My First Sour Diesel from Seed - Hydro Grow Experiment

[jandre2k3]

Greetings!

If you have come to this blog hoping to learn, this might be the right place. As this is my first SEED grow in a hydro situation, I'm sure mistakes will be made and thus learning from those mistakes will be had by ALL!

The Details:
Strain: Sour Diesel

I/S%: 90% Sativa​

Flowering Time: 10 Weeks​

Yield: Medium​

Height: Very Tall, lanky strain


The Environs:
​

Grown: Indoor / Hydro
Light: T5 Cool Blue (For Now)
Light Cycle on/off: 18/6
Temp: 73f - 78f
pH: 5.5 ~ 6.5
Watering: drip 3x day 5min cycle
Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients : Grow/Micro/Flower 3-part nutes.

First things first. I found this seed in a medical marijuana nug I got from one of my local co-ops. It was a TINY bit toasted when I noticed it and decided to try and grow it. I placed it in a wet paper towel, in a plastic bag, and voila! To my amazement the toasted little bugger cracked open and gave root in less than 20 hours. Might have something to do with the speed at which these things grow, but it might have something to do with being SHOCKED into action by a touch of flame in the bowl.

At any rate, the head broke surface and stood up two days after placing it in the rockwool seed starter and tap root showed out the bottom 3 days after that. It's literally growing like a weed! <<Rimshot>> **P'dum-PSH!**

So now it sits in a 4" grow block of rockwool and at the time of writing this the explosive growth observed has slowed as the fan is forcing it to grow stronger to stand up but it stands 3" tall and the first pair have sprouted, and the second pair is now starting to grow.

Pic below: more in two weeks.

Peace, love, and healing through Naturals.

 

[jandre2k3]

Re: My First Sour Diesel from SEED. Hydro Grow Experiment.

Sigh, Today, I noticed that the Sour Diesel had stretched too much and fell over. Dammit. Staked, lowered light as far down as I dared. We'll see how it goes.

Sour Diesel is a very tall, lanky plant anyway so "Fingers Crossed"

 

[Murz]

subbed. LOVE sour diesel.

 

[jandre2k3]

subbed. LOVE sour diesel.

Well, thank you! Still Fairly new to this site, but I have 3 threads. Lemme know if you want the other two.

 

[jandre2k3]

Woke up this morning after no-tie staking, last night at 7pm. The light was on at 5am, and by 5:30 this strong little baby had turned toward the light and was standing straight up, gently swaying in the breeze. Was only holding onto the stake by one leaf, just as if it was kinda steadying itself from a hangover. Gonna give it a few more days and I'll take the stake away to force some strength into the stalk. Third leaf pair is just poking out from the stalk. Proud papa, I am. From a flame kissed, seed it is. Get strong, it will... yes. Talking like Yoda, I am. Stop, I must!

Below is, a new pic. Enjoy, you will, I hope.

 

[jandre2k3]

Okay, I get home today to check on my little ones, and immediately I notice that the sour diesel has fallen over again. Step two of staking takes place... Still will not tie it to a dead stick, just will give it a bit more support to keep from slipping and falling again. Fan must have blown it over. Too tall anyway for a greenhouse cover so I do this.

Notice the tie is NOT around the stalk. The plant simply rests between the "Y" for a little added support against the fan. Gotta stand to gain upward strength. Reclining on the job is not allowed, little one!

 

[4twenty4all]

I love Sour Diesel too, good luck! Looking good so far! With hydro though you may want to keep your PH more stable and between 5.6 - 5.8 if you have a good meter. You can lock out nutes easily in hydro with PH swings. Are your cubes staying very wet? Just my opinion, but is 3x a day for 5minutes each watering a little much for this size seedling? Just wondering... Nice clean setup too!

 

[jandre2k3]

I love Sour Diesel too, good luck! Looking good so far! With hydro though you may want to keep your PH more stable and between 5.6 - 5.8 if you have a good meter. You can lock out nutes easily in hydro with PH swings. Are your cubes staying very wet? Just my opinion, but is 3x a day for 5minutes each watering a little much for this size seedling? Just wondering... Nice clean setup too!

Thank you for the compliments on the health and cleanliness of my setup. This is my "Budget" setup. Note that the "Flood Table" is actually a BUS TUB that I got in a 2 pack for $18US at a local warehouse store. So yeah, that makes me feel better about my meager appointments for a most important plant.

Now for the friendly debate:
I've done my research well in advance of setting this growing area up and come well armed with knowledge. To keep things simple I will only site sources from THIS community, as they were pivotal in my decision to grow again. Yes, I lurked for almost a month before I actually signed up.

Point the first:
The pH of my res has stabilized much more that when I originally posted and stays between 5.2 and 5.8. As posted by Medical Marijuana in the post "What Ranges Should I maintain for my Hydroponic Nutrients pH, TDS/EC and Temperature?" it is stated "...They both document the low pH resulting in increased nutrient uptake and my experience has shown discernible health and yield improvements at a ph of 5.2 over higher levels."

Point the second:
With hydro, it becomes hard to over-water because of the abundance of water roots. 5min of water separated by 8 hours of air is almost too little as posted by SmokeyMcPot in his post, "What are common mistakes made by first time growers?"


Point the third:
More of an opinion, but I feel it is relevant. I have, as I said before, lurked this site for about a month, and have been a member for almost a month. Through my extensive reading of "reputable" members of this community, I have grown to trust a few through their how-to's, have seen the results fruited before my eyes, and have even been saved the heartache of throwing out a dead MMJ plant by those very how-to's, and other select help from this community. Because of this, any suggestions, no matter how well-meant, are met with a reserved mind, and a reluctance to accept as gospel.

None of this is against you by any means and is not meant to be such. Just know that when I read from multiple sources and gain a consensus, do as suggested, and see the results with my own eyes, it's hard to believe otherwise.

I relinquish the floor for your counterpoints and rebuttal.





I do so love a friendly debate.




Your move.

 

[jandre2k3]

Okay. So the "Y" is helping keep the little lanky thing from falling over. I just fear that with the extra support keeping it up, that it will never gain the strength to stand properly. There's a fan blowing on all my plants so at least there's that.

I just realized that in all my years when I was a grower way back when, I've never had this problem, lucky I guess. Has anyone had this problem and does it impair the strength for the whole life of the plant? or does it remedy itself in a few day/weeks and the support can be removed to gain the strength needed for the flower? Am I going to have to support this thing throughout its life and create unsightly support lines to hold up branches so they don't languish in contact with the medium? Should I cull? sigh... I'm getting too far ahead I think, maybe. Anyone had this happen to them? I'm not practiced in the realm of dealing with a weak plant.

 

[Murz]

idk man, i had a plant that wouldnt stand up, was kinda flimsy, i had the fan on it and it got a little stronger, but when i transplanted it i just buried it deeper, covered about half the stem and it grew stronger from there...

 

[jandre2k3]

idk man, i had a plant that wouldnt stand up, was kinda flimsy, i had the fan on it and it got a little stronger, but when i transplanted it i just buried it deeper, covered about half the stem and it grew stronger from there...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, keep it held up in Veg, if it won't stand up by itself, and when I flip it to the flower box put it deeper in the Hydroton.

 

[jandre2k3]

Stalk is starting to straighten out, hopefully, it'll gain some strength.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Jandre, the issue is your plant is stretching because the lights are too far away.

With CFL's, you need to get the lights no more than a few inches (certainly, less than 6" or so!) from the plants. As long as they don't get heat stressed, you can't get those lights close enough!

Having the fan blowing will help strengthen the stem, but won't stop the stretch.

 

[jandre2k3]

Jandre, the issue is your plant is stretching because the lights are too far away.

With CFL's, you need to get the lights no more than a few inches (certainly, less than 6" or so!) from the plants. As long as they don't get heat stressed, you can't get those lights close enough!

Having the fan blowing will help strengthen the stem, but won't stop the stretch.

First, it's a 65w HO T5 not not the 35w and definitely not a stupid CFL. I'm not that crazy.

I lift the light so I can take a pic and so the AWB of the camera doesn't dim out and throw off the beautiful green. Besides, if I didn't lift the light, you'd see this.

YAY! I got a pic of the reflector because I took a pic of where the plant should be without raising the light first!



I had already figured that it was stretching a bit, but the light is literally 1cm (1/2") away from my tallest plant making it less than 10cm (3") away from the top of this lanky thing. It is one of the faster growing strains, though so I'm hoping it slows down a bit to let the stalk catch up. maybe when it bumps its head on the bulb?

Thanks for the well wishes, gonna need it for this one.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Sorry, I should have said T5 and not CFL, but principal is the same in that the light needs to be close so the plant doesn't stretch. Sounds like you've got it figured out, though!

 

[jandre2k3]

Sorry, I should have said T5 and not CFL, but principal is the same in that the light needs to be close so the plant doesn't stretch. Sounds like you've got it figured out, though!

yeah, I don't think I'll be growing another SD strain, just found the seed in the bowl and figured I'd save the little dear. But with my luck with this one, it's prolly turn out to be a male and get culled! lol that would fix the stretching problem!

 

[jandre2k3]

I had a new development. If you look at the pics above in the last post that has a pic of the SD, you will see green algae on my rockwool. So, some extra heavy black plastic, some holes for plant and for feed stakes, and VOILA! Algae should die out soon, now.

As posted by Medical Marijuana in What is this Green Slime on my Rockwool? I had to get creative.

The green slime you have on your rockwool is called Algae.
...To prevent this from happening, use light-proof and water-proof material to cover your rockwool, for example black/white panda film or thick black bin liners...

So we have the pics below:

These were taken at the time of the final feeding for the night.

note the closely packed second, third and fourth pairs, in picture 2. All three pairs in that stack are with 1cm total. The stretching is over, I think. (I hope)

 

[jandre2k3]

Greetings, and welcome to this installment of -

Grow. . . Your. . . Medicine! <Upbeat theme music>

I officially have moved into full Vegetation nutrients for the posted schedule above and as usual, here is the math:

as these rates are for a 100L Schedule, I will break it down per Liter for each additive, since all three are different, then convert it to Gallons and teaspoons for those that are too bad at math to easily figure it out......... or too baked.

GROW
396 / 100 = 3.96/L
so:
3.96ml/1L
1Gal=3.78L
3.96 x 3.78 = 14.9688/Gal
15mL per Gal
- OR -
1.0mL = 0.20288tsp
15(mL) x 0.20288(tsp) = 3.0432
3tsp per Gal

MICRO
264(mL)/100(L) = 2.64/L
so:
2.64ml/1L
1Gal=3.78L
2.64/L x 3.78 = 9.9792mL/Gal
10mL per Gal
- OR -
1.0mL = 0.20288tsp
10(mL) x 0.20288(tsp) = 2.0288(tsp)
2tsp per Gallon

BLOOM
132(mL)/100(L) = 1.32(mL)
so:
1.32mL/1L
1Gal=3.78L
1.32 x 3.78 = 4.9896
5mL per Gallon
- OR -
1.0mL = 0.20288tsp
5(mL) x 0.20288(tsp) = 1.0144(tsp)
1tsp per Gallon

All three of these are added to 1 Gal of water for each gallon needed, as these are all part of a 3-part system. I also add 1mL of SUPERThrive at this point and lower to 5.2 pH and add to empty, clean, and sanitized 5 Liter res... with air-stone to dissolve O2 into the nutes to keep roots healthy.

 

[jandre2k3]

Slowly....

Steadily....

Patiently....

Ever so gently....

I have been using "The Twist" method of supercropping the young, to help strengthen the stalk of this little one, a little bit here, a little bit there.... It seems to be paying off. The stretch is over for the most part but the poor little sour diesel only stood alone for 6 hours.

I'm trying so hard to be patient when training and I don't mind waiting for it to gain strength.


I JUST WISH IT WOULD HURRY THE FAHQUE UP!

 

[jandre2k3]

I just had a thought. . . . LST! I could go with the plants natural tendency to lay over and let it produce new from below. Think it'll work? Need some feedback here, please!