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

[Schnookie]

You know when you try to explain something to someone, sometimes you can learn new insights into a subject? That just happened here. I have just proven to myself that the strategy of cranking up the lights in the transition and really trying to lay a good strong cover of light on the girls to restrict stretch, works. The two tall buds are proof that stretch still happens when you do not do that.
Next time, I am evening the canopy prior to the flip and really cranking down on the light, right at the sweet spot so there is perfectly even coverage.
But it won't be nearly as hard next time though, will it? I have a NextLight Mega that I will be using at that point, with perfectly even coverage in a 4x4.
Life is good. Enjoy your day everyone!

On my last grow I had no awareness of light strength or height, and having had the first third of the grow going inside and outside into the sun at full strength during summer in the south I was trying to compare tent lights to the sunlight which I had no business doing.

With the combination of 300 real watts of cfl, 250w of hps and 125w of LED at the end in a 32"×32" tent, there were multiple buds inches away from one or more of the lights. That, combined with testing and experimenting nutrition with little understanding of how it worked, caused the plants to turn into basically buds with few leaves alive, but I still managed more than 18oz finished in the space from 3 plants, which I feel worked out pretty well.

This time I'm being more aware, being more specific and controlled in how I'm approaching this, and I'm following your journals, especially this one, super closely to try and mimic the beautiful magic you've accomplished.

I hope I'm up to the task. Thanks Em.

 

[Deketx]

@Emilya you just mentioned patience, I'm going to have to have that for sure. I'm 10 weeks in to my grow for the most part I'm still weeks away from harvest. I'm guessing it was was the cold the first 3 weeks that caused slow growth. And these are autos. So what I'm seeing is massive trichome production and very few Amber ones. Some on sugar leaves but very few on buds. So cold can extend auto times based on what I'm seeing. Which is great since its giving my girls time to fill in.

 

[Emilya Green]

Day 51 of 55, Harvest excitement is building!

Still no amber at the very top, although it isnt hard to find just below there, anywhere in the room. We are close, but it is still not there.
The buds are beginning to "chunk out" and probably why PC has its name, and because of this pinwheeling outward, the buds are really gaining some more size very rapidly, with almost a daily noticeable growth.

Water usage is at least remaining steady, if not slightly increased at this point, but most definitely it is not falling off. The leaves again were not quite the right color and the plants just didn't seem to have the lift that we are used to, and the progression of the calcium problem progressed some more. It is clear that MC does not like being reduced at the end, once we have found the correct amount to give. On the next run I will be trying to fine tune the correct amount even further, by going in .25gm increments. Today they got 5g/g and as long as we continue watering, I will continue at that amount until the end.

While the trichomes always will be the final arbiter in the decision as when to harvest, the pistils are usually a good visual indication as to where we are at. Note on these shots all around the room that there are still a few white pistils at the tops of these buds. If everything goes as planned, in the next few days these are going to start going away, right at the same time that the trichomes up top ripen up.

Things are still happening in these buds, but it is just so much harder to notice the daily changes here at the end and still remain patient. With the water and nute usage we see at the moment, something good has to be happening, and if you look around the room, you will see evidence that the buds are building in size and also weight because of all the extra resin being produced right now. I had an example of that weight gain this morning as I noticed one small side branch that has been perfectly happy so far to live just outside of the tomato cage, supporting herself and her cute little medium sized bud.... up until now. Today she was so heavy that she was leaning down almost horizontally, suddenly too heavy to hold herself up. I had to tuck her inside the cage. Those big buds up top are doing the same thing, you just can't see what is happening as easily because they are so well supported.

 

[THC Onlyfans]

Looking good! I can definitelt see buds thickening!

I didnt get to LST my 2 plants and actually had a fan fall on 2 of the 2nd level buds, the cola remained in place and didnt snap off but they are now growing horizontally, do i need to provide some support to these 2? The buds wont be massive so weight wont be an issue and stem will still support the buds but will this horizontal shape of 2 buds plus a little weight cause any stress?

 

[Emilya Green]

Looking good! I can definitelt see buds thickening!

I didnt get to LST my 2 plants and actually had a fan fall on 2 of the 2nd level buds, the cola remained in place and didnt snap off but they are now growing horizontally, do i need to provide some support to these 2? The buds wont be massive so weight wont be an issue and stem will still support the buds but will this horizontal shape of 2 buds plus a little weight cause any stress?

no, they should be just fine growing horizontally like that. I have been known to fold tall ones over to sit right on top of the canopy with the other buds

 

[Emilya Green]

Three Days Until The Predicted End, Day 52 of 55

Here we go... These pistils at the top of the buds are showing us that the end is indeed very near. Look what the formerly straight out and white pistils at the top of these 3 buds are doing, especially the one with the curl at the top. These pistils will be pulled back in the next day or two.
Amber has shown up now just under the top bud... slowly she turns... step by step... inch by inch... and very soon it will be harvest time.
Lastly, looking back over my shots here I realize that I forgot to color balance my camera before I started. Please forgive my temporary excursion into the funny colored world of the no white balance club. Be sure to click on each of these pictures twice to go deeper down into the pixels so as to get a good look at the trichomes, the resolution is there.

While we wait, the buds continue to build. The color and vigor again is back, proving that these plants want 5g of MC all the way to the end.

 

[Black Thumbs]

Wow the they have really chunked up over the last few days

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Those are some pretty young ladies, @Emilya. On what day/week did you discontinue the BE and SC?

 

[Emilya Green]

Those are some pretty young ladies, @Emilya. On what day/week did you discontinue the BE and SC?

Hi GDB! I hope that things are going well with you!
It was right at the beginning of week 6, when we went into final bloom that I stopped them. The needs of the plant have diminished by that point as everything has stopped but attempting to finish out the buds. Instead of the old belief that this is the time to starve the plants, I believe that the plants simply have reduced needs at the end, but that they still have needs that should be met by the nutrients, instead of forcing the plants to cannibalize themselves.
MC confirmed this theory for me because right about that time MC had made it clear that I was needing to reduce the amount of nutrition coming in with the classic overnute K lockout and then at the lower level I later got indications of a P overload. That is when I stopped using the SC and BE, both with heavy additional P and K. It was only at that point that I got things stabilized, and then kept working to find the correct level of MC.
I am convinced now that SC and BE should not be used before stretch has started, and only then ramped up very slowly to half the recommended amounts until week 6. It is my belief at this moment that those products (or the versions of them in my hands) were made for a less strong and less ground up version of MC and that used as originally intended they can be very dangerous and based on the results of my studies, these supplements can be used to take our plants right up to the edge of what they can handle without damage. We must also believe GLN when they say they have added these products into the base MC based on the results that I have seen here in this garden. I originally went to the SC and SK for the special amino acids and such that came with those additional products, but now realize that those trace elements were added to the MC that I have and if that is the only reason for using those products, they are not needed. But, if you enjoy playing with dynamite and know how to push your plants just to the very edge... by all means, carefully experiment with them.

 

[The Celt]

Nice fat colas

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hi GDB! I hope that things are going well with you!
It was right at the beginning of week 6, when we went into final bloom that I stopped them. The needs of the plant have diminished by that point as everything has stopped but attempting to finish out the buds. Instead of the old belief that this is the time to starve the plants, I believe that the plants simply have reduced needs at the end, but that they still have needs that should be met by the nutrients, instead of forcing the plants to cannibalize themselves.
MC confirmed this theory for me because right about that time MC had made it clear that I was needing to reduce the amount of nutrition coming in with the classic overnute K lockout and then at the lower level I later got indications of a P overload. That is when I stopped using the SC and BE, both with heavy additional P and K. It was only at that point that I got things stabilized, and then kept working to find the correct level of MC.
I am convinced now that SC and BE should not be used before stretch has started, and only then ramped up very slowly to half the recommended amounts until week 6. It is my belief at this moment that those products (or the versions of them in my hands) were made for a less strong and less ground up version of MC and that used as originally intended they can be very dangerous and based on the results of my studies, these supplements can be used to take our plants right up to the edge of what they can handle without damage. We must also believe GLN when they say they have added these products into the base MC based on the results that I have seen here in this garden. I originally went to the SC and SK for the special amino acids and such that came with those additional products, but now realize that those trace elements were added to the MC that I have and if that is the only reason for using those products, they are not needed. But, if you enjoy playing with dynamite and know how to push your plants just to the very edge... by all means, carefully experiment with them.

Thanks, @Emilya. I still consider myself new to growing and I do not like "playing with dynamite." In this instance, however, I'm trying the supplements on a plant that I've already brutally mistreated but did not kill. I don't think I have a lot to lose if things go south with the boosters.

The GLN site really fudges on its explanation of how to implement the supplements. And contrary to what you've done, they say nothing about stopping their use before the end. This leads to some trepidation.

But I also like to follow my gut and I don't mind taking small gambles.

My gut tells me that GLN would not have these products out there if they knew that their use would only screw up plants and never improve them. That would be a super-duper, stupid business approach. I'm taking a small gamble because it seems that GLN doesn't know (exactly) how to use their own stuff. This one sentence from their explanation how to implement the boosters says it all because, to me, it says nothing: "This may take some time, but you can continually increase PK boosters over several harvests to monitor for increase weight and quality. As long as you do not notice plant damage from increasing the dosage, you can experiment by increasing the dosage, and monitoring the final end results/yields."

Okay, that's not helpful.

Long story short, I'm trying Sweet Candy and Bud Explosion, but at minimal doses. I haven't decided whether I'll run them to the end or stop early like you have. As stated, the GLN site says nothing about stopping them before the end and even recommends increasing the BE near harvest. (More confusion!)

 

[Emilya Green]

@Grand Daddy Black, It is my belief that GLN is seeing that there are hundreds of us out here all at varying levels of experience and with everyone doing things their way. They know not to go too deep in their explanations so as to let the experimenters experiment, let those growing commercial veggies do their thing and let the cannabis folks do theirs. You have to wonder who is using this stuff pallets at a time... it is the commercial folks.
They put up their feeding calculator to give us a good ball park idea where we should be at, but they have never tried to break it down into anything more than six arbitrary levels of feed. They instruct us how to use their base product using its built in indicators, fine tuning they call it, to their color of green. Other than that advice, we are mostly on our own to figure out what our particular plants need during their life cycle.
As you said, they are not helpful with their description of how to use the supplements either. I think a certain level of skill in reading the plants is assumed in their words, along with extreme caution... they know that what they have given us is extremely powerful.
In their warnings that it may take several harvests to monitor weight and quality, I get the clear warning to go at this stuff very slowly unless you wish to risk an entire field of crops to a hasty increase in dosage. These key words, "as long as you do not notice plant damage from increasing the dosage" are what I keyed into, understanding that GLN has designed their products to clearly show signs from over and even under usage. It is this reason I pulled back at the end, because suddenly I was seeing plant damage. Our plants die at the end of their lifecycle and it makes perfect sense that they need less nutrients at the end as this process culminates... while there are some perennial plants that need a boost at the end of the season. Every plant is different, and even within our world, each variety is also slightly different in the way that it grows. Its not that GLN doesn't know how to use their own stuff, they are telling us that each garden is different... each is going to need its own unique implementation of all the products and to go very slowly until you find the right level.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

@Grand Daddy Black, It is my belief that GLN is seeing that there are hundreds of us out here all at varying levels of experience and with everyone doing things their way. They know not to go too deep in their explanations so as to let the experimenters experiment, let those growing commercial veggies do their thing and let the cannabis folks do theirs. You have to wonder who is using this stuff pallets at a time... it is the commercial folks.
They put up their feeding calculator to give us a good ball park idea where we should be at, but they have never tried to break it down into anything more than six arbitrary levels of feed. They instruct us how to use their base product using its built in indicators, fine tuning they call it, to their color of green. Other than that advice, we are mostly on our own to figure out what our particular plants need during their life cycle.
As you said, they are not helpful with their description of how to use the supplements either. I think a certain level of skill in reading the plants is assumed in their words, along with extreme caution... they know that what they have given us is extremely powerful.
In their warnings that it may take several harvests to monitor weight and quality, I get the clear warning to go at this very slowly unless you wish to risk an entire field of crops to a hasty increase in dosage. These key words, "as long as you do not notice plant damage from increasing the dosage" are what I keyed into, understanding that GLN has designed their products to clearly show signs from over and even under usage. It is this reason I pulled back at the end, because suddenly I was seeing plant damage. Our plants die at the end of their lifecycle and it makes perfect sense that they need less nutrients at the end as this process culminates... while there are some perennial plants that need a boost at the end of the season. Every plant is different, and even within our world, each variety is also slightly different in the way that it grows. Its not that GLN doesn't know how to use their own stuff, they are telling us that each garden is different... each is going to need its own unique implementation of all the products and to go very slowly until you find the right level.

@Emilya, I agree. And I believe there is at least one more factor in the equation: the strain being grown. I have one plant (Purple Lemonade) that drinks way more than the other girls and thus sucks up more nutes. So would a plant that is receptive to lots of nutes be more receptive to the boosters? I am guessing yes. But that's the problem, I'm only guessing.

 

[Emilya Green]

Day 53 of 55... the end is near...
Today is also watering day, and to conduct maybe the last experiment with MegaCrop this run, I am going to bring back BE on this watering, giving it at a .5g level. I want to see if it causes overload now or not, now that we are very close to the tuned in level of MC base. I am still thinking that 5g is a bit too much and 4.5 not enough, so this watering we split the difference and go with 4.75g/g MC. It may be too late to see what happens... but let's try it. Sudden damage will say that the needs are reduced at this point and that it was too much, and happy resin heavy plants will show that I still need to work on tweaking the BE at the end. Thank you @Grand Daddy Black for giving us the idea for this last bit of science.

@Emilya, I agree. And I believe there is at least one more factor in the equation: the strain being grown. I have one plant (Purple Lemonade) that drinks way more than the other girls and thus sucks up more nutes. So would a plant that is receptive to lots of nutes be more receptive to the boosters? I am guessing yes. But that's the problem, I'm only guessing.

Yep... I think that each variety in a garden needs to be treated as an individual, with its own unique needs. As far as guessing goes, that's all any of us do who play near the edges... I guess, and then read the plants later to see if I was right. Like I said above somewhere, this is why I am becoming very fond of MegaCrop, because of its ability through the plants to indicate to us what needs to be done... I find it to be an extremely responsive fertilizer. So yes, we guess... but it is much easier to make the correct decision with the instant feedback this product gives us.

Today's search for amber trichomes show that they have crept up a bit more... I am now spotting amber in the very first green leaf under the top calyxes. All appearances are that we are going to hit the bulls-eye when it comes to predicting the harvest day, again. I rest my case in proving that breeders predict the harvest date based on the start of flowering, not the flip.

Here are the pretty pictures of buds still rapidly bulking out, even in the last few days showing obvious growth, white balanced this time. I start with a shot from under the canopy to show the lack of yellowing or any sort of problems down below...

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Day 53 of 55... the end is near...
Today is also watering day, and to conduct maybe the last experiment with MegaCrop this run, I am going to bring back BE on this watering, giving it at a .5g level. I want to see if it causes overload now or not, now that we are very close to the tuned in level of MC base. I am still thinking that 5g is a bit too much and 4.5 not enough, so this watering we split the difference and go with 4.75g/g MC. It may be too late to see what happens... but let's try it. Sudden damage will say that the needs are reduced at this point and that it was too much, and happy resin heavy plants will show that I still need to work on tweaking the BE at the end. Thank you @Grand Daddy Black for giving us the idea for this last bit of science.


Yep... I think that each variety in a garden needs to be treated as an individual, with its own unique needs. As far as guessing goes, that's all any of us do who play near the edges... I guess, and then read the plants later to see if I was right. Like I said above somewhere, this is why I am becoming very fond of MegaCrop, because of its ability through the plants to indicate to us what needs to be done... I find it to be an extremely responsive fertilizer. So yes, we guess... but it is much easier to make the correct decision with the instant feedback this product gives us.

Today's search for amber trichomes show that they have crept up a bit more... I am now spotting amber in the very first green leaf under the top calyxes. All appearances are that we are going to hit the bulls-eye when it comes to predicting the harvest day, again. I rest my case in proving that breeders predict the harvest date based on the start of flowering, not the flip.

Here are the pretty pictures of buds still rapidly bulking out, even in the last few days showing obvious growth, white balanced this time. I start with a shot from under the canopy to show the lack of yellowing or any sort of problems down below...

@Emilya, I look forward to seeing what happens, if anything, with the additional BE at the end. Real talk, it's too late for you to mess up these beautiful plants to any major extent. So whatever happens will be enlightening but cannot be disastrous, IMO.

 

[Emilya Green]

As I sit here slowly watering I am finding some leaves that on second look, confirm the idea that more P and K are being needed right now at the end. Down low I have found a leaf beginning to yellow, confirming a mobile deficiency starting up. Up above, I am getting burned ridges on some of the canopy level fans... I am starting to see that eliminating the BE and SC so sumariously up above might not have been the right move... I was indeed hitting them pretty hard, and maybe I should have just reduced down to these micro rates. Hmm... more experimentation must be done.

 

[Vulx]

Pro-level tent, that is. You could probably hit the fabled 3lbs/light mark by the look of those buds.

 

[THC Onlyfans]

Day 53 of 55... the end is near...
Today is also watering day, and to conduct maybe the last experiment with MegaCrop this run, I am going to bring back BE on this watering, giving it at a .5g level. I want to see if it causes overload now or not, now that we are very close to the tuned in level of MC base. I am still thinking that 5g is a bit too much and 4.5 not enough, so this watering we split the difference and go with 4.75g/g MC. It may be too late to see what happens... but let's try it. Sudden damage will say that the needs are reduced at this point and that it was too much, and happy resin heavy plants will show that I still need to work on tweaking the BE at the end. Thank you @Grand Daddy Black for giving us the idea for this last bit of science.


Yep... I think that each variety in a garden needs to be treated as an individual, with its own unique needs. As far as guessing goes, that's all any of us do who play near the edges... I guess, and then read the plants later to see if I was right. Like I said above somewhere, this is why I am becoming very fond of MegaCrop, because of its ability through the plants to indicate to us what needs to be done... I find it to be an extremely responsive fertilizer. So yes, we guess... but it is much easier to make the correct decision with the instant feedback this product gives us.

Today's search for amber trichomes show that they have crept up a bit more... I am now spotting amber in the very first green leaf under the top calyxes. All appearances are that we are going to hit the bulls-eye when it comes to predicting the harvest day, again. I rest my case in proving that breeders predict the harvest date based on the start of flowering, not the flip.

Here are the pretty pictures of buds still rapidly bulking out, even in the last few days showing obvious growth, white balanced this time. I start with a shot from under the canopy to show the lack of yellowing or any sort of problems down below...

Buds all looking dense! Top notch!

 

[Emilya Green]

Here she is, our indicator leaf, right where she should be. She is the lowest and biggest fan leaf on the plant, just up from the bottom on node #2. Textbook mobile deficiency and that means macronutrient. K is the suspect as always with MC.

 

[Alafornia]

Nice work, Em.