Personal Organic Grow with Mars Hydro

[Kriaze]

It is time for an update for the organic plants

As of today I am completely and utterly sold on Canna Terra Pro soil, I'm not a representative of their company and I haven't tried any other soils except for Plant Magic which I am currently trying out so no nay sayers please. This is purely my own opinion garnered from my experience of this soil versus bog standard soils...but if a Canna Terra Pro executive should happen to be passing by and reads this, where's my royalties? lol.

Ok, disclaimer out of the way so on with the update.

I'm happy with how the plants are growing finally, even the Dark Devil Auto 2 that was planted in bog standard soil then repotted into Plant Magic soil is showing signs of picking up, although she is now a long way behind the the Dark Devil Auto 1 that was planted directly into Canna Terra Pro. Both of the DDA's are showing signs of flowering and I can't wait to see the colours start to appear. There are no issues to speak of that I can notice, the conditions are favourable and the only thing that I would like to change is to get more light in there. I don't really want to move the reflectors over from the other tent so I'm thinking that maybe I'll put the 300 watt CFL in the middle of the two Mars 300w lights. I know that the CFL is for vegging but I think between that and the two Mars LED's I shouldn't have any problems and it should actually help.

Let's take a look at the DDA1 and DDA2. DDA1 stretched a little more than I would have liked but that has slowed down over the past couple of days, I'm not sure if that is down to her reaching her optimum size for the LED or whether these auto's are small plants to begin with. This would make sense due to their short life cycle and if that is the case I think if I ever grow auto's again it will be in a sea of green as I don't believe I will get enough from a crop of one or two plants. Damn the amount I smoke sometimes I don't know if I would get enough from a sea of green, there's only one way to find out though. My next grow of auto's will have to be a sea of green, or purple as may well be the case depending on how this strain smokes in the end

As for the DDA2 I think that her roots have finally broken through to the Plant Magic soil and she has had some growth. She actually looked a little droopy today but it's not under watering so may well be a touch of over watering. Maybe the old soil retains far too much moisture for MJ as when I touch the soil itself it feels claggy, almost claylike when wet. I did add a little Perlite to improve aeration but it just seems to seperate from the soil and float off to the sides of the pot upon watering. Oh well it's too late now and hopefully the only other time I should have this problem is when I next do an experimental chemical grow to see whether I can replicate the conditions and problems that everything planted in this sh*t have had. In fact shit is too good a word for the bog standard soil, as I would expect weed could grow in shit

Here is the DDA2 looking a little sorry for herself but other than that she has grown since the last time we saw her:

There's been some marked improvement as to how weak and spindly she seemed to be before I'm guessing she broke into the new soil. Her main stem has finally started to thicken and I think she may even produce a few grams of the finest.

Here is the DDA1. I didn't bother using anything to measure against as a comparison as I think that it is plain to see without:

She is still going strong and apart from a few very slightly yellowing leaves I see no issues forthcoming. I'm keeping my fingers, toes and legs crossed for her. If I get an oz I will be happy, anything more will be a bonus and anything less is still more than I had. The cost of growing her would probably be around £15 so far plus the cost of the new pots (which I will be using again anyway) and any nutrients that she will be fed in the future. £15 doesn't get much around here, I'll be happy whatever she gives

The Incredible Bulk 3 is still looking healthy, again apart from the odd slight yellowing leaf at her base which I refuse to treat as I'm wanting to see how my soil mix goes. If the problem spreads then I will start looking into feeding her with the Plant Magic Oldtimer grow/bloom that I bought for this occasion. It's all organic and I'll even throw some of the organic Humboldt's Secret Golden Tree, although this will raise the grow costs considerably as at £35 for 500ml it is expensive stuff. I do love it though so in my eyes it is worth using for the best of grows, we'll see how things go with the IB1 and IB2 which are a month or so from finishing before I make any decision on that one.

Here she is, still quite squat but looking healthy:

Her leaves are getting quite big too, so much so that I took a comparison shot in relation to my hand (I wear XL gloves if that helps) :

Now remember this?

After taking the advice of Spitz and giving her one last chance by repotting her into Canna Terra Pro soil rather than finally chopping her this is how she is looking as of today. Bear in mind that I could clean her up by removing the dead leaves but not wanting to cause her anymore stress than she has already been through I'm pretty damn impressed. This also leads me towards the conclusion that the base soil was to blame for the majority of the issues caused with the plants. It could also be the way I was feeding them of course but she has been watered and fed Epsom Salts at just the same times as I would have fed her, and I always PH'd my feeds so I'm inclined to lean towards the idea that bad soil gives bad plants.

Here she is today:

A big (is there no 'manly' version of that emoticon? ) to Spitz for encouraging me to give her one last chance by repotting her.

Finally a little family shot in the tent:

I hope that everyone is well in body, mind and spirit and I wish you all the best. May your buds be beautiful and bountiful

 

[Kriaze]

Hey Robert in answer to your earlier question which I missed the IB3 was planted 11 days before the DDA's. It could be a strain thing though as IB2 is quite dense and bushy even while flowering, although the IB1 has a lot more stretch on her than either of the other two. Now I'll have to go read through my journals and see what possible differences there could be to make 3 seeds from the same strain grow differently. Thanks for arousing my curiosity, and giving me the inclination to actually check up on what I've been doing with these grows as I have no idea myself, does it show?

All the best

 

[Kriaze]

Rifleman, I would also like to congratulate you on your Plant of the month! I'll bet you once had the odd grow like this in the distant past, at least that's what I'm telling myself lol. All the best and beautiful growing

 

[Rifleman]

Rifleman, I would also like to congratulate you on your Plant of the month! I'll bet you once had the odd grow like this in the distant past, at least that's what I'm telling myself lol. All the best and beautiful growing

Thank you. TBH I have just learned what angle and lighting makes my girls look good.(read that as, disguises them well) They all have acne scars and ugly little birthmarks, I just try to hide them

 

[Kriaze]

Thank you. TBH I have just learned what angle and lighting makes my girls look good.(read that as, disguises them well) They all have acne scars and ugly little birthmarks, I just try to hide them

Haha love that idea Rifleman. The thing is that you have to be able to hide them, whereas if you check out my grows there is no place for them to go. A well worthy winner you are

 

[db003]

dude that plant bounced back like crazy great job and those autos are looking nice my friend just ordered the same strain of dark devil auto he is going to try and grow those autos outside in his backyard its his first grow so I have to show him the ropes

 

[Kriaze]

Hey db003 with your help I'm sure your friend will have some great auto's going on. Talking of which do you want to finish growing mine? They need a real gardener! lol. The LSD surprised me, earlier today I moved her to pride of place in the centre of my veg tent. Her branches are still thin and spindly yet but I'm hoping they will thicken eventually as her trunk has done. The pictures that will be included in my update are as of two days ago, it's been busy here as my birthday is tomorrow and Christmas is on it's way so between work and the family it's been quite hectic. I hope that you're well, all the best mate.

 

[Kriaze]

It's update time for the organic grow and there have been a few changes since I last wrote.

First and foremost the Incredible Bulk 3 and the Dark Devil Auto 1 both had some heat stress and cupped their leaves. It was entirely down to me and my lack of knowledge about how my central heating works. Unfortunately after wanting to make a few changes to keep the temps constant with the onset of our colder days and nights I made a booboo and set the timer the wrong way around. At lights on the temperatures rose to around 90F and the IB3 was the first to show her dislike of that with the DDA 1 following by the day after. It was all rectified today and the temps are at a more reasonable 82F in the veg tent, hopefully it won't have done any lasting harm.

Also I decided that I would add a new light into my vegging tent. I bought a (claimed) 800w LED light from a non sponsor that has a few extra colours of the spectrum. It has 4 greens, 4 orange and more importantly 1 Infra Red and 1 Ultraviolet LED. The plants seem to like it and it should give a little extra oomph to the Dark Devil Auto's that are flowering up now.

Here's the tent as it looked 2 days ago when I fitted the light. I'm still awaiting my extra ratchets but they were supposed to be delivered today and when I checked tracking awhile ago I've been told to apply for a replacement or refund if they're not here by the 12th. I borrowed one of the ratchets from the other light for now and although they're not symmetrical which really hurts the OCD side of my mind I reckon we can struggle through it

Here's a shot from below showing the different colour spectrum:

The Dark Devil Auto 2 has joined DDA1 with the stretching and budding but is still some way behind in height. Not necessarily a bad thing I think as the DDA1 looks like it's stretched too far for my liking. I've no idea if this is the strain itself or whether I had the lights too high for the plants. Looking at other grows it does look like this strain does a fair bit of stretching anyway. I don't care though, I bought these to see the beautiful purple flowers, and of course hopefully smoke some too

Here's the DDA2 as of the 7th:

In comparison here is the DDA1. I really am sure that the soil made all the difference here:

The Incredible Bulk 3 is starting to get some stretch on her, I like it and approve. The IB2 really was too squat and bushy for my liking and I'm pretty sure that even with side lighting on her she will struggle to grow bud below her canopy. I don't want to defoliate though, I'll see how she pans out. Anyway here is the IB3 reaching for the light:

Finally I'll post a photo of the LSD after I decided I would trim some of her yellow leaves:

That's pretty much it for now, if you have any queries or input please as ever feel free. Other than that I will wish everyone all the best and hope that your buds may be beautiful and bountiful.

 

[db003]

Hey db003 with your help I'm sure your friend will have some great auto's going on. Talking of which do you want to finish growing mine? They need a real gardener! lol. The LSD surprised me, earlier today I moved her to pride of place in the centre of my veg tent. Her branches are still thin and spindly yet but I'm hoping they will thicken eventually as her trunk has done. The pictures that will be included in my update are as of two days ago, it's been busy here as my birthday is tomorrow and Christmas is on it's way so between work and the family it's been quite hectic. I hope that you're well, all the best mate.

happy birth day bro my moms birth day was yesterday I hope you have a good one and I will be sure to send my good vibes and smoke a fat joint for you

 

[Kriaze]

Aaaaw db003 cheers mate Here's one for you too

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

Happy birthday buddy

The change in that LSD is nothing short of special.

 

[Kriaze]

Hello It's time for an organic update so lights, camera....ah shit! I had everything set up to actually take some decent shots of these plants today and then my battery in my camera died. My spare battery had also run down while in my camera bag so I wasn't a happy man about that, fortunately I had my phone to hand so was able to get some pictures with that. Phew...or not, unfortunately after trying everything I could to get these pictures from my phone oriented correctly there was no way I could get them the right way around. If anyone knows of a way to do this that would be great, but the tutorial didn't work for me at all so I gave up and I will apologise for the quality of these sideways pictures in advance. I'll upload some from my camera the next time but I wish there was a 'rotate' option on the gallery page or when I'm uploading as it would make things so much easier.

There's not really been much happening in the organic tent recently as vegetative plants don't really do much except grow, but the two Dark Devil Auto's seem to be fattening up their buds a little and there's even a touch of purple coming out

Here are some mediocre sideways pictures (apologies again) of the two girls that I had taken out of my tent for some studio style glamour shots so they could strut their stuff, they can do this next time:

This is the Dark Devil Auto 2 who although was the slowest to grow and still is not as big as the Dark Devil Auto 1 she is showing the most purple and her buds although not plentiful seem to be filling in well. Maybe even better than the DDA1, which leads me to wonder whether the Canna Terra Pro is better for the vegetative stage of growth and whether the Plant Magic Plus soil is a little better on the bloom stage. If this is the case then until I work out how to create my own living organic soil I will go down the route of planting directly into CTP then transplanting into PMP, it sounds like a good plan although nothing is conclusive as of yet.

Here she is:

and from the top:

Now the DDA1 is much taller but doesn't seem to be packing on the bud as fast as the DDA2. Maybe she will pack on the growth towards the end of her life cycle, or maybe even last an extra week or two, I'm unsure as of yet and only time will tell.

Here she is:

a little closer:

and from the top:

As you can see there is not as much purple showing on her and her buds seem a little airier, we'll see by the end of the grow which one puts out the most though

Other than that in the organic tent the LSD is looking a little droopy, it could be over watering but I was only watering when the soil was dry and she was drooping. Now I'm watering when she is drooping just to get more oxygen into the roots even if the soil is wet. It's not the best way to do things but I have no idea how to combat the drooping as it's only feeding that rectifies it. Maybe I should let the soil dry out completely, who knows? Not me that's for certain.

Also the Incredible Bulk 3 which was doing quite well had an unintentional trim a short while back. I was rushing around taking the DDA's out for their photographs when I knocked the tent and my exhaust fan which was precariously balanced in some ducting that was sat in the out take vent of the tent decided to come tumbling down and shredded half of the leaves on her side before I could grab the fan and unplug it. She should recover and no lasting harm should be done, but it was a bit of an 'oh shit' moment at the time. The fan has been fitted snugly back into it's precariously balanced position and that is all I could do. I wasn't happy with the phone pictures that I took so no uploads as of yet, this too will have to be a case of next time.

I hope that everyone is well and may your buds be bountiful, all the best

 

[Weaselcracker]

Ha ha. My internet is crapping out again so I can't load the sideways pics, lol. Next time. .
I've dropped my fans soooooo many times. I know the routine well. I'm usually holding a heavy plant or something in both hands as the fan dangles and goes chop chop chop whir click click. Last time was a few weeks ago and the fan died and I had to get a new one. Probably dropped it a few dozen times.

 

[db003]

dude I am loving those dark devils I plan on letting my next autos go with no training to see how they come out I got lucky and got my hands on a dark devil auto seeds so I will be growing that one soon maybe after my next grow good luck

 

[Kriaze]

Hello It's time for another update and today we were more prepared than the last time. I brought the girls out of the tent and let them strut their stuff for the camera today, and I'm happy that I did as it highlighted a couple of issues that I wasn't aware of.

First of all I need to be more careful when watering. I noticed there were spots on some of the girls where I had been careless and splashed them, then left them to burn under the lights. I gave myself a hearty slap and I won't be doing it again.

Secondly the Dark Devil Auto 1 is showing signs of Nitrogen toxicity along with a touch of nutrient burn. I must have made a mistake when I fed her some Plant Magic Oldtimer's Grow awhile ago when I noticed that her lower leaves were yellowing. I don't know too much about Auto's but I get the feeling that those leaves must have been yellowing as she went into bloom. Either way if she gets more nutrients before she finishes I will be sure to only feed Oldtimer's Bloom.

The two Dark Devil Auto's should only have another couple of weeks before harvest so they will have one more feed of nutrients then it will be plain water only. They are getting nicely purple and the buds seem to be fattening up, plus there is a little snow in time for Christmas! Here are a couple of pictures of them strutting their stuff for the camera

Dark Devil Auto 2:

and a view from the top:

Dark Devil Auto 1:

and a view from the top:

A picture of DDA1's budding, she's getting that nice purple look to her now:

The Incredible Bulk is coming along nicely apart from the fact that my exhaust fan chopped off some of her leaves when it fell into the tent swinging around like a crazy man with a machete causing mayhem. Luckily she seems fine after the debacle and is recovering nicely. She is showing a few signs of heat stress though:

Here she is:

from the top:

Here are the leaves that were damaged by the fan:

The LSD was looking a little droopy today and was given a feed of plain rainwater after she had smiled for the camera:

from the top:

I also noticed what looked to be more bud growth even though she is under a light schedule of 18/6. I'll have to keep an eye on that as although she was taken from the flowering tent when transplanted into the Canna Terra Pro some of these pistils look like new growth, there's actually some trichome production too which can be seen when looking at the picture close up:

It's just a matter of waiting now. Once my DDA's have been harvested and the chemical grow in the other tent is done I will be popping some more beans and moving the Incredible Bulk and LSD into the flowering tent. Although I am tempted to give the LSD more time to strengthen up as even though she seems to have recovered since her transplant she could do with her stems thickening up. I'm also a little concerned about the colouring of her stems and veins, it's something that I will be looking into shortly.

I hope everyone is well and ready for their holidays, if you have anything to say please feel free to post. All the best everyone

 

[Kriaze]

Hello everyone. Just a little update as I took a leaf from each of the Dark Devil Auto's today and put them under the microscope. Their trichomes seem to be at a good stage with plenty of cloudy and amber so I'm thinking an earlier harvest may be in order. The DDA1 has a lot of fan leaves yellowing and seems to be showing all the signs of readiness. The DDA2 on the other hand is still in healthy shape but her trichomes also seem to be at the point of where I'll be happy, so today if I have time I will probably chop her too.

Here are some shots of the DDA's trichomes and the colour pigmentation on their leaves which is a little surreal, but if anyone is interested in looking then here they are:

There could be some good smoke coming on, if not a lot of it. I'll be happy with whatever these two plants produce as some of those trichomes are looking very tasty to me

I shall wish you all the best and will update later if possible.

 

[brightlight]

Kriaze....better to check trichomes at buds rather than leaves. Will give you a truer picture of maturity stage.

 

[Kriaze]

Hey Brightling I'might thinking you're right, I just dislike pulling buds when they may be too early. I've decided against pulling the plants for now due to them still having a lot of white pistils shooting out. I think around the 3rd/4th Jan for the Dark Devil Auto'so but will see how they look. One is losing all it's fan leaves so should be due anytime

 

[Kriaze]

Hello I hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. Apologies to brightlight for the above post, it seems that word replace kicked in on my phone and I didn't notice it and now it's too late to edit.

Today I decided that I was going to chop the Dark Devil Auto's. Dark Devil Auto 2 was looking pretty much ready whereas the Dark Devil Auto 1 although losing most of her fan leaves seemed to be wanting longer, unfortunately the snips were quicker than my thinking so she was chopped all the same

I won't be getting a high amount from these plants but what I do get not only looks great with it's purple colour but it smells intense! I cut them a couple of hours ago and I still keep lifting my hand to my face to smell this deep musky pinelike aroma. I have no nose for these things but what I can say is that it smells amazing. I've got them both hung drying in my little tent and in a week or so (probably more like 4 or 5 days with the temperatures in my house) they will be jarred and left to cure. I'm not going to even smoke test them until they've been curing for at least 2 weeks, I'll be waiting in anticipation

Here's a few bits of eye candy from the plants:

Dark Devil Auto 2 was planted into bog standard soil and then repotted into Plant Magic. She has a much stronger smell than the Dark Devil 1 which was potted directly into Canna Terra Pro. Although she is a lot smaller she seems to have much more dense buds and quite a lot of foxtailing going on. She literally smells superb:

a few bud shots:

Her old home:

The Dark Devil Auto 1 took the lead in growth rates although I wasn't too keen on all her stretching that she did. She seems to have more buds than the Dark Devil Auto 2 but they do not smell as intense and I'm not sure that she was quite ready, still we can see what she's like when she's been dried and cured:

A bud shot:

Her old home:

The LSD and Incredible Bulk 3 were both given some rainwater with added Epsom Salts this evening as they were both quite dry. Also the Incredible Bulk 2 which was recently chopped from my chemical grow has had her remains put back into the veg tent to see if she will reveg, if so then she will be repotted into some Canna Terra Pro and given some time for regrowth and recuperation, then I'll run her into flower again and see if we can fix the bud growth by defoliation or training.

That concludes my Dark Devil Auto section of this journal for now. I have either 1 or 2 more seeds left I'm not sure, but I'll be planting them when there is room after the main tent has been cleared and cleaned out which should be in a couple of weeks (the Incredible Bulk 1 is due for chop around the 8th Jan). All the best everyone and may your buds be bountiful

 

[MrMiracleGro]

dude, such a rockin' garden!