Northern Lights Autos: FoNz's Fabulous First Grow
I love q and a. Well if you're not feeding the micro life in the soil, I'm out.Well, I've got a few photo updates. I wasn't sure if it would be worth posting photos today, after all how much can plants grow over such a short period?
Well the answer is in the photos! While this rate of growth might not be too surprising to experienced cannabis growers, it still beats out anything I've grown before (except maybe my hydroponic peppers but those were ridiculous, I'm talking pounds of fruit and jurassic park leaves!).
Enough talking, more photos!
I prefer to let the soil dry out between watering and water just before or just as the plant begins to lose turgidity, they were watered last night with a now 1/4 strength pH balanced nutrient solution. Using the nutrient solution at this point is not only for the plants. There will be a bonus question at the end of this post regarding the nutrient solution and I will like-bomb the first person to get it right!
After mixing the nutrient solution, I dilute it before subsequent watering and re-balance it's pH. This seems to keep plants healthy and happy without burn due to accumulation of salts while the root system is still in early development and has worked with other plant species. As I do not have other plants to act as a control I can't confirm that it's working here for sure, but they are damn healthy.
Anyone following the thread thus far might wonder what happened to the deformed plant. Late last night, I realized that the plant's top leaves were continuing to readjust (very fast too!) which kept covering the lateral nodes. I made an executive decision and did not top it. Instead I very carefully removed one two leaflets. Expecting stress, I figured it might take a couple days to see the lateral growth sights develop further. I was wrong!
I've decided to name her Runty, because as of right now due to the mutation/deformation she has been growing slower. I have a feeling once those lateral sites take off she'll be just fine, especially since - unlike the other plants - Runty is still healthy but does not have vigorous growth above soil. This likely means that the root mass on this 'small plant' is developing more than the other plants to store and use all the otherwise unused sugars.
If cannabis behaves like other plants, a large root mass can yield great late-growth boosts. Here's to hoping! If Runty stays small and cute, I won't hold it against her. The wonderful diversity of cannabis is one thing that makes it so intriguing.
Finally, some closer pictures of two of the others. It shows the internodal lengthening that is occurring better than the top down shots. For reference, the first plant pictured has grown about 50% between the first and second nodes (or the first internode) since yesterday.
Now the bonus question
The nutrient solution has been enriched with N2 and organic nitrogen containing compounds that plants can't use for this first watering, what would I hope to gain by doing this?
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- #23
FoNz
Well-Known Member
That was fast! But I suppose I should have expected nothing less.
This will keep the soil clean, alive and feeding the plant. Microbes can be pretty great!
Now to deliver the promised like-bomb.
I'm going to have to come up with harder questions!
The N2 and organic nitrogen compounds will support a bloom of nitrogen fixing bacteria found in the soil I'm using. Giving them and early boost will help them supply the plant with steady levels of nitrogen and recycle nitrogen that has degraded from nutrient feedings.
This will keep the soil clean, alive and feeding the plant. Microbes can be pretty great!
Now to deliver the promised like-bomb.
I'm going to have to come up with harder questions!
Ok now not to let you down too hard. It was a calculated guess and vague. You're very kind. I don't understand what N2 is? Dinitrogen is something I need to finish looking up. What did you use that is D2? Thanks for the q and a. BTW The hair on the back of my neck is up in chills from the cheers of the crowd.That was fast! But I suppose I should have expected nothing less.
The N2 and organic nitrogen compounds will support a bloom of nitrogen fixing bacteria found in the soil I'm using. Giving them and early boost will help them supply the plant with steady levels of nitrogen and recycle nitrogen that has degraded from nutrient feedings.
This will keep the soil clean, alive and feeding the plant. Microbes can be pretty great!
Now to deliver the promised like-bomb.
I'm going to have to come up with harder questions!
You could hear that 3000 miles away?
Oh it's nitrogen.
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- #27
FoNz
Well-Known Member
N2 is just nitrogen gas. It is a diatomic molecule and is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere. For a significant increase of nitrogen you can add liquid nitrogen to water which will boil off and evaporate extremely quickly so it will need to be sealed fast. Then just shake to mix in your pressurized nitrogen gas with the solution. Also, it will lower the temp of your solution significantly and DEFINITELY DON'T add it directly to the soil unless you want flash frozen soil and roots.
Of course this is all fairly silly. For obtaining some N2, you don't have to buy an expensive tank or mess with liquid nitrogen. The ambient air is rich enough to work if you mix it in enough by shaking a water based solution for several minutes. Air is as important for healthy soil as water is.
Of course this is all fairly silly. For obtaining some N2, you don't have to buy an expensive tank or mess with liquid nitrogen. The ambient air is rich enough to work if you mix it in enough by shaking a water based solution for several minutes. Air is as important for healthy soil as water is.
So In your opinion I'm doing a good thing by putting an air stone in my rain water barrels then? I let them run 24/7. I do it because in theory it makes sense, but I don't have enough of the pieces of the puzzle to be sure in science.
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- #29
FoNz
Well-Known Member
I've actually thought of setting up an research experiment with an air stone buried directly into the potting mix and comparing growth. Probably eight plants with stones, and eight plants control (also probably with a plant species that has more consistent genetics and biomarkers). If I end up doing this and manage to publish it anywhere I'll let you know.
But in theory yes, aerating any source of water can have benefits for not only the waters quality (the flowing air can help keep the water moving, fresh and remove impurities like chlorine) but also introduce gas to wherever the water is going.
That's what clones would be great for!
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- #31
FoNz
Well-Known Member
Very true, and my next set of plants will likely be all photoperiod strains so that isn't out of the realm of possibilities. Good idea!
Also I should note that there is plenty of anecdotal data showing that soil aeration (or water source aeration) can benefit growth. It just would be nice if people starting documenting these things in peer-reviewed journals so word can spread in other ways too.
Hi Fonz! I’ll follow along here as much as I can if you don’t mind.
I’m interested in living soil grows too - it’s how I grow as well. I’ve made my own in the past, but I use Doc Bud’s kit now - a tuned-for-cannabis living soil system.
One of the watering techniques I use is ‘dunking’ and the main reason for doing it is the massive amounts of air and oxygen etc. it pulls into the soil zone. The plants love it! Like you say Usually they only get it in veg tho’ cause once the pots get big it becomes impossible.
An airstone in the pot is a wild idea - but wouldn’t it get clogged up?
Oh and - I thought you said earlier that your medium was a water only soil. Curious if I got that wrong maybe. Wondering why you’re adding nutes to it now based on that... enquiring minds want to know
I’m interested in living soil grows too - it’s how I grow as well. I’ve made my own in the past, but I use Doc Bud’s kit now - a tuned-for-cannabis living soil system.
One of the watering techniques I use is ‘dunking’ and the main reason for doing it is the massive amounts of air and oxygen etc. it pulls into the soil zone. The plants love it! Like you say
Usually they only get it in veg tho’ cause once the pots get big it becomes impossible.An airstone in the pot is a wild idea - but wouldn’t it get clogged up?
Oh and - I thought you said earlier that your medium was a water only soil. Curious if I got that wrong maybe. Wondering why you’re adding nutes to it now based on that... enquiring minds want to know
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- #33
FoNz
Well-Known Member
Hi Amy!
I'm so glad that my grow interests you.
Over a long period a stone might need to be replaced due to corrosion, erosion, and/or microscopic organic particulates clogging/growing in it. It would be unlikely to get clogged within a short period due to the positive pressure inside the stone, kinda like how if you are blowing air through a carbon filter instead of pulling the dust filter is rather redundant since the positive pressure would push dust away before it would settle in significant amounts.
The soil's is named as a water-only and it definitely can be used without nutrients, it's even won the cannabis cup before for how well it does that. That being said, I prefer to give both my plants and the micro-environment in the soil as much of an advantage as I can without damaging or stressing either of them. Though that means I have to pay more attention to their leaves and color in the early game, which I don't mind.
I like spending time with my plants, even if it's just watching them.
I'm so glad that my grow interests you.
Over a long period a stone might need to be replaced due to corrosion, erosion, and/or microscopic organic particulates clogging/growing in it. It would be unlikely to get clogged within a short period due to the positive pressure inside the stone, kinda like how if you are blowing air through a carbon filter instead of pulling the dust filter is rather redundant since the positive pressure would push dust away before it would settle in significant amounts.
The soil's is named as a water-only and it definitely can be used without nutrients, it's even won the cannabis cup before for how well it does that. That being said, I prefer to give both my plants and the micro-environment in the soil as much of an advantage as I can without damaging or stressing either of them. Though that means I have to pay more attention to their leaves and color in the early game, which I don't mind.
I like spending time with my plants, even if it's just watching them.
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- #34
FoNz
Well-Known Member
Oh and my day was tremendously busy today which meant less time to spend and document the plants.
So I hope the following summary and image suffices. The plants are all growing like they are forming a coalition to take over the tent, even Runty has significant growth in her new branches (albeit, smaller plant so 50% larger doesn't look as impressive).
All the plants except for Runty seem to be happy with the soil and nutrient conditions. I will be giving Runty a light watering with distilled water in place of the now-1/12-diluted nutrient solution next time they get water (probably tomorrow morning based on the current feel of the pots).
Oh and here is a very serious picture of all of them together as well as the basil plants that showed the best traits. The others will stay in solo cups for a single harvest and then be discarded.
Told you, very serious.
So I hope the following summary and image suffices. The plants are all growing like they are forming a coalition to take over the tent, even Runty has significant growth in her new branches (albeit, smaller plant so 50% larger doesn't look as impressive).
All the plants except for Runty seem to be happy with the soil and nutrient conditions. I will be giving Runty a light watering with distilled water in place of the now-1/12-diluted nutrient solution next time they get water (probably tomorrow morning based on the current feel of the pots).
Oh and here is a very serious picture of all of them together as well as the basil plants that showed the best traits. The others will stay in solo cups for a single harvest and then be discarded.
Told you, very serious.
Fair, but I prefer white light and blurple dragons.
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- #37
FoNz
Well-Known Member
Okay everyone! I got a little bit of time here to update things.
First thing that was super exciting to me is one plant has it's first 5-leaflet leaves on. Two more leaflets and I'll have grown my first iconic cannabis leaf!
I'll get some photos with regular light soon, my eyes adjust to the LED lights but my camera does not. Also, we are playing with lenses for some cool macro shots still so those will be incoming soon!
Here is a side-shot of Runty. I did a small assay using a small block of agar, a leaf and a small spinach sprout to test for auxin in the terminal bud that had no growth sites. I got a positive result which means the small top that was doomed to never grow new leaves was still telling the lateral sites not to grow. With that being confirmed, I knew that not topping it was wasting precious time for this little deformed auto. So Runty had got a trim and now has two booming growth sites.
And here's some other pictures!
So far we have 3 or 4 phenotypes, the two on the left have been showing nearly exactly the same growth paterns and leaf development. The middle one has our 3rd node 5-leaflet leaves. The top left is Runty from above, our little mutant. Finally the bottom left is almost identical in growth pattern to the right two, but is just slightly smaller. This could be minuscule environmental differences or a 4th pheno, later growth will tell.
That's the wonderful thing about growing plants from seeds is you never know exactly what combination of traits you might get, even in feminized plants. I'll be using this to my advantage in my next grow with photoperiods and isolating two phenotypes (one from each of two unchosen strains) that have preferable genetics. They will be cloned until I find my cloning technique satisfactory and then bred to make a new FoNz addition to the monstrous pool of strains available today.
That is all so far away right now, for now I'm just loving my babies.
First thing that was super exciting to me is one plant has it's first 5-leaflet leaves on. Two more leaflets and I'll have grown my first iconic cannabis leaf!
I'll get some photos with regular light soon, my eyes adjust to the LED lights but my camera does not. Also, we are playing with lenses for some cool macro shots still so those will be incoming soon!
Here is a side-shot of Runty. I did a small assay using a small block of agar, a leaf and a small spinach sprout to test for auxin in the terminal bud that had no growth sites. I got a positive result which means the small top that was doomed to never grow new leaves was still telling the lateral sites not to grow. With that being confirmed, I knew that not topping it was wasting precious time for this little deformed auto. So Runty had got a trim and now has two booming growth sites.
And here's some other pictures!
So far we have 3 or 4 phenotypes, the two on the left have been showing nearly exactly the same growth paterns and leaf development. The middle one has our 3rd node 5-leaflet leaves. The top left is Runty from above, our little mutant. Finally the bottom left is almost identical in growth pattern to the right two, but is just slightly smaller. This could be minuscule environmental differences or a 4th pheno, later growth will tell.
That's the wonderful thing about growing plants from seeds is you never know exactly what combination of traits you might get, even in feminized plants. I'll be using this to my advantage in my next grow with photoperiods and isolating two phenotypes (one from each of two unchosen strains) that have preferable genetics. They will be cloned until I find my cloning technique satisfactory and then bred to make a new FoNz addition to the monstrous pool of strains available today.
That is all so far away right now, for now I'm just loving my babies.
Strainyourbrain
Well-Known Member
Hi FoNz. I'm pulling up a seat.
Some fancy words for a simple minded peasant from a tomato farm but hey time to learn.
I also prefer the white light photo's though....
Some fancy words for a simple minded peasant from a tomato farm but hey time to learn.
I also prefer the white light photo's though....
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- #39
FoNz
Well-Known Member
Welcome aboard!Hi FoNz. I'm pulling up a seat.
Some fancy words for a simple minded peasant from a tomato farm but hey time to learn.
I also prefer the white light photo's though....
If you ever have any questions please ask, I don't mind sharing at all.
As far as getting pictures that hurt the brain a little less to look at, I will stop being lazy in my following posts and give the people what they want!
Good move testing and getting her topped. Noted
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