GodAmJT's Perpetual Greenery

[Skybound]

yepp, they're a growin! Are you going to top or FIM them?

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Hey skybound: I was thinking about possibly topping them earlier on since the Dinafem had a big stretch (my buddy put it a little further from the T5) and the Zambeza had a rough beginning of life, so I decided that LST would've been the only solid option, although since I'm not there everyday, it's almost looking like LST may be out of the question now.. Which also brings me to my next point.. These being Autos, I'm gonna need to start some new seeds soon!!!! lol


The cycle continues.....

 

[Skybound]

I must have forgotten that they were autos. Never studied up on autos yet, but previous reading led me to believe topping autos was a no no.

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

I guess the jury is still out on topping autos but what I gather, the ones with very strong genetics (i.e. the Dinafem) can tolerate it, especially if it's got more Sativa in it (longer life cycle than an Indica-dom auto), but it could still possibly affect yield. Once I move into my new apartment, one of the first things I wanted to do was to buy another tent the same size as the one I have, and get a 250w HPS/MH set-up and see if I can do a run of a comparison of the LED/CFL vs the HPS/MH with clones from a strain my buddy has who is helping me out.. He gave me about a dozen GDP seeds that he and his father had bred to a sick phenotype that has a little bit of the purple but a whole lot of the flavor and strength! I'd get rooted clones and do a run-off, using the same nute strengths, pH, timing, etc.. Once that one finishes, then I'm going to go do some experimenting on autos because they're a lot of fun to grow!! Once I get my auto grows down consistently, then photo grows will be next.. I might even just do a photo grow with the HID and keep the LED/CFL set-up for autos and grow them simultaneously for a great contrast Now, I just need to find the time to do all of this!!! lol

 

[CCOiler]

That sounds like a fun plan, I'll be here.

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Soooo.. Since I still don't have my plants in yet because we finally got moved in, I'm going to finish setting up the tent tomorrow and doing a test-run with the new pump.. I'm doing 2 plants, Capn-style this time, which is a little different since there's more moving parts, but one reservoir with a couple extra gallons of water/nutes should be good to go.. I have a bit more space to maneuver in this apartment's room and I may take the inline fan out of the tent and just leave the carbon scrubber in there to save some space since I'm going to be throwing some CFLs in the tent with the LED panel for this round to maximize what I've got for lighting and space.. This Summer's temperatures have been EXTREMELY mild and it's been great, so I'm hoping it stays that way for the rest of the Summer so I don't need to run an AC to keep the area cool..

In the mean time though, I decided to celebrate by making the Capn's transcribed/modified recipe for Canna oil using coconut oil as prescribed. I made about 1.5-1.75 cups worth since I had about a little over an ounce and a half of some decent-to-high quality trim.. The process is a bit drawn out, but it's absolutely necessary for the reaction to maximize its potential. I haven't had a chance to make anything yet or even test it out since I wasn't sure if I should just slug a half-teaspoon worth and hope for the best but tomorrow I'm making a batch of the peanut butter cups and a batch of good ole brownies.. With any luck, I did a good job and I'll be on cloud 15 after I eat one of each!!

 

[Skybound]

Is the oil thick like molasses or is it thinner like cooking oil? I'd really like to one day make a flavored THC rich eCig oil for clean vaping.

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Hey skybound!!


Since I used coconut oil, it's solid (or at least semi-solid at room temperature) and doesn't take much to get it to liquify.. When it's viscosity is thin, it's relatively smooth, but has great surface tension. It looks more dark brown from the picture, but when I swirl it around in that bowl, it leaves a very persistent green residue along the glass. I'm up a little early this morning, and don't have class for a few more hours, so I'm going to try and get the jump on making some goodies this morning, so they're ready for this afternoon!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

So I'm hoping today is the day where I get to bring my girls back home from my friend's house.. Some good and some bad news to report, but we'll see what happens: Dinafem JH-Auto took off like a bat-outta-hell and grew very tall. Last time I saw it (about 4 days ago), it was nearly 3ft tall, and unfortunately, my buddy accidentally broke the top, which was about a foot in length with quite a few bud sites.. It didn't break off completely, and it was more like a bad kink.. I'm kinda worried about the top this far into the flowering, but we'll see. I haven't really fed it much and it's still thriving like crazy with just daily watering. The other kink I put into it didn't seem to phase it, so I'm hoping all this does is maybe slow down the vertical growth.. The good part about that is that I braced it with a massive stem from an old grow of his and just hope for the best. The Zambeza is a little runt, but very healthy now. I wish I had taken pictures the other day, but I was in a bit of a hurry since I've still been unpacking.. My parents are now moving away, so I've been helping them all while trying to finish school for the semester.. Phew... I need a break for a minute! Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the tent back up.. Only changes in lighting from the last grow are the addition of the 4 CFLs in there to supplement the Mars II.. Total of about 300w+ of actual light and I've moved the scrubber fan outside of the tent to free up some space.. The only thing left now, is to fill the res and get my babies back up in here!!! I can't wait!!!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

So I picked up my plants tonight............ I'm somewhere in between, "Are you fucking kidding me?!?" and "What the fuck?!?!"... My buddy that had been keeping them, let me know ahead of time before I walked in.. The kink wasn't that bad.. It was the rest of the plant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_)(#%R_#)(%R_#()T_Z+E)I+#)*%($+ +_# The Dinafem is damn near dead, and somehow, the Zambeza is running strong!!! I lift both of the pots to bring them out to my truck and they feel bone-dry.. My buddy's sister was supposed to be watering them, if anything, at least RO'ed water.. Well, Rockwool may hold SOME moisture, but not enough to go 3-4 days without any water/nutes.. I am usually a hopeful person, but I think the Dinafem may not make it.. So as I load them in the tent, and get them fed, I look at a bud and what do you know?! Spider mites!!!! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....


So it's now about 9:30pm, and nothing's open, so I have to get to the store as soon as it opens tomorrow to get some Azimax, and hopefully I can kill them off tomorrow...


I'm goddamn heart-broken right now... The Dinafem looked absolutely fantastic when I saw her about 5 days ago.. Most of the leaves have a whitish coating, almost like a mildew or something, and I'd say 75% of the leaves are not just droppy, but crispy on the ends.. I counted nearly 15 bud sites and the thing was about 3ft tall.. I can only hope that it at least bounces back a little.. The Zambeza looks great and I'm gonna do some pony-tailing to get some light to the middle of the thing since the leaves are huge!! Worst case, if the Dinafem doesn't bounce back by the end of the week, at least a little, I'm gonna let it run until I get some other seeds started..


Dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My gf is sleeping, so no pictures tonight, but I assure you, the carnage will be seen..

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

So here are the pictures...... The Zambeza literally grew about 2" last night, which is awesome!! I think the spider-mites, have gotten worse!! :/


As for Neem oil/Azimax, do you guys who use it, use as directed, or do you go half-strength/quarter-strength?? Will the plant resume healthy living, even after the infestation?? If I could soak my plant in the stuff, I would, even at $300 a gallon!!! Well, I don't have that kinda money, but if I did, I would!!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

And for some more crappy cell phone pics.. Deficiency is getting worse, from what I can gather.. What's killing me is that here is my recipe for about 8-ish gallons of water:

25ml Aquashield
25ml Florablend
10ml GH Grow
20ml GH Micro
38ml GH Bloom
20ml Cal/Mag
20ml Silica
15ml Floralicious+
20ml GH KoolBloom (liquid)
~3ml of RapidStart


This morning's readings:

Res temp: 66.7F
Ambient Temp: 73F
ppm: 615
pH 5.9-ish



Plenty of all of the nutes.. I think the calculations came out to just about 650-ish for ppm.. I wonder if this is too high and I'm locking something out.. I may throw a gallon of water in just to see if that does anything for it, because at this point, it'll be dead by the end of next week :/


Any ideas would be fantastic!! If I'm burning them, which is possible and I'm just confusing it for a deficiency, then cool, easy fix.. If there's a bunch of stuff locked out, what are my next steps?? Do I flush it for a day and then start at a lower nute mix??

 

[TheCapn]

How did the oil turn out? It looks nice and dark, which is usually a good sign.

 

[TheCapn]

And for some more crappy cell phone pics.. Deficiency is getting worse, from what I can gather.. What's killing me is that here is my recipe for about 8-ish gallons of water:

25ml Aquashield
25ml Florablend
10ml GH Grow
20ml GH Micro
38ml GH Bloom
20ml Cal/Mag
20ml Silica
15ml Floralicious+
20ml GH KoolBloom (liquid)
~3ml of RapidStart

This morning's readings:

Res temp: 66.7F
Ambient Temp: 73F
ppm: 615
pH 5.9-ish

The ratios on your recipe look ok, but your leaves are curling down. This is a sign of to high of PPM. I wouldn't use kool bloom until weeks 6-7-8 and I use it at a max of 2ml/gal. Only use bloom boosters when everything else is perfect. Remember you are just using LED lights and your plants are not too big, so you'll need to cut back on PPM compared to a bigger plant under HPS. Here is what I would do if I were you.

Start with 5 gals of RO water and add:

10ml Aquashield
5ml Florablend
5ml GH Grow
5ml GH Micro
5ml GH Bloom
5ml Cal/Mag
5ml Floralicious

Then adjust to around 300PPM. Flush out your rockwool with this mix. Pour it thru your plant many times until you are sure you are flushed out. Use this same recipe for about a week, or until you see your plants show some vigor and perk up. Only then switch back to a 3-2-1 bloom recipe, and keep her under 600PPM.
Hope this helps. Sorry to hear about your dead plant. I was gone last weekend and almost lost one myself.

Cap

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Capn: YOU'RE A LIVESAVER!!!!!! I can't even begin to explain how gratified I am to


I hadn't received too many hits as to what the problem was, and was starting to think I had some sort of funk going on.. Part of me thought my ppms might be too high, since the plant was doing well previously, with only RO'ed waterings in between my twice-thrice/weekly feedings, but being a new-guy, of course I'm not thinking the same wavelength as you.. I'm draining the res right now and I'm going to follow the words exactly..


As for the oil..... Holy shiiiiiiiiiit!!! I made the peanut butter cups, and still have a half of a tray in the freezer because they are a lot stronger than I originally intended lol I followed your recipe, and then after I re-read it, I saw, "1oz of frosty trim per 1/2cup of oil." I ended up going a little heavy on the oil since I had a little over 1.5oz of good trim.. Turns out, it was more than I thought, and after eating 2 of the peanut butter cups thinking that my math was good: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....


As soon as I get the nutes mixed and everything set, I'm going to proceed with the flush tonight. What's really weird about this, is when you mentioned "LED," in a sentence, I felt like you might've cringed slightly, as if you're sorta palming your head saying ".... Kids these days....." lol I SWEAR I WILL BE USING HPS VERY SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think my trepidation gets the best of me sometimes, and I feel as if some technologies are "emerging.." to the point of awesome, however, after this........ HPS all the way..


Thanks again for the advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like I said, if you're ever in the NE, I've got you covered on whatever you wanna smoke!!!!!!!!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Okay.... So, I mixed up the nutes and adjusted.. pH going in was 5.9 on the nose, ppms were 302, temp was 68F (don't think it matters, but it's there..) I ran it through for 20min, which I think is a decent amount of time to get the majority of the stuff out tonight.. ppms went up to 420-ish (giggity), and pH rose to 6.1-6.2 (it was moving around a little, probably the ionization/chelating of the nutes)..

Should I just toss this water and start over tomorrow? I'm thinking, "yes," since this could have all sorts of "unknown" quotients of nutes.. Good thing I picked up extra water last week!!! I have my RO set-up that I got from a different friend, now I just need the blessing from the landlord to splice it in to the "kitchen." I was thinking of getting a relatively good-sized tank for it, since I know what it's like to have only a couple gallons on-tap, and that would take fooooooorrrrrrreeeeeeeevvvvvveeeeerrrrr to fill and use..


Capn: I also want to mention that you are one of the only people who has come through for me every time... What I feel the most guilty about, is that I feel that I have nothing, in terms of advise/knowledge/wisdom/wealth, that I could ever use to repay you for this, so I promise that if I ever win Powerball, or some major endowment, you're in my Will!!! lol It speaks volumes of your character to come out and spend endless hours of your time donating your knowledge to everyone in the forms of Blogs, forum entries, PMs, write-ups, etc... I wish more people were like you in RL, when dealing with everyday things, since you embody the true meaning of "unity," and "kinship." I don't wanna come across as ridiculous or overzealous, but dammit man, YOU'RE A DAMN LEGEND!!! That's why I promise that if you ever come out this way, I got your back!!! Whatever you need, I gotcha!!!!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Sorry to hear about your dead plant. I was gone last weekend and almost lost one myself.

Cap

And what happened?!?! I hope you know, I understand what life brings, so your absence, although quiet, and often filled with anxious questions by us Youngins', is understandable... Most of us have some semblance of life outside of here, so I don't doubt you have a million other things going on in life that are monumental compared to this stuff!! I just hope you know how much you're appreciated around here!!!!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Unfortunately, the plant is starting to look worse, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do now.. I'm going to change out the res water again, and just use basic nutes, but at a slightly higher level than 300pm, and try to run it for 30min... If this thing keeps going this way, it's going to be dead by mid-to-end of next week..


So I decided..... WoS AKR seeds are germing as we speak.. I need to get more rockwool minicubes, but that won't be for a week or 2 before I need them.. Now that I don't have any anticipation of moving, the next grow should hopefully work out a bit better..

I've learned a few lessons from this one:

1. Even if your friends are reliable and try their hardest to help you out, sometimes, it's just not enough..

2. It's just a plant.. I got very angry and spent the first 2 days sulking and being angry; for no reason.. I can grow more.. Sure, it's a big set-back since I was at week 6/7 I think, but at least that's it..

3. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: Anyone who thinks they won't get infestations, is lying to themselves, as I found out.. It can happen to anyone, any plant, any time.. Even the awesomely strong Dinafem genes were no match for spider-mites and a little underfeeding.

4. Always have the vision to know that anything could go wrong at any time, and you just need to be prepared for it.. I was lucky that it was just plants..



Anyway.. Once the AKRs pop and I get them in the rockwool cubes, then I'll start to detail that grow a little more.. For now, I'm going to try everything in my power to salvage at least something from this grow..


Thanks for following guys!!

 

[Skybound]

I know it's a bit cliche', you did salvage much knowledge and experience that will undoubtedly be evident in your harvestS to come!

 

[GodAm4twizzle]

Skybound: Thanks for the encouragement and no, it's not too cliche at least IMO, since I'm still so very new to this hobby!! I would rather get all of the failures and mistakes out at the beginning of the process, so that as I continue to grow (no pun intended), so do my plants and my knowledge base.. I want to one day be able to pass on advice to new folks much like you and guys like Capn..


So I've been going through the various approaches in my mind, and last night, I decided to do something relatively drastic.. I completely flushed the rockwool with just pH'ed distilled water.. Then, I filled the res, and used the recipe from the Capn above, although I added just a little more (~10ml of Bloom) and ran the pump for about 10min.. When I woke up this morning, the browning of the leaves has slowed, and the leaves that were curling down, are starting to perk up, so I'm hoping I've at least slowed down whatever it was that was plaguing me. I guess I won't know until later today.. I think the ppms were about 350-400, and the pH was at 5.7 for the purposes of the last few times, the runoff was over 6.4, which suuuuuuuucks... pH lockout is a cunt...


One of these days, I'll be rid of my pH issues..... Until then, I'm just gonna have to suck it up and be extremely proactive in all of my measurements/adjustments..