Oh No - It's A Green Hole! - Reverse Thrusters! - Dammit - Too Late!

[Mello136]

Re: Oh No - it's... A Green Hole!!! Reverse Thrusters!!! - Dammit!!! Too late....

Ok I'm back. Ha ha! I couldn't quite remember the title I made for this journal that first night at 4am. Oh well...

PURPOSE OF THIS JOURNAL.

- I don't really know.
I don't actually have enough time for a proper journal so I think this will have to be some other sort. Let me ponder this here.

I have to be away more often that not for work and stuff. Some, like actually most, weeks I do the absolute bare minimum at the grow. Like go splash some water around in there and feed the girls and run out again. Usually I'm so busy that any trimming or intensive work I do has to be done at the end of a long day- like I often don't get a chance to get to the grow till past midnight and then I might work for four or five hours in there before getting a couple hours sleep and going to work. Most every week I'm away for at least five days straight and I expect the plants to not dry out or otherwise die during that time. So the grow suffers for this situation. I could have some innovations going in there to save me time- like an auto-watering system, but I haven't found time to set that up either.

One twist of fate re. the work which takes me away, is that I sometimes get quite a lot of time in places away from home where I am trapped in rooms at night without much to do but sit and surf 420. So- more time on 420 than on the grow which seems backwards but it's been awesome tapping into this forum which I joined last winter and has really changed my life in ways.

I've grown a few years but really badly Neanderthal- throw the water in, guesstimate the nutes, never write any shit down, screw up twenty times, take twenty steps backwards, twenty one steps forward. Why? I don't know. I didn't know. I didn't have internet (or barely) in those days and I didn't have all you geniuses to set such a good example. I just winged it. I've never felt in a hurry with these plants, and never much worried about yield. I've made nearly every mistake in the book just to see if the book might be wrong, or something.

Now I've got a couple patients to supply and am trying to get a little more responsible. Also I'm being shamed into it by the growers on this forum! I'm not a great grower or anything. I'm sort of getting past the worst of the learning pains but don't be surprised to see - embarrassing mistakes, trashed plants, dirt swept, or not, into the corners, and general mayhem and confusion. PLEASE chime in when you see me doing stupid crap and save me. Thanks!

This journal catches me in mid flight with my perpetual. I don't have anything really specially interesting happening but I suppose this, which is my first journal anywhere, will just be a slice of my growing life for the next few months or whatever and then I'll end the journal and do something else for a while. The Mama Thai strain is one I haven't found any journals of so maybe that's one reason to do a little journalling.

I admit I felt some pressure to do a journal on 420. I've been wandering the halls of 420 for months, blathering stuff all over the place on other people journals, and drifting around trying to help with newbie questions and any stuff that I might have some input on, and trying not to screw up too bad. This is a chance to get some help, maybe give a little back to the forum, and have a good time doing it.

I've got some good things to say about this forum. In that MOTM thread I said this place gives me hope. Sounds cheesy but it's true. This policy of no negative energy has opened my eyes a bit to possibilities. Sure- the mods will kick us out and piss on us and ban us if we don't follow the rules- so it's not exactly because we are all such saintly people that this place functions, but still, it's really so cool to be able to chat with all you and learn so much awesome stuff. I'm sure we wouldn't all get along in real life, but we're making it work here aren't we? I like it a lot!

I am not going to do regular complete weekly plant progress updates and such. There's no way I could pull that off properly.
I'll just focus on whatever is interesting happening at the time, if there is anything, and whatever tangents we find ourselves on. I hope you guys can help me with a few things too.

Alright- cool. This is my journal then. Welcome one and all!

And now, since I haven't slept in two days, I'm going to take off, eh.
G'nite folks.

MAMA THAI

BEST POST EVER. I'm gonna look around, say!

 

[Weaselcracker]

Lex I was just thinking of you. I use Botanicare nutes. Grow for veg, and Power Flower for bloom. No complaints. Sometimes I think about switching but can't think of a good reason to. I'm busy enough trying to dial in things as it is so no need to spend more time and money confusing myself right now.

 

[SweetSue]

I love the way you create this sense that you're careening out of control and then post a picture of some serious filet mignon sugar leaves coated with trichomes.

You hold your own quite well Weaselcracker.

 

[Mello136]

Hey weasel i was wondering what you use for nutes cause i just can't for the life of me remember lol

Botanicare.....

 

[Weaselcracker]

Re: Oh No - it's... A Green Hole!!! Reverse Thrusters!!! - Dammit!!! Too late....

Hey Mello thanks and welcome! Make yourself at home and look all you want sorry about the spiderwebs and chaos and uhhh...watch out for rats in the corners.

I'm pretty certain I managed to pollinate the Mama Thai with the Thai Stick. Not many TS flowers have opened up, but it's amazing how much pollen dumped out of the ones that have so far. Earlier today I put the container of TS branches in a large paper bag (an empty sugar bag left in the room from making wine).
Tonight I carried the bag full of TS out to meet the MT for their hot date. I bent one MT limb down into the bag and shook it around in there. Impossible to see if anything was happening and I couldn't see any pollen flying around.
However, in the bottom of the white bucket shown in the pics, there were some yellow stains. I took a tiny paint brush and managed to sweep up some pollen with it. Each time I tapped it over the MT bud I could see a small cloud drifting down into the bud. Yay! This was one of the most fun and satisfying dates I've been on in quite a while! (Luckily my girlie doesn't read this journal). I'm pretty excited about the thought of getting some Mama Thai Stick seeds going. I also have a little clone growing of the TS male so I can put that under a 12/12 cfl at some point when I have a girl Thai Stick to pollenate.

 

[Mello136]

Are those seeds going up for sale too? It looks to me you have a pretty nasty setup here, feels like candy land...!

 

[Weaselcracker]

I love the way you create this sense that you're careening out of control and then post a picture of some serious filet mignon sugar leaves coated with trichomes.

You hold your own quite well Weaselcracker.

Thanks Sue! You are soooo funny!!! I am careening out of control! How can you possibly question this?!
I spent three hours this morning careening around spending my precious time taking apart Chinese fans and trying to make one decent fan out of the piles of cheap plastic junk polluting my floor space. It all came down to that one cogwheel that always breaks. The one that makes the fan oscillate back and forth.
Ahhh the joys of living in the bush...I failed but I have one more shot at it because I located yet another broken fan I'd forgotten, and will be wasting tomorrow morning on this stuff as well.
I just left a fan going full blast pointing straight at the mold infested Pineapple Chunk. Hopefully I'll get an oscillating version going tomorrow...

 

[lexort420]

Ever think of using the lucas formula. I been reading about it and im trying it out. It sounds up your alley, less is more, one ratio the whole way through yadda yadda lol. Just a thought i know you like to keep it simple take care bud

 

[Weaselcracker]

Are those seeds going up for sale too? It looks to me you have a pretty nasty setup here, feels like candy land...!

Nah I wouldn't sell them. I'd be happy to give them away if I succesfully get seeds, but we aren't supposed to discuss that bcuz of the 420 rules -though seeds are perfectly legal in Canada, strangely enough...
The Thai Stick strain has been discontinued by the breeder. Still not sure if it's worth growing anyway. It's Ace Seeds' attempt at recreating a strain with similar genetics to the ones that would have been used to make the original Thai Sticks. (If this sentence makes sense...). Ace seeds seems to be out of all Thai strains at the moment and so it makes me inclined to try and save the strain, just because.
Thanks for the compliments! I'd argue about that but Sue might just thump me....

 

[Mello136]

That's why I asked. Sucks that they stopped but can benefit you if you continue to breed it. Oh, and sorry for the noobish mistake, I'm still working my way through each forums rules. Thanks for the heads up

 

[Weaselcracker]

Ever think of using the lucas formula. I been reading about it and im trying it out. It sounds up your alley, less is more, one ratio the whole way through yadda yadda lol. Just a thought i know you like to keep it simple take care bud

I never quite figured out what the Lucas formula is. Even though I looked it up one time. I will check it out again.

 

[Weaselcracker]

That's why I asked. Sucks that they stopped but can benefit you if you continue to breed it. Oh, and sorry for the noobish mistake, I'm still working my way through each forums rules. Thanks for the heads up

I'm sure they'll have some good Thai strains again. Hard to imagine they wouldn't. No worries. I notice people discussing seed trades a fair amount it seems, and 420 is quite lenient with us, but I don't like making the mods work any harder than it is and they've had to do a fair amount of slicing and dicing of my posts in the past- I'm tired of annoying them. Even if they're too polite to act annoyed most of the time.

 

[Mello136]

I agree. This place is to good to be true to begin with lol. How long til your next harvest and how much are you expecting?

 

[lexort420]

Here is some info.


General Hydroponics makes a 3-part system named the FLORA series. It consists of FLORA GRO, FLORA MICRO, and FLORA BLOOM. These are 3 bottles you buy, that you would normally use together throughout the entire grow. You may use it as per the instructions on the bottle, with excellent results, but...

Lucas figured out that FLORA MICRO contains enough nitrogen, and everything else that MICRO GRO contains, that you use it with FLORA BLOOM alone, saving you from having to buy FLORA GRO.
How do you use it? Simple. Add 8ml of Flora Micro (dark red stuff) to 1 gallon of water*, mix, and then add 16ml of Flora Bloom (pink stuff) into the water, and mix. Done - unless you're growing in coco. If so, see below.'If you're growing in coco, you may need to adjust the Lucas formula slightly to compensate for a property of coco which may result in a calcium or magnesium deficiency. How? You may be able to get by simply by adding 1-2ml of calmag (or MagiCal+), or 1 gram of Epsom salt (any pharmacy carries this), per gallon of water, before feeding the plants.

There is a modified formula specifically for Coco that consists of using a different ratio: 6ml of Flora Micro, and 9ml of Flora Bloom, per gallon of water, along with 1 gram of Epsom salt per water.

Either works, but be sure to try Head's Formula if you're having deficiencies or other nute/pH problems. Low light ratio, and flowering vs veg

Lucas Formula should be used in the same ratio throughout the grow. There is a misconception that one should use 5ml of Micro and 10ml of Bloom, when in veg, and switch to 8ml of Micro, and 16ml of Bloom, when flowering.

This was never stated by Lucas himself. He originally stated that the 0-5-10 ratio was for LOW LIGHT situations (fluorescent lighting like PL/L and CFLs, or HID lamps less than 400W), whereas 0-8-16 is for medium to high light (400W+)
What type of water should I use? What about pH/ppm?

The original formula uses reverse osmosis, or RO, water, and is intended to be used without having to measure pH and ppm. Reverse Osmosis water makes this possible because it should, in theory, be the same for everyone. It is filtered water, which you can get either by buying a reverse osmosis filter system, or just buying bottled water (among other brands, Dasani, the bottled tap water is reverse osmosis, for example). One may also use dH2O (distilled water) with good results. You can get distilled water from most convenience stores
young plants (< 4 weeks old) or cuttings, which may not be able to handle a full strength feeding formula, may require that you dilute the nutrient solution before feeding. This is OK, just make sure you keep the correct ratio when mixing. For example, 50% strength would be 4ml Micro and 8ml Bloom, or 3.5g of dry Maxibloom per gallon.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Thanks Lexort. That sounds too simple to be true but I know that people do this.
How can a person give the same strength nutes for an entire grow though? This goes completely against the usual bell curve type feeding graph. Unless I'm understanding it wrong. ?
I actually have the three part GH nutes somewhere laying around. They were given to me. I've thought about trying them but never seem to have enough time to get very excited about complicating things for myself.
The fact that Monsanto now owns GH makes me not want to be involved with these nutes. On the other hand, the best thing I could do for the earth at this point is use them up.

 

[lexort420]

Ya im not happy that Monsanto owns GH now i found that out after i bought the 3part system. From my research ive read that it can be done with any system that has grow micro and bloom although i have no experience with other nutes of that nature. From my understanding the lucas formula works like a general purpose fert if that makes sense give me a little bit i gotta go look at my notes lol

 

[lexort420]

O ya wanted to add that apparently with the lucas formula there is no need for the harvest flush.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I agree. This place is to good to be true to begin with lol. How long til your next harvest and how much are you expecting?

There's a pretty big hole in the flowering room at the moment and I should turn one light off as that's all I really need going. I have three plants which will be another 6-10 weeks before harvest I think. And one Pineapple chunk which is a couple weeks away but being ravaged by mold so I'm hacking away at it doing damage control.
A while back I culled a bunch of large veg plants to make room for the keepers. Then the crazy patients changed their mind about liking a couple of the keeper strains so I culled those too and that along with careening out of control has left my grow schedule quite mismanaged. Not that this is too big an issue. I would like to have more plants under the light above the single PC plant though. I'd move the PC over with the other 3 flowering plants and shut it's light off, but I don't want to take the mold factory to the other side of the room.
The last few harvests have averaged about 3 ounces per plant/screen which isn't stellar but is probably ok. I'm not growing any high yielding strains and most of the strains I'm interested in don't seem to fall into the high yield category. Plus despite what Sue says, I usually am careening in some way and have various problems going on. But that's alright. I'm not striving for yield, I'd generally just be happy if they were healthy.

 

[lexort420]

Ok so since im running cfls and am growing in a soiless mix im testing out the low light/coco lucas formula pretty much so i mix 5ml of micro, which is made of 5% nitrogen 1% potash 5% calcium 0.01% boron .0005% cobalt 0.01% copper 0.1% iron .05% manganese .0008% molybdenum and 0.015% zinc, with 10ml of bloom, which is made of 5% phosphate 4% potash 1.5% magnesium and 1% sulfur, and then i put in 1ml of epsom salt which i reduced down from the recomended 1 gram cause i figured that i should due to growing with cfls as you know. It sits around 800ppm. In the end it looks like the npk ratio is 5-10-9 if im understanding correctly. So far my plants seem happier with this cause running the whole 3part GH system makes them a little N tox.

 

[SweetSue]

It makes sense that a diluted mix, applied lightly but consistently would be easier for the plant to accept than the standard practice. I've never done bottled nutes, so I speak from observation and the correlations I see with my successful soil approach. In essence, you're loading the nutrient base and the plant gets to decide which part of the formulation it needs, instead of you guessing.

As a cultivator who maintains a soil micro community through regular, light amendments added through diluted teas and drenches regardless of the current age or stage of development of the plants this Lucas formula makes perfect sense.