Copperrein's 2021 Hubby Medicine With NextLight: Snowcaine & Trainwreck Indoor Soil, Oh Dear

How did you get into welding back then? I can imagine you guys had/have an amazing union? This is so badass...you're awesome <3


Ok, I spent today reading up on VPD, trying to actually understand it. I think I have it? (please, anyone who uses VPD check my math and logic because what I think I figured out seems contrary to how I assume plants like their grow environment).

VPD, or Vapor Pressure Deficit, is difference between how much moisture the air can potentially hold at a specific temp and how much is actually in the air currently. This gets me close but I still need to get my IR thermometer and test the leaf VPD, which is considered more accurate.

I started out by calculating my current SVP, which means Saturation Vapor Pressure, or the maximum amount of water the air can hold before it can't hold anymore, at which point it rains or dews or some other type of precipitation. I used the equation

SVP = 610.78 x e(T / (T +238.3) x 17.2694))

T
is temp in Celsius. I'm maxing out in the low 90's in the grow room so I went with 90, converted to Celsius is 32.2.

e is a mathematical constant known as Euler's Number, which I admit I was happy to see...made me feel like a college kid again. Anyways...for these purposes it's just 2.71828

Plugging all that in gave me an SVP of 4771.73.

Now I needed to use the Saturation Vapor Pressure to find out my specific Vapor Pressure Deficit based on humidity. The equation for that is:

SVP x (1 – RH/100) = VPD

RH is relative humidity. It's divided by, or over, 100 just to turn it into a usable percent. My math ended up as follows:

A.) 4771.72 x (1 - 50/100) = VPD for 50% relative humidity resulting in an answer of 2.39kPa
B.) 4771.72 x (1 – 60/100) = VPD for 60% relative humidity resulting in an answer of 1.9kPa

(A) gives me my VPD when the dehumidifier was running.
(B) gives me my VPD now that it's dead.

Now let's look at an 'ideal VPD range for cannabis' chart that I stole from the web:


As I'm understanding this...my plants should be happier now that the humidity has increased in the room? 1.9kPa is a lot closer to the green zone than my VPD before the dehumidifier went kaput, right?

I will be finding a 9v battery for my surface thermometer at which point I'll get my current leaf VPD and see where I'm at with that. Then I can either turn the lights down or up to nudge my plants into the green zone through increasing/decreasing leaf temperature? Am I understanding this correctly?

All 5 ladies are still happy. I got photos of Snowcaine 1's roots.









I’m glad I didn’t see this post on my 1st day here…. I’d have seen the math & left.
 
Yes! Surface on the Aegis destroyer Winston S. Churchill. I ran Aegis and the BFTT and maintained all the associated equipment. Oh man, subs are so cool. I bombed my nuke test because as a chick I only had the option of being on a carrier. Had I been able to go sub, I would have. Looking back I was also assuming it would be more of an adventure. Glad that didn't happen :D couple of my friends are ex-sub dudes and none of them had great experiences. No bad incidents...just...stuck in a steel tube for months and rare port calls got old quick.

UPDATE: The dehumidifier is officially dead. It's like the motor's bogging down physically...like the rotor's binding on the case or stator. Whatever...it's D E D ded. For now I'm running up and checking on the temp (92f) every hour or so. I've propped the door to the room open with a box fan pulling air out. The big finger-chopper attic exhaust is pulling hot air out of the entire upstairs and I hope this will be enough until I can go dig out a spare window unit and MacGuyver the hell out of it...or until I bite the old bullet and just buy another portable unit.

Edit: Oops, didn't see your second comment, @DeeBoy . No I have not. Aside from what I've grow since Michigan went legal I've only tried my friend's Grape Soda which was meh and his sister's E-Dab pen thing, sour diesel, which was also meh.
I haven’t known what I was really smoking ever. Til I smoke my first lil sugar leaf joint as a test, in a few weeks!
 
A little water yesterday improved the turgidity of the Trainwreck babies. The leaves weren't wilty wilty...they were just a little feeble looking, if that makes sense. Like a 10lb sheet of paper vs. 20lb. Right, anyways...the big Snowcaine is healthy as (that one was for you, @Trala ) and I'll prolly need to up pot her by the end of next week. Little Snowcaine is catching up.

Right so, later flower loss of chlorophyll in the leaves, or chlorosis....is that what I'm seeing in DDA? The yellowing looks wrong but the plant is entirely different than anything I've grown before so I don't know. The buds are stacking still and getting blacker each day. If all the foliage turns color she could end up being a small, but striking plant.








 
A little water yesterday improved the turgidity of the Trainwreck babies. The leaves weren't wilty wilty...they were just a little feeble looking, if that makes sense. Like a 10lb sheet of paper vs. 20lb. Right, anyways...the big Snowcaine is healthy as (that one was for you, @Trala ) and I'll prolly need to up pot her by the end of next week. Little Snowcaine is catching up.

Right so, later flower loss of chlorophyll in the leaves, or chlorosis....is that what I'm seeing in DDA? The yellowing looks wrong but the plant is entirely different than anything I've grown before so I don't know. The buds are stacking still and getting blacker each day. If all the foliage turns color she could end up being a small, but striking plant.








This is my next run. Dark Devil has a lil brown on a leaf tip, similar to your pics. I hope I'm not killing them already.
run 2 day 10.jpg
 
This is my next run. Dark Devil has a lil brown on a leaf tip, similar to your pics. I hope I'm not killing them already.
run 2 day 10.jpg
Hey I like the plant markers! If she was a photo plant I'd be all 'what doesn't kill them makes them stronger' but i dunno bout autos. They're weird.
 
Hey I like the plant markers! If she was a photo plant I'd be all 'what doesn't kill them makes them stronger' but i dunno bout autos. They're weird.
Well guess I about to learn about the weird, cuz I have MANY auto seeds. My 1st 4 autos are short, but full of buds. Hoping for a half pound, but that's really arbitrary. Whenever I harvest in the next week or so, I'll have more weed than ever in my life!
 
Well guess I about to learn about the weird, cuz I have MANY auto seeds. My 1st 4 autos are short, but full of buds. Hoping for a half pound, but that's really arbitrary. Whenever I harvest in the next week or so, I'll have more weed than ever in my life!
Dude, my first year I got about two pounds...and then I googled how much that's worth here. I cannot fathom why more people don't grow considering you can literally pop a seed in some shitty miracle grow soil...give it a window and some water and in 3-4 months you'll have your money back and then some. Even with a horribly decrepit plant.
 
I see a number of growers now aside from just going by trichomes but saying as long as the plant is still drinking to keep it living. I still have an auto GG going at 129 days and showing no amber yet. I have harvested 3 other GGa that laid off on the water at well over a hundred days and they had only the slightest of amber coloring on the trichs
Im still loving the DDa keep her going. :rollit:

Edit: Autos are weird and DDa’s are weirder.
 
I see a number of growers now aside from just going by trichomes but saying as long as the plant is still drinking to keep it living. I still have an auto GG going at 129 days and showing no amber yet. I have harvested 3 other GGa that laid off on the water at well over a hundred days and they had only the slightest of amber coloring on the trichs
Im still loving the DDa keep her going. :rollit:

Edit: Autos are weird and DDa’s are weirder.
But if there are significant amber trichomes, they're chopping, right? I like this concept. Just really let the plant tell you.
 
Just really let the plant tell you.
I think that’s exactly right Copperrein. I always post trichromes pics and bud pics and get opinions, but in the end, I’m the one who is actually seeing the plant and knows what she looks like and how she’s “behaving”. The decision whether to chop or let her go is ultimately yours. I think you will love her smoke….whenever you decide to chop her. :p
 
My babies look so much happier this morning. The camera didn't get the vibrant green I was confronted with upon opening the tent this morning. It's like a more green neon green.

I have also noticed something: no crinkle leaves yet. All my previous grows, hydro and soil, my young plants go through a phase right about now where the leaves get wavy/curly. I'm buffering my water down into the 5.8-6.0 range this time, instead of 6.3-6.5. I'm throwing a shot out in the dark here BUT: maybe when plants are young and transitioning between pulling nutrients from the cotyledon (first nubbly leaf-like things that appear from the seed) to pulling from the soil, they need a lower pH.

Whatever the cause, I will be running my own soil going forward for germination as well as veg and flower, erring on the side of hotter nutrient content. It seems to be working. I think a longer cook time for the soil in the future could help with the burn I saw in the first set of leaves. I only gave the soil the Snowcaines and Trainwrecks are in maybe three days to chillax before planting the seeds.

Do I really know this is true? Nope. I've had too many other variables in this grow that I had no control over. I do have another grow starting, however, same soil that's cooked longer, and those babies are looking pretty spiffy.

Please trust me when I say the green these girls are showing right now is almost hard to look at it's so bright.




 
Transplanted Snowcaine #1 as her roots were starting to loopty loo in the bottom of her cup. I tried something new to me and I used a spray bottle with 6.2 water in it to blast the outer roots free. This gently untangled the looped roots and I plonked them in a hole with dry mycos (Earth Alive) sprinkled in the hole.

This is a more aggressive approach I've never done on cannabis so we shall see. I really suspect a lot of my growth stall issues are caused by placing plants in their new pot with all the roots still tangled up in the bottom. I don't hold back with my little bonsaied tree collection. I just slice and stab with a knife and boom...into the soil. Maybe a little root work will help these indoor soil plants. Ugh, soil has so many variables. Props to every single person who grows indoors in soil (relatively) effortlessly.


 
(paragraph of well-metered and creative vulgarity here)

T-t-t-t-transplant shock!

Instead of just 'waiting and watching' I did some googling and found some stuff called thrive alive (or something like that). Snooped their ingredients, snooped @Prescription Blend 's ingredients in their Kelp Ful...about the same stuff! Boom...I have been doing a sort of slow soak around her rootball with a 2ml to gal of pH 6.2 water.

Now I have to wait and watch:


Everyone else is doing fine. Please ignore the three Dr. Grinspoons and two Freakshows in the back. They're destined for another tent, I've just been overwhelmed with other farm work. (tho please notice I got three Dr. G's and two Freaks to pop because that's aweeesome!)


Aaaand DDA's apically dominant cola is still stacking while the lower buds seem ready. She's too pretty to chop yet so I will wait a little longer and just keep an eye out for issues in the more mature buds. If need be I'll progressively harvest her but damn...my first auto AND my first chlorosis! So pretty! So fast! I would prefer to take her in one go.


And looking at her now I know she's not really that good-looking compared to some of the massive fall-color plants I see on here but in my tent she's the diva.
 
Right so truth time: I may make some bad choices while smoking certain strains (Sweet Island). I kinda f'd up the Snowcaine I tried to transplant a few days back. It sent me into a bit of a depressive slump and I didn't share my oops. I saved her thanks to @Prescription Blend 's Kelp-Ful and will be using it every time I transplant going forward.


If anything this gives Snowcaine #2 time to catch up so yay?

Not gonna lie, I transplanted my two Trainwrecks this morning and it's got my anxiety pinging. I'll OCD-out on them all day and pay more attention than I did with Snowcaine #1.

To transplant I filled my GeoPots up to 6 gallons-ish (a possum helped till the soil last night which is the reason for the 'ish') with my pretty hot homemade soil. I created a hole larger than the solo cup, lined it with washed coco that I sprayed with Kelp-Ful. I then removed each plant from its container, misted the root ball lightly with Kelp-Ful, and gently lowered them into the hole. I nudged the soil around the root ball in an attempt to keep the layers I created intact. Popped a neem-soaked coco disk on top and BOOM...root space!







Fingers crossed transplant goes better this time. I don't know what it is about growing in soil indoors but I just suck at it. Hopefully I can learn something, tho.

EDIT: photo of the hard work Ms. Opossum did:

 
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