Adventures In Growing: Okay Folks, They're Going In!

Thanks Double D, I have both the hygrometer and the infra red thermometer, but what the heck is VPD? Sounds like something embarrassing that I should get a shot for.:oops:
 
Vapour pressure deficit. I know, still doesn’t help. For transpiration to happen (that’s gas exchange at the leaf) turns out you have to keep the stomata open. These are the little holes which the leaf has where CO2 goes in and O2 comes out.
So these stomata will close if the conditions aren’t right. You can get really pointy-headed about figuring it out, but it bumper-stickers back to keeping temperature and relative humidity in ‘the zone’.
Let’s see if I understand this. The ‘deficit’ of VPD is the difference between how much moisture there is in the air and how much it can hold if it’s saturated.
The ‘pressure’ of VPD is measured in kilopascals.
The balance between temperature and relative humidity can be manipulated in such a way as to maintain a vapour pressure deficit of 1kPa at the leaf, plus or minus 0.25.
So that’s the target range. The are charts on the interweb which help you to visualise it. Google Image Result for https://www.just4growers.com/media/23631/vpd_2degree.gif
I hope that links to a good one. I keep a print out on the wall beside my tent. I find by manipulating the fans (strength and direction) and exhaust (strength and frequency) and R.H. I can keep the VPD in the zone at the leaf.
This is when you will see your vegging plants double in size every week.
:)
I hope that helps. I don’t know if this is why your plants have stalled, but you have nothing to lose by giving this a go. It certainly worked for me.
:yummy:
 
How did you get on?
Found this..
 
Thanks for asking Double D, turns out the problem was twofold. The first and largest was that the CFL's I was using weren't strong enough for three plants. I was trying to save a few bucks by vegging them under 240 watts of CFL I think I'll just hang the fixture on my garage ceiling for general lighting. Now that they're repotted and under my HPS bulb they've double in size in less than a week (update with pics tomorrow)
Lesson 1: Nothing but 1000W HPS or equal for the entire grow from now on.
Second blooper, always make sure to calibrate your Ph meter with DISTILLED water mixed with the Ph testing powders, not with water already adjusted to 6.5, throws it's readings way off, purely my stupid mistake.
Lesson 2: Make sure that the labels on your water jugs are correct, don't assume that just because it says distilled water it is.
The White Widow and the Cookies survived, poor Royal Cookies gave it a valiant try but ultimately she died, Royal Cookies the 2nd is already in her final 5 gal geopot and under the light, with a little luck I'll be able to harvest a potent Indica dominant hybrid before it starts to get too cold.
PS, Hope you don't mind but I'm using Double D as your screen name; where I'm from the one you're using is NOT even remotely considered a compliment.
 
Shot, bro. Glad you’re onto it. Too bad about RC1. Looking forward to seeing some Indica-ations of Sativaction.
Trust me, is not a compliment here either. Double D is fine :high-five:
 
Hi there,

I've had some success using a 4 bulb t5 fixture (96 watts if using regular t5 bulbs). I upped the power savings by buying 4 LED T5 conversion bulbs (72 watts). The LED bulbs allow you to improve your spectrum too, I have 2 full spectrum bulbs and 2 blue bulbs. My plants grow relatively quickly, and I can move the fixture about 4 inches from the plants with a tiny fan cooling it. Temps were only 28c without airflow. Something to consider for the future?

My girls are only 10 days old and look like this:
 

Attachments

  • 20190708_131305.jpg
    20190708_131305.jpg
    928.2 KB · Views: 92
  • 20190708_131308.jpg
    20190708_131308.jpg
    1 MB · Views: 100
  • 20190708_131312.jpg
    20190708_131312.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 104
Hey @onewarmguy i'm sorry i wasn't around to help with the slow start on your girls - have they picked up the pace yet? :yummy:
 
Hello my budders it's time for the weekly update and lots to talk about.
The girls got put under my 1000 W HPS light this week and after a couple of days to adjust got repotted into their final 5 gallon geopots. Sadly the Royal Cookie didn't make the transition, but I was losing hope for her anyway. However I'm delighted to say that the Cheese and White Widow have more than doubled in size in less than 4 days and seem to be making up for the lost time. I've also germinated (soak and paper towel method) and planted a new Royal Cookie, that seems to be coming along well and will be under the 1000 W for the duration. Hats off to Royal Queen Seeds, the seed practically shot out of the shell, the germination process was the fastest I've ever seen, had a 1" tap root in less than three days. With a little luck weatherwise I'll be able to harvest it before our season's over.

I've come to the conclusion the the CFL lamps that I was using during veg weren't powerful enough, I thought 128 watts of CFL lighting in 4 sq. ft. would be sufficient but turns out, it's not. The other problem was purely my fault, when I was calibrating my new Ph tester I accidentally used water with a Ph of 6.5 instead of distilled, it threw all subsequent readings off so i wound up using water with a Ph of 7.5 - 8. Damn did I feel dumb when I found that out. o_O

As a side note for enquiring minds after I pulled the Royal Cookie, I rinsed all the soil off the root system to take a look it's amazing how big and complex the root system had developed for a 1" high plant, the roots were over 3" long and almost as wide. Photo's below and, as always, speak up if you'd like to say something.







 
Hello from the lake my brother and sister budders! It's been a humid week up here with temps in the high 70's but a humidex in the high 80's. The girls have exploded under the HPS light, White Widow and Cheese both grew about 4" taller this week to a height of about 7" and Royal Cookies is at 3" and turning nice and bushy like I'd expect from a good indica. With the earlier lighting issue stunting their growth somewhat, I don't expect them to get much higher than 3 ft or so, but we've still got about 5 weeks to go so we'll see where we wind up. One thing I've noticed is that the Royal Cookies are a much lighter green than the two sativa hybrids, which if I remember correctly means an nitrogen deficiency so I started to feed her nutes at 1/2 strength yesterday and we'll see if she greens up this week. I apologize for the pics this week, it looks like the white balance on my camera was off so the colors are a little skewed. As always I appreciate your comments.





 
Healthy garden OWG, nice work on bumping up the N on the Royal cookies, i think it will fix her up. :morenutes:
 
Hello my brother budders, it's been an almost perfect week up here at the lake temps in the high 20's (that's in the low 80's for my cousins south of the border) Humidity running between 40 - 60%. The 3 sisters have been doing extraordinarily well with the White Widow and Cheese now around 16 inches with buds starting to form and the Royal Cookies getting bushier every day and coming in at around 6" tall but keep in mind she's 3-4 weeks younger than her older sisters.
No major issues to report so far :headbanger: but I'm really starting to see the difference in the genotypes of all the plants. They're all slightly different shades of green with Cheese the darkest and Royal Cookies the lightest. The two sativa hybrids White Widow at 90% sativa 10% ruderalis and Cheese 45% sativa, 45% indica and 10% ruderalis are coming in tall and airy allowing for great light penetration. The Royal Cookies 20% sativa, 60% indica, 20% ruderalis is shorter and very dense, she's getting wider not taller at this point but it's only been 3 weeks since she was a seed. I can already seek that I'm going to have to do a little LST once she gets a little taller. She's a thirsty girl though spotted a little leaf edge curl but some additional water straightened her up right.

I've got some questions though if anyone has any experience with these autoflowers at all. Can I expect more, less, the same or none of stretch early in the flower stage that I get with a photoperiod? I'm hoping that the two sativa hybrids get taller over the next couple of weeks and get closer to the specified height from Canuk, I know that I kept them under the CFL's about 10 days too long and I'd really like to see them catch up.

Here's the photo's of the week, as always informed comments are welcome.









 
Thanks Aero, It's a remarkable difference isn't it? I'm thinking that the CFL fixture might make a good worklight over my bench and that's about it, it doesn't seem to be much help for autoflowers.
 
Hey OWG! Looking good in your garden :thumb: Last time i grew autoflowers was in 2017 and i do not have much experience growing with autos so i can't help much with your questions. I do think stretch is also heavily strain dependent just like photos, some stretch loads others don't.
 
You know, just once I'd like for a grow to be problem free, did you know that nutrients go bad? I didn't :oops: All three plants are showing signs of a nute deficiency. The White Widow in particular is showing signs of nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency with the Cheese close behind and the Royal Cookies just beginning. Turns out that my Green Planet nutes have a 2 to 3 year shelf life and because I only grow a plant or two at a time they've lasted 4 years and I still have lots left over. Turns out that once they start to deteriorate even organic nutrients form concentrated salts creating lockout conditions. Why don't they tell us these things?
Have I told you how much I hate flushing? It's not so much the actual flushing, it doing a Ph adjustment on 30 gallons of water (3 X 5 gal. geopots times 2) one gallon at a time. It gets bloody tedious. Not only that but I only have 5, 1 gallon water containers. Daddy gonna be busy tomorrow :( maybe a few sativa hits'll help pass the time.








 
Hey @onewarmguy ... sure let me take a quick peek ...

Do you mean Miracle-Gro for your potting soil?
If so, then it is not really suited for cannabis ... Can You Grow Cannabis with Miracle-Gro Soil or Nutrients?

Also ... you should use about 20% perlite in your soil because you need good drainage and good aeration. Rinse the dust off the perlite or it will sink to the bottom of the pot and act like a cement barrier.

For your nutrients ... is it a 3 part series like ... 2-1-6 (veg), 5-0-1 (preflower), 0-5-4 (bloom)?

Do you have Cal-Mag?

Do you have a root stimulator?

With light, you can go 24 hours for seedlings ... but most experiments show that 20 hours on and 4 hours off is ideal. You need the dark period for the Calvin Cycle to kick in etc.

Watering right now is critical. You are trying to grow the roots. If you over-water the roots, they can't get oxygen and they will rot. You want to let the soil nearly dry out and then add a bit of water very slowly in a circle around the seedling.

Please read this article for watering ... The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

Also for watering ... one day set the pH to 6.3 ... and another day set the pH to 6.7 ... vary it so you get good nutrient uptake.

Later on you will also measure pH run off and ppm.

Here is a grow that will interest you and maybe even give you some tips ... Homer's Legal 4-Plant Max Perpetual
Minimalist Garden In Ontario


Cannabis will grow in many soils with many nutrients ... but it is critical to control your environment ... that is ... temperature, humidity, CO2, and light. So you need to make sure you have a little fan for air circulation and to gently apply a breeze to the seedling, some humidity around 60%, and an even temperature around 25°C (77°F) on and a few degrees lower for lights off.

Alright ... thanks for inviting me into your grow journal ... and let's get these seedlings growing the way you want them to!
With Miracle grow it's a miracle if anything grows, the soil doesn't look like miracle grow
 
You know, just once I'd like for a grow to be problem free, did you know that nutrients go bad? I didn't :oops: All three plants are showing signs of a nute deficiency. The White Widow in particular is showing signs of nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency with the Cheese close behind and the Royal Cookies just beginning. Turns out that my Green Planet nutes have a 2 to 3 year shelf life and because I only grow a plant or two at a time they've lasted 4 years and I still have lots left over. Turns out that once they start to deteriorate even organic nutrients form concentrated salts creating lockout conditions. Why don't they tell us these things?
Have I told you how much I hate flushing? It's not so much the actual flushing, it doing a Ph adjustment on 30 gallons of water (3 X 5 gal. geopots times 2) one gallon at a time. It gets bloody tedious. Not only that but I only have 5, 1 gallon water containers. Daddy gonna be busy tomorrow :( maybe a few sativa hits'll help pass the time.








I've noticed nutrients will actually change color and smell ounce they go bad
 
Thanks for asking Double D, turns out the problem was twofold. The first and largest was that the CFL's I was using weren't strong enough for three plants. I was trying to save a few bucks by vegging them under 240 watts of CFL I think I'll just hang the fixture on my garage ceiling for general lighting. Now that they're repotted and under my HPS bulb they've double in size in less than a week (update with pics tomorrow)
Lesson 1: Nothing but 1000W HPS or equal for the entire grow from now on.
Second blooper, always make sure to calibrate your Ph meter with DISTILLED water mixed with the Ph testing powders, not with water already adjusted to 6.5, throws it's readings way off, purely my stupid mistake.
Lesson 2: Make sure that the labels on your water jugs are correct, don't assume that just because it says distilled water it is.
The White Widow and the Cookies survived, poor Royal Cookies gave it a valiant try but ultimately she died, Royal Cookies the 2nd is already in her final 5 gal geopot and under the light, with a little luck I'll be able to harvest a potent Indica dominant hybrid before it starts to get too cold.
PS, Hope you don't mind but I'm using Double D as your screen name; where I'm from the one you're using is NOT even remotely considered a compliment.
:))
 
Back
Top Bottom