Critical Purple Kush & CBD

[Dusted]

I was supposed to document a Seedsman genetics grow on a comparison thread, but most people started two months ago, so I will go it alone here. I finished harvesting on Christmas day and have spent the last 5 days cleaning the grow media and entire hydroponic system. After removing as many roots as possible I did a 48 hr soak of the whole system in an acidified 7% hydrogen peroxide solution. Got it all flushed today and added fresh tap water. I then inoculated the grow media with a blend of two different bacterial/fungal spore blends, hydrated. I am raising the room temperature to about 27 C and have bags over the rocks while the system circulates. This should allow the bugs a good chance to chow down on organic material before seedlings are introduced.

I placed 5 Critical Purple Kush and 2 CBD 30:1 between paper towel on an incline with water in the base container. Enough water wicks up to the seeds to keep them moist. This provides the most available oxygen to the seeds while keeping the seeds moist. The roots also grow down the incline which helps keep them from curling. The containers are now in a cupboard for three days. They will have 1-2 cm tap roots when I place them into the rocks. I have never grown a CBD strain before so it should be interesting. I usually get 100% germination so I will have extra seedlings I suspect. Oh well, they were free!

I have a 5 pot traditional hydroponic system. 15 L pots containing rocks sitting in 20 L receiver pails. Continuous drip recirculation through a water chiller. I use a 1000 W MH bulb with dimmer ballast. I have grown under HPS but I don't care for that colour of lighting for inspecting the plants and taking photographs. Here is an old picture of the setup:

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• Dusted
• Sep 3, 2019

 

[Preston9mm]

I'll hang out for the show.

 

[Dusted]

I'll hang out for the show.

Welcome.

 

[Canuckush]

I'm in, I want to learn this system from the get go! Taking notes!

 

[Dusted]

I'm in, I want to learn this system from the get go! Taking notes!

Hey Canuckush. Glad to have you.

 

[Curiousnoob]

Definetly up for some edumacating

 

[Dusted]

Definetly up for some edumacating

Hey Curious. Hope I can inform and entertain you

 

[SmokeLake]

Hey dont feel left out Im not far ahead Im well behind. Im keeping a separate journal as well i simply post in the comparison thread weekly. I put mine in water to soak December 8th.
GoodLuck GrowHard
HappyNewYear

 

[Dusted]

Welcome Smoke.

Day 0

After 2 days I checked the room and water temperature and it had been incubating at 30 C. Drained the warm water and poured a gallon of cold tap water over the rocks in all the pots. Large amounts of fine root material were flushed from the pots so I drained the system again and added new tap water. I then added the potassium silicate, that I hate working with, and circulated overnight.

Today I added the new nutrients at recommended concentrations and slowly got the pH down to the correct range (5.5-6.1). This grow I will be using the REMO brand of nutrients instead of General Hydroponics. GH has pissed me off since I started using their flora series, with big pH swings due to the ammonium salts they use. I even splurged and bought some add ons which I normally don't buy. I bought the velokelp for the hormones but will only apply it via foliar feed. I don't want to overload the water with soluble carbon since it can cause bacterial blooms and deplete the oxygen in the root zone. I do add 2 mL of malt vinegar to the pump intake daily to feed the bugs in the rocks. When I run out of vinegar I will switch to molasses, making sure not to overdose. I have reduced the water chiller temperature for this grow to 19 C to try prevent the stem rot infection which I always get, even after sterilization.

7/7 germination rate as expected. The CBD roots were not quite as developed as the CPK but everything was plantable. Two pots got 2 seedlings since I had them. I will pluck out the extra seedlings when I see how they do. I hydrated the Great White and Subtilus B inoculants before looking at the seedlings and then soaked them as soon as I opened the cupboard. This is also the solution I use to keep them wet the first 12 hrs with a stream from a wash bottle. Consider life without gut bacteria. That's how I look at plants without symbiotic bacterial and fungal strains in the rootlet environment.

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• Jan 1, 2020

Seedsman germanation

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• Jan 1, 2020

Seedsman germanation

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• Jan 1, 2020

Seedsman germanation

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• Jan 1, 2020

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• Jan 1, 2020

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• Jan 1, 2020

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• Jan 1, 2020

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• Jan 1, 2020

 

[Dusted]

Day 4

Almost lost both CBD seedlings. I guess they could have used another 12 hrs of germination before planting, but once you take a look at the germinating seeds, the light destroys the hormones required for germination, until more is produced in the dark. Anyway, both of them froze for two days with no swelling or root extension. I was so worried I transplanted the extra CPK into that pot before the root got too long to remove. After running the nutrient over the seeds in a stream for two days they finally responded, so I have 3 in that pot now.

Since I made a hollow in the rocks before planting I am able to easily move rocks around the stretching stem to support it. Once they get a bit taller I will flatten out the rocks and get the drip nozzles under some rocks. This will keep the rock surface dry and prevent algal growth. I haven't turned on the circulation fan yet, since the leaves are so small at this point and they get lots of air. I will try my standard room temperature of about 24 C to start and see if they like it there. It's nice to be in a warm room compared to the last grow where the plants preferred it much cooler (20-21 C). At 24 C the Indica's I grew last had droopy fan leaves which perked right up at 21 C.

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• Dusted
• Jan 5, 2020

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• Jan 5, 2020

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• Jan 5, 2020

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• Jan 5, 2020

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• Dusted
• Jan 5, 2020

 

[SmokeLake]

Day 4

Almost lost both CBD seedlings. I guess they could have used another 12 hrs of germination before planting, but once you take a look at the germinating seeds, the light destroys the hormones required for germination, until more is produced in the dark. Anyway, both of them froze for two days with no swelling or root extension. I was so worried I transplanted the extra CPK into that pot before the root got too long to remove. After running the nutrient over the seeds in a stream for two days they finally responded, so I have 3 in that pot now.

Since I made a hollow in the rocks before planting I am able to easily move rocks around the stretching stem to support it. Once they get a bit taller I will flatten out the rocks and get the drip nozzles under some rocks. This will keep the rock surface dry and prevent algal growth. I haven't turned on the circulation fan yet, since the leaves are so small at this point and they get lots of air. I will try my standard room temperature of about 24 C to start and see if they like it there. It's nice to be in a warm room compared to the last grow where the plants preferred it much cooler (20-21 C). At 24 C the Indica's I grew last had droopy fan leaves which perked right up at 21 C.

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• Dusted
• Jan 5, 2020

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• Jan 5, 2020

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• Jan 5, 2020

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• Jan 5, 2020

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• Dusted
• Jan 5, 2020

Those DrCBD seeds are aggressive they should catch right up to the CPK seeds seemed so small but they dont miss a beat.
Happy420!!

 

[scrogster]

Your off to a good start . My 5girls just showed there heads yesterday planted 1st of this month . This am they all shed there helmet.

 

[Dusted]

Welcome scogster. It can be a tense time particularly if the helmet sticks shut and you have to do surgery.

 

[Dusted]

Day 13

Well, its's -34 C (plus a stiff breeze = -41 C) outside and my house has a RH of 25%, even running a humidifier. The young girls would certainly like more humidity but are doing OK considering. I have started foliar feeding with 0.5% Velokelp in deionized water just after lights out. This give a minor boost to the humidity in the room for a little while as well as getting hormones onto the leaves and shoots. I have also been dosing the system with microbial spores weekly and ended up with a fungal bloom in the system. The water went cloudy and filamentous fungi grew on all surfaces even though the system is set at 19 C with aeration. Switched out the water and it's OK now. It was just decomposition of some of the residual organic material in the rocks, which is being released. I removed the extra CPK and CBD seedlings, not without some anxiety, when the roots of the two CBD's were tangled. The remaining girl seems healthy and should catch up soon. The light is still set at 750 W until the fan leaves get large enough to shade the rocks from the light when it gets bumped up to 1000 W. Another week or two depending.

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• Dusted
• Jan 14, 2020

CPK at day 13

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• Jan 14, 2020

CPK at day 13

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• Jan 14, 2020

CPK at day 13

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• Jan 14, 2020

CPK at day 13

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• Jan 14, 2020

CBD at day 13

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• Jan 14, 2020

Seedsman grow at day 13

 

[Dusted]

Day 18

I got impatient with the growth rate so I bumped the light up to 1000 W a bit earlier than expected. I also had to start up the circulation fan to get rid of some of the heat and provide leaf movement. This will also help strengthen the stalks since they are now moving in the breeze. They immediately perked up and increased their growth rate. The nutrient chiller is working a lot to keep the temperature down, but that should only last for another week or so until the leaves fill out.

I checked the genetics of the CPK and found it is mostly Indica so I guess the room temperature will be cooler this grow again. The temperature is 22 C daytime and 16.5 C night. Still no humidity in the house but the outside temperature is going up tomorrow which should bring some relief. I'm a bit annoyed to read that some people are seeing hermaphrodism in the CPK, but we shall see what happens. My plants certainly don't get stressed during their growth so I hope that is not a strain trait.

I'm liking the new nutrient line. I haven't notice any insolubles that other people have mentioned and the pH isn't going crazy like it did with the General Hydroponics series. I don't know why GH insists on using ammonium salts as part of the N formulation when it causes such problems. They blamed it on bacterial contamination of my system. That's not contamination. It is purposefully added beneficial microbes, which they couldn't seem to understand.

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• Dusted
• Jan 19, 2020

CPK Day 18

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• Jan 19, 2020

CPK Day 18

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• Jan 19, 2020

CPK Day 18

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• Jan 19, 2020

CPK Day 18

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• Jan 19, 2020

CBD 30:1 Day 18

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• Dusted
• Jan 19, 2020

Seedsman grow Day 18

 

[scrogster]

Weird mine are a day or two behind yours and they are working on there 3rd set of leafs . I always thought hydro has faster growth rate is this true . I'm in promix . I have x1 30:1 cbd
X1 cpk
X1 white widow going now. Yours are looking happy nice start.

 

[Dusted]

They have spent their time building roots instead of leaves. Now that the roots are developed the growth will be explosive.

 

[Dusted]

Day 25

Despite my sterilization methods some fungus fly eggs survived. Every week I find one pop to the surface of the rocks and run around for a day or two. The infestation isn't too bad yet. When they are reproducing vigorously there are multiple bugs on the rocks all the time. It may be the weekly dose of microbes is keeping the nymph stage in check. Certain Bacillus sp. can infect the aquatic stage of the flies, so I will keep adding fresh innoculum and hope they don't get too bad. I never notice any affect on the plants even though they apparently will graze on rootlets in addition to fungus.

This is a scary week in my plants development cycle. It is when my familiar enemy stem rot usually appears. So far so good. I'm hoping with the sterilization of the rocks, cooler nutrient temperature, and keeping the nutrient away from the stem, they will not get infected this time.

The cooler room and nutrient temperatures plus these being Indica plants, they are growing a bit slower than some grows. It will be at least another week, maybe two, before the flip, although things do change rapidly at this stage. I have been adding 2mL of the kelp product directly to the pump suction daily, instead of vinegar, as a carbon source. I may start adding both since the kelp isn't really a soluble carbon source for the bacteria. It is more of a particle suspension that releases hormones and then biodegrades.

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• Dusted
• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

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• Dusted
• Jan 26, 2020

CBD Day 25

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• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

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• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

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• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

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• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

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• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

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• Jan 26, 2020

CPK Day 25

 

[Dusted]

I got bored so got out the macro lens.

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• Dusted
• Jan 29, 2020

Shoot macro

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• Jan 29, 2020

Leaf

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• Jan 29, 2020

Shoot macro

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• Jan 29, 2020

Shoot macro

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• Jan 29, 2020

Leaf macro

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• Jan 29, 2020

Shoot macro

 

[Dusted]

I have an extra 600 W fixture and ballast, and thought, what better place to store it than the ceiling of my grow room. Gets it off the floor. Since I have a 1000 W MH in the main fixture I put the HPS bulb in the smaller one. I decided to turn it on today for a while at 450 W. As expected the room temperature went up 1C even though I increased the circulation fan speed. What I didn’t expect was the change in leaf colour. Even taking into account the different light spectrum for fooling the eyes, the rapid chlorophyll generation during a few hours was amazing. These plants have always had a slight yellowish cast to them I found weird. I attributed it to a lower N content in my new nutrients, which is probably a contributing factor. I think I will continue to run the new light, unless I run into temperature issues, after seeing the big changes today.