Stunger's Organic Balcony: Growing Daughters Of Mulanje: Watering Via Root Aeration Chambers

[Grand Daddy Black]

Super-interesting grow Stunger!

To me, however, it doesn't seem like your water chamber innovation is in line with keeping the plants from peeping eyes!

Looking forward!

 

[InTheShed]

I was thinking next year I might even bring the mature young plants into 13 hours of darkness for 14 days (during veg but after they've reached maturity), just to ID plant gender, then allow to re-veg.

BT took clones as soon as he could, rooted, flipped, and determined the sex of his plants without having to go through the whole reveg thing. He journaled that here:

Early Sexing Clones In Hempy Cups

I'm trying an experiment with a CloneSeedling Box that can also be used for for other purposes. One is I would like to be able to know the sex of a grow much earlier with photos than waiting 60-90 days when flipped. So I created a Clone/Seedling box which I have a thread on. Since we are...

www.420magazine.com

worm leachate

Oh don't you sound all grown up now!

 

[Stunger]

With the reserve water tank and moisture deep in the soil, you certainly won't have the plants wilting whilst away on the weekend! That did happen with you at least once, as I recall. But with 50 L of soil, there's usually quite a bit of reserve in there anyway.

What reserve water tank? I am probably confusing myself, but there is no reserve water tank. The 'root aeration chambers' have lots of holes drilled in them and are located about half way to the bottom third of the pots, so any water poured via the downpipes should leak out into the soil below and around in less than a minute. If I drilled really tiny holes then in theory it would leak out very slowly but I think in practice holes too small would risk getting clogged so the size I have drilled them should mean that even if half were to become clogged the rest should allow any poured water to rapidly empty. Perhaps for going away I should have buried a fat rope to leave in a 'wicking tank', but alas I didn't and there is no 'reserve tank' for those times.

 

[Carmen Ray]

I should have buried a fat rope to leave in a 'wicking tank'

This sounds like an interesting idea. Would one rope be enough to wick the amount of water the plants would need? I put clones into a wicking setup and the base of their pot sits in a bowl, or in my case the lid of the upturned storage container, with water in it with the container used as a dome. The medium (Ive tried it in coco, soil and perlite) seems to wick the water as needed and it has worked nicely for me. I still don't fully understand SIP because I haven't done enough homework yet, but am wondering if it is a similar to that. You could bury your rope and use the root aeration chambers in the same pot for different conditions, couldn't you?

 

[Emeraldo]

Oops, my bad!

 

[Azimuth]

I tried the swick thing a few years ago and I found that having one end of the rope in the water and the other dead-ending in the soil mix moved more water than a loop with both ends in the water. Which I guess is pretty obvious once you think it thru, though took me a few tries to figure that one out.

 

[Stunger]

This sounds like an interesting idea. Would one rope be enough to wick the amount of water the plants would need? I put clones into a wicking setup and the base of their pot sits in a bowl, or in my case the lid of the upturned storage container, with water in it with the container used as a dome. The medium (Ive tried it in coco, soil and perlite) seems to wick the water as needed and it has worked nicely for me. I still don't fully understand SIP because I haven't done enough homework yet, but am wondering if it is a similar to that. You could bury your rope and use the root aeration chambers in the same pot for different conditions, couldn't you?

Hi Carmen, I have never tried a wicking setup myself but it looked like it might be a workable way to get enough 'survival water' to the plants if I was away and there was no rainfall etc. But it won't be something I'll do this grow.

 

[Stunger]

I tried the swick thing a few years ago and I found that having one end of the rope in the water and the other dead-ending in the soil mix moved more water than a loop with both ends in the water. Which I guess is pretty obvious once you think it thru, though took me a few tries to figure that one out.

Using a wicking method sounds like it needs a bit of playing with to obtain the best results. But the results that growers are getting from SIPS suggests it is an even better way.

 

[Stunger]

Oops, my bad!

No worries, it indicates that you've got some really good testing going on from your harvests - looking forward to the report!

 

[Emeraldo]

Gee, is it that obvious?

 

[Timhomegrow]

Are you going to try droughting with these new pots?

 

[Stunger]

Are you going to try droughting with these new pots?

I most likely will, but since I am undertaking a change to my watering by using the 'aeration chambers' this grow, I will play it by ear but I would very definitely like to initiate at least some light droughting. Because 2/3's of my plants are sativas I want to be careful I don't screw up the grow considering that sativas need much longer to flower.

 

[Stunger]

Update - training the vegging plants to keep them low

Greetings 420 Enthusiasts! It has now been 5 weeks since I transplanted the seedlings into their final pots. They appear to be in good health and progressing well. In the recent 2 weeks there have been quite a few days of high winds that have whipped the leaves around to the point that many are ripped and torn, but all in all it isn't a problem, just a bit of collateral damage from growing out in nature, it sure helps their stems get thick quick.

Today's balcony lineup

From L to R; 2 x Mulanje Sherbert; 2 x Mulanje ME; 2 x Mulanje HP

• Stunger
• Nov 28, 2022

For training I have drilled holes around the rims of my pots which I use to attach training wire to. The trouble is, the 'ones' that you want to secure down that are not above the rim can be a pain with training wire stretching across from the pot's edge. To assist, I have some spare turf staples that I thought I could use for this purpose, but I then reconsidered as each one would have a double prong going into the soil which seemed like unnecessarily doubling up, so instead I thought I could just wrap some wire around a kebab stick. At that point I realised I was reinventing the wheel as @Carcass had already developed the Carhooks! So anyway, not that you can see in the above pic, but there is a number of kebab sticks in the Carhook tradition being utilised for training, and they appear to work great - cheers Carcass! God knows why it takes me so many years to work out that they could be useful.

In the coming 2 weeks I'll be looking very closely at the nodes to ascertain the gender of the plants, once any males are identified I will chop them, and then the real training starts with the females.
Thanks for dropping in, I hope your gardens are blooming, keep well out there!

 

[stinker]

They look so nice and are growing fast.

 

[Stunger]

They look so nice and are growing fast.

Thanks Stinker, it is nice to get past the slow seedling stage!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Moving right along they are Stunger! I predict the two big ones on the right are males. And since my predictions are nearly always wrong that means you'll have at least two big, hearty fems!

 

[InTheShed]

I hope they declare themselves soon or they're going to have to rumble for territory!

 

[Carcass]

Those plants are looking great, Stunger!

In the coming 2 weeks I'll be looking very closely at the nodes to ascertain the gender of the plants,

Fingers crossed that you get 3 and 3!

which seemed like unnecessarily doubling up, so instead I thought I could just wrap some wire around a kebab stick.

Thanks so much for the mention, Stunger!

Those were my thoughts too- why poke 2 holes, when one will do the trick!... (and...I had lots of kebab sticks and wire "in stock")
And when the ladies get a little older, if a branch starts to droop, you can just turn the hook over and use it to hold the branch up to help keep that canopy nice 'n flat....

 

[Stunger]

Super-interesting grow Stunger!

To me, however, it doesn't seem like your water chamber innovation is in line with keeping the plants from peeping eyes!

Looking forward!

Moving right along they are Stunger! I predict the two big ones on the right are males. And since my predictions are nearly always wrong that means you'll have at least two big, hearty fems!

Thanks GDB! You are quite right, this grow I will have to be stricter than ever to ensure that the plants don't grow too high where they become visible to neighbours.

But, I like the idea of trialing the change to the watering approach that I have made, even if I can't afford a big (tall) plant. Hopefully if it gives me any size increase I will still be able to keep it low.

I reckon in the next couple of weeks I will be able to make some predictions on gender, fingers crossed!

I hope they declare themselves soon or they're going to have to rumble for territory!

Cheers Shed! Last year it was apparent mid December, these plants were kicked off a couple of weeks earlier than last year's, so hopefully the signs will be showing very soon. I'll soon be looking to take some node closeups for that.

Those plants are looking great, Stunger!
Fingers crossed that you get 3 and 3!
Thanks so much for the mention, Stunger!

Those were my thoughts too- why poke 2 holes, when one will do the trick!... (and...I had lots of kebab sticks and wire "in stock")
And when the ladies get a little older, if a branch starts to droop, you can just turn the hook over and use it to hold the branch up to help keep that canopy nice 'n flat....

Thanks Carcass! The Carhooks are ideal, heaven knows why I couldn't click on to their benefits sooner! Cheers!

 

[Emeraldo]

I reckon in the next couple of weeks I will be able to make some predictions on gender, fingers crossed!

...Last year it was apparent mid December, these plants were kicked off a couple of weeks earlier than last year's, so hopefully the signs will be showing very soon. I'll soon be looking to take some node closeups for that.

Here's a thought, @Stunger. As we know, late-flowering sativas are also late to pre-flower if you rely on the natural day length. For example, while my NL5 x Haze (50% indica) showed her sex in early July, my 100% sativa Purple Haze x Malawi (which typically would finish in Dec, or after 16 weeks) did not reveal himself until September! Up until that point, there were nodal signs in my photos that led me and others to think he was female. I had even removed other PHxM plants from the grow, thinking he was my female.

These were strains I had not grown before, so hopefully I've learned something here...

For next year's grow I am thinking -- based on the "surprise males" I found among the females this year -- it is wiser to do some light dep when the plants are around 6-8 weeks old, just for two weeks, long enough to let them flower and actually reveal gender. Then I know based on reliable info not on guessing! Then I'll let the females re-veg.