AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal - Ebb&Flow - Bubblelicious 2013

[AfricanGrower]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

>>>Hope you don't mind me posting more pics, just wanted to show how much roots have grown in 1 week. Also I need a little help from my brothers here on what mix you would use with the nutes in the pic.

Not at all Shaft, we are all learning here! That is a big difference in growth from those picture, well done!. I have one concern though (please Capn, chime in if you think otherwise) about your root color. Although I am very new to hydro, I have learned that even the darkest of mixes shouldn't leave roots that discolored. It almost looks like they are deprived of oxygen. But if your plants are healthy, then I can't say do anything but send green vibes your way

I use a tea every week also(no molasses nor ancient forest) and I am truly seeing the difference in growth. Maybe its just the difference in between hydro and soil that I am used to haha! Shaft, I really recommend you subscribe to the Capn's blog, as there IS and WILL be a wealth of knowledge spewing from the head of a wise grower

UPDATE TOMORROW

 

[TheCapn]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

Great for veg, but I'm already in flower.

I'll copy and paste for you

For transition (1 week before flower, and two weeks into): 600-700ppm
4ml/gal cal mag
4ml/gal flora blend
3 parts grow
3 parts micro
3 parts bloom

after 3rd week of flower: 800-1000ppm
4ml/gal cal mag
4ml/gal flora blend
2 parts grow
3 parts micro
5 parts bloom

I drop the flora blend and grow completely in the last two weeks of flower.

 

[shaft09]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

AG,

Cultivator posted a pic in his journal of a massive root ball (pg 33) that had parts of it a bit discolored, but still healthy. On pg 11 of your journal, I posted this;

I have since found out the root discoloration does not mean there is a problem in the res for DWC with no grow medium while using tea. At least that's what I think I've understood from reading other stuff.

Thanks for your concern, but as long as I get no slime, I'm not gonna worry about it. You know about some of the problems I've been through with root rot. lol. But the plants are still hangin' in there, so I'm gonna keep going.

Capn, thanks for the info. I know I've seen a flower nute schedule in one of your journals, but for the life of me, I just couldn't find it. Probably looking too hard.

I guess the real reason for my cry for help, was to find out if I should bump my nutes up. I thought the buds should be growing faster, but was not sure if what they needed was a nute bump. Capn pretty much cleared that up with his post, so I'll give it a try and see how it goes. I also was thinking maybe I should stagger the nutes and not put them in all at once.On second thought, I think I will do that. Tea and micro first, then the others later, but all in the same day while monitoring the ph with every addition. I have some leaf claw, and been plucking anything that looks like its not healthy.

 

[Cultivator]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

Hey shaft

whats the water temps in ur set up? looks like its a little warm to me. i'd guess low 70's? smell ur roots and if they dont smell like fresh lettuce it can be a sign roots arent getting enough oxygen. looks a little more than dyed roots from my experience, but having said that they dont look terrible bro. Try placing ur air pump preferably outside of ur grow room in a cool area to be sure warm air isnt being pumped into rootzone.

The colouring on my rootball comes from the iron (fe) in the canna aqua line and the liquid seaweed by unmentionable company.

if u start ur own journal i'll pop by and try help u out mate.

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

AG,

Hope you don't mind me posting more pics, just wanted to show how much roots have grown in 1 week. Also I need a little help from my brothers here on what mix you would use with the nutes in the pic. Right now I have more tea brewing. In the res currently is just RO ph water in the amount of 6 gallons. This was done at 1:00 pm pacific standard time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would consult the General Hydroponics feeding schedule and start your plants on 1/4 of the recommended dosage and progressively over time increase the dosage until you are full strength nutrients.

GENERAL HYDROPONICS

 

[TheCapn]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

>>>On second thought, I think I will do that. Tea and micro first, then the others later, but all in the same day while monitoring the ph with every addition.

Shaft, after this post I'll let you do your thing... but remember it is best to follow instructions and not "make up" your own methods until you have many many grows under your belt.

Always mix up nutrients, and adjust PH outside the res first. After you get your water change done, wait a few hours to make sure ppm and PH is where you want it before adding your tea.

Also, I wouldn't use any "nectar" or "licious" products in DWC. These sweet ingredients are known to feed anaerobic bacteria in DWC.

 

[AfricanGrower]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

5/10/13

Hey all! I have done quite a bit since I last posted here with pictures. I have also learned quite a few things in my reality that I want to share with all. I’ll get to that later though. I will start with the bagseed this time because they might just be replacing Bubb A in that pot!

SO I completely made a rookie mistake thinking that I could hold off on watering the 3 bagseed until after I got out of work earlier this week before transplanting them. They all were badly wilted as you can see but I had faith they all would recover within minutes of watering.

20 minutes later you can see that they all were almost fully recovered, EXCEPT for one. It got hit the worst because it was the least mature of the 3. There is still little growth from this one and the lower leaves are still fairly moist but starting to dry up. We will see if she will bounce back within the week.

I planned on transplanting all 3 of the bagseed into ½ gallon containers from the 1 pint clay pots they were in. Remember that I had planted the weakest (shortest and slowest growth) into a ½ gallon container a couple days before. This was an experiment to see how quickly pot size can affect plant size.

The pictures below show the size of the weakest bagseed plant compared to the biggest of the 3 bagseed that was just recently transplanted. NOTE that these plants were transplanted 6 days a part

This shows nearly 2 inches difference in growth from 1pint to ½ gallon containers in 6 days. Exponentially, the rate of growth of the ‘weakest bagseed’ would have far superseded its mates.

I also Topped and Fimmed the 3 healthy bagseeds today as well. The largest of 3 I topped as you can see below. And the smaller 2, I fimmed. One of the fimmed plants was cut too low into new growth so I doubt 4 main tops will be protruding from there!

Last update for the bagseeds: as you might have noticed from pictures above is the new home I constructed for them below my grow space in the tent. I did this for two reasons, 1. I wanted to move the bagseeds out of the PC case but did not want to over crowd the Bubb’s as they are starting to really stretch. 2. I am in the works of redesigning my automated top feed/drain system so I can also feed the bagseeds when I am away. I will discuss more on that topic in the future
But I basically rewired a power strip to an extension cord (spare PC 3-prong power outlet) and used the 3 CFLs I was using in the PC. And covered the whole thing in car-windshield reflective material. Plus a little breeze from coming in from the West ensures fresh circulating air to these potential SOG buddies.

Now time to move on to the Bubbs. I still have not 100% determined sex of both plants as of yet so I will keep you guys posted on that. I told you guys I decided to try and trick a branch of Bubb A into flowering by blocking light, so I am currently 3 days in of flowering for that branch and will give it 4-5 more days to see if flowering was actually induced.

However I am still fairly certain Bubb B is a female, not only by calyx shape but by overall growth characteristics. Bubb B is certainly much bushier than Bubb A, not considering the LST.

Looking at the pictures below you can see the difference in height and width of both Bubb plants. Remember Bubb A is not trained, and Bubb B is.

Now this comes down to difference in main growth of the two plants. Bubb B has significantly larger lower growth than Bubb A. 4 of the main tops are the 2nd to lowest nodes of the plant and each of the 8 total main tops have 2-4 secondary tops growing on it. So I have potentially 22 main tops in this picture and I plan on topping each of these in 1-2 weeks, giving me 40-44 main tops 2 weeks before I go into flower. The tops circled with BLUE are the smallest and lowest nodes of the plant. They will most likely be used for clone stasis.

I made another mistake today. More of not being careful than pure rookie intentions. I was placing Bubb B back into the tent after the photo shoot and I accidentally brushed one of here trained branches on the zipper of the tent. It got caught. And it snapped. Not all hope is lost though. There are still some attached cells so I put a splint around it and hope for the best. If this main top ends up dying than I might be looking at about 36 main tops in flower instead.

Here is a photo of growth of the broken top. I will update with a photo in a week to see if there is in fact new growth.

 

[b.real]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

shes so crispy! weve all lost before man, my dad actually tossed my plant that was growing outside. all the others look great, a great shade of green.

sorry about the injury, but she should be ok. did you use breathable medical tape?

 

[AfricanGrower]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

I used Masking Tape and the tip of a pen cap as a splint.

 

[Cultivator]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

that will heal nicely, looking good mate

 

[shaft09]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

AG,

I got a journal started. Last time I checked I had a sig to follow. Stop in when you can, you're always welcome! Got to go now, later Bro.

 

[shaft09]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

look for shaft09's hydro salvage grow.

 

[B A R]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

AG, what post # was it that you had the detailed info on operating the Hydro Farm Digital Timer? As I'm in need of a 2nd timer now I went back to the online instructions & I still can't get this damn thing to work!

 

[AfricanGrower]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

9/10/13

Ohayoo! How is it going everyone. It is finally time for a well needed update and I can say that I am still unsure of the sex of one of my Bubblelicious plant. Good Weed to All!

As you can see here I am now getting claw shaped calyx's towards the top of new growth on Bubb A...

...but no hairs nor any more 'balls-on-a-stick" like last time I noticed preflowers. This pic is what the first preflowers I photographed two updates ago. Notice how the flowers have completely dried up due to the increase in size of the main stalk.

Now for the the stalk I was trying to trick into preflowering. I have now stopped covering the branch every night due to lack of beneficial results. For one, the branch that was being covered stopped growing at the same rate as the rest of the plant, and is nearly 2-3 inches shorter than what it should be. Plus the the preflowers on that branch seem to be even less developed than the preflowers exposed to the regular 18/6 schedule. Note the smaller preflowers below, with no real signs that flowering has started on this branch.

Here on Bubb B, I finally have hairs pooping out of these female genetalia!

But I also noticed one questionable looking calyx!

Now this is what I was hoping the size of my garden would be by now. Almost touching each end of my 4 foot width grow tent. But unfortunately it looks like Bubb A might just be a male. I will wait and give it another week or so to develop further and 'he' should be getting chopped next weekend.

Now Bubb B has grown over 6 inches in width and is now over 25 inches in total. It has grown about 4 inches in height standing at a total of about just under a foot.

I also started some more HST, by kinking some of the bigger fan leaves that were blocking light to lower growth.

As well as a light defoliation of leaves that could not possible be kinked out of the way. This is opening up the middle of the plant, so all that lower growth will have a chance to reach the screen.

Bubb A grew significantly in height and width also.

So I got my hands on a air pump, and stated brewing tea a day ago with Aquashield, Great White, and some molasses. Since I have not yet to get some Ancient Forest humus to further diversify the the types of bacteria, I have gone with Heisenberg's original method of watering each plant with about a cup of tea at the crown of each plant over a span of 2-3 days.

Now for the bagseeds. Here is what growth looks like after HST 4 days ago.

The topped bagseed.

The FIMMED bagseed I thought I FIMMED to short, but it turns out that it was the perfect cut, with two new growths shown by the red arrows in the pic, and the two existing inter-nodal growth circled in blue.

The other FIMMED bagseed that I thought I cut perfectly, but it turns out that this was more of a FIRM (F*ck I Really Missed) than a FIM ha

Update will be this weekend, until next time friends, AG

 

[SWvoodoo]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

Nice shots of the fimming and firming there AG! I still don't have that sussed out yet.

 

[TheCapn]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

Hello AG, your grow is looking amazing. But you and s1ing gotta stop abusing your plants! ha ha ha, Just kidding, I think the break will heal up well too.

Congrats on at least one female. Bub A looks male to me too, but I hope we are wrong.

Bub B is going to be a winner for sure. So was your prediction about male or female correct?

You were saying you are going to top one more time. Do you think the 2 x 4 tent will handle 50 tops? I usually have 50 tops in a 4 x 4 space.

Are you still looking to start flower on 11-1 ?

 

[stealthgrow]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

looking good AG, keep up the good work.

 

[AfricanGrower]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

>>>Bub B is going to be a winner for sure. So was your prediction about male or female correct?

Yes it was, as I said that bushier plants tend to be female, but I think think since Bubb B had a faster growth rate than A from the beginning, that A was probably stressed into becoming a male because it really started to pick up in internodal growth over the past few weeks.

>>>You were saying you are going to top one more time. Do you think the 2 x 4 tent will handle 50 tops? I usually have 50 tops in a 4 x 4 space.

I'm thinking of only topping the branches that are ahead in growth in order to give time for lower branching to even out. So only about 7-8 more tops. That should give me around 16 MAIN tops and I will be forced to get selective, as you said, with the smaller growth. I was aiming for somewhere around 35-45 tops total on the screen.

Are you still looking to start flower on 11-1 ?

Yes, I am. I am currently 4 and 1/2 weeks through veg (not including the 2 week seedling stage) so in about 3 weeks I should be flipping to 12/12. I was thinking on between the 1st and the 3rd of Nov.

 

[AfricanGrower]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

Nice shots of the fimming and firming there AG! I still don't have that sussed out yet.

Yea, it takes a good feeling to know where to cut exactly to get a successful FIM. Diagrams and charts are one thing, but each plant has different growth so I guess you just have to try until you succeed as I did here.

I plan on experimenting with different techniques with these bagseed, like extreme lollipopping and maybe some mainlining. We'll see

>>>looking good AG, keep up the good work.

Thanks Stealth for the encouragement, as always

 

[Skybound]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

AG, the grow looks awesome! I hope to be half as lucky soon.

May I suggest some experiments if the bag seeds survive your gauntlet?

-- Air Layering, what DP briefly discussed in his journal, getting a clone to root before it is removed from the mother plant.
-- After a clone is rooted and a couple new node grow out, cut the young plant low to clone it again. This might be too stressful, but if not, perhaps that can be repeated a couple times to time the harvest for a ready vegged lady?