WW's 1st Grow - 2x2 Tent - Single Plant - LED - Borderliner XTRM - Soil - Reveg

[wwhateley]

Thank you for your answer!
I think you're right, keeping it short might make LST easier right?
I always wondered why soil PH was lower with soilless setups. Are nutrients assimilated better if more acidic?

It's really great noticing changes in my watering; I need to water more and more often, the roots are growing well! When I see other journals it feels like my plant is a little behind growth wise but it does look healthy though.

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Yeah don't worry about little vertical growth, some strains stretch +200% when flipped to flower.
LST is easy either way, and the sooner you start, the more control you have.

Check if the nutes you use require a certain pH range, I use Biobizz which needs water pH 6,8-7,2 before adding nutes, I found out during my 3rd grow, after aiming for 6,5 after adding nutes...

 

[Croatsan]

Thank you for your answer!
I think you're right, keeping it short might make LST easier right?
I always wondered why soil PH was lower with soilless setups. Are nutrients assimilated better if more acidic?

It's really great noticing changes in my watering; I need to water more and more often, the roots are growing well! When I see other journals it feels like my plant is a little behind growth wise but it does look healthy though.

Exactly. You want her to spread horizontally as much as possible in this early stage. And you train her. Then, she shoots upwards, during the stretch. But you try and spread her over as wide surface you possibly can. It all depends on how long you want to veg.

That's what I would do.

Soiless setups don't have a buffer, soil does. Nutrients are assimilated at diferent rates during different pH levels. That's why, in soiless mediums, it's good for the pH to fluctuate. This assures adequate nutrient intake across the whole spectrum.

It's really important to observe your plants. They react fast, especially in hydro. Growth could also be influenced by genetics, there are many factors at play. But, as long as the plant is healthy, you know you're doing the right thing

 

[wwhateley]

Check if the nutes you use require a certain pH range, I use Biobizz which needs water pH 6,8-7,2 before adding nutes, I found out during my 3rd grow, after aiming for 6,5 after adding nutes...

Hi there! Thanks for passing by and sharing your knowledge! That's very interesting what you're saying here. How come that you found out after all that time? It wasn't on the bottle or something? I'll be using BioCanna nutrients and for now I pH my water from 8 to 6,5. Then I'd add the nutrients? I didn't find anything on the bottle itself nor on the website.

It makes me wonder if I should be using a nitric acid pH down solution with organic fertilizer... Doesn't sound like a good match.

Exactly. You want her to spread horizontally as much as possible in this early stage. And you train her. Then, she shoots upwards, during the stretch. But you try and spread her over as wide surface you possibly can. It all depends on how long you want to veg.

That's what I would do.

Soiless setups don't have a buffer, soil does. Nutrients are assimilated at diferent rates during different pH levels. That's why, in soiless mediums, it's good for the pH to fluctuate. This assures adequate nutrient intake across the whole spectrum.

It's really important to observe your plants. They react fast, especially in hydro. Growth could also be influenced by genetics, there are many factors at play. But, as long as the plant is healthy, you know you're doing the right thing

I'm going to try and let nature do its course and accept my plant's looks haha

Thanks a lot for explaining this to me because soil/soilless definitions got me very confused at first. I feel lucky to benefit from people's experience like that!

Anyway, right now I'm glad I got this curling leaves problem solved. It's funny because I was browsing some LED panels the other day and I came across this :

"The signs that you have exceeded the minimum distance to your plants will usually manifest in the form of slight curling of the youngest leaves on the plant and/or overall slower growth. If either of these are experienced, simply raise the light back up 4-6” and wait a few days. The results in backing the light off should be immediate, and you should see the plant return to robust, lush growth within a day or so. If it seems like the plant is still being overwhelmed, back the light off to the top end of the recommended height and allow the plant some time to acclimate, before trying to lower the light back down."

I wish I saw it earlier!

 

[TheGrowKingLV]

looks good I'm subbed

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Hi there! Thanks for passing by and sharing your knowledge! That's very interesting what you're saying here. How come that you found out after all that time? It wasn't on the bottle or something? I'll be using BioCanna nutrients and for now I pH my water from 8 to 6,5. Then I'd add the nutrients? I didn't find anything on the bottle itself nor on the website.

It makes me wonder if I should be using a nitric acid pH down solution with organic fertilizer... Doesn't sound like a good match.

Well, my first lot of photoperiod plants showed some deficiencies, my autos didn't really show before. So I checked the Biobizz website and found out...

Usually it's recommended to pH after you've added nutes, since you don't know how they affect the pH.
From the BioCanna website: ''The diluted nutrient solution does not need to be acidified'' - - - BUT what pH range the water should be before mixing is not mentioned!?!?!
You could write them and ask about it, and go with pH 6,5 until they answer you, then you probably won't be far from whatever range they recommend.

I use organic lemon juice for pH down, it's easy to use and costs like 2 USD at the supermarket.

Good catch on the LED light explanation I also experienced having the lights further away gave better growth.

 

[wwhateley]

looks good I'm subbed

Thank you and welcome aboard!

Well, my first lot of photoperiod plants showed some deficiencies, my autos didn't really show before. So I checked the Biobizz website and found out...

Usually it's recommended to pH after you've added nutes, since you don't know how they affect the pH.
From the BioCanna website: ''The diluted nutrient solution does not need to be acidified'' - - - BUT what pH range the water should be before mixing is not mentioned!?!?!
You could write them and ask about it, and go with pH 6,5 until they answer you, then you probably won't be far from whatever range they recommend.

I use organic lemon juice for pH down, it's easy to use and costs like 2 USD at the supermarket.

Good catch on the LED light explanation I also experienced having the lights further away gave better growth.

I came across something else on their website. They got a "grow guide" that is actually a quite handy feeding schedule and I spotted the following message on the same page :

"The pH doesn’t generally need to be corrected with hard water (what I use)
(pH > 7.5) is an exception to this. (my tap water has a pH of 8)

It is recommended that the pH should then be corrected to 6.0 – 6.5. pH correction using Organic Acid. (or pH min grow) : do they mean that the tap water should be corrected to 6.0 - 6.5 or the final mixed watering/feeding solution? (The pH min grow is the nitric acid based one I have from them so it shouldn't be dangerous).

I should email them to be sure because I also see that on their feeding schedule they put the veg/flowering nute on the same line than the root boost and flowering boost so I'm wondering if you can feed them to your plant at the same time...

While I wait for their answer I'll be following your advice and keep it at around 6.5. I only use root booster for now and lowering the pH is a must because I get a crazy 9.4 pH once it's mixed with my tap water!

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Sounds like you should lower the pH of the water before mixing in the nutes.
I think you should use the recommended nutes together, it might be a good idea to start out feeding half of the recommended and see how the plant reacts.
Unless Biocanna is supposed to be used with every watering, it's to feed only once a week-ish and water with pure water in between feedings to avoid nute build-up in the medium.

 

[wwhateley]

Sounds like you should lower the pH of the water before mixing in the nutes.
I think you should use the recommended nutes together, it might be a good idea to start out feeding half of the recommended and see how the plant reacts.
Unless Biocanna is supposed to be used with every watering, it's to feed only once a week-ish and water with pure water in between feedings to avoid nute build-up in the medium.

The guys from Canna didn't bother answering me but indeed as long as my tap water is below 7,5 pH before mixing the nutrients I should be good. Then for watering with pure water in between you got a pretty good point! I thought that you could feed at every watering with organic but I guess in the end it would be still bad for the plant.

Here' how my plant looks like now :

Bushy as hell, the lower leaves touch the top soil and I'm at around 80cm from the plant with my LED panel. The growth is still slow because of the pot size and I gotta be careful with my watering because it takes 4-5 days for the soil to dry...

One thing I'm afraid is that I might have a bite mark on 2 leaves (on the tips/you can actually see one of them in the middle). Like what a tiny caterpillar could do. I looked everywhere for bugs but I didn't see anything! It's been a day now and I didn't see more bite marks. Fingers crossed.

I've been having pretty warm days lately and the temp is at around 30°C (86°) inside the tent. I don't really mind because it's going to cool down soon but my fan controller is going a bit crazy since the maximum temp setting is at 30°C. I normally set it to the maximum so I never get bothered but I reached the limit now.

I also don't really mind the slow growth because I want a solid plant for regeneration and I have all the time in the world
Cheers

PS : I didn't start LST because the stems are rather short. Any thoughts on that?

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Don't worry about short stem when LST'ing, it's all about getting some light to the side braches so they'll stay level with the main cola(s).
You can also try the ponytail training, where you tie the top leaves together for 4-6 hours during lights on.

 

[wwhateley]

I really appreciate that you're giving all these useful tips! I looked up the ponytailing and it seems like a pretty good technique. My problem is that I can't be around my plant a lot because of work so it's a bit complicated. Maybe if I changed the light schedule so I can do it in the evening?

I also looked up the GLR from your sign and I thought it was such a clever idea than I already programmed my timer for it.

Side updates regarding my initial post :

- I won't do scrog because I lack time to prepare a decent screen.
- I'm aiming at 50-55% RH

This morning I saw a fruit fly in my tent and it was walking on a leaf. Nothing special here because I tend to have a few of these in summer but I'll have to watch out because they eat aphids' honeydew next to fruits...

 

[wwhateley]

Hi everyone! I've been a bit quiet lately but it's just because my plant was growing slowly and wasn't doing much. The last days have been pretty good, the plant reacted well to the full strength feeding and it's growing faster now.
I did some LST today :

Before :

After :

You can see a discolored leaf but it's just because it's part of a group of leaves that aren't receiving enough light.

Random question :

The LED panel came with 90° angle "bulbs" but I can replace them with 120° ones that came with it. Do you think it would be beneficial for my plant or is it interesting for bigger tents?
Cheers!

 

[Croatsan]

I run HPS, but the way I understand is, light directionality is one of the strong selling points of LED's. And direct light trumps bounced light. So, folowing this principle, I'd say wait untill she outgrows the 90° angle, then replace it with 120°.

But I'm just testing my logic here. Have no personal experience with LED, whatsoever. LED people will know better.

 

[spacef]

It will not make a big difference in a small tent. a wider angle means less penetration in general, so the height of the tent or of the plant ios something to consider. I don't think you wound see a difference, unless you notice a problem because light is too intense (and can't put it further away from the plants).

 

[ewilan947]

Looking good buddy

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Looking good in there

I think it roughly translates to: wide lense for coverage and narrow lense for penetration.
It probably affects how the spectrum blends as well, most panels have a mix of 90° and 120°

 

[wwhateley]

Thank you guys for the great comments and tips!

I don't need coverage in that tiny tent so I'll leave the 90° ones on! Other than that, I got really surprised on how the end of the LST branches faced upwards after only 1 hour of light! Nature is beautiful

Yesterday I messed up btw. I watered but forgot to pH... It was only clear water so I hope it won't be having too many consequences.
It was late and I really didn't think straight.

 

[wwhateley]

Hi everyone! I thought I would keep you guys posted how everything is going on, and by doing that, it also really helps to see how the plant grows. It's not always obvious because I look inside my tent twice a day.

Here's how it looks like today :

It's a bit less than a day after feeding. I noticed that I have to feed/water more often than before so the roots are doing their job quite well. Before feeding yesterday I had to remove the dried out leaves (the ones that are too much in the shadow) but other than that it's all doing pretty good.
I'm at the maximum top of the plant/LED panel distance and it's still not stretching much... Just gonna veg another month if needed!
Cheers

 

[spacef]

it will stretch when you have the first "pre-flowers" (white "buttons" or young/small flowers) and probably not before you switch to 12/12 (or less, i'm at 9 / 10 hours now, 3 weeks before crop).

 

[ewilan947]

I do a full flower in 11/13 hours
and yeah the sex method before switch is good,
I have a rottation so I just throw in plants when the others are done
peace