* LST Demo * 3x "Mystery" Plants

[__black_water__]

Have not grown in a couple years, but I really enjoy it so here I am.. I'M BACK!!

Did some reading on LST'ing before I started this grow, so I thought I'd give it a run to test it out. The following are the trials and results.


DATE STARTED: Nov. 14/15 (seeds planted)

STRAIN: Mystery (nicer name for bagseed heheh)

# OF PLANTS: 3 (1 hopeful mother, 2 LST)

STARTING MEDIUM: Coco Coir
GROWING MEIDUM: Soil + Coco Coir + Vermiculite + Guano Mix (5-5-1) + Blood & Bone Meal (7-7-0)
POTS: 18L Utility buckets, 12" diameter x 13" depth

LIGHTS: 2x4' T8 6500K Fluorescents to start, and will be buying 2x400w MH/HPS conversion kits. Intake/exhaust will be set up when the lights arrive.

NUTRIENT LINEUP:
HiGrow's Superior Blend - Grow A+B
HiGrow's Superior Blend - Bloom A+B
Advanced Nutrients SensiZym
AN SensiCal Mg Mix
AN B-52 Fertilzer Booster (2-1-4)
AN Grandma Enggy's F-1 Fulvic Acid (1-0.75-1.5)
General Hydroponics KoolBloom Liquid (0-10-10)
GH KoolBloom Powder (2-45-28)
Botanicare Sweet
AN Final Phase


As I said, I started all this back mid-November, and took pictures at each transplant, etc. So I will do a post for each phase that I did. It's nothing special, but it's a good look at LST in action, and you might learn something. I am looking to learn even more myself. And this is all just a holdover til I get my " Cali Tripp " seeds....keep your eyes peeled for that one. Hope you enjoy!


__black_water__

[__black_water__]

I recently had to move, and along the way I found a little wooden box that had several seeds in it. I figured I would keep them just for the hell of it, and see what the bud looked like in the end. And if my friend fell through with the Cali Tripp seeds, then hopefully I could get a mother out of the bagseed and keep growing from that.



A lot of the seeds looked bad to start, but I tried germinating all of them anyway. Didn't go so well... there was about 14 to start, and only 7 or 8 of them looked like they had any chance of actually growing. I planted the 7 or 8, ended up dropping one of the cups and losing some, and finished with 6 party cups with seeds. Did the plastic cover for a humidity dome, etc

[__black_water__]

Here are a few freak plants that I had. 4th grow, and these are my first mutants. One of them, the plant sprouted, but the shell was still completely encasing the plant. I gave it some time, tried redoing the humidity dome to soak the seed off, and eventually just pulled the seed shell off myself. the plant was rotten inside, obviously not growing.


the 2nd freaky thing was the plant that started growing just on the surface. It didn't develop a stalk like the other plants... I thought it was done for but I kept it anyway to see what would happen to it. I poked at the soil near the base of it once it grew a little and noticed the taproot had kinda curled up on itself and then went down, so that is where the stalk length went. It is one of the plants I still have now, and is growing nicely. Coincidentally, due to its abnormal start, it started growing almost flat to the soil, definitely with a huge lean on it. This made it ideal for LST so I was happy...



this plant was just deformed from the beginning, the shell case stuck on one of the cotyledons, and when i was finally able to get it off, the leaf inside was small and shriveled. plant did NOT survive

[__black_water__]

We take this break in the journal for a quick advertisement.... well not really, but it may as well be one

here's my Grow-phase nutrient lineup, and 30L water reservoir with air-pump / airstone

[__black_water__]

These plants started in party cups, went to 6" plastics, and are now in the aforementioned utility buckets. This is the first time i've had the opportunity to grow in these huge containers, with everything else going great, and can't wait to see how big the plants get when the 400W come in!!!

Here's my soil mix for the final transplant:

20 L generic soil
10 L coco coir
9 L vermiculite
1 1/2 C guano mix
1 C blood & bone meal

I recently acquired a huge bin of marbles, so I filled the bottoms of the buckets with about 3 or 4 inches of marbles to help with drainage and air flow to roots. Drilled LOTS of 1/4" holes to help with that too.

[__black_water__]

sorry for the huge pictures.... trying to figure out what size works best. but i think i got it now.

the transplant was on Christmas Eve, and here's the plants the day after Christmas. If you look closely you can see the LST hooks in the one picture.




the plant on the left in the next picture is my hopeful mother, but it looks like it could go male. the bucket definitely needs some more soil too! (and i need some money... heheh)



Plants are doing not bad for a T8 setup with no reflection. Anyone have any comments or criticism?

[n3r0]

Nice soil/nutrient blend. Those plants should really thrive in it. I can't believe the thought of using utility buckets never occurred to me. It will definitely be exciting to watch this experiment unfold. LST is a cool technique.

[__black_water__]

Nice soil/nutrient blend. Those plants should really thrive in it. I can't believe the thought of using utility buckets never occurred to me. It will definitely be exciting to watch this experiment unfold. LST is a cool technique.

thx for the first reply n3ro, i hope the plants thrive in it, more buds for me!! i've tried growing in some stupid containers before, but nothing comes close to the value of these $6 buckets. i'm just wondering if 18 L is too big?? size is not a concern for me, I will be using a whole room eventually, but is it gonna be a bunch of wasted soil or will the root system actually occupy the whole bucket?

here's a picture just 14 days ago, after the first LST bend. I am dying waiting for my lights to come in, these plants can do so much better!

[Hypeshot]

O your plants will LOVE you for the extra root space , they will use every bit of it =) Everything looks great man. K+

[n3r0]

Originally Posted by __black_water__

thx for the first reply n3ro, i hope the plants thrive in it, more buds for me!! i've tried growing in some stupid containers before, but nothing comes close to the value of these $6 buckets. i'm just wondering if 18 L is too big?? size is not a concern for me, I will be using a whole room eventually, but is it gonna be a bunch of wasted soil or will the root system actually occupy the whole bucket?

here's a picture just 14 days ago, after the first LST bend. I am dying waiting for my lights to come in, these plants can do so much better!

Roots loves to stretch out and the more stretched out they are the more surface area there is in the root system. Hype's right on the money, they'll love it. Your soil blend is spot on. Your containers are great. I've got high hopes for this one.

[ggman]

Originally Posted by __black_water__

here's a picture just 14 days ago, after the first LST bend. I am dying waiting for my lights to come in, these plants can do so much better!

Lovin the LST demo, wanna see what you do and she grows! Know what you mean about the light... they'll explode under the HID lamp. Will keep watchin here for updates. GL man!

[13ronin]

tuned in!

[newgrowNY]

Just started a grow myself using 5 gal buckets from Home Depot. Although, instead of using marbels in the bottom I found something called an AirBase at the hydro store. They are a 10"plastic disc raised the soil about 1" off the bottom of the bucket, to allow dor drainage and air flow.

[__black_water__]

thanks for the replies everyone, its good to hear i am doing things right and seeing some interest from others is always nice

Originally Posted by newgrowNY

Just started a grow myself using 5 gal buckets from Home Depot. Although, instead of using marbels in the bottom I found something called an AirBase at the hydro store. They are a 10"plastic disc raised the soil about 1" off the bottom of the bucket, to allow dor drainage and air flow.

yea that sounds about right, i will run out of marbles when i get my 8-plant setup going, so i will need to find something to replace it. will check out that airbase thing.

at first i thought the airbase thing was going to be similar to another idea i had:

Does anyone know if putting an airstone (with pump) directly into the soil mix, near the bottom, would benefit the plants? Or would the soil just clog the stone and make it useless?

here are some updated pics, just did my last bend towards the outer edge today. plants are 46 days old for reference.

here's LST2, side and top views



and LST1, side and top



both LST's, and the mother



...and the Mother

[n3r0]

Originally Posted by __black_water__;3594877

[B

Does anyone know if putting an airstone (with pump) directly into the soil mix, near the bottom, would benefit the plants? [/B]

Nifty idea. Try it on a couple plants and see if it makes a difference. While you're experimenting might as well give it a shot right?