DobeWan's First Grow! LA Confidential & 24K Gold - LED - 3x3 - Coco

[DobeWan]

I was going to wait to take pics after the move tomorrow night, but didn't want to chance not having time, so I thought I'd snap a few quick ones after tonight's feeding. 31F! Getting closer and closer to crunch time!

I started feeding week 5 nutes to the ladies a couple of nights ago, which includes KoolBloom now. I had fed KoolBloom in week 3 and extended it for 24Ks while shortening it for the LAs - a function of my going out of town for a few days, and expecting 2 extra weeks of flower for the 24Ks. The 24Ks clearly benefited significantly, so I'll be looking to be diligent about incorporating KoolBloom in week 3 next time. I'm still finding it hard to avoid nute burn too, so I've had to be really careful about how much of the KoolBloom I use. I stepped down the nutes again tonight in an effort to prevent new burn.

LA Confidential 1 shots of the flower atop the main cola, and the secondary "canopy" under the main cola.

LA Confidential 2 was a little easier to access so I took a couple of extra close ups. Most of the tops are like the last one - a clump of flower, a bare space, then another clump of flower at the next node. That damned stretch!

24K Gold 1 aka Kosher Tangie 1 looks good. Lots of nice flowers.

24K Gold aka Kosher Tangie 2 is definitely the star of the show. With 2 extra weeks beyond the LA Confidential expected, her potential is far greater in terms of yield, I think. Her tops are far more akin to this example, with a chance to stack up nicely if they continue to swell upward.

 

[DobeWan]

That's great news DW!! Must be gettin' excited now!!

Super excited. Luckily I have a busy day tomorrow right up until the kids get to bed, so before I know it I'll be installing the new gear!

 

[Old TimingMan]

I think the stretch has a lot to do with genetics, 2 of my Kush gals, one in coco and one in the RDWC are short with very little node spacing, the other in the RDWC went nuts and has tall branches with lots of node spacing.

The Widow gals are a little different, both the ones in RDWC are showing quite a bit of stretch, not as wild as the Kush gal but still quite a bit of distance between nodes. The Widow in coco is much like the short Kush gals, tight nodes and out of the 3 Widow gals, the first to bloom.

I guess the bottom line is harvest results and I plan on doing one at a time and noting weights of each, that will help me figure out which system is working the best!

 

[DobeWan]

I think the stretch has a lot to do with genetics, 2 of my Kush gals, one in coco and one in the RDWC are short with very little node spacing, the other in the RDWC went nuts and has tall branches with lots of node spacing.

The Widow gals are a little different, both the ones in RDWC are showing quite a bit of stretch, not as wild as the Kush gal but still quite a bit of distance between nodes. The Widow in coco is much like the short Kush gals, tight nodes and out of the 3 Widow gals, the first to bloom.

I guess the bottom line is harvest results and I plan on doing one at a time and noting weights of each, that will help me figure out which system is working the best!

I was surprised to see it from an indica as close to pure as LA Confidential, I thought it would stay shorter. I'd have said the same about your Purple Kush though! I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on weight and comparing results. I just got my first proper scale. I've been buying regularly for a long time without ever knowing how much I was being shorted!

I just saw in Asesino's journal that he's thrown a Purple Kush seed in for his next round. When I see how yours is looking late in flower, and then his coming up behind it, it's going to be hard not to get some seeds!

 

[DobeWan]

It's all about the new light today, for sure. I came home for lunch and it hasn't arrived yet. But we did get some great news today on a personal level.

My wife and I planned a weekend away in August and weren't sure we could go through with it. There were some roadblocks to getting our kids looked after for the weekend that looked a few days ago like they'd kayboshed the weekend. We found out today we're a go after all. I've mentioned a few times how my wife has a pretty serious disease that MMJ works well for, for many people. She's going to get a flare because we'll be active and on our feet, which sucks, but she's finally going to try MMJ on that weekend and see how she responds, which is really exciting. I'm going to bring along a 10:13 CBD Kush and a 13:8 CBD Skunk Haze, both CBD Crew strains. I don't have a portable vape so I'll decarb a bunch for her, and bring my Volcano to have in the hotel room if we need it.

Directly related to that, I lined up my mom to water my plants while we're away. It's going to be right at crunch time - 48-51F, when LA Confidential is a 49-56 day plant according to DNA - so I'll be nervous, but a whole lot less nervous than leaving it to a newly set up pump system.

I will admit, it was really weird to ask my mom to water my plants! My parents were hippies but while my dad still enjoys hash (can't wait to give him some of my own!), I've never known my mom to indulge in anything but the occasional drink. That said I've been completely open with my folks about my foray into MMJ so I should have expected she'd not really bat an eye. My mom loves gardening and has maintained a flower bed, a vegetable patch, and a berry patch on their land for many years so I think the ladies will be in good hands!

 

[DobeWan]

My light arrived! Too bad I'm stuck at work. Can't wait to get home and get it installed.

 

[Old TimingMan]

My light arrived! Too bad I'm stuck at work. Can't wait to get home and get it installed.

Glad everything worked out for your mini vacation! Mom's always know best on how to take care of plants!

This gives you and the better half a great chance to relax and enjoy!!

With your new light arriving today, you should have plenty of time to get it dialed in before you leave so you won't have adjustment worries!

 

[Pennywise]

Hope the new light rocks the garden. .

 

[DobeWan]

Well it took a while to get up and running, but I was able to get almost everything I wanted to accomplish done tonight. The tent is fully operational, all the ladies are moved into their correct tents, and I even potted up Kushy Kush.

Unfortunately I did a poor job and ending up tearing a bunch of roots - luckily I have the luxury of a few more weeks so hopefully she recovers! I figure it's likely she'll have no real growth for a while as she attempts to recover and then hopefully stretches out in the new pot. I didn't realize how much more difficult a deeper pot would be over the solo cups to transplant from - the bottom of the medium and root mass just didn't want to come. So the top half of the medium and root mass came pretty clean, but I definitely ripped roots on the bottom by pulling and grabbing the root ball when my tapping and squeezing of the pot didn't work. I haven't potted up LA Confidential yet, but I decided not to water her to make it easier to keep the root ball together tomorrow, to get a longer knife to ensure I get all the way down to the bottom of the pot when I do the loosening around the edges, and to then squeeze the pot a little to get things loose before flipping and tapping the bottom. Lessons learned indeed.

The flower ladies are all looking good and enjoying their new space. I'm tempted to set up stakes and move branches around to get as much light on the buds as possible - I have the space now to move things around, just not sure of the best means way to do it. I'm not sure what to tether to.

All in all a busy night, and now I'm far too tired to take and post photos - I'll try to get some done tomorrow!

 

[Old TimingMan]

Well it took a while to get up and running, but I was able to get almost everything I wanted to accomplish done tonight. The tent is fully operational, all the ladies are moved into their correct tents, and I even potted up Kushy Kush.

Unfortunately I did a poor job and ending up tearing a bunch of roots - luckily I have the luxury of a few more weeks so hopefully she recovers! I figure it's likely she'll have no real growth for a while as she attempts to recover and then hopefully stretches out in the new pot. I didn't realize how much more difficult a deeper pot would be over the solo cups to transplant from - the bottom of the medium and root mass just didn't want to come. So the top half of the medium and root mass came pretty clean, but I definitely ripped roots on the bottom by pulling and grabbing the root ball when my tapping and squeezing of the pot didn't work. I haven't potted up LA Confidential yet, but I decided not to water her to make it easier to keep the root ball together tomorrow, to get a longer knife to ensure I get all the way down to the bottom of the pot when I do the loosening around the edges, and to then squeeze the pot a little to get things loose before flipping and tapping the bottom. Lessons learned indeed.

The flower ladies are all looking good and enjoying their new space. I'm tempted to set up stakes and move branches around to get as much light on the buds as possible - I have the space now to move things around, just not sure of the best means way to do it. I'm not sure what to tether to.

All in all a busy night, and now I'm far too tired to take and post photos - I'll try to get some done tomorrow!

When I up-potted, I watered about 6 hours earlier, not to run-off but made them wet...they slid right out of the pots, the only root damage was to what was growing out the drain holes and that was minimal.

The wet coco and existing roots looked like a big plug with very little mess...I had about 5" of coco in the bottom of the smart pot, centered the plug and filled it in with about 1-2" covering the plug...made more of a mess filling it in with my hands!

 

[DobeWan]

I filled the pot more before the transplant and watered because I wanted to give the coco and perlite a chance to soak in the water for a little while - didn't want additional shock of higher pH than expected. Did you see any signs of shock the way you did it? It certainly seems far easier - I spilled a ton of coco myself when I was filling up the smart pots, but as this journal has shown time and again, I'm clumsy!

In any case I think I overestimated the damage - Kushy Kush already appears to be bouncing back, as you'd never say this morning she was transplanted last night. She looks happy and healthy. Maybe she'll get back to new veg growth sooner than expected. I'll pot up LA Confidential tonight if I can get to the hydro shop and get some things before it closes. It'll be great to have both of those ready in their final pots. Might prep the 5 gallon for Chocolope too but she's still a ways away from transplant yet - I want to top her a second time and see her bounce back from that before transplanting, and that's still at least a couple of days out.

But you guys aren't here for my next run in veg right? I'll get a flower photo update posted tonight!

 

[DobeWan]

33F!

Busy last few days, getting everything set up, but I'm almost there. Both tents are up and running and I potted up 2 of 3 veg plants. The only one remaining is Chocolope, and I'm going to hold off until she's recovered from her second topping before I pot her up to the big 5 gallon. The potting up of LA2 went way more smoothly than Kushy Kush, who is looking fine tonight.

Really happy with the new flower tent so far. I still need to add additional fan coverage and get the T5s in place, but it's looking good.

I decided to take a few pics of the ladies under a white light as it had been a few days.

LA Confidential 1

LA Confidential 2

24K Gold aka Kosher Tangie 1

24K Gold aka Kosher Tangie 2

 

[DobeWan]

Is 27 Celsius (80.6f) too high for he second half of flower? I don't want to mess with trichome and terpene development. Adding side lighting is putting me around 27 at the sensor - I hit 25 at peak without side lighting. Getting 22-23 (71.5-73.5) at lights out. I'm running 4 T5Os, a linked pair on either side. It's also worth noting that the side lighting brings down my excessive humidity - I get 60-65% humidity at 25 degrees, but it drops a full 5% when I go up to 27.

 

[Pennywise]

80f is doable just make sure you have plenty of air movement

 

[DobeWan]

80f is doable just make sure you have plenty of air movement

Just went out and bought 2 additional fans - I'll run three total. Should I point them slight up? Pushing the warm air up to the filter / fan?

The cold air return in the next room is right next to a tent input too - I'm tempted to just splice it into the tent to ensure fresh air flowing through.

Think I'll take a crack at the homemade CO2 DIY generator as well tomorrow. Might help ensure all stays well.

 

[Pennywise]

Try some different fan setups and see how it affects temps and rh

 

[DobeWan]

Yeah I figure just good circulation should help. The fan is a 190 CFM which I think should be enough to replace the air about 3 times. Makes sense that better air circulation should mean more warm air rising to the top, and more warm air rising to the top should mean warm air cycled out as 22c air comes in.

 

[DobeWan]

Any sense in putting a fan outside the tent too? I figured the fan running inside the tent would suck air in through the intake without having to add any fan. If I hold a tissue to the intake it sticks to it, so the airflow is definitely going in as it stands. But that's unfinished basement so it doesn't have great air circulation in the room.

 

[Pennywise]

It should work for you. .

 

[DobeWan]

Thanks pw. Really appreciate you stopping by to offer me some reassurances, I need that sometimes!