D_Fader goes vert

Alright fellas, I gotta start keeping a log again if for no other reason, to be able to refer back to notes (feeding, temps, ppm, etc). I refrained from putting up my 2nd grow, which was a sog attempt, for security reasons. I'm currently on my 3rd grow & trying new things. All that comes with that, both successes and failures, are hopefully making me a better grower.

I’ll begin with a wrap-up of my 2nd grow:
This was a perpetual sog that turned out to be just too much PITA to be worth it. The watering was tedious & I picked awful strains for sogging - OG Kush. They're close to the complete opposite of an ideal strain for sog. Instead of single, forearm-sized colas, I had to deal with thin-stemmed, stretchy bitches with small, though heavy, nuggs that just couldn't stand up on their own. So many things went wrong including never-ending battles with the borg and burning the ladies w/ KoolBloom -major stress. I also mixed a horizontal cooltube and 180 watt led, trying to keep temps under control during the summer. By the end, I had thrown out a lot of plants due the mite damage. A learned a lot about fighting those bastards and a few things actually went well. I was very happy with the nute regimen, tweaking & adding a few new things, and the end results is wonderfully aromatic and tasty. It's a great testament to the strain that the plants could endure so much stress and grower error and still come out so divinely tasty. I also experimented with adding an airstone to the bottom of a couple pots - buried directly under the coco. It definitely added some vigor & growth. I'd guess 10%.

Mother plant that got out of control. Learning point: OG Kush will strettttttccchhhh.


I now practice making bonsai moms!


Learned to take & root cuttings after my first grow. Clones here transplanted to 8x8" square netpots.


But spider mites invaded in waves, setting up tents on the buds.


Plants also suffered the stress of potent nutes. I learned to reduce base nutes to 50% when using a booster.


Also learned to begin doses @50% of recommended strength, and increasing each feeding.


It's safe to say the ladies endured a bit of stress.


Yield sucked, but all was not lost.


Ended up with a few jars of lemon fuel dankness.

For my 3rd grow I decided to hang the cool tube vertically, add a (2nd) dedicated fan, and attempt to grow the OG Kush big in a vert scrog. LOL - not sure that I've succeeded in the "scrog" aspect, but it's generally working out, albeit a few bumps in the road.

1st things 1st.
My 1st grow was a traditional 4-plant scrog in 5-gal buckets hosting 2-gal smartpots, which, at the time, I thought was a simple & clever design. Over the course of the grow shortcoming revealed themselves.

1. Plants fixed in the 3x3 scrog screen & very difficult to reach inside the tent.
2. The reservoirs built into each bucket were "un-drainable" and had to be siphoned.
3. ppms in the res' soared to over 2000 ppm.
4. Had no idea how full the res' actually were.
5. the smart-pots were very difficult to move/remove since the microfiber wicks were feed through very small holes in the res' shelf.

My 2nd grow was a departure from the 5 gal buckets, which I've now returned to, and modified for the 3rd round:
1. (unchanged) Ea. 5-gal bucket has an upside-down 5-gal bucket (cut off at around 5 in.) inside serving as a platform for the smart-pot to sit on & forming a reservoir.



2. The top of this platform has been drilled out w/ larger 1 1/2" holes (same as the larger hole pictured above) to allow easier removal/repositioning of the smartpots. The smartpot still use microfiber wicks (2 ea) that reach to the bottom of the res and will keep the coco media fairly wet for long periods.

3. The walls of the outer bucket have also been drilled out above the level of the platform/shelf (same-sized holes) to allow better air flow under the screen & to the roots penetrating the fabric walls of the smartpot inside.

4. 1/2" hydro fittings and a tube, to indicate nute level, have been added to the lowest point on the buckets. This fitting will also serve to drain the res.

5. A 1' wide x 3' tall metal screen has been fixed to the bucket w/ simple plastic-coated wire and is serving as a vert scrog screen but can also be shaped for a traditional mod-scrog. This is the simplest mod-scrog solution ever - no pvc-lego peices, no legs or screws. Next time I'll probably just bend it into a "U" shape for traditional mod-scrog. Notice this was my previous 3x3 scrog screen that I cut into thirds w/ a wire snipper. So easy! It was one of those happy accidents.

looks like some dank.
When you grow a mother with those stretchy plants, top it every time it shows 2 nodes, let it show 2 top again and again, every time you will double the tops, and they will be closer together when you start doing this, Just stop 2-4 weeks before you cut your clones.

Hi Darth,

Looks fantastic...love the ingenuity. I bet it took a while to drill all those holes, eh?

One thing though; the pic that shows the vertical tube in the ppk rez...could it be an NGW product? Member UGU discovered that these hoses emit toxic chemicals and will badly effect the plants. See his excellent thread here.

I'll be watching,
OO

OO,
Yeah, I'd seen that and I told the guy at the hydro shop. Actually, on further reflection, I don't think I got a firm/satisfactory answer from him. I basically said - "As long as it's not NGW, that stuff is toxic." & maybe got an "ok" out of him. I'll check the brand next time I'm there. Anyway, the blue tubing is really hard to read. Was thinking of dropping some styrofoam bits in there for visibility.

I started the grow with my bonsai moms to get a jump. I had dialed in my veg formula w/ GH 3 part: 9ml Micro, 6 ml Bloom, 1 ml Roots Excelurator, 5 ml Liquid Karma. Flush every 4th feeding w/ ro water & 5 ml FloraKleen. They loved it - super healthy luscious leaves. And the solution was always in pH range so I even quit checking it.


On this grow I was looking to try a different nute line. I was lucky enough to score a full sample box of the H&G line, but it took quite a while to ship and I didn't get it until a week or so before the flip. I'd been very interested to this line since hearing and seeing so many great things about it.


But it wasn't working out from the start - twisted leaves, 3 & 4 fingered leaves for the longest time, and eventually clawing. At first I suspected it was from recycled (used) coco. Then I found super-high concentrated nute levels, 2300 ppm, in the res. And then just a few days ago I checked my pH pen in 4.0 calibration solution. It measured 5.8. So in all fairness, I need to give it another run. And regarding the ppm buildup in the res, I probably should have continued to flush every 4th feeding, like I do in veg, but I had read Humboldt's recommendation (distributor) was feed, feed, feed.


This issue remains - figure out why ppm goes in at 9-1100 and concentrates in the res @ 2300 - and FIX it, or eliminate the res from the design and just use blumats or DTW.

For now I'm still following H&G's regimen with the addition of 10-15 ml GO CaMg+ and diluting from 100ppm down to 900.

Hi Darth,

Well the classic reason for increasing TDS is that he plants are using more water than food. The drop in Ph is also a classic symptom. You dont mention your meter's conversion factor.

The gang has found that a 1.5 EC (750 ppm @ .5) is pretty stable. It sounds like you are hand watering...is that right? Do you have plans to connect the ppk res with a bulk res?

OO, that makes sense. I believe the meter is a .5 (std orange Hanna pen). I am hand-watering. I would have added a feeder res but there isn't enough floorspace in the tent due to the cooltube placement. Also, I don't know much about them in the first place LOL. Can it be done without a pump? But I've been thinking if one could be made with 3" or 4" capped pvc, it could be strapped up in the corner. At the very least hung pvc would work with blumats, gravity fed.

Tent shot @ day 18


Day 40

Looks good so far. Im 10 days behind you with some OG as well

noteron said:

Looks good so far. Im 10 days behind you with some OG as well

Click to expand...

Thanks, noteron. Which OG's are you running? I've got Tahoe, SFV, & Fire, plus a Chem4 and a Pure Kush (suge knight cut) going in there. The SFV and the Fire are remarkably similar - like lemon pledge, and the Tahoe smells the strongest and the best - like comet cleaner or pinesol.

Time flies. I'm at 68 days and will chop at day 70. Went dark last night and temps are b/w low 60's & low 70's. Will get pics b/f chop. Expected more frost, but the buds look de-lish and smell great, cept for the chem4 & the pure kush will don't seem to be putting out any odor. Weird, since the C4 smelled nice and chemmy 1st time thru. Gonna shit-can both of those. As far as the OG's, the SFV and Fire are indistinguishable (could be result of mislabeling) except the Fire seems less sensitive to leaf burn - nute and heat, which is nice, but may yield just slightly less that the SFV. They are both pure lemon fuel & are the best tasting plants I've grown. The Tahoe has such a great stink which carries over perfectly into the flavor - a lemon fuel base with a strong pinesol or scouring cleaner kinda cheminess on top, plus a bit of funk. When I touch her I can't stop smelling my fingers!

I was hoping to lay a big surprise on everyone - an electronic solution for mites, but alas, they reappeared last week. They didn't do much damage & were only found on 2 of the plants (C4 & SFV). I've been dealing with them just fine. Should've kept up with the Azamax drench during the last month.

Already gearing up for the next run. Strains are 91 Chemdog, Chem D, AlienDawg (ether pheno), a sour bubble/sour double, & a couple ladies to be named later [edit: looks like a Pure Kush x Sour Diesel and NL#5]. Gonna add a few buckets to end up w/ either 8 or 9 total & mod-scrog. Not sure if lighting will be vert or Horizontal. There may be a couple new bucket mods in it too! ;-)p
Stay tuned!

t

nice grow here; im a fellow coco grower

sorry to hear about the bugs are the mites residual in your grow room from the last run or did they come in on a dirty clone or have you narrowed that down yet... ive got fungas gnat issue myself but i feel for you with the mites man; i had thrips and root aphids at same time last summer lost all but 2 plants

other than that those leaves are nice and green very lush would like to see some shots of them before you chop them down!!
(BUDSHOTS) lol =)

peace

MacGyver420 said:

nice grow here; im a fellow coco grower

sorry to hear about the bugs are the mites residual in your grow room from the last run or did they come in on a dirty clone or have you narrowed that down yet... ive got fungas gnat issue myself but i feel for you with the mites man; i had thrips and root aphids at same time last summer lost all but 2 plants

other than that those leaves are nice and green very lush would like to see some shots of them before you chop them down!!
(BUDSHOTS) lol =)

peace

Click to expand...

You got it man! I'll snap some tonight before the chop. It's been raining for three days here so rH is jacked. I checked in on 'em this morning and wondered what they would look like if I let them go 80? LOL. I haven't checked the trichs but 70 should be right on. I just hope I can dry without bud rot in this humidity.

The mites? God knows. They weren't brought in on clones. After last harvest I left the tent empty for 2 weeks so that any mites left would starve, but didn't spray or wipe it down. Maybe that was short-sighted. I treated the bonsai moms & new clones and they were clean. Then, about 3-4 weeks into veg I spotted them on the vert screen. TIP: mites run to the "high ground" and they will mistake for plants any green bamboo or green screen (in my case) that's taller than your plants. I kept them at bay and sprayed floramite during 1st week of bloom, re-treating the clones. I may have missed a mom, but oddly I haven't seen a mite outside of the flowering tent. Any idea how long they can stay alive on their own? I'm moving and will do my best to leave them behind by sanitizing the hell out of my new transplants and equipment - Azamax soil drench & foliar followed with floramite systemic. Next grow will get a weekly drench treatment.

sounds like you have a good plan of action; 15% bleach solution is a good way to clean things between grows

might try takin some clones and creating an "icu" if you will; you can also give them a systemic pesticide (ive had great success with spinosad

Tent shots

Tent shots

Day 70, let's chop!





Mites came back 2 weeks before chop & molested the Chem 4 & SFV. The others escaped without much damage. But I am disappointed with a lack of visible frost. I had more frost on the Chem 4 on my first round. New lessons learned - #1. calibrate the damn ph pen & 2. feed light. The feed charts are way to strong, even at normal strength - at least for a 400w. I have to assume that development was permanently stunted to some degree because of these issues. They're still decent, but nowhere near what they should be IMO.

Tahoe shots

Tahoe shots

Tahoe OG Kush came out the best of the bunch. Low temps got me some nice purply leaves too. This is some sticky, icky. The smell is intoxicating.

SFV






Here's the ugly truth. Not proud of the mite-damaged leaves, but it's a nice image of the bud structure.

Fire

Fire

looks good, congrats on your harvest and good job fighting the borg!