GMSkunk's 2nd Grow (Hydro: White Widow + Northern Lights)

[HazeSeeker]

Looking good , Cant wait to see your NL grow up ... I was planing to grow NL soon , so im on board . Subscribed

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 9
Stilllll growing. camera battery is dead and charger is currently "misplaced".

 

[Ms.Fox]

Ugh, I hate it when that happens. ;-)

 

[gmskunk]

Ugh, I hate it when that happens. ;-)

tell me about it.

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 9

had a bit of a leakage incident this morning...NL2 lost about a gallon from the reservoir which I just finished cleaning up...glad I sealed the floor with a plastic tarp!!! I'm going to take this as a sign and replace both reservoirs and up the nutes.

NL2: 2.5 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (1 tsp A + 1 tsp B) + CalMag + 1.5 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

WW2: 2.5 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (.75 tsp A + .75 tsp B) + CalMag + 1.5 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 11 (last post should have said Day 10)

so I changed the reservoirs yesterday and up'd the nutes. This morning I'm starting to see some rust spots on the two oldest leaves of WW2. Seems I'm always short a fucking digital camera whenever problems arise...wtf is up with that?

Anyways, like I said, they look like rust spots (more like the first picture below)...so I'm thinking cal deficiency.

Solution to fixing a Calcium deficiency
To fix a calcium deficiency you can treat by foliar feeding with one teaspoon of dolomite lime or Garden lime per quart of water, Or Any Chemical/Organic nutrients that have Calcium in them will fix a Calcium deficiency. (Only mixing at ½ strength when using chemical nutrients or it will cause nutrient burn!)
Or you can take crushed up dolomite lime or garden lime in a gallon of water and water it in the soil. 1 to 2 teaspoons per gallon of water, which will be slow acting. Garden Gypsum, which is medium absorption. Limestone, which is medium absorption, Rock Phosphate and Animal wastes which are both medium/slow absorption. Note: Caution when using gypsum to an already acid soil (pH that is less than 5.5) can have a very bad effect on different types of plants by effecting the absorption of soil aluminum, which is poison to plant roots.

Now if you added to much chemical nutrients and or organics, (which is hard to burn your plants when using organics) you need to flush the soil with plain water. You need to use 2 times as much water as the size of the pot, for example: If you have a 5 gallon pot and need to flush it, you need to use 10 gallons of water to rinse out the soil good enough to get rid of excessive nutrients.

Pictures 1-2 shows calcium deficiencies. First one shows late, 2nd one shows early development.

so I added another tsp of CalMag to the WW2 reservoir and mixed and balanced the pH.

NL2: 2.5 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (1 tsp A + 1 tsp B) + 1 tsp CalMag + 1.5 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

WW2: 2.5 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (.75 tsp A + .75 tsp B) + 2 tsp CalMag + 1.5 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6


Questions/Comments/Interesting Facts
- On the last grow, WW didn't have any problems until week3'ish and I wasn't even supplementing with calcium (and magnesium) until at least week 4 or week5. So is it possible that I have allowed Ca to get "locked out" since there should be much more this go around? I've been very careful with pH...it has never gone above 6.4 or below 5.4 - and even when it has been at those ranges, it couldn't have been for more than a few (4-5) hours.

- another possibility is that since I didn't feed the plants (on the first grow) until about day 7 or 10 (somewhere in there), that the Ca wasn't too out of whack since the levels of other nutrients was negligible. This would be a case in support of adding more CalMag now.

- above it says you can foiler feed w/ dolomite (which is essentially the same thing as calmag) for Ca deficiencies. Has anyone ever done this? If so, what concentration?

- the roots are growing nicely on NL2 and the internal reservoir (if you studied the setup from the first grow) is about ready to be removed. the water pump will be left in the res. to aid in keeping the nute mixed and the air stone will be replaced with a much larger one. WW2's roots are lagging a bit but so is the overall growth...the NL2 has been much more vigorous since germination.

 

[gmskunk]

After a bit of searching, the consensus on this board seems to be that seaweed/kelp foliar feed is an excellent idea. So I just ordered some seaweed foliar spray solution. once it arrives I'll have a look at the nutrient makeup and decide if I want to mix in a touch of calmag.

 

[gmskunk]

ok so more research...and I could have too much Mg causing a Ca lockout in WW2...grrr. Feeling confused...doesn't help that I don't have pics, but I'm nearly certain its a Ca deficiency. Jesus, maybe I have let the pH get too out of whack....god bless the resiliency of NL strain.

...if things don't turn around by tomorrow morning, I'm going to flush WW2 and regroup.

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 12
WW2 is still showing Ca deficiency in the two oldest leaves. The 2nd oldest leaves show a spec of lime-color on the very tip. In fact all the leaves on WW2 are a slightly lighter shade of green than the NL2. Could this be an indication that the WW2 has a higher nitrogen requirement or is this something that can differ from strain to strain?

god damn fucking camera charger....fuck!

 

[420fied]

Are your roots hanging down into the res water yet? What ph range are you running and how much does your ph drift up over a 24 hour period?

I may be able to help with this.

This look familiar?

 

[gmskunk]

Are your roots hanging down into the res water yet?

there's a smaller internal reservoir inside the 5 gallon bucket that floods for a few minutes every two hours...the roots are hanging down into that internal reservoir. Once they grow a tad bit longer, I'll remove the internal reservoir and increase the res level so it will be a DWC type grow.

What ph range are you running and how much does your ph drift up over a 24 hour period?

pH range is now consistently running between 5.6-6.0. Initially, the range was running between 5.5-6.4...which I think was due to the rockwool/hydroton.

This look familiar?

yes, although that is a little more severe and the leaf is bigger.

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 13
Both plants are growing nicely...WW2's problem *appears* to have come to a halt although I'm not 100%. The liquid seaweed I ordered arrived yesterday (Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed).

I mixed it @ 1/2 strength to a quart of pH balanced water and added some cal-mag at 1/8 strength and sprayed the little girls down. I also added another tsp of hydrogen peroxide to the reservoirs.

If WW2 continues to maintain that slightly limier color, I'll have to see if I can find a nitrogen supplement although, my finger is still on the trigger for flushing.

 

[gmskunk]

camera battery charger shipped this past Friday...should be here early next week.

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 14
Both plants are looking good. WW2's problems still appear halted and contained to two oldest leaves...the roots of both plants look white as hell...

I've been switching the frozen water bottles 2x day which is keeping the res temps below 75. I'll continue the Hydrogen Peroxide treatment. Also bumped to a 19 ON/5 OFF light cycle (previously was a 20 ON/4 OFF).

Next reservoir change...(Day 16)
1. flush for 12hrs (good measure) in pH'd R/O
2. ditch internal reservoir
3. change out air stone
4. add nutes...

NL2: 4 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (3 tsp A + 3 tsp B) + 4 tsp CalMag + 5 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

WW2: 4 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (2.5 tsp A + 2.5 tsp B) + 4 tsp CalMag + 5 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 16
plants continue to grow nicely. the tips on a few of the older leaves are curled down a bit...need to looks this up. The new growth is still slightly lighter (lime'y'er) than the older leaves, but this may just be because they are new. Environment variables have been holding nicely and the pH continues to float between 5.6 and 6.0 over the 24hr period which is nothing to complain about.

So I'm going to research the curling down of dark green leaves to see what that indicates. I'm also going to change the reservoirs later today. Oh and I didn't mention this, but I'm foliar feeding them the liquid seaweed every 5th day and plain water if needed during the interim.

 

[gmskunk]

came across a bunch of different reasons for "leaf curling" - heat to humidity to Mg def. Bah. I'm going to complete the flush that's currently occurring (R/O pH'd to 6)...still another 5 hours...then I'll replace with nutes and take it from there.

 

[Ms.Fox]

Let us know how it goes. ;-)

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 23
Was out of town this weekend...came back and plants were looking good...which was nice to see. I gave them another 6hr flush for good measure since the pH moved up to 6.3 and the temps were near 85 since no one was home to replace the frozen water bottles and tweak the pH. While the plants were being flushed, I also gave them a nice foliar feeding with the seaweed/calmag solution I concocted.

I then gave them another dose of nutes...
NL2: 4 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (2 tsp A + 2 tsp B) + 4 tsp CalMag + 4 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

WW2: 4 gallons R/O water + ANS Grow (2 tsp A + 2 tsp B) + 4 tsp CalMag + 4 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide and adjust the pH to 5.6

Tomorrow morning, I'll add another half-gallon of water with ANS Grow (1 tsp A + 1 tsp B) to each plant to push the nutes over 600ppm (currently only at 525ppm). I'll also probably add another tsp of Hydrogen peroxide to each. This is the last week of vegging...flowering starts this coming weekend!


Oh, and my camera battery charger arrived...

// NL2

// WW2

// WW2 problem leaf (Ca def, maybe some mg def as well?)

Oh, and I removed the inner reservoir and added the larger airstone...so now its a true DWC.

 

[gmskunk]

Update: Day 24
not much has changed. Heat, unfortunately, remains high in the grow room now that we are in the depth of summer. Guess there's only so much a 6" active intake feeding from my AC line can do for the environment. Swapping water bottles 2x day allows me to keep res temps just south of 80 F which, in conjunction with the added hydrogen peroxide, will hopefully be enough to prevent any serious problems. I'll probably be adding another air pump to both reservoirs to ensure maximum DO.

In preparation for flowering, I've set my 400Watt HPS for 12/12 and contemplating different ON/OFF start time strategies to suit my setup. Right now, I'm thinking I'll start the lights on around 8am and run them through the day since that's when the AC is pumping into the room non-stop. Thanks to the cool-tube, the HPS runs cooler than the CFLs...so that is a welcome change.

I remember when the plants were at this stage in my first cycle. I would touch the leaves and smell my fingers and get really excited...thoughts of "omg this is forrrrreal yo...holla" (yes, my inner monologue is odd) were flooding my head.


Questions/Comments/Interesting Facts
Should I pH my foliar feed solution (seaweed extract and a trace of calmag)?
What about just plain R/O water...pH or not to pH...that is the question.

Strongly considering purchasing a window AC unit to feed the active intake. We'll see how this grow goes before making any hasty purchases.

Don't be a stranger. If you have any criticisms, suggestions, comments...let's have'em...this is as much for my learning as it is for others.

 

[420fied]

My RO water runs about 5.8 - 5.9 ... when I add my nutes it lowers it into the 5.5-5.6 range.

You should always PH anything you feed your plants.

Get the window AC if you can.

What's the res temp?