Cap'n Style Top-Fed Simple Hydroponics With Grow Chunks

[Tamir]

Ok I'm fully caught up and subbed. I have yet to try the H Tea. May do so on my next grow.

 

[TrysHard]

Ok I'm fully caught up and subbed. I have yet to try the H Tea. May do so on my next grow.

Good Idea but anytime is a good time to start.

 

[Skybound]

When growing Capn style, feel free to flip the pots over to pull out the root ball to inspect root development. My best understanding of Capn's methods are to help the root mass back build throughout their lives by growing outward till they hit the pot edge and circle which forces some root tips back inward to better populate the grow media. With that said, different strains and phenos will behave differently so shooting out even a generalized time table of when to transplant might not serve you justice. I say just flip the pots over to inspect the root development to determine when to graduate into larger pots.

 

[jamthe3]

When growing Capn style, feel free to flip the pots over to pull out the root ball to inspect root development. My best understanding of Capn's methods are to help the root mass back build throughout their lives by growing outward till they hit the pot edge and circle which forces some root tips back inward to better populate the grow media. With that said, different strains and phenos will behave differently so shooting out even a generalized time table of when to transplant might not serve you justice. I say just flip the pots over to inspect the root development to determine when to graduate into larger pots.

Thanks for that, am I being overly paranoid about everything falling apart with the chunks? Took some pics and topped the Carmel Ice and upped their nutes a bit today; will try to get them posted up by tommorrow evening if I'm feeling better.

 

[jamthe3]

Update:

We're at 3 weeks +/- above ground and while the Critical Hog & Carmel Ice are doing well, both Jack Herers (although better) are being "childish" lol. I upped the feed to 85ppm N - 40ppm P - 160ppm K. Also topped the Carmel Ice and hopefully some time this week will snip the Hog also. Will probably have to take a wait and see approach on the Jacks for the forseeable future.

Critical Hog:

Carmel Ice:

Jack Herer #1 who came up so pretty, got sick and is now stunted:

& Jack Herer #2 that refused to "stand up" for so long and now seems to be thriving...go figure, right?

and the Carmel Ice a couple minutes later after being topped:

edit: should I try changing the resolution? The pics look fine on the camera & fine in Windows Photo Gallery and then like crap when they hit here...advice on settings would be enormously appreciated as this is really making me "batty." Thx...and also, guys I've never tried this way before and have only even grown one of these strains before so feel free to jump in hammer me away at anything I do incorrectly.

 

[Skybound]

When Capn (possibly s1ing) was schooling me about transplanting, I was left with the impression that essentially the plant will tell me that she is nearing a transplant from halted growth rates, and then to inspect root mass, and not to yield to my curiosity and de-pot the root ball every day to inspect. I am still yet to use grow chunks so I can't really comment other than to suggest waiting a bit before lifting the root ball out to see if it's in need of a transplant.

Another thought that came to mind when reading your feed regimen lineup is whether those nutes also include micro nutrients and trace elements. I am still too new at growing and cannabotany to elaborate further, but if micros and trace elements are defficient, problems will likely follow.

 

[jamthe3]

So far just the Calcium, Magnesium & Iron from a tad of Botincare CalMag that I mix with KNO2 prills and a nitrogen supplement. Plan on adding the rest by changing the mixture next week when they're 4 weeks up above.

 

[jamthe3]

Update for the week. They're coming along fairly well. The Carmel Ice was topped a week ago and then I topped the Critical Hog like 3-4 days later. Will probably have to pot up sometime this week; can't decide whether to go to a gallon and then later to a bigger pot as originally planned or just go higher right off the bat and be done with it. I actually took a bath this week and feel sure I have no lingering BO, so feel free to drop by. Here's a couple quick pics:

Group shots

Carmel Ice

Jack Herer #2

Critical Hog

Jack Herer #1

 

[Light Addict]

Looking good and bushy are you still gonna flux? If so holla at me on fluxing central, as we need to get going with setting them up asap.
Best of buds my friend!

 

[jamthe3]

Looking good and bushy are you still gonna flux? If so holla at me on fluxing central, as we need to get going with setting them up asap.
Best of buds my friend!

Funny you mentioned this. Yes, I would still like to try one of them this way but am having some concerns; not with the style, more like "admin" kinda things that I'm trying to figure out. That's actually why I haven't topped one of the Jack Herer's that's ready to be yet.

I'm moving to a nicer place in early June and am hesitant to blast forward until I have the area set up and checked out where I'll be housing the garden. Silly thing is that this is an almost completely unfounded concern as I've seen it both current and "mind's eye" future (not to mention there's plenty of space elsewhere to adjust & overcome if need be anyways) yet the apprehension is still there.

The two Jack Herer's are both reg seeds and the original idea was to do one or both of those, but it really looks to me now that it would be better to do one or both of the others based on how the group as a whole is/would be growing down the road. A more pragmatic concern is that I'm trying to figure out how to securely do the tie downs. You think the medium I'm using will allow the plant to be able to handle this? Don't misunderstand, I still plan on at least one of them going flux regardless; just not sure as to which and whether I'll do it prior to the end of the 1st week in June when I'm all settled in.

I was delayed by a little over a month in receiving a March order of seeds and its really caused some hassles in scheduling and inventory so to speak, lol. I had expected some potential delays and threw in some Autos in the order to help minimize the problems but the delay on the order & now the imminent move kinda made that quick fix obsolete...looking at a 1 month down time gap here shortly pretty much no matter what course I take, so I can't really take larger than neccessary risks with the Carmel Ice or Critical Hog which are increasingly looking like they might be really nice and high yielding pheno's.

Truth be told though, my nature being history tested...my lack of patience and manic personality will probably pot the Carmel Ice up to a 3 gal (skipping the originally planned 1 gal interval) container within the next couple days and pull the trigger on her. So any thoughts/instructions are welcome and requested.

 

[Light Addict]

Answered at flux central

 

[jamthe3]

Answered at flux central

Okay, Thanks!!

 

[jamthe3]

Alrighty then, potted up to 1 gallon Ice Cream tubs both the Carmel Ice & Critical Hog. Took off all the growth below the 4 main branches on the Carmel Ice & lst'd her. Removed the single bladed leafs & cotyle's on the Critical Hog and have 6 branches lst'd in a "star of David" kinda way...will do the Jack Herers on a second wind when I decide how to go forward with them as I'm leaning towards not topping them at all and think its probable that they're both actually females. I had hoped to get a male outa one of them, but what the heck I'm satisfied so far how things are going and they appear to be completely different phenos so...so be it. A couple quick pics here:

Carmel Ice:

Critical Hog:

and the two Jack Herers waiting on a decision, lol:

 

[Light Addict]

Nice work on the training my friend! holla at me anytime if you get all fluxy

 

[ColoradoKid]

Your plants look great. Very nice pictures.

 

[jamthe3]

Thanks guys!

 

[jamthe3]

Nice work on the training my friend! holla at me anytime if you get all fluxy

I'm sure you probably thought I was "playing" you about "fluxing" but as I mentioned about my particular situation and timeline I need to be careful. I actually did pull the trigger on the Carmel Ice, but while starting to cut off the under growth noticed I'd split the trunk, so decided to stop at four stems until I could regroup and figure out the next best step for a timely and beneficial harvest down the road. I would guess given the obvious stasis compared to the others, I'm prob about 2 weeks set back on this plant. Will probably try again on the Jack Herer #1 (or perhaps this one also after seeing how it heals) in another week or two, thus why I still have it in the tiny starter pot.

Carmel Ice:

 

[jamthe3]

Update: here's where the four are at currently. They're being fed 202ppms N, 71 ppms P, 263 ppms K as well as a small amount of micros. Except where I'VE messed up and set 'em back a tad, they seem to be really loving it. The "by hand" crap's def gotta go as its a REAL pain in the arse, but I've been hesitant to set up the pump and tote since I'm moving in a week...funny how circumstances dictate wasting nutes with a system designed to maximize them, lmfao. Other than that, I'm really liking the Cap'ns top feed system...'specially as it can only get easier. The Critical Hog topped and the Jack Herer #2 untopped are especially shining at this time.

Critical Hog:

Jack Herer #2:

Jack Herer #1:

Carmel Ice:

 

[Skybound]

Mixing nutes to be used just once makes life difficult unless you premixed enough to hold you over. But if not, getting your pumping system up sooner than later will ease your mind a bit as you won't need to visit the ladies so often.

 

[jamthe3]

Update...Carmel Ice after splitting trunk has fallen well behind trying to heal; Jack Herer #1 has been delegated to root bound status due to a pending move this week and space constraints; Critical Hog and Jack Herer #2 are doing well and on pace for flipping in 2-3 weeks I believe.

Mi pobrecita Jack #1:

The Carmel Ice I was planning on fluxing but got to aggressive with:

Jack Herer #2 and Critical Hog in that order: