Buds Buddy's 1st Grow Journal

Not sure where you got that info. Did you look at the post I sent you with all the charts ? There's a sweet spot between 5.8 - 6.0 that gives them everything they need. 5.8 is the best from my interpretation so I try to keep it there. The only time I vary my pH going in is if I see my run off come out 5.5 pH or less. In a case like that I'd up it to 6.0 - 6.1 for a couple of feedings & bring it back to my desired 5.8. My boundries for pH going in are 5.7 - 6.0. Nothing higher or lower.
 
From what I've read 5.5 - 6.2 is just fine for growing in Coco. I'm just basing my pH preference off the charts I looked at.
By doing so I'm keeping a pretty close run off to what I put in. I get a good 8 - 10 oz. of run off every watering also so that helps keep my pH the same.
 
It's 2:30 in the morning & I can't sleep so I decided to take some Day 36 pictures. As you can see they've almost filled out again since their defol a few days ago. I've been spending a lot of time tying back branches but they fill in so fast you can hardly tell. Started them on 1/2 strength Week 6 Nutes today. Going to mix my nutes slightly stronger each week for the next 4 weeks til I'm up to about 3/4 strength as long as I get no signs of burn.
Anyway, I'll start with pics of the AK 47 since she's starting to flower. 3 others are starting also but not enough showing yet for decent pics of those.
So here is Miss AK 47 with pretty little flowers in her hair.
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Here are her 2 sexy sisters .........
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But here is their competition ... The Gorgeous girls from across the street ..........
I'd be happy to take a roll in the grass with any of them. When they're all grown up of course. They're too young for me right now.
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And here are my 2 Photo's & some group shots.........
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Buds Buddy said:
Hey there Candy Farmers ... What's Up ? Today is day 35 of my grow & I'm pleased for the most part. I did some info checking on the Critical 2.0 & yes it's a shorter growing strain. Sounds like they max out at about 3'.
Been a couple days since my defol & everything is filling back in again nicely. Had to tie more branches back today to get more light in there. They fill back in so fast. Still feeding week 5 & 6 Nutes to the Auto's & Week 3 & 4 Nutes to the Photo's. I feed 36 - 48 oz. per plant twice per day. pH going in is 5.8 & run off is 5.7 every time. I don't understand Smokie & Farside saying the pH will fluctuate all over the place like in their grows. Mine doesn't. It only drops 0.1 so it just doesn't make sense. However, Farside does have a great looking grow so who knows ?
Today I started tying back branches on my Afghan Kush (Photo) & topped it some more. It looks like it's getting ready to take off so figured it was time.
I bought some more wire shelves so now my Photo's are on racks also. All in all, so far so good.
I'll try to post pics tomorrow.
AK 47 has some small flower tops forming so I'll be sure to get pics of that.
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If your feed is the right strength mate the ph will rise during bloom then drop during veg. To combat the effect and keep it in range you feed around 5.7 in veg, as you have been. Then once the buds start popping go upto 6.3-6.5 to compensate for it dropping.
Spotted your comment about raising the nutes aswell. What that will do is reverse the natural ph shift which is caused by root secretions as the extra nutes will make the media more alkaline due to the extra salts and theyll over power the natural process.
If your ph goes down in veg or up in bloom then the nutes are the wrong strength.
Thats probably why those guys who said the ph goes all over the place. Theyll be feeding too strong and/or not often enough or in high enough volume. Gotta get all 3 if those right for it to work properly.
Also the ppm dropping thing in your run off. No way a plant that size can spank 600ppm down to 150 in 12 hours, its physically impossible so something not right. Probably your meter.
Its not really important anyway. As long as youre going in with the right numbers and feeding often enough just forget about the run off. Checking it is only really beneficial if youre trying to diagnose a problem or youre resusing the run off.
 
I haven't had any real problems with pH so far. Goes in at 5.8 & comes out at 5.7 so I think I'm good. And yes, something is wrong with my ppm pen. Battery died in it so I probably was getting bad readings right before it did. Ordered a new one last night that gives ppm, e.c. & temp. I have been using my run off on my photo's & I don't see any problems. They are small still but appear to be starting to take off. I kind of expected them to grow slow though since I went from a 12 oz. cup straight into a 3 gallon pot. But once the roots are well developed they usually take off. I kept track & ended up with 5 gallons of run off in just 1 week. That's from 8 plants fed twice per day.
 
Buds Buddy said:
I haven't had any real problems with pH so far. Goes in at 5.8 & comes out at 5.7 so I think I'm good. And yes, something is wrong with my ppm pen. Battery died in it so I probably was getting bad readings right before it did. Ordered a new one last night that gives ppm, e.c. & temp. I have been using my run off on my photo's & I don't see any problems. They are small still but appear to be starting to take off. I kind of expected them to grow slow though since I went from a 12 oz. cup straight into a 3 gallon pot. But once the roots are well developed they usually take off. I kept track & ended up with 5 gallons of run off in just 1 week. That's from 8 plants fed twice per day.
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Right mate. This is what youre missing. You said "ended up with 5 gallon run off .....etc"
And said youre re-using your run off. Thats what i do and its perfectly safe.
But...
Just chuck the run off straight back into the main brew my man.
Feed them as much as you can be bothered with every time. Couple gallons each if you can and put it ALL back into the main bucket. The recirculation creates shit loads of dissolved oxygen (d/o) in the feed. That means you dont need an air pump to keep it fresh.
Youll also be able to monitor what the plants are taking in much more precisely.
The higher the volume you run through them the easier it is to see properly.
Ive got 4 plants in 4 inch rockwools that are getting fed about 300 litres a day each on a 24/7 drip.
A 20L tub, with a shitty little £8 pump and 4 inches of tubing (grew my profile pic though ;) )
with plants balanced very precariously on top of it.
Im just over 2 weeks into the flip, have the frame work for over a kilo from 6 plants (those 4 plus 2x coco 3gal fabrics)
and ive only just hit 500ppm.
Cant share pics cos not my device but plenty in the grow journal in my sig :)
You cant force feed a plant mate. Its impossible. All sorts of weird shit can happen due to too strong a feed. Keep it on the lighter side and wait for the deficits before going up.

A few yellow leaves here and there causes zero damge to your crop.

By the time you see a toxicity, the damage is done ! Haha thats going in my sig :)
 
I agree with you & have been trying to do things your way the best I can. No way I can do it exact because of different set ups. But I think I'm following your way pretty good so far because everything comes out as you said it would. I didn't know you were mixing the run off back in with the res nutes though. With me using gallon jugs would a 50/50 run off / new nutes be sufficient ? I only want to use the run off on my Photo's since I'm feeding them the same nutes but for twice as long. Right now I'm on week 6 nutes for Auto's but still using week 4 nutes for the Photo's. I wish I had time to water more but I don't. Can't wait to get the Auto Pots going next grow. If I had known how much feeding I really needed to do I'd of got them before starting this grow. I have a 2 bucket set up with Air Domes & a 45 Liter p.h. air pump in my closet I haven't used yet. Need a 2nd one at least before I use them.
 
Barney86 said:
By the time you see a toxicity, the damage is done ! Haha thats going in my sig
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I always tell everyone that the problem they see today, started last week. Most of the time they don't listen & have every excuse known for why it's happening instead of fixing it right away. A week later their plants are going downhill & then they start doing what you told them but with some sort of a twist to it just to say it was something else. Like they say, "You can lead a horse to water; but you can't make them drink".
I do like trying to combine methods; but only the ones that make sense to me. That being said, your stuff seems to be right on the money where what Farside is doing makes no sense to me. But like I said before ... It looks like it works for him. It just doesn't fit right with everything I've learned so far so I wont try it. I think of it like a game of darts. If you hit the bulls eye every time you win.
 
Just going off to bed but had to say, autopots are probably the easiest and most efficient way possible to grow weed.
I can't think of any way to make any of it any easier and the results can keep up with any hydro system all day long.
They're a bit pricey for plant pots but absolutely worth every penny.
I will try them eventually :)
 
Barney86 said:
Just going off to bed but had to say, autopots are probably the easiest and most efficient way possible to grow weed.
I can't think of any way to make any of it any easier and the results can keep up with any hydro system all day long.
They're a bit pricey for plant pots but absolutely worth every penny.
I will try them eventually :)
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I'd say coco/perlite in a drain to waste system with automatic watering is every bit as easy as the autopots.
 
Day 37 here & 4 out of 6 are starting to flower. The Haze XL & N.L. x Critical 2.0 just showing the 2 white hairs so far. The tops of the plants got so thick with large fan leaves again I had to cut some off this morning to get some light penetration. I think I might order another batch of these seeds. 33 seeds for $45 including shipping. 100% guaranteed Germ., Fem., Auto. Genetically bred to grow small around 3' tall. I'll order another batch just to save for a future grow since they seem to be growing nicely.
By this weekend I'll be switching from week 6 Transition Nutes to 1/2 Strength Flower Nutes. Getting ready for the fun part ... bud production ... Yeah !!!
 
Day 39 & nothing new to speak of. Growing as they should. Pretty much lost interest in doing this journal so just going to do updates on the weekends now. Not enough interest in what I'm doing so not worth the trouble of doing it more often.
 
Dang... I hang on your every word and look forward to your detailed updates. It will be a shame to see you become less active with so much that you can share with the community.
If I just did my grow journals with the idea of simply chronicling my grow, I would get bored too. To add some excitement and indeed a reason for people to check out my journals, I start each one with a stated experiment or purpose for that grow, besides just growing good pot. Each grow I am out to learn something, and this excites my readers. You will find that in my journals many side experiments are conducted, from experimenting with alternative lighting, applying electricity to the plants, checking out a popular supplement or grow method... there is always something that I am clearly learning and experimenting and possibly going to fail at, in each grow. This keeps it exciting and gets people commenting on my journal, and keeps them coming back for more.
If you get a wild hare (lol) someday and think of a side by side experiment you wish to try or a method you wish to learn... start up a new journal. If you are interested in what you are writing, so will we be.
 
I've been waiting for pic updates, can't say much or show interest in something you arent even showing off man.

And there is no hard feelings man I apologized to you on my thread and said no hard feelings I just lost my cool.

I'm still going to watch your grow and your welcome to keep coming by mine and checking it out.

I did run into problems like you said I would but they seem to be (consensus) not enough cal mag.
 
Smokiemcpot19 said:
I've been waiting for pic updates, can't say much or show interest in something you arent even showing off man.

And there is no hard feelings man I apologized to you on my thread and said no hard feelings I just lost my cool.

I'm still going to watch your grow and your welcome to keep coming by mine and checking it out.

I did run into problems like you said I would but they seem to be (consensus) not enough cal mag.
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I was still watching it ... just not commenting on things. I was trying to help you skip all the frustrations I went through because I seen you doing a few things that caused me problems before. Sometimes I come off harsh, I know. If you know who Archie Bunker is ... I think of myself to be a lot like him. Yeah, I'm an ass at times & I know it. But it's just my nature & I'm one that don't care if anyone likes it. If I feel I'm right, I will be an ass at times trying to get my point across.
So please don't think I'm judging you or your grow. Looks like things are moving along nicely with a couple very minor glitches that you seem to be on top of now.
My plants are getting big. The N.L. & AK 47 are close to 3' tall, 3 others around 2' & 1 is smaller than those (Critical 2.0) but it's already flowering. Actually 5 out of 6 are flowering now. AK has a lot of bud spots growing. Pics on Sunday. I'm working 6 - 10's this week so not much time.
I'm on my bloom nutes now which I'll go over on Sunday also.
 
If anyone knows where to buy (Super Glue -or- Fire OG) seeds from a good breeder please let me know. Mephisto is Out of Stock & I haven't found them anywhere else yet. I just want to buy 5 of each seed for now. Don't care if it's Photo or Auto as long as they're Fem Seeds. These are 2 of the 4 I want to grow in my Auto Pots. I'm considering Colorado Cookies & Strawberry Banana also. Trying to find a dispensary that has those 2 so I can try them out.
 
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