AK-48 Planted 10-19-15 From Seed

[swwilson20]

Thank you for the input. And let me start off by saying the only GO nutes I use is Cal Mag. I do have Diamond Black (humic acids) but I've only used that once and that was used last time I brewed the tea. I have used epsom salt twice, but that was a while back. I have Pro Tekt silica which I was using, but havent the last two or three waterings. I have a kelp product too which I add to the tea. Other than that I use the Roots Organics nutes. Havent fed anything close to full dose in quite some time, I beleive it was when I was confused about how much I used. Oh and Orca, I use Orca (1 ml/gal) and Nectar for the Gods Aphrodites instead of molasses.. I guess that's kind of a lot haha.

Okay to answer your questions: I have General Hydropnics pH Down, and use Nectar for the Gods pH Up (calcium carbonate).

My air pump doesnt say GPH, it says it is used for aquariums up to 20 gal and was using a 2" air stone. Last time I made the tea, it had a good head of foam that would build up over a few hours and would dissapate after a good stirring. That was on 2-7-16, so 1 month ago basically.

 

[swwilson20]

I want to add that I don't have to use the Down very often. And when I do it's not much. I have noticed though when I mix a solution, I have seen the pH drop as low as 4.8 or so. Most of them time when I mix up a solution its 5.3 or so. I always thought that was pretty crazy low and very acidic for microbial life. Roots Organics uses EWC in both grow and bloom formulas. The water I use comes from a new RO system with 0 ppm. I run my tap water through it. My tap has a pH of 9.3 and about 180ppm, thats why I got the RO system. When I was using tap water, I did have to add pH down even with nutes.. Not sure if that matters or not now though.. I'm sure one would question the accuracy of my pH pen, but I will say every single time I am checking pH, I have a shot glass with 7.0 reference solution, and I'll check solution, then drop it in the reference solution before I check again, I am very paranoid about pH and that's how I ensure it's accuracy. It usually drops to 6.9 in the reference solution after checking my mixed nutrient solution, but I calibrate when it does..

 

[Papageno]

5.3 is bad for the microbes. They want to be at 7. They can handle a little bit off. I like to run closer to 6.3 but that is as far as i like to go. When I brew the tea it comes out near 7 and when I drive it in (which is not a problem even if you over do it a bit...if you have a good soil blend with a decent amount of organic material) I run it in with about 6.5 or so so as not to harm the microbes.

What does she look like these days? We haven't seen her in almost 4 weeks I think.

 

[Emilya Green]

ok... first, nothing general hydroponics makes is organic except technically their Liquid Karma... and their pH up and down will definitely kill off a good portion of the microherd. GO has earthjuice for this purpose, but in a truly organic General Organics grow, the pH of your nutes are not a factor... they are ready to be moved directly into the plant... the pH is unimportant in this process. Trying to adjust your pH in an organic grow is unnecessary and probably harmful to the microlife because they don't like any strong base or acid.

Epsom salts in a tea is also not a good idea... salts dry up microlife like salt on a slug. The other problem appears to be your air pump. I was told very strongly when I got into organics that you needed at least a 500gph air pump and that a normal aquarium pump was not nearly enough. I was pointed to a great little pump on Amazon that cost me $38. It moves 796 gph into that bucket. I use 3 airstones, and this really moves the air into that bucket. It is my understanding that if you do not supply a very large amount of air when you are making tea, you run a very big risk of developing anaerobic bacteria... and even though you might have a very nice foam at the end, some of the things you grew in there are harmful bacteria. It is my belief that by going into this halfway and not brewing proper teas, you have again harmed the little bit of microlife that is surviving this process.

This can be fixed... but you got to take the leap. Get a proper pump, and brew a proper tea, teaming with microlife. You will know when it happens... that foam will not be temporary, and the smell will be wonderful and sweet. Stop worrying about pH... trust the microlife to break down what is needed. While they are working on getting that circle of life going, suppliment your tea with some appropriate quick sources of nutrients, molasses, high P bat guano in flower, high N bat guano, kelp meal your organic nutrients and liquid fish fertilizer. Bubble all that for 24 hours or so, and then add a cup of earthworm castings or compost for a second day of brewing. Don't even think about the pH of this, just strain it, dilute it with pure water and apply it. I do this once a week, and on the off waterings I give pure water with either molasses or Liquid Karma added... to feed the microlife, not the plants. Right now, before you get a good pump, I would feed the GO nutes, at full strength, not worrying about the pH. Start out with your RO water, mix the nutes and apply... you should be fine. Those nutes do not need acids to break them down, they are right now in the form the plants need. It's a leap of faith I know... but isn't that what going organic is all about? Let's get some strong microlife growing in here.

 

[swwilson20]

It's weird to me that the fan leaves are dying off, but the sugar leaves look good and healthy. I've only got a couple nodes left of actual fan leaves and they look like hell. I'll get some pics up later when the lights come on. They have literally grown 2 inches since being in bloom, and it's been almost 50 days.

Emilya when you say feed a full strength of GO nutes, you mean Roots Organics nutes right? Full strength and reverse osmosis water and the pH will be 5.5 or lower. Lol I'm just trying to make sure I understand what you are telling me bc that's pretty acidic. But I think I am hearing that adjusting the pH kills the microbial life, NOT the nutes, even though after adding to my water it WILL drop the pH down to 5.5 or lower, I will actually go mix some up now and see for sure. But you are saying don't worry about pH being that low right?

 

[swwilson20]

I took these pics last night, just wanted to get them on my comp so I could look and zoom in and what not, ill get some pics of the whole plant later..

 

[Emilya Green]

It's weird to me that the fan leaves are dying off, but the sugar leaves look good and healthy. I've only got a couple nodes left of actual fan leaves and they look like hell. I'll get some pics up later when the lights come on. They have literally grown 2 inches since being in bloom, and it's been almost 50 days.

Emilya when you say feed a full strength of GO nutes, you mean Roots Organics nutes right? Full strength and reverse osmosis water and the pH will be 5.5 or lower. Lol I'm just trying to make sure I understand what you are telling me bc that's pretty acidic. But I think I am hearing that adjusting the pH kills the microbial life, NOT the nutes, even though after adding to my water it WILL drop the pH down to 5.5 or lower, I will actually go mix some up now and see for sure. But you are saying don't worry about pH being that low right?

yes, i meant Roots Organic... sorry. If you were in a hydro setup, you would not think that 5.5 was all that excessive... it would be normal. Yes it is 50x (if i did my logarithm right) more acidic than neutral, but it still isnt really acidic. Get down in the 3's and 4's and it might start being a factor, but this doesn't seem that bad.

It sounds like the fan leaves are being cannibalized. Your plant is starving. Feed her. The whole purpose of those expensive nutes is so that you don't have to worry about the pH. This is an organic grow.

Here, to make you feel better about this... a snip of part of the GO feeding chart. Please note the bottom left where it mentions pH:

 

[swwilson20]

Gotcha! And I mixed up what I will use next time, right after mixing and shaking is 5.1 and I added like 50mL between the three bloom products. Ok then we got this, i've heard tale of people being able to do away with all the pH meters and cal solution and basically the headaches that come with having to monitor and adjust pH and I have always been jealous, never though it applied to me bc mostly the people who do that make their own soil and compost and I'm using bag soil.. Just didnt think it applied to me.

The problem I will have when making tea is I can really only do it on the weekend when Im off, otherwise I would be away from a brewing tea for over 12 hours, work is a biotch but gotta do it.. I do have a Mrs and she wont like me leaving a tea brewing in our living room without me here to monitor it.

 

[Emilya Green]

she isnt going to like a semi loud pump either...

well, teas do have a cost to making them correctly. And as VI has warned with his admonitions to keep the stones and tubes clean, you can very easily accidentally brew up a dangerous concoction too. But, never fear... you paid the money for the organic nutrients so that you don't have to do a tea and​ so that you don't have to worry about pH. You paid for that privilege with those nutes... trust them. Later, if you want to get away from having to buy that stuff, then go with the more complicated teas and investing in that air pump.

 

[Emilya Green]

Bag soil and store bought organic nutes will only get you so far... if you really want to supercharge your organic growing and really start seeing some amazing growth, look into storing that soil once you are done with it, and amending it into a super soil. Consider your soil from this day on as a living entity in your grow room, and strive to keep it alive with active microlife. When you get done with this grow, store this soil in a bin and work on your additives (there are many recipes) and then do your next grow just like this one, with the RO line of nutes, while your original soil cooks. On your third grow, you will be able to put your amended soil in the bottom of your containers to supply all the needed nutrients, while you again use fresh soil on the top. The longer you do this, and the longer you keep recycling this soil, the better it gets. Pretty soon (it took me 6 months) you will have living soil that you can use over and over again... and if you get to where you can make teas, you will never have to buy another nutrient bottle again... well except for supplements. I do love my Liquid Karma.

 

[swwilson20]

Well here she is in all of her yellowing glory. I just hope I can push her long enough o make it to harvest. I planted the seed in October and it would be painful if she didnt make it.. But on the flip side, I have some Blue Mystic seeds and I am looking forward to starting my 2nd grow. I have learned some cool stuff, obviously not enough, but I think Ill do better the next round.

Speaking of which, summer is going to be in full swing whil my second grow should be flowering (if I do it right) and I already know ill have temps in the low 80's, lights off.. Is that going to be a problem having temps that high. In all honesty the temps will probably be higher during lights out compared to when they are on. Is that going to make things difficult, or even impossible?

 

[Emilya Green]

they should be fine at that temp... is that some color coming back that I see?

 

[swwilson20]

Hmm Im not sure. I sure hope so! All my eyes want to focus on is the bad stuff. Lately Ive been worried about the red/purple/brownish coloring on the leaves that still have some green left, they are all producing that same hue

 

[Papageno]

Your next grow will be way better. You know what to look for and wont let things get outta hand. You will have a much better plan and keep things closer to inline.

Few people get it right in their first few grows and usually it is luck if they do. It is better to fail I think and be a bit humbled and realize that there is a lot to learn. Some people do lots of research and nail it but that doesn't mean they understand how they did it. That takes years. You got this. Let this one really ripen. bloom it 12 weeks not less and see what happens. Don't get antsy and just wait it out. I have seen plants come back and make monster flowers. Just don't over feed it and do get the light too close and be gentile and she will push out some good stuff. It is a good genetic line so be patient.

 

[Papageno]

How cold is it getting in its night cycle? The red coloring could just be the effects of it thinking it is autumn. People do this on purpose and let it get real cold at night to bring out reds and purples in bloom.

 

[swwilson20]

Thanks man. Taking a slight turn here and want to give a good product review and that's the Phresh carbon filter I just put on maybe a week ago. I opened the tent up just before posting those last pics and got smacked in the face with a very skunky smell. If I put my face in front of the exhaust though, I just get a blast of unscented air which is awesome. I can see where people get in trouble with that if not using a filter. Good to know a product works as advertised. I messed up and used a Can filter ever since I germinated, don't ask me why bc I don't know, just wasted the money. It got really dusty and I would bump it or the tent wobbles a bit when I open it, and dust particles go everywhere so It was time to replace. Long story short, I'll only use a filter in bloom from now on I think.
Cheers to learning shit!!

 

[swwilson20]

Well it starts out low, high 60's maybe. It gets hot where I live, really hot. And at 5-6pm the lights are off, but the temps get into high 70's low 80's. Thats the hottest part of her day, also doesnt help that's when dinner is being cooked so I think that adds at least a few degrees. That's about to end tho, I'm moving the tent into our closet probably this weekend. Finally got a deal worked out with the Mrs, just gotta go get some giant fucking armoire thing and haul it up and put it together.

 

[goddi13]

Man the colors this thing is throwing out are beautiful even though its not good. My stalk never turned purple just the leaf stem on the fan leaves and that cleared up after I got them back on track. My room is running hot as hell 75 when off and 90 right before the fan kicks on and brings it down to 80, 85. Im still dialing in the room. Are you feeding full strength yet? By the way the fan I got was out of a cooling table or what ever there called lol its what games set on to keep there temps down I set the dell on it to keep it cool when the kids used it. It got fryed along with the lap top when she watered it lol

 

[swwilson20]

I haven't used full strength nutes. That's the plan for the next time I water.

Man that's rough having temps that high. Thats the main reason I chose LED, but yea my tent still gets warm when the weather outside heats up. I havent had mine that long so I dont even know what middle of summer is gonna be like, can't be good though. that's why I'm moving it into our closet, but I'll still have the issue of not being able to push exhaust outside. We shall see. Im hoping a fan and leaving the door to the closet open will take care of that.

 

[goddi13]

Yeah I got to pull them down so I built a window box with an air out at the top and an air in at the bottom to try and get my temps under control. The room im using is an add on so there aint no air vents in the floor (im completely open to the elements so if its cold outside its cold in the room if its warm its hot as hell in the room lol) but the up side the room is all me the plants are in a self made closet in the corner and the rest is work area till I add a clone closet on the one side then that will free up space for full time veg with the bloom room under it. iv not smoked a joint since last summer and I hate that ill never be able to smoke any of this but i got to work and deal with piss tests all the time the only reson I grow is my childhood friend/family is a retired usmc with ptsd and the government stamped pills they had him eating was making him worse like waking up with a 45 pointed at a gallon of milk worse. He told me that story at our little brothers wedding as we smoked this over priced nasty dirt weed joint he had at that point I said to myself hell with an empty room full of stuff i dont needits time to get to work. If there is a will there is a way right lol. So tell us about your closet bro maybe we can help you reach your goals alot faster