Cannibal's AK47 & Mango Grow Journal - 2009

Day 4

The AK47s are still showing off. They have greened-up real nice and are ready to start growing I think. The Mango is a bit better today than yesterday. She isn't dropping quite as much and her leaves are starting to look a little better. The improvement is slight, but I'm happy it seems to be going in the right direction.

I've decided to go ahead and pull the girls out of their pots tonight and check the drain elbows. I may just go ahead and put a layer of the expanded clay on the bottom, similar to what Grooster did with his river stones. I figure the expanded clay should prevent any possible clogging, or at least slow down the build-up, if there is any.

The HPS to MH conversion bulb will be here Monday according to the tracking email I received. Kind of jazzed about that; love new 'stuff'!

Can't say I'm real excited about pulling them out of their pots. I'll be happy when it's done, but I'm not looking forward to doing it. They have all recovered (or recovering) from the move from the dispensary to our home and the idea of stressing them out again so quickly doesn't sit very well. Tough love, I guess.

The stress is enough to make me look at the aeroponic systems. At least any kind of medium wouldn't be an issue. In the meantime, I'm going to make this first grow a successful grow!
 
Day 7

Well, the maintence work from the weekend is done. I learned something about the root growth in hydro systems! I wanted to protect the roots as much as possible and since I've got a slightly heavy coco coir mixture, I thought the hand trowel would allow me to scoop down below the roots and pull up one large bundle of roots and coco coir. So wrong! I'm flat out amazed how quickly roots develop in these systems. I caught some of the roots on one of the AK47s.

However, they are back in their homes and dealing with the stress. The elbows were not properly seated. I corrected the elbow issue, but in order to cover all bases, I went ahead and filled the reservoir section of the Bato Buckets with expanded clay. That should give me good drainage almost no-matter-what...almost.

Another problem I had was the drip lines clogging. Remember I had one line on each pot pinched because of the drainage issue. Well, when I got home Friday and went to watch their evening feeding, I saw that I had two lines that weren't flowing at all. I had the 1/2" line teed so that it formed a big circle and didn't have to worry about plugging one end. It sounded and looked great, but there were some issues. It made access to the reservoir tub a PITA because everything was pretty static and didn't like to be moved. I went ahead and re-plumbed the whole system while I was there working anyway and made some modifications that will make my life, and my ladies', easier. Turns out there was a bit of coco coir plugging the barbs that connected the 1/4" drip lines to the 1/2" main line. I'm not a big fan of coco coir right now.

End result is a beautifully operating system. The repeated stress is probably going to delay my harvest, but I'm still confident of success. The AK47s were really taking off prior to this weekend and the Mango was really starting to pretty-up. The Mango seems to have taken the transfer a little harder than the AK47s, but she wasn't as strong as they before the move either. I repositioned them so that the Mango is in the center getting the best light; hoping that will help her. Our AK47s are showing some yellow leaves today and the Mango is back to her drooping. It will all be worth it in the end and as long as I don't kill my first grow and learn some things in the process, I'll be quite happy.

HPS to MH conversion bulb will be waiting on my porch when I get home. Good news.

Seems I'm having to adjust ph daily; it keeps creeping up. Any ideas?

I'll shoot some more video tonight and get it posted. For those who care, the ladies had been listening to Ministry last week, but got switched over to Korn (gotta have some funky metal) Friday and started on the Rob Zombie diet today. I'm thinking that I'll que up Pantera for later in the week.
 
Day 8

Here is some more video of our girls. The AK47s have added a few inches since the first video, but the Mango (she is in the middle now) keeps getting messed with every time she tries to grow. Hopefully, the recent round of maintenance will be the last big disturbance she has to endure.

[youtube]_9imJJUF8pM[/youtube]

The Mango is kind of interesting in the fact that she seems to have two main stalks. Hard to see in the video, but if you look close you can see them. Is this a common thing? The AK on the far left in the video has a lower leaf that dried and split right down the center. I am assuming this is a result of the removal and replacement process. New growth at the top seems solid, so I'm not going to freak-out just yet.

I hope they are enjoying the new light from the MH. Last night was my night to replace the nute solution, but we spent most of the day at the vet's office with a sick pet; third in as many months! I'll change out the nute solution tonight and get the nutes up to full strength. Between that and the new MH light I am hoping to see a beautiful explosion of growth for the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.
 
Day 9

Well boy o' boy do the AK47s like the new light; holy crap! They are still suffering obvious signs of stress, but it sure hasn't slowed them down. I've decided to start rotating the buckets daily so that they can each have their share of primo light space. I also have an experienced grower and friend coming over this coming Monday to show me how to keep the ladies all nice and trimmed. I've been reading a ton about all the various techniques, but I figure it's better to have somebody actually show me how to do it the first time.

It's hard to be patient with myself. I really want to try some of the advanced grow techniques I've found on this site and others, but OTH I also want a successful first grow. So, I'm forcing restraint upon myself and because you folks don't know me that well yet I'll just tell you that in and of itself, that's a holiday miracle right there.

Next hydro design will be built more with the light in mind. I want a square or triangle grow platform instead of the in-line style I'm using with this grow. This system would be uber-fantastic in a window, but under a single light I'm understanding its limitations. Citius, Altius, Fortius the next time.

Musical selection today is one of my all time favs: Metallica, Ride the Lightning; you know, back when they were still great.
 
SupSup Cannibal, Glad to hear the grow is going well still. I know what you mean about the inline model we are using. I was thinking of rotating the ladies as well. I can see the outer two bending a little toward the center. Its not much but rotating seems to be a great Idea. I am thinking of a flood table next grow. 4x4 would be sweet. then jump too 1000w switchable. Thats if I complete this grow first. No more problems with drainage I assume? Mine seems to be fine still.

Hey I didn't see the link for your new vid... Looking forward to seeing the girls hehe. Anyways, keep up the good work, lemme know what your grower friend has to say and share any tidbits!!

L8ER Bro
 
Day 14

I've got a problem.

Our Mango is hurting and I think I may have found part of the problem yesterday. It's hard to tell from the bad video, but she is 'splotchy'. Her leaves are green and yellow; actually kind of pretty. She seems to be growing vertically pretty strongly as she is almost caught up with the AKs height wise. But, she isn't filling out very well. I had chalked-up the colors to the repeated stresses, but it's been going on too long and the new growth shows the same pattern. In the last couple of days, the leaf edges have started to curl up. Mostly near the top. Here's the vid (Mango is in the center):

[youtube]M7SiODmjLSE[/youtube]

Anyway, while spending time with my ladies yesterday and doing some inspections, I saw a dense web-like structure at the base of the Mango. I cleaned it out and did a real close inspection for bugs, but didn't find any. Obviously something is living in there, but I can't tell you what. Can anybody help!?

The AKs are just doing wonderfully! They are fat and busting out new growth every few hours it seems. They are showing zero issues, but boy o boy are they starting to stink (the good kind). I don't want them to get bit by whatever has a hold on our Mango.

What can I do?
 
How did this grow turn out?
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