Blueberry Jam Round 1

[pbfan]

Fellow Growers,

Have been growing for a few years now, with mediocre results. Have 2 5x5 rooms that I built for this purpose, one for the mothers/clones, one for flowering. I recently upgraded to a 600W ballast, but still have yet to upgrade the bulb, so I'm using the 400W MH I had from my previous setup.

Build a Home Depot Special Aeroponics/NFT system using 4" pipe that I have fashioned to accept 2" cups. 1/4" tubing delivers the nutrients to the roots from one hour prior to lights on to one hour after lights off. Also shoot the roots for 1 hour half way through the dark cycle.

Using the General Hydroponics products simple recirculation formula for my nutrients. Change the solution every seven days, and top off water or nutrients as needed. Try not to let them get over the target ppm, or 200 ppm below target ppm.

So far the room has stayed about 85 - 90 F, which is one of the reasons I haven't jumped on upgrading to the 600W bulb. Next big project will be to get some good exhaust...probably once they start stinking real bad.

I am starting this journal a little late, so it won't be real time for a few posts.

This photo is the Mother Plant after 3 weeks of growth under the 400W MH.

Let's see how it goes...

pbfan

 

[Toddigy]

That three week growth looks outrageous!

 

[pbfan]

So I took 7 cuttings and put them through the rooting hormone, and rockwool block treatment. Have the same Aero setup as the Flowering room for the clones, and put the fluorescent lights about 2 inches above the plants.

I will be showing a set of photos each week or so that will consist of the group photo, a profile photo and a top view of a selected plant.

The following photos are from Day 2 of Flowering.

 

[pbfan]

We are going to jump ahead to Day 7 of Flowering.

Still under a 400W MH, with a Light Rail 2 system that gives both sides of the pipes equal amount of light.

 

[pbfan]

Got into week two with no problem's then I noticed some strange growth on the grow rocks. Looked like an organism of some sort. See below:

Took a few of the rocks to my local Micro Lab, and had them take a look at it. Luckily, it was not organic, and was determined to be the salts from the nutrient solutions seeping up and crystalizing on the tops of the rocks. This diagnosis saved me stress, time, and money. Highly recommend finding resources like this that can ease your grow operation.

 

[pbfan]

Almost caught up. These photos are from day 14.

Started the next clones for round 2, as well.

 

[DrTentgrow]

subbed, i'm keeping a keen eye on hydro grows at the moment as I have have just started my first hydro grow after 3 soil grows, check it out if you find the time. + reps for your nice setup.

 

[JB42]

Nice DIY Hydro, don't know much about hydro, but i'd love to watch and learn. This looks cool

 

[pbfan]

Dr.

Your setup looks bad ass. Checked out your pics, and your ladies look very nice.

 

[pbfan]

JBC

looks like you are doing just fine with soil. Have never attempted it. Hydro is a little touchy, and there is definitely a learning curve. Once you dial it in though, it is super low maintenance. This setup is new to me, so looks like we will be learning as we go...

 

[pbfan]

New Photo: Nice Flower at Day 17 - getting the start of crystal growth.

 

[pbfan]

Now we are all caught up on timing. These photos were taken yesterday on day 21 of Flowering.

 

[JB42]

JBC

looks like you are doing just fine with soil. Have never attempted it. Hydro is a little touchy, and there is definitely a learning curve. Once you dial it in though, it is super low maintenance. This setup is new to me, so looks like we will be learning as we go...

Cheers mate. Yeah looks like I'l be learning off this as well. Your plants look great now, realy healthy, I like your style

 

[pbfan]

So now comes the fun part...

All six of my plants have come from the same mother, so they are all genetically identical. Instead of having all the same phenotype, I have ended up with two types of plants. Short and thick, and tall and spindly, as seen in the following photo:

The plant on the left looks healthier and seems to have more buds (in my opinion). Won't really know until we weigh the final product. This plant seemed to be ahead of the curve by a couple of days than the rest of them. One thing I did notice was that it was a lot lighter green in the new growth compared to the others.

Didn't think anything of it until my next round of clones have started to root. The plants that are growing currently were cloned in the same fashion, but I was using the three basic nutrient solutions from General Hydroponics. The Plants rooted from 10-14 days, so I am assuming that the plant on the left was the first plant to root, therefore giving it a head start of healthiness compared to the 14 day rooting plants.

This round I decided to follow the Simple Recirculating formula from GH, which includes a Root promotion Product. This time, my clones all rooted within 7-10 days, which leaves each plant in the cloning stage for at least 4 days before going into flowering. I decided to label the net cups in the order of rooting. i.e. the first plant to root is #1, and the last one is #6. This will let me monitor the progress to see what effects the rooting time will hopefully give us some insights.

This is a picture of clone #1 next to clone #3. These rooted at least 2 days apart. The plant on the left is light green and growing, the plant on the right, is starting to get some color back, but would like them all to look like the first one before going into flowering.

Due to the size and configuration of my garden, it is best to have short, squatty, fully loaded buds, rather than tall ones. Let's see if we can get any information from this exercise.

 

[pbfan]

In an effort to increase yield, I am also conducting another trial with one of my clones.

Because the plants go straight from rooting to flowering, I didn't see a real good time to top the plant and keep the growth healthy. So I decided to top the plant while it was still on the mother, and let it grow for a couple of days before cloning. This is the result (was actually the second plant to root, and looks pretty healthy). I need to see if this works, or if it is to out of control for my setup, or if it actually gives us a more buds than the single stock.

Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[pbfan]

Day 28. Start of week 5.

They are looking good so far. I have been moving them 2 positions ever week, but the roots would not come out the tube, so I guess this the where they are going to stay.

Starting to get some nice tops. Lots of crystal growth, and the outer parts of the leaves are changing to a bluish hue.

Really starting to stink.

 

[pbfan]

Here are a couple of other pics.

Threw in the next round of plants. My goal is to have a harvest every 4 weeks or so.

I just can't capture the buds with a camera like how I see them through my eyes. This is my latest attempt.

 

[pbfan]

Seems like the 2nd half goes a lot faster than the 1st half...

Day 35. Start of week 6 of flowering. Nutrients have been changed to the late bloom phase.

Here is a kola pic from one of the sisters

Starting to really fill out from the top down. Filling in nicely.

 

[pbfan]

Day 42. End of week six. Flowers are starting to bulk up from the top down, and the hairs are turing red from the bottom up.

 

[pbfan]

A little late on this post.

This are from Day 49 - seven weeks down.

Since this is the first time with this strain, I decided to start pulling a plant a day starting at day 48. All of them are real sparkly, and there are some glands turning white and red.

I plan on having them all tested to see where the peak production is.

Have decided to leave two growing until day 56. Will post those pics shortly.