H0bbyGr0wer89 - 8 Soil - 1 DWC - 5 Exotic Strains - 2016

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

No worries -

I'm just happy that the Shenghai is a girl!

As for the Mozambique, I have two as backup, thankfully. The other one that is "normal" I have a feeling is male as well. However, I only really care about the multi-branched one.

I'm pretty excited about the DWC White Widow... Since she is re-vegged, she has several branches and I hear that plants that are re-vegged are more potent with higher yields. Not to mention this is my first hydro plant. Pretty excited about this one.

Stay tuned!



Sent from my SM-N920T using 420

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

LIGHT BULB MOMENT

After my last update... I have had issues on and off, with slow growth and overall, I can just tell that they have not been healthy. All plants, with the exception of my hydroponic White Widow - she is THRIVING (see picture below). So... It can't be my temperature, humidity, or overall environment. The only thing it could be is soil / nutrients, right? That's the only difference between the two.

I had mentioned PH issues before... but even if my PH isnt optimal... I shouldnt be having the issues I am having, and all of which are very inconsistent plant-to-plant and comes and goes. I began to notice that it would come and go with watering... plants would perk up when dry and wilt down and become unhealthy after, until completely dry again. I wasn't over watering - this is odd.

Then I remembered seeing something... one or two little gnats.

At the time, I disregarded it as no big deal - what can a few little gnats do, anyways? HAH. After remembering, I looked up gnats and the effects on cannabis plants. Well, guess what... the larve lives in the soil and can cause damage to the roots, resulting in slow growth, yellowing, wilting.... everything I am experiencing. Not to mention, the gnats need wet soil, so when it dries up, your problems disappear until the next watering, just like I had been experiencing too.

So, I treated for gnats - hoping this was my problem (2% "Take Down" spray).

I am not 100% sure yet if this was my issue, but it seems like my plants are coming back and regaining some healthy green color (see third pic). I realized that although I learned a lot about the basics of growing from my last grow... I knew/know NOTHING regarding pests. At least it was one of the simplest infestations to resolve.

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

side-note... I am definitely becoming a fan of hydro over soil.

Contrary to my thinking before I did a DWC plant, it actually seems easier. Yes, it may be harder in terms of making sure EVERYTHING is on point... water temp, aeration, nutrients, PH, etc... but that is what makes it easier I think. You can fine-tune and measure absolutely everything. In my little experience... the most difficult part is diagnosing issues and resolving. With Soil, its much more reactive and you can't simply measure and immediately correct. It is so much more of an "art" with soil - and a slow one at that.

We will see in flower... but so far, hydro +1 and soil 0.

 

[hydro1000]

Keep your head up Hobby! The plants look pretty good from the pictures.

My buddy is having the same kind of problems with his soil grow, ph way off at times, leaves twisting. He has called me a couple times for help, but I'm not sure what to tell him on these issues.
This was my main reason for not going with soil as I'm not really sure what I'm doing with it or how to control ph.

I know gnats can cause a lot of grief if let get out of hand, my house plants had them this winter and it took about 6 weeks to totally get rid of them. Get some yellow sticky paper and hang that around, they are attracted to yellow.
The WW in DWC looks good

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

Thanks Hydro!

Keep me updated on your buddy's grow - I'd be interested to see what is going on in his case.

But yeah... I thin my next grow will be 100% hydro. You can just fine tune everything instantly. More control of everything which I originally thought would make it more difficult. But it takes out some of the guessing game!



PS: Look at my last update - there is a pictureof the hydro plant 5 days ago. Check out how much it has grown since then... it's insane. It has doubled in size.

Im a little worried about how fast its growing... it is going to get too big while the soil plants arent ready to flower yet! haha. Not a bad problem to have I guess...

 

[hydro1000]

Thanks Hydro!

Keep me updated on your buddy's grow - I'd be interested to see what is going on in his case.

But yeah... I thin my next grow will be 100% hydro. You can just fine tune everything instantly. More control of everything which I originally thought would make it more difficult. But it takes out some of the guessing game!



PS: Look at my last update - there is a pictureof the hydro plant 5 days ago. Check out how much it has grown since then... it's insane. It has doubled in size.

Im a little worried about how fast its growing... it is going to get too big while the soil plants arent ready to flower yet! haha. Not a bad problem to have I guess...

I will let You know what's up with his girls when I talk to him.

Hydro is pretty easy to dial in, and if you mess up you flush and re-nute. The only way I would go soil is 100% organic, I've been doing a fair bit of reading on organic and I would say I'm not to far away from giving that a go. But if it's not that way it will only be hydro of some kind.

She likes what your giving her
If she's ready for flower before the others, I would get her in there and just leave room for when the others are ready to move.

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

Great News!

I removed the two male Mozambique Poison plants and was able to now sex the third - it's a girl!

I lucked out with exactly what I wanted - I have one female plant for every strain, plus the second re-vegged WW in hydro and the little baby Shenghai Express that I had as a backup and no longer need (I am not too focused on this on, though - it is just along for the ride).

My grow now consists of (see picture below):
-Shenghai Express (1) - Female (plus the baby)
-Mozambique Poison (1) - Female
-White Widow (2) - Feminized (one in hydro)
-Purple Nepalese (1) - Feminized
-Zambian Gold (1) - Feminized

 

[Stinky Snid]

Great detail on the Fem calyx picture. Thanks for that. Glad you got your females of each strain... Looking good HG.

KiG cheers

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

Whew -

Everything is back on track and looking healthy - been femming / trimming to try and achieve as many colas as possible.

Pictures:

 

[hydro1000]

Glad to see you got things back where they are supposed to be!
I have been fighting the same issue with ph. My water going in is good. My runoff is good. My problem starts about mid way through the day before the res is dry, this is where my ph is way off, above 6.5. I just need to ph lower before watering to account for the rise. I got it sorted my ph going in now 5.2 and my ph rise should stay around 5.6 - 6.0.

Plants looking great. Keep it up!!

 

[hydro1000]

Your leaving us hanging...lol lol ..... How are the girls doing?

 

[Hozona]

Nice brood you have going! They all appear to be very healthy. I just thought I'd see what was shakin'

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

Hey peeps - sorry to leave ya hangin!

My PH battle continues and so there has not been much excitement other than me correcting it via over-watering the crap out of the plants until my runoff comes out OK and then letting them dry out and recover. They are now, however, dried out to a point to where they are no longer "over-watered" and my PH seems to be good now (between 6.0-6.5 depending on the plant).

I learned to be more careful with my super-acidic water while correcting my soil PH - you will notice that the SE plant in the middle is a little thin in terms of leaf count. Welp... apparently the leafs can be "burned" by the acid. After correcting the PH, I opened my tent to fins crispy white leafs. I trimmed those away and she looks to be coming back just fine.

On another note, I didnt sex my feminized seeds, because... well... they are feminized. However, one of them (Purple Nepalese on the far right) looks to have some male pre-flowers. They are SUPER tiny so I am going to give it more time to have a more obvious sex... also... even if it is, it may just be one or two and the rest of the plant could be female? I think I am going to let this one go into flower before I throw it out. Strange.

Last, but not least... my hydro plant is still going strong. You will noticed that I trimmed a massive amount of fan leafs - I did this just 1 or 2 days ago. It gets so bushy that the plant seems to be fighting itself for space. This is the second time I have done this... last time it blew up with fan leafs again within one week. If I am slowing its growth, that's not a worry because the dang thing is growing so fast... might even be a good thing so my soil plants can have some time to be ready for flower. It has soooo many branches and they all seem to be growing equally and acting as colas / main stems. Im very interested to see what kind of yield I am going to get out of this thing.

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

so... my "feminized" Purple Nepalese plant is male?

What do y'all think?

 

[GreeenFingers]

Hey H0bbyGr0wer89

Great work on that DWC the plant is looking great. I used soil my first grow but when I tried DWC I knew that I was never going back ha ha

Interested to see how your other girls turn out too, pulling up a seat

I think its probably still a little early to judge the sex of the Nepalese just yet.

Keep up the good work

GreenFingers

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

Quick update

Its as if the Hydro plant is on steroids.... crazy.

Does it seem like my other plants are growing at the correct rate? I feel like they should be growing faster... maybe I am just impatient! I know soil tends to be slower in general.

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

Update:

I raised the floor to compensate for the 5 gallon DWC height so that my plants can evenly use both LED panels. Before, I basically used an entire panel just for the DWC since it required the panel to be higher.

Check it out...

 

[H0bbyGr0wer89]

What do you guys think is the minimal size/height of the plants before I should start flowering for a decent yield? 2-3 ounces each...?

 

[Hozona]

What do you guys think is the minimal size/height of the plants before I should start flowering for a decent yield? 2-3 ounces each...?

HG, I usually wait until the plants have a nice bush like structure, that's where topping and trimming come into play, then into flower for however long it takes. If you are patient you will hit your target weight. I like that you got them off the floor, it kills my back when I have them on the floor. Your lighting and tent look really good. Leave yourself some room to get to all sides of your plants for watering, trimming etc and you should have no problems. Keep up the good work!!!

 

[GreeenFingers]

Exactly what Hozona said

The longer you Veg the more you should yield but it really comes down to space and branching, your sativa leaning strains are going to stretch a lot more than the White Widow in the DWC which is already through your screen I'd say your probably not too far away


GreenFingers