Urgr8estfear 3rd fluro/HPS soil grow

[AlcoholicAuthor]

looking good urgr8estfear as usual, those are some really uniform looking plants! so tall and nice iv heard before that if you preflower to determine sex that the plants flower faster the second time around, not that its an issue for you anymore but im presexing atm due to lack of space, hope my informations not way off! check my grow if you get a minute, il definitely be keepin an eye on yours!

[urgr8estfear]

Hi Al!
Welcome to my show!

Indeed preflowered plants reflower quicker, for they never completely stop flowering after you reveg.
I have read it had something to do with flowering hormones already being present in the system, giving the reflowering a nice kick start.

It's a safe and efficient way of filtering out the males.
Have fun with it!

[deadfulwu]

Originally Posted by urgr8estfear

Thanks for the advice deadfulwu!

But it doesn't sound very useful to me.
2-0-0 does just about nothing.

I agree, 2-0-0 doesn't sound like much!!! but its' organic!
the levels and dosage used is very different from anything synthetic.

Example: Fox Farm "Big Bloom" has this: 0.01 - 0.3 - 0.7

you say "that sucks" I bet it beets the socks off any 10-54-10 (Synthetic)
or any MG - 15-30-15... (IMO)

[urgr8estfear]

Sorry if I've confused or upset you.
Instead of saying 'But it doesn't sound very useful to me.' I should have said 'But it doesn't sound very useful FOR me.'

Adding 2-0-0 during flowering?
Doesn't make sense.

I know about the differences in mass/weight when it comes down to organic nutes versus inorganics nutes.
You're supposed to use inorganic nutes mixed with lots and lots of water.
This MG 15-30-15 stuff I mix 20 milli-liters on 2 liters of water.
Thats' a 1:100 ratio so the end result is (approx.) 0.15 0.30 0.15 or lower.

The only thing 'bad' about inorganic nutes is that they can burn the plants more easily, and they may leave residual salts in the soil that can alter the eC.
This is usually not a problem unless you planning on re-using the soil or feed the plants during the last two weeks of flowering.

Anything that says organic and comes out of a bottle I don't trust with soil grows.
Mixing guano, compost or bloodmeal or such into the soil before you plant the seedling yes this I like.
But throwing organics on top of the soil and praying the fungi and microbes will transport it down and wait until it decomposes no thank you.
I always figured liquid organics was meant for hydro growers.

I'm not saying those supernatural stay green nutes are shit, I'm just saying I don't think they apply to my situation.
Anybody, please correct me if I'm wrong here.

[SmknVTEC]

Hey man for magnesium just add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon [tsp] of E Salt per gallon of water. No fancy calculations, just straight forward. Don't sweat the browned out leaves at the very bottom. It happens and as long as it does not travel up the plant, you are golden.

[birdman13]

was saying Epsom salts, and i agree organic is stupid unless in hydro, thats why they made that shit.

[PurpleStuffed]

Looking great as usual cannot wait to see the end result so you're going HPS this time....... Hmmmm interesting, we'll see!!! Thanks for all the great updates, (smokes and sits...) watching this grow for sure..... And man dude you know your stuff.. have fun.

[urgr8estfear]

Originally Posted by SmknVTEC

Hey man for magnesium just add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon [tsp] of E Salt per gallon of water. No fancy calculations, just straight forward. Don't sweat the browned out leaves at the very bottom. It happens and as long as it does not travel up the plant, you are golden.

Awww man! And I was thinking all that shit they tought me in school was finally paying off!

Originally Posted by PurpleStuffed

Looking great as usual cannot wait to see the end result so you're going HPS this time....... Hmmmm interesting, we'll see!!! Thanks for all the great updates, (smokes and sits...) watching this grow for sure..... And man dude you know your stuff.. have fun.

Good to hear that.
I was kind of hoping people would find my journal useful or amusing!

DAY 052 (day 20 of 12/12 under HPS)

I figured out what is causing those 'beautiful arcing leaves at the top'.
I noticed how this arcing was less severe in the 'morning' just before I water and turn on the lamp.
I'm overwatering!

I also think I should have added the Epsom Salt more gradually.
As SmknVTEC said 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per gallon is best.
I just measured 5 ml of Epsom Salt which turns out to be exactly 5 grams.
I've added 15 grams on 2L which is about 0.5 gallon.
So that's 6 times SmknVTEC's advised dosage.
So I should have done 2.5 grams for 6 waterings and not all in 1 go.
I can see quite a lot of the petioles have turned red/purple on me suddenly, probably because of the big change in nute availability I've introduced.
This just proves we can all follow SmknVTEC's advice blindly.
Too bad he posted his advice after I've added the Epsom Salt.
Oh what the hell, my dosage sure will suffice.

My previous estimate of 3 feet high in length was a bit off, proves my measurements.
They measure in at 78, 81 and 87 centimeters. (3 feet = 90)
I'll will try to use these metrics to keep track of the stretching in order to predict their final height, but I'm sure SmknVTEC has some rule of the thumb through experience that will prove more accurate.

Enjoy the pics :

[SmknVTEC]

Yes urgr8est, they can all follow my advice blindly. I would never lead them wrong. Sorry I was late on catching you with the E Salts. Sounds like they have a slight toxicity. You can flush them when they dry out. Should not be a big deal.

Final hight prediction you say? Here's one that will knock your socks off. It's very complicated one foot in height per gallon of pot used, more or less. Maybe for a pure sativa they might stretch to 1.5 feet per gallon of pot used but, don't hold your breath for that. So in a three gallon pot, they will probably not get much taller than three feet or one meter tall even during flower. What usually happens when they are root bound in flower is the buds just fill out with vertical growth halted.

PS Plants look nice.

[dankmuthastoner]

like the cups very professional and 108 watts thats so cute!

[urgr8estfear]

@SmknVTEC, thanks buddy! I'll try to wrap my brain around that one. I allmost regret that there is no exponential component in there somewhere. Let's see how it holds up.

DAY 055 (day 23 of 12/12 under HPS)

OK.
I've got issues.
Or better to say, one of my plants has got issues.
I'm worried, never saw anything like it.

First off the good part, things are progressing.
Stuff gets bigger, stuff gets taller you know, life as hoped for.
Plant (incl. pot) lengths at 81,87 and 91 cm.






Now for the trouble.
One of the shorter plants seems to have TMV.
It doesn't seem bothered by it too much but still, it's present (I think) :

Not pretty.

The plant that has been topped starts to look like it's in the shits.
The browning of the leaves I mentioned creeps up fast, they are up to the point where I topped it but not yet above :

The pictures is a lot redder then real life because of the fluros I use to provide extra light while I take photo's and it's a picture taken without flash.
Looks like it's rusting, which may point to a pH problem, BUT BUT BUT, all the plants are in the same soil with the same amount of nutes, water, epsom salt you name it.
Kinda confusing for me.... HELP!

The same plants also shows brown circular dots, within a almost perfect white circle.
This has really got me bothered, and puzzled :

What the hell is that???
Is this plant bugged?
I also noticed this plant her stems are weaker and thinner then the other two, much more swaying back and forth when moved.
Not good!

[urgr8estfear]

OK. It's official. I'm a FOOL!
pH measurements of runoff water reads pH 5.0
I promised myself I would keep the pH in check this grow repeatedly and I failed miserably..
Did some reading on other forums, as it turns out keeping the pH in check is not that straightforward as I thought.
I figured I'd be good with the pH this grow because of all the chalk I mixed with the soil before planting.
Now I've read chalk can combine chemically with excess nutes, which raises the pH because the chalk isn't available anymore.
This masks overnuting......

Getting the excess nutes out is hard with soil, so I've chosen to add ... more chalk!
So I watered them twice today 0.5 liter per watering, the first time with pH 8.0 water to take runoff, the second time with chalk laden pH 9.0 water.
Doesn't look like water anymore but I like the pH value :


I choose this option over the flushing method, because I noticed during my last previous grow flushing only helps for a few days/weeks at best.
My ego and my plants took a hit because of my ignorance.
May my plants forgive me....

I'm still puzzled why only 1 plants was showing signs of distress while the other 2 did not. All got the same (mis) treatment and resulting pH 5.0 values.

[SmknVTEC]

Hey man, just as I say, 1 foot per gallon my LED plants are about 12-14 inches tall in 8" pots [which are less than a gallon I think. It’s just a guideline that usually works out. How big are those pots you use? Yours look pretty tall and could break that mold. I can tell you this for sure that going over that guideline will result in root bound plants. Really this is no big problem except that growth will slow and eventually stop.

I have never used chalk. However, in light of your recent findings, I would just use the pH up. It has no adverse effects and is immediate where the chalk, clam shells etc. take more time.

I also think the browning is from the over fert as well. Brittle and purple stems will occur in over fert plants; mine just did that.

No one knows why some plants exhibit trouble when their sisters grown in identical conditions show no trouble. I believe Charles Darwin summed it up best when he said "survival of the fittest.

[urgr8estfear]

I use chalk from softstone (I think limestone) and not clampshells.
This should work in a few days.

I'll try to shop around for a CHEAP pH up kit somewhere.
I know it's effect is instant but I don't want to get ripped off.
You'd be suprised what some shop owners dare ask for something so simple.
It's like trying to find cheap clamp-on reflectors for my fluro tubes.
They dare ask 9 Euros for a 18W tube reflector.

And my pots are 3 liters which is about 0.8 gallons.
So according to your 'formula' my plants should have stretched up to 3/4 of a foot.
Hmmm. Maybe there should have been an exponential component in that formula after all, to compensate for pots which are small or very large.

[mngrnsmokinkng1]

nice buds keep it up you are a huge help to a lot of rookies