She grew that way. sorry about me being tardy.
Jon's First Outdoor Grow: Sugar Breath Photoperiod & Strawberry Banana Autoflower
- Thread starter Jon
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #82
ADDENDUM POSTA NEW ADDITION TO THE GROW!!
Cuz I'm Stupid Like That. Lol.
Well, suddenly the bags in the picture showed up at my door. I wonder how that happened? And wow, does it ever need to be used. I simply do not have the willpower to let four perfectly good bags of soil go unopened. And since I have a trillion seeds, (well, maybe 3 dozen), it just makes good sense to pop another plant.
The other thing is that this grow is so non-work-intensive that I can easily add another plant and manage it no problem. The five months of perfect weather gives me tons of latitude, and my only impediment is when I move. They obviously have to all be jarred by then. So I can't go nuts as much as I really want to.
But we are going to add one more photoperiod plant to the grow, to join the other two in vegging under the @Mars Hydro rig and flowering outside. When I got the Strawberry Banana autoflower seeds, they sent me some freebies that simply said "Strawberry Banana Fast Flowering Feminized." I assumed they were just two more of the same auto seeds. Then I got to thinking about it and contacted the company. It turns out that the freebies are some of those "fast flowering" feminized photoperiod seeds. They are genetically designed to finish faster once you flip them than seeds of the same exact strain that are not "fast flowering." I have seen these seeds but never tried growing one.
I know I already have four of these in autos going. But the strain makes my top 5 all-time favorite strains list. And the photos supposedly are extreme yielders.
So I have a Raspberry Parfait and a Pineapple Upside Down Cake photo already. Obviously I needed to add one more fruity strain to this fruit salad of a grow, so I am going to add one of the Fast Flowering Strawberry Banana Feminized Photoperiod plants. The company says they will be done budding in 7 to 8 weeks max and have the same yield as regular photoperiod plants. We'll see. Since they're supposedly up to a month sooner than the other two will be, the theory is that by selecting this fast flowering seed the plant will "catch up" to the others and finish around the same time. The timing is about right for it.
Here's the skinny on the Strawberry Banana:
Type: Indica
Cannabinoids: >20% THC, <1% CBD
Terpenes: Limonene, Myrcene, Caryophyllene
Effects: Euphoric, Creative, Sleepy
Landrace Strain: Banana Kush X Bubble Gum
Grow Difficulty: Easy
Harvest: 7-8 weeks
Yield: 450-550g/㎡ indoor/ Up to 650g/plant outdoor
Height: Up to 6 feet/ >6 feet
(*Indoor / Outdoor)
So I'm going to grow it in a new soil mix, with @GeoFlora Nutrients. I'm going to try coco for the first time. I know I'll water a lot, but that's ok. I want to check it out. So the soil mix and skinny is as follows:
- Soil Mix: 50% of 70/30 Mother Earth Coco/Perlite mixed with 50% my Fox Farms soil mix, ie 40% Happy Frog/40% Ocean Forest/20% Mother Earth perlite #3
- Nutes: GeoFlora Nutrients
- Veg under the outdoor Mars Hydro rig
- Flower with the others in total outdoors
- Pots: One gallon > Seven Gallon Geopot
And that's about it. The seed is soaking as I type this. When she's ready she'll join the fray. The picture shows the mysterious bags that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
I gotta figure out how to rename this journal....
I had to know more. Fast Flowering Photoperiod plants, for any who don't know as I did not know (you guys likely all already knew this, lol), are photoperiod plants that are crossed with a RECESSIVE gene from ruderalis, aka the base cross used to create autoflowers. They are F1 crosses, meaning first generation. So what this gives you is a plant that behaves like a photoperiod plant relative to light cycle, but has the fast growth pattern from the ruderalis. But since it's the recessive ruderalis gene, the plant stays photoperiod instead of becoming an autoflower. To create the autoflower requires the DOMINANT ruderalis gene. Apparently in both veg and flower the plant will exhibit growth rates and patterns more like an auto (a really big one, lol) than a photo, with the exception of size, where it will apparently stick to photoperiod genetics, and staying in veg until you change the light cycle, obviously also a photoperiod trait.
See? I can regurgitate information with the best of them. Lmao.
There are all kinds of advantages to a plant like this if they work as advertised. I shouldn't have researched more. Now my damn brain is starting to scheme.....
- Thread starter
- #83
A Word on the @Mars Hydro FC-E6500
Mars Hydro has outdone itself with this light. Tonight I would like to offer you three pictures that all tell a slightly different part of the story, but all add up to the same thing: plants LOVE this light.
Frankly, I couldn't care less what I or any of you think of it. But I care very much what the plants think of it.
Picture 1 shows the Sour Apple plant from the Spent Soil journal, this is she. She spends her nights in the Mars Hydro rig since she started budding, after spending all day outside in the sun, so that she can have the 20 hours of light a day that she needs. See how this plant is not only at church, but sitting in the front pew and praying hard enough for three people? This is what this plant does every evening when she goes under the Mars Hydro. And believe me when I tell you that this plant does NOT pray like this in the natural sunlight. And no, she is not too far away from the light. Her top bud is at the same height as the top bud on the Sour Apple next door that's almost finished. Plants simply don't look like this unless they are loving the light, and not just the amount you're giving it but the spectrum too. This is frankly spectacular.
Picture 2 shows the Raspberry Parfait photoperiod, who is vegging as planned completely under the Mars Hydro (this is actually her and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake's rig, the others are freeloading at the moment). I don't think it's necessary to use words to explain that this plant, who got watered an hour ago, is LOVING this light. In her case it's very much a function of this plant just thriving on the specific veg spectrum of the light. As I have the light at 100% power (what's a dimmer again? pretty sure I have one....) I have this plant pretty low in the rig. She is rocketing skyward in daily measurable increments. She's also quite an attractive strain I think.
Picture 3 shows you the bud tops, and it's a little blurry but gets the point across. I tried to get as many tops off of both autos from the other grow that are finishing here, the Sour Apple and the Chunkadelic, as I could. Notice how they are almost all entirely and almost perfectly triangular and come to very consistent points. In my experience this is as much a function of the light as it is the genetics, and to get this consistent a response in that regard is very unusual. It means the consistency of field across the light bars stays almost exactly even as you go across the light. In short, it means the footprint of the light is spectacular and consistent and the plants form their buds accordingly. I would guess that most strains will have this look when budded out under this light. You simply don't get this kind of consistency unless the light has a very even, consistent light field. And while you may argue that the almost exact same height of the large Chunky buds is also a factor, maybe so, but this is not true of the Sour Apple and it has the exact same response.
I'm impressed. Bravo Mars Hydro.
Mars Hydro has outdone itself with this light. Tonight I would like to offer you three pictures that all tell a slightly different part of the story, but all add up to the same thing: plants LOVE this light.
Frankly, I couldn't care less what I or any of you think of it. But I care very much what the plants think of it.
Picture 1 shows the Sour Apple plant from the Spent Soil journal, this is she. She spends her nights in the Mars Hydro rig since she started budding, after spending all day outside in the sun, so that she can have the 20 hours of light a day that she needs. See how this plant is not only at church, but sitting in the front pew and praying hard enough for three people? This is what this plant does every evening when she goes under the Mars Hydro. And believe me when I tell you that this plant does NOT pray like this in the natural sunlight. And no, she is not too far away from the light. Her top bud is at the same height as the top bud on the Sour Apple next door that's almost finished. Plants simply don't look like this unless they are loving the light, and not just the amount you're giving it but the spectrum too. This is frankly spectacular.
Picture 2 shows the Raspberry Parfait photoperiod, who is vegging as planned completely under the Mars Hydro (this is actually her and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake's rig, the others are freeloading at the moment). I don't think it's necessary to use words to explain that this plant, who got watered an hour ago, is LOVING this light. In her case it's very much a function of this plant just thriving on the specific veg spectrum of the light. As I have the light at 100% power (what's a dimmer again? pretty sure I have one....) I have this plant pretty low in the rig. She is rocketing skyward in daily measurable increments. She's also quite an attractive strain I think.
Picture 3 shows you the bud tops, and it's a little blurry but gets the point across. I tried to get as many tops off of both autos from the other grow that are finishing here, the Sour Apple and the Chunkadelic, as I could. Notice how they are almost all entirely and almost perfectly triangular and come to very consistent points. In my experience this is as much a function of the light as it is the genetics, and to get this consistent a response in that regard is very unusual. It means the consistency of field across the light bars stays almost exactly even as you go across the light. In short, it means the footprint of the light is spectacular and consistent and the plants form their buds accordingly. I would guess that most strains will have this look when budded out under this light. You simply don't get this kind of consistency unless the light has a very even, consistent light field. And while you may argue that the almost exact same height of the large Chunky buds is also a factor, maybe so, but this is not true of the Sour Apple and it has the exact same response.
I'm impressed. Bravo Mars Hydro.
Look at them! A light like this @Mars Hydro can change a growers life in the garden Jon! It did me!A Word on the @Mars Hydro FC-E6500
Mars Hydro has outdone itself with this light. Tonight I would like to offer you three pictures that all tell a slightly different part of the story, but all add up to the same thing: plants LOVE this light.
Frankly, I couldn't care less what I or any of you think of it. But I care very much what the plants think of it.
Picture 1 shows the Sour Apple plant from the Spent Soil journal, this is she. She spends her nights in the Mars Hydro rig since she started budding, after spending all day outside in the sun, so that she can have the 20 hours of light a day that she needs. See how this plant is not only at church, but sitting in the front pew and praying hard enough for three people? This is what this plant does every evening when she goes under the Mars Hydro. And believe me when I tell you that this plant does NOT pray like this in the natural sunlight. And no, she is not too far away from the light. Her top bud is at the same height as the top bud on the Sour Apple next door that's almost finished. Plants simply don't look like this unless they are loving the light, and not just the amount you're giving it but the spectrum too. This is frankly spectacular.
Picture 2 shows the Raspberry Parfait photoperiod, who is vegging as planned completely under the Mars Hydro (this is actually her and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake's rig, the others are freeloading at the moment). I don't think it's necessary to use words to explain that this plant, who got watered an hour ago, is LOVING this light. In her case it's very much a function of this plant just thriving on the specific veg spectrum of the light. As I have the light at 100% power (what's a dimmer again? pretty sure I have one....) I have this plant pretty low in the rig. She is rocketing skyward in daily measurable increments. She's also quite an attractive strain I think.
Picture 3 shows you the bud tops, and it's a little blurry but gets the point across. I tried to get as many tops off of both autos from the other grow that are finishing here, the Sour Apple and the Chunkadelic, as I could. Notice how they are almost all entirely and almost perfectly triangular and come to very consistent points. In my experience this is as much a function of the light as it is the genetics, and to get this consistent a response in that regard is very unusual. It means the consistency of field across the light bars stays almost exactly even as you go across the light. In short, it means the footprint of the light is spectacular and consistent and the plants form their buds accordingly. I would guess that most strains will have this look when budded out under this light. You simply don't get this kind of consistency unless the light has a very even, consistent light field. And while you may argue that the almost exact same height of the large Chunky buds is also a factor, maybe so, but this is not true of the Sour Apple and it has the exact same response.
I'm impressed. Bravo Mars Hydro.
- Thread starter
- #85
Would you agree with my assessments of the light in that post? Also, yes, it does. Once I got my first professional light (the non sponsored one in the Gorilla tent) I realized I'll never downgrade or compromise on the light again. The MH makes two. I need three. Lol.
A light like this allows a plant to GROW to a new level. I saw huge increases in quality and size.
- Thread starter
- #87
Autotown
Further Training on Gelato
Day 24
Further Training on Gelato
Day 24
- Thread starter
- #88
So @Backlipslide, I'm looking at this plant and I'm scratching my head wondering how the hell you get the symmetry you do. I am thinking it's all about very targeted defoliation and keeping the leaves that create the symmetrical look? I can pull the four colas I now have out in N, S, E and W directions, that's no problem. But the leaves are what mess up the symmetry. Am I on the right track? I really want to make this a BLS type finish. Any advice? And thanks!!!
- Thread starter
- #89
Upgrade Time For Autotown!!
I have gotten the FedEx notification/tracking that tells me that the @NextLight 420h that was part of the GJOM prize pack is arriving here tomorrow. This is very exciting, and thank you NextLight SO MUCH!! What an amazing prize. I will immediately be installing the NextLight in the auto rig, and will try to do our wonderful sponsor as must justice as I can regarding their light. From what others here have said who use it or won it, it sounds like a beast. Can't wait til tomorrow!
So as of tomorrow, in this grow, we have the @Mars Hydro photoperiod rig, the @NextLight auto rig, and @GeoFlora Nutrients for the photoperiod plants!!! Three sponsors in play, one of which (GeoFlora) is "officially" sponsoring this grow. That's a far sight better relative to sponsor participation than I did on the last grow. Funny how things work out.
Here's the last blurple picture of Autotown you guys will have to look at. All the plants are in great shape, all are as max trained for the moment as they are giving me material to train.
Enjoy. Lol.
I have gotten the FedEx notification/tracking that tells me that the @NextLight 420h that was part of the GJOM prize pack is arriving here tomorrow. This is very exciting, and thank you NextLight SO MUCH!! What an amazing prize. I will immediately be installing the NextLight in the auto rig, and will try to do our wonderful sponsor as must justice as I can regarding their light. From what others here have said who use it or won it, it sounds like a beast. Can't wait til tomorrow!
So as of tomorrow, in this grow, we have the @Mars Hydro photoperiod rig, the @NextLight auto rig, and @GeoFlora Nutrients for the photoperiod plants!!! Three sponsors in play, one of which (GeoFlora) is "officially" sponsoring this grow. That's a far sight better relative to sponsor participation than I did on the last grow. Funny how things work out.
Here's the last blurple picture of Autotown you guys will have to look at. All the plants are in great shape, all are as max trained for the moment as they are giving me material to train.
Enjoy. Lol.
- Thread starter
- #90
Hey @Backlipslide, I changed gears on BLS a little bit. I need more yield. I can't bring myself to trim actual bud sites as you must to get the art looking plants you end up with, like the gorgeous one in the Photo contest. However, I am still going to attempt a semi-symmetrical grow out. Just FYI. I still want to know what I asked earlier though, lol. Future reference for when I have a ton of jars in the bank and can afford to make art with my plants no matter what it does to yield.
- Thread starter
- #91
Let's Bring ANOTHER Sponsor Into Play!!!
As the wheelchair repair dude and I were talking, my doorbell rang. Look what the FedEx fairy brought me today!!! This is part of the GJOM prize pack from @Blue Planet Nutrients. Thanks so much Blue Planet!!! What a cool prize pack, and nice touch with the shot glass that doubles as a four way measuring container with markings. This is the Elite Series with the Easy Weed (seaweed) supplement and the soluble CalMag supplement.
As seems to have become something of a theme in this journal, we are going to integrate Blue Planet into this grow as well. Since we are just popping the last photoperiod plant, the Fast Flowering Strawberry Banana Feminized Photoperiod, we are going to use the Blue Planet nutrients on her. She will grow up right next to two plants getting @GeoFlora Nutrients, so it will be an interesting comparison of sorts, albeit different strains.
This will bring the total number of sponsors involved heavily in this grow to 4. Cool.
Thank you again @Blue Planet Nutrients, for all the support you give to us here at 420. Your sponsorship is greatly appreciated. I'm excited to try your nutes!!
As the wheelchair repair dude and I were talking, my doorbell rang. Look what the FedEx fairy brought me today!!! This is part of the GJOM prize pack from @Blue Planet Nutrients. Thanks so much Blue Planet!!! What a cool prize pack, and nice touch with the shot glass that doubles as a four way measuring container with markings. This is the Elite Series with the Easy Weed (seaweed) supplement and the soluble CalMag supplement.
As seems to have become something of a theme in this journal, we are going to integrate Blue Planet into this grow as well. Since we are just popping the last photoperiod plant, the Fast Flowering Strawberry Banana Feminized Photoperiod, we are going to use the Blue Planet nutrients on her. She will grow up right next to two plants getting @GeoFlora Nutrients, so it will be an interesting comparison of sorts, albeit different strains.
This will bring the total number of sponsors involved heavily in this grow to 4. Cool.
Thank you again @Blue Planet Nutrients, for all the support you give to us here at 420. Your sponsorship is greatly appreciated. I'm excited to try your nutes!!
- Thread starter
- #92
Hiya @Emilya, hope this message finds you well. I have a question and I think you may know the answer. Think you could take a look when you have a few minutes, please?
For the seed that's just popping I'm going to use the Blue Planet nutes as you saw earlier. Not sure you saw the soil mix though. I'm trying some coco. So for this plant, on advice from Mother Earth, I am mixing their 70/30 coco/perlite product with my base soil mix of 40%OF/40%HF/20% perlite #3. The mix is 50/50. Which is going to give me a roughly half soil half coco mixture.
My question is about Ph. I keep reading that when growing in coco you want a Ph of somewhere around 5.9. Soil, as we have established, is 6.3. See the questions coming?
Any help? Where would you Ph your water for this soil mix? And if this mix is awful, got a better recommendation? I thought about trying purely just the Mother Earth 70/30 coco/perlite by itself but I'll water 8 times a day, right?
For the seed that's just popping I'm going to use the Blue Planet nutes as you saw earlier. Not sure you saw the soil mix though. I'm trying some coco. So for this plant, on advice from Mother Earth, I am mixing their 70/30 coco/perlite product with my base soil mix of 40%OF/40%HF/20% perlite #3. The mix is 50/50. Which is going to give me a roughly half soil half coco mixture.
My question is about Ph. I keep reading that when growing in coco you want a Ph of somewhere around 5.9. Soil, as we have established, is 6.3. See the questions coming?
Any help? Where would you Ph your water for this soil mix? And if this mix is awful, got a better recommendation? I thought about trying purely just the Mother Earth 70/30 coco/perlite by itself but I'll water 8 times a day, right?
- Thread starter
- #93
Ah, the Occasional Price Of Max Training
Well, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. I just broke my first cola in trying to train out a branch. Snapped it about three quarters of the way through. Clean snap. The branch remained relatively in place following the break, and it was very easy to put exactly where it was supposed to be. The second picture is a closeup of my attempted fix. This has worked for me in the past every single time, even with breaks this severe. Depends, it seems, on how quickly you fix it and how effective your tape job is. If you hold the plant together so that if the tape was invisible you'd see the plant and not know where the break even was, you have done it correctly. It's what I have attempted to do here. The stake is holding the head end up in position.
It'll either fix itself or it won't. If it doesn't I cost myself a bud or three. Not a big deal. If it does, it'll have a very strong knob in the tape spot and if I get really lucky I'll get some new growth from that spot too, that's happened for me a few times. Considering the amount of branch manipulation I have done between these autos and the photos in the other grow, the fact that this is the very first one I have broken through ALL of that is rather astounding. I'll take it.
Gotta be honest. I think it's history. But we'll see. Anyone got any good healing vibes for our poor cola?
First picture is the overall training. You can see what I was going for. Second picture is the attempted fix.
Well, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. I just broke my first cola in trying to train out a branch. Snapped it about three quarters of the way through. Clean snap. The branch remained relatively in place following the break, and it was very easy to put exactly where it was supposed to be. The second picture is a closeup of my attempted fix. This has worked for me in the past every single time, even with breaks this severe. Depends, it seems, on how quickly you fix it and how effective your tape job is. If you hold the plant together so that if the tape was invisible you'd see the plant and not know where the break even was, you have done it correctly. It's what I have attempted to do here. The stake is holding the head end up in position.
It'll either fix itself or it won't. If it doesn't I cost myself a bud or three. Not a big deal. If it does, it'll have a very strong knob in the tape spot and if I get really lucky I'll get some new growth from that spot too, that's happened for me a few times. Considering the amount of branch manipulation I have done between these autos and the photos in the other grow, the fact that this is the very first one I have broken through ALL of that is rather astounding. I'll take it.
Gotta be honest. I think it's history. But we'll see. Anyone got any good healing vibes for our poor cola?
First picture is the overall training. You can see what I was going for. Second picture is the attempted fix.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
my opinion is that you should never try to mix 50/50 two completely separate methods. It is ok to add soil to a coco grow or coco to a soil grow, but whichever method you want to be predominant needs to be at least 70% in the container and then pH rules can be followed for that method. In a 50/50 mix I would probably mix things up a bit, and come in at 5.8 sometimes and 6.3 other times. Maybe 6.1 is best compromise?
Also, take a look at your Fox farm mixes... you will find that hf has a high percentage of sphagnum moss and that OF has coco. You have been mixing soils all along.
- Thread starter
- #95
Ha! Well, so I'm hearing two things there. One is don't do it the way I had planned, as neither will be the 70% dominance, they'd be 50/50. Two is if I DO do it the way I planned, 6.1 would be a decent compromise maybe.
Is that about right?
Ok, so let's say I just used the straight coco/perlite, which is the aforementioned Mother Earth 70/30 coco and perlite product.
Blue Planet will work with the coco no problem, already checked that out.
I know I will water a heck of a lot more but it'll just be that one plant.
I'll be growing it outside and we get some degree of daily rain so that'll help.
At the same time she'll see a decent amount of heat which I expect will dry it out even faster.
So I know it would work, and I don't mind the watering.
The question is, is it worth trying coco and watering all the time? What will I get from coco that I won't get from soil? Is the increased air to the roots and the fact that I can feed more often due to constantly watering going to give me some significant yield increase? What exactly is the magic supposed to be?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
There are some tricks that can allow soil to exchange nutrients with the plant as fast as a hydro system can do, but usually the ability of hydro to provide constant nutes will win out and will produce more, faster. Using oxygenated water to take advantage of coco's ability to store oxygen for the roots, incredible growth rates can be achieved. More oxygen and more nutes can be put into contact with the roots than soil can achieve, because with soil it is a process..a watering cycle that has to be played through over time whereas in coco both nutes and oxygen are available constantly. It's like anything in life, the more effort you put into something, the better your results will be.
The logical conclusion of what I just said would make someone think that there is no better way to grow anything than by using coco. I counter that with total effort expended for a certain amount and quality of product. Soil done right is much easier.
I also note that with the exception of some of the organic methods that can be used in coco, synthetic grows are only as good as the nutes themselves, and we rely on our belief in how well science has managed to figure out all of the micronutrients that are necessary to put into the mix, and in what percentages. For me, it is far easier, and cheaper, to rely on soil and mother nature in an organic situation. On the other side of the ledger, there is the oft flung argument about how many ways there are to skin a cat, and how much fun it is to find new and innovative ways to accomplish the task. Whatever floats your boat as they say... Some of us like to constantly be tinkering with the process, and some of us enjoy walking away from the grow for days at a time. Whatever works best for you, is the right method to use.
- Thread starter
- #97
Possibly the best non-answer I ever got from you. Lol! Ok I get it. Yes, the coco is an attempt to get closer to hydro in a soil type medium as you see. I hear you on the effort/reward, that was the most basic question and that's about the answer I figured. And as you know I do like to tinker around. Well, this whole outdoor grow is either Sohum for the autos or soil and organics for the photos, so it's already as plug and play as I can possibly make it. I think I'll take on the extra added effort of extra watering and give the straight coco a shot. What's the worst that can happen, the plant doesn't do well? Oh, the tragedy. Lol. I remember when one of my plants not doing well would send me on a several hours information gathering expedition with my mind worrying like crazy the whole time. The Blue Planet nutes are liquid, so that'll work fine.
So here's one other question. You have told me that the veteran growers understand that the watering cycle is pretty much water-nute-water-nute, etc., and the cleaning up of the leftovers with the clean water and all that. Great. But if I go all coco my understanding is that I will have to water several times a day potentially. So what are your thoughts on the watering/feeding cycle relative to growing in straight coco? I'm thinking if I am watering a lot every day, there shouldn't be any reason why I can't go say Monday all nutes with all waterings, Tuesday all water with all waterings, Wednesday all nutes all waterings, Thursday all water, etc.... Right? I mean, isn't that approximately the same idea as nute-water-nute-water on watering days, just that in this case watering day is every day?
If the above has merit, this 33 pounds of nutes that Blue Planet sent me is indeed going to get used on one plant. Lol. When I unboxed it I thought, wow, a lifetime worth of nutes.
Thanks so much Emilya. You know how much I appreciate you.
- Thread starter
- #98
Raspberry Parfait Photoperiod Transplant Update
Grow/Veg Day 26
New Digs and First Application of @GeoFlora Nutrients
Friday, October 8 - Next application Friday, October 22
It was time for the Raspberry Parfait to leave the confines of her one gallon starter pot. And @Emilya, you'll love this: I did not base my assessment that it was time to transplant on the length of time it took the plant to drain the pot of water. Instead, I based it on looking at the lowest level of leaves and the fact that the two biggest fan leaves are starting to yellow. That tells me that the plant has taken what it can from the one gallon of Fox Farms soil blend I use and is ready to rock and roll in a bigger condo now that she's making some money. Ha!
Along with the transplant came the first application of GeoFlora Nutrients, they are finally in play! I consulted with the excellent folks at Geo and man, is their customer service (for lack of a better term) off the charts. They answered all my questions and there was more than one. Lol. And quickly, too. Anyway, on their advice this is what I did to prep the pot for transplant:
- Amended the 7 gallons of soil in the pot with 2/3 of a cup (measuring by cups instead of ounces at their recommendation) of GeoFlora Veg 5-3-4. This is the base amount (2/3 of a cup) that will be my bi-weekly feeding amount.
- Also amended the soil with 70% of a packet of earthalive Soil Activator. The packet says one whole packet treats a ten gallon pot, so I used 70% for the seven gallon pot. Duh.
- Added to the transplant hole and dusted up against the wet walls of the hole before adding the plant was 7 tsp. of Dynomyco mycorrhizal innoculants. It is recommended to use one tsp/gallon of soil.
Then in went the plant. Her roots were all the way out and bunched nicely at the bottom, about a half an inch thick. Sweet. Root ball held together perfectly and in she went and water at 6.3 she got and into the @Mars Hydro rig she went. There, as per our plan, she will veg happily until we send her out in the wild blue yonder, aka my back yard, to flower.
So now we get to see GeoFlora work it's magic. Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it. It's on like Donkey Kong.
Here's the transplant pics, and forgive her droop, she just moved and got watered and she's tired. Lol.
Grow/Veg Day 26
New Digs and First Application of @GeoFlora Nutrients
Friday, October 8 - Next application Friday, October 22
It was time for the Raspberry Parfait to leave the confines of her one gallon starter pot. And @Emilya, you'll love this: I did not base my assessment that it was time to transplant on the length of time it took the plant to drain the pot of water. Instead, I based it on looking at the lowest level of leaves and the fact that the two biggest fan leaves are starting to yellow. That tells me that the plant has taken what it can from the one gallon of Fox Farms soil blend I use and is ready to rock and roll in a bigger condo now that she's making some money. Ha!
Along with the transplant came the first application of GeoFlora Nutrients, they are finally in play! I consulted with the excellent folks at Geo and man, is their customer service (for lack of a better term) off the charts. They answered all my questions and there was more than one. Lol. And quickly, too. Anyway, on their advice this is what I did to prep the pot for transplant:
- Amended the 7 gallons of soil in the pot with 2/3 of a cup (measuring by cups instead of ounces at their recommendation) of GeoFlora Veg 5-3-4. This is the base amount (2/3 of a cup) that will be my bi-weekly feeding amount.
- Also amended the soil with 70% of a packet of earthalive Soil Activator. The packet says one whole packet treats a ten gallon pot, so I used 70% for the seven gallon pot. Duh.
- Added to the transplant hole and dusted up against the wet walls of the hole before adding the plant was 7 tsp. of Dynomyco mycorrhizal innoculants. It is recommended to use one tsp/gallon of soil.
Then in went the plant. Her roots were all the way out and bunched nicely at the bottom, about a half an inch thick. Sweet. Root ball held together perfectly and in she went and water at 6.3 she got and into the @Mars Hydro rig she went. There, as per our plan, she will veg happily until we send her out in the wild blue yonder, aka my back yard, to flower.
So now we get to see GeoFlora work it's magic. Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it. It's on like Donkey Kong.
Here's the transplant pics, and forgive her droop, she just moved and got watered and she's tired. Lol.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Let's talk about assumptions...
There is probably still plenty of oomph left in that soil blend. Hats off to you though for recognizing the lower leaf problem as the signal, but the reason for the yellowing is that the roots have just started getting in each other's way. You have reached the point of diminishing returns, and those leaves are the result of the plant recognizing that the nutrient uptake has just slowed down.
- Thread starter
- #100
Lmao! My assumption, I see, was not just my assertion but also that you'd love it!
Okay, thanks for that. I understand, it's not that the plant has used all the available nutes in the gallon, it's that the roots have reached the point where the uptake is slowed and need more space. Which, you're right, is different than my assumption and assertion so thanks again for the correction. At least I did it at the right time regardless of the reason, lol.