Emmie's Vegan Fertilizer, Pineapple Chunk 2020 Celebration: Experimental Soil Grow

[Emilya Green]

Some better pictures this afternoon for you all so you can see the effect so far from using full strength MC along with the full recommended amounts of Sweet Candy, Sea Kelp and Bud Explosion. You can see from this upper growth that there are no complaints or deficiencies being seen at this time. They will probably need to be watered tomorrow or at latest on Tuesday and they will be getting even stronger MC 5g/g as well as the other amendments.

Here is Bertha showing off in the back, becoming massive and really enjoying the MC, the Vulx and the tomato cage. She is the tallest, and she is handling the incremental increases to the light intensity well. Today I turned it up some more, to about 300w total in the room now, and measured at 33,000 LUX or approximately 485 PAR at this frequency of light.

 

[SWOGA]

Am I wrong? The selling point of Mega Crop, is that nothing else is needed. Yet every grow I have looked at so far, has 3 or 4 more addatives. Is anyone using MC only without all the other products?

 

[Emilya Green]

Am I wrong? The selling point of Mega Crop, is that nothing else is needed. Yet every grow I have looked at so far, has 3 or 4 more addatives. Is anyone using MC only without all the other products?

yes, several members are running just plain MC and having great results. I and many of the other experienced gowers around here try to grow a different class of pot however and we require a bit more from our plants, so I am adding in nutrients that I know will ENHANCE my grow. Do I have to do this to grow good pot using MC? It appears that I do not.
If the tools are laid in front of me that will allow me to give my plants every trace element, amino acids, hormones and vitamins not available in the base mix, and it is my belief that only by the use of these products will my plants be allowed to reach their full potential well beyond what the base mix will produce, then I choose to use them. You also have that same option to go full out or just rely on the base mix... either way works.

 

[Old Salt]

Am I wrong? The selling point of Mega Crop, is that nothing else is needed. Yet every grow I have looked at so far, has 3 or 4 more addatives. Is anyone using MC only without all the other products?

All I'm using is Mega Crop, CALiMAGic, and pH up. I need a little extra calmag as I use water from an RO, grow in coco/perlite under LEDs. I didn't add the CALiMAGic until my plants showed signs of a deficiency, and then the bare minimum of 1ml per 10 to 15gm of Mega Crop. It sure beats the 12 bottles I used with General Hydroponics' Flora Trio.

 

[Emilya Green]

Transition, Day 7
I am starting to see the slightest beginnings of the conversion over to bloom in the growth tips this morning... they still aren't pistils but the very newest growth is changing... It is going to be close... maybe not new year's day.
The girls are looking good and still rapidly growing. I will be cleaning out the lower canopy soon to get ready for concentrating all the energy up top. The lights are being tolerated quite well and after this day of adjustment, I will raise the wattage even more and pull the lights back up to 22 inches away from the top of the canopy.

Here are the girls, saying good afternoon to everyone, and probably expecting water tomorrow.

 

[DrCannaCanadian]

Transition, Day 7
I am starting to see the slightest beginnings of the conversion over to bloom in the growth tips this morning... they still aren't pistils but the very newest growth is changing... It is going to be close... maybe not new year's day.
The girls are looking good and still rapidly growing. I will be cleaning out the lower canopy soon to get ready for concentrating all the energy up top. The lights are being tolerated quite well and after this day of adjustment, I will raise the wattage even more and pull the lights back up to 22 inches away from the top of the canopy.

Here are the girls, saying good afternoon to everyone, and probably expecting water tomorrow.

Excellent results using MC, BE, SC, and SK!

When you lollipop, do you leave the lower fan leaves as factories for the plant? and just remove the growth nodes?

You likely have good light penetration, so I'm assuming just the lower third of the plant after stretch is done?

Nice contribution to the MC thread too

On my way to peek in on a few of the other MC growers now

 

[Emilya Green]

Excellent results using MC, BE, SC, and SK!

When you lollipop, do you leave the lower fan leaves as factories for the plant? and just remove the growth nodes?

You likely have good light penetration, so I'm assuming just the lower third of the plant after stretch is done?

Nice contribution to the MC thread too

On my way to peek in on a few of the other MC growers now

Thanks Doc! No, when I lollypop i will clean out everything down in the bottom third, including those big old fan leaves. There will still be plenty of large leaves in the middle that will be putting their energy into this, but right now it is all about airflow and light penetration. I want to open these plants up as much as I can.
Thanks for the support on the MC thread... that is one tough room with lots of strong opinions!

 

[DrCannaCanadian]

Thanks Doc! No, when I lollypop i will clean out everything down in the bottom third, including those big old fan leaves. There will still be plenty of large leaves in the middle that will be putting their energy into this, but right now it is all about airflow and light penetration. I want to open these plants up as much as I can.
Thanks for the support on the MC thread... that is one tough room with lots of strong opinions!

I'll give your lollypop technique a try this round on one plant - I've only seen the lower fan leaves kept by my friend so far. I don't want to shock the plant too much in flower or take away stored nutes (Nitrogen) it may need later.

Yep - there's a lot of strong opinions on the MC thread for sure - but when you're right, come out swinging or you'll lose respect

Keep up the great work here Em - and I'll back you everytime!

PS: 100k+ hits - it's nice to meet a celebritry - and you gotta be proud of that!

 

[Emilya Green]

Transition, Day 7
So far, no pistils exploding out of the tips... its not bloom time yet!
Today should have been watering day, but i arrived home late today and did not have time to do much more than take a quick pic and throw down a quart or so on the surface of each plant before it was time for lights out.

I got a good picture today of the wilt that I look for when it is time to water. Once officially in bloom I will avoid this, but right now while the roots are still stretching it is still appropriate to water as if in veg... still going for a dry container. The wilt seen in these pictures, clear up to the top third of the plant is shouting out at me that we have less than 12 hours of water remaining in these containers... but I don't want to water right now, right before lights out. The absolute perfect time to water will be at 4am when their next day begins. Alexa, set alarm.

So they each got a quart this evening of a very interesting mix. With a wink and a knowing nod to the naysayers, I gave the hungry plants 5g/g of MC. I gave them .1g more of Sea-Kelp per gallon than I have been giving. Throwing all caution to the wind, I gave the 3 gallon mix an Extra gram of Sweet Candy for a total of 1.33g/g. And lastly, I gave them 1g/g of PK Booster. This is not a lot more than i gave them last time, and they are loving life right now and noticeably growing each day. The MC increase is the MegaCrop thread recommended increase of .5g/g every other watering and is exactly what is recommended for the first week of bloom.

Here are the wilting wilmas... getting ready for a 12 hour rest.

 

[MrSauga]

Hi Em,
best wishes for a terrific 2020 to you and your family! It's a whole new decade of growing for us! Have a great evening and stay safe. Happy New Year!

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi MrSauga! Happy New Year to you and yours too, and also to everyone else watching this thread! Best of 2020 to all!

 

[Schnookie]

Transition, Day 7
So far, no pistils exploding out of the tips... its not bloom time yet!
Today should have been watering day, but i arrived home late today and did not have time to do much more than take a quick pic and throw down a quart or so on the surface of each plant before it was time for lights out.

I got a good picture today of the wilt that I look for when it is time to water. Once officially in bloom I will avoid this, but right now while the roots are still stretching it is still appropriate to water as if in veg... still going for a dry container. The wilt seen in these pictures, clear up to the top third of the plant is shouting out at me that we have less than 12 hours of water remaining in these containers... but I don't want to water right now, right before lights out. The absolute perfect time to water will be at 4am when their next day begins. Alexa, set alarm.

So they each got a quart this evening of a very interesting mix. With a wink and a knowing nod to the naysayers, I gave the hungry plants 5g/g of MC. I gave them .1g more of Sea-Kelp per gallon than I have been giving. Throwing all caution to the wind, I gave the 3 gallon mix an Extra gram of Sweet Candy for a total of 1.33g/g. And lastly, I gave them 1g/g of PK Booster. This is not a lot more than i gave them last time, and they are loving life right now and noticeably growing each day. The MC increase is the MegaCrop thread recommended increase of .5g/g every other watering and is exactly what is recommended for the first week of bloom.

Here are the wilting wilmas... getting ready for a 12 hour rest.

Yowsa! That's just a week after flip right? Nice stretch. What defoliation schedule have you done / (is typical) when doing flip? I saw the "strip some off prior to flip" then "wait 20-21 days" for the next heavy defoliation (and then next at 45 days-ish). I followed this somewhat but found the girls kinda did 50% of it themselves and were quite tidy on their own cleanup.

 

[Schnookie]

Yowsa! That's just a week after flip right? Nice stretch. What defoliation schedule have you done / (is typical) when doineg flip? I saw the "strip some off prior to flip" then "wait 20-21 days" for the next heavy defoliation (and then next at 45 days-ish). I followed this somewhat but found the girls kinda did 50% of it themselves and were quite tidy on their own cleanup.

Oy! And Happy New Year @Emilya! You have been very instructional and inspirational for me this year, and I thank you and appreciate your knowledge and assistance. Peace.

 

[Emilya Green]

Yowsa! That's just a week after flip right? Nice stretch. What defoliation schedule have you done / (is typical) when doing flip? I saw the "strip some off prior to flip" then "wait 20-21 days" for the next heavy defoliation (and then next at 45 days-ish). I followed this somewhat but found the girls kinda did 50% of it themselves and were quite tidy on their own cleanup.

Yes, right at 7 days in those pictures, and an update from 4am this morning will show that transition is over, at 8 days. Bloom has officially started.
So far I have not done any defoliation yet... but it is time. I will be taking advantage of having the day off today and I plan on getting in there and stripping everything in the bottom third of the plant and anything in the middle that is keeping the buds from spreading at the top. I believe that it is important to get this done like right now, if not a week sooner, but I don't think it stresses the plant too much until after 2 weeks into the flip when the stretch stops... at that point I feel it is best to let a blooming plant bloom and I don't mess with her much until week 5 when I do a backbuilding cut.

 

[Emilya Green]

Transition Day 8, Bloom Day 1
As promised, at 4am Alexa woke me up so I could run down and water our thirsty girls. They were standing tall in the bright light waiting for me, and we completed their gallon each of ever stronger MC mix. They are all starting to even out in height, which tells me the increase in light wattage is being effective (slowing down the tallest one and letting the others catch up) and all are reaching the top levels of the tomato cage, almost as if they were designed for just this job. The lights are at a measured 18" away from the top of Bertha and will be raised today back up to 22" away, for now.... and the wattage will be increased yet again.

I found some excellent views of what I have been looking for in the growth tips to signify to me that bloom has actually started. It seems the 3 days in the dark did shave some time off of the transition, and then the sudden reapplication of the ever stronger light seems to have kept stretch down to a minimum. More experiments are needed to see just what is happening with that dark period going into flip as well as what is happening to stretch by aggressively increasing the light to bloom levels.

Here is a shot of a calyx that has popped out of the growth tip, instead of a new leaf. Hmmm... that's not vegging. You can also see some pistils starting to shoot out of the center mass. This all happened, overnight.

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

[Zooie]

Transition Day 8, Bloom Day 1
As promised, at 4am Alexa woke me up so I could run down and water our thirsty girls. They were standing tall in the bright light waiting for me, and we completed their gallon each of ever stronger MC mix. They are all starting to even out in height, which tells me the increase in light wattage is being effective (slowing down the tallest one and letting the others catch up) and all are reaching the top levels of the tomato cage, almost as if they were designed for just this job. The lights are at a measured 18" away from the top of Bertha and will be raised today back up to 22" away, for now.... and the wattage will be increased yet again.

I found some excellent views of what I have been looking for in the growth tips to signify to me that bloom has actually started. It seems the 3 days in the dark did shave some time off of the transition, and then the sudden reapplication of the ever stronger light seems to have kept stretch down to a minimum. More experiments are needed to see just what is happening with that dark period going into flip as well as what is happening to stretch by aggressively increasing the light to bloom levels.

Here is a shot of a calyx that has popped out of the growth tip, instead of a new leaf. Hmmm... that's not vegging. You can also see some pistils starting to shoot out of the center mass. This all happened, overnight.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year!!!!

 

[Emilya Green]

Happy New Year!!!!

Right back at ya Zooie!

 

[ChefDGreen]

Happy new year Em! Your ladies look stellar! I wish you peace and prosperity for the new decade.

 

[candycane]

Happy New Year to you and yours ! You girls are things of beauty for sure.

 

[Emilya Green]

Happy new year Em! Your ladies look stellar! I wish you peace and prosperity for the new decade.

Happy New Year to you and yours ! You girls are things of beauty for sure.

Thank you both of you and you each have a very happy new year with the best of everything coming your way!