Just a Second Grow: 2 Phenos 1 Tent

[jagotf]

Well the seed fairy made a stop today, and I got some beans that are killing me to pop, so here we go for round 2. I chose 2 auto strains from an overseas breeder to try my hand at this time. I have a few changes that have been made to the formula this time, different set of nutes, rockwool starters instead of plugs, more security from the curious pups, and a better understanding of the entire process and what to expect. I know I'm going to catch some flack for some of the additives I'm including, but I had huge success with them last time during the healing process, so until I get ill effects, I'll run them. With a bit more confidence going into this batch, I have much higher hope for these girls.

So, without further ado, let's get this shindig rolling for round 2.

Setup:
Pheno 1 - White Widow Max Auto
Pheno 2 - Blue Dream Auto
Tent - BudBox Pro 120
Light - HLG 600h
Starter medium - 1.5" rockwool starters
Long-term medium - DWC (4x5 gallon, 6 inch net pots)
Planned treatment - LST; topping; SCRoG
Nutrients - Advanced Nutrients (Mirco, Grow, Bloom)
Additives - GH pH up/down; Pondzyme; aquarium Tap Water Conditioner
CO2 - Exhale CO2 bag (been started for about 3 weeks now, so will be supplying good production throughout grow)
Starter environment - 10x20 humidity dome (germinating next to some pepper seeds ); heat mat to remain above 70F
Environment - 2x humidifiers (will figure out a sweet spot for use as time goes on); standalone AC unit for room; Vortex 6 inch in-line fan; 6 inch fans for internal circulation

5-29:
Chose 2 seeds from both batches, soaked in conditioned water that had been balanced to 6.0pH for 60 minutes. Separated 4 rockwool starters from the sheet and soaked in identical water for 60 minutes. Placed 1 seed per cube and closed top of cubes around holes. Placed cubes in humidity dome and placed top back. Now, another lesson in patience.

 

[Trala]

I look forward to watching your grow from the beginning

 

[jagotf]

I look forward to watching your grow from the beginning

Appreciate it. I'm looking forward to this round as well.

 

[jagotf]

5-31:
So far both WWs and one of the BDs have germinated with healthy looking tails in the rockwool cube. Knowing that they have the tap root starting to dig into the material I will stop checking in on these 3 until they sprout above the surface. However, the second BD still has not popped out of the shell. Moved the problem child to the paper towel method and placed the ziploc bag on the heating pad for the 10x20 box. If no sign of germination by later tonight, will drop another seed alongside and keep the first to pop, and dry the other to store for now. Compared to the last bagseeds I started, these phenos seem VERY aggressive to grow.

No picture update as to not damage the tap roots, since they were started in the rockwool.

 

[jagotf]

And. We. Have. Liftoff.

6-1:
Both WWs have shed their shells completely, as did BD1. I ended up trading out BD2 for a different seeds last night, which was soaked in conditioned water at 5.75pH for an hour, along with a new rockwool starter. The smaller humidity dome was placed in the grow tent with LED at ~50% power 36 inches above the lid. After some reading, and with these phenos being autos, I've decided to run a 24/0 veg cycle until preflowers begin to show. No new water has been added as the cubes are still moist to the touch. With a sharp knife, I also notched the top of the BD cubes to ensure that I didn't mix the phenos up while not in their permanent homes. The cubes are sitting on popsicle sticks above the bottom of the containter they are in, with about 1/8" of water at the bottom to promote more humid conditions. No other significant changes have been made.

These phenos are incredibly vigorous with shells popping in ~8 hours and breaking ground within 72. I was excited to see how these turned out before, but now I am beside myself after the last debacle.

 

[jagotf]

6-2:
Notes:
More noticeable progress on all plants today, aside from BD2 which is still working on pushing its way to the surface after germinating later than the others. Can confirm that there is was a tail last night, so should see it making its way to the light within the next day if it stays on track with the others. BD1 was having issues with a short tap root and not having enough structure left in the rockwool cube to support itself properly. I think the seed shell for BD1 came off too early, but it appears to be making progress regardless. Soaked a new rockwool cube in conditioned water pH'd to 5.8 for 1 hour and transplanted BD1 into the new cube. Plugged LED into watt meter and currently have it set to 298 watts with no fluctuation. Also installed a section of ducting that has a 6 inch fan blowing in its general direction to help with heat, while not needing the inline fan since it would be overkill at the moment. Temperatures are super consistent, staying within ~3F of the high and low for 24 hours. Can see signs of the next set of leaves starting to grow on WW1, but still too small for the camera to see. I can see absolutely no signs of stretch anywhere on the plants that are above ground.

24h Temp: 81F - 84F (in tent, not humidity dome){no themometer in dome due to size and easy to watch condensation}

Goals: the girls should be ready for the first round of 1/4 nutes within 2 days, will hold off on nutes for BD2 until shes caught up a little more. Need to sanitize reservoirs, net pots, and clay pebbles from last attempt soon too.

I. Like. High. RH. And I cannot lie.

WW1 (foreground) is going to be the one to watch.

No yellowing, as present in yesterday's pictures.

 

[jagotf]

So, after more than a day of breaking out of its shell with a very small taproot, BD2 has shown zero signs of growth. Has anyone had experience with this? The taproot came out of the shell, and just.... stopped. Is it a patience thing, or is it a seed thing? Would like to figure it out within the next 24h in case I need to drop another seed, so that its not far behind the rest in terms of maturity.

Seed was only exposed to light long enough to get this picture, as not to damage the taproot in doing so.

 

[jagotf]

6-3:

Day 5 from seed

Notes:
Started 1/4 strength nutes (AN micro, grow, bloom @ 4mL/L each) at 5.79 pH. Also removed the closed humidity dome in order to benefit more from the CO2 bag, and installed a single humidifier inside the tent set to 55%. The hygrometer reads that the humidifier reads low, and RH is closer to 63%. Tent conditions remain consistent while closed, with temps only fluctuating ~3F again, between 82-85F. RH fluctuates more, simply because I have a hard time keeping the door closed, between 49-65% on the 24h reading. I still have not checked BD2 since this morning, will apply the "hurry up and wait" method to see if I get better results to hopefully break ground in the next day or so. Another day of noticeable growth on all 3 that are above ground, with WW1 being the most apparent. Zero stretching on the plants, so wont mess with the lighting at this time, still set to 298 watts on a 24/0 light cycle. Placed a fan blowing on the plants to condition the stems for strength, but with the rockwool not having constant hydration, ended up drying the outsides, so moved the fan to blow the general area instead and rehydrated the cubes.

Fun notes:
WW1 had its root make a U-turn last week during early development and began to grow upwards next to the stem of the plant. I realized this only after it exposed itself to the opening from forming the material around the stem, so I tightly closed the material back around the upwards root. That root is still visible from the top, but has since corrected itself and grew back down into the cube.

Overview of the tray and all plants. WW2's first set of leaves has really taken off, with nubs for the second set showing.

Closer look at WW1 and its newest set of leaves coming in.

 

[jagotf]

6-5:

Day 8

The white widows have graduated to the bubble buckets, since they have a decent length of root that has penetrated the bottom of the cube. WW1 required a small surgery today to get the root situated properly after growing upward and almost coming back out the top. After repositioning the root downward, I tied the cube back together with a gardening twist tie. WW2 is growing consistently and has required almost no oversight. I added a 6 inch tent fan blowing across the top of buckets to help with strengthening the stems, and help prevent mildew.

Both BDs seem to be MUCH slower growing than the widows, so will move them into buckets at a later date when they are more apt for the conditions. BD1 seems stunted in growth, but there has been a good amount of growth still. BD2 finally broke the surface, but was stuck inside a clear membrane leftover from the shell. I gently wet the membrane and let it set for about 5 minutes and then used 2 toothpicks to roll it off the plant. The leaves that became exposed were a yellowish color still, but can see photosynthesis taking place with more green filling the yellow. The cotyledon opened to show 2 very very small leaves coming in. Will continue with current feeding of pH'd water and 1/4 nutes.

Tent has remained consistent in regards to temp and humidity, with the temps ranging from 81-86F over the past few days, and the RH within the range of 49-63% (again, drops due to me opening the tent way too much lmao). With the introduction of the DWC buckets, I raised the light to accommodate conditions that are similar to what they were, with the light 34 inches above the canopies. I also increased the intensity of the light 10% to an overall 328 watts from the outlet. Still no stretch at all from the first nodes, so I think that's a good thing?

Data for the widow buckets:

Setup:
- 6 inch netpots, clay pebbles rinsed in tap water until water runs clear
- Tap water to fill (4.5g each)
- 1 drop per gallon Tap Water Conditioner
- Pondzyme
- 2mL/L nutrients (micro, grow, bloom)

WW1 (beginning / end)
EC: 359 / 1439
Temp: 77F / 77F
pH: 7.78 / 6.60 > 5.80 (12mL pH down)

WW2 (beginning / end)
EC: 380 / 1414
Temp: 80F / 78F
pH: 7.90 / 6.59 > 5.81 (12mL pH down)

WW1 is now almost 2 inches across the furthest points, with a healthy set of second leaves coming in. With a special guest appearance from the twist tie holding the cube together after surgery.

WW2, aka the middle child. Hasn't required much attention throughout the entire grow. Not as large as WW1, but keeps growing consistently with next leaves growing well. Cotyledon seems to not be happy, but the rest of the plant seems happy and green so will keep watch on it to spread.

The problem children. Slow growing after a painful germination, but still showing signs of progress. Won't give up on these girls.

 

[jagotf]

6-7:

Day 10 from seed

Busy weekend with the girls. Woke up Saturday morning and walked into the grow room to get punched in the face by a familiar smell. Had some algae growing in the white widows, so had to flush the res's and clay pebbles, twice for WW1. I /may/ have messed up during the second flush for WW1, by flushing the rockwool cube with cold water on accident. Will have to keep tabs on her. But, I finally pulled the trigger on ordering an RO system. That'll be a project to get up and running later this week, just in time to get the blue dreams into their forever homes. Blue Dreams are both growing... but I'm not sure if it's a normal growth or not. I'm assuming its just the genetics since it's both of them. I did also move back into using the CX nutes, and it seems like the ladies are enjoying the switch, even with the algae fiasco. No out of the ordinary coloring in the leaves that I can tell, and WW2 has flown into the lead in terms of growth. Added reflective tape to cover the openings of the netpots in order to limit the light penetrating into the res's and to hopefully curb the algae problem.

If someone reading through could tell me if they notice anything out of the ordinary with the BD seedlings, it would be super appreciated. The first leaves just seem.... stubby, compared to the others I've grown.

WW1 has become a mopey girl, but she seems to be recovering. Hopefully this latest flush will get her back to where she needs to be. Still signs of new growth, and the third set of leaves are starting to show during close inspection.

WW2 - the middle child has become the star of the show it seems, still no real issues that I've run into, and just keeps putting on mass. (Had to turn on flash to get a detailed enough picture, that's not yellowing on the leaf edge, just reflection lol)

 

[jagotf]

6-9:

Day 12

Not much going on, since introduction of RO water instead of tap. All the plants have been doing well, with both blue dreams graduating to the buckets as well. pH levels have not been an issue, starting at 5.8 and slowly rising, not breaking 6.1 in 2 days. No sign of algae from anything that I can tell. Forgot to grab pics of the plants themselves, but did grab a shot of the root explosion happening under WW2 while changing out the tape and topping off the nutrient solution. WW1 is still super mopey with almost no root growth. Have cut nutrient levels in half for WW1 to see if that might help the intake. But overall, everything is seeming like it's dialed in.

Blindly white roots on WW2. Topped off nute solution with approx 1 liter after 2 days. (dat first node spacing tho)

 

[jagotf]

6-11:

Day 14 from seed

Good morning to those few following along. Ended up having to remove WW1 from the tent. Surgery to reroute the roots ended up messing up the rockwool structure and I couldn't bring her back. Dropped an auto White LSD to replace her yesterday, and the shell has cracked, so in the rockwool she goes. I also made the mistake of forgetting that I need calmag correction when moving into RO water, but fixed that issue the same day as realizing that I messed up. So WW2 has a few spots from that deficiency, but has recovered since. More importantly, the growth on the others is making up for the removal of WW1. WW2 is starting to explode above the surface, as well. Both blue dreams seem healthy with good foliage growth, and I would assume root growth to go along with it. pH levels have not been an issue at all. Had to mix new reservoirs when I got the calmag supplement, pH'd to 5.8 and they haven't risen above 5.9 since then.

WW2 expanding exceptionally well, with guest stars CalMag Deficiency Spots.
She's still less than 2 inches tall, what even is stretch?
Have been putting the black dots down to keep track of the growth. The latest set of dots were just marked 9 hours before the picture...

 

[jimmybolo]

Looks good so far

6-9:

Day 12

Not much going on, since introduction of RO water instead of tap. All the plants have been doing well, with both blue dreams graduating to the buckets as well. pH levels have not been an issue, starting at 5.8 and slowly rising, not breaking 6.1 in 2 days. No sign of algae from anything that I can tell. Forgot to grab pics of the plants themselves, but did grab a shot of the root explosion happening under WW2 while changing out the tape and topping off the nutrient solution. WW1 is still super mopey with almost no root growth. Have cut nutrient levels in half for WW1 to see if that might help the intake. But overall, everything is seeming like it's dialed in.

Blindly white roots on WW2. Topped off nute solution with approx 1 liter after 2 days. (dat first node spacing tho)

Looking good so far!!

 

[jagotf]

6-12:

Day 15

It seems like the blue dreams are a bit more resilient to the calmag deficiency that I accidentally induced. No spots on either BD, but there are a few more burns on the white widow. I'm assuming the reason is that the plant was still processing the nute mix that was lacking in calmag? Either way, WW2 and both BDs are still healthy as can be, from what my inexperienced self can tell. I did notice that the larger ladies were leaning into the center of the tent last night, so I'm took that as them telling me that they were starting to lack enough light. I increased the power draw another 10%, from 330 to 365 watts from the wall. Overnight they seem to have leveled out again, with a huge spurt of new growth.

pH still 5.98-6.05 on all reservoirs, so haven't needed to add buffer yet. But will mix 1 gallon of 3mL/L base nute solution to top off all of them and pH down accordingly.

Can't let the white widow steal the show completely. Here's an update of BD1. SUPER tight spacing on everything so far.

WW2 finally starting to branch outward to make room for the handful of nodes that are beginning to show. Hopefully no more calmag spots after today.

 

[jagotf]

First topping taken today from WW2 at node 4, and starting with LST. Isn't too early, is it?

 

[Canadadoes]

Well, training the Fan leafs down Isnt going to do much besides open up light for the growth tips. You’ll want to be training the growth tips. When they are large enough to do so.
Goodluck in the grow,

 

[jimmybolo]

First topping taken today from WW2 at node 4, and starting with LST. Isn't too early, is it?

thats the funniest trellis ive ever seen but it works fuk it