Multi Strain Coco Recirculating Drip

testymctester · Dec 29, 2013

This is my first grow diary. I am interested in feedback and suggestions on how to make my threads better, so please share any tips that you think would make this a better show. :thank you:

I am a few weeks into this grow now and will be playing catch up over the next week to get everything up to date. I had just about 3 months before my current lease was up, so I wanted to quickly flower a few 8 week strains before I move out. I went to one of the local clubs and picked up (1) Blueberry, (2) Blue Dream, (2) Cherry AK47, (2) Grand AK47, (2) Jilly Bean, and (2) Lilikoi.

I have done coco a few times in an ebb and flow with smart pots, but didn't care for it too much because of the salt buildup. I have read a few of the multi-feed threads in the coco forum and decided I wanted to give coco another shot with this method. I got a bag of Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Formula, filled (11) 5" square pots, and ran a few gallons of half strength nutrients through the medium (600ppm [water is 150ppm] @ 5.8ph). I'm using Floranova Bloom and Floralicious Plus throughout the grow.

Here are a couple shots after transplanting the new clones. I wasn't sure how to best indicate each strain, but you can see my attempt in the first pic.

testymctester · Dec 29, 2013

I vegged them under a 250w MH for 7 days. Hand watered once per day with same half strength nutrient solution in previous post. They are all a bit lighter green than I like going into flower, but the nova will darken them up nicely in the next week.

The Blueberry is looking a little mutated, the Blue Dream is a little leggier than the others, the Cherry AK is looking nice and happy, the Grand AK is a bit slower than the rest, the Jilly Bean already reeks, and the Lilikoi is trucking along. All the clones were a little beat up when I got 'em, so they have come along nicely in the first week or so.

I installed my drip system and started watering them twice daily as I flipped the light to 12/12. I also topped up the res to a three quarter strength nutrient solution and dropped the ph a bit to make more nitrogen available. 1st week of flower was fed 850ppm [water is 150ppm] @ 5.6ph.

I've had them for 10 days in the pics below and they have been flowering for 3 days. I'll put up a few pics of my homemade drip system in the next post.

testymctester · Dec 29, 2013

I have used Sterilite tubs readily available from Home Depot, Target, Walmart, etc. to build DIY hydro setups for years. I put this one together specifically for this grow out of stuff that was laying around.

I used 2 tubs with the same LxW to create a flood table and reservoir. The deep tub is the res and the shallow tub is the table. I have mostly done flood and drain setups with this approach. All you need is a couple of water pumps (1 to recirculate the water and 1 to fill the table) and a couple of fittings (1 fill and 1 drain). I had previously used this res and table just like that, so I already had (2) 1" holes drilled in the table.

I can fit (10) 5" pots with the flood/drain fittings in the table. I could fit one more pot for a total of 11 with the fittings removed. I decided I wanted 2 drippers per pot, so I cut 22 sections of 1/4" tubing at the same size (about 12") and grabbed 22 drippers (1 gph) and 22 stakes. I'm running 11 lines through each 1" hole to make it all nice and symmetrical.

I also drilled a bunch of 1/4" holes around the bottom of the table so that no water will build up and the runoff will drain back into the res. I wanted to build a drain to waste setup with a separate reservoir initially. This was much easier and seems to be working well for now. The pics aren't the best, but they should give you a good idea of this little homemade recirculating drip system.

testymctester · Dec 29, 2013

Week 2 - 10 Days

Week 2 - 10 Days

These pics are from a few days into week 2. They have been flowering now for 10 days and everything is coming along nicely. The nova definitely greened them up and I'm seeing the lightest traces of burn on the tips. No need to up the strength or the frequency of feedings at this point. I did bring the ph back up to 5.8.

The Blueberry is looking a little less mutated, the Blue Dream is growing strong but not stretching too crazy, the Cherry AK is interesting me the most out of all of them, the Grand AK is looking a little runty compared to the rest of the ladies, the Jilly Bean is STRETCHING and SMELLING like crazy, and the Lilikoi is not as vigorous as I expected.

I have grown Blue Dream and Lilikoi a few times before and they usually stretch neck in neck with very similar profiles. You can see the Jilly Bean height compared to the others best in the 3rd pic. I don't really have room to bend any body over or anything like that, so I'm going to wait until they are just about done stretching and top whatever is above the canopy. I have not grown any of the other strains in this lineup, so I'm excited to see what happens. :dance013:

testymctester · Dec 31, 2013

End of Week 2 - 14 Days

End of Week 2 - 14 Days

These pics are from the end of week 2. I had to top the 2 Jilly Beans because their tops were hitting the light.

I'm a little iffy on the Blue Dream height, but think I will just let it ride. The canopy is fairly even for 6 different strains and I don't think I need to do any more chopping. I am lightly starting to defoliate and will trim up the bottom quarter/third of the plants around 21 days or so.

I have been feeding 850ppm @ 5.8ph twice a day for 2 minutes each. I'm adding another feed going into the third week, so (3) 2 minute feeds daily. I have also been "flushing" with a tea at the end of each week to keep the salts in check. The tea consists of 3 gallons bubbled tap water, 1 tbs molasses, 1 tsp Floralicious Plus, 1 tsp Neptune's Harvest, and 1 cup of Earth Worm Castings.

Definitely getting a lot of fruit and funk aromas from these girls. I recognize the Blue Dream and Lilikoi scents, the Jilly Bean smells just like the flowers I have had before, the Blueberry is not too happy in this setup (oh well), the Grand AK is not doing much either (looking runty compared to her sisters), and the Cherry AK has me the most excited. The Cherry AK is already putting out nice frost and just has that look that makes me keep checking her out. :watchplant:

testymctester · Dec 31, 2013

End of Week 3 - 21 days

End of Week 3 - 21 days

Here are a couple shots from day 21. This post makes this thread up to date. These pics are from 2 days ago and I will update weekly until they're done. :dance013:

I continue to defoliate a little bit here and there, and trimmed up the bottom quarter/third of each plant. The feedings and teas are pretty much the same as last update, 900ppm @ 5.8ph - 3x a day for 2 minutes each.

Now the bad news :noway:

I went out of town for Christmas and came back to a devastated veg tent. Leaves all blistered and clawed... it was horrible. I immediately threw everything away and started cleaning. I can see broad mite damage on these flowering plants now too.
:fsu:

I must have brought some mites home from the club. I always clean up/quarantine new cuts for a day or 2 with an aza product and full tea dunks, but I didn't break out any WMDs this time because I was going straight to flower. I know better, but I was in a rush to get another round flowered out and paid the price. I'm not too upset because the moms and clones I had are replaceable. I hope I can get these girls to finish without too much damage.

I need to figure out how to deal with these bastards with the least impact on my family or my plant's health. I know there are a couple of opposing perspectives on this topic. I use an imid product on my moms to keep their clones healthy through flower. That's worked for a couple years now without fail. I guess I need to step it up and figure out an IPM routine that will keep my girls healthy and not kill anything but bugs in the process.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated! :tiphat:

For now, I added some aspirin to the reservoir (CVS uncoated, 325mg, 1 per gallon) and superheated my tent to 130 degrees for 1 hour. I noticed a dramatic improvement in 1 day. These pictures are from the next day. I'm going to continue with the heat and aspirin regimen for now and determine if I need something stronger.

I have never had broad mites before, so I don't know what options (if any) are available in week 4-5 flower with 8 week strains.

otis33 · Dec 31, 2013

I can't help with the broad mites, I've not had them yet...I would like to make a suggestion though; don't top your plants after stretch. I would just give the ones that are getting too tall a pinch to keep them in check. topping them at that stage in growth isn't a good idea. I'll be over here watching, God luck with you bm battle.

testymctester · Dec 31, 2013

otis33 said:
don't top your plants after stretch. I would just give the ones that are getting too tall a pinch to keep them in check. topping them at that stage in growth isn't a good idea.

Thanks for the suggestion on topping! I know topping in flower is a shitty way to manage canopy height... but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, ya know.

I totally underestimated the stretch/vigor on the Jillybeans and had to reactively deal with the situation. I hoped the bottoms of the JBs would catch up with the other strain's tops if I cut 'em while they were still stretching. I could have folded them over or tried to train them without cutting, but I am really tight on space and didn't want to block light to any of the other girls.

In hindsight, I probably could have removed the Blueberry or the Grand AKs and had a better end result from training the Jillybeans in their empty space. Oh well, hopefully something good will come out of those 3.

otis33 · Dec 31, 2013

In the future, if you pinch the tops, they should slow down the stretch and cause the bottom shoots to grow up...I know all about trying to manage several strains... you gotta do what's best for the canopy as a whole, and sometimes you gotta make sacrifices.... have a good new year!

testymctester · Dec 31, 2013

Thanks again man. I'll have to try that next round. I'm going to be popping seed packs and expect some variations in the phenos. I need to practice though because my results are inconsistent. I guess it's strain dependent too. Sometimes I feel like I barely pinch a stem, the whole thing flops over, and then it's sideways for the rest of it's life. Other times I feel like I crush the shit out of a stem and it's standing straight up the next day like nothing happened.

Have a great New Year bro! I'm looking forward to your show.

OldSchoolGreen · Jan 1, 2014

Love your style. I'll be watching this one closely! Best of luck with the mites and keep up the good work!

testymctester · Jan 2, 2014

Thanks OldSchool! I have done a couple heat treatments now and the plants look ok. They are all standing straight up (no duds) and look really happy from a few feet away. You can tell the pistils are being munched on though and a few of the very top leaves have some damage when you get close up.

I'm hoping they pull through it... another month or so to go.

testymctester · Jan 5, 2014

End of Week 4 - 28 days

End of Week 4 - 28 days

The broad mites have definitely done some damage, but I think these ladies are going to make it through. The Blue Dream was definitely the most affected. She is also the tallest and will probably put out the most weight. The Jilly Bean was the most vigorous and after topping her bottom branches took over a lot of the garden. The Cherry AK smells awesome. She is obviously my favorite.

The Lilikoi is a little slow, but stacking nicely. The Grand AK is pathetic compared to the rest of the crew and the Blueberry hates her life. Between the mites and the feed strength to keep everybody else happy, she's not doing so hot. Oh well. I have had this exact same experience with Blueberry before. Not too sure why I picked her up again...

The pics of the garden below show the whole group in their usual order. The overhead pic shows some of the leaf damage up top and the close up is the Cherry AK. I'll start taking more individual shots around week 6.

testymctester · Jan 5, 2014

Heat Treatment for Broad Mites

Heat Treatment for Broad Mites

I read up on broad mites as quickly as I could when I noticed the devastation in my veg room and similar signs of damage in my flowering tent. I came to the conclusion that I could not do much for flowering plants entering week 4 besides heat and aspirin.

I need to determine an IPM routine for my veg room that will keep everybody free of pests throughout flower. I'm moving next month and decided to trash my mothers and clones and start fresh in the new space. I also decided to test the heat and aspirin treatments on this flowering crop to learn if it is an acceptable approach in future grows.

I still have a few weeks to go, but I think these plants are going to make it. I have used nothing other than aspirin in the res and 3x heat treatments in the first week since I noticed them. I will continue with 1x per week for the rest of the grow.

My tent is in a small space in the corner of my walk-in closet. I set an old centrifugal fan on the outside of the tent with one end inside the tent. The fan is turned down with a speed controller. I put a 1500w heater just behind the fan and loosely seal them together with an old towel. Once this is setup, I turn off the small circulating fan inside the tent and the exhaust fan. Turn on the heater and 6" fan to start pumping in the heat.

It takes about 10 minutes or so to get to 120F and my tent tops out at 129F as seen in the pic below. This probably is not too good for the fan, so I would not do this with one you need. From what I have seen so far, I would definitely recommend this approach and you can follow along to see how it all finishes up in about 4 weeks.

OldSchoolGreen · Jan 5, 2014

How thirsty are your ladies before and after your heat treatments? Do you water right before? Love the DIY stuff
-Old School

testymctester · Jan 5, 2014

OldSchoolGreen said:
How thirsty are your ladies before and after your heat treatments? Do you water right before? Love the DIY stuff
-Old School

Hey OldSchool. I am currently watering the ladies 3x a day. Lights are on 6am to 6pm and the feedings are at 7am/12pm/5pm. I have been timing the heat treatments from 3:30pm - 4:45pm so that they are still moist from the 12pm feeding when the heat kicks on and then get another one as soon as the heat treatment is done.

I do notice the res level drops a bit more than usual the day after heat has been applied. I'm thinking they dry out a bit during the treatment and then use more water than normal during the 5pm feeding. It's hard to tell on this small of a scale because I don't monitor the res level that closely. Thanks for stopping by!

Shcrews · Jan 12, 2014

those plants look great even with broad mites or whatever, they r about to really fatten up too.

testymctester · Jan 13, 2014

End of Week 5 - 35 days

End of Week 5 - 35 days

Everything seems to be trucking along :dance013:

Feeds are 3x a day for 2 minutes each between 800-900ppm and 5.6-6.0 ph. Still flushing once a week with an aerated compost tea. Will only be using molasses for the next 2 weeks and then plain water for the last week.

I haven't been scoping the plants to look for bugs, but I think the 3 heat treatments in 1 week combined with the aspirin was enough to get these girls through flower. The leaves have some of their color back up top, there is no more blistering or clawing (except for the N intolerant Blueberry

), and the pistils are much healthier. I'll keep a close eye on 'em and break out the heat again if needed.

Here are 2 group shots and close ups of the Blueberry and Blue Dream. I'll put a couple more close ups in the next post to show the rest of the ladies.

testymctester · Jan 13, 2014

...and here are the Cherry AK47, Grand AK47, Jilly Bean and Lilikoi close ups

testymctester · Jan 13, 2014

Shcrews said:
those plants look great even with broad mites or whatever, they r about to really fatten up too.

Thanks Shcrews! Good to see you over here :tiphat:

Multi Strain Coco Recirculating Drip

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