Here We Grow Again- Mazar, Blueberry, and Purple Kush

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Thanks man, I've been really learning a lot about it lately. It's a lot to take in, and a whole lot of work on top of that. The Lucas formula will help reduce the work load this third round though!

I still have Big Bud and Over Drive to use on this second round so I'm still using Advanced Nutrients. I like the Big Bud and Over Drive but I'm not sure if it's really worth the extra money and work to change the reservoir every week. Maybe in the future after I get the basics down I can actually try to use the Big Bud without having to change the reservoir, but I would have to experiment and I'm not really up for that right now...

The Lucas formula has such great results with a lot less work involved so maybe I could get the Big Bud to work with the Lucas formula- he was saying something about a chart that I could use to make a formula using something like Big Bud. I'll check it out again but in the meantime I will be just using the Lucas formula with Flora series nutrients for the final round. I'll add light suppliments to a bucket or two to see if they do make a difference as well. Just some SuperThrive, fulvic acid and a little bit of Barricade for extra slica to see if it really does make a difference or not first hand.

The clones need to go into their new homes soon because they are just sitting in their cloning tray with roots and will not grow very fast with such small root systems. My first grow showed me how long they can last in the tray with small root systems- they don't really suffer they just grow slowly. I bet they could have stayed in the tray for over 5 weeks even. They would have just grown very slowly. The second they take root in a hydroponics system the growth is amazing.

I've never seen the root growth in deep water/ebb and flow/waterfall technique in person yet but from what I hear it's amazing. The ebb and flow system we are using now has explosive root growth, so I imagine it's pretty crazy being able to actually see if without the rocks blocking your view. I can't wait

I must also add that the R/O system I got is great. The tap water is just too high in PPM and it fucks with the nutrient program. The micro that you add first makes the solution the same PPM as the filtered tap water. So that right there tells you to use R/O water with stuff like Clonex or Advanced Nutrients. With the Lucas formula you might be able to get away with using less micro or a well water micro, but I think the R/O water is just best all around. It makes the Clonex work better because when I dilute it quarter strength it comes to 500 ppm with filtered tap water. That means it's only 200 ppm Clonex and 300 ppm calcium and whatever else. It's better when it's 500 ppm Clonex and 0ppm R/O water.

Just changed the reservoir last night, the girls ate a ton! Now they have fresh food to eat. I will also be changing the reservoir for Shug (who is starting to take off again), only adding 7 gallons of water and just some organic nutrient with some enzymes to help bring back the root system from being half-dead. I cut off the dead ones that were coming out the bottom of the bucket, and will be using Sensizym to help bring it back and take care of the dead root material. After it comes back then I will stop anything live or organic and move to the Lucas formula using hydrogen perioxide. I just have to get rid of what I got for now and see what it can do as well. It's some Mother Earth Tea grow, Sensizym, SuperThrive, fulvic acid, and Barricade, should be good, right? LOL

I don't want to use B-52 anymore because it really raises the PPM and also it's a B vitamin like SuperThrive, just a variety of them. Because B-52 is so strong, I'm not sure how much to really dilute it. They recommend such a ridiculous amount, even half strength seems like a lot. I think SuperThrive is going to be better for the Lucas formula because it doesn't contain any plant food ingredients like B-52 does having such a large effect on PPM. So I'm just going to go with that. It will just be easier to use I think and is more well-renowned than B-52.

So for the Kush there will be

1- Lucas Formula

2- Lucas Formula, (2ml a quart) fulvic acid, SuperThrive

3- Lucas Formula, (1ml a quart) fulvic acid, SuperThrive, .05ml a quart Barricade (silica)

4- Lucas Formula, (1ml a quart) fulvic acid, SuperThrive, Tarantula

The Mazar and Blueberry will go on a Lucas Formula using SuperThrive, 1ml a quart fulvic acid, .05ml a quart Barricade

Thanks for stopping by!

[brokencage]

Sounds cool bro.Watch the silica it acts as a ph up.So add it before you add your nutes.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Gotcha. Thanks for stopping by man, you've been great support in all of this.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Hello everyone who's reading this, I welcome you to a non-picture post. This could help others so I thought it was important enough to post:


As a first-time grower and even into my second grow I thought suppliments were necessary to get the results I wanted. However what I have learned is that without a Ph controller and a way to add back nutrient the plant will go through a flucuation in nutrient strength over the course of a week. It will start off strong and then become weaker with a week's worth of add back water.

Without the proper concentration of macro and micro nutrients, the suppliments really aren't that great. In fact, they just make the solution's ph go haywire for 3 days before it parks at the proper level. This means unless you want to burn your plants with high ph like I did, you should use a ph controller. It can be done, but the one time you forget or get hung up for a day or two the plants burn.

I wouldn't really have any clue as to what I could even do to make this better if it wasn't for GrassCity and it's League of Incredible Growers... However, I have found the Holy Grail of nutrient programs for new growers without access funds to purchace ph controllers and the ability to talk to advanced nutrients about marijuana specific add-back formulas. (which includes practically every closet grower without a perscription, which I am a proud to be)

Long story short, for a first time grower the nutrient program should be simple and the ph should stay stable! This is very important!!! It is better to want to adjust the ph because it's sitting like a rock (to give the plant other ph levels to eat at), than to have to control it every day. Suppliments were almost the death of my garden, but ironically saved the day because the damage I did not understanding how to grow was curbed by their abilities. If I just would have added airstones, raised the buckets up an inch, and got a water chiller I would not have needed suppliments to get the best results possible at the time with my experience.

This post is not to say that suppliments aren't good, it's just to say suppliments are not good for new growers in concentration any where NEAR full strength, because there is really no way to test it when your garden is your investment, not a science experiment the first few times. There is no way to test what your plants like without turning your garden into a lab. So for a new grower, it's best to just get a simple program that gets results with marijuana, regardless of the claims the suppliments make. If you don't have a good enough understanding of the needs of the plant, suppliments are jumping the gun completely. For this I am very guilty and slightly embarrassed- yet happy to bring the information to this site. I hope some new grower sees this and uses the Lucas formula instead of Advanced Nutrients, and saves the suppliments for when you can afford them easier, which is also ironic.

Sustained root health is brought about by proper ratios of macro and micro nutrient, high levels of dissolved oxygen, clean water, and the proper temperature. Suppliments can add to this, but only after these bases are covered. If they are not, suppliments can actually be a complete waste of money. It would have raised my yeild more to not have the root system die, (if I would have used airstones, hydrogen perioxide, and raised the buckets up an inch) instead of buying like 5 $30 bottles of Sensizym to keep the damage from consuming the whole root system. This time I've both underfed and burned them slightly... I just can't get it right, don't have a clue what I'm doing wrong, except that I'm using advanced nutrients when I'm a n00b.

So it's back to the basics before I drive myself crazy! I think I'll be OK using them this round but it won't be as good as the Lucas formula final round. I'll have a MUCH better understanding of what I'm doing when the formula consists only of what the plant needs. If the plant needs more food I don't need a totally new reservoir with a different strength, all I need is to do some math and then add some nutrient. If the solution is too strong I just add some water!

Not having to change the reservoir and not having to adjust the ph every single day even twice a day after a reservoir change is going to be a dream come true. I've spent hundreds on suppliments that could have been outdone by simple measures to keep the root system healthy. I've spent nights(even on the weekend)changing a reservoir by myself, adding filtered tap water with gallon jugs so it was a huge chore. Not having to do that every week is just too amazing for words. If anybody is using advanced nutrients or changing the reservoir every week, that has to be music to your ears!

I tried an organic solution for Shug and the ph runs like mad, hope it parks soon or I'm going to scrap it and try something else. It's like it's buffered for soil or something... She got burned a little bit by either high ph, a too high concentration of suppliments, or both. It's very slight but still annoying. I just want to get the damn nutrient program down and it's just been such a struggle understanding it all.

Less is more? What?

Just so hard for me to understand as an American, if you all know what I mean.

But there is a point where the suppliments could raise yeild- just not as a n00b. It is better to get the needs of the plant taken care of, before the wants!!!


In other news the clones are still growing very slowly, I think because they have to revert back to veg. There is even one Shug clone that has a little bit of frost on it! But that's why we call her Shug! It's not that big of a deal to leave them in the tray, but I do want to transplant them and funds are tight right now. We want to put them under the 400 watt metal halide but we would need an inline fan and we would need to get in the attic and run another power cord to the room. We are reaching the capacity for the room's breaker. So just a lot of work going on lately... I've tried so hard working on the garden lately and it just doesn't seem to let up.

Plus, I've smoked all of the weed already. Gave a bunch of it away but still it's gone and I have another 5 weeks before more comes in. It is just such amazing weed, wish I had more.

And I could have had more if I would have known these things, but oh well. This next run is going to be much better.

Take care everyone! Keep growin!

[brokencage]

Now your talking!!! Bro tbh its the shady nutrient company's that play on our desires to do the best we can by our plants.Many of these products would work very well in an organic soil grow.but not in hydro.In my research I found that in cases like yours the bio products probably actually worsened the condition by consuming even more D.O. hydroponics provide all the nutrients a plant needs,already soluble and ready to consume.There is absolutely no need for a bio field to have to break down any nutrients.Yet they make it all sound soooooo Good.Other products that offer high concentrations of P.K for blooming are also a joke.If your using the strongest nutrient your plants can handle .then there is no need for these supposed super bloom products.In order to use them properly you have to reduce your regular feedings and then youv just changed nutes not added anything extra!!.Give your plants what they need.Fresh air,good room temps,and a good happy root zone and they will love you for it.Nutes are a very small part of the equation.Keep it nice and simple,K.I.S.S.

Dont be a stranger bro.I want to know how the new system is coming along!!!

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Great thoughts man, I just wish I could have seen it sooner. But they did sell me hook, line, and sinker. That first grow was so important to me they could sell me just by saying it would help. Now that I'm moving out of that phase and meeting others like yourself, I'm seeing the truth in it all. You would need to be an advanced grower to use those advanced nutrients correctly and even then it might not be worth it.

After I get the basics down, move and get a perscription to grow me and Advanced Nutrients are going to be having a little competition. Lucas Formula vs. Advanced Nutrients. Considering I started with advanced nutrients and had such poor results it doesn't look good for them, but maybe with a controller and a proper add-back calculater it could work, but we'll see even about that.

I am guilty of complicating something simple... I just want to start over but what do I do with these nutrients? Should I throw them away and just go with the Lucas formula? I just wish I could talk to someone who works for advanced nutrients about all of this but I can't because I'm a closet grower... What the fuck do I do? I added a shit load of air pumps, there are 4 dual port pumps on the flowering reservoir. After seeing the waterfall aeration technique I have no real need for them so I decided to put them on the reservoirs. Wish I would have saved my money and just bought a commercial air pump, but it's more wattage anyways with the 4 pumps.

But what should I do? Stop using them and save them for later? I guess I don't like to just give up, but I have to. It's just not doing what they say it is, and for the work it's not fair at all. Should I just scrap it and move to the Lucas formula and not use the rest of the big bud? It's so hard to let go still having them... It makes me feel a little sick LOL

I will be keeping in touch with you for sure man, you are like my nutrient solution hero sent from God to help keep me from going insane.

I really appreciate you being around and being able to meet you under these unique circumstances. If it wasn't for you my journals would have been a ghost-town and I would be tearing my hair out not knowing what to do about the nutrients!


Thank You!

[brokencage]

Good to hear it bro.as for talking to someone at advanced...well just call them they offer a growers suport line.that way you can run the nutes as per thier instructions and get a good side by side comparison.Though for the cost of the nutrients from advanced the results would have to be much better than the lucas formula wich is incredibly cost eficiant.

advanced suport page.http://www.advancednutrients.com/support.php

[Mr.GoodStuff]

I don't want to talk to them about growing unless I have a perscription, but I will do it one day. I'm not going to tell them I'm growing tomatos LOL they will know it's marijuana. Until then, however- I'm going with something that has been proven to be simple and effective, not something people say is and I can't get it to work the way they claim. The results will have to be amazing to be worth the money and work, that's for sure! But for the n00b grower that I am,

Lucas Formula FTW!!!

[Homergrower]

your lights are enclosed arn't they? just didn't see any glass in that picture of your light upside down ?
Or do they have individual cool tubes around the bulb's

[fahQpayMe]

i finally posted new pics

enjoy

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Yes it is enclosed, it's a CoolSun XL hood. You just can't see the glass because it's so clear.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

I am very happy to report that I have found some new genetics totally by chance- some Haze that a friend grew out on her porch for fun. She found some seeds in a bag and planted them; and they are very small because of the low-light levels on the porch. However they are big enough to clone, and she can't flower them so I offered to take them home and flower them. She of course said yes.

This is an older lady that is a friend of my mother's, she's known me my whole life so I can trust her. My mom told her I was growing anyways LOL they are very close friends.

But Haze is the sorta the taste I'm looking for- it's not EXACTLY the flavor I want but it's in the same ballpark. It's that musky flavor that reminds me of an Indian scent shop or something equally musky But I like it a lot. I'm very pleased to have stumbled across this!

I was going to get them today but she isn't going to be home in time so I'll have to take them tomorrow.

There is one that is larger than the others and I'm going to be cutting it in half and doing two clones off of the one main shoot. A double clone!


I'll take some new pictures soon, the tops of the plants are yellowing again under the light I think the lights are too close, because the Ph is fine 5.4-6.0 and the amount of food is 1200-1250 ppm which should be fine. This happened before too, but I thought it was normal. It's weird because the lights are about 14 inches away or so and the amount of heat coming off of them is not much with the cooling system in place. I can hold my hand directly underneath the lamp and it doesn't burn me. It's hot though, and it's about 85 degrees in there with lights on. I have tons of fans all over too, so it's strange that the lights would be doing this but I can't think of anything else that could be wrong. It's just the leaves directly under the light. Tonight I'm going to raise the lights again to 18" above the plants and see if it stops. I am using Advanced Nutrients at the level they recommend, I don't think it's a deficiency but I might be wrong. I'll take pictures though because I want to find out for sure.

[brokencage]

Sounds great about the haze wildman.the yellowing could just be normal new growth and lower temps.having said that I have one hashberry branch that is kinda yellow/lighter green.though I cant find anything wrong anywhere!

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Last night when I raised the lights about 5 or 6 inches the plants almost immediately responded by putting green back into the yellowing leaves at the top. It happened very fast. So the lights were too close. They are back at 18" away from the bulb and about 16" away from the bottom of the hood. Can't wait to get a bigger fan and hood so that it cools the lights better... But at least the problem has been corrected for now. The plants look much more lively and green overnight.

Mazar











Miss Shug



Why we call her Shug



This is a picture of the green coming back into the leaves






This is a Blueberry plant that has a similar condition but it's not coming back as fast, it was closest to the bulb and suffered the worst



messin around in photoshop, bored...







Anyways that's the news, the problem looks like it's been solved. The Kush clones are still fine from being transplanted into rapid rooters after a month in rockwool cubes. It has been amazing to say the least! Hopefully they can root now, I cut off the tough bottom of the cutting that wasn't rooting and shaved a little bit of skin off of the bottom of the clone so it could root easier as well. I sorta did it out of instinct, I recently saw ganja guerilla's cloning video visting his site and I saw him shave a little bit off the bottom of the shoot to help it root and it was the first time I've seen someone else do it. I think I have growing in my blood

As soon as they root I'll take pictures of them again. The Blueberry and Mazar clones are starting to grow now they are reverting back to veg. The ones with the frost haven't yet but they are starting to show signs of growth and have rooted well.

Reveg Shug has been overfed even using organics... It's not that big of a deal, at least I've learned how organics work in hydro when they aren't already broken down unlike Pure Blend Pro which is already broken down. The ppm keeps rising, it started at like 500 ppm and now it's up to 1000. I think the organics are being digested which is good but not having a controller for the rising ppm is bad.

I'm starting to really see why a nutrient program like Advanced Nutrients would be good for soil- always fresh nutrient. But it's cool, I'm getting the hang of it I guess.

The Lucas Formula will be a great change that's for sure.