Carmen's Winter Autos With ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro!

[Savvage61]

looking Good . My second grow was Herbies Gelato auto. the buds got Huge and had a decent buzz .Sadly I wasnt schooled in drying and curing Yet. had I know then what I know now it would have been a lot better. you will have some awesome buds, that plant yielded close to 3 OZs

 

[Carmen Ray]

I think it's more about the height of the reservoir relative to pot height than it is about volume, and, depending on the material used, a swick is likely more efficient at moving water. More efficient means more water moved per unit of time and therefore more of a chance of too much water for a given plant.

But that likely depends on the efficiency of both the wick and the soil.

I'd like to understand the reason why the height of the res relative to pot height affects the rate of wicking and what is considered optimal so that I can aim for the perfect prayer stance. Has this been established yet?

Swick Grow

• Carmen Ray
• Jan 1, 2023
• diy self watering container for plants self watering pots sip sub irrigated planter swick swicking

20 L Cloth bags of soil on perlite wick.

I keep no more than an inch of water in my tub reservoirs. I'm swicking off a home-made swicking pad on a cake cooler suspended over an up-ended plastic Bato pot so there is plenty of air.

Optimal Moisture Gradient

• Carmen Ray
• Mar 12, 2023
• auto cloth pot los soil sub irrigated container sub irrigated pot swick swicking

This Red Russian XXL Auto is on swicked irrigation from a self-contained reservoir.
Soil, cloth...

Look at this fabulous moisture gradient from my Christmas swicks, compared with what I am getting with the Gelato auto 1 this grow.

Gelato Auto

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 2, 2023
• calmag claw leaf swick swicking

2 Days after Calmag.
24 hours after flush
Can the clawing be attributed to hot soil?
Reasonably...

This was Gelato auto 1 when she was perkier than she is at present, yet not as perky as I'd have liked her to be.

They Swick along nicely Carmen!

Yes Otter! And, the @ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro lights are now 11 inches above them (a little higher for the sprout) at 75 % power! I was inspired by your willingness to push the plants and mine seem to be taking the extra light very well.

looking Good . My second grow was Herbies Gelato auto. the buds got Huge and had a decent buzz .Sadly I wasnt schooled in drying and curing Yet. had I know then what I know now it would have been a lot better. you will have some awesome buds, that plant yielded close to 3 OZs

Thank you Savvage! I'm running a little low in the jars so it's going to be like manna.

 

[InTheShed]

I recall that the variegated areas of leaves will often go brown completely on their own. Something to keep in mind with Parmesan's leaves.

 

[Carmen Ray]

I recall that the variegated areas of leaves will often go brown completely on their own. Something to keep in mind with Parmesan's leaves.

I actually wondered about that. I don't think there was much variegation to the first sets of leaves but it struck me that the paler parts might be more sensitive. So far though the dying off of the leaves hasn't continued after the shot of Calmag and it's the newer leaves that are showing the variegation still. The other plant, the Gelato auto did not do this and I don't know if it was the Calmag that balanced things in time, whether the flush had any benefit whatsoever, or whether the plant would have continued fine with no intervention.

I counted the number of grows this has happened in and it is 4 x indoor grows. As I say, the outdoor plants didn't seem to bother, but they were either in the ground directly, or in grow bags with roots penetrating the garden beds.

Talk about Murphy's Law! I literally just added 2 L of standing tap water to the one res as it hasn't rained in a few days. Lo and behold however, it is pouring now lol.

 

[ViparSpectra]

I think they are getting on better footing, everything is going well.

 

[StoneOtter]

Yes Otter! And, the @ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro lights are now 11 inches above them (a little higher for the sprout) at 75 % power! I was inspired by your willingness to push the plants and mine seem to be taking the extra light very well.

They do need a little babying however they quickly move to heavier needs. Finding the line and going with the flow is the magic. Sometimes we get it right.

 

[Carmen Ray]

I think they are getting on better footing, everything is going well.

Thank you Valerie, yes I feel way more confident now that they are settling into a decent veg state

They do need a little babying however they quickly move to heavier needs. Finding the line and going with the flow is the magic. Sometimes we get it right.

And I shall continue to watch and learn! Thanks to the wealth of experience you more experienced growers have!

I think I want to top when I see pistils, as Boo does and I decided to add some pipe cleaners to the training as follows:

Gelato auto LST

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 8, 2023
• canopy training gelato auto herbies seeds los low stress training lst autos swick swicking vipar spectra xs1500 pro

I have removed the first node. I am gently splaying the branches at node 2, and have splayed...

 

[Carmen Ray]

Today the plants are on day 27 above ground. Yesterday I raised the light intensity on the @ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro from 50 % to 75 % and when after a few hours there was no adverse reaction, I lowered the lights to 11 inches from the tops of the plants.

This morning Otter helped me identify a calcium deficiency in the Parmesan auto and I was able to treat it straight away. In chatting, he suggested that it is possible that the suddenly much higher intensity of the lights could have made the plant growth demand more than the roots could feed them, and they became deficient from that. I had already raised the lights and turned them back to 50 %.

The Gelato auto 1 is still droopy from the flush and has some yellow flecks on the upper leaves which I am watching.

The plants are both off their swicks temporarily, and wicking into towels. I dosed the Parmesan from the top, and the Gelato is still too wet for my liking.

The dose I gave the Parmesan included: Calmag, microbes, fish hydrolysate and BSM in 2 liters of rainwater. I want the excess to wick into the towel before the pot goes back to swick.

I have been working the LST, cutting pipe cleaners in half and bending them over the side branches. I tidied up the Gelato auto 1 pipe cleaners. I gave both plants a bamboo stake as they were both leaning a bit.

Parmesan auto 27 days above ground

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 9, 2023
• cal mag calcium deficiency parmesan auto vipar spectra xs1500 pro

Calcium deficiency treated with Calmag.

Plants temporarily off their swicks for treatment.

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 9, 2023
• swick swicking vipar spectra xs1500 pro

I am giving both plants a chance to wick some of their excess water into the towels and so they...

Parmesan auto LST

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 9, 2023
• low stress training lst parmesan auto vipar spectra xs1500 pro

Pipe cleaners cut in half and bent over the branches to open them out on node 3.

Gelato auto 1 LST

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 9, 2023
• gelato auto herbies seeds low stress training lst vipar spectra xs1500 pro

Pipe cleaners cut in half and bent over the branches to open them out on nodes 2,3 and 4.

Gelato auto 27 days above ground

• Carmen Ray
• Jul 9, 2023
• gelato auto herbies seeds overwatered vipar spectra xs1500 pro

I'm not happy with the droop. This plant is still recovering from a flush a week ago but growth...

Thank you for stopping by to catch up on my grow and for sharing your insights and experience. Enjoy what remains of the weekend.

 

[InTheShed]

I think the reverse wicking with the towels will help even out the moisture levels, and probably the best part is that you've gotten to 27 days without them flowering!

 

[StoneOtter]

I'm with Shed! Mine were always early. Lately autos are great!

 

[Carmen Ray]

I think the reverse wicking with the towels will help even out the moisture levels, and probably the best part is that you've gotten to 27 days without them flowering!

I know! I think my first autos started flowering at 21 days.

I'm with Shed! Mine were always early. Lately autos are great!

Even this odd little Parmesan with the misshapen and variegated leaves is holding out. I hope they go a few more days still.

 

[Carmen Ray]

A Question About Light

@StoneOtter Earlier we talked about the @ViparSpectra XS1500 Pros a bit in the swick thread. I want to follow up on that please.

I started my seedlings at 25 %, then moved them up to 50 %. They are vegging now and two days ago as you know, I raised them to 75 % but have subsequently reduced them to 50 % and to recover from what could have been too sudden a boost of extra light. Maybe the lights were too intense and too close all at once because overnight, the Parmesan showed the calcium deficiency and the Gelato showed some yellow flecks on the upper leaves.

However, another thing to consider is that they are doing a pre-flower stretch and maybe what they needed was a boost of microbial activity. I gave them microbes and microbe food with their calmag and all looks well several hours later.

I am going to raise the plants back onto their swicks when I feel they have reverse wicked sufficient moisture into the towels. That'll raise them back to where they were before I increased the light intensity two days ago. What I want to know from you, is how and when to increase the intensity back to 75 % and how to establish the optimal distance from the plants at 75 % please. Still no pistils yet.

Anybody else who has used the XS1500 Pro lights please feel free to contribute with your ideas and experience.

 

[InTheShed]

maybe what they needed was a boost of microbial activity. I gave them microbes and microbe food with their calmag and all looks well several hours later.

I don't know anything about the light but I'll be so happy when you stop growing in this soil!

 

[Carmen Ray]

I don't know anything about the light but I'll be so happy when you stop growing in this soil!

me toooo, I mean about the soil!

 

[DV8]

Just follow the included manual instructions, has all relevant info.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Just follow the included manual instructions, has all relevant info.

Thank you yes. I have the tables at hand.

Otter and others have pushed the lights beyond the recommended. I am testing this scenario too. If the plants can actually handle more light then it seems advantageous to push it. This is what I am asking @StoneOtter, as he has been using the lights very effectively in his grows at higher intensity than recommended.

 

[DV8]

Thank you yes. I have the tables at hand.

Otter and others have pushed the lights beyond the recommended. I am testing this scenario too. If the plants can actually handle more light then it seems advantageous to push it. This is what I am asking @StoneOtter, as he has been using the lights very effectively in his grows at higher intensity than recommended.

Yeah I see that. I did read the entire post which included..

Anybody else who has used the XS1500 Pro lights please feel free to contribute with your ideas and experience.

I did exactly that.

I used the exact light to the specs provided. Got my heaviest harvest on that plant, brand new strain for me, and attribute much of that to the light used on recommended settings and growth chart.

Feel free to explore your options, Im just suggesting my experience was a positive one.

Whatever Stones advice is Im sure its solid.

 

[StoneOtter]

Thank you yes. I have the tables at hand.

Otter and others have pushed the lights beyond the recommended. I am testing this scenario too. If the plants can actually handle more light then it seems advantageous to push it. This is what I am asking @StoneOtter, as he has been using the lights very effectively in his grows at higher intensity than recommended.

There's a catch Carmen. By me pushing things I almost always have a def of mag in my soil grows. I have to play catch up every run with epsome. It's ok if it doesn't rattle a person to see it happen and repair it, then move along. I have my days. I'm not sure it's for everyone. Honestly, when I look at gardens that are perfectly grown I'm jealous that I didn't do it. When it comes time to make the decisions to do that myself I just don't. I think I can, maybe I can't? I don't know. I don't let that bother me.

One thing I can say is that I think 75% at 11(?) inches is a lot. The 11 inches is the thing. If there were 24 or even 20 inches the outcome may have looked different.

 

[SSgrower]

Not to butt in but I always have 18-20" of height clearance so as not to burn the tops. Why so close with the light? Not to stop stretch, so why ? SSgrower

 

[Carmen Ray]

I used the exact light to the specs provided. Got my heaviest harvest on that plant, brand new strain for me, and attribute much of that to the light used on recommended settings and growth chart.

That's very good to know, thank you. Each grower has their own way I've noticed, so it is good to know that you stuck to the script and brought home your heaviest harvest to date.

There's a catch

Oh right ok, I understand. They are back up on their swicks and that makes them 11 inches from the light at 50 % intensity.

Why so close with the light?

The handbook says 11 inches so that's what I aimed for.

Do you think I should try 75% at 20 inches or leave it at 50 % and raise it? I don't want the plants not to stretch. They are about to flower soon so I need to power up for that.

And thank you! I forget to say thank you sometimes.