Beccabuds Photon Follies: An Ongoing Adventure In Tiny Closet Gardening

[BeccaBuds]

Last time, @Nev I tied bamboo cross members to 4 stakes and tied the branches to the cross members with twist ties.

The bamboo stakes arrived today and as I'd hoped, my PVC pipe cutting tool worked perfectly to cut custom sized cross members. Installed them with nylon cable ties to the green stakes and twist ties loosely secure the branches. Much better...

It worked very well, but this time I am simply putting a stake in the ground for the tie point for long twist ties. BTW, bamboo chopsticks make great tie-down stakes, though they decay quickly in very bioactive soil.

 

[BeccaBuds]

The soil was starting to get a little dry so each plant got a half gallon of water. Added enough Advanced Nutrients Sensi CalMag+ to a gallon of demineralized water to bring the ec up to 0.3mS, then adjusted the pH to 6.3. Clipped the 4th node branches and leaves on #1. Took the branches, prepped them, dipped them in Clonex Gel and stuck them into starter cubes and into a plastic bag tent. Not sure what I'm going to do with them. Just wanted to try cloning an auto...

 

[BeccaBuds]

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It's Fertilizin' Friday! I thought about using another dose of Geoflora Veg as they aren't yet flowering, but the pre-flowers are getting more prominent so I followed the plan and worked a cup of Geoflora Bloom into each pot followed with a half gallon each of the solution highlighted in the schedule below. Tomorrow I'll mix another gallon of the same and give them each half. #1 is starting to get a little stretch on. #2 got freed of her restraints so I could apply the Geoflora. I think I'm going to let her do her thing now. It's just easier to water without the stakes and twist ties cluttering up the pot. I have the clones under a 5000 kelvin, high CRI Cree bulb a few hours a day for now and they look healthy. Roots soon I hope!

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[BeccaBuds]

I was just reading @Delps8 Chemdog thread and looking at his amazing new AC Infinity grow room controller (and @VIVOSUN Growhub Controller E42 as well) inspired an idea. Why not add a 0 to 10V output to control LED lamp brightness, and a photodiode light sensor input to sense the light at the canopy? Said additions would facilitate automatic control of DLI throughout the plant's life cycle. Clearly this will be included in the next iteration of these products.
You read it first here, folks... My credit card is ready and waiting, lol!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Gave the plants another half gallon each and did some testing of the solution before and after Purpinator was added. Starting with a gallon of demineralized water (pH 3.5, ec 0.00mS, tds 2ppm), and after adding 7.5mL CalMag+, then 20mL Massive Bloom, before 20mL Purpinator & pH Up, the ec measured 1.28mS, tds was 916ppm (.7 conv factor) and pH tested at 4.3.
Addition of the Purpinator raised ec to 1.93mS, tds to 1409ppm and shifted pH to 4.5. Adding 5.5mL of pH Up raised the numbers to ec= 2.11mS, tds= 1554 ppm, pH 6.3.
Last night I lowered the scrog net 6" and overnight #2 has already reached it. Awesome.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Wow, they've really responded to the Geoflora and nutes. They must have been hungry despite being in 10 gallon pots!

 

[BeccaBuds]

It's fun day Monday and I got POTD! That is to say, I got Photo's Of The Day... 7 growing tips are through the net and #1 has amazingly gotten a little taller and a lot wider (22" tip to tip). Looks like they are starting to flower more now. Calyxes at every node.

 

[BeccaBuds]

It's fertigating Friday and today I decided to do some more detailed testing on the nutrient solution as I add components.

Starting with a gallon of distilled water, after adding 3mL of Advanced Nutrients Sensi CalMag+, the solution’s electrical conductivity, ec, measured 0.32mS and pH was 5.4.

After adding 20mL of Massive Bloom, the conductivity increased to 0.91 mS, TDS*= 948ppm and pH dropped to 4.3.

With the addition of 20mL of Purpinator, conductivity again increased to 1.62mS, TDS changed to 1174ppm and pH shifted to 4.6.

Added 3mL General Hydroponics pH Up, which raised the pH to 6.1, while ec increased to 1.73mS and TDS changed to 1257ppm.

Another mL of pH Up, for a total of 4mL, raised conductivity to 1.76mS, TDS rose to 1283ppm and pH became 6.3.

After adding 7.5mL of Advanced Nutrients Bud Candy, the solution measured pH 6.3, 1.87mS ec and 1363ppm TDS. I'm thinking I'll try molasses when this bottle of Bud Candy is gone as it's apparently mostly water. And away we go….

*Total Dissolved Solids. ec to ppm conversion factor is 700ppm/mS.

Each plant got a half gallon today and will get another half gallon later today or tomorrow. #1 has had a light, pale color compared to #2, like she would like more of some nutrient. It isn't serious enough to define more clearly but she is kind of a runt compared to #2. I think she'd like more nitrogen after responding well to foliar feeding, so I added an 1/8 tsp of ammonium nitrate to the half gallon she got today. Not a lot and you really can't do this later in flowering so we'll see how it goes.

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[Nev]

They sure look like they’re liking what you’re giving so far. Nice!

 

[BeccaBuds]

They're doing great, Nev. When I looked in on them this morning I was like WOW! They really popped overnight. Just gave them each another half gallon each of the same juice as yesterday. #2 is hard into early flower stretch and looks like #1 is just a few days behind.

 

[BeccaBuds]

The phenomenal growth continues and I am amazed. I haven't seen growth like this since running a crop in an pseudo-aeroponic system 20 years ago. I say pseudo because it used the little Rainbird sprayers that you push into poly pipe arranged to spray the net pots on all sides, so it was more like a modified nutrient film/DWC setup). Anyway, that's another story so back to the current grow.
I decided to do LST on #1. Was just going to let it go and see it's natural form, but the yield factor has tickled me so I went for it. Here's before and after shots with another photo of #2.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Wednesday Afternoon Update! #1 (left) is filling in the scrog net nicely after tying the growing tip over below the height of the branches. It still hasn't stretched like #2 has, but we'll see what comes. All but one twist tie on the main tip has been removed and is briefly acting a hook to keep the tip pulled down for a couple more days while the branches establish themselves.

 

[Nev]

Hey hey hey getting large in there!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Yea, they're getting big now @Nev. I was just reading @Darade's journal- he is growing some DoSiDos Autos with seed from CaliSeedStore.com as I am. If mine gets as tall as his I'll be tying them over again later on!

 

[BeccaBuds]

It's Lollipop, Lollipop Day! I realized this morning looking at #2 that the growth rate of some of the leaves at the growing tips seems to be slowing and it occurred to me the lower foliage is using a lot of sap for no good reason so I lollipopped it. #1 got some stretch on overnight but still tame next to her neighbor. When she gets a little bigger she'll get a haircut, too.
Tomorrow is feeding day and these are some hungry, hungry ladies.

#2 below and above the net after lollipop. Still a few hard to reach stragglers in back.

#1 is filling out the net nicely now and will get trimmed very soon!
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[BeccaBuds]

Time for some Geoflora, Cal-Mag, Massive Bloom and Purpinator again today! Each plant got a liberal cup of Geoflora Bloom tilled in and a gallon of nutrient solution. No sign of trichomes yet, lots and lots of stigma though. #1 looks like it going to stretch, maybe, #2 looks like it's about done stretching, maybe. Stay tuned.

 

[BeccaBuds]

#1 is getting bushy above the net now so I Lollipopped her today. No worries about head room with this one. #2 continues it's reach for the sky, so much so that I tied 3 branches over to manage her height. There's one more branch in the back corner that could be bent over, but it's hard to reach, so it's my stretch gauge.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Mid-week update, day 54. I can see trichomes just beginning to form on #2 with a 30x magnifier. Stretch seems to be tapering off some. #1 is starting to produce some nice colas, no trichs yet.

 

[BeccaBuds]

It's Fertigation Friday again and this week I've decided to dial back the CalMag+ to 5mL and reduce Purpinator to 20mL. Didn't like that high ec reading last week. Today I mixed a gallon of solution and each plant got a half gallon applied slowly with a garden sprayer for even diffusion throughout the soil. Tomorrow I'll repeat with at least one more half gallon dose for each pot until runoff occurs.

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[Phytoplankton]

Looking great!