First grow in a long time...800w/1200w Chrystal in Coco

[LoSwaga]

Hey folks. Been a long few years since I had the chance to bust anything out and I've been itching like a fiend, so here goes. I'm in a non-med state growing for a sick friend, so I'm using the strain he feels is the best medicine for his ailment, which is Nirvana's Chrystal (Northern Lights x White Widow). I basically lost all of my clones over the years when I lost contact with my circle, so until I get ahold of those, I guess this is gonna be it for now.

I'm new to coco and wouldn't mind some thoughts on feeding schedule with the nutes I'm using (simple - Canna A, Canna B, and Rhizotonic)...I assume I'm going to need some calmag at some point, no? I'm using Sunshine Pro Just Coir as the medium...

Anyways, here are some terrible photos from the very first day I planted 7 Chrystal and 6 "Lucy Dip" freebies along with a couple from Day #5. Right now I'm using distilled water with 15ml/gal dose of Rhizotonic and watering once a day, still waiting on my R/O system in the mail. Runoff pH is holding fairly steady (5.8 - 6.1) and temps as of right now are at a steady 76 degrees (F) with 60% humidity, running 18/6 under a 125w 6500k fluoro.

The 800w/1200w thing in the title is there because I haven't decided which I'm gonna do yet. May stick with just my 400w hortilux and 400w CMH for flowering, but may add another hortilux depending on how froggy I'm feeling. Like I said, this is my first grow in damned near a decade, so I want to make sure I'm comfortable and on track before I add too many lights to the mix.

Thanks for looking...more to come soon...

(check out the weirdo mutant! is this a trifolate or am I retarded?)

 

[LoSwaga]

for the record, 10/10 germination and 10/10 above ground after a 24hour soak with the Chrystal...the Lucy Dip, however, only put 6/10 above ground and I killed 3 of those 6 because they were clearly way behind and weak as hell. I guess the LD is just a mix and match of all of the old packs they couldn't actually sell? Glad as hell that I didn't buy that one...lol

 

[Wick420]

Hey LoSwaga. Looks good so far. I just got done growing some Chrystal (smoking some right now) and its a great plant. Ive loved just about all nirvana stains but this chrystal is probably my new favorite. As far as your nutrients your really cant go wrong with canna a and b. It really depends how much money your willing to spend. I only use rhizo for the first two weeks and maybe during re-potting. Its kinda pricey and I dont believe its needed throughout the grow, which i think is what canna recommends. I would suggest cannazyme and I do use this product throughout my grow. It helps breakdown and digest nutrients in the rootzone. I do also use PK 13/14 and feel its a good product. I just bought 250 ml of the canna boost. We will see if this stuff is worth anything after this grow. Most people are not sold on the canna boost and I would suggest steering clear of it unless you get sucked into the hype like i did. I have calmag but have never used it. If your using RO water then yes you will need it. I just use water from my tap and everything works great. Good luck on your grow, and good luck with chrystal its a good plant. Peace

 

[LoSwaga]

Hey LoSwaga. Looks good so far. I just got done growing some Chrystal (smoking some right now) and its a great plant. Ive loved just about all nirvana stains but this chrystal is probably my new favorite. As far as your nutrients your really cant go wrong with canna a and b. It really depends how much money your willing to spend. I only use rhizo for the first two weeks and maybe during re-potting. Its kinda pricey and I dont believe its needed throughout the grow, which i think is what canna recommends. I would suggest cannazyme and I do use this product throughout my grow. It helps breakdown and digest nutrients in the rootzone. I do also use PK 13/14 and feel its a good product. I just bought 250 ml of the canna boost. We will see if this stuff is worth anything after this grow. Most people are not sold on the canna boost and I would suggest steering clear of it unless you get sucked into the hype like i did. I have calmag but have never used it. If your using RO water then yes you will need it. I just use water from my tap and everything works great. Good luck on your grow, and good luck with chrystal its a good plant. Peace

I'll have to check out Cannazyme for sure man. I love the Rhizotonic, has done me wonders on the few grows I've helped buddies out with over the past years when I wasn't growing myself, so I had to bring that one in. And I was recommended A + B from a friend who knows his stuff so I figured I'd give it a shot. Anything else you'd recommend, keeping in mind that I'm very much into keeping the nutrients simple regardless of the medium? Should I know anything about the strain and how it feeds? Thanks for the post man.

 

[BlueberryNutz]

lookin good.. like 2 more days til harvest, right?? lol. i love starting new seeds but they take FOREVERRRRRRRRR. good luck

 

[Wick420]

I would suggest cannazyme and pk 13-14. The zyme will help keep your roots healthy and strong and the PK will give you that little extra shot of PK that the plants want/need in flower. Im not a salesman for canna or anything just have had good luck with thier products, and to me it just makes sense to stick with the same nutrient manufacturer as these nutrients are made to work together. I have seen grows just using canna a-b and they had nice big nugs in the end. So whatever you decide I think if you stay the course your plants will do great.

Also your talking about ph runoff? I always grow from seed and beleive in letting them dry out a little between waterings. When deprived of water the new roots will spread out, and go deeper into the grow medium in search of more water. This will help them establish a healthy root system a little quicker. We check ph/ppm runoff usualy later in the grow when salts have accumilated and may change are ph/ppm values. I use beer cups as well and its easy as pie. Just pick the cup up. If its light as a feather.... its time to water, if there is still some wieght there then give them another day. No need to feed once a day yet. Just gonna use up that pricey rhizo with a quickness. I agree with Blueberry that the seedling stage is probably the worst. They do nothing and you constantly think youve done something wrong. In about 3 weeks they will take off. Good luck bro. Keep us posted.

 

[Wick420]

Sorry forgot to talk about the strain. Chrystal could probably feed pretty heavy. Its a very fast/strong growing plant. I however do not believe in feeding heavy. I always feed around 1000-1200 ppm regardless of strain. Ive found that coco can have a tendency to build up nutrient salts over time. For instance many times I am feeding at lets say 1200ppm, yet my runoff is 1400 ppm. So in my eyes my plants are eating at 1400ppm. I recommend flushing regularly throughout flower. I flush maybe every 2 weeks in flower just to keep things in check. Also if your feeding very heavy your gonna go through nutrients quicker which can get expensive. Once your in flower you can try to bump up your nutrients to whatever you want. If you go to far and get some nutrient burn then just flush and back off your nutes. Hope that helps.

 

[LoSwaga]

lookin good.. like 2 more days til harvest, right?? lol. i love starting new seeds but they take FOREVERRRRRRRRR. good luck

no doubt man, I've been so spoiled by clones that I'm gritting teeth with these damned things...haha

I would suggest cannazyme and pk 13-14. The zyme will help keep your roots healthy and strong and the PK will give you that little extra shot of PK that the plants want/need in flower. Im not a salesman for canna or anything just have had good luck with thier products, and to me it just makes sense to stick with the same nutrient manufacturer as these nutrients are made to work together. I have seen grows just using canna a-b and they had nice big nugs in the end. So whatever you decide I think if you stay the course your plants will do great.

Also your talking about ph runoff? I always grow from seed and beleive in letting them dry out a little between waterings. When deprived of water the new roots will spread out, and go deeper into the grow medium in search of more water. This will help them establish a healthy root system a little quicker. We check ph/ppm runoff usualy later in the grow when salts have accumilated and may change are ph/ppm values. I use beer cups as well and its easy as pie. Just pick the cup up. If its light as a feather.... its time to water, if there is still some wieght there then give them another day. No need to feed once a day yet. Just gonna use up that pricey rhizo with a quickness. I agree with Blueberry that the seedling stage is probably the worst. They do nothing and you constantly think youve done something wrong. In about 3 weeks they will take off. Good luck bro. Keep us posted.

Yeah, I checked the runoff just to see how well-calibrated my old Hanna that I dug out of storage still was. I also am down with spreading out the waterings for the reason you mentioned, but this coco is sucking it up pretty quick, which is the only reason I've been watering (very lightly) once a day...well, that and I've got the Rhizo in there at 15ml/gal and want to get that in ASAP without burning anything, which I doubt would be an issue with that particular mix either way. At that rate (15ml/gal once a day) this little bottle lasts quite a while, and I've got a backup bottle lying around somewhere either way.

Sorry forgot to talk about the strain. Chrystal could probably feed pretty heavy. Its a very fast/strong growing plant. I however do not believe in feeding heavy. I always feed around 1000-1200 ppm regardless of strain. Ive found that coco can have a tendency to build up nutrient salts over time. For instance many times I am feeding at lets say 1200ppm, yet my runoff is 1400 ppm. So in my eyes my plants are eating at 1400ppm. I recommend flushing regularly throughout flower. I flush maybe every 2 weeks in flower just to keep things in check. Also if your feeding very heavy your gonna go through nutrients quicker which can get expensive. Once your in flower you can try to bump up your nutrients to whatever you want. If you go to far and get some nutrient burn then just flush and back off your nutes. Hope that helps.

With ya brotha man. I am also a very light/hesitant feeder especially during the early days of growth, typically don't put anything but rhizo in the mix until at least the 3rd or 4th node. Am I basically gonna feed these things like they're Afghans?

 

[LoSwaga]

Well...I feel like a real newbie moron at this point, but what in the world is going on with these seedlings? My immediate thought is nitrogen toxicity because of the color (bright lime green) but this is my first time using coco with my own show and I'm a little lost. Heat's been messed up at the house so these have been down to 55-60 degrees during parts of the evening/early morning, might have something to do with it? Or am I really a dumbass and it's the rhizo burning these up? Look at the one Lucy Dip remaining...bitch is looking pretty rough...any ideas?

 

[LoSwaga]

Never had seedlings look this pathetic this far along ... this is day #11...

 

[Green lung]

They look really dry, You need to keep the coco moist.

 

[Granger2]

Lo,
With distilled, you need to start some form of Cal/Mag. You want one that has trace minerals also. Botanicare is good. Don't forget to take into account that many of the Cal/Mag supplements also have nitrogen. Botanicare's Cal/Mag has 2% N. Note that Green Lung said "moist" not soaked. Good luck. -granger

 

[Wick420]

What up again Lo. Not really sure what could be the problem. From what I understand your only feeding with rhizo correct? Well rhizo at 15ml/gal wont burn anything. How old is that bottle of rhizo. You mentioned you havent grown a while and had some bottle laying around. Check the expiration date of that rhizo because it goes bad pretty quick. If you smell it, it smells bad like fish food so leads me to believe it could go bad pretty quick. Also if your heat is a problem try giving them 24 hours of light (if your not already) to keep them warm. Maybe also check your ph calibration just to make sure. Hope you get it worked out bro. Good luck

 

[LoSwaga]

double post, woops

 

[LoSwaga]

Thanks guys...guess this coco didn't come pre-charged at all, my mistake, wish my RO system would hurry up and get here so I can do this right. Oh well...in the mean time, against my better judgement I hit the seedlings with a light mix of Canna A + B (heavy on the B for the magnesium) and they perked up quite a bit, lost a good bit of leaf spotting and droop and the new growth is looking healthy again, so I might have dodged the bullet. However, I went ahead and transplanted the 4 least healthy looking seedlings to some Ocean Forest a buddy brought by for me, so we'll see how the side-by-side goes while I figure out how to dial this in a bit better. God damn I'm rusty. LOL

Thanks for everybody's help...here are some pics from today, 2 weeks in I think? Maybe 15 days....still mighty ugly but getting better...

 

[LoSwaga]

and that empty cup full o' ocean forest is an Afghan S1

 

[Wick420]

Your plants should be alot bigger for 2 weeks. FYI coco never comes "pre-charged". It is an inert hydro medium, meaning you are in charge of giving the food. I dont give my seedlings food until about weeks 2 or 3. Just from the looks of your plants I would not give them any food yet, they just look too young. But if it helped then go for it. I dont know what could be wrong. IMO there isnt too much to mess up in the seedling stage. Germinate them and put them in coco and hope for the best. Just remember to much TLC can be a negative. Maybe time to germ some new seeds and start fresh. Good luck bro.

 

[LoSwaga]

@ the start of day 18...looking a bit better for sure...not quite out of the woods yet but well on the way I do believe

 

[BluntKilla]

It's really important to keep the coco moist. If it dries out you can get tip burn from the coco releasing a bunch of potassium.

 

[LoSwaga]

Your plants should be alot bigger for 2 weeks. FYI coco never comes "pre-charged". It is an inert hydro medium, meaning you are in charge of giving the food. I dont give my seedlings food until about weeks 2 or 3. Just from the looks of your plants I would not give them any food yet, they just look too young. But if it helped then go for it. I dont know what could be wrong. IMO there isnt too much to mess up in the seedling stage. Germinate them and put them in coco and hope for the best. Just remember to much TLC can be a negative. Maybe time to germ some new seeds and start fresh. Good luck bro.

they need to be bigger alright, yer tellin me...

Gotcha on that...was a bit confused, it's a brave new world for me, tons of info for me to digest and re-digest after a long hiatus. all help is appreciated

however, I'm not the type who gives up easily, so tossing these guys out isn't going to happen...I'll take the couple week delay this time, and things appear to be back on track now. The major issue that stunted these seedlings was the 3-4 days where my heat was out and the cab was maxing out temperature-wise at about 65 degrees, along with the mag deficiency I had up until a few days ago. Now I know better

It's really important to keep the coco moist. If it dries out you can get tip burn from the coco releasing a bunch of potassium.

duly noted...I've always done the dry out more in between watering thing to promote root spread but have not been taking the coco to the same levels of dryness as I would with soil as per the posts regarding that in this thread

thanks for helping an old dog re-learn how to grow this simple ass plant folks. lol