Skybound's Journal

Weaselcracker said:
Nice. I love the look of that Cheese with those big stubby looking buds.





Oh man I’ve been trying for years to find a strain to replace this PC pheno with. It grows into a horrible tangled mess that needs to be constantly trimmed over and over. Trimming it is a bloody nightmare. It’s so sticky that the most accurate description I can think of is it’s like working with fresh epoxy glue. Epoxy that never sets. Does being covered in raw epoxy sound pleasant to you? Well it’s not... The smell clings for days and keeps me awake at night if I don’t wear a full moon suit when I trim.
Yesterday I went into one of my outbuildings and the whole place stunk to high heaven- because, two days earlier, I had left a little tupperware container in there that had some PC buds in it for about an hour and a half during the trimming process. The container was totally empty and looked perfectly clean. It reeked. I opened both doors for the rest of the day and and threw the container out into the yard. I’m sure it’s still there reeking.
It’s the sickliest ugliest most annoying plant I grow and by far the most prone to mold. More than half the PCs I’ve ever grown have been chopped early and tossed into the hash trimmings pile. Mainly because of impending mold. By 2/3 of the way through flowering it always looks like a bomb hit it. But somehow that ugly mess produces smoke that everyone keeps saying me is the best in the land. ‘Man why don’t you just stop growing all that other crap and only grow the Pineapple Chunk?’
This has been the situation for several years. It’s like a bad joke, or a curse. Like one of those sneaky backstabbing wishes you get granted by a genie in a bottle. It’s totally fucked! Agggghh, don’t get me started! :eek:

PC issues

PC issues


PC issues

PC issues

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Sounds like a wonderful thing, and a pain in the ass all rolled into one. In my neck of the woods we have a name for that. Mrs. Sparks. Lol! J/k.
Guess one could say its a good problem to have.

:thumb:
 
I caan't lie and say I do alot of reading,,,, never learnt that in my 3 R's of schooling,,,,


but I did see afew REALLY nice donkey dicks coming your way.... WOW,,,, Nice plant.

Good choice for a production run of a SOG grow my friend,, if you have a cut....
 
ilikemsticky said:
idk if it makes a difference with hydro but its recommended to take leafs for testing in the afternoon after the plant is in full production maybe do your test an hour or so before lights out see if you get an improvement!
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I've been taking my leaves late in the day time period for this reason, but still am only getting 5 or 6 brix. Added reading suggests to test the fruit for brix which leads me to desire testing a bud, though I am thinking maybe all of the trichomes might skew the sap and subsequent results? My honest hope is that this new PH meter will help me to identify how far out of ideal ionic exchange I currently am, because otherwise I will have no real measurable way of knowing how far away I am from the balance that will make a plant grow with high brix contents. I mean just seeing the brix results in the refractometer does nothing in telling the grower how to adjust things if a low reading is shown. At least having a desired PH in the sap leads me to believe that this balance of elements in the leaf tissue is where a plant will grow with high brix contents, and then gives me an achievable goal to adjust my feed to produce.

sap-ph.png
 
Norcaliwood said:
I caan't lie and say I do alot of reading,,,, never learnt that in my 3 R's of schooling,,,,


but I did see afew REALLY nice donkey dicks coming your way.... WOW,,,, Nice plant.

Good choice for a production run of a SOG grow my friend,, if you have a cut....
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Sadly, I culled the last cut I had a couple weeks ago, but literally, that was the only TC seed I popped many months ago and without question, she was the most vigorously growing plant I ever worked with. Her vigor was so reliable and predictable, she made last minute clones into super stars. If I was into breeding, I would only want to mix her with a super frosty strain because she pretty much has everything else going on. If you ever order Barney's Farm, definitely put Triple Cheese in the cart.
 
Allegedly a PH of 6.4 leaf sap is ideal. I am at 6.1 and suspect I've been there for months. If this chart is accurate, I am still lacking on Ca and K. I'm confident my Mg is fine, but I may be lacking some sodium as well. I will have to research toxic levels for sodium b/c I know it's not that much, but I have a Chelated Calcium product that I never used due to it being so high in sodium, and I suspect this will be a good time to graft it in if posible. None the less though, I will jack up my Calcium and Potassium to still higher levels than I currently am at and then observe the lead sap PH and see if I can't move it towards 6.4 from 6.1. This Brix quest just became possible again, lol.

First Test.jpg
sap-ph.png


FYI, this test was done on the last Cheese that is in flush which means I can't change Jack squat in it, so I will have to test my youngest in bloom tomorrow morning (thick stems).

On another note, my Amino Acids arrive tomorrow so hopefully the inclusion of that will elevate my brix as well as leaf sap PH.
 
I'm loving this thick stem PC pheno. So sturdy and generally well behaved. Pretty Effin frosty, stacking buds nicely, slow, but nicely. Aside from the petiole colors, I see no visible signs of deficiency, but still the sap PH was 6.1, so I will begin the high brix feed attempt next week. I ordered Calcium Carbonate to become my alternate source of Ca, and Hydro Buddy can once again resolve with no errors, so beginning Monday, all sites will get more Ca, way more K and a tad less Nitrate. I figure 2 weeks of that will be long enough to alter the sap PH enough to determine if what I'm doing is good or bad. At any rate though, I'm loving this strain none the less. I wish she was more stinky is all.

PC Thick 1.jpg
Thick Stem Stacking.jpg
 
Here is the contents of my compost tea. I first squirt 3ml of unsulfured molasses into a 2Gal bucket, then pump 1 gal of RO onto that to dissolve the molasses with the filling water. I then add the rest of the ingredients in no certain order, just ensuring to mix everything around well. The Great White as well as the Kelp/Humic like to settle quickly. It's important to keep the brew moving. I fail in that need of course and currently only use an air puck in there, but it is more important to move all the water a lot, not only for better aeration, but also to keep everything mixed and suspended in motion. I am caught up spending more time finishing my RC lawn mower, but as soon as that's done, I'll get back to designing a printable water pump. Otherwise, a pump that keeps the motor out of the water WILL be needed. I once tried one of my small 160gph pumps in my one gallon Tea mix, but that got the water on the hotter side of warm which is very bad in most cases. I want, cold, turbulent and aerated. Right now the best I can do is aerated and room temp cold.

The Great White, the molasses and the Humic Acids are the basic compost mix. The other ingredients are just random things that were gifted to me from the local hydro shop. If you're in the states, look for Microbe Life products, they give that stuff away, and have been for years. I only recently realized what goodness they're giving away in an effort to market their products. The Fish Shit is also a sample size, and when making only a 1 gallon brew, these samples go really far. The Amino Acids I just got and am brewing my first tea with that added. I expect continued great results from this tea, and this mix is working well despite being starved of adequate circulation/movement. Once I get that concern addressed, my Teas will be lethal I think.

Humic.jpg
Ingredients 1.jpg
Ingredients 2.jpg
Molasses Mix.jpg
Tea Color.jpg
 
Great info, thanks. How long are you brewing that for?

Edit- kind of weird that PC pheno could be so completely different than the skinny leaf one. Especially when it’s not very smelly- gives me some doubt that the bud is going to be as good.
 
ilikemsticky said:
looks like a good mix to me I use some of the same ingredients in mine yes its good to have good air flow did you just make those bubbles in there or is that what formed after some air bubbles?
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I look for anything with Bacilus and Tricaderma. Bacilus Amyl.....(Latin Word).... is the active ingredient in Aqua Shield, it's the only ingredient for that matter. Both of these Microbe Life products have Bacilus Amy, plus a lot of other colonies to mix with Great White and Fish Shit. There's definitely lots of goodness in there.

The bubbles are the result of me firing that 60ml syringe into the tea. This makes a blast of highly turbulent water for a few moments which really whips everything up. I snatched a quick picture while the bubbles were still frothy. Like I said, I will get back to designing something I can attach a motor to that will spin and lift water and effectively pump it such that there will be at least decent water flow, but I am tied up with my RC Mower project which will likely be totally done today. But generally, I do wish to have a powerful water pump that just moves water and does not introduce any extra heat, which is what I constantly spinning motor produces, so the motor cannot be located in the tea.

Weaselcracker said:
Great info, thanks. How long are you brewing that for?

Edit- kind of weird that PC pheno could be so completely different than the skinny leaf one. Especially when it’s not very smelly- gives me some doubt that the bud is going to be as good.
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When I learned the basic tea from the Capn, he had us brewing for 3 solid days and I was having great results. Years later, I re-read the Heisenberg Tea post on RIU ("DWC Root Slime") (or maybe another post elsewhere about ACTs?) it said to brew from 36-48 hours, so that's what I've been practicing most recently with equally good results. From what I can gather based on things read is that different colonies become most active at different periods so maybe it's best to identify when the colonies begin to become active and inoculate the roots then, and maybe again like a day later if that's practical to do? I personally mix a tea twice a week, every week. I've got to where it's better than Recharge, though takes time to mature, but there is no filtering or stuffing socks which then requires disposal. Though TBH, if I were in your shoes, or out in the sticks, I would favor making the type of tea that requires filtering. Those byproducts could then go to a compost heap, but since I'm in the city, my decisions are different because my needs are different.

My good PC has a bit broader leaf than the skinny leaf, leggy slut, but on both plants the leaf fingers are very short compared to other strains. It's almost like she was once defoliated and she never grew her young leaves into big ones, except I rarely defol for the sake of defol. The only trianing I do is branch removal, so my leaves should always be big more or less. But honestly, the odor from the rooms is very faint. The Cheese is the only thing stinky right now, but even that smells of Boo Berry cereal from the early 80s. I'm actually concerned about this too because I have been really ramping up the sulfur I give, so these things should be stinking to high heaven? I wonder if I am the first grower ever to have achieved an S toxicity and it has canceled out the odor producing magic? Whatever the deal is, it sure has me stumped. Luckily the stinky stands out after a week of curing.
 
Id say the difference in Phenos on the PC will be less Pineapple -Hawaaian Sativa..
and more Cheese- skunk #1.
Im having the same thing, I think it will come later like most skunks...
Best of luck.
Your right on the Teas, do not bubble them, the beneficials dont like it, circulate, lightly aerate like you do with the syringe when making it or feeding it only and should be awesome.
Teas are very popular now, you guys do some great work.
 
ilikemsticky said:
that's interesting that should feed some flowers lol I have the seabird guano and the liquid bone meal already that I use during flowering for my tea that air stone they put in there had some real power to it mine isn't that powerful I might need to upgrade!
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I got one of them big pumps, but they're not quiet at all. This is why I am seeking to use a pump. Pumped water can be made quieter than stupid loud air pumps. Not much can be done to muffle them.

I found this good article about Calcium and learned some good bits generally about it, but I'd like to point out to you hydro growers that high EC (PPM levels) inhibit Ca uptake which in turn weakens cells which in turn produces smaller plants, so in short, less EC is more, lol.
 
Just a few paragraphs into THIS OTHER ARTICLE about Calcium and Magnesium I learned that Magnesium is likely more important to increasing brix levels due to it being used to make chlorophyll which manufactures sugars, then the enzymes responsible to load and move those sugars. I'd like to hear opinions from high brix growers about Magnesium. As is now, I have my mag at half of the Cal, but I was planning to increase my Cal by 20 PPM, but had no plans to increase the Mag until now. My order of Calcium Carbonate will arrive tomorrow, so I will push my res change day back by one so I can start the high brix experiments right away. Generally though, my N will fall from 100 to 95, Ca up to 120 from 100, K up to 200 from 170 and I guess I'll up the Mg from 50 to 60, maybe 55, we'll see.

Edit - Note, increased indoor lighting from growing closer to high powered fixtures increases the need for Mag, which tells me Mag needs to gradually increase throughout life.
 
This batch looks much more frothy than usual. FYI, I have a fairly big pump, but it's still comparable to a fish tank pump in size and noise, but it too still lacks airflow IMO. BTW, I merge 4 outlets into 2, then the two is merged downstream to make one for the air stone puck.

Frothy After Brew.jpg
The Pump.jpg
 
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