This came about as a result of a stalled soil grow... The PE started off as clones from my mothers, taken a few weeks into flower. More as an experiment to see if I could..and a way out of the soil situation. They took about a month to recover, and start to sprout fresh green. The BV was a free seed, and started life same time as the clones. The BV streaked ahead.. The problem with the soil grow, apart from over ferting, lack of N, over heating, was the high ph runoff. It reached 7.3, and took AGES to flush. Seems now I've read that the runoff has little bearing on the health of the plant... however, I decided to switch them to coco. High ph runoff has been constant with all my grows to date, none of which I consider to be a decent success. After two weeks in Coco, using Coco A+B, they're looking absolutely fantastic..Switched to 12/12 about 3 days ago, along with the BV still in soil. It's in Biobizz Allmix, with vermiculite, still a high runoff. I've since been advised that vermiculite has a ph of about 9 - which goes a long way to explaining the high runoffs, I'd say. It never occurred to me to check it - the stuff I've been using is building quality... So.. be aware! I used about 30% in the mix. So, I'll be posting pics shortly - all's looking good in the garden.. but.. still early days..All in all, I'm more pleased with the condition of the plants at this stage - thanks to the coco, I think. Obviously, I've grown the PE before, and the results were extremely pleasant..if a fair bit off the weight I was looking for..
Setup: 1.5m square tent 600 w HPS w/reflector Plants all in 10L Airpots (2.2 uk gals - 2.64 US gals) ..3 of the plants are pure coco, and the other two have vermiculite in. Didn't have enough coco to fill all the pots, so used the vermiculite as filler... before I realised it has a high ph. However.. they're all doing fine so far.. Fan in, fan out, temperatures vary between 72f and 78f, lights off during the day, temps don't drop too much at this time of year. 69f would be the lowest. There's also a rotating fan blowing over the plants, on a timer. Comes on for about 20 minutes every hour or thereabout. What else? As I said.. feeding according to the Canna UK feed chart, A+B. The BV is still in soil, doing good, using Biobizz Grow (8:2:6)..but now I've switched to 12/12, I'll need to add something to boost the P.. When I figure how to set the white balance on my camera, I'll get some pics in situ up. Here's a question. I'll be flushing shortly, as a matter of course - to clean out any salts.. so.. flush with clean ph'd water... is it ok to do this without adding noots to the last flush? Seems that the plant will be deficient in noots till the next watering..apart from the noots actually IN the PLANT. SO.. what's the plan? Flush with clean water only? Or.. add noots for the last flush? The Stoke..
when i flush i don't use nutes but i do ph it, each person has there own way of doing things but mine was .......flush feed flush feed feed flush...... unless it's a final flush.then it's just plain water. middy
The bottom pic is the Blue Venom, just trying to bend it a bit.. it's growing too big for the others...showing signs of too much N, but living with it. The others, as you can see, have a little bit of leaf edge curl. I raised the lamp (600 w HPS) a little and added another fan... that makes two fans .. on timers, so one comes on every hour for 15 minutes every hour, as does the other one, taking turns. both fans blowing from different positions to ensure they all get a bit of a breeze... Your comments are very welcome...!
wow the pics you posted are massive, & with my moblie internet connection i would take an hour to download, but the top 3cm of the first pic looks good. did you use the GC to upload them or photobucket the fan plan will work fine. middy
I'll post a few new pics... these last ones were WAY too big.. I thought there would be a limitter on the size.. oh well. Good news is that all looks good. The BV, the only one in soil, is lagging behind a bit.. tied her down, and she's taking a while to recover...It's not anywhere near a true side by side comparison, but the cocos are WAY ahead in general growth.
Ok. got the pics working.. Main problem I have now, is BUD ROT. Noticed it 3 days ago, and I've read up on the problem, cut out the infected parts, and now what to do next is the problem. I'm nine weeks into flowering, from 12/12. The colas are big, just flushed them all yesterday, ready to harvest. All the trichs are clear. The leaves are just slightly yellowing. Should I chop now, and dry the buds quickly after separating, in order to avoid spreading the spores? This is my second grow of G13, and last time it took 10 weeks, in soil. When checking for rot, I noticed that there are still a lot of 'unhatched pods" - I assume that, if left, these would develop more flowers... but I feel that the harvest as it is would be big enough for me. Looks like about 2 oz a plant, dried. Question is - would the high be there? Urgency is of the essence here... so feel free to bombard me with advice.. Uploaded with ImageShack.us
i would wait and keep any eye out for amber trich´s , yes, you would still get a high. try and get the humidity down below 30 if you can. middy
I've chopped one..and I'll see how it goes with the rest. No more sign of casualties today. Problem I have now is, how to disinfect the tent and surrounding area. What's the best thing for that? Keep in mind, I don't have access to eclectic specialist stuff. I have bleach. But, I think there's something I can get from the pharmacy..can anyone remind me what that is? Is it H202? Hydrogen Peroxide? Ok, I think that's it... now.. just have to find out what the dilution rate is. If I've got this wrong, or you have any other suggestions... feel free.. Tks The SToke
4 days into drying that first chopped... looking good so far, no evidence of further damage from the bud rot. Still no amber trichs on the others. There were none on the chopped one, but I figured it was close... perhaps not close enough, considering the other 4 in the grow are still motoring.. Still looking for a good product to disinfect the grow room. I favour bleach... but I've read it's not the best... apparently 90% isopropyl alcohol is what I want. Can't get it locally... Any ideas? Tks The SToke
i don´t live in the USA but walmart seems to have everything.. i would go with the isopropyl alcohol. Do you raise your lights in the last week to ten days? middy
Middy.. thanks for that.. I'll try and get the isopropyl.. last time, I had to order it. and I think I could only get 70%. Sometimes, it's a BASTARD living in the middle of nowhere. And I don't live in the US either... As for the lights - I did raise them a bit, but only because there was a rise in temperature. I assume, as you mentioned it, there's a positive reason, other than that? The first plant, chopped and laid out to dry is about ready to jar. The others are still sitting there, clear trichs. 10 weeks of flowering now. The leaves are yellowing, and they're looking a bit ill, but the buds are ok. It looks like I may have gotten away with the Bud Rot. No sign of it (crossed fingers) for the last 4 days. These last 4 plants MUST be ready soon! I thought growing in coco was supposed to be quicker than soil? Not in this case, it seems. The previous grow of the same strain (of which these are clones) were ready at 9/10 weeks. There's no rush, just commenting. Regards', The SToke