the outbreak.. There is still trace amounts of it in there.. just nothing as crazy as it was.. One thing I did do is put towels ontop of the res. I'm using the same tub with the yellow top.. I am wondering if light was getting through that and cause the outbreak.. Either way.. Once this one is finished I'll run bleach through the entire system for a day or so to kill everything gross.. Or I'll scrap the entire setup and start again ;p

One thing I have noticed while changing the water is when I add in the second part of the z7 the water foams up like crazy.. it eventually dies down.. just creepy.

 

[420BudzFreak]

I’ll tag along if you don’t mind. Plants look happy and healthy. I love Hydro. It’s awesome watching them grow so quickly. Happy growing!!

 

[Scrogdawg]

One thing I have noticed while changing the water is when I add in the second part of the z7 the water foams up like crazy.. it eventually dies down.. just creepy.

Mine does that every time I add Z7.

 

[b0rker]

Now we're drinking! Lifted up the lid to the res and the baby was low.. was aroung 1230ppm / 5.9ph. I was thinking about adding full new nutrient solution but decided I'm going to stick with the original plan of not touching the plants and only topping off until a week after each feeding. No sense in wasting valuable nutrients.

I'm actually amazed how well these plants are looking.. they're full. and tons of flower nodes. I'm beginning to wonder if this whole defoliation and topping thing is a myth.. Then again.. these are autoflowers.. I'm seeing much nicer looking buds forming on these so when I go back to a feminized plant next.. I'll be able to judge defoil / topping better.

One thing I thought about after reading other journals about this subject is, yes, these are the same strain. but they may (prob 100% are) different genes. They share the same water and the same setup.. but one is bigger than the other and one has the burnt tips. Even from the first photo I can tell one is a smaller plant.

To really be able to figure out if this (this being defoil / topping) actually makes a diff.. I'd need to do it with 2 clones off one plant. I don't have the setup or space rather for clones.. so I'll just stick to my unscientific approach =]

And with that here are some updated shots.

 

[b0rker]

They're def drinking.. only been 2 days and the res is down to the 2" mark. So a full drain and redo of the nutrients.

Started with 1180/67/5.7 and base water of 290/61/6.8

I did an early bloom Week 6 feeding. or
15 of z7 / Floralicious / Koolbloom
60 Calimag
115 / 40 / 150 of Floraseries

which gave me a 1270 6.0 (lowered to 5.7) and now it's circulating.. prob end in the 1180-1240 range.

Here's an updated (2 days not that diff) shot.. Plus a shot of the height of the light.. I raised it up as far as I could for the stretch.. hoping they pull up and open up the interior so I stop thinking I need to trim =)

 

[b0rker]

Res was getting low today again.. ph had fallen (which happens when the res gets low) So emptied what little was in and refilled with the exact same as before (feeding wise) I thought about bumping up one but the right plant still hasn't caught up with the left one. Hopefully in a week it'll look better.

system is recir at 1270/67/5.8

And an update shot.

I'm also 200x happier with how these buds are looking as opposed to the last set of plants.. they're not plump but they're filling in nicely

 

[420BudzFreak]

That tent is FULL! Good work b0rker! The buds do look fantastic. Should be nice and fat in no time. I’m looking forward to seeing how they do the rest of the way. Happy growing!

 

[b0rker]

I've had to add 4g of water twice this week.. they're thirsty!

Res is sitting at 1160 / 66 / 5.7 so they're thirsty but not really eating the nutrients so I don't feel bad just adding in water.

Now however that the right plant has hit the stretch mode.. I am thinking about cutting out the under growth.. I will think on it today and do a little research on Auto Flowers to see if doing so will harm or benefit.. They undergrowth doens't look bad.. and has flowers.. just isn't as poppin as the upper canopy.

 

[b0rker]

Opened up the tent this morning and they have taken over.. I know I said I wasn't going to touch but the bottom had all kinds of crunchie leaves going on and when I touched some just fell off.. so I trimmed out the undersides.. most just fell off but I removed the branches that are never going to produce anything due to the lack of light. they were turning yellow as it was.

One thing I've noticed is the PH keeps dropping.. I have to add in PH up almost daily to keep in the 5.7-5.9 range. I also add in 4g of water every other day. so nothing new there.. PPM is sitting at 1200 after a change this weekend.

Before and after and some canopy shots. the Right plant is catching up but will be about a week behind in harvesting.

the aftermath

 

[420BudzFreak]

It’s a freakin forest! I think. They’ll enjoy that defol. Good work buddy! Looking forward to the rest of the flower show. Should be awesome. Happy growing!