Dro’s Top-Feed DWC Green Crack Fem & Northern Lights Auto Journal, 2019

[West Hippie]

Ok here is a quick update. pH pen was 0.2 off from calibration so it got recalibrated last night. When in doubt... do a res change!! So I had my buddy do a res change just in case to make sure everything was ok and he found some sediment built up at the bottom of the bucket after 4 days! He described it as sand like sediment with some spots of jelly like consistency but no bad smell.... See pic below. I didn't have him touch the green crack as she seems to be happy.

I am banging my head against the phone and without being present it's hard to think of the causes of my problems. I think I have narrowed it down to 3 potential reasons for all my problems.

1) Hard water may have too much calcium causing nutrient lock and plant is not getting all the nutrients and causing the sandy sediment. Nutrients are bonding to calcium particles and dropping to the bottom.

2)My buddy may not be following all my directions and mixing the nutrients out of order. He said he didn't but never know. Maybe he added all of them together in a bucket then added water? I don't know..

3) Root rot again?!?!? I am not 100% convince but better be safe than sorry.

I was already going to do RO water when I got back from vacation so I am hoping they can make it until Saturday. I have GH calimagic on order and should arrive at the same time as I do. Where in the nute order does calimagic go?. Do I put that first, before any nutrients or last? I know Floramicro is always first but does this go before that?

Right now, the northern light auto is in a new res with z7 and hydroguard with water temp at 64F and slowly climbing. I am hoping this helps root rot if that is what I have... I will do water change again Saturday with RO water.

Green crack seems happy so she will get a res change on Saturday as well.

Any thoughts and guidance is always welcome.

Clean it and 1-1/2 dose of the Z7 , wipe it out with H2O2 and don’t rinse .I know how you feel not being able to get there . Hope your wrong on #2 !

 

[Dro]

Calling all experts out there. The green crack plant has some odd white growth on the main stem. Is this some type of calcium overfeeding or are these tiny roots?
My buddy found it when checking on them today. He wants me to start one for him, he is pretty excited about them now. Wonder if I can clone it when I top it this weekend ?

 

[Dro]

Day 34 since germination 3/3/19

Long Update.

Lots of things have been going on. Pretty excited to be back from vacation and being able to watch the plants grow. Plants were in decent condition when I got back. I noticed right away that the bottom leaves are just drying out so I trimmed NL bad leaves and a bit of the GC.

I also decided to top the GC so we can get some more colas as it was looking very healthy and growing quick. For the NL I will be doing some LST but not much. She is a bit smaller than the GC.

First time doing a whole res change with nutrients. I added 3.5 gallons of RO water to both plants and GH calimagic. This time, I decided to do a 1/2 nute mix as it looked like their first week with 1/4 was successful with no visible nute burn. Finally added some Z7 and hydroguard.

The GC looked like it drank about a gallon while the NL had maybe half a gallon. I can definitely see the huge difference RO water is going to make. The bucket with RO is so clean and I didn't even have to pH the water after mixing the nutes! Thanks @Icemann420 for the suggestion! I should have done this since the beginning.

Here are the numbers. Starting ppm 7.
Full 1/2 nutrient mix plus calimagic. NL:713ppm, 5.6pH
GC:720ppm, 5.97pH
Tent Temp:75-77F steady (I invested on a temp controller for the heater and it works great! Far better temp control than before)
Water temp: 66F
RH: 30-60%

Here are some pictures.

GC before topping

GC after topping

Both plants before res change and trimming

NL after trim

NL roots

GC roots

Thanks everyone for the help and support along the way.

 

[West Hippie]

Day 34 since germination 3/3/19

Long Update.

Lots of things have been going on. Pretty excited to be back from vacation and being able to watch the plants grow. Plants were in decent condition when I got back. I noticed right away that the bottom leaves are just drying out so I trimmed NL bad leaves and a bit of the GC.

I also decided to top the GC so we can get some more colas as it was looking very healthy and growing quick. For the NL I will be doing some LST but not much. She is a bit smaller than the GC.

First time doing a whole res change with nutrients. I added 3.5 gallons of RO water to both plants and GH calimagic. This time, I decided to do a 1/2 nute mix as it looked like their first week with 1/4 was successful with no visible nute burn. Finally added some Z7 and hydroguard.

The GC looked like it drank about a gallon while the NL had maybe half a gallon. I can definitely see the huge difference RO water is going to make. The bucket with RO is so clean and I didn't even have to pH the water after mixing the nutes! Thanks @Icemann420 for the suggestion! I should have done this since the beginning.

Here are the numbers. Starting ppm 7.
Full 1/2 nutrient mix plus calimagic. NL:713ppm, 5.6pH
GC:720ppm, 5.97pH
Tent Temp:75-77F steady (I invested on a temp controller for the heater and it works great! Far better temp control than before)
Water temp: 66F
RH: 30-60%

Here are some pictures.

GC before topping

GC after topping

Both plants before res change and trimming

NL after trim

NL roots

GC roots

Thanks everyone for the help and support along the way.

Looks like the Z7 bubbling away in the darker rooted one . I noticed in my cloner that the Z7 starts working bubbling right away , in the tent never bubbles . But in the cloner it runs warmer more critters for it to attack. Up above is looking good .

 

[Dro]

Looks like the Z7 bubbling away in the darker rooted one . I noticed in my cloner that the Z7 starts working bubbling right away , in the tent never bubbles . But in the cloner it runs warmer more critters for it to attack. Up above is looking good .

@West Hippie so bubbles means the z7 is doing its thing and keeping g bad bacteria away?

 

[West Hippie]

@West Hippie so bubbles means the z7 is doing its thing and keeping g bad bacteria away?

That’s the only time I’ve seen it bubbling!

 

[TurboBucket]

Calling all experts out there. The green crack plant has some odd white growth on the main stem. Is this some type of calcium overfeeding or are these tiny roots?
My buddy found it when checking on them today. He wants me to start one for him, he is pretty excited about them now. Wonder if I can clone it when I top it this weekend ?

Correct those are little roots trying to start. The plug is overly moist at the base of the stem. You can drop your water level a little bit to try and keep that more dry. Too wet can cause the stem to rot.

 

[Dro]

@Icemann420 or @West Hippie based on the root pics, do you think I am starting to get root rot again? I read somewhere that the roots should not be bunching up in a ball. I checked on them last night and they smell clean but they are starting to get darker. Not sure if the color change is due to nutrients or rot... Water is clean, no slime or residue.

Let me know your guys thoughts

 

[West Hippie]

@Icemann420 or @West Hippie based on the root pics, do you think I am starting to get root rot again? I read somewhere that the roots should not be bunching up in a ball. I checked on them last night and they smell clean but they are starting to get darker. Not sure if the color change is due to nutrients or rot... Water is clean, no slime or residue.

Let me know your guys thoughts

The roots are growing to pick up some of the brown or tan from the nutrients . Is the water temp at 70 or below, I try to keep my reservoir 65-68 degrees that way nothing grows in it ! Ph is still good?

 

[Dro]

The roots are growing to pick up some of the brown or tan from the nutrients . Is the water temp at 70 or below, I try to keep my reservoir 65-68 degrees that way nothing grows in it ! Ph is still good?

Water temp has been between 65-69 ever since insulated the buckets. pH was at 6.10 so I brought it down to 5.8. your comment about the bubbles from z7 made me second guess this and I started to panic when I looked at the ball of roots. They seem to be growing just fine but don't want any rot to creep up

 

[West Hippie]

Water temp has been between 65-69 ever since insulated the buckets. pH was at 6.10 so I brought it down to 5.8. your comment about the bubbles from z7 made me second guess this and I started to panic when I looked at the ball of roots. They seem to be growing just fine but don't want any rot to creep up

I hear you , being away is helpless have been there! Remember they were Snow White till you added nutrients. 5.8 ph perfect.

 

[Dro]

I hear you , being away is helpless have been there! Remember they were Snow White till you added nutrients. 5.8 ph perfect.

Yeah, now that I am back from vacation I check on them everyday so any little change I see I panic lol. You are correct, gotta start looking at this more of cause-effect situation and relax a bit.

Maybe my wife is right on telling me to smoke a bit more, chill and let the plants grow lol

 

[Dro]

Ok... I need some help figuring out what this Northern Light auto plant needs! This plant has had issues since day 1 and I have no idea what could be.

I did my usual check last night and the bottom leaves are starting to get discolored right on the top part. I don't think it's nute burn or light burn. It looks like some sort of deficiency.. nitrogen? Is it root rot again? Temps and humidity are good.

I decided to do a res change again just in case it's root rot. I let the roots and stones hang out in H2O2 while I change the res. The plant was on the first week of 1/2 dose of nutrients so I kept the same. Added a bucket lid cover again just in case light is getting in. Added a frozen bottle to keep water temp lower than the max (70f). The res was clean and did not smell and the roots look fine to me besides the fact that they are bunched up in a ball....

Let me know what you all think

 

[Icemann420]

Calcium magnesium. Or cal-mag More.

 

[Dro]

Calcium magnesium. Or cal-mag More.

Thanks! That's what I was thinking. I had 4tsp to the 3.5 gallon mix before but I added added 2ts more to see if this can be corrected. PPM is now at 1059. It was 856ppm before that.

I am not sure if it's just because it's an autoflower plant it seems like it may need more nutrients? I thought autos were supposed to be less nute hungry than photos.

 

[Dro]

Day 38 update 3/7

Well I am not sure what's going on with the northern lights auto plant. I have not seen an improvement since adding extra calimagic. Looks like the bottom leaves are done and it's creeping up to the second set of big fan leaves. Should I just trim the bottom leaves so that the plant can get nutrients to the leaves above?

The green crack on the other hand looks a bit sad again. The res change was a day ago and she still has not recovered much. Hoping to see some improvement. I am starting to see a bit of purple stems on this one. Hopefully the 1/2 nute solution helps here.

I bought a set of water temp sensors from Amazon to double check my TDS meter and my Arduino water temp. Glad to see all temps within 1/2 a degree from each other. This helps confirm data that I had before was accurate.

Todays beer is Gravity from Ellison. Great barrel aged imperial stout!

I also decided to throw the top that I took from the Green Crack with some cloneX and rapid start in my little dome. I didn't think it was going to go anywhere but I am surprised to see the leaves are perking up and has some life.

 

[West Hippie]

Day 38 update 3/7

Well I am not sure what's going on with the northern lights auto plant. I have not seen an improvement since adding extra calimagic. Looks like the bottom leaves are done and it's creeping up to the second set of big fan leaves. Should I just trim the bottom leaves so that the plant can get nutrients to the leaves above?

The green crack on the other hand looks a bit sad again. The res change was a day ago and she still has not recovered much. Hoping to see some improvement. I am starting to see a bit of purple stems on this one. Hopefully the 1/2 nute solution helps here.

I bought a set of water temp sensors from Amazon to double check my TDS meter and my Arduino water temp. Glad to see all temps within 1/2 a degree from each other. This helps confirm data that I had before was accurate.

Todays beer is Gravity from Ellison. Great barrel aged imperial stout!

I also decided to throw the top that I took from the Green Crack with some cloneX and rapid start in my little dome. I didn't think it was going to go anywhere but I am surprised to see the leaves are perking up and has some life.

Between the veins mag . Can you get that water temp up to 65 to 68 degrees ? Bud light please !

 

[Dro]

Between the veins mag . Can you get that water temp up to 65 to 68 degrees ? Bud light please !

Yeah, that's what it keeps pointing to. Let's hope she starts to get it from the current res.

Water temp is at 66 now, I think that may be a reason why the GC was sad. I added a frozen bottle to both after the res change and the went around 55-60. Pretty sure that slowed them down too.

 

[Dro]

Day 43 update 3/12

Things are not looking so good...

I did a complete nute change on Saturday as I was not seeing any improvement. I removed two large yellow fan leaves from GC and some yellow leaves from NL.

New nute solution is around 800ppm with extra calimagic and armor SI. From Saturday to today I had to add 1qt of fresh pH water to both plants which is a positive sign. Both plants are growing taller but very slow and not so graceful.

The NL auto is starting to show some pistels on some places. Looks like we may have to switch the nutes to flowering. I am going to let this auto run it's course and see what I get out. I am not hopeful it will be much considering her growth has been stunted with so many issues.

The GC plant looks more alive than the other and I am hoping it starts recovering from all of my mistakes. I am glad this plant is a photo so I can nurse her back to health in veg for as long as needed.

Since I have sucked so bad at growing in DWC, I have decided to get a couple of seeds (and maybe even a clone!) going on coco since I hear is a bit more forgiving. I may start a separate journal for those once I get things going. I am not throwing the towel just yet but I am looking back at all the mistakes that I have made and learn from there.

Here are some pictures of the girls.

 

[GohanGrower]

Day 43 update 3/12

Things are not looking so good...

I did a complete nute change on Saturday as I was not seeing any improvement. I removed two large yellow fan leaves from GC and some yellow leaves from NL.

New nute solution is around 800ppm with extra calimagic and armor SI. From Saturday to today I had to add 1qt of fresh pH water to both plants which is a positive sign. Both plants are growing taller but very slow and not so graceful.

The NL auto is starting to show some pistels on some places. Looks like we may have to switch the nutes to flowering. I am going to let this auto run it's course and see what I get out. I am not hopeful it will be much considering her growth has been stunted with so many issues.

The GC plant looks more alive than the other and I am hoping it starts recovering from all of my mistakes. I am glad this plant is a photo so I can nurse her back to health in veg for as long as needed.

Since I have sucked so bad at growing in DWC, I have decided to get a couple of seeds (and maybe even a clone!) going on coco since I hear is a bit more forgiving. I may start a separate journal for those once I get things going. I am not throwing the towel just yet but I am looking back at all the mistakes that I have made and learn from there.

Here are some pictures of the girls.

I tried this growing method for a couple months about 5 years ago, and hated how finicky it was. One tiny little fuck up or mishap can ruin everything you've worked for pretty quickly. I feel like growing in a medium provides a much more stable environment, and I've always seen more/higher levels of terpenes due to the microbial life. I like high levels of THC... but I'll settle with slightly lower THC for higher terpenes. Just my opinion though.