Jon's Final Florida Journal For Real

[Jon]

I think you're right. With the caveat that I don't grow outdoors, I think there is a significant difference between the effect of a minimal light change indoor vs outdoor. Maybe Shed is right about the flip to flower beginning on the summer solstice with the most minimal reduction in light hours. Outdoors.

But that's not what we're talking about. This is an indoor, one time change, not a gradual and consistent degradation in light. You're doing it in one step and then leaving it to be the new normal. And, as you said, you are far from even the 12/12 commonly used as the indoor standard setting.

Maybe if you did it mimicking nature over a period of a month or so the plant may begin to get the message that fall is coming, but with a one time, step change indoors I think it won't miss a beat.

If I had a controller with all the bells and whistles I could gradually wind it down mAybe. But as you said - new normal. I know lots of folks who veg 24/0 then 20/4 then 18/6 then 12/12. Look at the numbers crazy Keffka uses. There’s all sorts of play in there indoors. Just don’t go below 18/6 is my thing.

 

[Jon]

I wonder if there is an actual science behind this common practice. The plant is pretty good at translocating things around its structure as needed and does so regularly. In nature the "fans shading bud sites" do not naturally fall away to allow more bud growth but rather continue to act as solar panels gathering more light than the smaller leaves on the buds themselves would be able to.

I know it's common practice and makes us feel like we are helping, but I wonder if there is actually anything to it.

There’s something to it indoors under a static LED with an unchanging light field. Imho.

 

[Jon]

I have never tried this. It will be fun to watch. I would clone the $hit out of a 3 headed monster!

I haven’t even been lucky enough to get a double headed bud yet! They’re so cool when someone gets one and shows it! Btw - here’s my prediction that may cause argument or discussion, or may get laughed at…. I predict an increase in growth rate. Here’s why: in my experience the plant does more of its actual “growing” (actual increasing in size visibly) during her lights out hours. It is almost as if the day hours are to store energy and the nighttime is to let it out in the form of growth. I’ve often looked at a plant in the morning, and found wow, she moved overnight! Or at least perceived that. And in the stretch you see it often and it’s unmistakable. One day you wake up and she grew two inches in the dark. So with that as a postulate, I just gave her a 50% increase in the number of dark hours. I bet we see faster growth now.

Heh.

 

[Jon]

I think its all in how you want to manipulate your plant. I have played with this a bit. When I bend a leaf down and open light to a branch attached to that leaf I get a faster growing branch than when I remove the leaf, but if I get a cola that just grows too fast and I need to slow it down I remove a few leaves. If I need to speed a cola up I leave the leaves but prune out a few bottom branches. There is something there but its a juggling act. I even made construction paper dunce caps to place over faster growing colas to let the others catch up. A couple hours a day for a few days works.

Yup. I’ve seen paper plates used for that same purpose. You can basically *almost* completely control it within limits, depending on your level of control freak or fanaticism. Lol. I once used a round plastic colander to slow down a middle and support a ring of thin stemmed buds.

 

[Gee64]

Yup. I’ve seen paper plates used for that same purpose. You can basically *almost* completely control it within limits, depending on your level of control freak or fanaticism. Lol. I once used a round plastic colander to slow down a middle and support a ring of thin stemmed buds.

A colander makes sense since we ARE growing salad

 

[Jon]

A colander makes sense since we ARE growing salad

It is also slotted all around and is a light diffuser more than a light blocker. Different tools for different needs. Lol.

 

[Jon]

On Flattening Your Canopy

I’m a bit OCD about my canopies. When I say I want a flat canopy, I mean put an imaginary level across your canopy and that damn bubble should be exactly equally spaced between the two lines.

So I have learned this cool trick, which is so obvious I missed it for several grows before I realized the genius of it.

Colas can be moved UP, too!

Don’t get mindset stuck in bringing colas down to match all the time. Sometimes they can go up to meet the fray. I’m sure I’m the last to figure this out and probably everyone already does this, but just in case, here’s a photo example:

 

[Jon]

Now we’re talking. Look how the middle is defining itself! She’s way more up today, finally. This is her best day yet in her entire growth cycle. Maybe the first day I’ve actually had the pot in balance with water.

 

[Jon]

Former 1st node branches from the Bubblegum Sherbet.

 

[Jon]

Bubblegum Sherbet

Suddenly we were trained. Here we have our two shoots from the topping gone vertical, and the other branches just gently pulled aside a little. We have two weeks to flip, flip day is October 14. The hope is that all 10 of the other colas on this plant catch up to the tops, and we can go to flower with 12 tops. If that seems a bit much I can take the node two branches and even three, and have ten or eight. Eight are basically up top together now. Now that I understand that in organics or semi, the load up top vs pot size (size of myco colony) is important to consider, I’m taking a less is more approach this time. So max 12, minimum 8.

Here she is trained. That’s it, we’re basically done. That was alll of five minutes of work. Yay. I also am noticing the plants in Geo/RGR are softer than the chem plants. Easier to manipulate. Especially noticeable in the stems. I also used no MSA this time cuz I figured it’s chemical, so that may also be a factor.

 

[Jon]

@ViparSpectra Tent Scrog
XS 1500 Pro Grow
Cherry Pie
Double Grape

We are beginning to see our first budlet signs on both girls. They cooperated nicely in terms of timing at least. This is as far as we managed to fill the screen. Not terrible for a pair of indicas. From here on out everything goes vertical. We are done. Time to watch the show. These girls are set up sweetly and roaring with health. Let’s see what they got!

Also, in my organic studies I have learned about brix, and I have a refractometer on the way to start checking my plants brix. Should be interesting. The last picture shows the one I got.

 

[Jon]

Garden

Same training on our Skywalker as the Bubblegum Sherbet. Here’s is Skywalker and a shot of our now established three-plant canopy. Forgive the droop, they just got up.

 

[Jon]

Had to reup on the @Remo Nutrients. I have enough left for the next two weeks or so. Won’t clear the grow. So I ordered via the link for 420 Member Discounts and used our promo code, 420MAG20. It came out cheaper than the Zon. And it was painfully easy. Thanks Remo team!

 

[Gee64]

Former 1st node branches from the Bubblegum Sherbet.

They look very healthy

 

[Gee64]

Jon thats a beautiful canopy I wish I had your level of patience lol. It does pay off down the line. They should flower out beautifully. Can't wait

 

[con]

@ViparSpectra Tent Scrog
XS 1500 Pro Grow
Cherry Pie
Double Grape

We are beginning to see our first budlet signs on both girls. They cooperated nicely in terms of timing at least. This is as far as we managed to fill the screen. Not terrible for a pair of indicas. From here on out everything goes vertical. We are done. Time to watch the show. These girls are set up sweetly and roaring with health. Let’s see what they got!

Also, in my organic studies I have learned about brix, and I have a refractometer on the way to start checking my plants brix. Should be interesting. The last picture shows the one I got.

looking good Jon how old is your DG ?

 

[Jon]

They look very healthy

Thanks Gee, that’s why I put the picture up! I cut them off and looked and was so impressed with their health! If I wasn’t moving I’d have taken clone after clone from this plant.

 

[Jon]

looking good Jon how old is your DG ?

Damn @con, I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I stopped counting days on autos and now just think veg or flower, lol. But estimating, I’d say she’s around maybe 40-45 days?

 

[Jon]

looking good Jon how old is your DG ?

Too bad our timing wasn’t closer. Last time I looked yours looked great and real healthy, but it also appeared to be tighter than mine, yes?

 

[Jon]

420h Closet

Here are the two girls today. You can see in the Strawberry Gorilla side shot why I like to train and get it done before the plant starts to stretch. It’s how you get plenty of stem and length under your colas. More stem = more bud. Look at this girl rocking it, with no budlets in sight yet! I hope she stretches forever.

The Blackberry Moonrocks is quite the pretty little thing. Love her emerald green color.