Buds Buddy's 1st Grow Journal

[Old Salt]

I miss old wizard too and I wish he would come here. Yep, you fooled me with that 6.2 and I was thinking soil. I am curious how this pH change to the soil range will work and I know that we've been advised that that does work in Coco yet I still remain a little skeptical.

I run at pH 5.8 to the flip, 6.0 during the stretch, and 6.2 from first flowers until the flush when I revert to 5.8. I'm skipping the flush this grow, and will run at 6.2 until harvest. After the harvest, I'll flush the coco/perlite with pH 5.8 water, and then a veg nutrient solution to prepare it for the next grow.

I came up with these figures after a fair bit of reading, and examining the pH charts on another website (GWE). They recommend pH 6.0 - 7.0 for soil, and 5.5 - 6.5 for hydroponics / soil less. From the charts it seems that pH required for optimal nutrient uptake is different for the two basic growing methods. I suspect this is due to the microbes in soil converting raw nutrients into something easier for the plants to use.

 

[Emilya Green]

That is very interesting, if not a little controversial. I am highly intrigued and yes, this deserves some more experimenting. You say a lot of folks over at GWE are doing this? How many runs have you done it?

 

[Buds Buddy]

I run at pH 5.8 to the flip, 6.0 during the stretch, and 6.2 from first flowers until the flush when I revert to 5.8. I'm skipping the flush this grow, and will run at 6.2 until harvest. After the harvest, I'll flush the coco/perlite with pH 5.8 water, and then a veg nutrient solution to prepare it for the next grow.

I came up with these figures after a fair bit of reading, and examining the pH charts on another website (GWE). They recommend pH 6.0 - 7.0 for soil, and 5.5 - 6.5 for hydroponics / soil less. From the charts it seems that pH required for optimal nutrient uptake is different for the two basic growing methods. I suspect this is due to the microbes in soil converting raw nutrients into something easier for the plants to use.

That's interesting. I don't know if I got the numbers from you or just a coincidence but I chose 5.8 for pH during Veg & now 6.2 during flower. The 5.8 I seen was the best for Nute uptake on the chart you looked at. But I must of missed the 6.2 pH Flower info. From what I understand the pH drops a lot more in the Coco during Flower than in Veg & that's the reason for the higher pH during Flower. I have no idea why it would drop but that's the reasoning I got.

 

[Old Salt]

That is very interesting, if not a little controversial. I am highly intrigued and yes, this deserves some more experimenting. You say a lot of folks over at GWE are doing this? How many runs have you done it?

I've followed this pH protocol right from my first grow. I'm pretty anal about it. My current grow is my fifth. It's working for me, so I've had no reason to change.

I'm aware that others are achieving success with other protocols, and it would be nice to experiment, but I don't have the resources to do so yet. I need to achieve security of my supply first. For me that means at least a year's supply of my meds, and a lifetime seed supply. I have the meds, and am working on the seed.

 

[TysonOG]

I will buy my water at the grocery store at .89c per gallon

I used to do this, but I switched to the Glacier refill stations. I had to pay $5 a piece for 5g jugs but it's only $1.75 for 5 gallons. The biggest reason tho is they are 24/7 self serve kiosks, and I normally work on my plants late at night and can be forgetful lol.

 

[Emilya Green]

I used to do this, but I switched to the Glacier refill stations. I had to pay $5 a piece for 5g jugs but it's only $1.75 for 5 gallons. The biggest reason tho is they are 24/7 self serve kiosks, and I normally work on my plants late at night and can be forgetful lol.

I am going to have to start doing that... I don't like it when the grocery clerks look askance at me with a full grocery cart of spring and RO water. The under the sink unit was fun, but I should have gotten a better one, and dangit.. the jugs are just so handy... even in 5g containers, at least that gets it to the grow room.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Hello, Hello & Off We Go !!! It's Day 57 for this Grow & things are starting to happen. The ladies keep growing like mad. I'm not even sure what to do about my Northern Lights. She won't stop growing into the light. She's pushing 5' tall & the AK 47 x Six Shooter is closing in on her fast. These 2 plants are something else as fast as they grow once the start making buds. The other AK 47 is well on her way to making some tasty buds. The Critical 2.0 makes me laugh a lot. It's close to done (2 weeks maybe) & the dried buds will be about the size of a marble. Hope 1 marble gets me wasted .... LOL. The other 2 are a little slower .... for the moment anyway.
I've stayed with Week 7 Nutes so far but increased the ppm a little. I'm now feeding twice per day 3/4 to 1 - Gallon per plant. My pH for Flower is 6.2 & I'm running right about 1000 ppm including water which is 200 ppm. So 800 ppm of Nutes. Tomorrow I'm putting the AK 47 & the Critical on the Over Drive Nute. The other 4 will stay on the Big Bud till they look more like the AK 47.
Already had to buy another Liter of Sensi Coco Bloom A & B, Sensi Cal Mag +, Big Bud & I'm getting close to needing others. I just don't want to use GH Products any more since Miracle Grow owns it now. I wouldn't have bought Bontanicare Coco if I knew they owned it too at the time.
Well here are some up to date pics that I took this morning. I defoliated again after the pics so I'll try to post those pics tomorrow.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Some more pics....

 

[Buds Buddy]

Last but not least ....

 

[Buds Buddy]

Got a question for you all. When I was at the Hydro Store yesterday they gave me 2 sample bottles of something called "Fish Shit". It says it's an EcoSystem in a Bottle, Organic Soil Conditioner. Doesn't give the ingredients or NPK numbers.
Anybody know what this is & is it something I should use ? I know @Emilya has the answer to this one as it's right up her alley.

 

[Smokiemcpot19]

Looking fucking killer man those bitches are huge they must like the expensive nutes lol. And yeah I ordered some megacrop for next run, just scoop powder and dump in a gallon of water and shake! Im goin to try a more hands off approach next grow with bad ass genetics from mephisto and fastbuds. Im hoping to stuff 6 autos In the 4x4 and train like mad.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I was thinking of trying it too. Somewhere on this site there's a coupon code for a free sample. I believe it was a decent size sample. All you pay is like $5 for shipping.

 

[Old Salt]

I just tried to order. That coupon has expired.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Didn't know that. Thanks for the update.

 

[Smokiemcpot19]

Yeah free samples got all taken before I got arround to it. I purchased the 750 gram bag and with shipping and all it was like 24$ and makes like 175 feeds i think I read, and considering I'll be going a more peat like medium next grow I'll only need to feed a couple times a week for the vast majority of the grow

 

[Buds Buddy]

That's not bad at all. I think it's costing me about $15 - $20 a week in Nutes right now.

 

[Old Salt]

That's not bad at all. I think it's costing me about $15 - $20 a week in Nutes right now.

Holy bat crap Robin!
It's costing me less than $40 in nutrients for a full grow of four plants from seed to harvest.

 

[Buds Buddy]

So far used : 1/2 liter each of Grow A & B =$15 , 750 ml. of B-52 = $20 , 250 ml. Piranha = $17 , 250 ml. VooDoo Juice = $17 ,500 ml. Big Bud = $25, 1/2 liter Bud Candy = $15, 1/2 Liter of Rhino Skin = $15 , 1-Liter Bloom A & B = $30 & 750 ml. Cal Mag = $20. So right around $175 for 57 days so far. I figure it will be about $250 in Nutes for this grow. Another reason I'll be doing Auto Pots next time. Just too much waste hand feeding. I wouldn't be using anywhere near this amount if I was using a res.

 

[Emilya Green]

Holy bat crap Robin!
It's costing me less than $40 in nutrients for a full grow of four plants from seed to harvest.

I am in to my current grow for $29.95 plus shipping, so far.

 

[Old Salt]

I'm just going drain to waste, with 10-20% run off, in 3.8 gal (11l) grow bags, fed twice per day. Previous grows were all four plants getting about 1l / plant per day.

The 5' tent in the basement with one Candida, Cream and Cheese, and Sapphire Scout is still at this level. The 7' tent in our living space is at 2-1/4l per day for the Candida, and 3l per day for the Cream and Cheese.