Bloomin' In A Box

[Sonora]

Good Man ! investing in the future is always smart and when it relates to the grow the payback is generally fast.

I suspect the increased yields will pay for the Chiller in short order. It may well save this grow from a otherwise disaster / fail.
I have to mention your mini beasts are coming along just great

Agree with you about the investment in the chiller. WWIII's roots in particular were looking less than 100%, and I'm pretty sure I would have caught a pythium plague eventually with res temps that were over 75. The ghetto frozen water bottle technique only works for so long.

The plants are doing pretty well - appreciate the compliment.


One thing I'm a bit struggling with at the moment is how I train/LST the plants. The box doesn't offer a lot of space to go down and get in there, and I'm uncomfortable moving the plants around a lot with the rootball tangling up in the water. I'm going to spend spome time today pondering that.

I'm also going to get the CO2 hooked up today and add that to the mix

 

[Sonora]

I spent some time looking at the plants and getting an idea of how to pare them back further, and I think I did all right. Here they are this morning after a second hair cut. They've been through a lot the past two days, so time to leave them alone for a week and just let them be.

WWI

WWII

WWIII

 

[HiddenGrow]

That third WW looks to be the one that wants to be the mother plant. Are your seeds feminized? That will affect things if one becomes male
I love the Idea of the Box, I always wondered how well it would perform

 

[Sonora]

That third WW looks to be the one that wants to be the mother plant. Are your seeds feminized? That will affect things if one becomes male.

They are feminized. I think WWIII is definitely fighting for mother plant position! Poor #2 is just going to be around for this grow, no real future for her

 

[STIHL LOGGER]

Lookin good in here Sonora. I really like the set up.

 

[LEDBud]

Looking forward to seeing the Co2 system.

I used a propane burner as a co2 source in the past , this is my 2nd grow after a ten year hiatus.

Recently I read articles that state 1 person breathing in a 10x10 grow room for 15 minutes every 12hrs will keep the Co2 levels at the same as fresh air.

Fresh outside air has 300 ppm of Co2 compared to supplemental which can be as high as 2000 ppm. With me breathing 12 to 20hrs a day in my house the Co2 levels are going to be high , much higher then fresh air.

I want to get and I think need a Co2 meter to see whats going on with the levels in the garden.

I have been seeing rapid growth using my breaths C02 and last grow I got 1/2 lb off of a Auto. , it seems to be working

 

[Sonora]

CO2 System set up!

The BloomBox CO2 system is computer controlled - it controls when the CO2 is released, as well as how much should be released. Your job is to set the regulator to 2 PSI when CO2 is flowing - from there, the computer takes over. Really slick set up. Pics:

20lb tank , nothing too unusual here.

After dialing in the regulator and setting the program, the box already knew to adjust the PSI upwards to maintain a healthy veg CO2 flow of 900PPM. For comparison, breathing heavy in a closed room for 15 minutes will get you to a PSI of ~500 PPM. Generally, PPM in the wild is about 300 PPM. It is estimated based on carbon dating that the CO2 levels in the Jurassic period (250 million years ago, where flowering plants like cannabis diverged from their ancestors), C)2 levels were ~1,500 PPM. In flower, the computer will up the CO2 to ~1,200 PPM. SO basically, we're trying to recreate the Jurassic period in The Box. Needless to say, plants did really well during the Jurassic period, and their DNA still enables them to use high amounts of atmospheric CO2.

The CO2 enters the box through a tube affixed in the roof, right next to the clip-on fan. This is important! I've seen a lot of new growers play around with CO2 tanks, or the CO2 mushroom kits, and they fail to realize: CO2 is heavier than air. That means CO2 will fall from toward the plants when injected from above - but if you set your mushroom box on the floor of your grow tent, the CO2 is just going to stay at floor level, and not help your plants at all - it's below the levels of your plant's canopy, where the leaves can use it. Usually, when I've seen a grower complain that "CO2 doesn't really work", or doesn't make much of a difference, it's because they're using it wrong - often through something as simple as where they're introducing it.

In addition to turbo-charging the plants' metabolisms, CO2 also allows you to raise your optimal grow temperature by about 10 degrees. That's important here in the desert, where my temps in the box regularly reach 89 - 90F. Now my plants' optimal temps are between 85 - 95 F, which is right in the sweet spot for the desert.

I think that's probably the last update for now. As usual, I'll have an update next Friday unless there's something worth sharing early.

Happy weekend from The Box!

 

[Sonora]

15 April 2016

It's Friday, which means updates from The Box!

I test the pH and TDS of the res every Friday - today the pH was 6.9, which is too high for me; I like to keep pH between 5.5 and 6.5, so it was time for a res change. In addition, the plants were starting to show signs of what I think is nute deficiency, likely calcium, so time to address that.

There was only 3 gallons of water in the res, so the girls had taken up 4 gallons of water over the last week. In addition, TDS had climbed up quite a bit - it was 550 PPM when I changed last week, and 680 when I pulled it out today. That tells me there was a bit of nute lock-out, likely due to pH being too high.

That said - I don't really stress about nute deficiencies. I try to correct it, but if not, it's not that big a deal. Wine makers will tell you that if you give grapes everything they need, the wine comes out mediocre. Grapes need to struggle a bit, overcome challenges, develop character. I think weed is the same way - it's ok for there to be challenges to overcome. They'll still grow.

So, today, I did a full-strength nute solution as recommended for week 4: 1.5ml/liter of future harvest grow and common, as well as 40 ml of CalMag, and 24ml of H2O2. This gives a pH of 5.5, and a TDS of 615.

To the pics!

WWI. WWI took well to last week's haircut, and like normal, has developed two new mains as a result. Perfectly normal, perfectly healthy.

WWII. WWII developed some...funk. Instead of two tops as a result of the haircut, she developed 3; it was like a micro-fim, as a new top sprung out of the area I had cut. She's really weird. Still lags in growth compared to the other two, and still has no future beyond this grow. She won't be cloned.

WWIII
White Widow III has taken over as the star of the show. She is now bigger than WW1, both top and roots, and she also seems to have developed a FIM-type growth - instead of two mains, she has FIVE. Pics don't due her funky center justice, but she is definitely pouring growth on. She's also showing the most signs of nute deficiency, so I upped the CalMag a bit as a result. If the CalMag doesn't fix it, I'll try some other things.

A family shot

The roots, I - III

Current temps, air runs close to 90, but I'm pumping CO2 so I'm cool with it.

And water temps - a chill 66.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. See you next time, from inside The Box!

 

[Sonora]

Gave the girls haircuts this morning. This is the last topping I'll do of them - from here on out I'm going to let them grow until they hit the scrog, and I'll flip to flower once they hit the scrog. I'm estimating three weeks or so. Once they get to the scrog and I get tops above the scrog, I'll clear out everything below the net. Today's hair cut was to remove all fan leaves below the tops or leaves that were getting crispy, as well as to clear out the centers so we could get as much light there as possible. I've been growing for over 10 years, and I still don't think I have topping down. Either I feel I took too much, or not enough. Oh well, the grows always seem to work out.

WWI

WWII

WWIII

Family shot

 

[Sonora]

Happy 420 everyone!

 

[LEDBud]

a Happy

To you !

 

[Sonora]

22 April, 2016

It's Friday - so time for this week's update from The Box!

When I checked the water today, the pH was at 6.4, which is just inside the range where I would change it regardless of conditions - I try to keep my pH between 5.5 and 6.5. However, the TDS was at 785, which is substantially higher than it was when I did the change last week. That can only mean a few things - chiefly, plants are excreting minerals into the water faster than they can extract minerals out, or water is being consumed faster than minerals, resulting in TDS concentrations. All that being the case, I decided to go forward with the res change, even though I was hoping I could go two weeks. After looking into the res, I saw that my roots were still a bit slimey - so in addition to a res change, I moved the plants out of The Box so I could give it a full clean, top to bottom with Chlorox wipes. I also let the plants sit out with their roots dangling in the air, for a full 90 minutes - until the leaves begin to curl and wilt a bit. I did this to dry the roots out as much as I could, hopefully killing any Pythium, since it doesn't like the dry air. As the roots were air drying, I pruned back fan leaves covering growing tops, and cleared back lower growth so they'd focus their energy up top. I also changed the chiller to 55, which ends up keeping the water at about 64 degrees. The downside of a shallow-culture reservoir is there's a lot of surface area to collect light (and therefore heat), so the water warms up fast - faster than my 1/10 HP chiller can handle. Putting the chiller lower ends up stabilizing where I want it.

Finally, after putting everything back, I turned the CO2 on for 15 minutes to kill any bugs - I had seen a couple of flies over the past week. After 15 minutes of C)2, getting the PPM past 1800, I only found 4 bug corpses, so more than anything it looks like a few gnats got into the box while I had the door open - no infestation.


To the pics!

Before the change - family shot, then WWI, WWII, and WWIII. You'll notice WWIII is much smaller than the others, after passing WWI in size in the last update. This is...well, my fault. I was a bit overzealous with my pruning. She'll catch up.

And afterwards - with my not-quite-as-aggressive pruning and defoliation. I also rotated each spot one to the left - so the family shot now goes III, I, II. This ensures every plants gets equal coverage under the light, in the off-chance there's any areas that are light-deprived.

Temps are now at 64 degrees, TDS is at 645, and pH is at 5.5 - perfect conditions. I think we'll be switching to flower in two weeks.

Happy weekend from The Box!

 

[Frenchy672]

looking super perky! hope you get the root slime under control.

 

[LEDBud]

They are starting to spread their wings , soon they'll take off with growth

 

[Sonora]

29 April 2016

Another week of wild growth from inside The Box!

Last week we had trimmed back a lot of growth to make sure we were getting good horizontal growth, and light to the center of the bushes. Well, in only a week they had bushed out more than ever, and have become three very bushy little ladies. It's like they're 70's porn starles - who trims?

Another thing that kind of caught me off-guard was the arrival of WWII. If you've been following this journal, you'll know WWII didn't have a future - she was a weird, slow grower, who wouldn't be cloned. But this week she just stormed forward in growth, and is now the biggest plant! Her roots have really taken to the chiller, and she now has thick, bushy white roots and several mainline roots that are thicker than my thumb. I am definitely going to clone her after all.

I've completely beaten the pythium at this point. I add 3-5ml of h2o2 every day, keep the res chilled to 60 degrees, and I've started using hygrozyme. This week, the plants new roots were all thick, bushy, and white, and the older slimy roots have all fallen off and been removed from the res. The roots of WWII are especially amazing, but all three plants have root structure 3 feet or longer. It's been a solid week.

Today I drained the res, pulling out 4 of the 8 gallons I originally added - the girls drink 4 gals/week now, or 1.33 gallons/week a piece. pH was 6.8, so just outside the sweet spot, and TDS was 750 - girls are drinking water faster slightly faster than they're taking in nutes. I added back 8 gallons of water, full-strength nutes at manufacturer's recommendation, as well as H2O2, Hygrozyme, and a heavy dose of CalMag - these girls drink the CalMag like a fine wine. After the res change, I also did a final defoliation prior to the switch.


To the pics!


Family pics, and then pics of WWI, WWII, and WWIII

After defoliation - I was aggressive today, since it's their last defol before going into flower. I added a soda can for scale.

All the leaves I pulled off.

I also had to get a new 20lb tank of CO2, so the girls are still living in their recreation of the Jurassic period.

Next week we'll be switching the girls over into flower! We started this journal by dropping the seeds into water March 18th, and it's now April 29th, so seed to today has been about 6 weeks. Not bad! The Box is performing well.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[Frenchy672]

omg vernors!! they just started selling it here in the new England area. it's a central/southern beverage. always tool trips up to MI to see family and alwaus bought a shit load of it.

Good to hear ya beat the root snot. And that's a hell of a lot of leaves, definitely a serious defol.

Have you chosen a momma bear yet? When are you gunna grab clones from her?

 

[Sonora]

omg vernors!! they just started selling it here in the new England area. it's a central/southern beverage. always tool trips up to MI to see family and alwaus bought a shit load of it.

Good to hear ya beat the root snot. And that's a hell of a lot of leaves, definitely a serious defol.

Have you chosen a momma bear yet? When are you gunna grab clones from her?

Love my Vernors

Here's how I'm going to select a mother plant - next week when I flip the switch, I'll take two cuttings from each plant. After this grow cures, I'll smoke and figure out which plant has the best combo of quality/yield, and I'll keep 1 cutting of that plant. The other 5 cuttings, which will have vegged for awhile, will be thrown into flower so there's no down-time between this grow and the next.

 

[Sonora]

Today I changed out the MH bulb for the HPS bulb. Since we're switching to flower this Friday/Saturday, I thought it would be worthwhile to get the babies adjusted to the red spectrum in 18/6 prior to flipping to 12/12.

Still no pre-flowers. Hoping for no nanner surprises post flip.

Stay tuned!!

 

[STIHL LOGGER]

Lookin good Sonora!

 

[Frenchy672]

tomorrow's Fridayy

[more like 30 seconds EST]