Emmie's Vegan Fertilizer, Pineapple Chunk 2020 Celebration: Experimental Soil Grow

[DrCannaCanadian]

Heat really isn't an issue with these lights... it is all about the light intensity. At 12" I can easily exceed the recommended limits and totally fry my top buds. Its really ugly when that happens because they just bleach out and die.

Here is the chart I am going by that I computed by measuring the output of my lights:

The top line, showing 12" away shows just how easily it would be to fry my plants with this light. The numbers have turned out to be not quite as high as seen on the chart per given wattage because I was measuring this light as it hit a flat semi-reflective table, but the colored sections show the ranges I am shooting for. So it really isnt anything to do with the number of 12 and 18 being more important than the others, they were just points that I measured. Note that if you drew a line between the 12" and the 18" lines, that would be 15", the point that I am going to shoot for as my hot spot.
My next chart that I do will be computed with the lights shining down onto a flat black table and will be a bit more accurate. For this grow I am going to get down to around 15" on the top buds because the curve starts flattening out at that distance, and there will be less of a drop off as we descend down to the 30" mark. On this chart, I would set the wattage to around 175w per side, putting the LUX up in the red range for the buds up at the top. This chart then says that at 18" I am still going to get 43k LUX and at 30" still 27k LUX. I am hoping that in a closed reflective tent, the distribution between the curves is not so great as this chart indicates and that I will get a little better penetration, but that is for another experiment to prove.

Hey @Emilya ,

This is a great write-up and I love the graph!

If heat isn't an issue, and the horizontal coverage is 90% or more, then you should be able to set the height to 12" above canopy and then adjust the wattage up.

This would maximize your penetration and minimize the draw at the wall.

I like how the light inverse square law can be seen. As we move up a wattage value the distance between the lines seems to increase logarithmically.

Any idea what the leaf temperature is at canopy level? It's usually within 2°C (3°F) of the ambient temperature right?

 

[DrCannaCanadian]

Bloom, Day 9

Just a quick shot from the garden cam early this morning... and as promised, all is well. No plants have been harmed by the nutrients and MegaCrop and Vulx are doing a great job to supercharge these plants. Are these plants getting merely the nutrients they need to survive, or are they thriving because they have absolutely everything they can handle, plus a little extra if they want it? I think the answer is obvious. If you are going to nute, NUTE! Grow like you mean it!
Have a great Thursday everyone!

Mam! Yes Mam! Drill Sergeant!

Bloom, Day 10
A little bit of adjustment was in order for today in the tent. Adjusting the lights out to 15" away from the top buds was not producing the PAR I desire, so I moved them down another 3" to where they are 15" away from the bulk of the canopy, but the two big top buds are going to have to settle for being at 13 inches away.

As pondered upon yesterday, it seems today that stretch has stopped. At least the tremendous leaps of an inch or two a day, didn't happen today and I would say that all of the plants are nearly at the same height as compared to the measurement yesterday. So the LUX is now around 57K LUX / 850 PAR average, at the maximum output of these lights. If indeed the stretch is over, I will try to lower the lights at least another inch or two, and try to reduce the wattage a little bit. Presently the plants are between 36-40" tall.

The cleaning out of the centers seems to have produced some extra vigor in the two that got it, and I will get to the one in the back of the room tomorrow after the snow has arrived here in Missouri... today I just ran out of time trying to prep for the storm.

This may be only my first grow with MegaCrop and Vulx, but I can see a huge difference in my grow because of the two of them. I don't know which or both or neither is causing the amazing growth in my tent this run, for it could be all due to the lucky rabbit's foot my sister gave me for Christmas. The world may never know. Most growers never have any idea what made or broke their grows over the years, trying one thing after another, never having consistency in their methods. So whatever it is... the Vulx, my dead supersoil, the MC or any of its additives or that rabbit's foot, something is working and the plants do not seem to be harmed in the least by adding the recommended amounts of GLN recommended supplements. Note I said recommended... the only product they don't include in the feeding calculator is their calmag, and they warn to only use it as needed and advised before the last version came out that they added more calmag to the base mix.
So to all those arguing about this or that way to use MegaCrop... bless you one and all for all of your hard work trying to use it in various growing methods and media. This grow is all about what happens in soil... real actual soil, you know, the stuff MC was designed for. I may not have experience in using MC, but I have long experience with these plants and am no stranger to nutrients in general. What I am seeing in this garden today is extraordinary and is beyond anything I have ever seen. So yes, the Megacrop works, and by the example I am setting, the supplements work well too. I have even heard people say you can't use this stuff in small containers... but the hempy folks and my 5 gallon containers beg to differ. Disparage, attempt to shame and ridicule and make fun all you want... these three plants will not be ignored and despite all the nonsense you hear elsewhere, they love the Bud Explosion and the Sea Kelp and the Sweet sweet Candy... and they don't care that I am not adjusting pH or in any other way worrying about my tap water. This stuff works as advertised in soil... if you are running hydro, maybe different rules apply. I am now at 20% through the bloom phase and already considering this Megacrop experiment to be a tremendous success.

I was told that I have troubles with being humble. It is true... humbleness is not a disability that I possess. If you want a stellar grow like I have here, get Vulx and get the Megacrop line and use it in any soil. At this point in my long growing career, I have no better advice that I can give to anyone... if you want an easy, reproducibly outstanding grow... do what I am doing here.

And lastly, not at all humbly, I present the shot from the canopy and one of the top buds. So far, I see no signs of frost... maybe next week!

Just incredible! They are so healthy!

The frost is going to be thick - I would even anticipate frost rails!

I am going to switch to MC when I flip to bloom. I still have some Fox Farm "Open Sesame", "Beastie Bloomz" and "Cha Ching" (trio) left over to use before I start in with the Bloom Explosion. Personally, I still like way the trio transitions in 3 steps - I'm hoping the Chelates in MC and BE allow the plant to uptake what it needs and do a self-translation.

Soil - I love soil! We're doing a soil/coco grow now. Coco is quick but soil is smooth! I have so much soil cooking right now for next summer - I can't wait!

BTW, Any idea when @Vulx will be available in Canada?

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey @Emilya ,

This is a great write-up and I love the graph!

If heat isn't an issue, and the horizontal coverage is 90% or more, then you should be able to set the height to 12" above canopy and then adjust the wattage up.

This would maximize your penetration and minimize the draw at the wall.

I like how the light inverse square law can be seen. As we move up a wattage value the distance between the lines seems to increase logarithmically.

Any idea what the leaf temperature is at canopy level? It's usually within 2°C (3°F) of the ambient temperature right?

Thanks Doc! The problem is the horizontal coverage of the cobs with Angelina reflectors at the distance they are arranged on my array, with 14" centers. To totally cover the space of my 2x4 tent I technically need 2 more lights and need to make the array a bit wider. In the present configuration, when I get too close, I create gaps between the focused lights, so I need to keep them up a bit higher to even out the spread. At 12" there are gaps, but the coverage down into the canopy would be more even and perfectly additive at 14" ... so it comes to a decision as to where do I want to put the best light.... or the most even and strongest light, the canopy or the popcorn growth down below. For the moment I have chosen 15" as a compromise due to the 2 taller buds in the room, but I want to get down to that optimum 14" point if I can, and then carefully adjust the wattage so I don't fry those top buds.

Regarding the temperature, I have a small vortex space heater in the tent attached to a standard home thermostat. I also have a lot of air movement in the tent, with two oscillating fans and a fairly intense extraction/air exchange system. Because of the air movement, the temperature at the leaves is going to be very near the tent temperature... the LED light doesn't really produce a lot of heat.

 

[Emilya Green]

BTW, Any idea when @Vulx will be available in Canada?

I bet we find out!

 

[Emilya Green]

Mid Flower, Day 11
We call this mid flower because stretch has stopped. Now suddenly the plant's needs have changed. Now all of a sudden the plants have a need for additional P and K and the need for N is being reduced.
By giving Sea-K up to this point I have given the plants a secondary source of N and they have taken full advantage of it until now. At this point, the plant is using less N and the excess is building up in the soil.
Let's consult Mulder and see what happens when N builds up.

We can see that there is a negative interaction between N and K. Excess Nitrogen in the soil will start to lock out Potassium!

Now let's look at the symptoms that have developed over the last 48 hours, or since the last watering.


Isn't that a head scratcher? Every chart will tell you that I am having a potassium deficiency, yet I have been giving BE, a whole lot of extra K. There should not be a deficiency, but there is.

Not everything is what it seems when it comes to these plants. Lockouts can be tricky to diagnose as it requires you to know what the plant's needs are at that moment, and oftentimes what is going on is not obvious just by looking at a symptom chart.

Although it is a great additive during veg, I will be discontinuing the use of Sea-K from now on as we go into stretch... the extra N is no longer needed or appreciated by the plant. I believe that by eliminating this secondary source of N coming in, the plants will stabilize on the next watering. I will also be increasing the MC up to 6g/g.

 

[MrSauga]

Hiya Em,
now I agree with the K def not making sense because of the amount you are feeding it. Here's the issue that you and most others are experiencing with the added K. There is no extra N loaded with the SK, since it has no N content at 0-0-15 so that can't be the problem. The problem is the high levels of P from the BE that is causing the decreased availability of K. My suggestion at this point is to stop altogether with the SC and BE until you have a handle on the issue.
I hope that helps a bit.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hiya Em,
now I agree with the K def not making sense because of the amount you are feeding it. Here's the issue that you and most others are experiencing with the added K. There is no extra N loaded with the SK, since it has no N content at 0-0-15 so that can't be the problem. The problem is the high levels of P from the BE that is causing the decreased availability of K. My suggestion at this point is to stop altogether with the SC and BE until you have a handle on the issue.
I hope that helps a bit.

Right there is why you are the boss. Thank you. I made an assumption about the SK and was totally wrong. Looking back at Mulder, yours is the only possible explanation. I think there is a lot of merit in your suggestion to go to a basic MC watering next time, and let the plants stabilize that way at least for one watering so as to use up anything that has been building up.

 

[Billpopy79]

Emilya and MrS.
You guys are all that is great on this forum.
Problems diagnosed by 2 great minds working in tandem.

I have a picture in my head where you are in lab coats furiously experimenting and scrawling notes that could also be used to work out a formula for time travel.
It's great when people do things differently, us mere mortals can watch and read and make informed decisions about how we want to grow.

 

[Deketx]

Bloom, Day 10
A little bit of adjustment was in order for today in the tent. Adjusting the lights out to 15" away from the top buds was not producing the PAR I desire, so I moved them down another 3" to where they are 15" away from the bulk of the canopy, but the two big top buds are going to have to settle for being at 13 inches away.

As pondered upon yesterday, it seems today that stretch has stopped. At least the tremendous leaps of an inch or two a day, didn't happen today and I would say that all of the plants are nearly at the same height as compared to the measurement yesterday. So the LUX is now around 57K LUX / 850 PAR average, at the maximum output of these lights. If indeed the stretch is over, I will try to lower the lights at least another inch or two, and try to reduce the wattage a little bit. Presently the plants are between 36-40" tall.

The cleaning out of the centers seems to have produced some extra vigor in the two that got it, and I will get to the one in the back of the room tomorrow after the snow has arrived here in Missouri... today I just ran out of time trying to prep for the storm.

This may be only my first grow with MegaCrop and Vulx, but I can see a huge difference in my grow because of the two of them. I don't know which or both or neither is causing the amazing growth in my tent this run, for it could be all due to the lucky rabbit's foot my sister gave me for Christmas. The world may never know. Most growers never have any idea what made or broke their grows over the years, trying one thing after another, never having consistency in their methods. So whatever it is... the Vulx, my dead supersoil, the MC or any of its additives or that rabbit's foot, something is working and the plants do not seem to be harmed in the least by adding the recommended amounts of GLN recommended supplements. Note I said recommended... the only product they don't include in the feeding calculator is their calmag, and they warn to only use it as needed and advised before the last version came out that they added more calmag to the base mix.
So to all those arguing about this or that way to use MegaCrop... bless you one and all for all of your hard work trying to use it in various growing methods and media. This grow is all about what happens in soil... real actual soil, you know, the stuff MC was designed for. I may not have experience in using MC, but I have long experience with these plants and am no stranger to nutrients in general. What I am seeing in this garden today is extraordinary and is beyond anything I have ever seen. So yes, the Megacrop works, and by the example I am setting, the supplements work well too. I have even heard people say you can't use this stuff in small containers... but the hempy folks and my 5 gallon containers beg to differ. Disparage, attempt to shame and ridicule and make fun all you want... these three plants will not be ignored and despite all the nonsense you hear elsewhere, they love the Bud Explosion and the Sea Kelp and the Sweet sweet Candy... and they don't care that I am not adjusting pH or in any other way worrying about my tap water. This stuff works as advertised in soil... if you are running hydro, maybe different rules apply. I am now at 20% through the bloom phase and already considering this Megacrop experiment to be a tremendous success.

I was told that I have troubles with being humble. It is true... humbleness is not a disability that I possess. If you want a stellar grow like I have here, get Vulx and get the Megacrop line and use it in any soil. At this point in my long growing career, I have no better advice that I can give to anyone... if you want an easy, reproducibly outstanding grow... do what I am doing here.

And lastly, not at all humbly, I present the shot from the canopy and one of the top buds. So far, I see no signs of frost... maybe next week!

Looking good! Mine are doing well, obviously smaller due to my having them start in the cold, but they are really starting to go. I wish they looked like yours!

 

[MsBean7175]

Welcome to the newcomers to the thread and thank you so much for the support and the kind words regarding my journaling style. I think the reason this works is because I am constantly trying to learn something new myself, and these journals are my notes to my future self as to what worked and what didn't. We have come a long ways together in this last decade of writing about cannabis, and my friends, we are just getting started!

Bloom, Day 8

Today was watering day and the plants got a repeat of the time before regarding the MC, BE, SC, and SK. The plants were wilting a bit from lack of water for these pictures, but I am sure that by mid day (their time) all will be as perky as before. The stretch is still happening and all plants are seeking the top of the canopy. Again, looking only at the color of the plants, which have lightened a bit since the last watering, I would guess that they could have handled 6g/g of MC this time... but we will save that for the next watering. I can see that once the rapid growth of stretch is over and the N requirements for all this new growth go down, we should be stabilizing the MC at some level and not needing to continually increase its dosage, and it seems very significant that this point we are reaching just happens to be the max recommended dosage of MC during bloom. It is my belief that these folks at GLN really know what they are doing.

Speaking of the canopy, these tomato cages are what I have been looking for since I started growing in a tent. The natural progression of larger hoops near the top allows for the plants to get all of the support they need to hold up the canopy, but because the top hoop is the largest, it also allows the buds at the top to naturally spread out and open up the center for light and more airflow. Over the next several days I will be removing some of the middle fan leaves so as to open up that center even more to allow the light to get as deep into the cage as possible.

At the moment, the top bud on Bertha is 12" away from the light and she is getting 46k LUX. The next level of buds are at 16" and the smallest plant, Piza is at 18" away from the light. Measuring deep into the canopy to where the budsites have stopped developing, we are 30" away from the light. My goal is to get some useful PAR down into this area with correct placement of the lights. We shall see how well this works and this may be my last flowering experiment with COB for a while, since I now have a huge NextLIght Mega heading my way. Life, and the experiments go on.

Hi Emilya, I've been checking NextLight out. I bet they are going to be the bomb for a grow. Happy growing. Your girls are look great.

 

[MsBean7175]

Bloom, Day 10
A little bit of adjustment was in order for today in the tent. Adjusting the lights out to 15" away from the top buds was not producing the PAR I desire, so I moved them down another 3" to where they are 15" away from the bulk of the canopy, but the two big top buds are going to have to settle for being at 13 inches away.

As pondered upon yesterday, it seems today that stretch has stopped. At least the tremendous leaps of an inch or two a day, didn't happen today and I would say that all of the plants are nearly at the same height as compared to the measurement yesterday. So the LUX is now around 57K LUX / 850 PAR average, at the maximum output of these lights. If indeed the stretch is over, I will try to lower the lights at least another inch or two, and try to reduce the wattage a little bit. Presently the plants are between 36-40" tall.

The cleaning out of the centers seems to have produced some extra vigor in the two that got it, and I will get to the one in the back of the room tomorrow after the snow has arrived here in Missouri... today I just ran out of time trying to prep for the storm.

This may be only my first grow with MegaCrop and Vulx, but I can see a huge difference in my grow because of the two of them. I don't know which or both or neither is causing the amazing growth in my tent this run, for it could be all due to the lucky rabbit's foot my sister gave me for Christmas. The world may never know. Most growers never have any idea what made or broke their grows over the years, trying one thing after another, never having consistency in their methods. So whatever it is... the Vulx, my dead supersoil, the MC or any of its additives or that rabbit's foot, something is working and the plants do not seem to be harmed in the least by adding the recommended amounts of GLN recommended supplements. Note I said recommended... the only product they don't include in the feeding calculator is their calmag, and they warn to only use it as needed and advised before the last version came out that they added more calmag to the base mix.
So to all those arguing about this or that way to use MegaCrop... bless you one and all for all of your hard work trying to use it in various growing methods and media. This grow is all about what happens in soil... real actual soil, you know, the stuff MC was designed for. I may not have experience in using MC, but I have long experience with these plants and am no stranger to nutrients in general. What I am seeing in this garden today is extraordinary and is beyond anything I have ever seen. So yes, the Megacrop works, and by the example I am setting, the supplements work well too. I have even heard people say you can't use this stuff in small containers... but the hempy folks and my 5 gallon containers beg to differ. Disparage, attempt to shame and ridicule and make fun all you want... these three plants will not be ignored and despite all the nonsense you hear elsewhere, they love the Bud Explosion and the Sea Kelp and the Sweet sweet Candy... and they don't care that I am not adjusting pH or in any other way worrying about my tap water. This stuff works as advertised in soil... if you are running hydro, maybe different rules apply. I am now at 20% through the bloom phase and already considering this Megacrop experiment to be a tremendous success.

I was told that I have troubles with being humble. It is true... humbleness is not a disability that I possess. If you want a stellar grow like I have here, get Vulx and get the Megacrop line and use it in any soil. At this point in my long growing career, I have no better advice that I can give to anyone... if you want an easy, reproducibly outstanding grow... do what I am doing here.

And lastly, not at all humbly, I present the shot from the canopy and one of the top buds. So far, I see no signs of frost... maybe next week!

Em, I Just love those white pistils at this stage.

 

[Emilya Green]

Mid-Flower, Day 12
Stretch is definitely over, so as to even things out a bit, Piza, who was named this because she was an early leaner, needed a box to stand on. Now she is even with the rest of the canopy.

The tallest buds are sitting at 12" away from the lights. The bulk of the canopy is between 14"-16" away. PAR is acceptable. We are now going to see what these lights can do.

Today was watering day, or still is. Buddy is helping me and so far they have gotten 2/3 of the total they will need for runoff and we will space out some more watering for appropriate times during today's Chiefs playoff game.

Watering started at 10:30 this morning and will end sometime mid afternoon as I slowly soak these containers. They were dry enough to wilt a little bit today with a strongly established 3 day wet/dry cycle... now it is time to start watering more often, never letting them dry out this far again. It is not like they cant handle it, but for the most part the roots are done growing now and I have what I have... it is now time to USE those roots. I am going to start watering every other day now... pushing that water, and pushing those nutes.

Speaking of nutes, today following the good advice of @MrSauga I have given only MegaCrop this time at the full 6g/g, with no additional supplements. The aforementioned potassium lockout has not gotten any worse, so the plants must have been able to get what they needed, and this watering is going to be attempting to use up the excess P that has been building up in the soil by using the BE. With clearer sight it is obvious that for a while now I have been giving BE, yet it wasn't until right now that the plant could use such large amounts of P, so of course it built up in the soil.

Someone needed to use the GLN line as suggested by the feeding calculator, to see and document what would happen. Others warned me the information on the website was not perfect, and seeing links that don't go anywhere speaks to that... but the recommended use had to be tried. Upon seeing the results of this blind adherence to the feeding calculator, and after properly analyzing the results, here is how I will run BE from now on:

I will start applying it at the beginning of stretch, one watering into the transition stage and I will watch carefully for this same lockout to occur, but it is my belief that by this time the plant is using the P and it won't build up in the soil to lock out the K. I will also give up using the Sea-K on that watering, as the roots are about finished growing and there shouldn't be a need for the small hit of K that comes with that product​

.
I still have not come to a conclusion about the sweet candy, but it is my current belief that it is full of good stuff for any stage of the grow, and unless trying to recover from a problem like I am now, I don't see any reason not to use it all through the grow.
Speaking of recovering... I will be looking for any signs of progression of the damage seen so far, but unless we have totally misread this, I think for now we have seen an end to the K lockout.

Here now are the buds. I am not sure, but I think I am starting to see the beginnings of frost in places...

 

[THC Onlyfans]

Emilya and MrS.
You guys are all that is great on this forum.
Problems diagnosed by 2 great minds working in tandem.

I have a picture in my head where you are in lab coats furiously experimenting and scrawling notes that could also be used to work out a formula for time travel.
It's great when people do things differently, us mere mortals can watch and read and make informed decisions about how we want to grow.

A bunch of potheads in lab coats hey...I see these pros more in comfy sweats and mustard stained wife beaters

 

[MrSauga]

I still have not come to a conclusion about the sweet candy, but it is my current belief that it is full of good stuff for any stage of the grow, and unless trying to recover from a problem like I am now, I don't see any reason not to use it all through the grow.

I do know the sweet candy will work in the right amount of doseage so using it from start to finish should have no harm. I don't know if it has any other benefit either but the reason I use it for my grows is because of the lack of K and S in v1. It also gives them an extra boost of Mg which v1 lacked.
Glad to hear the lockout looks cleared up Em.

You dog is beautiful btw!

 

[DrCannaCanadian]

Thanks Doc! The problem is the horizontal coverage of the cobs with Angelina reflectors at the distance they are arranged on my array, with 14" centers. To totally cover the space of my 2x4 tent I technically need 2 more lights and need to make the array a bit wider. In the present configuration, when I get too close, I create gaps between the focused lights, so I need to keep them up a bit higher to even out the spread. At 12" there are gaps, but the coverage down into the canopy would be more even and perfectly additive at 14" ... so it comes to a decision as to where do I want to put the best light.... or the most even and strongest light, the canopy or the popcorn growth down below. For the moment I have chosen 15" as a compromise due to the 2 taller buds in the room, but I want to get down to that optimum 14" point if I can, and then carefully adjust the wattage so I don't fry those top buds.

Regarding the temperature, I have a small vortex space heater in the tent attached to a standard home thermostat. I also have a lot of air movement in the tent, with two oscillating fans and a fairly intense extraction/air exchange system. Because of the air movement, the temperature at the leaves is going to be very near the tent temperature... the LED light doesn't really produce a lot of heat.

With stretch over, 15" (45 cm) is an excellent compromise.

I bet we find out!

Looking forward to it!

Mid-Flower, Day 12
Stretch is definitely over, so as to even things out a bit, Piza, who was named this because she was an early leaner, needed a box to stand on. Now she is even with the rest of the canopy.

The tallest buds are sitting at 12" away from the lights. The bulk of the canopy is between 14"-16" away. PAR is acceptable. We are now going to see what these lights can do.

Today was watering day, or still is. Buddy is helping me and so far they have gotten 2/3 of the total they will need for runoff and we will space out some more watering for appropriate times during today's Chiefs playoff game.

Watering started at 10:30 this morning and will end sometime mid afternoon as I slowly soak these containers. They were dry enough to wilt a little bit today with a strongly established 3 day wet/dry cycle... now it is time to start watering more often, never letting them dry out this far again. It is not like they cant handle it, but for the most part the roots are done growing now and I have what I have... it is now time to USE those roots. I am going to start watering every other day now... pushing that water, and pushing those nutes.

Speaking of nutes, today following the good advice of @MrSauga I have given only MegaCrop this time at the full 6g/g, with no additional supplements. The aforementioned potassium lockout has not gotten any worse, so the plants must have been able to get what they needed, and this watering is going to be attempting to use up the excess P that has been building up in the soil by using the BE. With clearer sight it is obvious that for a while now I have been giving BE, yet it wasn't until right now that the plant could use such large amounts of P, so of course it built up in the soil.

Someone needed to use the GLN line as suggested by the feeding calculator, to see and document what would happen. Others warned me the information on the website was not perfect, and seeing links that don't go anywhere speaks to that... but the recommended use had to be tried. Upon seeing the results of this blind adherence to the feeding calculator, and after properly analyzing the results, here is how I will run BE from now on:

I will start applying it at the beginning of stretch, one watering into the transition stage and I will watch carefully for this same lockout to occur, but it is my belief that by this time the plant is using the P and it won't build up in the soil to lock out the K. I will also give up using the Sea-K on that watering, as the roots are about finished growing and there shouldn't be a need for the small hit of K that comes with that product​

.
I still have not come to a conclusion about the sweet candy, but it is my current belief that it is full of good stuff for any stage of the grow, and unless trying to recover from a problem like I am now, I don't see any reason not to use it all through the grow.
Speaking of recovering... I will be looking for any signs of progression of the damage seen so far, but unless we have totally misread this, I think for now we have seen an end to the K lockout.

Here now are the buds. I am not sure, but I think I am starting to see the beginnings of frost in places...

Hey Buddy, you're a big help in the garden - good boy!

The pistils on the budlets look great! And I see a few trichomes starting to pop up - excellent progress.

I am planning on using up my Fox Farm flowering nutes with MC and then BE with MC when I flip to flower in about 6 weeks.

Anticipating this, and seeing what happened to you this week, I started some preliminary data analysis today to see what my options will be going forward.

You can take a peek here if you are interested:

DrCC's Exploratory Data Analysis of Green Leaf Nutrients & Fox Farm Nutrients

 

[Deketx]

Mid-Flower, Day 12
Stretch is definitely over, so as to even things out a bit, Piza, who was named this because she was an early leaner, needed a box to stand on. Now she is even with the rest of the canopy.

The tallest buds are sitting at 12" away from the lights. The bulk of the canopy is between 14"-16" away. PAR is acceptable. We are now going to see what these lights can do.

Today was watering day, or still is. Buddy is helping me and so far they have gotten 2/3 of the total they will need for runoff and we will space out some more watering for appropriate times during today's Chiefs playoff game.

Watering started at 10:30 this morning and will end sometime mid afternoon as I slowly soak these containers. They were dry enough to wilt a little bit today with a strongly established 3 day wet/dry cycle... now it is time to start watering more often, never letting them dry out this far again. It is not like they cant handle it, but for the most part the roots are done growing now and I have what I have... it is now time to USE those roots. I am going to start watering every other day now... pushing that water, and pushing those nutes.

Speaking of nutes, today following the good advice of @MrSauga I have given only MegaCrop this time at the full 6g/g, with no additional supplements. The aforementioned potassium lockout has not gotten any worse, so the plants must have been able to get what they needed, and this watering is going to be attempting to use up the excess P that has been building up in the soil by using the BE. With clearer sight it is obvious that for a while now I have been giving BE, yet it wasn't until right now that the plant could use such large amounts of P, so of course it built up in the soil.

Someone needed to use the GLN line as suggested by the feeding calculator, to see and document what would happen. Others warned me the information on the website was not perfect, and seeing links that don't go anywhere speaks to that... but the recommended use had to be tried. Upon seeing the results of this blind adherence to the feeding calculator, and after properly analyzing the results, here is how I will run BE from now on:

I will start applying it at the beginning of stretch, one watering into the transition stage and I will watch carefully for this same lockout to occur, but it is my belief that by this time the plant is using the P and it won't build up in the soil to lock out the K. I will also give up using the Sea-K on that watering, as the roots are about finished growing and there shouldn't be a need for the small hit of K that comes with that product​

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I still have not come to a conclusion about the sweet candy, but it is my current belief that it is full of good stuff for any stage of the grow, and unless trying to recover from a problem like I am now, I don't see any reason not to use it all through the grow.
Speaking of recovering... I will be looking for any signs of progression of the damage seen so far, but unless we have totally misread this, I think for now we have seen an end to the K lockout.

Here now are the buds. I am not sure, but I think I am starting to see the beginnings of frost in places...

Good looking pup! I lost my Lab Tessie last year at 16. Just starting to feel like I need to find another fat head for the house. Love dogs, hell more than most people, lol. Plants are looking great. I fed at 4.5 grm tonight, a bit behind the " instructions", but the girls are happy. And stinky, good Lord they stink, I'm going to have address that this grow. Even though I loved my brother walking in the far side of the house and swearing he smelled a skunk!!! LOL!!! I'd just look at him with a wtf look. He still has no clue! LoL

 

[Emilya Green]

Buddy just loves chewing on cannabis, so we do have to be careful around him and not leave pot out where he can get it. That look he is giving me there is him begging me to give him one of the fan leaves that I had just cut out of the center. He would eat that leaf if I gave it to him, and then he would take a nice long nap.

The girls look stupendous this morning... the straight MegaCrop is doing its magic. The upper canopy is handling the light just fine. After clearing out the centers of the tomato cages so that light can get down in there, the buds way down deep in the canopy have also started to develop. The batteries died in my camera with no time to fix the problem before I needed to head in to work, so here this morning is a Garden Cam shot... we are at day 13 of 55, 24% of the way through bloom.

 

[volksball]

Buddy just loves chewing on cannabis, so we do have to be careful around him and not leave pot out where he can get it. That look he is giving me there is him begging me to give him one of the fan leaves that I had just cut out of the center. He would eat that leaf if I gave it to him, and then he would take a nice long nap.

The girls look stupendous this morning... the straight MegaCrop is doing its magic. The upper canopy is handling the light just fine. After clearing out the centers of the tomato cages so that light can get down in there, the buds way down deep in the canopy have also started to develop. The batteries died in my camera with no time to fix the problem before I needed to head in to work, so here this morning is a Garden Cam shot... we are at day 13 of 55, 24% of the way through bloom.

I hear so much about defoling/not defoling during flower. So you do it? And when? I have a pretty thick canopy that could use a bit of thinning out for the bottom buds.

 

[shottafire]

Buddy just loves chewing on cannabis, so we do have to be careful around him and not leave pot out where he can get it. That look he is giving me there is him begging me to give him one of the fan leaves that I had just cut out of the center. He would eat that leaf if I gave it to him, and then he would take a nice long nap.

The girls look stupendous this morning... the straight MegaCrop is doing its magic. The upper canopy is handling the light just fine. After clearing out the centers of the tomato cages so that light can get down in there, the buds way down deep in the canopy have also started to develop. The batteries died in my camera with no time to fix the problem before I needed to head in to work, so here this morning is a Garden Cam shot... we are at day 13 of 55, 24% of the way through bloom.

Hi Emilya. Plants are looking superb. When you are counting your days of flower are you counting from flip or giving them a transition week and then start counting. Reason I ask is 11 days and stretch is over?

 

[Emilya Green]

I hear so much about defoling/not defoling during flower. So you do it? And when? I have a pretty thick canopy that could use a bit of thinning out for the bottom buds.

I would not call this defoliating. I have just removed a few leaves that were blocking light from other budsites. I have also been careful to only take a few leaves from each plant per day, mostly right up to the end of stretch, and now that we have reached mid-flower, it is definitely time to stop annoying the ladies. The bottom third, that was all stripped right as we went into transition, and normally I would have done that a week earlier, prior to the "flip."
Taking a few leaves here and there, even in mid flower, is not likely to stress the plant out too badly. Deer come along and chew off a leaf all the time, and the plants just continue on. It is the constant day to day stressors.... a light that stays on, dead air, interruptions in the daily pattern... these are the stressors that cause the most problems.