Icemud's Organic SCROG! Grow 3.0

[Vapedogg223]

Very nice! This is going to be fun to watch at they put on weight!

 

[CronicHempHog]

woohoo looking good man

buds be growing W00T

 

[Alaskan1]

flippin sweet man, Just gave ya 5 stars and reps

 

[Icemud]

Hey Everyone!!! Thanks for the compliments and the encouragement!!! 420mag is the best!!!

Well yesterday I visited a buddies large scale farm to help trim and wow...very impressed with his setup with 3 hoophouses, each about 30-40 feet long Definitely loved being there but trimming sucks when there is never ending plants to do lol... just curious

To all those who have trimmed before (for pay), here are some questions for ya...

1. How much can you trim in 8 hours? I managed to trim about a 1/2lb...just was wondering what the norm is? (was pretty leafy bud)

2. How much are people earning for trimming... (this was 200$ per lb) was curious what other's are earning?

3. Have you found any ways to speed up the trimming process, techniques?... I found that working from the bottom up seemed to work the best but would love to hear other's suggestions..

I didn't want to take any photo's at the location without his permission so next time I go out there I will ask. I also am going to take brix readings of his plants just to see where they rate.. being greenhouse/soil/outdoor

 

[Icemud]

Flowering Day 9

Hey everyone, today is day 9 flowering and the ladies all now are showing very nice flower development as they continue to reach upwards. My blackberry kush is already showing trichomes !! in the beginning of week 2!! wow!

I noticed this morning that my Holy Grail OG was really saggy looking, I am thinking that she is either sucking up water really fast, or I am not getting her soaked enough because she seems to dry out within 4 days where the others usually take about 5-6. I gave the girls a foliar spray this morning of the "tea" I had been brewing which was nice and frothy, as well as fed the girls. I really wanted to make sure they got a good watering so I fed them the 5 gallons of tea, filled up the 5 gallon bucket with R/O water again, and ran all of the pure water thru the plants as well to make sure that all the soil was drenched, as well as some of the salt build up had washed out.

After watching the girls, all of them perked up very well, including the Holy Grail OG which was really saggy. I still wasn't happy with the foliar feeding I gave them in the morning, so I decided to go with a simple foliar to wash off the morning application.

I mixed up 1L of r/o water with:
100ml of milk
50ml of organic soy milk
1 TBSP of Bee Honey

This seemed to work as the ladies instantly showed a much more vibrant green and a few hours later looked extremely healthy and happy.

I took a few photo's of all the girls some before the lights were on, and some later in the day...

Here are the photos before the lights were on:

Full Tent Views later in the day

Flowering close ups...

Blackberry Kush

Silverback OG

Platinum Bubba Kush

Holy Grail OG

Sour Bubble

 

[Deege420]

Wow! You must be so happy with the way this is coming out!, I can't believe the rate they are growing! Incredible!

 

[Doc Bud]

Hey Everyone!!! Thanks for the compliments and the encouragement!!! 420mag is the best!!!

Well yesterday I visited a buddies large scale farm to help trim and wow...very impressed with his setup with 3 hoophouses, each about 30-40 feet long Definitely loved being there but trimming sucks when there is never ending plants to do lol... just curious

To all those who have trimmed before (for pay), here are some questions for ya...

1. How much can you trim in 8 hours? I managed to trim about a 1/2lb...just was wondering what the norm is? (was pretty leafy bud)

2. How much are people earning for trimming... (this was 200$ per lb) was curious what other's are earning?

3. Have you found any ways to speed up the trimming process, techniques?... I found that working from the bottom up seemed to work the best but would love to hear other's suggestions..

I didn't want to take any photo's at the location without his permission so next time I go out there I will ask. I also am going to take brix readings of his plants just to see where they rate.. being greenhouse/soil/outdoor

I've learned a bit about trimming, working with some long time growers:

1)try to trim colas so you can hang the whole thing,
2.)rip all the large fan leaves off with fingers and a quick, downward, snappy action
3.)rip the small sugar leaves that are on the bottom of each bud off the same way, but be careful!
4.)sugar leaves that are halfway out of the bud must be snipped off as close to the main stalk as possible, curved tipped snips help here.

Don't waste time on small stuff. Prune the plants so you have very little popcorn. The auto trimmers work well on the popcorn. Let the small stuff dry in a paper bag that is hung from a wire.

I can trim about 1 large plant per hour using this method....ends up being 3-4 oz dried.

As you might imagine, some strains are more difficult than others. I'm not looking forward to trimming the Blue Dream, but the purple jack trimmed up nicely in under an hour last night.

 

[Icemud]

Today is day 10 flowering, and the ladies continue to stretch and show more flower sites and flower development. I took a trip to the hydro store today to pick up some more molasses as well as hygrozyme since I was out of them, and found a new addition to my compost tea brewer. My airstone had lost its sealant around the connection and was leaking air so much that the bubbles were large and not too useful. So instead of getting another airstone I found another product and decided to give it a try. It is basicly a heavy, rubber, flexible tubing that can be bent into whatever position suits your needs. It fits perfectly in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, wrapped around the bottom edge, and for 8$ I couldn't go wrong..

Since right now my plants have to be watered about every 3-4 days now, I decided to get my next round of compost tea's going. Since last round was added nutrients and amendments, this round is only going to be sugars, microbes, compost tea. I mixed up 5 gallons of r/o water with:

1 teabag of alaskan forest humus
20ml of advanced nutrients carboload (simple sugars)
1 Tbsp of molasses
1 scoop of myco maximum
30ml fulvic acid
40ml of humic acid

This is my microbe recharge feeding... I also used a portion of it tonight for a foliar spray to help get the microlife on the leaves going as well

Yesterday I also gave my girls a light lolipopping and defoliation on the underside of the screen. I took off all dead leaves that I could find as well as cut off any small branches that never would reach the canopy. I didn't overdo it and still managed to get a grocery bag full of trimmed foliage from the tent. Usually around day 20-25 I will do a slight defoliation to uncover hidden budsites as well as thin out the canopy slightly, but other than that I am going to wait until around day 45 to do another defoliation.

Other than that I took some photos as the lights went on, and then later in the day.

Full tent views

Bud shots..

Silverback OG

Blackberry Kush

Platinum Bubba Kush

Holy Grail OG

Sour Bubble

 

[Icemud]

flippin sweet man, Just gave ya 5 stars and reps

Thanks Alaskan!!! very much appreciate the reps and stars!!!

woohoo looking good man

buds be growing W00T

I can't wait!!! I've never had sour bubble or silverback og before so I am excited about these ones especially

Very nice! This is going to be fun to watch at they put on weight!

Thanks Vape!!! I am so excited to see what High Brix turns these ladies into upon later flowering

Degee took the words out of my mouth! Stunning plants and photos !

Thanks Stoned4daze and Degee!!! very much appreciate the encouragement!

I've learned a bit about trimming, working with some long time growers:

1)try to trim colas so you can hang the whole thing,
2.)rip all the large fan leaves off with fingers and a quick, downward, snappy action
3.)rip the small sugar leaves that are on the bottom of each bud off the same way, but be careful!
4.)sugar leaves that are halfway out of the bud must be snipped off as close to the main stalk as possible, curved tipped snips help here.

Don't waste time on small stuff. Prune the plants so you have very little popcorn. The auto trimmers work well on the popcorn. Let the small stuff dry in a paper bag that is hung from a wire.

I can trim about 1 large plant per hour using this method....ends up being 3-4 oz dried.

As you might imagine, some strains are more difficult than others. I'm not looking forward to trimming the Blue Dream, but the purple jack trimmed up nicely in under an hour last night.

Thanks for the input on the trimming, I will give it a try next time I go back. I've always trimmed my plants very carefully, and since there was not more than 1/2 lb at a time to trim, and with no $/time constrains, I never really picked up the art of speed trimming with precision so I am thankful for your assistance

 

[Icemud]

I found a pretty interesting video dealing with brix and gardening. A lot of the info has already been shared within DocBud's, vapes, mine and the other high brix grows going on, but figured it may inspire some new interest as well...

[video=youtube_share;Jeesn2FQgYw]

[/video]

 

[Icemud]

New Brix readings... Day 11 Flowering

Today is Day 11 Flowering and I took some updated Brix/refractometer readings today to see how things are moving along.

I took a sample off of each plant, counting from the top of the budsite down 5 fanleaves and pulling from there. I tried to take fan's that were covering other budsite's to be more efficient in my samples having a dual purpose

Each fan was rolled into a ball, squeezed numerous times until the leaf itself was in tiny pieces, and then a sample was taken by squeezing the leaf bits with clean pliers. After each sample, the pliers and refractometer were cleaned to be sure of no contamination from previous samplings.

Overall my readings for all of my plants were higher, except my blackberry kush which is exactly the same as last readings... And it is also the lowest brix of the group... hmmm...

Here are the readings...

Sour bubble

Platinum Bubba

Blackberry Kush

Silverback OG

Holy Grail OG

I am really happy that all the plants have increased by 2-4+ brix levels since my last readings, except the blackberry kush... I will have to figure out why she is so low and see what I can do to help.. I have read that different plants respond to different foliar feedings, some may benefit from one foliar but it may reduce another... Since she is budding now, there will not be much opportunity to give foliar sprays once the buds have thickened up so I may have to be happy with where it sits... but we will see...

Other than testing the brix today, I gave the girls the 5 gallon feeding of microbe tea with humic/fulvic acids and sugars ( I also added some organic soy milk to the tea because it had calcium carbonate, b vitamins, soy protein, cane sugar extract and other good things for microbes, hopefully it will help

I will have to look back in my journal to see where I last re-mineralized the soil (topdressed) but I think I may be coming due to give another 6-5-3 to the soil soon. I also will have to check to see what my next tea/feeding should be since I have been trying to keep a rotation going of 3 different feedings...

One interesting piece of information that I picked up about High brix recently is that with foliar sprays, during veg you want a acidic PH for your foliar sprays and for bloom flowering you want a alkaline PH in your foliar sprays...

Well here are the photo's I took today of the girls...

Tent overviews...

Bud Shotz...

Silverback OG

Platinum Bubba

Sour Bubble

Holy Grail OG

Blackberry Kush

 

[Doc Bud]

I found a pretty interesting video dealing with brix and gardening. A lot of the info has already been shared within DocBud's, vapes, mine and the other high brix grows going on, but figured it may inspire some new interest as well...

[video=youtube_share;Jeesn2FQgYw]

[/video]

Hey bro! I watched the movie. It was a little slow, but some really good info presented in a way that made it easy to understand. Thanks for posting it.

A couple of takeaways I got:

alkaline soil, pH 7 or higher brings the insects. Acidic soil, pH 6 or lower brings the disease.

Anionic foliar sprays favor reproductive growth, cationic favor vegetative growth.....barring other factors.

If your plants are struggling, you can do a Foliar "flush" by mixing up epsom salts and water to about 3000microsiemens, spray the leaves and it flushes brix down to the roots. You can then foliar feed daily to keep the plants healthy until the soil gets straightened out.

I friggin Love growing!

 

[Icemud]

Hey Doc, glad you liked the video... the main points you picked out were the main ones I did as well...the rest was stuff we had already "discovered" lol. I really also liked the part where you could determine your defficiencies by testing soil ph, soil EC and brix variation... pretty cool system..

 

[Doc Bud]

Hey Doc, glad you liked the video... the main points you picked out were the main ones I did as well...the rest was stuff we had already "discovered" lol. I really also liked the part where you could determine your defficiencies by testing soil ph, soil EC and brix variation... pretty cool system..

Yep. When science and nature compliment eachother, it's usually something special.

BTW, I found a solution to the gnats:

1.)mosquito dunks. I believe that was your good idea
2.)2 heavy waterings with the Yucca extract. I noticed the most difference after that.

The gnats don't harm the plants, and are drawn to the fungus we've got growing in our medium.....which is a good thing. But I hate 'em just the same.

 

[Vapedogg223]

Yep. When science and nature compliment eachother, it's usually something special.

BTW, I found a solution to the gnats:

1.)mosquito dunks. I believe that was your good idea
2.)2 heavy waterings with the Yucca extract. I noticed the most difference after that.

The gnats don't harm the plants, and are drawn to the fungus we've got growing in our medium.....which is a good thing. But I hate 'em just the same.

I was trying to go with the whole "live and let live" thing, but with the outbreak I had, I started seeing them stuck in my trichomes...nope! That did it for me! Mosquito dunks worked like a charm.

 

[Icemud]

Yep...love the dunks, and the yellow sticky's, thats all I need to keep them at bay

 

[Doc Bud]

The gnats are definitely a PITA.....but not having mites....priceless!

I used to follow IPM spraying protocol, but since going high brix....no mite pressure at all. Oh, you'll see a few here and there if you look closely, but no damage to the leaves, let alone a full on outbreak.

I'm hoping when I get the soil fully dialed in I see a reduction in the gnats.

 

[Icemud]

If you have a real bad infestation, azamax and azatrol work really good for soil dunks... Also a clothes steamer works well to fry the larvae in the top 2" of soil I usually now start my very first watering with mosquito dunks to help bump up the BTi counts even before there is a problem... the proactive measure seems to work well

 

[Icemud]

Has anyone else received there refractometers? I'm really curious to see what others plants are rating, high brix or not?! Can't wait till we have a solid brix list for each strain...

 

[Icemud]

Last night I gave the girls a foliar spray of this following combo I found on a gardening forum. They rotate this mix with another of milk/honey and are currently gettin 26brix sweet corn... Here is there ingredients:
4 gallons of water
12 tbsp molasses — we use feed grade
16 oz. Cola soda — a source of phosphoric acid
4 tsp hydrated lime
10 tbsp liquid fish
4tbsp seaweed powder
8 oz. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sea salt

So I improvised with what I have to recreate this blend... I mixed 1L of r/o water with :
2 oz coca cola (corn sugar, phosphoric acid)
2oz of organic soy milk (sea salt, calcium carbonate, bvitamins, cane sugar extract, soy protein)
5ml of Advanced nutrients carboload (sugars)
1 TBSP molasses (sugars, calcium, micronutrients, K)
20ml Fulvic Acid (nutrient transport, chelation, micronutrients)
1TBSP 2-4-0 Hydrolyzed fish
100ml of milk (enzymes, calcium)

I am going to take some more brix readings from my blackberry to see if the brix went up today...