1st Time Diary - Swiss Cheese (Nirvana) clones in Hand-watered Coco

[Raedwulf]

Hi everyone. This is my first grow using Canna coco, and my first Grow Diary.

First off, meet the 'tardis'.



It's a small wardrobe converted on a very tight budget, but I hope to produce enough personal herb to keep me happy between grows .

Size: 72cm (2ft 4in) wide, 40cm (1ft 7in) deep, 124cm (4ft) tall. 0.288 m2 (3.1 ft2) / 0.357 m3 (12.6 ft3).
Extraction: TT100 in-line fan, airflow 145 m3 / 5120 ft3 per hour (2.41 m3 / 85 ft3 per min) - via a carbon filter.
Lighting: 200W / 13000 Lumen 2700k "Plug & Grow" cfl (for flowering phase), housed in an "envirolite" reflector.
Air movement within the growdrobe is augmented by a small - low-speed - fan on a timer (night and day).

My Current Grow: 4x Swiss Cheese (Nirvana) clones.
Phase: Flowering (day 7).
Medium: Canna Coco professional.
Nutes: Canna Coco A+B.
Method: Hand-watering to run-off.

The plants have a troubled history , originally grown from feminised seeds (using compost and Perlite mix with BioBizz nutes, Maxicrop etc), they got seriously stunted through a variety of problems. In the end, cuttings were taken and grown on in Coco instead - and what a good move that was.

I have never seen MJ grow so strong and fast

Canna seems so easy, and effective, I can't see me ever going back again.

Incidentally, the mother plants were in the midst of flowering when the cuttings were taken.

Dates:
Cuttings taken from stunted Mums: 01-May 2011.
Considered re-vegging properly from: 25-May 2011 (under 6400k 200W cfl - 18/6 schedule).
First day of flowering: 17-June 2011 (approx 23 days of veg).

I intend keeping this diary up to date with pictures and notes on progress right through to nugget time , and anyone who wants to tag along for the ride is very welcome - as are any questions, thoughts, and advice, you may care to throw my way.

Anyway, here are some photos from the grow:

At 13 days of re-veg:


At 20 days of re-veg:


At 3 days of flowering:


At 7 days of flowering (today):


Enjoy - Raedwulf.

 

[farmdalefurr]

everything looks really good bro. i hope you like that swiss cheese as much as i did. swiss cheese was my 2nd grow ever, you never forget those early grows.

 

[gaiusmarius]

very nice self supply cab man. looks like you are well on the way. glad to hear the coco is working well for you. keep on keeping on man.

good growings

 

[Dudesome]

nicely nicely nice!!!! Im definitely sticking for this one. Very curious what you can acomplish with your cfl and given setup. My first grow was on 200Cfl and went well. Much better than that of some streeet shit

 

[Raedwulf]

everything looks really good bro. i hope you like that swiss cheese as much as i did. swiss cheese was my 2nd grow ever, you never forget those early grows.

Thanks dude, I'm looking forward to it
I've just gotta stay cool and patient till the hoped-for payoff - and avoid any more set-backs.

 

[Raedwulf]

very nice self supply cab man. looks like you are well on the way. glad to hear the coco is working well for you. keep on keeping on man.

good growings

Thanks, comments appreciated dude.

 

[Raedwulf]

nicely nicely nice!!!! Im definitely sticking for this one. Very curious what you can acomplish with your cfl and given setup. My first grow was on 200Cfl and went well. Much better than that of some streeet shit

Glad to have you along dude. I'm as curious as you to see what I get; I have had some success with previous grows (Northern Lights and White Rhino), in compo and perlite, but nothing that has responded as well as these. My hopes are high

 

[Raedwulf]

Update June 28th - Day 12 of bloom

Update June 28th - Day 12 of bloom

Hi all, feeling a bit downhearted because things aren't going to well at Raedwulf towers
The doc says I have an inner ear infection (which I can cope with), but two of my plants are looking about as ill as I'm feeling.
Needless to say, I'm more concerned about them than I am myself.
These pics were taken two days ago, I meant to do fresh pics today but with feeling so dizzy it was all I could manage to do to feed them - will do new pics tomorrow.

The first two are of the plants that most worry me:

As you can see, they are not happy bunnies.

These other two don't look so crappy:


The tips of the affected leaves are dying and curling upwards, the yellowing extends from the leaf edges up between the green veins. Looks possibly like a nutrient lock-out problem.

Unfortunately, being strapped for cash isn't helping -- I'm having to rely on a liguid ph test kit (and no ec truncheon) until I get paid - when I shall go digital
The ph of the Canna A+B solution before watering, according to the ph colour chart, is about 6.
All the plants are fed once a day (to run-off) from the same nutrient solution. (Nb, I tested the run-off and it was definatly more acidic from the two plants worst affected).
My tap water is quite hard, and I normally use a water softener on it.

Any or all of what I'm doing could be wrong. I'm not proud and I could do with a bit of advice here, this is my first time with Coco and I'm worried I'm completely f****ing it up.

Any help gratefully appreciated.

 

[Raedwulf]

Update June 29th - Day 13 of bloom

Update June 29th - Day 13 of bloom

Panic level dropping (forgive a nervous dad), as the girls are all looking a lot happier now

Here are some up to date photos - all taken today:



And finally, a group shot...


Didn't change a thing and they just have seemed to come right, perhaps I just need to get out of it more and stop worrying so much

 

[Dudesome]

Wonderful! Just wonderful!!! Looking to be like 0.5 gpw easly! maybe more!

 

[gaiusmarius]

looking good Readwulf, just have to keep keeping those plants happy now

 

[CoCo_Crazy]

You said 200w cfl 1300 lumens? Did you mean 13 000 lumens?

Looking good.

 

[Raedwulf]

From the corrections department

From the corrections department

You said 200w cfl 1300 lumens? Did you mean 13 000 lumens?

Looking good.

Oops my mishtake Coco_Crazy. Yes, that should have been 13,000 lumens (at least that's what it says on the box).

Well spotted, and thanks for the compliment dude.

 

[Raedwulf]

Wonderful! Just wonderful!!! Looking to be like 0.5 gpw easly! maybe more!

Thanks Dudesome.
Considering I was facing a complete wash-out with the original plants I'm going to be very glad for all I can get, but 0.5+ gpw would be truly excellent

I promise to publish an accurate weigh-in when all is done.

 

[Raedwulf]

looking good Readwulf, just have to keep keeping those plants happy now

Thanks for your support buddy, I'm looking out for them as best I can -- it's good to have access to the knowledge and experience available on the IC forums. I love it here.

 

[Raedwulf]

July 5th - Day 19 of bloom

July 5th - Day 19 of bloom

Ok, flower sites are popping up all over now...



...but I think the girls are getting magnesium deficient. Only problem is I can't afford to get any Canna-specific supplements at the mo.

So, I was wondering, can I use the old standby, Epsom Salts, with Canna nutes and Coco? I have some left over from when I used to grow in compo/perlite mixes.

I would be very interested to hear what any of you Coco bods think about this.

 

[Raedwulf]

Wed, 6th July, 2010 - Day 20 of Bloom.

The girls are showing more flower sites now, even the two plants that had to be put into flowering 3-days later than the first two.

Decided to take the plunge and give the girls a dose of Epsom salts, as I think they have been showing increasing signs of Magnesium deficiency.


Ratio of Epsom salts given was approx 5g per litre of pre-prepared A+B.

Thu, 7th July, 2010 - Day 21 of Bloom.

The plants have nearly stopped 'stretching' now (the tallest is at 73cm) and are putting increasing effort into flower development.

It may be my imagination (or wishful thinking), but the girls already seem to have considerably perked up since dosing them with Epsom a day ago.

Anyway, couldn't help but take a few more pics for the album.

 

[MacGyver420]

good call on the epsom salts; everythings looking stellar man keep it up! =)

 

[Raedwulf]

Thanks

Thanks

good call on the epsom salts; everythings looking stellar man keep it up! =)

Thanks MacGyver420 I have been having problems getting the grow dialled in properly, but I'm working on it. I will be having a full update in a couple of days with new pictures.

Hope you'll be able to drop by dude.

 

[Raedwulf]

Update August 9th - Day 54 of bloom

Update August 9th - Day 54 of bloom

Ok, sorry it's been so long since the last update but have been distracted: lost my job so been busy looking - no luck so far

Anyway on to the update...
Of the four plants, two have been doing quite well, whilst the other two are - frankly - pathetic.
Because of my distracted mood, I let nutrient ph checking slide and failed to notice it had risen quite high (because of changing from filtered to tap & using airpump bubbling to dechlorinate - seems to raise ph dramatically). It was my dumbass mistake
Anyway, because I'm skint, I've had to resort to distilled vinegar as a ph-down - it works well, but I'm looking forward to getting some proper ph-down today or tomorrow.

Naturally the plants have suffered a variety of lock-out problems as a result - two of them worse than the others.
I also have some Pk13/14 coming - although it's probably too late to do any good for this grow.
Still, considering this grow was a desperate attempt to recover something from some almost dead plants (the mothers), I'll be glad of whatever I can get this time round.

Anyhow, here are some up to date pics:
The first three are of the strongest, least badly affected girls - the ones in 11-litre pots. Plant 1...


Plant 2...


The next two are of the saddest, most affected girls - in the 5-litre (too small for their height - I know) pots...


And, finally, them all back in their shack...


There are so many things wrong with this grow (vegged too much, not nutriated properly, not enough light etc), all of which will be dealt with next grow (I'm thinking of doing Nirvana AK48 fems).

In the meantime these girls are going to flower on for a while yet - I'm determined to get as much out of them as possible.