Emmie's 6 Plant, True Living Organic, LED Grow Journal

Friday meditations in the tent:
The growth in here after the topping yesterday is incredible. Only one, NYC Diesel is going slowly, and she always has, but even she had significant growth in the last 24 hours.
The first task of the afternoon was to do some maintenance on Wappa's LST. Some of the branches that were not bent down all the way yesterday in fear of splitting the trunk were able to be put down another little bit today, the goal being to make sure the growth tips remain below the top portion of the plant.
[Note to my future self: from now on when topping, instead of chopping at the midpoint between nodes, go up to the top of that section right before the bulge of the next node, and cut up there. When you get to the point I am at now, starting the LST, that will make the top of the plant just a tad bit higher, making LST easier.]​
I have not highlighted it yet, but a careful observer may have noted that in continuation of a long term experiment, I topped Jack differently than I did the others, topping her at 3-4. I have now proven to myself that this most commonly creates 5 main branches including the two nodes below the cut and also just one of the node 1 branches. One of those lower branches seeks dominance and the other sits there as if nothing happened, begging to be cut as a clone later on. You may say this is a good thing, 5 is better than 4... but a cut at this node seems to confuse the plant just like a FIM attempt... and this plant did exactly like her other participants in this long term experiment, she stopped growing for several days while sorting this out.
Only today was it clear that Jack was starting to open up and ready to grow again and like the others experienced a rapid growth spurt during this last 24 hours. In response, today I carefully put the first 5 hoops in to start bending those tops over to the sides. I guess we need a fancy name for this too, because if doing four is quad training, this would be pentagram training? Let's just call it spreading.
I have watered each of the first transplanted now... Wappa was a bit over 3 days and Jack being on strike was at 4 days. I expect a similar wet/dry cycle on the rest, and predict they will need to be watered tomorrow night or sunday morning. All of these events are written on my calendar. Good records are the key to knowing what your plants are doing.
I am going to prepare the next AACT tonight and it will need to bubble for about 3 days as I add ingredients, so I have plenty of time later to tell you about that. Tonight I am going to prepare a foliar spray. All of the talk about silicates lately has me thinking about the benefits to be gained there, and I also want to increase the brix level of the leaves as well as their macrobiotic level. To accomplish this I will be spraying the plants with a diluted solution of aloe vera juice, lactobacillus serum, and FoxFarm Big Bloom, one of the most beneficial organic products out there that is just teaming with organic life. Have I mentioned that organic gardening can be messy?
 
Not a lot to do in the tent today. Everyone is growing fast and I have resisted my temptation to water all the young ones. As predicted the containers are pretty light this morning, but they are still not anywhere close to wilting and if I am honest with myself, there is still some water weight in there. As dry as the Sahara I tell folks... I am waiting 12 more hours.
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In the meantime, I worked a bit on the LST training that comes after a topping. After a 2-3 top the top branches think they have dominance and they start to grow faster than those below them. A quick way to stop all that nonsense is to get their growth tips down below those of the node below.
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Now the bottom ones are dominant and as soon as they grow out I will hoop them down too... presto, quad training, quartering, manifolding, separating... whatever you call it, we are doing it. The goal is short plants with lots of tops going into flower, ASAP.
 
Reave said:
Plants are looking great. I'm along for the ride. Just started my first grow and I have so much to learn. Sitting back and soaking like a sponge.
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Glad to have you along Reave! I have been watching you reading and liking my threads all afternoon! Good luck in your first grow! You might want to consider doing a journal, not just so you have a good record for yourself, but so we can sit in and give you pointers if things go badly and pats on the back if they don't!
 
Emilya said:
Glad to have you along Reave! I have been watching you reading and liking my threads all afternoon! Good luck in your first grow! You might want to consider doing a journal, not just so you have a good record for yourself, but so we can sit in and give you pointers if things go badly and pats on the back if they don't!
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I started one already. I been getting help from @Pennywise and @InTheShed. I'm very happy to have found this community.
 
I am following my own advice and upon feeling some water weight in the containers, even though it is as dry as the Sahara on top with the soil starting to separate from the sides of the container... I am waiting to water again. I will get home from work in around 6 hours and I will check again at that time. Almost everyone I know would be watering at this time, but I am more patient than most. Patience above all else... that is the key to being smarter than the plant you are growing.
 
Emilya said:
I am following my own advice and upon feeling some water weight in the containers, even though it is as dry as the Sahara on top with the soil starting to separate from the sides of the container... I am waiting to water again. I will get home from work in around 6 hours and I will check again at that time. Almost everyone I know would be watering at this time, but I am more patient than most. Patience above all else... that is the key to being smarter than the plant you are growing.
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Question please, I’m in hydro and my water and ec falls and my ph rises from 5.5 to 5.8 should I try to leave it there to get the mg and p since 5.8 is there target . On the tds I go from average of 380 ppm and change it out (water and nutrients) when it gets to 165 ppm . As soon as it hits 200 ppm it the ph starts to rise but doesn’t hit 5.8 til 165 ppm . Does this in 6 to 7 days , when I ran 100% nutrients 1115 ppm it didn’t play as good as this!
 
West Hippie said:
Question please, I’m in hydro and my water and ec falls and my ph rises from 5.5 to 5.8 should I try to leave it there to get the mg and p since 5.8 is there target . On the tds I go from average of 380 ppm and change it out (water and nutrients) when it gets to 165 ppm . As soon as it hits 200 ppm it the ph starts to rise but doesn’t hit 5.8 til 165 ppm . Does this in 6 to 7 days , when I ran 100% nutrients 1115 ppm it didn’t play as good as this!
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My hat is off to you Hippie, I was just not good at hydro. I tried for about 6 months to make it work, but it turned out to be an almost total failure at my house. As much as I think I understand the concepts, I just could not make it work, and it was just problem after problem while my learning curve did not keep up. I finally gave up on the idea after a spectacular series of disasters and experimented with Hempy for a year... and had pretty good luck with that. I am afraid that any answer I could give you on your question would be insufficient and tainted with my many failures.
 
Emilya said:
My hat is off to you Hippie, I was just not good at hydro. I tried for about 6 months to make it work, but it turned out to be an almost total failure at my house. As much as I think I understand the concepts, I just could not make it work, and it was just problem after problem while my learning curve did not keep up. I finally gave up on the idea after a spectacular series of disasters and experimented with Hempy for a year... and had pretty good luck with that. I am afraid that any answer I could give you on your question would be insufficient and tainted with my many failures.
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I just thought I’d pick your brain on the ph concepts , I started thinking after reading about your way to handle the ph progress upward as to hydro does the same but had an open area of the 5.8 ph for mg and p intake . Wondering if that 165 ppm contained all P and Mg that would absorb only at 5.8?
 
I’m using advanced nutrients ph perfect 5.5 ph with a fresh tank of nutrients
 
Today the 4 who were left got a proper watering, with some goodies mixed in. I added a tbs of Big Bloom for its microherd, 1/2 tsp of Great White mycorrhizae powder and 1tbs of calmag. All 6 plants will eventually be watered with this new solution, with Wappa due again maybe tomorrow and Jack the day after.
All the plants who had their top nodes staked out have almost caught up the lower nodes now... and after watering I figure another day or so before we do the full quad training on all the plants except one.
NYC Diesel is still moving slower than the rest and is not quite ready to stake out the top nodes yet. Her leaves are massive and thick and her trunk is enormous, the largest in the room, so I do expect a growth spurt out of her very soon. She just appears to be a little shy.
Wappa and Jack are pushing their growth tips toward the container edges and in a day or so I will start restaking them right at the edge of the container so as to send the main branch upwards, while carefully keeping two lower nodes horizontal. This should send up a significant number of those very lowest nodes to fight for dominance. Carefully, thoughtfully and methodically, I am creating the shape that I want to see in flower under these LEDs.
 
West Hippie said:
I just thought I’d pick your brain on the ph concepts , I started thinking after reading about your way to handle the ph progress upward as to hydro does the same but had an open area of the 5.8 ph for mg and p intake . Wondering if that 165 ppm contained all P and Mg that would absorb only at 5.8?
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That is very possible and would definitely explain what you are seeing. You know there is a heavy load of those two elements in there. Sounds like you really have this dialed in!
 
I’ve never done it the way I see in here , only thing I’ve done was watch the ph not knowing how it worked or the tds for nutrients company at 100% . Dialed in from all y’all at 420 magazine.
Thank you for your input and especially your knowledge.
 
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