Growing Without Bloom Nutes By Farside05

[farside05]

The post in question were Auto seedlings. It's recommend that you get them into their final pots ASAP. Stunting them for a couple days after transplant can hurt yield since they are on a biological clock. With photos I'll start them in Solo cups then transplant into 5 gallon containers around 2 weeks. If they stunt for a couple days, getting used to their new home, you can just veg them longer.

 

[farside05]

The recently flipped girls got a 2 gal drink of (6g Mega Crop). Hoping to harvest the other girls this weekend so I can get these ladies in the bigger tent. Lord knows they can use some extra space. Then I need to get seeds started, mix some Faux-Mix® (probably gonna reuse some once used I've got in the bin but add a bit of lime), install a plant hook in the ceiling for a drying rack, and other general grow room cleanup when I finish a run. Lots of weed related activities in store.

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• farside05
• Feb 13, 2021

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• farside05
• Feb 13, 2021

 

[farside05]

Well, no harvest today. Still got quite a few clear and no amber. Disappointed, but would rather harvest them when they are ready rather than when I am. Did hang the drying rack in the corner and clean the rest of the weed office. Even went through the desk and cabinet and cleaned out and reorganized drawers. It's hard for me to throw away things of value, but I got rid of 5 small sized Botanicare bottles that were either nearly full or unopened (CNS Grow, CNS Bloom, Cal-Mag, Sweet Raw, and a Silica Blast). I came to grips with the fact I'm never going to use them and they are probably 2+ years old. Still sitting on 2 Remo Supercharged Kits, still in the box. Probably won't use them either but I'll hang on to them a bit longer. I could do a 7 bottle (Remo) vs 1 bag (Mega Crop) comparison but I think I'd go nuts mixing all those products before week 3. I'd never make it through an entire grow.

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• farside05
• Feb 13, 2021

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• farside05
• Feb 13, 2021

 

[InTheShed]

I find there is nothing more satisfying than a weed project weekend! I've got those MaxFans in white but not the cool trimmer. That you share with BeezLuiz.

 

[farside05]

I find there is nothing more satisfying than a weed project weekend! I've got those MaxFans in white but not the cool trimmer. That you share with BeezLuiz.

You caught me. When I set up the new tent, I only had 1 spare fan. I bought the second, but never installed it. Been growing this whole grow with just the one. Figured I'd just install it when I started the next grow. You guilted me into adding it now.

That's the second bowl trimmer. Just bought it. Son bought me one for my birthday in '19. Left the first in the screen room for a couple months. The humidity was too much for it. All the gears rusted up and sheared. Won't be as careless with this one.

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• farside05
• Feb 14, 2021

 

[farside05]

Everytime I open the tent I hear Guns N' Roses turning up. Welcome to the jungle. Gonna clean up some lowers tomorrow AM and maybe thin them a bit. I'd normally wait for the stretch to finish but they are so dense.

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• farside05
• Feb 16, 2021

 

[farside05]

This AM they all got the lowers cleaned up, middles thinned, and a 2gal drink of 6g MC and 5ml Faux-Tekt®. 13 hours later, they are showing signs of budding and look like they stretched some more. This crop is the most attentive I have been, as a grower, in the last 3. Pretty as a picture. Not a random rust spot or burned leaf tip in sight (yet...lol).

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• farside05
• Feb 17, 2021

 

[farside05]

Hmm...ran across this little ditty when looking up the guaranteed analysis on Pro-Tekt.

"Pro-TeKt can be used as a surfactant..."

Wonder if using water with Pro-Tekt or Faux-Tekt® added would make the initial hydrating of Faux-Mix® easier? If it acts as a surfactant, it should.

 

[Skybound]

Hmm...ran across this little ditty when looking up the guaranteed analysis on Pro-Tekt.

"Pro-TeKt can be used as a surfactant..."

Wonder if using water with Pro-Tekt or Faux-Tekt® added would make the initial hydrating of Faux-Mix® easier? If it acts as a surfactant, it should.

I have polysorbate on hand which is a super surfactant that's used for reducing PGRs and for the life of me, when fighting to push water into the Faux Mix making process, it never occurred to me to add a surfactant to my water. As soon as I read your post, Homer Simpson screamed "DOPE" in my head, lol.

 

[farside05]

I have polysorbate on hand which is a super surfactant that's used for reducing PGRs and for the life of me, when fighting to push water into the Faux Mix making process, it never occurred to me to add a surfactant to my water. As soon as I read your post, Homer Simpson screamed "DOPE" in my head, lol.

The real Pro-Mix has a surfactant in the product. That's why it accepts water much easier. It's not really a "required" ingredient, and I just deal with the peat repelling water for a while when mixing. Now if I have a surfactant on hand, that's also beneficial to the plant, that could be a game changer. What I plan on using/reusing for the next grow is already moist, so I won't get to try it till I make a fresh batch.

 

[BigD13]

This crop is the most attentive I have been, as a grower

And boy does it show. Those are looking really nice.

 

[farside05]

And boy does it show. Those are looking really nice.

I've just been so lax the last 3 grows. The feed regime is on autopilot, so they all looked nice and green, but training and other maintenance was lacking, keeping them from being all they could have been. This round I'm growing some strains I haven't grown before, and I think that reignited my interest in growing.

 

[farside05]

Haven't broke out the pH pen in quite a while. For shits and gigs, I did today. Since it has been sitting unused for about 2 years, I recalibrated it using the 3 packets I had left for solution. Here's the results:

My starting tap water (between 150-180ppm) 7.5

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• farside05
• Feb 18, 2021

Adding 6g of Mega Crop 7.0

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• farside05
• Feb 18, 2021

Adding 6g of Mega Crop and 5ml Faux-Tekt ® 8.2

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• farside05
• Feb 18, 2021

That's it. Nothing gets pH adjusted! #soillessmixforthewin

 

[Skybound]

Next watering, consider adding some extra to be able to collect enough runoff to test. I'm curious to see what your 8.2 is converted to when sent through the Faux Mix.

 

[farside05]

Next watering, consider adding some extra to be able to collect enough runoff to test. I'm curious to see what your 8.2 is converted to when sent through the Faux Mix.

Pretty sure you'd have to do a slurry test to get a fairly accurate reading.

So I tried to do a slurry test but results were wacky. Here is what I did. I collected 4 tablespoons of Faux-Mix from half way down the outer edge of the pot on the soon to be harvested girls. They were fed Mega Crop and tap exclusively through the entire grow. I added 8 tablespoons of distilled water (this is where things are wacky, will explain later). Stirred, waited 15 minutes per video instructions. Tested. 8.2. WTF? OK, I think to myself. This is the end of a run, with twice used Faux-Mix, a primarily Nitrate Nitrogen fertilizer, and using higher alkalinity water. There could be some upward creep, but 8.2? Plants looked fine throughout the grow. So I test the distilled water on its own. True distilled water should be 7.0. Now the wacky part, my "distilled water" is 8.8! Not sure what is up with that. It's CPAP water. Doesn't say there is any other additives on the label, just says steam distilled, further processed with UV light, micron filtration, and ozonation. Obviously there is something else going on there. Don't know if you can simply this much, but it did drop the 8.8 "distilled water" to 8.2, so a .6 reduction.

 

[InTheShed]

I think I will start pH testing my distilled water before I slurry test from now on! And I wait at least an hour with 4 periods of stirring before I check the pH of the slurry.

Next watering, consider adding some extra to be able to collect enough runoff to test. I'm curious to see what your 8.2 is converted to when sent through the Faux Mix.

Two thoughts: first is that the manufacturer of ProMix says the only runoff test that will tell you the pH of your substrate is a complicated one conducted with distilled water after irrigation water and runoff, called the Pour Through test. Testing just nute runoff doesn't tell you about your substrate. And a slurry test is a whole lot easier than that pour through test.

Also, @Big juice ran a test on how his buffered medium reacted when he put non-pH'd nutes through it. His results are here.

 

[farside05]

My new "not work appropriate" grow room wear.

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• farside05
• Feb 18, 2021
• 2

 

[farside05]

Harvest time in the AM. Will put on my new Fried Chicken shirt and start trimming. The other ladies will move into the bigger tent. I'm sure they will like the extra space. Then I'll get some autos going in the smaller closet tent.

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• farside05
• Feb 19, 2021

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• farside05
• Feb 19, 2021

 

[InTheShed]

Just don't let the tent chicken see the fried chicken!

Have a great harvest day.

 

[farside05]

Just don't let the tent chicken see the fried chicken!

Have a great harvest day.

Why do you think the Tent Chicken (aka Crouton by Quarry Critters) has that big smile on his face? He's been into the Purple Urkle and got a little fried himself. The Urkle I call Joker Weed. Consume some and you're not sure why you have an ear to ear grin, but you do.