Sqwheels' Perpetual 2L Hempy + Moms

[sqwheels]

Hi MrGMT,
I've got an update to do myself ... I'll be over soon as I can



OMM,

 

[sqwheels]

Hi Folks,

Here's another weekly update on my garden...many different stages in the flower room.

Throughout the week I did several things...PE hit 45 days 12/12, she was defoliated on Thursday. There wasn't a lot to remove, most of her leaves don't have a stem to get ahold of, not even with my smallest scissors
before

after

After repotting OG to a 2L, I put her into the flower room...sex to be determined

Saturday was day 21 of 12/12 for Wonder Woman mom...so she got it too
before

after

her branches are about 6-7" and they are loaded with buds, I've tied them in such a way to expose as much of them as possible to the light, I can already see a difference...this pic is from this morning

a couple bud shots from just before defoliation

and one from today

after I defoliated the PE I noticed some purple on her leaves. I hear/see purple on MJ all the time, so I didn't think too much about it, but now I think I may have a nute/pH problem. The purple is in blotches, not a uniform color change...that's why I think it's not a good thing
Friday

Today

I also decided because of time restrictions it was time to move the Wonder Woman clones and PE top into the flower room for good...I was moving them back and forth, between veg and flower, each day for about 8 days, they were from PE @ 3" (she's a week behind) to the tallest WW @ 6". They've been in there 4 days and I can already see a little stretch and some hairs

Group Shot today moments after lights on...Wonder Woman mom (L), PE and WW clones (C), PE (right rear), and OG (right front)

The humidity in there gets up to 70% overnight, and drops to 55% during the day. It's been hot here and my rooms climate has changed a lot because of it. During the winter it's been constant @ 45-50%. Our weather is suppose to return to the normal range, I hope my room does the same...I'm at the mercy of the ambient house climate. I never in my life thought I'd wish for the cold to stick around for a while

I spent the entire morning flushing PE, I really hope to see an improvment in a day or two. If you have any what's wrong let me know.

Thanks



Happy Growing Everybody

 

[Mr. Krip]

Great job, again Sqwheels! :welldone
This time I WAS able to give you +REPS, too!

 

[HomeMedGrower]

Sqwheels they look great, not sure about the purple color though. What size is that square container the WW is in? I'm trying to find some containers similar to that.

 

[OldMedMan]

Hi Sqwheels.

They look great!

Not sure about the PE.....it almost looks normal, if it were closer to harvest. Looks like she is using up everything in the leaves. ??

 

[sqwheels]

Great job, again Sqwheels!
This time I WAS able to give you +REPS, too!

Hi Mr.K,

I appreciate the compliment very much. And thanks for the +reps.

 

[sqwheels]

Sqwheels they look great, not sure about the purple color though. What size is that square container the WW is in? I'm trying to find some containers similar to that.

Hi HMG,

Thank you. I'm not sure about the purple either, I see it on MJ all the time, I don't want to over react to it...but she's still got a couple weeks and looks a little suspicious. Still researching, hopfully I'll find something that helps explain what it is.

The pots are 7x7"sq x 9" deep, got them at the hydro store, they come in all sizes 2,3,4,6,7 and I'm sure would fit nicely in a 10x20 tray in multiples. They have holes in the bottom, but do hold a little water. I like them for moms because it will make root pruning easier. I also think for long term growing they are better for their root system...water to waste instead of a 2L where the roots sit in old nute/water.

Hope this helps

edit: I should also mention that the larger pots have small slits at the top on all sides...for me, this makes it easy to tie the branchs into the position I want

 

[sqwheels]

Hi Sqwheels.

They look great!

Not sure about the PE.....it almost looks normal, if it were closer to harvest. Looks like she is using up everything in the leaves. ??

OMM...my dear friend, thank you so much! I'm trying

Still researching the purple...ya, usually I see this on older plants, close to harvest. Maybe she's closer than I thought...Saturday is 6 weeks.

 

[OldMedMan]

OMM...my dear friend, thank you so much! I'm trying

Still researching the purple...ya, usually I see this on older plants, close to harvest. Maybe she's closer than I thought...Saturday is 6 weeks.

Hope that she is a short flowering phenotype. Could be.

 

[sqwheels]

Here's a ???

Can I over flush???

Flushing Hempy is quick and clean...Usually I take a plant to the sink and pour water at such a pace that it quickly fills, but doesn't overflow the 2L, loosening all the mix and roots into a kind of slurry (I can hear it sloshing around in the bottle), and because of the big hole it also quickly drains out the bottom, I tip them to the side and let all the water drain out...then repeat, over and over, until I've flushed 1-1/2 - 2 gallons thru, about 15-20 times.

Yesterday I kept track of the #'s -- it went something like this...each set of #'s represents the waste of each fill in ppm's and pH

Started with a gallon of RO/tap @ 64ppm 6.2, it wasn't quite full
ppm pH
598 -
486 7.2
404 7.3
366 7.3
308 7.3
249 7.3

then switched to a 1/2 gal of RO/tap + Bloom @ 431ppm 6.0
414 6.8
442 6.8
462 6.8
475 6.7
478 6.7

and another gal RO/tap + Bloom @ 444ppm 6.0, but I only used a little over 1/2
472 6.6
459 6.7
432 6.6
419 6.6
413 6.6
405 6.6
399 6.6

I want to continue flushing until the pH comes down even more. It seems to make sense that it will continue to fall if I keep flushing with a lower pH solution...right?

I know people keep track of these #'s...but I don't know how to interpret them and use them to my plants advantage. And I don't want to freak out my girl 3 weeks before harvest. I'm looking forward to some new genetics



Any comments/suggestions are always welcome.

 

[sqwheels]

Hope that she is a short flowering phenotype. Could be.

53 - 59 days according to the breeder...she's @ 38, I would normally start giving just water in about a week anyway... I've looked at lots of PE photos, just don't have time to read all the journals out there, some have plenty of purple on them, and look similar to mine. I'm hoping for the best from her flush...and I think I'm going to do it again tomorrow...give her today to rest.

Her buds look good to me, lots of trics, about 15-20% amber 50-60% cloudy and some clear...far more cloudy than anything.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Sqwheels, you're not flushing to lower PH, you're flushing to lower PPM's (remove the salts & nute build-up in the medium).

You can't really overflush, especially in a hempy, but make sure you replace any flush solution with PH'd water or nute solution.

 

[sqwheels]

Sqwheels, you're not flushing to lower PH, you're flushing to lower PPM's (remove the salts & nute build-up in the medium).

You can't really overflush, especially in a hempy, but make sure you replace any flush solution with PH'd water or nute solution.

Hi Mr.K,

You can see from the #'s that the ppm started at 598ppm, that shouldn't be too high, right? Doesn't seem to indicate an excessive amount of nute build-up, not sure how the "salts" fit in... maybe 600 is too low...hell I don't know for sure, first time growing PE, maybe her needs are different. The WW looks good and they are basically getting the same stuff...GH FloraNova Bloom + Molasses...same thing I've been using successfully for months.

The pH # is what surprised me...isn't 7.2 too high for hempy runoff? I still don't completely understand how it works... Since it's hempy, thus inert to begin with, what I give her is what should run out when flushed...or close to it, isn't that right? With little changes to account for what they "eat" but the pH I've been adhereing to is between 5.7-6.0...so why is the flush runoff so high? I don't get it. I'm having trouble seeing this, can you draw a picture for me? Sometimes I'm extra thick

I didn't really think I could over flush hempy...but I needed confirmation. Thanks.

I usually let them dry out for a day after flushing, before watering again, even tho I tip them on their sides to let all the water run out, after they sit upright for a few minutes there is always a little water that settles back into the res and the bottle feels heavy.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Not really sure I understand...

When you "flush" are you running plain water or a flushing solution through them; or are you using nutes. (It looks like your running a light nute solution through them, which probably won't do much to balance the medium).

FYI...nutes are salts, but the plant isn't using everything you give them, so, some of these salts build up in the medium. The reason for "flushing" (other than as a corrective or pre-harvest measure) is to remove these excess salts from the medium so you can avoid toxicities.

So, you should be flushing with just plain H2O or a flushing agent, like Clearex.

Measuring the PPM's of the solution before the flush, then measuring PPM's of the runoff will tell you if your medium is fully flushed. If the runoff PPM's are higher than when you started, you still have more flushing to do.

Does that help, at all???

 

[HomeMedGrower]

Hi HMG,

Thank you. I'm not sure about the purple either, I see it on MJ all the time, I don't want to over react to it...but she's still got a couple weeks and looks a little suspicious. Still researching, hopfully I'll find something that helps explain what it is.

The pots are 7x7"sq x 9" deep, got them at the hydro store, they come in all sizes 2,3,4,6,7 and I'm sure would fit nicely in a 10x20 tray in multiples. They have holes in the bottom, but do hold a little water. I like them for moms because it will make root pruning easier. I also think for long term growing they are better for their root system...water to waste instead of a 2L where the roots sit in old nute/water.

Hope this helps

edit: I should also mention that the larger pots have small slits at the top on all sides...for me, this makes it easy to tie the branchs into the position I want

This helps a lot. I usually don't go to the hydro store so I guess I'll have to make the trip. I'm really liking the square ones I have with coco just need some bigger ones.

 

[OldMedMan]

53 - 59 days according to the breeder...she's @ 38, I would normally start giving just water in about a week anyway... I've looked at lots of PE photos, just don't have time to read all the journals out there, some have plenty of purple on them, and look similar to mine. I'm hoping for the best from her flush...and I think I'm going to do it again tomorrow...give her today to rest.

Her buds look good to me, lots of trics, about 15-20% amber 50-60% cloudy and some clear...far more cloudy than anything.

Wow! She is finishing early. Little more time and she'll be perfect.

 

[420fied]

Sqwheels,

I noticed the purple. That could be heat stress. I've heat stressed some of mine in the past and they took on those same characteristics. Did that particular plant get close to the bulb? How close are your lights? What are your temps? Just something to consider.

Your garden looks great.

 

[sqwheels]

Not really sure I understand...

When you "flush" are you running plain water or a flushing solution through them; or are you using nutes. (It looks like your running a light nute solution through them, which probably won't do much to balance the medium).

FYI...nutes are salts, but the plant isn't using everything you give them, so, some of these salts build up in the medium. The reason for "flushing" (other than as a corrective or pre-harvest measure) is to remove these excess salts from the medium so you can avoid toxicities.

So, you should be flushing with just plain H2O or a flushing agent, like Clearex.

Measuring the PPM's of the solution before the flush, then measuring PPM's of the runoff will tell you if your medium is fully flushed. If the runoff PPM's are higher than when you started, you still have more flushing to do.

Does that help, at all???

Hi Mr.K,

Sorry for the lag is response...I've been having connection problems for 2 days.

I understand that we "flush" for a couple of reasons...to correct a nute inbalance and at the end of growing to wash out any extras...that being said, I think it was in DocBuds journal I read to use a light nute solution for inbalances...so that's what I've been doing. When flushing at end of growing I just give plain H20 for several days (10-14) before harvest

I didn't know 'salts are nutes'...duh. Salt = build up of unused nutes and thus can become toxic...thanks for the visual--yes it helped. In that case it makes sense to use nutes in low doses to correct that problem, not just water.

The pH is still a ???...why would the pH be @ 7+ if I've been feeding in the 5.6-6.0 range all along? Does toxicicity cause a higher pH? How does that work?

The runoff #'s from flushing are listed a few posts back... the ppm of the first flush was @ 598, and fell with each successive flush using RO/tap @ 65, all the way down to 245, it was only after flushing with a gallon of water that I switched to a low nute solution and the runoff followed along with that...finishing at about the same ppm that I was flushing with ...but the pH never dropped below 6.6 even after running nearly 2 gallons thru her of 6.0. This doesn't make sense to me.

I may not completely get it still...but the info you give always helps to further my understanding

 

[sqwheels]

This helps a lot. I usually don't go to the hydro store so I guess I'll have to make the trip. I'm really liking the square ones I have with coco just need some bigger ones.

Hi HMG,

Happy to assist Anytime

 

[sqwheels]

Wow! She is finishing early. Little more time and she'll be perfect.

Hi OMM,

I think that's what we all strive for...perfection with our girls, unfortunately I fall short a lot! But I keep trying.

I've gone to giving just water, now til harvest... I think probably 10-15 days, I'll just keep watching her and do my best.