Thanks to Ant Dog and Schplakken I recently really looked into the 6/9 formula pioneered by H3ad (on another forum) Ironhead added a few things to H3ad's blend that i really liked so i added them to the current Jacks 15-12-26 hydro coco-perlite grow. This is what i am using now - Jacks's with agsil, Molasses and Montmorillonite clay, with now, the addition of Florolicious Plus and Roots Accelerator and Barley Extract Pond Clarifier from the Ironhead's modifications to Hsad's 6/9 blend. H3ad went 6/9 (6 ml GH Flora Micro plus 9 ml GH flora Bloom per gallon) Because its has a K value appropriate for coco, and its a low EC so he wouldn't have rapid salt buildup. I recently did full analysis of that plus floralicious plus and liked the results i got from the Nutrient spreadsheet i use. Happy to post the results if anyone is interested. so i am running JAcks now, and the problem is Jacks+calcinit is high in K. H3ad's 6/9 is a better blend. I love the results from jacks. I just think i can run a higher EC with 6/9+. same as 6/9 but increased in strength. but NOT Lucas formula. I don't like it for cannabis. since jacks and 6/9 are both "two part" blends, jacks and 6/9 both have the benefit of being able reduce or increase one of the two parts relative to the other to get to the NPK you want. this is how i like to do it with jacks from veg to final bloom, and I'm happy i can also do it with 6/9 (3-11 in mid bloom for example) and i LIKE GH nutes, last grow was a flora nova grow in coco/perlite hempies... textbook.... simple. plants loved it. Thats why i was convinced about using floralicious plus with jacks... the floranova looks and smells like has it in the bottle. Hulmic/fulvic sugar goodness. when i saw that Ironhead was using F+ I said hell ya, me to. and i am running out of jacks. So next grow will be one tent in jacks and a tent in 6/9 (though I am going a bit stronger , same ratio, i want to feed around EC 1.2.... call it 6/9+ the plus being between 20 and 40 percent stronger) its not going to be a comparison grow, though i am interested in the final results. I expect yields to be about the same, less flushing in the 6/9+ tent. more iron deficiency and salt buildup in the jacks tent. I just want to use up the last of the jacks. it works very well for me, but i DO want something with less K now that have more experience with coco/perlite , in a Turface PPK setup- jacks ROCKS. 6/9 would not be the way to go for that setup... unless you increase the percentages of micro and bloom in 6/9 to get to a more appropriate EC for intense vertical lighting and being fed several times a day. for my next grow i'll be running an amare 350-uvb and 4 platinum p-150s. the other tent will remain the same... a mars II 900w, and 4 mars 300w. i can go 20-30 percent higher EC than 6/9 can get me. I'll need it for max yield under that much light. thanks to H3ad, and of course to Ant dog and Schplakken for getting me to think about 6/9+ but don't hold your breath for this, i have a ways to go on the current grow
Looking at the 4 zombie kush with the lens. LOTS of trichomes. 90% cloudy and a few amber on the buds closest to the light This is supposed to be a 55-60 days flowing indica dominant. There isn't much out there on the web about this strain as far as documented grows go. I managed to find a youtube video where a guys says he is harvesting on day 52!! The 4 zombies have been under 12-12 for 5 weeks, and are really packing on the density now. 35 days. looking at the trichomes, i would say i may be harvesting as early as day 55. wow.... only three weeks! that's good because i am getting tired of watering every day... even more importantly i am out of smoke.
About Zombie Kush from the Ripper Seeds Website From the selection of one of our first genetic search works, an old Lavender Kush clone was pollinated by our brilliant Amnesia. From there a clone that we named “Sideral” was selected and we decided to pollinate it again later with our Bubba Kush. Its vegetative cycle should be generous if we want to develop the full potential of its Indica demeanor. With a low EC both in the vegetative and the flowering cycles we will get spectacular results. Its purplish color scheme and the great quantity of trichomes that cover its large flowers would make this strain a key one for Kush flavor lovers. VEGETATIVE From 2 to 4 weeks GENOTYPE 20% Sativa / 80% Índica INDOOR FLOWERING 55/60 days OUTDOOR FLOWERING Early October YELD Medium / High EFFECT Powerful / Durable
Yo man looking good in here! I'm always down learn something new.. Hope you don't mind if I pull up a chair.
Of course, glad to have you! you are more than welcome Ironhead, ill be posting more picts tonight. i am definitely getting some purple color development on 2 of the Zombie Kush.... temps have gotten quite cool here at night here (mid-autumn here Buenos Aires Argentina) . and MUCH less relative humidity, something i had fought a couple weeks ago during three weeks of rain. 4 of the Zombies are in week 7 of flower and look like they are on schedule for flushing in a week (perhaps two, its my first grow of Zombie Kush so not certain) , and thank goodness this time I will have less risk of bud rot. 4 Zombie kush should be ready for final flush in a week. These are the plants under the 1000w (actual draw) of Mars and Mars II lights . I didn't veg these for very long, i wanted to get them into 12-12 sooner since i was running our of weed. the other 6 plants (3 zombie Kush, 2 Dinafem Critical, one Heavyweight Dream Machine) are at least three weeks behind. They got a slower start, having had to fight hot weather last january when i planted them. I also let these plants veg a lot longer than the first 4 so i would have longer before running out again/ . These 6 are large (up to 28" above edge of buckets) , for my operation (not much space, limited vertical), and look like they will all be big producers. 5 of these are in the second tent (and its a jungle in there) , and the Dream machine shares the tent with the first 4 Zombies.
Why LST I like to use topping (one time) and low stress training as a way to space out the branches, get more tops in less vertical space and increase yield. How i LST Simple. I use velcro double sided tape from Home Depo, and make little loops to go around the branches and thin aluminum wire to fasten these loops to the edge of the pot to tie the branches into position at about 5 nodes i top the plant, and brace the stem at the point where it entered the coco. this brace is a loop of velcro around the bast of the stem, and a wire pulled snug horizontally to the side of the bucket. This serves to prevent additional wires from pulling the plant out of the medium then i train the topped plant to grow towards the edge of the pot. When the two tops are near the top, i use more wires to train the two tops about 3" about the edge of the pot, going around the pot in opposite directions. all of the side branding from the two tops is convinced that they are tops and soon the edge of the pot has a nice hedge of new tops reaching for the lights. When the tow tops cover about 1/2 to 2/3 of the pet edge, and there are 15-30 new tops, i flip the lights. I stop training the two tops about a week before stretch is over, to allow the ends of the two twos to bend up toward the lights, and usually they catch up with the other new tops before stretch is over. Sometime i brace the stops with more wire if the buds get so heavy that the stems are starting to be unable to bear the weight. Not really training, just wire used instead of bamboo sticks as are often used for the same purpose. sorry I don't have any pictures, I will take some next grow... There are some excellent photos and descriptions of how to LST in this thread LST (Low Stress Training) STEP BY STEP
A note on J.R. Peters Jacks 15-12-26 Magnesium and Calcium. Magnesium Everyone knows how coco will bind Magnesium, and usually we need to add Magnesium. I say usually because we are usually talking about one part or two part or three part liquid nutrient blends. Why does it matter that they are liquid? Because it is had to get enough magnesium into the mix when the mix is stored as a concentrated liquid. Jacks is dry powder. 2 parts. One of the really great things about JAcks is that it has plenty of magnesium, and the magnesium is in the 'Jacks' part of the two part mix And the calcium and extra nitrogen for veg is in the Calcinit part of the two part mix after the plants are receiving full strength nutrients, with my tap water, I've never had to augment Mg or Ca during veg or bloom. I say Ca and Mg separately for a reason. These are two separate components of a plants needs. They aren't working in concert totally together, and for that reason should be treated as separate problems when deficiencies arise. Why boost the CA by treating an Mg deficiency with CalMag? why does it matter? because coco can suck up so much Ca and Mg that periodically you might be seeing Mg or Ca deficiencies when growing in coco. I never see ANY deficiencies using jacks, let alone Ca and Mg deficiencies. Depending on the characteristics of your tap water, you might have to augment Ca...but I doubt you'll EVER see a Mg deficiency. Calcium and Nitrogen reduction during Bloom The other great thing about using Jacks is that once stretch is over, you have gradually decreased the amount of Calcinit added to your mix to zero. this reduces both calcium levels and nitrogen levels to acceptable levels at a time when the plant doesn't need so much Ca and N. nothing else to do in flowering stage. just stop using the Calcinit. No bloom boosters, PK boost or other questionable mumbo jumbo to complicate the mix. and yes, I use Floralicious Plus straight thru to final flush. they love the humic magic throughout the life cycle, and it really puts on trichomes during bloom. When used with JAcks, at least, this stuff is totally benign - never see any burning issues. Why would it. This stuff is mild, and adding it to the mild Jacks concentrations i am using (only 600 PPM, .5 scale) its not going to burn. thats it. to repeat here is an overview of this idiot proof regimen.. It SO idiot proof it doesn't deserve an official name, like Lucas Method for example.... its just Jacks with a couple of additives. thats all. veg jacks+ calciati, 600 PPM (.5 scale) a quality root stimulator, floralicious plus, montmorillonite clay and molasses added to the mix once a week ( not at the same time) bloom one flowers are "setting" at tops, stretch is soon to be over. start decreasing calcinit over 14 day period still always feeding at 600 PPM (.5 scale) montmorillonite clay and molasses added to the mix once a week ( not at the same time), until a week before final flush final flush one week. veg and bloom no plain water days only flush when its necessary (when runoff is 200 PPM higher than what your put in) feed every day except for final flush, when required flush with 1/4 strength base nutrient solution until runoff is 100 PPM or less than the flush final flush, 7 days plain water
Interesting you don't use a PK boost like KoolBloom. I know my yield certainly got a boost when I started using that stuff.. And the plants always look so happy after getting it. Not for everyone tho.. I didn't use it for years and always had good success, but was always missing those fat yields coco is known for. Really came together with that additive and I started hitting the numbers I had chased for so long.
in bloom, using jacks you start reducing the calcinit when stretch stops, and within two weeks after stretch it decrease it to zero. so for the rest of flower you are feeding only the jacks which is 5-12-26, and at 600 PPM on a .5 meter. If a plant responds to a pk booster, i think its only because your mix had low PK to begin with. It the mix is correct, P and K are optimal, and adding PK booster isn't going to increase the uptake of P and K, and in fact adding it is bound to lock out something else (since the plant isn't taking it up, it doesn't need to , P and K are correct in the mix) at a time when you want peak efficiency and no PH swings. this is my opinion. And what i am doing works for me, using the tap water i have. when i started reading online about using jacks 15-12-16 with cannabis, i found that many if not most hydro growers using this fertilizer aren't using ANY additives, from start to end, PK boosters included. Its a balanced complete plant food. this stuff is different than KISS, lucas or 6/9. but i like leaves that pray to the light, the disease resistance and strong stems from silica, humics/fulvics, and healthy roots, so i use some additives i try to keep my additive list short. VAM, Floralicious plus, montmorillonite clay, molasses, agsil, roots accelerator. i worked up the total analysis of using 6/9, including a schedule at the end to reduce nitrogen and increase P and K - (by adjusting the 6/9 and adding PK booster during bloom If i was doing 6/9, i am pretty certain I would be using PK boosters toward the end. I did a pretty thorough analysis of 6/9 recently because i am running out of jacks, but I can get general hydroponics in nearby uruguay. that is if i don't get back to the usa soon to pick up some jacks, and 4 p150 LED lights. I'd rather not switch away from jacks. since using it i don't add calcium or magnesium, and have not had a single deficiency of any kind, and that has applied to several different strains.
Thats the most Important, What works good for yourself. Everyone has different things to deal with not including diff. strains and such.
Started final flush on the first 4 Ripper seeds zombie kush. here are some picts from last night pistils have mostly all receded, swelling is really noticeable. ripper says 55-60 days in flower, i am at day 50 today. i figure 7 to 14 days more to finish, so flushing now, don't want to start too late and have them get too mature. I like about 10 percent amber, maybe 15%. I see nearly all cloudy, a few clear, a few amber trichomes, and if i flush now, i might have enough Jacks left to finish the last 6 plants. Those are about three weeks from flush, i would say. perhaps more. here are some picts of the ones i started flushing today Zombie Kush 1
two of the zombies are showing the purple color for which this strain is noted. And one is really getting purple, even on older fan leaves. They are sleeping now, I will post some picts tonight The purple really came on a lot more strongly right after i started flushing... might be a coincidence. the nights have been a lot cooler so that also would bring it on. I am pumped that the two purple ones also have the best trichome development. whats amazing is that i have pictures of the really purple one from just two days ago and its not showing purple on the leaves. Now - lots of purple. So dark in some places it looks black. the other two zombies that i am flushing don't really show any purple. these are also slightly different phenotypes, they have slightly less dense buds and less trichomes visible on the sugar leaves and fan leaves near the buds. all are still bulking up.