Amphetamine & Narcotic Kush

[Man'O'Green]

Day 10:
The NK is doing well, not so with A. She had “Helmet head”. I usually do not interfere with this but it was dragging on so long I felt the seedling was in jeopardy; so with two straight pins I was able to crack the seed shell open and remove it. That seed shell was really strong and I am confident that the seedling would never have cracked it open. I just hope I am not too late. There is much debate about what causes this problem in germination. I have had many cucumbers that do this. I think in this case the seed casing was just too strong. Based on my research old cannabis seeds often display this behavior because the shell has really dried out. I planted them the day I got them from the supplier. In turn they had to wait to mail them to me until they got them from their supplier. I don’t know if that was COTC or some other middle man? Since there is no packing date on the package I have no way of knowing the actual age of the seeds.
This grow has had more than the usual problems. I hope things smooth out!

 

[Man'O'Green]

I don't think I got the seed shell off of the Amphetamine soon enough to save it. It has been 12 hours and I don't see any chlorophyll in the seed head. I won't pronounce it dead until it falls over as I still have some hope.

 

[EBnFLO]

Good luck!


Sent from a hand built ganja phone I made entirely out of cannabis buds.

 

[Man'O'Green]

From seed Day 16:
Amphetamine did not make it.

Since it is two to three weeks faster than Narcotic Kush I may try to get another seed and restart her again?

NK looks a little small but other growers have reported a slow start with her.

Nutrient change to 40% of week 2 guidelines:
5 Gallons of carbon filtered water starting PPM 135
Dyna-Gro:
Pro-Tekt 5 ml
Foliage-Pro 15 ml
K-L-N 10 ml
Mag-Pro 1 ml
PH-Down as needed to 5.8
Botanicare:
Hydroguard 10 ml
Mammoth:
Mammoth P 3 ml
Total PPM 440
Nutrient mixture is aerated overnight to stabilize PH.

Four cobs running at 30 watts each 24" above canopy. I will be turning this up slowly over the next two weeks to 50 watts. light schedule is 18/6.

 

[EBnFLO]

NK looks a little small but other growers have reported a slow start with her.

I thought mine was dying when it started flowering. Was my first time ever. Was lucky to get a few zips of primo stuff .



Sent from a hand built ganja phone I made entirely out of cannabis buds.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Day 22 from seed:

The root system is not growing down into the reservoir as expected. I think they are being air pruned. I am going to add a top feed system at least until the roots are well down into the reservoir. Let’s see if this gets things going?

I have an 8 way manifold to accommodate my future farm.

 

[Lazarus13]

Re: Amphetamine & Narcotic Kush

I use top feeding pumps my first few weeks. I start my seeds in paper towels and when they crack i put them right into my hydroton about 2 inches fro the bottom of the net pot. It seems to really help. I only turn mine on for 15 mins 4x a day for the first day or so and then cut it back to 15 mins 2x a day. i always have roots in rez within a week. Then once they hit the water i take out the pump and let the bubbles do their thing.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand"

 

[Rider509]

There comes a time when you have to step back and admit that what you're doing isn't working. It doesn't matter whether you're a Master Gardener or a complete noob. Dead plants don't lie.

Rapid Rooters, Ready Rooters, Bio-dome plugs, and Jiffy pucks are all variations of sphagnum-based growing medium. They aren't the problem. Each of those manufacturers specify a similar method of germination and recommend transplanting only after root growth is strongly evident. Additionally, they all indicate that it's only necessary to keep the tops from drying out and that watering (the seed starters) isn't required. Your method is saturating the growth medium and you've experienced the results.

You said that there are as many ways to start seeds as there are strains. That may be, but some are tried and true. Start your seeds by soaking them. That softens the seed shell and helps avoid helmet head. Transfer the seed to the starting puck, give it some warmth from below, mist the top ONLY when the top is dry, give it some gentle CFL light, and don't feed it. Don't feed it! And never use clear shot glasses to start in or the roots will hate you. After roots are popping out all over the puck is when you should be transferring to your DWC system. The other thing is that you need to cover the pucks with the Hydroton! Yours are sitting out all naked and exposed.

Your top drip system is only going to compound your problems. First, it's a DRIP system. Yours looks like a wide open faucet. Second, get the waterfall off of the starting puck or you'll likely damp off and kill that plant too. A drip system should drip on the periphery.

Good luck and happy growing.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Hi Ryder:

Welcome!

Yep, trying out some new things here. The top feed is showing great improvement already. The stream of water breaks up as it travels down over the pebbles and needs to be close enough to the roots to make contact and encourage downward growth. The Bio-dome sponge is tapered and quite small so it needs to be close to start with; I will move it a little farther away as growth happens. Then turn it off altogether when the roots are well established in the reservoir. I have used a top feed stream of water several times with 100% success. I was trying to see if I could eliminate that step with the Current Culture Net Pot. They use Rock Wool in their system and do not top feed at all. I don't like Rock Wool and it did not work at all with Rapid Rooters and was air pruning with the Bio-dome sponge. The density of the Bio-dome sponge is way lighter and more open than any of the other brands you mention and Park's germination system bottom feeds through capillary action. If the sponge is dry you can spray the top to get it started or just wait for it to moisten from the bottom.

You can see how airy the sponges are. I use the smallest ones.

I did a lot of research on helmet head and there does not seem to be a consensus on why it happens (other than old seeds) just that it does happen. The preventative measures span the gamut as well but none seem to be foolproof! Now that I can legally grow 6 plants at a time I will get more experience with cannabis. The greatest majority of my personal experience is with vegetables and flowers.

Day 26 from seed.

Still small but showing improvement.

 

[Rider509]

Gold Leaf feminized at day 23 from seed and already topped and defoliated in 6" net pots. I kept the EC down around 0.6 (around 300ppm on the Hanna scale) for the first two weeks and have worked them up to EC1.2. pH is kept near 5.6. The recirc and airstone pumps have been running continuously, and they are under 65W 6500K CFLs. The tent has been kept around 60% humidity and about 85F.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Rider:

Nice plant I saw it on your thread.

I know how to successfully grow weed but that is not what this thread is about. This thread is about experimentation and trying new things and equipment. If I learn just one good thing through this attempt it will be worth it. In fact I have learned some things so it is already worth it. Here is a couple of pictures of my last grow:

 

[Rider509]

That's awesome Mañ'O'Green! I understand that completely!
Since I don't smoke any more, and I've never even grown a hangnail, everything I'm doing is purely for the experimentation and learning process. I'm happy with the results I'm getting both with soil and the RDWC. But truly, even if it completely flopped on me I'd be OK with it because I would have enjoyed the process of assimilating information and putting it to use, and then dissecting where it went wrong. I could care less about the end product but would be happy for it to be a success. I don't even know what I'm going to do with it! LOL.
For me, and as I understand now, for you, it's more about the joy of learning, experimenting, and just the sheer fun of it all. That's why I have both soil and RDWC going, and why I topped and scrogged and defoliated, and started both auto and photo clones. I don't need the weed. It's all for the joy of learning. So a few plants die along the way. Hahahahaha

 

[Man'O'Green]

Still not happy with what is going on here and I may have keyed in on the problem:

Copper Toxicity! I had (new one in process with all plastic parts) a brass bushing and needle valve on my top off tank. I did not think that this small amount of brass would be a problem but when sitting in 5.8 PH aerating water I think it is leaching too much copper.

Here is a description of copper toxicity and it fits what I am seeing:

Root Stunting:

Root stunting is characteristic of calcium deficiency, acidity, aluminum toxicity, and copper toxicity. Some species may also show it when boron deficient. The shortened roots become thickened, the laterals become stubby, peg-like, and the whole system often discolours, brown or grey.
Symptoms localized at shoot growing points.
New shoots unopened; young leaves distorted; dead leaf tips; pale green plant copper deficiency
New shoots withered or dead; petiole or stem collapse; shoots stunted; green plant calcium deficiency Young leaves pale green or yellow; rosetting or dead tip; dieback; dark green plant boron deficiency

I don't know if the damage is permanent. I will flush and change the nutes ASAP.

Sometimes it is easy to miss the obvious but with all of the seasoned growers reading these threads I am surprised no one chimed in on this?

 

[Man'O'Green]

Killed this grow today. Learned or relearned a lesson about having any copper, brass or aluminum in contact with your nutrient enriched water. Lower PH ranges leach these metals into your nutrients causing toxic levels to build up. Look at the pictures in this thread and you can see the results.

Onward and upward. I have started construction on my new grow space. I will start a new thread soon.

 

[Defeeter]

Twin:
That is just a junction box on the COB frame. This is what the controller looks like right now:

I am running the Arduino software connected to my PC right now to verify it does what I programed it to do. Not always the case!

Ps. I have a very patient wife - The dining room table has looked like that for 2 weeks now............. I did make some progress on it today.

So how can i get into makeing my own lights like this?

Hi Scrappy - Welcome!

I had to start super cropping MD at six weeks into flower; I only snapped 1 cola but it was nerve wrecking each time. Some of the buds got a little funny looking but the weight is there so I guess all is well that ends well. After this COTC grow I will be upgrading my grow area. Maybe something more permanent than a tent; I can only find one manufacturer that has tents over 7 feet tall and they are too expensive for what you get IMHO. I want to go as high as I can after my experience with MD. You know my first clue should have been MOBY DICK - LOL.

Well I have been busy for the last couple of weeks and have not had time to post but that does not mean there has not been progress on this grow.

I have finished the arduino programing to control the COB LEDs, COB Heatsink Fans, CO2 injector, Exhaust Fan and 730nm Far Red SemiLEDs. I will need to tweek it again when I can determine the heat load in the tent from the new DIY COBs. The CO2 cycle is determined by how long the exhaust fan can be off before reaching the threshold temperature of 90°F.

I have cleaned the grow tent, reconfigured the exhaust system to include a muffler to lower the decibels coming from the grow room. Tomorrow I will finish the new DWC reservoir; I need to cut the access port, install the float valve and the air stones. Then if time permits I will work on the electrical control panel driven by the Arduino.

I should have some more pictures to post soon.

Happy Growing.
Mañ'O'Green

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[Man'O'Green]

Hi Defeeter:

Welcome!

I would suggest a ton of research using all of the forums you can find. google growmau5 videos he has a wealth of information.

Hard work and Good luck will reward your efforts.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Good news bad news. I got impatient with the progress of my copper inundated Narcotic Kush plant and took down the tent to make space for my new grow room. I decided not to let one scrawny little plant hold up progress. I just put the reservoir plant and all outside. Took down the tent and put it in storage. Well after a couple of days the plant was still green and I pulled it out of the net pot to start cleaning the reservoir and the newly grown roots are beautiful pure white and all fuzzy with millions of hair roots! So the lesson is copper toxicity can be reversed.

I don't have a space to grow it and the new room will take a couple of weeks to bring online. I will water it and maybe bring it in at night but more than likely it will perish.

Bummer

 

[EBnFLO]

Hang in there! Sounds like a good plan to move forward on the new room! That's exciting .


Sent from a hand built ganja phone I made entirely out of cannabis buds.

 

[Orlando Scout]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thank you for sharing your grow with us.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

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Sending you lots of love and positive energy.