Darkscotia Apprentices - Passion#1 Perfect Sun COB/8COB Citizen K

[Duggan]

Thank you Doc. This needs to be seen by many...new and old growers. Very inspirational and purposeful. Have an awesome day my friend...

 

[overlord]

Yes, continue to alternate drenches....just with less watering. You've got it.

Those are healthy, happy plants. Don't be afraid to feed the soil....the plants are asking for it.

When we get to the point where they need daily watering/drenching, we'll do 3 drenches then water. That usually only lasts for a week for me.

They'd be fine with the usual alternating drenches....possible Rescue....etc. But this is one of the "tips" I'm happy to communicate.

As you become more familiar with things, you'll use your intuition to make up your own schedules....and they'll be pretty much what we're doing here with minor differences.

When mixing things to get ready for a drench, pay attention to the physics of putting the drench into the bucket....how much noise does the "plop" make? How long a plume does Tea leave in the clear water? What is the color of the final mix? Just pay attention, try to engage all your senses.....your brain will catalog all this and soon pattern recognition will take over.

Pay attention to the leaves, the top of the soil, the stem color, petiole color, turgor....all of that. Touch the leaves....they should be flexible, velvety....not hard or brittle. Start to take it all in, just carefully observe....no need to take notes of everything, just give them your attention every day.

I inspect every plant, every day. Then, after I burn one, I'll often "re-garden" or go around and look at this or that.....and many times I see a small web....or find a dead fan deep under the canopy....etc.

Then, after the next drench, I might notice the petioles got better....or worse....etc.

Again, let this sink in. It's like the smells and sounds of your childhood. You know them, even though you may not have taken notes.....that's the level you want to get to when growing.

A fully aware, experienced, mindful and intuitive form of gardening, based on repetition and wonder.

While there's nothing at all wrong with the lab-notebook, detailed recording of things....we want all of that to sink in so it's automatic and we're functioning as human being were meant to function: cultivators.

That's what we are supposed to do! Cultivate. No other animal does it. It's our job. Not killing, poisoning, clear-cutting, synthesizing....but cultivating. That's what nature intended our job to be.

Yeah, the scientific stuff is what we were conditioned to in the past with hydro growing

and honestly the best plants I have ever grown were outdoors in South Florida, and we did very little for them. Maybe water if it was dry (those gel polymers were best in this case) and feed.

Feeding was rare as the top soil was full of biodegraded nature and soil below was more sand like allowing drainage.

 

[overlord]

Hey Doc,

Since you mentioned Turgor, what should we be aiming for?

In the scrog I am running, sometimes I have to bend them in this or that direction. The stems are very stiff and have to be slowly worked to accomplish my goal. Sometimes they pull themselves back to their original position and I have to work them some more. Eventually they comply.

If I become impatient they will snap or break almost in half. I have one main branch that did the snap in half. I taped it in place but the stem itself is still half broken but growing like you would hope for.

 

[Darkscotia]

I would turn off the HVAC but it's pretty cold here right now... my wife works from home as well... don't want her getting cold less I deal with the wrath .
I have heard that about those whole house humidifiers... that's why I went with this option and hoped for
The best. I cranked it up to 5... so I'll see what it's like when I get home later... thanks bro! I'll get this thing figured out... or I won't... very frustrated... hate spending money on things that just don't work out... and I had to order mine online cause my town sucks and the big box stores don't seem to carry half of what the ones I'm bigger cities carry.

What humidity are you trying to achieve because you said you had it set to 45% on fan speed 2. If trying to achieve 55% will be near impossible this time of year with humidifier set at 45 especially if your typical rh is 36. You've got to overcompensate to achieve that. That's why I run mine constantly at 60% and fan speed normally about 5 to compensate my heat sources drying out air and my tent pulling that air and pushing it outside.
No matter what this is just a terrible time to try and fight raising your humidity.

 

[Darkscotia]

Yes, continue to alternate drenches....just with less watering. You've got it.

Those are healthy, happy plants. Don't be afraid to feed the soil....the plants are asking for it.

When we get to the point where they need daily watering/drenching, we'll do 3 drenches then water. That usually only lasts for a week for me.

They'd be fine with the usual alternating drenches....possible Rescue....etc. But this is one of the "tips" I'm happy to communicate.

As you become more familiar with things, you'll use your intuition to make up your own schedules....and they'll be pretty much what we're doing here with minor differences.

When mixing things to get ready for a drench, pay attention to the physics of putting the drench into the bucket....how much noise does the "plop" make? How long a plume does Tea leave in the clear water? What is the color of the final mix? Just pay attention, try to engage all your senses.....your brain will catalog all this and soon pattern recognition will take over.

Pay attention to the leaves, the top of the soil, the stem color, petiole color, turgor....all of that. Touch the leaves....they should be flexible, velvety....not hard or brittle. Start to take it all in, just carefully observe....no need to take notes of everything, just give them your attention every day.

I inspect every plant, every day. Then, after I burn one, I'll often "re-garden" or go around and look at this or that.....and many times I see a small web....or find a dead fan deep under the canopy....etc.

Then, after the next drench, I might notice the petioles got better....or worse....etc.

Again, let this sink in. It's like the smells and sounds of your childhood. You know them, even though you may not have taken notes.....that's the level you want to get to when growing.

A fully aware, experienced, mindful and intuitive form of gardening, based on repetition and wonder.

While there's nothing at all wrong with the lab-notebook, detailed recording of things....we want all of that to sink in so it's automatic and we're functioning as human being were meant to function: cultivators.

That's what we are supposed to do! Cultivate. No other animal does it. It's our job. Not killing, poisoning, clear-cutting, synthesizing....but cultivating. That's what nature intended our job to be.

Bumped just in case this get lost. As duggan said very inspirational and needs to be read. Wow doc well said.

 

[Duggan]

Yup, you are most correct Scotia! For our small huey's , the only way to make them work (somewhat) is to set them much higher than you want the RH to be. I have mine set at 60% , so it really never shuts off, only when it runs dry, which is way too often, like 3 times a day! If i could afford the luxury i would have a unit right on my furnace, fed by water supply. Anyhow , it's a battle while our furnaces dry out the air , with every air 'exchange'.
Have a great day gang

 

[overlord]

Bumped just in case this get lost. As duggan said very inspirational and needs to be read. Wow doc well said.

I also blogged it, like your updates. However I will probably wait until you do a final update after the grow is done so I can have it all in one spot without hunting for it.

 

[dajerm119]

What humidity are you trying to achieve because you said you had it set to 45% on fan speed 2. If trying to achieve 55% will be near impossible this time of year with humidifier set at 45 especially if your typical rh is 36. You've got to overcompensate to achieve that. That's why I run mine constantly at 60% and fan speed normally about 5 to compensate my heat sources drying out air and my tent pulling that air and pushing it outside.
No matter what this is just a terrible time to try and fight raising your humidity.

Yup, trying to get it to 55%... I get ya... was thinking the same last night. If we weren't gonna be home if set it on 65% fan on 9 and let her go till it got where I wanted it. But here's the deal... my daughter is out of school till after the first of the year and my wife works from home. If I set that thing that high... it would drive them nuts. I'm trying to be considerate... they already tolerate a lot from me. Not that I'm an asshole or anything, I'm just hard to live with...
But they are good to me, so I try and be considerate of them. I'll probably crank it up when I get home... let it run on high for a few hours... thanks Dark. I'll let this journal get back to what it's for. Sorry for derailing.

 

[Gazoo]

Hey there Dark... so I finally got my humidifier like the one you got... Have had it running on fan speed 2 and set to 45% . Started off saying it was 36% in my house... or in that area. 15-16hrs later... and humidity is sitting at 34%... FFS I can't win man. Seriously what do I need to do? Put that big ass thing in the damn closet.. come on.

Sorry to whine... but shit man...

I purchased a whole House Humidifier also "Honeywell" 3.5 gal model
it worked great in the room RH went up to 60
SO I figured great I can open the tent BUT No go the RH
in the tent with the lights on dropped into the 40's (in the tent) so went back to
the 3 small ones inside the tent

Maybe later when things get better it will work, thinking during flower it should
work better since it is a COOL AIR Model that releases cold air could be useful when
things get HOT

 

[overlord]

Yup, trying to get it to 55%... I get ya... was thinking the same last night. If we weren’t gonna be home if set it on 65% fan on 9 and let her go till it got where I wanted it. But here’s the deal... my daughter is out of school till after the first of the year and my wife works from home. If I set that thing that high... it would drive them nuts. I’m trying to be considerate... they already tolerate a lot from me. Not that I’m an asshole or anything, I’m just hard to live with...
But they are good to me, so I try and be considerate of them. I’ll probably crank it up when I get home... let it run on high for a few hours... thanks Dark. I’ll let this journal get back to what it’s for. Sorry for detailing.

I only ran mine on high a few hours, then adjusted down to maintain.
Thing is, unless you have a set-up like Doc's with controllers and such, you will have to adjust from time to time.

I noticed when the humidity was up outside, my plants looked better. Which is why I went and bought the whole house humidifier (the small one made almost no difference) $100 well spent.

We have this very cold weather that moved in and I had to adjust for more heat, since my temps started lingering in the high 60's.

in a nutshell you become the controller.

I will invest in controllers in the future, but right now I may have to relocate for a new job. So until I am more permanent, I will stick with what I have.

 

[Darkscotia]

Yup, trying to get it to 55%... I get ya... was thinking the same last night. If we weren't gonna be home if set it on 65% fan on 9 and let her go till it got where I wanted it. But here's the deal... my daughter is out of school till after the first of the year and my wife works from home. If I set that thing that high... it would drive them nuts. I'm trying to be considerate... they already tolerate a lot from me. Not that I'm an asshole or anything, I'm just hard to live with...
But they are good to me, so I try and be considerate of them. I'll probably crank it up when I get home... let it run on high for a few hours... thanks Dark. I'll let this journal get back to what it's for. Sorry for detailing.

Since your concerned of noise just turn up to 65% and fan speed that you guys can tolerate and see what happens. Setting at higher humidity won't raise noise levels. This is a high brix learning journal and first step to high brix growing is getting your environment right I'm pretty sure. So don't stress about asking questions

 

[Gazoo]

Hey Dajerm. I'm guessing that. Ceramic heater is drying the air right out. Is there any way of heating the room the tent is in as opposed to having the heater in the tent? I use a small Huey in the tents which are adjustable to a point, they make zero noise and do the trick, only problem is I have to fill up every day or two. I have them on the same timer as the light so they go off when the lights go out, otherwise it would be way too high. I've been using a ventless propane heater in the room the tents are in which adds humidity. Just got a vented stove but damn it's not providing enough heat so am thinking of keeping both.

In a emergency to bring up the temp in my tent for a short run cold outside air temp
I have hung the smaller type heating pads on the sides of the tent works great short
term and is actually not to expensive

 

[Gazoo]

If you store them in a plastic bag put some rice in with them and keep them in the fridge. That's what I do and I have had no mold issues and I've germinated seeds I've had stored like that for over 3 years.

I like the RICE idea, easy and to the point.
Thanks buddy appreciate your input

This really hit me since I have ALWAYS stored my seeds in those
small film canisters down stairs in a dark cool metal cabinet.

Also on a side note I read the rest of the article and found
numerous bad info so not even sure if this is a concern but
the RICE is perfect. Again if it cant hurt it can only help

 

[dajerm119]

In a emergency to bring up the temp in my tent for a short run cold outside air temp
I have hung the smaller type heating pads on the sides of the tent works great short
term and is actually not to expensive

Thanks Gazoo! Ima look into heating pads... with my luck I'll probably have to order them.

 

[Gazoo]

Another great question Gazoo!

Here's my thinking on the matter:

The plant was perfectly healthy, which means the soil and roots are communicating. I could have done Trans....RO or GE....but the fact is the biota are thriving so there was no remedial action needed.

So, everything else in the veg room was getting GE....so I just dunked this plant right along with the others.

Thank you very much, kinda what I was thinking but hearing your thoughts is
more helpful. Beginning to come to the conclusion that although the KIT is great
right out of the box and will produce excellent results there is NO replacement for
the EXPERIENCE using it (3 run apprenticeship course needed for full potential)

 

[SweetSue]

OK! Well done so far.

At this stage, I like to wait to see preflowers before doing any topping or training.

Also, it's time to do 2 drenches in a row with water in between. This will mitigate the leeching action of a straight water dunk. The water is still needed, but they need the calcium in the drenches more.

So, from here on out adjust your veg routine to: drench, drench, RO, drench, drench, RO.

So far, so good! They look really healthy.

Ok, this was a new concept to me. It makes sense, and I'll incorporate it from here on out. My seedling got plain water today, but it's right behind these, so I can begin this practice with the next drench.

Doc, in a good environment, how often do you find yourself drenching the one-gallon pots?

 

[dajerm119]

K, got the wife to turn the humidity up to 65, fan on 4 for now. I'll tell you this... if it won't work at a reasonably low volume, ima figure out how to put it in the closet with everything else... I know it'll do its job in there no problem. At least it should, room is pretty small. I'll wait it out a day or so to see if I can make it work. But when Sunday rolls around, if it's till struggling... I'll move it inside the grow area.

 

[overlord]

K, got the wife to turn the humidity up to 65, fan on 4 for now. I’ll tell you this... if it won’t work at a reasonably low volume, ima figure out how to put it in the closet with everything else... I know it’ll do its job in there no problem. At least it should, room is pretty small. I’ll wait it out a day or so to see if I can make it work. But when Sunday rolls around, if it’s till struggling... I’ll move it inside the grow area.

Mine is in the same room, but not in the tent. I have the front of the tent open however for now.

 

[Gazoo]

Ok, this was a new concept to me. It makes sense, and I'll incorporate it from here on out. My seedling got plain water today, but it's right behind these, so I can begin this practice with the next drench.

Doc, in a good environment, how often do you find yourself drenching the one-gallon pots?

Sorry for asking but I seem to always get lost when only the term Drench is used.

I am almost certain we are talking Drench/Dunks but since the products both have the
word Drench in the name It leaves room for error, which my mind won’t let me ignore,
and then I have to ask. DAMN OCD gets into everything I do.

EDIT: OK some after thought I guess it works either way since we really dont
have to dunk and just top down water works to. I am just hung up on DUNKING
I guess

 

[overlord]

Sorry for asking but I seem to always get lost when only the term Drench is used.

I am almost certain we are talking Drench/Dunks but since the products both have the
word Drench in the name It leaves room for error, which my mind won’t let me ignore,
and then I have to ask. DAMN OCD gets into everything I do.

EDIT: OK some after thought I guess it works either way since we really dont
have to dunk and just top down water works to. I am just hung up on DUNKING
I guess

LOL, I overthink things too sometimes. But here they are talking 1 gallon pots and Dunking if you will.