Spees with Cees part 3

SpeesCees

Well-Known Member
SPEES WITH CEES!


- Part 3 : How to collect knowledge and what happens at the roots? -


We can buy seed, clones, a huge installation connected to the most expensive systems and sometimes dreams… but with all of this you can’t buy “green fingers”. Collecting knowledge is important when you idealize being or becoming an excellent grower. Much too often we look at the plant… we see and come to our own conclusions. But we often forget that what grows above-ground, is formed beneath the ground. Because that is where it all happens. Everything you see is for 80% the result of what happens underground. When you have learned to work preventive and see what happens in the growing medium and you react the right way… you will come a long way.


Reading technical literature is a must when you want to collect a lot of knowledge. Sadly enough, there’s a lot of nonsense written. But you learn to sift the bullshit out, and slowly you’ll learn how to get a good harvest for about 5 times a year. With pre-grown female seed and a PreGrowBox, you can get 6 harvests a year! Let’s take a look at some points.

Hint:
First buy a good pH-reader before you buy growing stuff!

And preferably also an EC-reader, but when your budget doesn’t allow it this can wait. There is a lot of plant nutrition that comes with accurate instructions, and for which you only need a good measuring glass for a good EC. Well… you already have that pH-reader… so lets proceed.
Check your medium for pure pH levels!
This pH level plays the leading part in the development of your plants. It provides a value which lets you know what to do with the pH value when you use tap water. Take notice… a plant doesn’t absorb anything when the pH level isn’t right! Drinking roots contain membranes that close up when the pH level is too high or too low, and this causes stagnated growth. Stagnation causes a wet medium, because there’s no absorbtion. This wetness causes a lot of problems! Be sure you measure everything… especially the soil. Take a cup or bowl, fill it up with soil for three quarters of its volume and add a quarter of water which is made pH neutral (7.01). Stir it well and let it sit for about one hour. Now you can measure the soils pH level. 5.4 is too acidic. You could mix this with water with a pH value of 6.7 to 6.9, to balance the difference. By mixing the 2 degrees of acidity you achieve an average of 6 to 6.2.

Flushing
When your plants advance into their growing cycle, your growing medium will become harder. At this time your water has to have a lower pH value. When you flush regurlarly, the slabs will have more or less the same pH value when you flush regularly. With slabs and/or blocks flushing should ideally be done with pH 5.5. And after that you flush with pH 6.2. (and for once add teaspoon of Bacterial when you flush for the second time!)

Hint: You can submerge large Rockwool blocks and staple them in order to see the top most block drain itself.

Just for once buy some Bacterial (those 10 euro’s won’t break the bank) instead of expensive root stimulators, boosters and soil improvers based on enzymes and chelates, which all create a soil with a lot of bacteria. Nothing wrong with that, but why not immediately add those cultures of nutrifying bacteria to get to your target as fast as you can? Without enough and the right bacteria there’s no biotope of any value. This concerns every life form. You too have the right bacteria in your intestines… otherwise you would die. Be sure you get the ‘pH part’ right… keep asking, keep reading… it brings you the largest amount of knowledge necessary to achieve a good base and regular succes.

Ballast
It’s also important to water your plants from underneath as much as possible! At first there are no problems when the plant excretes some salt and nitrite (read: ballast substances), but later on this will become a problem. Look at your plants in their pots, and it will strike you that after every cycle a white edge shows at the top of the soil. This is the plant’s excrement, piss and sweat. It’s better for your plant when you don’t flush this down over and over again! The plant has to cope with the waste everytime. It’s natural that the ballast substances are secreted at the top layer of the medium. In nature the leaves (during the process of growth) make sure the rain falls outside the plants growing area, preventing the ballast substances to get flushed down (some plants hang their leaves when it suddenly becomes dark, but a few drops of rain for sure makes them hang immediately). So it’s better to put dishes underneath the pots and water from below? this is definitely worth the effort. When you’re using an ebb and flow system, don’t ever allow the water come above the upper edge, so the ballast is left where it has to be. Make sure nutrifying bacteria are constantly available in the medium when you want to have less trouble from your ballast substances (your plant will be greatful). These bacteria live off them and transform them into organic material. And here also lays the ‘secret’ explanation of why it is advisable to grow on the same soil several times. Once the ballast substances are gone and the soil is upgraded with Libre-mix, the same soil could be used again (measure it well!). But make sure you adapt the EC



A Purple in a garden, fertilized with pre-grown Mexican Haze
Spacing outside?
A few hints for growers who like to see their dream plants grow outside.

A bag of worm-fertilizer makes sure that your plants have a good start and don’t have a shortage for almost half the growing cycle.

Don’t place your clones or seed to close near a fence or shed… this causes mildew. Because when the wind blows freely through our plants, you can keep them mildew-free!
Sowing or planting too early doesn’t work. The soil temperature determines when the growing process begins. Early May is soon enough.

Seed will almost always develop faster than a clone even when it’s sown later than the clone is planted.

Put a large stick near your plants after a few weeks to prevent the risk of damaging the large roots in a later growing stage. You can’t ignore it when the plants grow fast and vertically and need support.

A lot of tepid water at a pH-level 6.2 – 6.5 within the last few days will give a good tasty weed. Don’t water the plant the last 2 or 3 days before harvest (when it rains… pray for it to stop).

Let your weed dry in the dark… As long as there is light, there is synthesis. The cells in the leaves still react to the light and the plant starts to protect itself. The plant will make substances that use THC, and in the end your weed will have a lower percentage of THC. So dry it in a dark place!

Don’t you ever give up hope of having a beautiful latter part of the summer. Every year it’s a gamble. One time it will work!

When your weed is finally perfect at the end of the season and you need an expert taster… you call me!

Source: No Mercy Seeds
Stay cool, high and take time to fly !
 
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