PP Bagseed Outdoor Grow Journal - 2018

[Potplant]

Quick update, I went this morning to foliar spray and check on them because it rained last night. Take note I still haven't watered them, so this rain was perfectly timed. Plant 5 the string was loose however it was still bent over nicely. So I took 3 pics of each plant, tell me what you think:

Plant 1:

Plant 2:

Plant 3:

Plant 4:

Plant 5:

This is after tieing her up again:

Plant 6:

No need for 3 pics

Here's pics of 1 and 2 from the top view:

 

[Emilya Green]

looking great! love the color! Keep doing what you are doing, it is working!

 

[Potplant]

looking great! love the color! Keep doing what you are doing, it is working!

I know right! I love that green colour!!

More like, keep doing what you advising cos that's working!!

My one concern is that the rain water is almost neutral and I was feeding with below neutral water to balance the pH of the soil, you think it will be ok with the neutral water and not pH down water?

Also, you think if i crush the food stick and dissolve it in water and use that to water the plants once every 3 or so cycles, is ok?

 

[Emilya Green]

no no no on the food stick. I advised to keep doing what you are doing, not to find new and more innovative ways to overfeed your plants. What in the world made you think that was a good idea, first to undo the science of slow releasing the nutrients in that stick, and second even thinking that you now had to add extra nitrogen. Do that and you will be right back where you were before with sick plants. They are doing great right now and the roots and top growth is showing rapid improvement... don't do anything different for a while... just keep doing what you are doing... keep starving them for water. If the deep green starts going away in a few weeks, we will start thinking about feeding them again... the right way.

and now a few words on pH. The rain has allowed plants to grow outside for many many years... it is not going to hurt the plants, and besides... rain is rarely neutral these days, no matter where you live. The rain will also be mixing with the pH of the solution that you last added to the plants too, so it actually won't be that far off inside the container. But, here is the point I want to make. Adjusting the pH of the fluids you add to the soil does not balance the soil. The soil will be different pH depending on if it is wet or dry and it's pH is set by the components mixed in to create the soil. You adjust the pH of the water in the soil, not the soil itself. You want this water which carries the nutrients to the roots to be within the proper range so that those nutrients can properly break down so as to uptake into the plant. You are adjusting the pH of the water table in the container... not the soil. Excluding a bit of free water from mother nature, if you just make sure that all fluids added to the containers are at the proper pH, all will be fine. A proper soil for growing cannabis will be set to be a slightly higher pH than this range, typically around 6.8 or so... and this allows your pH to drift through the entire growing range as the soil dries out. You water at a low pH and the soil causes it to slowly rise. It is a beautiful system when it works and a disaster when a well meaning gardener creates a soil mix with a high peat and very acidic pH. While a soil like this may be great to grow Azaleas, it won't work very well for growing pot.

Lastly, let me illustrate how important it is to be aware of the fluid pH in your container. How much water do you think is suspended in solution after you have properly watered to runoff? I did an experiment and weighed the water that was added to the soil in a solo cup after properly watering it. Here is a clean solo cup showing you how much water was suspended (absorbed) by the soil. It really is remarkable that soil can hold this much. So no matter what the soil pH might be when dry, you can clearly see how much greater influence the pH of the water has on the overall situation.

 

[Potplant]

Yeah you right, I knew it was a bad idea but I meant for later if I see it needing anything the stick has to offer. Ok now I know it will still be a bad idea to use it. Ok perfect, thank you. I will definitely need your advice with regards to giving the right nutrients at the right time.

OK so I shouldn't worry too much about my run off water pH? The last time I checked it it was 7.8 or so and I watered twice with pH around 6. That's why I was concert hat the runoff pH will still be higher that 6.8.

Wait,so that pic is runoff water or you showing how much is left after watering? I'm confused sorry!

So if my pH that I'm watering the plants with after adding my lemon juice or finger is around 6.2 then that's good, right?

 

[Potplant]

So today I wanted to tie plant 1 down a bit cos shes the tallest and like all the others when I vent them over they hanging over the pot by a bit so I wanted to get them back into the pot and direct from there and only plant 1 has enough growth to do that, so i tried putting wire into the soil but even got to worried about maybe going to deep and damaging something so I ended up putting 2 wires not so deep and just to direct 2 branches to go in the other direction and for them to pop up a bit more. So this is what it looked like right after.

I went in now to foliar spray and all those tops are pointing up! Really amazing to see how quickly they respond!

IL take a pic tomorrow morning to show how it looks now.

 

[Emilya Green]

Yeah you right, I knew it was a bad idea but I meant for later if I see it needing anything the stick has to offer. Ok now I know it will still be a bad idea to use it. Ok perfect, thank you. I will definitely need your advice with regards to giving the right nutrients at the right time.

OK so I shouldn't worry too much about my run off water pH? The last time I checked it it was 7.8 or so and I watered twice with pH around 6. That's why I was concert hat the runoff pH will still be higher that 6.8.

Wait,so that pic is runoff water or you showing how much is left after watering? I'm confused sorry!

So if my pH that I'm watering the plants with after adding my lemon juice or finger is around 6.2 then that's good, right?

Well, look at your plants. What do you think? It seems to me that 6.2 is about perfect for your situation. do not change a thing.

pay absolutely ZERO attention to the pH of your runoff. It means absolutely NOTHING. Of course it is a higher pH after percolating through the soil and out the bottom... just like making coffee... it has picked up sediment. You are micro worrying.

ok, the picture of the water. I had that solo/beer cup filled with dry soil and packed down just like I have around my plants. I weighed the cup of soil. I then carefully watered that cup, slowly and properly, just like I do with my plants, until it could hold no more and anything else added came out of the bottom as runoff. I then reweighed the cup and subtracted the weight of the original soil and then I added that much water weight back to an empty cup. At least 2/3 of the volume of your container will be water suspended in the soil, when you water correctly. Visualize a container of soil as a table of water who's surface starts at the top of the soil and then as the plant uses the water, the water table gradually falls down to the bottom of the container. While there is water in the container, this column of pH adjusted water must exist somewhere.

So today I wanted to tie plant 1 down a bit cos shes the tallest and like all the others when I vent them over they hanging over the pot by a bit so I wanted to get them back into the pot and direct from there and only plant 1 has enough growth to do that, so i tried putting wire into the soil but even got to worried about maybe going to deep and damaging something so I ended up putting 2 wires not so deep and just to direct 2 branches to go in the other direction and for them to pop up a bit more. So this is what it looked like right after.



I went in now to foliar spray and all those tops are pointing up! Really amazing to see how quickly they respond!

IL take a pic tomorrow morning to show how it looks now.

They are looking great, and there really are no rules as to how to tie up, top, fim or otherwise coax the plants into more complex shapes, while still in veg. Experiment to your heart's delight in this because while in veg the plants will simply adapt to everything you do to them, whereas later in flower the plants will stop adapting and will react to this sort of treatment, usually negatively. Once flowering starts you will have to stop this training and let them grow out from wherever you have left off.

 

[Emilya Green]

How much water does soil hold?

 

[Potplant]

You right, I think 6.2 is perfect as well!

Oh now I understand, wow! So basically that's how much water is in the soil and staying there after watering correctly, that's amazing!

OK cool, I just don't like it to be hanging over on one side and the rest of the pot is empty, so im gonna make sure that I try to get more branches going back into the pot.

 

[Potplant]

Here's pics of the plants now in order from 1 to 6:

 

[Potplant]

Ok so here's an update. It had been raining in the night so i still havent watered the plants. So I decided to spend my evening tying the plants down properly. So I took each one in one at a time and looked it over properly and then tied it down, heres the end result. But first a pic of plant 1 and 2 before.

Plant 1 before:

Plant 2 before:

Plant 1 after:

Plant 2 after:

Plant 3 after:

Plant 4 after:

Plant 5 after :

There's really no need for plant 6 cos I just untied her so she's less stressed and gonna leave her to grow in her own time.

I'm really happy with the way they look, I made sure I didn't squash the stem, when I noticed it was on the first plant I rectified it and made sure I didn't do the same on all the others. My concern now is when it's time water, the leaves are close to the bottom and the centre is a bit crowded now. Il take pics tomorrow after they start point upwards to see if its going to work well or not.

I'm hoping I can leave them in these pots for a while before transplanting them and if i transplant before flower and then do i retie them in the new pots or leave them untied?

 

[Emilya Green]

This is how I solved the problem you are considering. Instead of connecting strings to the side of the container and points beyond, I simply took 100' of garden wire and bent it into long medium and short hoops which i could loop around a branch and then anchor it in place using the soil beneath it. When it came time to transplant, then entire system, complete with the hoops, gets transferred to the bigger container with no interruption in their training.

 

[Potplant]

That looks awesome! When I tried the wire the soil wasn't holding it solid and I didn't want to damage anything under the soil cis the branches were still short so the wire was going to close to the stem.

Here's pics of them less than 12 hours later:

Plant 1:

Plant 2:

Plant 3:

Plant 4:

Plant 5:

Plant 6:

 

[Smeegol]

Hi Emilya, thanks for that link, I came across it yesterday and was hotdiggity damn I'm in luck, but was on edibles so couldn't remember who or where I read it, now I find you on this gentlemans journal this afternoon. My fortunes are improving. Think it may have been on @ ginganinjas page. Cheers for this gem..

 

[Smeegol]

Ok so today around 12 I went to have a look to see of the plants were ok and the one with all the stains on it was looking bad and I wasn't happy with the soil as it was looking mushy, and wasn't draining properly. So I started to empty out the wet clumpy soil to repot half of it at least with nice soil and as I was taking out the wet soil I noticed a food stick and it was half of it and it was stuck to some roots! So I took it out and more soil and replaced it, then I gave it a good watering all the plants. Came back this evening and she's looking much happier, well maybe I'm just seeing things but that's how I feel. Pots were almost dry so 2mrw before midday I'm gonna give them a good soaking,oh and I'm using ph'ed down water, lemon in the water and it looks like it's making a difference. Will update 2mrw as to how the plants are looking.

Afternoon my friend, busy catching up quick. In some earlier pics you showed the root zone and I thought to myself that your soil content almost looks like you have to much clay in it from the 50% garden soil...

 

[Emilya Green]

That looks awesome! When I tried the wire the soil wasn't holding it solid and I didn't want to damage anything under the soil cis the branches were still short so the wire was going to close to the stem.

if you flare out the bottom end of the hooks, so that at the bottom of the container end there is a sort of a bend at the end of the wire, it will hold even in dry soil

 

[Smeegol]

Good afternoon my friend, just gonna grab that beanbag in the corner. I've been lurking the last year just reading and learning and tried 1 grow last year as a trial. Decided to join up in January, and learn properly from all the teachers. My bru if @Emilya was a school teacher you would still be in detention writing out lines boet... only joking bout the emoji..

Anyway I'm busy with a cpl other peeps journals and I've come across Emilya in a cpl of them, that's golden knowledge imparted there bru, for myself included.

And @jimmy_zee, I've seen him on another site and also knowledgeable and helpful fella.

So if you don't mind I'll go get that beanbag now and enjoy the show..

My journals called " The Jerky Box Project, have a gander if it pleases you, share info and stuff.

P.S. I use a compost mix similiar to yours. I mix 50% compost,30% worm poo and 20% perlite and my girls are happy apart from slight nitro burn.
I use Seagro and nitrosol at the moment, get it anywhere, mica p&pay garden....

Emilya may I a so you a question in regards to cloning may I inbox you please...??
Sorry for the ramble and hogging your journal my friend...

 

[Smeegol]

And I keep a diary next to me so I can jot down useful tips and info, I'm looking into cooking my own soil in the next cpl of weeks and it all comes from this wonderful community, but like I said I'm newer than a pair of toughies school shoes...

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya may I a so you a question in regards to cloning may I inbox you please...??
Sorry for the ramble and hogging your journal my friend...

I try to shy away from private discussions about individual grows any more because over the years there have been several examples of starting down that road with someone and then years later we are still having that conversation via private chat. All of the knowledge that is imparted or learned in those discussions are not shared with the community, but only one person, and I find that over and over again little gems of insight occur in these chats, but then, because it was private, I have to create a new article to send out to the general public encapsulating those thoughts, or they are lost forever in a private conversation. This process creates extra work that can be avoided, but most of all I am trying to ensure that nothing is missed in my own studies of this hobby and I prefer to keep growchat in the public forums for now. I will not restrict you from sending me a PM however, but if it turns into an instructional type response, I reserve the right to move the ideas from that chat to the public forum and they may possibly also be used in my upcoming book.
I do love questions though, and will generally give an answer way too long in response to most anything. Cloning is a favorite topic of mine and after trying pretty much every method out there, I came up with what I think has to be the superior method to clone this weed.
I wrote about it here, 10 Minute DIY Tupperware Bubble Cloner
I would love to hear any thoughts/questions you have on the cloning process, in that thread, and since it is my thread I can feel comfortable going into however much depth we need to go to answer your questions.

 

[Smeegol]

Dont let anyone tell you that you ain't a sweetheart.... please accept my humble offerings, will do a bit of reading on that thread before I do any asking, thanks kindly..