LED - SOG - Soil

[mucksavage]

KingJohnC, I have used this Led to flower a couple of grows but to be Honest there are so many variables I have been messing around with at the same time I am not too sure which is affecting what, in particular my soil mixes alone have been throwing me some strange results..
I used to pull the widow after 56days of flower under CFL (old soil batch) but last two grows were 63-65 under Led . (could have been stressed from new soil mix being too hot at the start) I mix about a 1000kg of soil at a time and if i get it right I am laughing. if i get it wrong i get it very wrong. I have been know to kill many a good plant. :icon_roll
I am definitely getting denser buds with the Led over CFL but that is the only thing I can say for sure at this point.

 

[deconfrost]

increase amount of raising as well mucksavage, there are serious amount of raising left in the grinder after going thru 20g.... never had I see that much from 20g before...once you get your soil right, you be really laughing, just keep flushing your new batch with ph balanced water now everyday, by the time you do the next batch the soil should be grand, add some molasses on your flowering feed they love it but you can add molasses thru the entire grow from veg to finish, it is beneficial anyway, I don't remember what exactly but its all good thats all I care

 

[mucksavage]

Man its been a terrible week here weather wise. Storms have caused massive electrical problems for me. Two humidity controllers blown, one temperature controller fried. New oscillating fan stopped working and a surge protector melted. All in ten days of stop/start surging electrical supply.
The result of all this is ventilation fans on both nursery and flower room got stuck in the ON position and dried out my cuttings losing 20% of them. The average temp in the flower room was down to 15degree C .
Heat mat in nursery was also stuck in the on position with all the warmth being vented outside. What a waste of juice.
Hopefully today I will get to fix the last of my issues and get back on track.

Thanks Mother Nature.

 

[deconfrost]

shite shite shite, atleast you still have couple cuttings for me, I think I will only need 2, but sure if theres more i take 4 mine is very close to finish, but its been delay, most likely is the cold weather slowing her down... she should be in the last phrase thou... I hope

 

[mucksavage]

Day 39

Its a mix of white widow to the back and northern light at front of picture. Dark leaves on widow suggest nitrogen levels are still too high but Northern light seems to need more. Both in the same soil mix. Both receive the same compost tea.

 

[Paonia Purple]

Absolutely beautiful. I am a total DIY'er- it's a way of life with me and my main artistic outlet. I wanted to salute your inventiveness and cheer your grow on.

Your pollen/hash sieve is mighty fine as well.

 

[mucksavage]

Many thanks Paonia purple, Its becoming a way of life for me too, Good therapy if nothing else , keeping the grey matter between my ears busy.
I made a bigger version of the pollen sieve but I use it to sieve my soil. A picture would explain it better. I will post some next week when I start to mix my next batch

 

[nhtoker]

Wow, I realy like your set up. One question as I am trying to get a grasp on your time line. When you say 39 days is that from cuttings or is it 39 day plus six weeks from cuttings? I have never done clones and am just trying figure it out.

 

[mucksavage]

Sorry nhtoker for not being clearer,

It is 39days of 12/12 light and since I transplanted my cuttings to the 4" (100mm) pots for flower.

If I add on the time since the day they were taking as cuttings they are approx. 74 days old

cuttings are taken, rooted and hardened off takes 2-3weeks

cuttings are then potted on into 2" pots and left under T5 flourescent tubes till the flower room is ready.

I aim for 2 weeks here but It can be a bottle neck when I have 80 plus cutttings waiting to go while the main crop slowly ripens. this can cause its own problems.

The thing I have learned is to take many more cuttings than you need then pick out the best to pot on. I take over 100 and pick out the best 70-80.
From my experience some strains are easy to take cuttings from and others will break your heart. Keep every thing as clean as possible. I use new disposable scalpel blades and lots of Isopropyl alcohol (70%) to wipe down everything before I start.
I have just started to use Jiffy`s and I am happy to continue with them.
I feed my moms a generic feed and spray a rooting hormone 1 week or so before I take cuttings. I continue use the hormone spray on cuttings for their first week.
The product I use is Clonex gel and spray. I get 95-100% success.(when im not stoned taking the cuttings)

 

[mucksavage]

Time to mix new batch of soil. This lot has been composting for 6-8mths. Not many worms left in it so I hope it is ready. PH test surprised me. Its bang on for a change. I need to send a sample to a lab for a test on nutrient levels but it is expensive. My last batch was off the scale and could not be tested properly. Only phosphorous showed on last lab test and that was at 139% when I am looking for 20% or so.
This batch has been greatly "diluted" with wood ash/cardboard/paper etc. Which may explain the more suitable Ph.

From this mess

To This

These worms do most of the mixing

rotating sieve sorts out the big bits from the fine soil and go back for more composting

 

[mucksavage]

forgot to put this one in previous post

 

[nhtoker]

Thanks for explaining that to me Mucksavage. I like the way you do things. You definitely go " BIG ". I am on the total other end of the spectrum having only a small grow box. Some day though I hope to have a bit larger set up. Until then I will keep watching yours.

 

[mucksavage]

Not a lot happening today, just a few pics of flower room Day 48 and next batch of cuttings ready to go when I have space.

White Widow / AK 47 / White Shark cuttings

 

[nhtoker]

Still looking good!.What is the average height? A Foot or so ?

 

[deconfrost]

they gonna be fatter than mine anyway hmm... looking good

I'm not going to throw another journal up or thread, so I throw in a few pics here for you to see the adapted girls

highland sunshine being the brightest and most rapid growth out of all, has the longest roots and double her size already, the bad widow is getting lively, tiny widow is getting bigger and skinny widow is showing more inter-nudes

certainly mush better to get them going from gevey with everything I need in place and all setup ready for temp changes due to weather, this batch should go very well... its got a very good start already

no need to show day 1 roots, as you won't see a single thing
day 1

day 5

 

[budstep]

subbed

 

[mucksavage]

nice one decon, they took to the bubbler very quick. looks like we might get it right yet.

 

[mucksavage]

sorry nhtoker I missed your question. you are nearly right.The pots are 5" (125mm) or so high , then the net is 5" (125mm) above the pot , plant then grows a further 5"-7" (125mm-175mm) so roughly its 15" plus from floor to bud tops.

However I want to lower the net on the next grow to have bud tops around 12" (300mm) or less from the ground and I am topping the cuttings shorter to suit. I will post a few pics of the new net set-up when this bunch have been harvested. in 2-3 weeks.

The idea is to put in a second level eventually, but accessing the plants will be a headache I haven't figured out yet.

 

[deconfrost]

Yea bud everything must be at ideal this time, not high jacking your thread but you gotta see the size of the sunshine after 24 hrs... Shes a sunshine alright ;-)

Roots also growing rapidly

 

[deconfrost]

These what i told you on the phone i got today also a litre of Bud Candy due to arrive anytime this weeks... it should be good :-D

and the girls are growing rapids