Panama reg’s go micro

[OZZ_]

Absolutely agree. I've now resorted to the inexpensive pH drops to check the pH of my water, based on the same experiences as you. One bottle of solution lasts many hundreds of tests and it's so quick, cheap and foolproof.

I run organic but have found that because the pH of my water is so high (over 8.0) I still need to pH it down to about 6 - 6.5 for best results. I use regular "pH Down" which is simply phosphoric acid. If I don't pH the water, I find I still get deficiencies, and they usually show up around week 3 of flower, especially phosphorous deficiency. Which makes sense if you look at the following chart:

View Image

Now I'm just guessing here, but from what I can tell you may be dealing with a similar issue. Note the information for the pH in this report on the city of Chicago water:

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam...erQltyResultsNRpts/ccReports/CCA-2019-1-2.pdf

So you can see it is up at around the 8.0 mark at both treatment plants.

Referring back to the pH and nutrient diagram, this could potentially cause you some issues with phosphorus and magnesium, which if you Google "phosphorus deficiency cannabis" and "magnesium deficiency cannabis" look similar to some of the fan leaves on your Panama. Multiple deficiencies are always trickier to identify though.

Ultimately I wouldn't stress too much, the buds are still looking well-formed, and you get the fun of being able to incrementally make adjustments to fine-tune your grow, which in my opinion is what keeps it interesting and challenging.

Range, thanks a million for this information. I think that’s exactly what this issue is. I’ve known my water PH was rather high for quite awhile now that’s why I switched to RO but that filter only last four months! Lol.

I think I’ll get some drops and do as your suggesting, it will be the easiest route and should be a simple fix

 

[BenoitV1984]

I realized I said garbage anyway...

Ph- is H3PO4 (acid) and Ph+ is KOH (base), so neither of them are salt. Damn, school is so far far away now, which I had listened more carefully my chemistry and genetic lessons

So yeah, nevermind...

I don’t use salts, organic only.

My soil mix is a 50/50 split of fox farms happy frog and promix HP with added perilite and extra work castings.

Ferts is a general granular (Dr earths from Home Depot) with kelp meal and added dolomite lime.

An occasional molasses watering here and there.

Also I top dressed about three weeks ago with some additional work castings, and an additional spoon of the dr earths and kelp.

Yesterday I hit her with Neptune’s fish/seaweed and plan to do so again on next watering.

 

[OZZ_]

I realized I said garbage anyway...

Ph- is H3PO4 (acid) and Ph+ is KOH (base), so neither of them are salt. Damn, school is so far far away now, which I had listened more carefully my chemistry and genetic lessons

So yeah, nevermind...

Lol it’s all good in the hood! It’s the thought that counts and I appreciate the gesture. Cheers!

 

[OZZ_]

Absolutely agree. I've now resorted to the inexpensive pH drops to check the pH of my water, based on the same experiences as you. One bottle of solution lasts many hundreds of tests and it's so quick, cheap and foolproof.

I run organic but have found that because the pH of my water is so high (over 8.0) I still need to pH it down to about 6 - 6.5 for best results. I use regular "pH Down" which is simply phosphoric acid. If I don't pH the water, I find I still get deficiencies, and they usually show up around week 3 of flower, especially phosphorous deficiency. Which makes sense if you look at the following chart:

View Image

Now I'm just guessing here, but from what I can tell you may be dealing with a similar issue. Note the information for the pH in this report on the city of Chicago water:

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam...erQltyResultsNRpts/ccReports/CCA-2019-1-2.pdf

So you can see it is up at around the 8.0 mark at both treatment plants.

Referring back to the pH and nutrient diagram, this could potentially cause you some issues with phosphorus and magnesium, which if you Google "phosphorus deficiency cannabis" and "magnesium deficiency cannabis" look similar to some of the fan leaves on your Panama. Multiple deficiencies are always trickier to identify though.

Ultimately I wouldn't stress too much, the buds are still looking well-formed, and you get the fun of being able to incrementally make adjustments to fine-tune your grow, which in my opinion is what keeps it interesting and challenging.

Range- I want to thank you once again, I went out and bought a master test kit for aquariums, as I have some very expensive fish being imported in (supposed to arrive mon/tues) and since both hobbies require testing of water it was the perfect tone to make the purchase.

Anyway, I tested the PH. Straight from the tap i sure enough am getting a PH of around 7.5-8. After I run it through the britta pitcher I’m getting a PH of around 6 or lower. Then I went and tested my blumat water reservoir. Here’s the thing, it also tested high at around 7.5-8 even though the water in the res was previously filtered by the britta. So, it must be due to PH drift?

Im assuming that if I filtered my water through the britta and watered it by hand straight away i would be fine, but once it sits in the res for several weeks at a time it gravitates back to its original PH?

What can I do about that? Any suggestions? PH of my water is clearly the problem causing lockout.

Thanks a million

 

[Range]

Anyway, I tested the PH. Straight from the tap i sure enough am getting a PH of around 7.5-8. After I run it through the britta pitcher I’m getting a PH of around 6 or lower. Then I went and tested my blumat water reservoir. Here’s the thing, it also tested high at around 7.5-8 even though the water in the res was previously filtered by the britta. So, it must be due to PH drift?

Im assuming that if I filtered my water through the britta and watered it by hand straight away i would be fine, but once it sits in the res for several weeks at a time it gravitates back to its original PH?

What can I do about that? Any suggestions? PH of my water is clearly the problem causing lockout.

Thanks a million

Happy to help. Yes, it sounds like it is drifting. I am battling the same thing with my water too. I pH it down to 6.5 and over the course of a couple of days it will drift back up.

So I am doing some things to combat it:

1) Making sure the pH of my soil medium is as close to 6.5 as possible (I am using elemental sulphur to lower the pH of the soil which is currently around 7.5 - 8.0, way too high).

2) Enriching my soil with more organic material, which acts as a buffer to pH fluctuations.

3) Trying to use less water to water the plants, but watering a little more frequently. My theory is that that way, the water that is around the roots stays in that optimal pH range for longer, whereas if I watered heavily only once a week and it takes longer for the pot to dry out, it means that the water around the roots has more time to drift back up.

I'm only hand watering and not using a reservoir, and the only thing I can think of to stop the drift would be to invest in a reverse osmosis water filter.

 

[OZZ_]

Happy to help. Yes, it sounds like it is drifting. I am battling the same thing with my water too. I pH it down to 6.5 and over the course of a couple of days it will drift back up.

So I am doing some things to combat it:

1) Making sure the pH of my soil medium is as close to 6.5 as possible (I am using elemental sulphur to lower the pH of the soil which is currently around 7.5 - 8.0, way too high).

2) Enriching my soil with more organic material, which acts as a buffer to pH fluctuations.

3) Trying to use less water to water the plants, but watering a little more frequently. My theory is that that way, the water that is around the roots stays in that optimal pH range for longer, whereas if I watered heavily only once a week and it takes longer for the pot to dry out, it means that the water around the roots has more time to drift back up.

I'm only hand watering and not using a reservoir, and the only thing I can think of to stop the drift would be to invest in a reverse osmosis water filter.

Great info! I appreciate it. I think On the next grow I will try hand watering only, and I’ll store the britta filtered water.... then test it before watering and get some PH down to adjust it down and see what affect that has, then adjust from there until I get it right.

Thanks again!

Im leaving to Africa Jan 31-February 14th so I’ll need to chop her down in 9 days from now, regardless. That will be exactly 10 weeks on the dot. Hopefully it will be enough time, but I have no choice as I need to get her trimmed, hung and get the RH in the jar stabilized before the big trip. Pistils are just starting to die back now, so I’m hoping 9 more days will be enough time for her to finish up. I suspect it’s a but early but again, I’ll have no choice, unless I want to leave her on the blumat and res and chop on the 15th when I get back.

Im not sure which would be better honestly! Lol

Basically my choices are chop at 10 weeks or 13.5 weeks. What do you think?

 

[OZZ_]

Taken tonight at day 61

 

[OZZ_]

A few more @ 61 days. Like I said I need to make a decision and either cut exactly at 10 weeks or wait until after my vacation and take her at 13.5 weeks. Trichomes are all cloudy, with not a single amber trichome to be seen anywhere. Some of the pistils are dying back and I didn’t see any clear trichs, so that’s good. As far as I could tell they were all cloudy

 

[OZZ_]

She’s definitely PINK.

 

[Range]

Looks good OZZ. What did you decide to do in relation to chopping her or letting her go until you get back?

If the trichomes are all cloudy you have a good case for chopping her down. Apart from the risk of something failing while you are gone, you may find that when you get back at 13.5 weeks she might be past her prime.

 

[Dropped Cat]

If you chop now, is there time to dry a few days and jar, seems rushed.

Or keep her planted until you return in a low light, low feed situation.

Would be sad if she went past optimum chop window.

 

[Butcher45]

Half now, half later?

 

[smilley]

Chop her and cob her....

 

[OZZ_]

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by and your input. I don’t need to chop *right* now, I can give her exactly one more week and chop her on Jan 21st.

That gives me 10 days to hang, trim, jar and get the RH stable in the jars for the trip. Should be enough time in my experience to get that done.

Chopping her next week on the 21st is taking her at exactly ten weeks (we are at 9 weeks today).

I agree with most of you that it would be sad to have her get past prime and degrade to much, so I’m going to go ahead and take her down next Tuesday, one week from today, at 10 weeks for better or worse.

Who knows maybe I’ll even see an amber trichome or two by then!?? Here’s to hoping!

Thanks to everyone who’s offered input and opinions on this grow, I really appreciate it. Next grow I’ll be adding my own, home made worm castings instead of store bought ones (my worm bin is ready to harvest now), and I’ll hand water and test my PH, and use PH down to adjust the water where needed.

Also .... I’m going to go with a straight promix/worm castings (homemade)/perilite mix instead of this mix with the happy frog. I suspect the happy frog soil is acidic as I’ve had to use more lime then ever before.

So those are the changes I’m going to make on the next grow, I’ll see how things go, and adjust from there!

As for what strain to run? No clue. I was thinking maybe Malawi, Zamaldelica, banghi haze, or maybe even the green goddess pheno of Panama as I have the breeders pack.

Looking forward to trying out this pink pistiled Panama lady in a few weeks! Also, I’m planning on proposing to my girlfriend while we are in Africa, wish me luck peeps! Hopefully it looks better on her than my fat finger

 

[OZZ_]

Day 68 12/12

She’s fattened up and pistils have started to die off. It started from the bottom of the plant working it’s way up, but the top of the buds have not died off just yet. Although they look like they could any day now. Trichomes are all cloudy, no clear, and after thirty minutes of looking with my scope, I finally found two barely amber trichomes.

So I have to chop on Tuesday regardless, because of our upcoming trip, that will be exactly ten weeks /70 days. Hopefully I’ll see a few more amber trichomes by Tuesday, so it might be a tad early but should simply be a nice smoke if not a little more uplifting.

 

[Common Sense]

These are looking totally awesome, ozz. I am following because the time frame before an upcoming trip is like my situation may end up.
I'm sure your girl will love the ring...

 

[OZZ_]

These are looking totally awesome, ozz. I am following because the time frame before an upcoming trip is like my situation may end up.
I'm sure your girl will love the ring...

Thanks bud! Looking forward to the chop! Really excited to have an old school Sativa around.

 

[OZZ_]

Chopped her last night at 70 days and she is currently hanging, really looking forward to getting this girl cured and ready to smoke! Nice long Sativa spears.

 

[Safe Gardener]

Wow! I totally missed this grow, glad I caught it now! Looks great! I'm just getting started with a couple Malawi and Panama seeds in a micro environment. This grow will be my benchmark. Great job man!

Good luck with the proposal

 

[OZZ_]

Wow! I totally missed this grow, glad I caught it now! Looks great! I'm just getting started with a couple Malawi and Panama seeds in a micro environment. This grow will be my benchmark. Great job man!

Good luck with the proposal

HA! Thanks Safe Gardener! I’m pretty nervous even though she’s been hinting for over a year she wants to get married, so I know it’s a definite yes, but somehow I still am pretty nervous about it lol.

As for the grow, I definitely need to get this PH thing ironed out with my water, as I’m tired of seeing them fade to early and really want to make sure to grow them to their full potential.

Now I’ve gotta decide what’s next! Maybe Malawi? Banghi Haze? Zamaldelica? Sooooo many to choose from