Update: Rootbinding in the Veg Box ...and Even Less Light
Lets start with the ‘less light’ conversation
That's 2 square feet, so you were at 25/sqft, and only 17 now. But I keep seeing people who dialed their lighting back, and they almost always got an improvement.
Yes
About 10 days ago I noticed 2 things with the Candida CD-1; it was 12-14hours into the ‘day’ and it was leaning
away from the centre of the light panel and its top branches were almost completely closed (folded into the centre) whereas they had been open earlier in the day (when plants ‘pray’ hard to the light it‘s actually a ‘mechanism’ for reducing light intensity - it reduces the surface area). I took that as a sign the light was still a bit too intense. Plus, the CBD#1 kind of looked like it had also had enough of the light for the day (with 4hs to go).
I dropped the wattage on the viparspectra to 30watts. Actually to 30.3w, which for a former electronic music maker was a very happy number to land on. I spent many a happy hour with a 303machine
This is them at that time (day 36 for CBD#1) - looking tired from the light IMO - this is right when I decided to set the wattage lower.
I figure I’m only using 2/3 of the side to side space because I have the clone zone at the side so really I’m lightIng about 1.3’ x 1.5’ for just under 2‘sq. So that put things at a bit less than 15watts/sq ft. It doesn’t sound like enough, does it? But it is. Happy days.
We will come back to that later and I’ll get to the root binding in minute
.
Meanwhile, about 3 days ago I tipped (topped) the Candida At day 21 - using the ‘pinching out’ method. I haven’t topped that way indoors before so I’m trying something different (for me) to prepare this one for flower. Outside (pre420mag) I used to tip like this, and then tip branches as well to split them and create more tops.
With this CD-1 I’ve tipped the emerging node and will take the shoots off the lower nodes as cones later on. Here, before topping/tipping:
I removed the 6th node.
No room to leave a little stumpy for future reinforcement but i don’t intend to train this heavily at all so it should be fine. This is the first way I ever learnt to top
I’ll take the bottom node for clones once they look ready. Maybe node 2 as well. We will see.
So - folks often panic about rootbound plants and I’m here to tell you that a little bit of rootbound is totally ok and there are ways to deal with it! Letting a plant get a bit rootbound can make for a great growth explosion when you transplant (note that scoring roots at transplant is imperative when the rootball is packed - I’ll document that when I transplant this one, soon!).
I picked up this watering tech,it is a great method for getting fresh oxygen into the roots and for keeping a plant happy for longer in a small container. In Veg, whenever I can, I dunk-water them like this:
Here’s the roots of CBD#1 at 43 days from sprout in a 1/2gal container.
I fill a small bucket (that these pots just fit down into) with the water or drench (this was a plain water dunk) and then remove a jug-full to set aside and pour on top during the operation. It’s hard to see but there
is water in that little grey bucket!
Plant pot gets lowered in until it’s close to 3/4submerged
...pour extra water down the top
There will be bubbling! This was also an excellent chance to check for the waxy residue that root aphids leave behind, and I saw none
let it soak up for2-3 minutes, until bubbling stops and you’re happy the rootball is fully soaked and then lift and tilt the pot alternately in all directions to drain out the water in all directions. This clears the perched water table.
I use a plumbing section to rest the pot on while draining - I switch the direction up periodically (more slowly as the dripping slows) and don’t put it back in the space until it has pretty much stopped dripping (this minimises water on the bottom of the grow space).
This works great in small pots. It’s actually less labour intensive than it looks and it feels great to know you’ve really cleared the pot and delivered fresh oxygen to the rootzone! I should say that I am growing in organic soil and I dont know how this would or wouldn’t go for folk using synthetics as I dont know how you’d guage your nute inputs
. When I do it with a drench I double the strength of it so i dont know if it would suit the methods involving/requiring specific numbers wrt nute levels...
So now we see the results with CBD#1 at dat 46 - after 10 days of the lower light setting and 2.5 days post dunking. Ignore the odd shapes lower down - there is a ton of leaf tucking going on!
It has put on a good few inches since the light was turned down so there’s no problem with the low watts! (awesome! 30watt veg space
)
New growth looking great to me. Mostly 9 bladed leaves I think.
Side shoots coming along. (I gently pinched the internodal space of the main stem once or twice a couple of weeks ago - to slow it down a little)
I had not intended to let it go
quite this long before transplant and flip - was meant to be my first quick turaround. Life happens and garden schedules have to change and happily the plants survive. It will be transplanted today or tomorrow. I will take clones from the bottom nodes and most likely flip it to flower the same day.
The flowering tent got a big overhaul over the weekend and is fresh and clean and reset ready to go. The extraction now has ducting that sends it into the veg box thusly...
It works a treat sending the air in there - it blows really strong! I will find out once the CBD#1 is in flower how much of a heat rise i great from it in there.
So, it is certainly a new chapter in my growing life. A little veg box and a flowering space and suddenly you can think about how to grow, really differently. It is my aim to grow more, smaller plants for the most part. I’ve decided to try to stay below 25L (5gal) for flowering so that’s mostly about developing the quick-veg game. Panama harvest was super easy. And the SB harvest is about as big as me and the lovely other can manage ourselves. I’m sure every now and then I’m going to say screw it lets’ grow a big one - so I’ll look forward to that! - but for the most part I will be aiming to keep things small and manageable for me.
And speaking of which - no photo but it really did happen - I dropped a Nepal Jam x Kali China seed in water last night and will plant it in soil in the next few hours
I figure there’s going to be room next to Candida CD-1 at the end of this run so I might as well have something in the space! It’s a stable F1 sativa-dominant, short-flowering, hybrid from Ace that sounds very nice to me and I hope/expect it will be a really nice daytime toke.
That’s things up to date with the veg box. The DDA is managing in there and will go back in to the tent when CBD#1 goes into flower and the clones are still alive. I topped them to reduce their growth but ie not been able to do anything else with them or think much about making something more permanent for the clone zone.
Mostly this last little while was spent making sure there is no sign of root aphids in there and there is not!
It’s funny and seems counterintuitive but when I’m more tired my posts are more wordy. Self editing takes energy I guess... blah blah blah...
Woo! Every time I visit and see the word Panama, the song Blasts that part in my minds ear. I don't mind that at all. Who does that old song? Is it a Van Halen tune?
Woohoo! Yes and apparently written for the special ’erb!
...that reminds me
I cracked! and smoked the stem bracts of the Panama
it totally made me sing that song and make the face DLR makes it that video
Wiaow! indeed
couldn’t be happier. Early days so will see how it develops but there was no anxiety or heart racing, just pure, unadulterated joy!
sending some of that out to you all!
I'm always up for a new racy high.
