Jon's Final Florida Journal For Real

[Jon]

Thanks @InTheShed and @NickHardy - great back and forth, and most all of my questions got answered. Good stuff.

Strawberry Gorilla
Day 69

Specs say 8-10 weeks from seed. We’re about at the tail end of ten weeks. They still have a good ways to go yet. Ten days?

Edit: funny side note - last night I got the message that my storage in the phone was full. Full. An iPhone 14 Plus Pro. You gotta be kidding me. There was only one reason for it: about 4000 photographs. Lmao! So I deleted them. All of them. My past photos are all gone. Time to start fresh! And the phone is jamming. Lol.

 

[Jon]

@ViparSpectra Tent
XS 1500 Pro Grow
Skywalker Photoperiod
Flower Day 20

Here’s a picture intentionally taken right after watering. I have been watering a la @Keffka
for about three weeks - building roots type watering and wet/dry cycle. Now is time to keep her moist. Moist. Lol, he said immaturely.

So today she got a full dousing. Her leaves will always come down right after watering, but what I’m curious about today is the difference in time it will take for the leaves to be back to praying properly. Usually has been taking about 2/3 hours. Curious to see if it takes longer with a full dousing.

She got Mackerel, EWC, Kelp and a 1/4 tsp. of RGR today. And as you see I have the top of the soil covered with black cloth pots to try and draw up some roots. I heard it might work a little. Lmao!

 

[Azimuth]

...but some folks consider alternating nodes a sign of sexual maturity.

I'm one of those. I usually see that on my indica leaners by node 6 or so.

The nodes also spiral around the branch, one pair side to side, the next front and back, etc. This helps with my quadline training as I can select the node I want to top at when I hold them horizontal when training. I usually remove the nodes growing both up and down and leave the side to side nodes which helps with symmetry.

 

[Jon]

I'm one of those. I usually see that on my indica leaners by node 6 or so.

The nodes also spiral around the branch, one pair side to side, the next front and back, etc. This helps with my quadline training as I can select the node I want to top at when I hold them horizontal when training. I usually remove the nodes growing both up and down and leave the side to side nodes which helps with symmetry.

All this is telling me 60 days for veg in soil for photos is just fine in terms of maturity. Even 45 in coco.

 

[Jon]

Double Grape
Day 69

I’m about ready to say nice things about Mephisto. This auto is amazing. Here she is doing her natural spread thing, and goddamn is she sweetly spaced. One of the better jobs I’ve done on scrogging a plant without the screen, in terms of evenness of spacing and the removal of garbage. She is a frosty beast. Excellent genetics. I’m so happy with this plant. She’s starting to show some color too.

 

[Jon]

Cherry Pie
Day 69

Heh. This has to be at least a 120 day auto, yes? More like 130 maybe?

 

[Jon]

Blackberry Moonrocks

This girl is starting to get interesting. Wowee did I get lucky with the genetics in this grow. And probably phenos as well.

 

[con]

Blackberry Moonrocks

This girl is starting to get interesting. Wowee did I get lucky with the genetics in this grow. And probably phenos as well.

Damn! those all are looking great, loving the way your DG is turning out as well as the 2 Blimburns

 

[Azimuth]

This girl is starting to get interesting. Wowee did I get lucky with the genetics in this grow.

Yeah, let's go with that. Lucky.

Imagine if you had some skills what you could do?!

 

[Azimuth]

Yeah, let's go with that. Lucky.

Imagine if you had some skills what you could do?!

I say that because luck has very little to do with it.

You start with researching which growers have the specific traits you are looking for, screen them for growing ability and stable genetics, and then you end up with great seeds full of potential.

Then you add your experience and attention to detail and you have the chance to get the plant to its genetic potential, or at least damn close.

So, I get the attempt at humility, but screw that. Let's wallow in the glow of all the right factors coming together and celebrate the results.

Brag a little @Jon. It's ok. Not many consistently produce the results you do. And now that you're going organic? Wow! Looking forward, I am.

 

[Jon]

I say that because luck has very little to do with it.

You start with researching which growers have the specific traits you are looking for, screen them for growing ability and stable genetics, and then you end up with great seeds full of potential.

Then you add your experience and attention to detail and you have the chance to get the plant to its genetic potential, or at least damn close.

So, I get the attempt at humility, but screw that. Let's wallow in the glow of all the right factors coming together and celebrate the results.

Brag a little @Jon. It's ok. Not many consistently produce the results you do. And now that you're going organic? Wow! Looking forward, I am.

I’m okay with you doing it for me @Azimuth. Thanks very much for the kind words.

 

[Jon]

@ViparSpectra Tent
XS 1500 Pro Grow
Skywalker Photoperiod
Flower Day 20

Here’s a picture intentionally taken right after watering. I have been watering a la @Keffka
for about three weeks - building roots type watering and wet/dry cycle. Now is time to keep her moist. Moist. Lol, he said immaturely.

So today she got a full dousing. Her leaves will always come down right after watering, but what I’m curious about today is the difference in time it will take for the leaves to be back to praying properly. Usually has been taking about 2/3 hours. Curious to see if it takes longer with a full dousing.

She got Mackerel, EWC, Kelp and a 1/4 tsp. of RGR today. And as you see I have the top of the soil covered with black cloth pots to try and draw up some roots. I heard it might work a little. Lmao!

She’s back up about 90%. About the same amount of time it looks like. Interesting. I notice she is also beginning to take on a bit of a more olive color. Spectacular plant. Love the structure all around. Second picture is her real color.

 

[Jon]

She’s back up about 90%. About the same amount of time it looks like. Interesting. I notice she is also beginning to take on a bit of a more olive color. Spectacular plant. Love the structure all around. Second picture is her real color.

Notice the top of the cola and how the outside is higher up than the inside. This is an exterior cola branch from the outer ring. Even though the entire plant is within the two lights and covered with the field, this picture shows that the plant still knows where the sweet spot is, and still goes for it. It’s fascinating.

 

[Keffka]

All this is telling me 60 days for veg in soil for photos is just fine in terms of maturity. Even 45 in coco.

First.. 54 days from above ground is the standard.. some plants go less some go more, but I usually go 60 days just to be sure. Some cases require me to push that but it’s very rare

Stigmas are a decent sign of maturity but alternating nodes is the truest sign. Stigmas can begin appearing far before the plant is fully matured but alternating nodes don’t begin until she’s mature. Actually just had this happen, tons of stigmas no alternating until much later

Sexual maturity has been overlooked due to profit driven and prohibition mentalities. Tons of nutrient lines even claim a 4 week Veg with an 8 week flower. Sure you technically can do this and be successful but you’re losing a bunch of top end quality, and flavor.

As for foxtailing, there’s a variety of reasons in my experience. Some strains just do it regardless, and some old school sativas do it naturally as well. If it flower is still tight and potent I would view it as a strain expression. If the foxtailing seems airy or like it’s replacing decent bud growth then it’s an issue. I would like to see more science on the topic but yes I believe red light is gonna have something to do with it, especially since red is related to heat so closely, and heat seems to drive negative foxtailing.

 

[NickHardy]

First.. 54 days from above ground is the standard.. some plants go less some go more, but I usually go 60 days just to be sure. Some cases require me to push that but it’s very rare

Stigmas are a decent sign of maturity but alternating nodes is the truest sign. Stigmas can begin appearing far before the plant is fully matured but alternating nodes don’t begin until she’s mature. Actually just had this happen, tons of stigmas no alternating until much later

Sexual maturity has been overlooked due to profit driven and prohibition mentalities. Tons of nutrient lines even claim a 4 week Veg with an 8 week flower. Sure you technically can do this and be successful but you’re losing a bunch of top end quality, and flavor.

As for foxtailing, there’s a variety of reasons in my experience. Some strains just do it regardless, and some old school sativas do it naturally as well. If it flower is still tight and potent I would view it as a strain expression. If the foxtailing seems airy or like it’s replacing decent bud growth then it’s an issue. I would like to see more science on the topic but yes I believe red light is gonna have something to do with it, especially since red is related to heat so closely, and heat seems to drive negative foxtailing.

So knowing a bit more- you still think Cal Mag excess, Keffka?

 

[Keffka]

So knowing a bit more- you still think Cal Mag excess, Keffka?

Yes and no lol.. Since it was just that one plant and it wasn’t what I thought I would lean more toward a rhizosphere issue. Typically if it’s something like excess it would show more than that in more places than that, on more plants than that.

Since it’s not expanding I’d chalk it up to strain/pheno temperament

 

[con]

Hey @Jon hope your weekend is going good, Question for you for my next grow i just ordered seeds but thinking about changing grow mediums too soil/coco or just straight coco is there much of a difference between the 2 ? for feeding & overall size, health, & watering times/frequency ? & no i will not be switching to organic at this time just the same nute mix i'm currently using for soil

 

[Jon]

Hey @Jon hope your weekend is going good, Question for you for my next grow i just ordered seeds but thinking about changing grow mediums too soil/coco or just straight coco is there much of a difference between the 2 ? for feeding & overall size, health, & watering times/frequency ? & no i will not be switching to organic at this time just the same nute mix i'm currently using for soil

Hey @con - so, thinking about the Dark Side eh? Lol. Well….

There are differences. First, I’d go with one or the other - soil or coco. Mixing them 50/50 doesn’t work.

Coco will give you much faster growth. There are days when you will swear you’re seeing them grow in real time.

Coco is likely to produce significantly larger plants. Probably lots of reasons for this, but I believe the salient point there is that in coco, you feed every day. Once they are out of seedling and have say three sets of leaves, they tend to take off. You’re basically nute-ing the plant to death in coco. Lol. So they get big. You are unlikely to get as many veg days with photos in coco as in soil for this reason.

It’s is almost impossible to overwater coco. Once they are of the above mentioned size that is - you still can drown one in the very beginning. It’s also not at all necessary to go through the watering rigamaroles with coco that we go through in soil. Once they have a bit of size you just douse them to runoff every day. I literally fill an entire gallon and just let that pool drain down. The roots will fill the pot - any size pot - every time regardless of how you water.

This is sounding pretty good, right?

Not so fast. Lmao. There are plenty of downsides too, depending on your perspective. One is, the workload compared to soil is way way higher. If for no other reason than you have to fill and lug water every day. Two - you have to mix nutes every damn day. Besides being a PITA, it gets expensive pretty fast. Three - you have to get the nutes right, or coco will bitch faster and louder than soil. Coco is really responsive. I often see the effects of an additive that same day, especially cal mag. But with that responsiveness comes potential pitfalls, cuz if you screw up, the plants shows it immediately. The upside there is that fixes are faster too. Four - you can’t use threes and I wouldn’t even use fives. 7s at least. Which again costs you lots of medium, and money. I mean, you can, but what’s the point? If you go coco you do it for only one reason (to me) - bigger plants and buds. It’s not a small plant game. Finally - you have to add calmag before mixing every gallon. Not sure why, but apparently coco leaches calcium and magnesium faster or more so than soil - it wants to hold on to it is my understanding. So you gotta watch that too.

So there’s a bunch of positives and negatives. I think of coco kind of like hydro in a medium, so hydro with friction. It’s super fun. Just takes a lot of attention. You can’t really decide you’ll wait an extra day to water with coco. If they dry all the way out they get very unhappy. It’s not like building roots in soil. You become, in effect, slave to your plants.

If you decide to try coco, my number one most important suggestion for those who haven’t tried it is to pick a nute system you like and run it by the book from day one. This will give you the best results first time. If you like it, later you get into altering base mixes and additives and such. That, and strap your seatbelt.

Hopefully some of that is helpful.

 

[Jon]

Hey @con - so, thinking about the Dark Side eh? Lol. Well….

There are differences. First, I’d go with one or the other - soil or coco. Mixing them 50/50 doesn’t work.

Coco will give you much faster growth. There are days when you will swear you’re seeing them grow in real time.

Coco is likely to produce significantly larger plants. Probably lots of reasons for this, but I believe the salient point there is that in coco, you feed every day. Once they are out of seedling and have say three sets of leaves, they tend to take off. You’re basically nute-ing the plant to death in coco. Lol. So they get big. You are unlikely to get as many veg days with photos in coco as in soil for this reason.

It’s is almost impossible to overwater coco. Once they are of the above mentioned size that is - you still can drown one in the very beginning. It’s also not at all necessary to go through the watering rigamaroles with coco that we go through in soil. Once they have a bit of size you just douse them to runoff every day. I literally fill an entire gallon and just let that pool drain down. The roots will fill the pot - any size pot - every time regardless of how you water.

This is sounding pretty good, right?

Not so fast. Lmao. There are plenty of downsides too, depending on your perspective. One is, the workload compared to soil is way way higher. If for no other reason than you have to fill and lug water every day. Two - you have to mix nutes every damn day. Besides being a PITA, it gets expensive pretty fast. Three - you have to get the nutes right, or coco will bitch faster and louder than soil. Coco is really responsive. I often see the effects of an additive that same day, especially cal mag. But with that responsiveness comes potential pitfalls, cuz if you screw up, the plants shows it immediately. The upside there is that fixes are faster too. Four - you can’t use threes and I wouldn’t even use fives. 7s at least. Which again costs you lots of medium, and money. I mean, you can, but what’s the point? If you go coco you do it for only one reason (to me) - bigger plants and buds. It’s not a small plant game. Finally - you have to add calmag before mixing every gallon. Not sure why, but apparently coco leaches calcium and magnesium faster or more so than soil - it wants to hold on to it is my understanding. So you gotta watch that too.

So there’s a bunch of positives and negatives. I think of coco kind of like hydro in a medium, so hydro with friction. It’s super fun. Just takes a lot of attention. You can’t really decide you’ll wait an extra day to water with coco. If they dry all the way out they get very unhappy. It’s not like building roots in soil. You become, in effect, slave to your plants.

If you decide to try coco, my number one most important suggestion for those who haven’t tried it is to pick a nute system you like and run it by the book from day one. This will give you the best results first time. If you like it, later you get into altering base mixes and additives and such. That, and strap your seatbelt.

Hopefully some of that is helpful.

You know what might be a good way to see what you like, @con? You could do a soil/coco side by side grow with the same strain. Same nutes, just different mediums. I can’t think of a better way to see the differences, and you’d have a blast!

 

[NickHardy]

I say that because luck has very little to do with it.

You start with researching which growers have the specific traits you are looking for, screen them for growing ability and stable genetics, and then you end up with great seeds full of potential.

Then you add your experience and attention to detail and you have the chance to get the plant to its genetic potential, or at least damn close.

So, I get the attempt at humility, but screw that. Let's wallow in the glow of all the right factors coming together and celebrate the results.

Brag a little @Jon. It's ok. Not many consistently produce the results you do. And now that you're going organic? Wow! Looking forward, I am.

Just that. Truer thing I am unlikely to read today. Bit girly though.