Skybound's Journal

Skybound

Well-Known Member
It's been a while since I did one of these. I've been growing perpetually for about 2 years and am phasing out of OG Kush and running 2 strains listed in the title. The Kush tastes and smokes great, but the yields are very low and I simply need more from my efforts. I just put the Triple Cheese into bloom 2 days ago and will get some pics uploaded this evening. The Pineapple Chunk I just put two of my 3 seeds into a wet paper towel to begin germination, and I do hope they are as vigorous as the TC was, because that was without a doubt the fastest germinated seed I've ever had. I've tried to grow PC a couple times in the past years, but I had bad luck getting seeds to open, so fingers crossed (again).

As it is now, I have 2 4x4 spaces for bloom and a 2x4 space for veg. I am near complete in my build of a 3rd 4x4 space and will soon move my veg to a 2x6 space which will be more conducive to produce aged veg plants for bloom every 3 weeks give or take. My current turnaround now is every 5 weeks, and the 3rd space will shorten that significantly.

I'm growing under Vero29 80CRI (D) COBs. 6 COBs per fixture, and each is driven by a Meanwell HLG-480H C2100B driver. This is way too much driver for my needs, but not fully grasping the abilities of COBs at the time of purchase, I wanted to get more than I'll need rather than find out the hard way that I didn't get enough. I used to use 600 watt HPS, and was fairly consistent with getting more than a pound per plant (not with Kush), but the summer months were brutal and dealing with the extra heat forced me to step down the output to 50% or 75% at the most. So I got into LEDs because I was convinced the COBs perform better than the blurples, but didn't emit the heat like HID does. I've since learned that my driver can overdrive my COBs which resulted in some wicked foxtailing of my buds, but I've learned the optimal drive range for my gear and rooms and only drive to 60% of power till mid way through stretch, then I dial the potentiometer back to about 50-55% power for the rest of the grow. Doing that diminishes my penetration slightly, but it also improves the efficiency of the COBs and also keeps from foxtailing.

Prior to building the 3rd fixture, I harvested 2 COBs from one of my other fixtures with hopes of slowly building the 3rd fixture to save on investment cost, so 2 COBs sat unused for a while and I used only a 4 COB fixture for one of the bloom rooms and just finished a few days ago. I learned that 4 Veros can survive on such a large driver, and I can successfully get through a grow, but I believe I may have driven each more than I previously though. In one of the pics, you'll notice some burn marks on a chip and also the reflector mount got baked and it became brittle and shattered. I've since 3D printed a new base, and added the 2 COBs back in as I found a small loan to build my 3rd fixture. I made a boo boo building #3 in that when soldering the wires on, I mistakenly used 14ga wire which is too thick and rigid, and that resulted in tearing off one of the solder pads. I connected all the wiring and tested the fixture and it lit up, but I'll go ahead and pickup 2 replacement COBs for when each of these 2 problems shorts out. As of now, the burnt chip is over the Triple Cheese and the lifted solder pad chip is on fixture #3 awaiting the completion of that room, so I may be able to replace it before I have a plant ready to into bloom.

I have one remaining OG Kush half way through bloom, then it's all Barney's Farm for at least the rest of winter. I hope the Cheese has nice yields, but if not, I'm confident the Pineapple Chunk will do very well, assuming I can get either of 2 out of their shell. If they fail as well, I also have plenty of other strains on hand, but the 2 on top of my wish list are Barney's Ayahuasca Purple and Dr. Krippling's Incredible Bulk. All in all, I believe I'm in pretty good shape to get more weight from my grow.

My nutrients consist of a growing list of various nutrient salts that I use to make my own concentrates. I've recently learned how to use a free app called Hydro Buddy, and with it, I can plot out the desired NPK and other micros to produce a final product that yields near exact levels of each. This will enable me to readjust my feed chart to produce a perfect feed regimen. I also created a thread that explains where to download the free app, and how to use it to mix dry nutes, as well as how to input the numbers from wet nutes, so the user can review the levels of a certain brand of nutrients. I demoed using Gen Hydro's Flora series and supplements. My custom feed charts all have the same strength of TDS, and as my meter uses a 0.5 conversion factor, it generally reads about 700 ppm. I only need to dilute early veg, but once I have a lot of roots, I give them full strength and leave it there throughout the rest of the grow.

3 beans.jpgBurnt Vero.jpgMixing dries.jpgTore up Vero solder pad.jpgVeg and Trans.JPGBloom.JPGunderside lower branch.jpg

Edit - The final photo is a theory test. When taking clones, I try to locate stock that still has paired branching. Previous experience has shown me that plants from seed, once sexually matured will predominantly grow alternating nodes. When that happens, paired node don't grow anymore, so future topping sessions doesn't divide the auxin equally across the top as there will always be a highest top. My theory is that the brnaches that grow out of the underside of the lowest branches will always produce shoots with paired nodes. I'll find out for sure when my 4 sets of paired node clones is ready to produce clones of their own.
 
The last OG, started 12/12 on 9/28, so 27 days in.

The 2 cups in the black stand are the oldest pair of the 4 pairs I took from the Triple Cheese before putting her into bloom.
Next are the 2 in the white stand. 4 in the humidity tote, the ones farthest in view are rooted, and I will put those in cups tomorrow, and finally the youngest are closest in view. Each pair is a week apart, and the 2 Pineapple Chunk beans are in the wet paper towel. Veg can get fairly cold, but I have a heat mat under the clone tote, so it stays nice in there. I'll check for roots tonight to see if the PCs cracked as fast as the TC did. Look on the washboard for how fast the TC popped, stood up and grew. That bean is extremely vigorous in every step of the way. I expect good things from her.

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Triple Cheese, from seed Aug5 - Oct24, in bloom for a day.

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Good news and bad news. Both PC beans opened already and I put them in starter cubes so the future looks good. The Kush I just harvested, that vegged for over 8 weeks only yielded 6 measly ass ounces. I was getting bent out of shape when it was giving me 14 ounces of foxtailed buds, now less than half, but they look pretty. I'm starting to regret moving away from HID into COBs. I HOPE the last OG does better because I don't know if I'll be able to stay afloat till the Cheese. Christmas is already ruined, thankfully I have no children.
 
I augmented my Mid Bloom feed to include more micro and trace elements. I used Gen Hydro Flora Micro in conjunction with everything else and this is what Hydro Buddy told me to use. Note: the listing in grams per Gal is assumed as ml per gallon. I know this because the weight of deionized water is 1 gram per ml, so the volume of the bottle should be identical to the weight, but the difference is the density factor that I input into Hydro Buddy when telling it what GH Flora Micro is. I'm using this on the last Kush and the results of that will give me a clue about what to do with the Cheese across the hall.

Jack's plus Micros.JPG


Edit - For the record, I hate that the results are listed as N - K - P as opposed to the traditional NPK. I guess the creator of the app missed that, oh well, I'm still thankful to have free use of it.
 
I'm also trying an early bloom chart that incorporates GH Flora Micro as the micros in the Jack's just sin't enough. I'm currently tracking the level of Zinc as I noticed a moderate Zn deficiency and am currently treating that by adding in the GH Micro. Next veg res change I'll do the same and make the use of Micros a permanent part of my regimen. Be mindful, that I did not target the Zn, but rather Iron(Fe) at 2ppm/Gal, and the remaining micros and trace elements land wherever they land when achieving the target for iron. Also, when I crunched the GH feed schedule and reduced it from 1.0 to 0.7 to account for the excessive concentration, I notice the levels of the Micros are near identical to the new levels I achieved by mixing Flora Micro in with the Jack's. Here is an excerpt of my notes. When I had Zinc at 0.08ppm, this lead to a Zn deficiency on the top of my Triple Cheese, but also is likely responsible for my diminished yields from my Kush.

Ca 65 - 90----------------------------------(GH=115.575)
Mg 40 - 50--------------------------(GH=66.685)
S 30 - 80 *** (lowered from 64/148)---(GH=36.3)
---
Fe 1.5 - 2
B 0.5 - 2.0 ***----(GH=0.139, E-Bloom=0.264)
Mn 0.5 - 2.0 ***---(GH=0.693, E-Bloom=0.681)
Zn .05 - 0.2 ***---(GH=0.208, E-Bloom=0.204)-(NOTE: 0.08 is too low)
Cu .02 - 0.5 ***---(GH=0.138, E-Bloom=0.152)
Mo .01 - 0.1 ***---(GH=0.111, E-Bloom=0.144)
 
Hey Skybound. I’ll pop in once in a while to keep an eye on those PCs.
:thumb:
I’ve started lightly filing the edges of any seeds when I’m in doubt- fixed quite a few this way when they refused to crack at first. Since I had 100% success with the ones I’ve filed so far, I’ve started doing it a lot more often.
 
Hey Skybound. I’ll pop in once in a while to keep an eye on those PCs.
:thumb:
I’ve started lightly filing the edges of any seeds when I’m in doubt- fixed quite a few this way when they refused to crack at first. Since I had 100% success with the ones I’ve filed so far, I’ve started doing it a lot more often.

I'll try that next seed I open. One of the PCs and the Cheese only half cracked and tried to grow out but got stuck. I had to gently work off the shells with fine point tweezers, but that is a sketchy way of doing things. Do you file all the way around the seam of the seed, or just from the base to the tip?

Don't worry about keeping up on this journal. I just want a place to dump my notes and such so I have a source to reference from. I definitely will not commit to regular updates, just when I feel like it.
 
I file all along the seams, except for the ass end. The Tutankhamen seed I sprouted yesterday... I guess I overdid it a bit because the shell pretty much just blew apart when it sprouted. :).

Don't worry about keeping up on this journal.

No worries I can’t even keep up with my own. Especially not tonight :rofl:
 
Hi Skybound, looking good. I grew a pineapple chunk this summer and I can't stop smoking it. Having second thoughts about lighting? I don't know. Lights are funny I think. My small experience with them is 315 lec and cob led. The cobs produce well for me. About 600 watts at the wall. I liked the LEC but the footprint was wrong for my tent. Never used HID, I bet they rock if you're thinking they're better. I guess it's the heat trade off thing for me. Maybe you'll get to know them and they'll grow on you. Good thing the PC produced well because I can't leave it alone. Continued good fortune!
 
Hi Skybound, looking good. I grew a pineapple chunk this summer and I can't stop smoking it. Having second thoughts about lighting? I don't know. Lights are funny I think. My small experience with them is 315 lec and cob led. The cobs produce well for me. About 600 watts at the wall. I liked the LEC but the footprint was wrong for my tent. Never used HID, I bet they rock if you're thinking they're better. I guess it's the heat trade off thing for me. Maybe you'll get to know them and they'll grow on you. Good thing the PC produced well because I can't leave it alone. Continued good fortune!

Thanks for the well wishes stoneotter!! I was an HID guy for the first few years, but converted to COBs at the end of this past spring to dodge the heat. The HIDs did pretty good, but yeah, the heat and dark color temps made them the wrong fit for my space. If I had better ventilation maybe, but with only a 400 CFM fan sucking off 3 rooms, the heat can build quickly, especially in the summer. I may have to drag one or more back out to get through this winter, but I'll keep the COBs in there as long as I can and hopefully even get some purpling going on.

I think my downdraw was taking out 33% of my lighting for that room and expecting it to do better. Lesson learned, not everything's back to 6 COBs at about 60watts each, maybe 65w. At 3,000k color temps, I can see my leaves plainly which makes it easier to diagnose deficiencies or toxicities. I'm about to pen room #3. I'm excited about that. Just need one from veg to fatten up some.

I'll be doing only Triple Cheese for about 3-4 rounds of bloom before I have one of the PCs ready as I need them to veg long and give me many clones before sending them in. One of the TC branches snapped off yesterday under it's own weight. I was not expecting that yet as it's still in week 2. I taped it back up and supported it good, and in 3 hours, the tops turned back to facing the lights and everything is gravy again. I hope that branch survives b/c it should give me a QP when all's said and done.
 
I just changed the filters in my RO after about 3 solid years of use. That's about 2 years too late. In my defense, I got the replacement filters about a year ago. I'm surprised I was still getting 005 PPM on the meter. The first stage was pure rust water. Damn I'm lazy.

The final OG starts flush in a few days then it's good riddance. The Triple Cheese is 18 days into 12/12 and is looking lovely. I'm enjoying watch buds grow and stack up again. She's very short, semi wide, definitely smells like cheesecake with a minor tinge of palm sweat. Her branches are nice and fat, I hope this translates into weight they'll need to support. Is that mite damage on that lower leaf? I never had problems with pests so am completely ignorant of that subject.

The Pineapple Chunks I thought were both going to damp off when in their starter cubes, so I took a chance and potted them up to Solo cups with hopes the croutons can reclaim about an inch of their very thin stem to support, and that panned out so far. The canopies of both are developing fairly, but the main stem on both are still thin so I'm feeding sparingly so the cubes dry out fairly quick till they start to thicken more.

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Is that mite damage on that lower leaf?

Definitely not. Just some abrasion? Otherwise- I’m not sure. Wow your plants grow fast. I got a new bulb for veg today. The old one was old- something like your RO filters. Hopefully that will wake my plants up. I’m jealous.
 
Definitely not. Just some abrasion? Otherwise- I’m not sure. Wow your plants grow fast. I got a new bulb for veg today. The old one was old- something like your RO filters. Hopefully that will wake my plants up. I’m jealous.

What kind of light you have in Veg? I now use a 65 watt Quantum Board ($100) and am greatly impressed, plus the LEDs will last so much longer than T5, HID or floros.
 
It’s a 600w MH over a 4x4 space. Usually dimmed down a bunch. Normally my veg is overgrown while flowering is full with too many strains and extras, and I’m looking for ways to slow it down. I guess having an ancient bulb is one way to do that - but I’m still paying full price for the power. So- a stupid way.
A QB in veg sounds like a good place to start my led intro.
 
I have a 4000k QB, and I'm finding that seedlings and clones don't grow as vigorously as I'd like, but around mid veg they speed up. I need to get another as I'll soon be moving veg to a wider space, and when I do, I plan to get a 5000k or 65000k one if they have it.
 
The Triple Cheese is doing absolutely fantastic and is by far the most stable of a plant I've ever grown. I hit a minor P deficiency but corrected the feed regimen to include 5 more ppm of P and I expect to see no more signs of deficiency and the buds to fatten up. She is about to start week 5 and has a perfect stature. From media to top she's only about 3 and half feet, and equally as wide with robust branches, each of which has many bud sites to form colas. Her smell is still grapefruit mixed with palm sweat. Her green color is super stable with only the slightest possible tinge on leaf tips. The feed measures in the range of 730 TDS (@.5 CF) and climbs up to 760. When using the GH line, this time of bloom my TDS would be around 850, all tips would be burnt to a minor degree and I always had Calcium problems no matter how much more CALiMAGic I'd add. I am SUPER HAPPY to no longer use that line and mixing my own. I actually have total control of the macros and secondaries (major micros such as Ca, Mg, S, and Fe. The trace elements I have in safe quantities as well.

If you're reading this page, I highly recommend reading my "How to make nutes" thread. I'd share links to the salts I use, but don't want to get modded. I've been modded a fair amount and don't know if they keep a log and have a cutoff point. But here's my line by titles

Jack's Hydroponic 5-12-26
Calcium Nitrate (I use Jack's brand, but any brand should suffice)
Epsom Salt (from a pharmacy)
Magnesium Nitrate
Monopotassium Phosphate (MKP) 0-52-34
Biomin Chelated Calcium Powder

I supplement my micros currently with GH Flora Micro till the gallon is empty than I'll be using a product called S.T.E.M. (soluble trace element mix). I also use GH Armor Si at full strength for silica. I target desired ranges of N-P-K-Ca-Mg-S-Fe-Zn-Si in Hydro Buddy, and it tells me how much of each component I need to add and if any of the targets were over or under shot. In the GH bottles, the nutrients are at 1 gram per ml, whereas my concentrates I mixed at 1 gram per 10ml, so I need to account for that when mixing weekly, but eventually, I will have a 100% custom line of my own when the GH runs out and everything will be the same math.

Here's the Triple Cheese;

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Just doing a drive-by.. Seen ya worried bout mites damage. Yea as said, that damage was probably 2 pots bumping together. Hopefully, ya never see mites but they start as white dots on your leaves.. They feed like a mosquito, and set up the drill rig on the bottom of the leave,, suck out the life in that spot and move on to the next. Leaving a damaged white spot on the top. You can see them on the bottom of a leaf as a blackish speck if it's the common mite. And they are a pain in the ass...

Fast question? Where about you live,, is it a colder place about now? The ground cools off and floors get cold,,, water being the conductor it is,
will suck up cold and cold roots tend to get sluggish... even if you get them off the ground abit.

Looks like your going to get some nice donkey dicks off that plant.. Is that from 'feminized seeds?' I did REALLY good with that one. I'd rate it a solid 9 on my charts. And it looks like she likes ya.......
 
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