Dick23rk's Fresh Start: Mantis Nutrients Featuring MedicGrow's New Spectrum X+ 880w Light Panel

Evening folks! Finally got a few minutes to get on the laptop to do my update, been off and on from everyone's journals through out the day while I could at work. Hope everyone is doing well and keeping medicated!

Everyone in the garden still seems to be thriving and the big bangs in the dwc are still living. Not too many changes to update on today as we are kind of just playing the waiting game, but I do have some better photos of every plant and here's to hoping that there's no major hiccups in the days to come.

Big Bang - Day 5
These 2 haven't really flinched yet after being set into the dwc buckets. I hand fed around the base of the plants this morning before I left for work and this afternoon when I came home, this is to keep the rockwool from drying out, they were not droopy when I came home so they must be ok. All components seem to still be working properly.
I checked the ph and tds in both buckets to make sure they were still within range, ppm's have dropped slightly and ph is still about the same. I will leave things alone for now unless I see a drastic change, we can adjust this on the next top up.
PH - 6.1-6.2 (in range)
PPM - 360-400 (under 500ppm)




Sundae Banana Cookies - Day 14
The 3rd node on all these plants has become pretty prevalent over the last 2 days, they seem to be chugging right along and loving the nutes. Can't believe I'm giving such young plants basically full feedings but it's working good. Thinking I need to dig the 16" fan out now to give these plants some more breeze, the 6' isn't a lot and the stems aren't really thickening up yet, they are kind of wobbly. A small breeze will help stiffen them up as well as a top up on the promix at the top before next feed. Pots are noticeably lighter since the feeding 2 days ago but still nice and moist.









Skunk #1 - Day 22
These ladies are still all perked up and loving life and reaching for the lights. 2 days after topping and I can already notice the nodal growth starting to progress, good sign meaning we didn't hurt them or even slow them down much. I hoped to be a little farther ahead with these ones but it's all growing pains and starting back out fresh, I think we have things sort of dialed in for now here. Nice and green and healthy looking again.







There's another update come and gone, this one wasn't so bad. I did that "quick update" last night on my dam phone and it seemed like it took forever :laughtwo: well that's likely cause it was more than a quick update after I looked at it haha.
Take care everyone and keep it green out there! Thanks for stopping by!
 
Yeah I'm very surprised by the nutrients, I'm just not so sure about using them in the dwc due to how much I could potentially use. It's not cheap that's for sure, just to fill the res was 95ml from a 1L (1000ml) bottle lol but I want to see how it works for me in different situations as well as while growing multiple different strains. Will be nice only having having make 1 mix, the same rate through the whole grow for all ages of plants.
 
Super stuff matey.
Hey mate, could you tell me what sort of noise levels there are with the bubblers and pump please?
would likecthings a bit more automated but can’t be running an engine up there.
Yeah I'm very surprised by the nutrients, I'm just not so sure about using them in the dwc due to how much I could potentially use. It's not cheap that's for sure, just to fill the res was 95ml from a 1L (1000ml) bottle lol but I want to see how it works for me in different situations as well as while growing multiple different strains. Will be nice only having having make 1 mix, the same rate through the whole grow for all ages of plants.
 
Yeah I'm very surprised by the nutrients, I'm just not so sure about using them in the dwc due to how much I could potentially use. It's not cheap that's for sure, just to fill the res was 95ml from a 1L (1000ml) bottle lol but I want to see how it works for me in different situations as well as while growing multiple different strains. Will be nice only having having make 1 mix, the same rate through the whole grow for all ages of plants.
Wish we could get it here.. right up my lazy street that. One solution to rule them all. Mmmm. :)
 
Super stuff matey.
Hey mate, could you tell me what sort of noise levels there are with the bubblers and pump please?
would likecthings a bit more automated but can’t be running an engine up there.
I will say there definitely is some noise coming from my room now with that new air pump. It's just a cheap commercial grade so it's got a bit of a Humm, I set it on a towel to help dampen the noise. There are other aquarium models though that are fairly quiet and still make good air from what I've read, but the little one I had hooked up originally has nothing on the bubbles this pump makes with those big air stones.
Wish we could get it here.. right up my lazy street that. One solution to rule them all. Mmmm. :)
I know right, I'm kind of intrigued myself. I haven't had to look at a feeding schedule since I started unlike with my full line up of gh flora series lol
 
Everything is such a nice green at your place, Dick.

The little babies in their clay pebbles look so happy, like babes in blankets! :Rasta:
 
Everything is such a nice green at your place, Dick.

The little babies in their clay pebbles look so happy, like babes in blankets! :Rasta:
Things are pretty simple as of right now, but buckle up GDB, I'm sure this green show is going to get out of control sooner or later and turn to other ugly colors :rofl:

The wee ones do look pretty good in there, first attempt at dwc so I'm sure this is where the havoc will start lol
 
So I put in a seed order last night so I could grab some new autoflowering strains. I'd like to do some autos outdoors this year and the brother in-law would as well.

I got looking around different seedbanks o know of as well as the sponsors here. I found some that I like but I always try to find the best deals, and to me, that includes lots of promotional free seeds. It's ironic, I haven't ordered from this particular seed bank in 4 years exactly, the orders were 2 hours different.

So all in all, I ended up grabbing a couple of breeders that are sponsors here on the forums, I just didn't order directly from them, so that's why I haven't mentioned the website. Here's what I picked up..

Expert Seeds - Expert Gorilla auto
Expert Seeds - Sweet Cream auto XXL
Garden of Green - Blueberry Cookies auto
Garden of Green - Phantom Cookies Domina

Each 1 of those packs comes with 3 extra seeds of the same strain, so that's 12. Plus, each breeder had a promo for 8 free seeds for each pack bought, that's another 32, wow!
That's just breeder promos, then there's site promos, 5 free seeds for spending x amount and another 12 for the sites birthday promo. 58 free seeds total, almost 3x the number of seeds I ordered. I'm over the moon impressed with this order, I'll be stocked up now for years to come, all them are fems!

I could list them all but I won't, there is some banging strains in there though. The 8 free seeds per pack are ..
Girl scout Cookies
Blue dream auto
Banana fast
 
I will say there definitely is some noise coming from my room now with that new air pump. It's just a cheap commercial grade so it's got a bit of a Humm, I set it on a towel to help dampen the noise. There are other aquarium models though that are fairly quiet and still make good air from what I've read, but the little one I had hooked up originally has nothing on the bubbles this pump makes with those big air stones.

I know right, I'm kind of intrigued myself. I haven't had to look at a feeding schedule since I started unlike with my full line up of gh flora series lol
Thanks for taking the time mate.
Appreciated
 
Quick little picture update for tonight, nothing too crazy.

The girls in promix are starting to get a little droopy and pots getting light. I can still feel the slightest weight in there so we will let them go til tomorrow night and get those roots moving and searching for water.

The skunks are starting to work on their nodal growth, hopefully they will take right off and get ready to be tied up :laughtwo:





Banana babies aren't so baby anymore, they are still taking right off, I think they might catch up to the skunks yet. Let's hope




And last but not least, the big bangs, they seem to be getting a little taller then they were originally, not much, but something. They still seem happy. Ph was down to about 5.9 tonight, still in range.




That's it, I actually kept this one short haha. Have a great night all.
 
I will say there definitely is some noise coming from my room now with that new air pump. It's just a cheap commercial grade so it's got a bit of a Humm, I set it on a towel to help dampen the noise. There are other aquarium models though that are fairly quiet and still make good air from what I've read, but the little one I had hooked up originally has nothing on the bubbles this pump makes with those big air stones.

I know right, I'm kind of intrigued myself. I haven't had to look at a feeding schedule since I started unlike with my full line up of gh flora series lol
Thanks matey
 
Hey all! Just doing a other quick update on my phone again tonight. Both Mrs. D and I were done work early today and decided to go do our grocery run and stock back up, along with grabbing Easter treats for the kids while there. We live an hour from the closest small city, so when we go, we make it worth it. I also wanted to grab a few things while I was in there, and as always a few things I didn't plan to buy at all :laughtwo: like a food saver vacuum sealer my wife pointed out was half price, I had to have it, been talking about one for months, or years haha..

Anyways. So I'll be making a small switch, mainly because Canadian tire store didn't have any promix hp bales. The local greenhouse has bales of bx but I see they don't have many left and they don't like to sell them when low because well, they need them too lol So I opted for some sunshine #4 which is basically the same thing but has a little more water retention. That will be good for while it's dry in the basement. We will see how it works for me, I've never used it.

And the ladies, the main part of the show. They definitely needed a feeding today, this morning they were still a little droopy, so before getting ready for work I had a few hundred ml left of feed in the bottle and gave them all a quick spritz around the root base and left for work. Should have fed before I went shopping but they were good til I got home. I made up 2 liters of the mantis nute mix at 5ml per liter and used all of it between the 10 potted plants.

As for the big bangs in the dwc buckets, I still haven't killed them. :dude-knocking: Been top feeding twice a day and the bottoms of the net pots are good and wet, so I'm sure the roots are getting lots of food and air. No roots poking out the bottom yet, but the plants are still growing slowly. Should pick up soon hopefully.

Also thought about maybe doing the dwc in a separate journal to keep down any confusion. What do you guys think? It might make things easier?

On to the pics for tonight. Good node growth on the skunks.





 
**Update Day**

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a couple days since I've gotten in here to update things. The weather got nice for a few days, had to get some work done around the house as well as some more running around. I finally got back into the garden today to get some pictures and wow, the progress over the last couple of days caught me by surprise.

I am hoping to get things moved around later this week and have all of these plants under the MH lights. Just been busy with some other things at the moment. I am planning on getting a 2x4 tent or similar to go into the room for vegging plants and I am going to put a new bestvaled P1000 light panel in there once it arrives. We will talk more about those 2 items once they are here.
Lets have a looksy starting with the eldest of my girls, it's sideshow Sunday, all side shots today aside from 1 photo to show new growth on the skunks.


Skunk #1 - Day 27
Happy to see that these plants have taken right off after topping. It's starting to look like we have 2 different pheno's, a taller variety with more node spacing and a shorter one with less node spacing. The node growth is starting to explode outwards, I am able to start bending the tops a little bit as well, it will soon be time to start the LST and tying down branches to make them go where I want. I am thinking by next weekend these plants can be transplanted into a bit bigger of a container, likely into 1 gallon where they will stay until it's time to transplant for flowering.







Sundae Banana Cookies - Day 19
Every one of these ladies is near ready for topping, they have pretty much caught up to the size of the skunks but are still a little flimsy so far. We will see how things look for roots here when we transplant the skunks, it would be nice to do all of them at once and get it over with if they are ready. Not a whole lot to report on them yet, they are thriving and growing well though.








Big Bang - Day 10
For being 10 days old and sitting in the buckets for close to a week now, they are doing well. I have stopped top feeding as of Friday I think it was and they are doing fine. The water level is staying high enough to keep the bottom half of the clay balls wet. Still not seeing any roots poking thru the net pots yet either but I'm sure they're coming eventually as the water level will soon drop.
I have been getting a white foamy film appearing on the edges of the buckets inside, usually settling where the bubbles push up against the side of the bucket. It's a little slimy but not really, I'm not sure what it is. I wipe most of it away with a paper towel but can never get quite all of it, and it's back again later on. Doesn't seem to be invasive or taking over, just a little skim, maybe it's from the air stones? I'm sure we'll find out eventually lol I'll try and get a picture of it next time I lift the net pots out.




That's all for now. I will try to keep getting in here daily like I was, but I also need to get caught back up on everyone else's journals. Going to be a bit longer of a week at work as well but I'm sure I can work around that as long as nothing else comes up. Thanks as always for stopping by folks! Keep it green out there and stay safe!
 
**Update Day**

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a couple days since I've gotten in here to update things. The weather got nice for a few days, had to get some work done around the house as well as some more running around. I finally got back into the garden today to get some pictures and wow, the progress over the last couple of days caught me by surprise.

I am hoping to get things moved around later this week and have all of these plants under the MH lights. Just been busy with some other things at the moment. I am planning on getting a 2x4 tent or similar to go into the room for vegging plants and I am going to put a new bestvaled P1000 light panel in there once it arrives. We will talk more about those 2 items once they are here.
Lets have a looksy starting with the eldest of my girls, it's sideshow Sunday, all side shots today aside from 1 photo to show new growth on the skunks.


Skunk #1 - Day 27
Happy to see that these plants have taken right off after topping. It's starting to look like we have 2 different pheno's, a taller variety with more node spacing and a shorter one with less node spacing. The node growth is starting to explode outwards, I am able to start bending the tops a little bit as well, it will soon be time to start the LST and tying down branches to make them go where I want. I am thinking by next weekend these plants can be transplanted into a bit bigger of a container, likely into 1 gallon where they will stay until it's time to transplant for flowering.







Sundae Banana Cookies - Day 19
Every one of these ladies is near ready for topping, they have pretty much caught up to the size of the skunks but are still a little flimsy so far. We will see how things look for roots here when we transplant the skunks, it would be nice to do all of them at once and get it over with if they are ready. Not a whole lot to report on them yet, they are thriving and growing well though.








Big Bang - Day 10
For being 10 days old and sitting in the buckets for close to a week now, they are doing well. I have stopped top feeding as of Friday I think it was and they are doing fine. The water level is staying high enough to keep the bottom half of the clay balls wet. Still not seeing any roots poking thru the net pots yet either but I'm sure they're coming eventually as the water level will soon drop.
I have been getting a white foamy film appearing on the edges of the buckets inside, usually settling where the bubbles push up against the side of the bucket. It's a little slimy but not really, I'm not sure what it is. I wipe most of it away with a paper towel but can never get quite all of it, and it's back again later on. Doesn't seem to be invasive or taking over, just a little skim, maybe it's from the air stones? I'm sure we'll find out eventually lol I'll try and get a picture of it next time I lift the net pots out.




That's all for now. I will try to keep getting in here daily like I was, but I also need to get caught back up on everyone else's journals. Going to be a bit longer of a week at work as well but I'm sure I can work around that as long as nothing else comes up. Thanks as always for stopping by folks! Keep it green out there and stay safe!
**Update Day**

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a couple days since I've gotten in here to update things. The weather got nice for a few days, had to get some work done around the house as well as some more running around. I finally got back into the garden today to get some pictures and wow, the progress over the last couple of days caught me by surprise.

I am hoping to get things moved around later this week and have all of these plants under the MH lights. Just been busy with some other things at the moment. I am planning on getting a 2x4 tent or similar to go into the room for vegging plants and I am going to put a new bestvaled P1000 light panel in there once it arrives. We will talk more about those 2 items once they are here.
Lets have a looksy starting with the eldest of my girls, it's sideshow Sunday, all side shots today aside from 1 photo to show new growth on the skunks.


Skunk #1 - Day 27
Happy to see that these plants have taken right off after topping. It's starting to look like we have 2 different pheno's, a taller variety with more node spacing and a shorter one with less node spacing. The node growth is starting to explode outwards, I am able to start bending the tops a little bit as well, it will soon be time to start the LST and tying down branches to make them go where I want. I am thinking by next weekend these plants can be transplanted into a bit bigger of a container, likely into 1 gallon where they will stay until it's time to transplant for flowering.







Sundae Banana Cookies - Day 19
Every one of these ladies is near ready for topping, they have pretty much caught up to the size of the skunks but are still a little flimsy so far. We will see how things look for roots here when we transplant the skunks, it would be nice to do all of them at once and get it over with if they are ready. Not a whole lot to report on them yet, they are thriving and growing well though.








Big Bang - Day 10
For being 10 days old and sitting in the buckets for close to a week now, they are doing well. I have stopped top feeding as of Friday I think it was and they are doing fine. The water level is staying high enough to keep the bottom half of the clay balls wet. Still not seeing any roots poking thru the net pots yet either but I'm sure they're coming eventually as the water level will soon drop.
I have been getting a white foamy film appearing on the edges of the buckets inside, usually settling where the bubbles push up against the side of the bucket. It's a little slimy but not really, I'm not sure what it is. I wipe most of it away with a paper towel but can never get quite all of it, and it's back again later on. Doesn't seem to be invasive or taking over, just a little skim, maybe it's from the air stones? I'm sure we'll find out eventually lol I'll try and get a picture of it next time I lift the net pots out.




That's all for now. I will try to keep getting in here daily like I was, but I also need to get caught back up on everyone else's journals. Going to be a bit longer of a week at work as well but I'm sure I can work around that as long as nothing else comes up. Thanks as always for stopping by folks! Keep it green out there and stay safe!
That’s fantastic mate. Pics are brill. Write ups also brill. Thanks for the treat:)
Peace an bud
 
Thanks @Bud love I appreciate the kind words. I've always tried to take the time to write out my journal entry's when making them. It's the main part of the show lol
 
Thanks @Bud love I appreciate the kind words. I've always tried to take the time to write out my journal entry's when making them. It's the main part of the show lol
And you do a good job, Dick. Nice looking plants! :Rasta:
 
Thanks @Bud love I appreciate the kind words. I've always tried to take the time to write out my journal entry's when making them. It's the main part of the show lol
Hey @dick23rk
Hope your well matey.
Yeah man, suppose it’s in the title.’grow diary’:)
When I started posting a year ish ago, I was only looking to see if could find some shared info on a few probs I was having with my new fave hobby.
What I’ve found is... there’s a great community here, and I’ve found myself becoming more and more captivated and inspired with all the great grows going on. I now look forward each day to having an insight on how it’s done by y’all.
I’ve learnt a tonne already a I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the shows unfold.
I’m a tradesman from the north of England so diary writing not my usual thing. More akin to organised chaos as a rule.
Now I find myself wanting to smarten my s*** up and take better pics. WTF
I may even get myself a laptop just for the job.
Anyways hope I haven’t creeped you out too much.:)
Peace an love man
Bud
 
**Update Time**

Well hello folks! Here we are pretty much mid week, work week will soon be over. It's been kind of busy around here, I was on call over the weekend and had so much to do, this is another busy week as well until Friday night at least lol. I hope everyone is doing well!

We are really moving along here now in the garden, lots of growth, green smells and well... no issues as of yet :yahoo:
I know I likely just threw that out the window, so here we go :dude-knocking:
Today we had some hair cuts, yesterday there was feedings, oh, and I had been forgetting to tell you all the current readings in the dwc buckets during updates so I'll share those with you as well. Let's get on with it!

Big Bang - Day 12
Ok, I really wanted to share these ones first today, then you can scroll up easily and see what happened over the last couple of days. I'd have to say we are starting to get some root movement in the net pots cause one of these babies looks quite different from 2 days ago when I took pictures last. The 2nd set of leaves have exploded, we may start to see some really vigorous growth now, I'm excited. :cheesygrinsmiley: I still don't see any roots coming out of the bottoms yet but as the water level drops they should begin to show.

Ph/TDS(ppm)/Temp(c)
March 21 - Bucket 1 - 5.75 / 492 / 18.1
- Bucket 2 - 5.95 / 497 / 17.6
Today (23) - Bucket 1 - 5.85 / 517 / 18.4
- Bucket 2 - 5.8 / 514 / 17.9

As you can see, the nutrients ph buffers are doing a great job, these numbers have been pretty steady since I made the buckets feed mix, ph has dropped some from the beginning but still within range!





Sundae Banana Cookies - Day 21
Exactly 3 weeks old today and got their first hair cuts! They were showing good growth so I decided today was the day, some of the lower shoots were starting to grow and I believe this strain is going to be taller than the skunks so I want to train them early to try and keep an even canopy for all the plants. These ones got topped at the 3rd node and had the 1st stripped off, leaving the 2nd and 3rd. I could tell a few of them weren't too fond of their hair cuts, they twisted and turned a little in their seats but seem to be doing fine. Next grow the plants will really be stripped down and do more of a mainline with 3 toppings to make 16 uniform tops per plant!







Skunk #1 - Day 29
These ladies are starting to fill out some, getting nice and leafy. Some of the newer foliage is starting to twist up due to getting stuck under the larger leaves, they're trying to work their way out past them. The new tops are growing great, I've been bending them outward every once in a while to get them pointed in the right direction, by the weekend I'd say we will be restraining them back and the lower 2 branches on each wont be far behind. If we get some good quick growth I'll likely top these again before the switch to flower. Not much else here to see but beautiful green scenery.










That concludes another 2 day update, we will see how the rest of the week plays out, next one might be Friday evening if I get busy with work. I might even have some more news for everyone, I've been working on a few things and planning, we will see what I know by then. And then come the weekend I have some massive catching up to do on journals and getting ready for decisions on all the 420mag contests! Link is in my signature, make sure you vote!

Keep it green out there folks! Thanks for stopping by :green_heart:
 
**Update Time**

Well hello folks! Here we are pretty much mid week, work week will soon be over. It's been kind of busy around here, I was on call over the weekend and had so much to do, this is another busy week as well until Friday night at least lol. I hope everyone is doing well!

We are really moving along here now in the garden, lots of growth, green smells and well... no issues as of yet :yahoo:
I know I likely just threw that out the window, so here we go :dude-knocking:
Today we had some hair cuts, yesterday there was feedings, oh, and I had been forgetting to tell you all the current readings in the dwc buckets during updates so I'll share those with you as well. Let's get on with it!

Big Bang - Day 12
Ok, I really wanted to share these ones first today, then you can scroll up easily and see what happened over the last couple of days. I'd have to say we are starting to get some root movement in the net pots cause one of these babies looks quite different from 2 days ago when I took pictures last. The 2nd set of leaves have exploded, we may start to see some really vigorous growth now, I'm excited. :cheesygrinsmiley: I still don't see any roots coming out of the bottoms yet but as the water level drops they should begin to show.

Ph/TDS(ppm)/Temp(c)
March 21 - Bucket 1 - 5.75 / 492 / 18.1
- Bucket 2 - 5.95 / 497 / 17.6
Today (23) - Bucket 1 - 5.85 / 517 / 18.4
- Bucket 2 - 5.8 / 514 / 17.9

As you can see, the nutrients ph buffers are doing a great job, these numbers have been pretty steady since I made the buckets feed mix, ph has dropped some from the beginning but still within range!





Sundae Banana Cookies - Day 21
Exactly 3 weeks old today and got their first hair cuts! They were showing good growth so I decided today was the day, some of the lower shoots were starting to grow and I believe this strain is going to be taller than the skunks so I want to train them early to try and keep an even canopy for all the plants. These ones got topped at the 3rd node and had the 1st stripped off, leaving the 2nd and 3rd. I could tell a few of them weren't too fond of their hair cuts, they twisted and turned a little in their seats but seem to be doing fine. Next grow the plants will really be stripped down and do more of a mainline with 3 toppings to make 16 uniform tops per plant!







Skunk #1 - Day 29
These ladies are starting to fill out some, getting nice and leafy. Some of the newer foliage is starting to twist up due to getting stuck under the larger leaves, they're trying to work their way out past them. The new tops are growing great, I've been bending them outward every once in a while to get them pointed in the right direction, by the weekend I'd say we will be restraining them back and the lower 2 branches on each wont be far behind. If we get some good quick growth I'll likely top these again before the switch to flower. Not much else here to see but beautiful green scenery.










That concludes another 2 day update, we will see how the rest of the week plays out, next one might be Friday evening if I get busy with work. I might even have some more news for everyone, I've been working on a few things and planning, we will see what I know by then. And then come the weekend I have some massive catching up to do on journals and getting ready for decisions on all the 420mag contests! Link is in my signature, make sure you vote!

Keep it green out there folks! Thanks for stopping by :green_heart:
Wonderful step-by-step explanations, Dick! And the plants look great.

A great thread for new growers, and old! :Rasta:
 
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