Dick23rk's Fresh Start: Mantis Nutrients Featuring MedicGrow's New Spectrum X+ 880w Light Panel

Wonderful step-by-step explanations, Dick! And the plants look great.

A great thread for new growers, and old! :Rasta:
Thanks so much GDB! I try my best to keep the ladies happy :surf:
Hopefully we can attract some more growers soon. I have a couple ideas I'm working on in the background to keep improving my grow that everyone will get to see soon.
I’ll second that, succinctly put @Grand Daddy Black.Spot on
Peace n luv n stuff
Thank you bud! I appreciate the kind words.

I'm kind of excited to get home from work now knowing that the dwc plants are starting to actually show differences after a couple of days, took them a while.
 
Thanks so much GDB! I try my best to keep the ladies happy :surf:
Hopefully we can attract some more growers soon. I have a couple ideas I'm working on in the background to keep improving my grow that everyone will get to see soon.

Thank you bud! I appreciate the kind words.

I'm kind of excited to get home from work now knowing that the dwc plants are starting to actually show differences after a couple of days, took them a while.
Really nice to see matey.. I’ll keep looking if I may? :)
 
Of course @Bud love everyone is welcome to come by anytime. I try to encourage conversation, ask me questions about the grow or anything I'm doing if you'd like. I'm usually not far now that it's easier to use the website on cell phones than it used to be.
 
Few quick pictures now that I'm home. There wasn't much change in the dwc girls from yesterday, maybe a little.

If these skunks keep it up the way they're going then they'll be transplanted this weekend for sure so I can start tying those branches down. I could do it now in those small pots but why do it twice. I do try to get the first couple of stakes in the dirt instead of on the rim of the pot, I leave the rim for the last stake to get lots of spread. You'll see when the time comes





And the SBC youngins are happy as can be again, I guess you could say they grew into their hair cuts haha


 
So did start a new journal for the dwc if so tag me in it enjoy seeing the bubbly , but I'm not confused with you doing both in this journal , I find it educational for someone considering hydro like myself , the hard part would be training the wife , to keep temp and ph under control
No I didn't bother making a 2nd one. I think I will stick with just this one for now unless something changes. Once this grow is done I may start up a couple of new journals and keep experiments separate then.

You may not learn much from me on hydro aside from what not to do lol. I did hempy buckets before and that was the closest I got to hydro. Temperature hasn't been an issue with me and it may not get to be either since I'm in the basement and can always set the buckets directly on the concrete floor if needed, it stays cool. Ph on the other hand, I keep checking it along with the tds and it's all good, haven't had to adjust 1 thing. But that's mostly these nutrients I'm using doing the job for me.
 
This is what I teach too. Got to be good at something.
Yep, I made my fair share of mistakes first coming to indoor growing, but I've got most of that behind me now thankfully. I can help with soiless and synthetic nutes, but I don't know a lot of hydro, mostly what I've learned from research or grows here. Dwc is certainly interesting though so far
 
Just throwing a sponsor out there that I seen made a post. Prescription Blend is fairly new here and is looking for a few people to journal with their nutrients, I'll drop the link below. This is for US residents only due to shipping logistics. They seem to have a decent lineup using all natural and organic properties. Good for hydro, coco and soil.


Also another new sponsor that should be recognized is Medic Grow and their led light panels for larger rooms/tents. I've watched a couple unboxing/review videos on their Fold 8 panel and they are showing some phenomenal results across the board. Their panels are a little more affordable than a couple of the other big brands. Check them out if these are your style and size of lights, there may be one coming here in the future.

 
:yahoo: :party:
We are well on our way now peeps. I lifted up the net on the dwc babies last night and found a root starting to poke its way out. Won't be long now and we should see all kinds. I'll try and get some pics and update tonight, been dealing with a plumbing issue so I wasn't on much last night. Chat with you all later hopefully!
 
Hey @Bud love, doing good. Was just doing some transplanting and picture taking for an update. Thanks, they've been coming along well.

With autos yeah I treat them pretty much the same as far as topping goes, I try to get it done as early as possible and normally top at the 3rd and strip the first leaving 4 colas. If I've grown the strain before and I know they will veg longer than others, I would even try topping at the 2nd, strip first and then top the 2 mains again, but it's not something I've tried yet, seen others do it with success.

When it comes to other things like transplanting, I have started in cups and still transplanted them into their final pot at 2 weeks or so. But I have started using peat pods, so I start in those and when I see a root poking thru and a good plant it goes into its final home from there.

Feeding normally stays the same as photos, unless they can't take full strength for some reason then it would be cut back.

Most stuff is the same. I don't defoliate or strip lower growth that won't amount to anything usually until they are done the flower stretch aside from when they are topped.
 
Thank you very much matey. Brilliant
I’ll give it a go with the Diesel autos I’ve got going.. if I get that far with them.
Did you make a new journal for them? I see it in your signature if so but there's no link there
 
**Update/Learning Time**

Hey everyone, here with good sized update since I'm going to include somewhat of a tutorial. I may have shown it in my journals years ago but I figured why not share it again. I did the transplanting tonight, so that's what the tutorial is on, it's not much but I'm sure it will help someone.

I also got everything under the MH lights for right now, both turned up to 600w. I lowered the lights to get a decent footprint on the potted plants, but I'll have to move it over closer to the back one to get the proper footprint with these hoods.

Lets get this show started with the dwc project, then I'll show the skunks and banana cookies together in their new pots and after that on to the transplanting how to. This is a long one with lots of photos!




Big Bang - Day 15
So as I had mentioned in a previous post, we finally have a root showing!! Last night it was only just poking into a square in the net pot, now today it's over an inch long sticking thru and getting wet. I hope this is going to be the start of root explosion :cheesygrinsmiley: I'm still seeing a little bit of growth each day so it's nice to see, I'm sure it wont be long and these 2 plants will be off to the races.
Ph seems to be dropping a little over 2 days and tds has gone up back up some. I'll check it again tomorrow to compare and I may just add a little plain RO water to bring the ph up and tds back around 500. Not sure if that will mess with these buffered nutrients or not, I have read to just keep topping up with feed mix and let the buffers do the work. I don't really need to top up yet either.

Ph/TDS/Temp(c)
Bucket 1 - 5.4 / 540 / 18.2
Bucket 2 - 5.65 / 540 / 17.7






SBD - Day 24 / Skunk #1 - Day 32
These ladies all got transplanted this evening after work so I can start with the LST and get those 2 tops goin outwards to spread the plant out. All but 2 plants were put into 1 gallon pots, I chose the tallest from each strain to put into a 1.5 gallon, I ran out of 1 gal pots lol No biggie, all these plants will be going into 5 gallon pots I believe they are, maybe a bit less, I'll have to double check on that, most of these pots don't have numbers.

They all got fed after transplant since they were getting dry anyways, 5ml/L again and I used about 3 liters so far getting all the medium wet, no runoff, I will give a full wetting next time around. They are looking good still, I'll be tying back some mains on the skunks this weekend and that's about it as I do have some other things to get done.





Dick's Transplant How-to

So what I started out with in my bin was a soilless mix of sphagnum peat and perlite called sunshine #4 right out of a fresh bale, I didn't damp it any since it had a small amount of moisture in it.



I get my pots and level out a few inches of mix in the bottom and set the same pot as the transplantee's in place and make sure it's at the right height which in this case I used the lower lip on the pot as my marker. If adjustments are needed, do so now and then center the pot.


Then we start to fill up around the outside of the smaller pot trying not to bump it out of place. I used a solo cup as my scoop to dump the dirt in the space.


I like to pat down the dirt a little to make it a bit firm around the pot so the dirt stays in place for the next process. Damp medium will help hold the shape without crumbling easily. Top up to desired height.


I get my plants ready and new pots in the same area. I make sure to squeeze around the edges of the pots a little to loosen up the roots and dirt from the sides before trying to remove the plants and root ball. Once ready, I carefully remove the empty pot from the center of the medium and should be left with this.


Flip your plant upside down with your hand over the top to catch the root ball as it slide out of the pot. I managed to take a few root shots while the plants were out during this. Not a super solid root ball yet but it held up very well and had lots of roots throughout.



I then flip the plant right side up. If it has a nice strong trunk you can hold it by that when you place the plant in the hole of the new container, if not just cradle it between your fingers and drop it into the hole. I then like to breakup the surface dirt with my fingers and do a light cultivation a couple inches down to mate the seam of new dirt and rootball.


And voila, there you have your hopefully stress free transplant. Beats trying to make a hole in a pot full of dirt, or holding onto the plant while filling in around it. I do all my plants like this now, it takes a little more prep time but I feel better about it. Hope this was helpful to some of you!


Thanks all for stopping by. I will stop in tomorrow with a few pictures after I try getting some LST done on the skunks. Also gotta finish with my plumbing issue tomorrow, I didn't bother with it tonight since I was busy in the garden, priorities! :rofl:

:green_heart: Take care everyone, keep it green!
 
Hello again folks, I was up and at it earlier than normal this morning. Seems as I get older I just can't sleep in on the weekends anymore, 6:57am and my eyes were open for some reason. Days are getting longer here now so the sun comes up a little earlier, this could be the reason lol

So I got down in the garden for a peek and decided that I would get my LST done while I had no interruptions aside from the cat and dog, kids and Mrs. D were still sleeping. Most of the girl seems to be liking their new homes, still a couple that haven't perked back up yet but they will by days end I'm sure.

Lets have a look at what I do for starting off my LST and then I will throw some individual pics up of all the girls. I just took pics on the floor this morning instead of the normal photo spot I made up, gotta switch it up once in a while!


So I got a bunch of my wires ready and made little cane shaped stakes to hold down the branches. I started by exercising the top 2 mains outward making sure they were ready to be manipulated, this will help soften up the branches a little before you start. Here is what we started with..





So after exercising the branches and having my stakes ready, it's time to really bend these mains flat and fix them in place. A lot of people do this differently, I like to start early and get my stakes drove down into the medium. If the branches get too strong and lift the stakes, I will double up by making a U shaped stake so there's 2 ends going into the medium, at this age they shouldn't lift too much. Once the mains grow to the edge of the pot they will be secured there. Put the stake in on a slight angle and this may help hold it in place as well. Do one side at a time, making sure to keep the plant straight and get both mains at the same point.




After that you're done until the shoots continue growing. They will stat to turn upwards and grow up, once they get a little longer you bend them back down and stake them again. Keep doing this until you reach the edge of your pot, then it will be time for another transplant and possibly flip to flower if ready. Then this is what you end up with.



I will throw in the rest of the pictures I took after everything was done. I didn't take any of the big bangs in dwc, but I did check their ph and tds, it appears things are back to normal, maybe just a whacky reading. Both are hovering around 5.8 and 500ppm again, so we're good for now. This is just a quick picture update to keep things going in here, I know people like pictures lol.

I will be around later as well with another announcement/update on something special.. If you've read this far along now and been paying attention, there's been a couple of teasers. Chat later peeps!
:ganjamon:











 
Horticultural wizardry. Brilliant so far matey..Look forward to seeing what the future brings.
Peace n luv to the world man.
:laughtwo: Something like that yep, gotta keep them under control somehow!
Thanks my friend
 
**Informative Update**

Ok, so I have a little bit of an announcement. The grow room will slightly be changing in a couple of weeks (for the better) and I may need some ideas for lighting arrangement for when the plants are much larger. Let start with the announcement though.

I have been talking with @MedicGrow, one of our sponsors here at 420 Magazine. They are a newer company that came about in 2020 and has been making a big splash in the growing game with their new light panels and the specs that come along with them. The only thing is, it's hard to find any reviews on their products and I know from experience when searching for lights or other equipment, I'm also looking for solid reviews. If I don't see many reviews it can make me skeptical. Well let me tell you, with the 1 great review I found on one of theirs lights and being able to chat back and forth with one of Medic Grows reps, I have full confidence their products have a lot to offer here.

That being said, there's no current journals here with their products that I could find. So in my talks with Medic Grow, we have talked about a sponsorship and working together on getting their lights known about. I will be showing the products in various parts of the forum, and mainly my own grow journals.

So what we are going to be testing in the grow room...
The new Spectrum X+ 880watt light panel with UV & IR bars.
This light has a PPF value of 2297 umol/s and the PPFD chart they advertise (shown without UV&IR bars) is showing values of 1250 in the middle and hovering around 600 on the outer edges of a 6x6 space while being hung at only 24", WOW!! We need to check this light out for sure!




I will have more info to come on this light when it arrives, I will outline all of its specifications, features and functions during the unboxing and have a look at the quality of the build as a quick review. I will also post some of the pictures and info they outline on the website. But, what we really want to find out here and one of the main goals, is to see how it's going to work on our beloved cannabis plants! That's really what you will all want to know in the end when it comes to decisions on new lights after reading info for days and days, real solid feedback on how they are working for growers in the garden itself. That's what we plan to find out, stay tuned folks! Hoping to have it here in the next 2 weeks.
 
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