Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 2017

[chankylanky]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Scientific, who knew that you would be able to take off so much of the plant and that it would thrive so well! I know that afnoob did it a few times, but you have taken the crown! Hope everything goes safely with the retraining.

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 40 - Let's have a look at the understory

She's starting to form little flowers topside. This is how it looks underneath the photosynthetic array.

Changed the reservoir
I made five gallons of Flora-Series nutes (including Ca++ & Mg++) at about 550 PPM and pH 5.8. One gallon for rinse, three gallons in the reservoir, and one gallon to top off the top-off reservoir.

With this media change (#6?), I reduced the FloraGro by half, down to 2.5 ml/gallon, to reduce the nitrogen level as she starts to bloom. Next week the phosphorous is increased 50% (1.5 ml FloraBloom per gallon). Cool this hydroponics stuff!

I'm trying to take it easier on the plant at water changes (and every day, actually) in three ways:

1. Add water at same temp as reservoir, not 20 F colder.
2. Don't put the plant in osmotic shock by rinsing out its hydroton and reservoir every week by using water without salts! pH'ing the water probably isn't enough.
3. Keep the pH stable at pH 5.8 and measure pH really carefully. (I'm just about sure now that the mystery leaf damage I had was from the pH dropping way to low and just generally not stable and under control at the right level. Rookie mistakes.)

Buds are supposed to start getting bigger and denser. That's hard to believe looking at these little florets that are still putting out weird, tiny little leaves with skinny little fingers.

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Scientific, who knew that you would be able to take off so much of the plant and that it would thrive so well! I know that afnoob did it a few times, but you have taken the crown! Hope everything goes safely with the retraining.

Thanks Chanky -- I'm kind of trying out a lot of the manipulations and training that I've read about, even though some are discouraged for the inexperienced and on autos (and dwarves even more so?) I guess she's kind of a testbed. Haven't killed her yet!

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Way fuller and more lush than what mine ever did.

Just for reference for the DLF aficionados, it looked like you had two TaoTronics 35-watt LEDs. I have five, 25-watt CFLs, a 12-watt LED, and an 800 Lumen LED light bulb, which makes, I think, about twice as many lumens as you had. (I have about 50,000 lumens under the parabolic reflector, but it gets dark fast as soon as you get an inch out of the beam.) As I start to go into flower (or the plant does, anyway), I see that I could easily have half again more Lux, which helps me to understand why CFLs are great getting started and small scale with very little investment, but I see the allure of MHS (or now big LED panels) as the next logical step. (Or sunlight on the deck as soon as it stops raining!)

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 41 -- Beauty Shot

 

[Bubbi]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

What a true beauty!!! May you have a "high" continuous success with such Goddess of beauty!

Bubbi
. . . . .

 

[Bubbi]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Hi Scientific!

I'm actually reading your growth journal...

As I'm not one of the brainiacs who understands lots of what's said, please try to forgive me in advance.

I dislike adding all of the "quotes"... Wastes lots of space... In the picture where you literally chopped off a huge chunk of the plant, I don't see it brown or old unless I'm not seeing it as you are seeing it... Now the "tiny nodes" which has been going over my head for quite some time... You said it's too the right... Closest to your fingertips? Nodes... Aren't they very similar to what we see in herbs such as basil, oregano etc... The "nodes" grow without the rest of the herbs catching up to it... Is that how I'm understanding it? Whenever I come across the wasted or now as I'm hoping, "nodes" grow, I simply snip it off with my fingers.
With this herb, snipping really should be done as you've pictures it? It grows busier and of course has new breathe of live to it.

Am I understanding your "nodes" and "snipping" or really I should say chopping about 6" of the plant for giving it life to grow better? Is that done frequently like Basil and other herbs?
Btw, are you able to save the chopped part that was on your hand?

I don't think I'll do the... oh dear me.. I forgot the word... But water growth method as the whole thing is way over my head. I'll have to grow using soil and eventually proper nutrients ~ when the time requires such.

I can see how much heart and soul you've put into the whole process!

I cannot wait to continue reading your process to fruition!!! It's going to be quite a hit! .

Bubbi
. . . . .

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Hi Bubbi! Thank you very much for your kind words and encouragement.

As you have read, I have seriously trimmed my plant four times now. I have read that you're not supposed to do that to autoflowers because they bloom automatically and don't have time to recover from a lot of defoliation, but my plant was getting so dense and bushy that it was getting wet condensation on the leaves from (I think) the moisture coming up from the wet clay balls growth median combined with lack of air flow.

Why my plant is so dense when others growing the same strain don't have that happening is an open question. I have read that hydroponic growth can go out of control, and my lights are on 24 hours a day, and I have lots of light (though I'd like more now that she's bigger and blooming), and of course I bent the poor plant over 90 degrees when in was only two inches tall so all of the growth on one side was compressed. (Next time I'll let it get taller before trying to bend it over like that to leave more room.) And of course my early problem with the too wet rock wool probably stunted an already dwarf strain...

Whatever the cause, she was just too bushy so I kept pulling off leaves that were damaged or blocking light or air flow. Then when she went into flower I stripped away the lower greenery that wasn't going to contribute to making buds. Every time I have thought that I'm doing too much and every time she has popped right back. Even now, she is getting very bushy yet again but I have resolved to leave her along alone (or leaf her alone ) until she is done blooming.

The other part of all that trimming is removing the little buds that form where the leaves come out from the stock (i.e. the "nodes") so that only the branches that I choose to grow get to grow, and those chosen branches grow up into a flat surface that is an equal distance from the light.

All of this training--"no-technique training," "low stress training," "defoliating," and "lollipopping"--are just techniques that I have read about and wanted to try. It has been fun and interesting to see how it works. Someday I want to grow a photoperiod (i.e. non-autoflower) strain and try "mainlining" or "manifolding" it. Have you read about that training technique? It looks absolutely brilliant to me.

As for the probably 40 grams or so(?) of leaves that I have trimmed off the plant so far, I didn't have the heart to just toss them. (A naturopathic doctor suggested juicing them...) I did dry some of the little growth tips that had pistils--proto-buds?-- in the microwave and did get a slight buzz from them, but they tasted awful! So now I have put the cuttings in a jam jar and am experimenting with curing them, not so much because I ever plan to use them but because I'd like to get some practice with that before I have to do it with the real thing.

Anyway, after a rough start, all is well here lately. The only "problem" is that the plant has gotten so big that she is starting to outgrow the little fireplace that is her grow room. I have repositioned what stuff I can to make room for her and am training her into the open space, and according to what I have read about autoflowers in general and this strain in particular she should stop growing soon and put all of her energy into making big fat buds. I'm looking forward to that!

It's time to go have a look at the girl, take her daily portrait, and record her reservoir depth, pH, PPM, etc. etc. She is a fun science project who is also a beautiful plant that turns into ganja. What's not to love?!

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 43 -- Rearranging as she outgrows her grow box

I moved the power strip to the other side of her little fireplace "grow room" because she now takes up half the space and is still growing, though her flowers are starting to mature so I expect the growth to stop any day now! I also moved the fifth CFL to the back and brought the LED bulb (off in the photo) to the front.

I removed the humidifier/cooler and am hopeful that the fan blowing over a pan of water will be enough. So far so good. I am less worried about low humidity now that I have seen so much condensation on the leaves and have actually been thinking about how to reduce it so as not to have bud rot or mold.

She now takes half of the available room and has overgrown the reservoir access port. Even though she's a dwarf strain, I had worried that she might get too big. She has about 15 bud sites, which are starting to mature (i.e. look like baby cannabis flowers). She is well over one square foot in area now and all deep green and healthy. I moved the power strip from the left side and she occupied the space vacated within 12 hours.

I think the reason she can regrow all the leaves that I have been stripping away is that the entire reservoir is full of roots! I think there might be more biomass below the waterline than above.

I was seeing just a little bit of yellowness at that tips of some new leaf growth (excess P or K?), and thinking that maybe a steady diet of a quart to a half gallon a day of 500+ PPM media might be too much, so I have been topping off the tank with just pH'd water for 24 hours. Nutes just dropped to 395 PPM this evening--the lowest they have ever been--so I'll need to get her something to eat tomorrow. I think I'll reconfigure the I.V. jug auto top-off bottle again, but with less concentrated solution.

Reservoir pH keeps dropping to 5.6. I have added .5 ml of pH Up today to keep it at 5.8.

She seems to be happy.

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 45 -- Moving Day!

Good news / bad news (mostly good news): She has simply outgrown her little 16" x 24" fireplace grow room, so now she has a little corner to call her own.

For weeks I haven't been able to get around to trim/train the side that was facing away from me, there were condensation and air flow problems, it was difficult to adjust her lighting and fans, etc. etc. Now she's out where I can get at her and I think we will both be much happier.

Concealment isn't really an issue since this is a legal medical grow and the only company I have over are folks who will see her as an asset and conversation piece (and a surprise--I haven't told many people about this little project except y'all). It remains to be seen if her herbal scent will be an issue. I don't think so. <edit 5 minutes later> I stepped out on the deck for just a couple of minutes and when I came back in was immediately struck by the dankness.

Arriving at her new home. Pretty girl, huh?

Life support systems in place. Refinements to follow.

This actually quite a relief. Lately taking care of this girl has been like building a ship in a bottle. Now we both have more room.

RIP CFL
One of the four CFLs in the parabolic reflector burned out. I don't think having the ballasts above the heat source (i.e. inverted) is the best setup, and four units stuffed in to one small reflector was asking for trouble. The ballasts were hotter than any electronic system wants to be. Lessons learned...

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 46 -- More Light!

Two CFLs burned out, almost certainly because they got too hot with four of them bunched up in the parabolic reflector, so I bought a box of 2700K (warm white = good for flowering phase?), 1600-lumen LED bulbs.

So now the inventory is:

• 8000 lumens from five 5600K CFLs
• 4000 lumens from five, 800-lumen LED bulbs (the box of the cheapie Chinese bulbs says 1600 lumens, but they are clearly nowhere near that bright)
• 800 lumens (guess) from a 12-watt three-color LED grow light

So I have about 13,000 lumens directed on about 0.2 square meters, which gives a calculated intensity of about 65,000 lux (which is way too high). My lux meter gives about that level under the parabolic reflector but down around 20,000 lux around the periphery. That also doesn't take into account PAR values and probably a bunch of other stuff.

In the end I now have about twice as much light as I started with when I had "only" four, 1,600 lumen CFLs. I'm hoping that then new, higher level will be enough to help the little flowers that have formed to mature well (i.e., small plant, big budz!).

The take-home lesson for me is that yes, you can grow cannabis under lights that you can buy at the grocery store, but as the plant grows (even this dwarf strain), I have quickly found myself adding more and more lights until I realized that I might have been better off starting with a metal halide or a big LED array.

That said, a lot of these lights and fixtures will return to duty as desk and room lights when the grow is done, and one advantage of having so many lights is that it's pretty easy to illuminate the plant evenly.)

First four bulbs, then five, then six, and now ten! Rock on girl! Flower power!

I'm really struck by how this is essentially just a bioreactor to convert light, water, carbon dioxide, and mineral salts into THC (though I guess that's a pretty mechanistic view of something so lovely as a flowering plant...)

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 47 -- Fresh media in reservoir with extra phosphorous

I haven't trimmed or trained for a couple of days after moving her out of the fireplace. When I started in on her this morning I noticed something new: my fingers were getting sticky.

Saturday morning is media change day. This week I switched over to "Week 7, Mid Bloom" with less nitrogen and more phosphorous.

I haven't been very good about giving the details of the hydroponic nutrient mix, so here are the details of today's batch in milliliters per gallon. (Only an American would ever use schizophrenic units like that.)

FloraMicro: 2.5
FloraGro: 1.25
FloraBloom: 3.75
CALiMAGic: 2.5
HydroGuard: 2.0
pH Down: 0.25

Initial pH: 6.4
Adjusted pH: 5.8

Glamour girl on Day 45 She has about 18 bud sites.

After trimming and training I think this was her fifth defoliation. I could have actually removed more, but I'm trying to be conservative now that she's in bloom. I have two small fans going on her now, so even with fairly dense foliage, I think circulation will be good enough.

Roots in the emptied reservoir That's over two square feet! Two small pumps, an air stone, and weekly additions of HydroGuard bacillus culture help to keep things healthy. The reservoir temperature got up to 80F on our one hot day we had recently, which concerned me.

Too good not to share: I have draped the foil reflectors that I tore out of the fireplace over the grow area. Who needs a fancy grow tent when you've got Reynolds Wrap? (This started out as a low cost experiment, but after a pH meter, lux meter, PPM meter, 10 lights, two pumps, etc. etc, a nice grow tent is about the only nicety that she doesn't have.)

After kind of a rocky first few weeks, it looks like she's doing well. If she follows the usual Dwarf Low Flyer growth cycle, she should be done in a few weeks, so her buds should start filling out now. I hope so!

 

[Canada Guy]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

So why don't you just buy a tent?

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

So why don't you just buy a tent?

I thought I was going to be able to grow this dwarf in my fireplace but had to pull it out when it kind of suddenly kind of unexpectedly got too big. This lashup will get me through the last three weeks of this grow, then I need to decide if I'm just going to grow outside on the deck, in a closet, in a cabinet, or even just call this a one-time experiment and just drive a mile up the road and buy it pre-grown at the pot shop (which is much less fun, of course).

For now, though, this goofy setup amuses me. I want to show it to a couple of friends who I'm sure will also enjoy it.

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Diluted the nutrient solution after suspected beginnings of nute burn at leaf tips
I should mention that the flowering nute solution I made today is more dilute than I had been using (~450 PPM instead of ~550 PPM). When I was giving her 550 PPM+ concentrations (and the plant was going through a quart a day of the stuff), I saw just a tiny area of yellowing at the tips of some of the new leaves. It was small but very distinct and looked exactly like the example photos you see. So a few days ago I switched over to topping off with pH'd water, and today diluted a 2.5 gallon batch until it was 3 gallons--about 20% more dilute. She was growing fine before at the lower level so I pushed it up to test, but I think I have seen the limit. (It's worth noting that the Ca/Mg supplement is the major contributor to the PPMs. Without it, the levels would be even lower.)

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 47, continued -- Trichomes!

I was just looking over the macro shots I took this morning and noticed that trichomes are forming on one of the buds! The leaves around the flowers are dark green and starting to frost. This plant is really keeping me entertained.

Trichomes!

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 49 -- Supergirl breaks free of her restraints

Her training wires are attached to a steel mesh ("hardware cloth") trellis that I glued to the top of the reservoir. When I checked her wires this morning, I saw that they were still attached to her branches, but her branches straining up towards the light had ripped the trellis away from the reservoir.

Loving her phosphates?
I don't know if it's a coincidence, but since I started giving her the higher phosphate bloom nutrient mix, I have had to adjust the light height twice a day as she just lurches towards the light. I read a post recently about how much someone's plant loved its bloom mix. Maybe that's what's happening here?

Defoliatiing is an every-other-day routine
She's three and a half weeks into flowering now but still putting out new leaves and growing, so much so that I had to trim away another dozen or so leaves this morning that were shaded, choking off air flow, or blocking light to buds.

Thirsty & sweaty
I think I have figured out the mysterious moisture that keeps showing up on her leaves. I thought it was water from the air condensing on her leaves (which didn't make sense at 40% humidity and 74 degrees), but I'm now just about sure that it is water that has transpired out of her leaves. When the leaves are touching or too bunched up even for the two fans to deal with, it forms drops. I added 3/4 gallon of nutrient solution to her top-off reservoir yesterday, so she is cranking through the water.

Hungry!
She's also devouring nutrients, so much so that I had to actually enrich her top-off nutrient mix today in an effort to keep the PPMs above 400. (They're only 352 after adding a quart of 570 PPM nutes to the reservoir this morning.) I thought that making her nutrient mix more concentrated would address this, but I started to see yellowing at the new leaf tips, so it looks like she is transpiring so much that she needs large volumes of dilute nutes(?--Guessing, learning as I go here. I studied transpiration in biology 40 years ago, but this is my first practical experience with it...)

pH management challenges
The biggest ongoing management challenge seems to be the reservoir pH. Yesterday the reservoir was down half a gallon(!) in the morning, and the pH had fallen to 5.3. I think a bigger reservoir would help to keep the system more stable. Also, I think I remember that Advanced Nutrients A&B mix--one of them--is supposed to have some kind of pH buffering that make pH more stable? Has anyone got any experience with anything like that? <edit: Over on the Hydroponics forum I was told that Advanced Nutrients' "pH Perfect Technology" works perfectly.>

Slave to my plant
I have been invited to go visit friends on the other side of the state, but at this point this girl is so nuclear that I don't feel like I can leave her unattended. Every day her wires, foliage, pH, lighting, and nutrients need adjustment! Which is a good thing--she's rockin'--but for the next grow I'm thinking about how to make things lower maintenance. (I think what I'm experiencing might be the "almost out of control growth" you are supposed to get with a dialed-in hydroponics system.) Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. (Just switching from these little CFLs and LED light bulbs that have to be kept very close to the plant and so require constant adjustment, plus a bigger reservoir would help a lot, I think.)

Her stalk is as big around as my finger at the base

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 49, continued -- My Excel logbook
Here are a couple of days' entries in the Excel spreadsheet that I'm using to track this grow. Everything in red is either bad or particularly significant.

I work out of my home and the grow area is ten feet from my workstation, so it's easy to keep notes. I don't go back and read what I've written very much, but it's fun to keep track and a great learning tool. (I take about five snapshots every day, too.)

My Excel logbook entries for days 48 and 49

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 51 - She's a sticky mess!

Start of flowering week five.

I pinched off all of the little "volunteer" grow sites at the upper nodes that were competing for light and resources and ended up with a handful of sticky budlets. The whole top story of the plant is a sticky jungle!

My sticky fingers reminded of smoking "finger hash" on Maui that had been collected by a friend who was helping to trim buds. I was also reminded of reading about hashish in an old 1950s Encyclopedia Britannica and how it had been collected by scraping it from the bodies of men who had passed naked through the plants. I couldn't really understand how that could happen until now. Sticky! Of course these budlets are going right into a curing jar for sampling...

Sticky budlets pinched off from "volunteer" growth sites at the top of the plant

The reservoir was down three pints this morning and the pH had dropped to 5.2! (Using pH-stabilized nutrients like Advanced Nutrients' "pH Perfect" is looking more and more appealing.) I topped off with three pints of 480 PPM nutrient solution, which took the concentration in the reservoir fro 308 to 330 PPM. I made gallons of extra solution on Saturday, but it's not going to be enough to get me through the week.

I have to say that I am really happy with my first hydroponics experience. It's a PITA to mix and haul and top off the nutrient solution and constantly monitor the pH and PPM, but giving the plant exactly what it needs at the root level seems to make it grow like crazy above the water line (actually, below the waterline too--roots are huge).

All is well!

 

[Scientific]

Re: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 201

Day 53 -- pH crashes to 4.4!?!

The pH has crashed overnight before, but never into the 4s! When I checked it today at 1 PM it was at 4.4!
After seeing some new leaf tips turn yellow, I decided to go for a lower PPM value, but today it had dropped to 342, and I know a lot of that is from the Ca/Mg boost, not NPK. I think I may have just run out of core nutrients. (And I believe that affects pH?)

Frankly, I don't understand how this works, but it's really making me want to switch to a buffered nutrient solution that will resist this kind of thing.

My older leaves get rust-colored spots, which I believe are classic signs of pH instability. Now that she's fully in bloom I really don't want to be doing that kind of damage, which could be reflected in the buds.

Over the course of today I added 1/2 gallon of nutrient mix, bolstered with an extra 3 ml of FloraMicro, 5 ml of FloraBloom, and 1.25 ml of pH up. At 11 PM she's at pH 6.1 with 425 PPM.

Her weekly nutrient change is tomorrow. I will not be diluting it with an extra half gallon of water like I did last time. New goal PPM range is 400 to 500. (That may sound low, but this little plant is drinking half a gallon of wter a day, so even at that low concentration, she is getting a lot of fertilizer.)

Just when I had this grow all dialed in and was on the flight path to harvest I get a shocker like this. I still have lessons to learn!

Day 53 -- Flowers are getting bigger