1st Grow, All New Equipment, 300W Mars-Hydro & 27"x27"x63" Tent

Update #14

Thursday March 9, 2017

I HAVE A HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!!!

Drum Roll Please...

:tommy:

Fuck it, Get the whole damn band in here!
:theband: :goof:

:laughtwo: LOL

We have officially gone into flower. Yeah!!! :yahoo:

I thought I saw something yesterday and the day before but I wasn't sure. It's obvious today. I can see the hairs growing at the base of the pony tail. So it's official she showed her sex on Day 29, day 1 of week 5. This seems to be right on schedule. 4 weeks to the day for veg. and I anticipate 6 weeks of flower for a total of 70 days from seed to harvest.

Here are pictures from the past 2 days and today.

We'll start off with one from Tuesday. If you can zoom in near the base of the newest growth you can see the beginnings of the flower stage.


The next few pictures are from Wednesday. Zoom in on the base of the pony tail and you can see the hairs growing. In the 1st two you can also see the LST I am doing with the large fan leaves by tucking them behind the lower growth and the 3rd shot is a nice full canopy shot and if you zoom in on the top you can see the hairs.


Finally we get to today. Here are 2 shots. a full view and a close up.
 
Mike420husker said:
Red very nice looking good. Where can I find out about ponytailing .Been looking no luck yet Thx.
happy growing
Click to expand...

Hey Mike420, I don't recall where exactly I came across this technique except that I have seen it done on this site and also on you tube. Do searches for the specific word ponytail along with the word cannibis and see what you come up with. Also try the word autoflower with ponytail.

The idea behind ponytailing is to expose the undergrowth to the light. It is a from of LST (Low Stress Training). The easiest way I have found to get the ponytail is to wrap the tie wire around the stem just below the sun leaves I want to start the ponytail at. I create about a 1.5 to 2 inch circle with the tie wire and then I slide it up gently to form the ponytail. I leave it like this for about 6 hours. Another form of LST I use is to gently bend the sun leaves below the ponytail down and behind the lower growth. I have also used wooden skewers to hold leaves out of the way. Bending the plant over is also an effective form of LST and allows all the lower growth to be exposed to the light which forms multiple colas where you would normally only end up with one. The idea behind any form of LST is to not shock the plant. Any time the plant is shocked or stressed it will stunt its growth. Since I am growing an autoflower I want to stress the plant as little as possible since the lifecyle of the plant is fairly short and predetermined by the genetics of the seed. In my case it is about 70 days from seed to harvest. The reason I haven't topped the plant is because this would stress the plant and therefore would slow down the growth. I hope this helps you out some.
 
Update #15

Sunday March 12, 2017

I didn't do much with her on Friday other than turn the exhaust fan off and on for about 6 hrs to let the temp and humidity increase. This allowed the humidity to increase into the low 70% range and temps rose into the Low 80's at times. When I keep the fan on continuously the humidity level drops down to between 16% and 22%. The temps range between the low to high 70's. So, the temps are acceptable but I need to get some small fans to keep the air moving in the tent and I also need to get a humidity controlled outlet to moderate my humidity levels better.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures Friday so we'll move onto Saturday. Today was a water day, no nutes. The run off in past waterings has been extremely acidic so I left the water on the base side, somewhere in the 8 ph range, to maybe bring down the acidity, . I gave her a full gallon and she didn't spill off too much, maybe 16 oz. or so. I tested the ph and it was still acidic so I gave her another half gallon of water to help bring down the acidity. I should have dumped the spill off to test the new run off water but I didn't so when I tested it again it was still acidic. Here are some pictures from Saturday.

IMAG092912.jpg

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So here we are, Sunday. She is progressing along nicely and doesn't seem to be showing any signs of any deficiencies that I can see. She is now about 12 inches tall. I ended up breaking off one of the sun leaves today while bending it behind some of the under growth beneath it. Bummer, but I don't think it should make much of a difference since she is so healthy. Here are todays pictures.

This is the leaf I broke off today. Boo Hoo. :-(







Here's a comparison shot of the main stem to a dime. Almost there.

In this picture you can see where I broke off the sun leaf.
 
Update #16

Wednesday March 15, 2017

Monday - I did some LST again today. I did some ponytailing and moved some of the sun leaves out of the way from the undergrowth. I also started getting ready for tomorrows feeding. I started by applying the dry nutrients as a top coat to the soil. I did this by sprinkling about 1 tsp. each of Roots Organics Uprising Foundation, Uprising Bloom, and Uprising Elemental (Ca/Mg). I then mixed up the top coat with my fingers. I also premixed the liquid nutrients to allow them to sit for a day so the ph level could stabilize. I added to a half gallon of water about 1.5 ml each of Roots Organics Buddha Grow, Buddha Bloom, Trinity, Ancient Amber, HP Squared, and also Aurora Innovations Soul Amino-Aide Plant Mass Supplement and Big Swell, Here are some pictures from Monday

Tuesday - Today is Feeding day but as soon as I got home from work I spent the next 2.5 hours snow blowing and shoveling the almost 2 feet of snow from the storm we got hit with. Once I finished up with that mess I headed inside and got settled in and warmed up it was time to feed the little girl. I started by ph'ing the brew I made up yesterday to about 6.5 ph. After feeding that to her I took the 46 oz. of run off from Saturdays feeding and topped it off with some plain water to about a half gallon total and then ph'd it. I then fed that to her resulting in a small amount of run off. I tested the run off waters ph level and it's still on the acidic side so I think I should focus more on the ph level of the feed and not so much the run off since most information I have read say to ph the feed to about 6.5 so that's what I think I will continue to do for now. Here are a few pictures from Tuesday.


Wednesday - Not much to report today. Just keeping it simple. She has grown a few inches over the past few days and is now almost 14 inches tall and easily 2 feet wide at the widest. Here are some pictures from today.

 
Update #17

Saturday March 18, 2017

Thursday - Continuing with Wednesdays theme...Keeping it simple. I won't be doing any more ponytailing, at least for now. I don't want to disrupt any of the main bud growth at this point. I aslo set my dual outlet timer to run the fan for 1 hour on and 2.5 hours off reapeting cycles to help moderate the humidity levels better. I like the way this is working. the tent gets up to 70+ percent humidity when the fan is off but seems to stay mostly in the 50 range. When the fan is on it drops to the high teens to low 20's range, so 2/3 of the time it is high humidity. Here are some pictures from Thursday.





Friday - She is really taking off. I normally wouldn't water her until tomorrow but she is ready today. I ph'd some plain water, that I let sit for several days, to about a high 6 range. She drank a little over 1 gallon to produce some run off. Here are some pictures from Friday.







Saturday - This thing is now over 16 inches tall and is wider than the tent in spots. This is an average of about an inch a day. I have been raising the light every day to maintain a distance of 12 inches from the top. I've been continuing to strategically tuck sun leaves behind others to expose the undergrowth as much as possible without resorting to defoliating any of the sun leaves except for the one I accidentally broke off last week. Here are some pictures from today.





 
Update #18

Friday March 24, 2017

Sorry for the long delay but don't worry because I took plenty of pictures so you can still follow along with me on my grow. So lets take a step back to when we left off on Saturday.

Sunday 3/19/17 - This is day 41 from seed and she needs to be watered again since Fridays watering so I ph'd up a couple half gallon jugs of water. She started running of water at about 3 qt but I finished off the full gallon. There was a lttle more run off than usual but nothing crazy. It was about an inch deep and was gone withing 24 hrs.



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Monday 3/20/17 - I usually mix up a batch of nutes for feeding on Tuesday but I don't think she'll be ready from Sundays watering so I'll wait till tomorrow to do that. She is continuing to grow about an inch a day and now is about 18 inches tall. I don't have much more I can adjust the height with the current configuration so I decide to try and train the top of the plant. I started bending over the top of the plant and this not only brought the top away from the light but also opened up the center of the plant very nicely to the light.

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Tuesday 3/21/17 - Today is normally feeding day but like I expected the soil was still moist enough that she could wait another day to be fed and watered. I mixed up 2 half-gallon jugs of water with the following Nutrients for tomorrows feeding. I used about 1.5 ml each of the following, Roots Organics Buddha Grow, Buddha Bloom, Trinity, Ancient Amber, HP squared, and Etreme Serene. In preparation for tomorrows feeding I also top coated her with a couple of tsp's of Mykos as well as 1 tsp. of Roots Organics Oregonism XL and Elemental. I also felt the direction I was training the plant was covering the dominant side of the plant so I decided to change the direction I was training the top to grow and started training her in the other direction. The plant is continuing to grow and fill in and bush out.



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Wednesday 3/22/17 - After 2 days of trying to train the top of the plant I decided to let the plant just grow el natural. It was just too much handling and I felt it was going to stress out the plant and worse make it merph which would have sucked. Now today is feeding day and Aurora Innovations, the manufacturer of my nutrients, recommends premixing their roots organics line of liquid nutrients 24 hours in advance, which is why I mix it up a day in advance. However they say that is not necessary with their Soul line of products so I added 1.5 ml of Amino-Aide and Big Swell to my nute solution. After adding those 2 products I ph'ed the brew and fed her the full 2 gallons. She had her usual amount of run off which was about 20-30 oz.




Thursday 3/23/17 - She is now about 22 inches tall and continuing to fill in and get bushier. Here are a bunch of pictures showing her from both sides plus I have another comparison shot with a dime vs. the stem. I think the stem wins this time.
















Friday 3/24/17 - So here we are, Friday, one week later. The growth has been fenominal. She is now approaching 24 inches tall and I had to change the way I had the light hanging so I could raise it higher. Here are some more pictures. Let me know what you all think. Thanks
:passitleft:




 
Update #19

Today is Sunday April 2, 2017 and it's been over a week since I last posted any updates. A whole lot has happened since then. I have added a second light and also started using a new humidity and thermostat controlled set of outlets to control the inline filtration fan. I also reached out to the community for advise regarding the main stem continuing to grow in height and running out of space and also trying to figure out why my leaves were getting droopy near the end of their light cycle and weather it was something to be concerned about or if it was normal. So let me fill you in on all the deatails by taking you back to Saturday since I left off on Friday.

Saturday 3/25/17 - Today the soil was getting dry so I ph'd up a gallon of water and gave her the drink she needed. I was getting concerned about the main stem taking off from the rest of the plant and running out of height to adjust the lights any further. So I posted a question to the community to get advise on some options. My immediate solution was to move the filter outside the tent and reverse the direction of the air flow from the inline fan. Now the fan blows air into the tent and the air exits the tent through a duct and through the filter and into the room. Now I have more room to raise the lights. Here is the question I posted. How much taller do you think she will get?

I was also having an issue with the leaves getting droopy near the end of their light cycle but when the light would come back on they would be all perky again so I posted this question to the community. Droopy leaves near end of each light cycle - Why? Initially I left things as is since many responded saying they thought it was normal and that they have experienced the same thing but after several day of watching my plant look like it was on deaths door I decided to cut back on the lights on cycle by 30 min. a day until I eventually cut it back a total of 1.5 hrs so she is now on a 16.5/7.5 light cycle. She is responding very well to the new light cycle and I haven't noticed the droopyness anymore. Here are some pictures from Saturday followed by some of the droopy leaves situation later on.


Sunday 3/26/17 - Today was a routine day. Let the plant just do her thing. I ordered a humidity controlled outlet and a couple of clip-on circulating fan that should be here later in the week. Here are some pictures from Sunday.




Monday 3/27/17 - Just another Monday but tomorrow is Tuesday and from the texture of the soil I would say it will be time to feed her again so I'm mixing up a batch of nutrients to get ready for tomorrow. I am going to up the amount of each product to 2 ml each. I used the following products this week... Roots Organics Buddha Grow, Buddha Bloom, Trinity, Ancient Amber, HPK, and Extreme Serene. As you will see she is getting fricken tall but it's all in the main stem stretch. I've been toying with the idea of adding a second light to hopefully increase my final yield. I am checking on some other lights but I think I am still gonna end up going with another MarsHydro 300. Here some pictures from Monday.



Tuesday 3/28/17 - It's Tuesday and so that means it's feeding time. I started off by top coating her soil with some dry nutrients. I went with about 2 tsp. each of the following... Mykos and Roots Organics Uprising Bloom, Uprising Foundation, and Elemental. I hand mixed this into the top coat of the soil bed. I then add 2 ml of Aurora Innovations Soul - Big Swell to the gallon solution I made up yesterday and then fed this to her. She had a small amount of run off. Here are some pictures from Tuesday.


Wednesday 3/29/17 - Late last night I ordered another MarsHydro 300 and today I received the Humidity controller and the 2 clip-on fans so I was excited to get them hooked up. I first hooked up the fans. They work great. Then I setup the humidity controller. In theory this should have worked out great except my inline fan removes the humidity in a very short period of time. Maybe 20 sec and then the fan would shut off. Now the controller only has a differential setting of 20% max. So I set it to have a range of 40% to 60% Humidity. So far so good. Here are some pictures from Wednesday.



Thursday 3/30/17 - My new light arrived. :woohoo: I couldn't wait to get it hooked up. I will let the pictures do all the talking today.

Well I was gonna until I saw my fuck up. Once I got the second light set up and saw how bright it was along with the extra heat that was being generated I decided to start bending the main stalk over and it fucking kinked, so... I had to splint the stem so it wouldn't fall over. you'll see it in the later pictures. I wish I had continued the lst training I started last week for a couple of days. It was much more flexible then. Oh well, live and learn. But I had no choice the main cola was like 8 inches away and the lower canopy was 10+ inches away from that so I had to get every thing lower. Shit happens, but hopefully she won't be too fucked up from it.



Friday 3/31/17 - Man That second light screwed up my entire heat/humidity system. If I try to keep the humidity in the 40% - 60% range the temps rise into the low to mid 90's. I think that's to hot so I ordered a new controller that measure temperature and humidity. In the mean time I have the humidity controller set to 25% and max's out at 45%. This way the fan has to run for awhile to get down to 25% and this helps pull down the temps into the low 80's which I can live with. So with all this heat I had to water her today. She got her usual gallon but there wasn't any run off. I also had to splint her again near the top because the stem kinked again. Think of like bending a straw and unbending it. It still works but it's been weakened. I hope this doesn't mess her up too bad but wait until you see the comparison shot of the stem vs a dime. It's getting so huge!




Saturday 4/1/17 - Today my new temperature/humidity controller arrived. I have to build a special adapter so I can control the fan simultaneously from both the humidity controlled outlet and the temperature controlled outlet. So for now I manually change it from temperature control during lights on and humidity control when the lights are off. Still have a problem though... When the lights are on if I set the temperature to range from 80 to 84 degrees my humidity drops below 30%. I have a hard time getting it below 80 degrees without running the fan for a long time and the humidity drops down into the mid 20% range. When lights are out I use the humidity control and it works great. The temp drops into the low 70's which is acceptable. So I am loving the extra light but not the heat. What do you guys think. Should I let the humidity go higher along with the heat or should I keep the temperature in a better range and let the humidity go low? I think this is another question for the 420 community. I worked on getting more of the upper branches tied down to lower fan leaves and I tied off the main stalk to one of the support poles to get it lower to the other lower canopy. I was able to lower the lights substantially. Here are some of Saturdays Pictures.


Sunday 4/2/17 - Today I have just been trying to keep the temps and humidity under control. For the most part I have been concentrating on keep the temp in check and letting the humidity stay on the low side. This is drying out the soil quicker than usual so I will be watering her tonight or first thing in the morning. Here are today pictures.

 
I don't know if you know how to do this or not but it's in some advice I would like to give you instead of buying feminized seeds you can make your own seeds feminized even if they're autoflowers they make sprays that you can use spray your plant some silver concentrates it causes pollen sacs to appear but the pollen is all female pollen so the seeds come out 97.999% female your setup seems great your girls just wanted more sleep but you test TDS pH or for hard water
 
Imhigh85 said:
I don't know if you know how to do this or not but it's in some advice I would like to give you instead of buying feminized seeds you can make your own seeds feminized even if they're autoflowers they make sprays that you can use spray your plant some silver concentrates it causes pollen sacs to appear but the pollen is all female pollen so the seeds come out 97.999% female your setup seems great your girls just wanted more sleep but you test TDS pH or for hard water
Click to expand...

Imhigh, thanks for stopping over. So glad you're here. That is some awesome information. So if I understand you correctly... I use this spray and these pollen sacs will form on my female plant and the seeds produced will be pretty much all female? In regards to TDS, pH and hard water. I test my pH and run off. My run off is on the acidic side. I don't test TDS and I use tap water so I assume it's on the hard side.
 
TDS stands for total dissolved solids different kinds of minerals and other things that are in your water the pH you should test your water before Plant will for watering and then test your run off afterwards I posted a few pictures to your original posting that we started this conversation on of the feminizing spray that I was talking about you should go look
 
Update #20

Monday April 3, 2017

I watered her last night as I thought I was going to. She took 1.5 gallons to produce just a trickle of run off. Man she was thirsty. These lights are producing so much heat. The fan pretty much runs constantly to keep the temperature below 84 degrees but the humidity level is way low because the fan is on almost all the time when the lights are on. I put a large bowl filled with a gallon of water along with 2.5 gal of water in 1/2 gal. containers and it helps some. It is getting the humidity to hover around 30 until the lights go out and then things even out. So it's still not where I'd like it.

On a positive note, I took off all the splints and she's looking good. She formed some small knuckles at the kink sites on the main stalk. So she is stronger now. I got a bunch of her upper branches tied back from the light now, so the canopy is closer to an even height now.
The buds are staring form trichomes. Woo hoo!:yahoo: Here are some pictures from today.

 
In for the next few weeks...could get interesting.
 
Damn, I thought Atrain tortured autos and got the best out of them and then I see this. That doesn't even look like the same plant anymore lol. Nice work :goodjob:

I used Colloidal Silver to turn a branch of a female plant male and then gathered the pollen and pollinated a female plant successfully in my British Bulldog journal in my links below. It's not a great write up but it's there all the same, I was a bit lazy about it but it worked and might help you if you decide to try it. I got around 200 seeds to play with, I'm growing some of them now too and they're decent if I don't top them lol.

Also if you would rather make your own Colloidal Silver than buy it a fella on here (Weaselcracker) has a good write up on making it with bits of silver, distilled water and a battery/mains lead wired in, cheap as chips :thumb:
 
Update #21

Wednesday April 5, 2017

Yesterday I worked a double so I only saw her before I left for work. The lights were off when I got home but I knew I had to get ready to feed her today. So I got a peek at her just to take out 2 jugs of water to mix up her nutrients. I up'ed everything again. I mixed up the following recipe for her feeding.

Roots Organics...
4 ml - Buddha Grow
4 ml - Buddha Bloom
2.5 ml- Trinity
2.5 ml - Ancient Amber
2.5 ml - HPK
2.5 ml - Soul Big Swell

Dry Top Coat (applied just before watering)
2 tsp - Roots Organics - Oregonism XL
2 tsp - Roots Organics - Elemental
2 tsp - MYKOS

Today I ph'd up the gallon of nutrients to get ready to feed her. First I applied the dry nutrients. Now her soil was dry so I gave her a ph'd 1/2 gallon of plain water. I then fed her the full gallon of nutrients. She spilled off maybe 2 cups but she eventually sucked that back up. The run off finally is in the right pH range. So the only thing left to correct is the temperature/humidity issue. Here are some pictures from today.

healed nicely
 

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