Quarterly Lessons Learned
I have been planning on doing a lessons learned with this journal but I don't want to wait until the end of the year to do it. So we decided that we would do a quarterly Lesson Learned instead of just a final one.
1. Soil pH can change as it sets depending on what amendments you use. Ours rose up a bit while it sat for a few months. I am going to take a look at a few amendments that can cause up swings and look at the ratios and the possibility of finding an alternative amendment or changing the amounts (working on testing methods to determine all this....will update as we progress).
The end game for me is having a soil with a great pH, which I can go from start to finish with water only (preferably without any adjusting any water pH). Now if I had decent water....not this 9.2 bullshit tap water....it might be possible even with my soils slightly elevated pH right now. We will get there.
I am also hoping that with the recent additions of vermi-composting, the soil will get better as well keep using it.
2. Listen to the plants. I approached this perpetual with an idea in mind and I did my best to make the plants fit those plans. Things don't always work the way we want, despite what we do to try to make it work. If the plants are showing you that they aren't happy in their container, listen to them. Have a plan but be flexible cause if your plan isn't working, you better be able to adjust on the go.
If you are in hard pots, take advantage of that and look at your roots. If the plant is root bound....listen to her and give her more room. I like using hard pots in veg for that reason. I can just pull the plant out and take a quick glance. It goes a long way to listen to them.....don't be stubborn like me.
3. Bigger pots make things easier if you are using soil. More soil means more forgiveness to the plant. Its more likely you will have the stuff you need for your plant in a 10 gallon pot than in a 3 gallon pot.
You have to understand that many of the nutrients in the plants are 'mobile' nutrients. That means the plant can move those nutrients as needed and move them from plant part to plant part. Take the time to start learning about some of your macro and micro nutrients. Regardless if you do that, if you grow in soil....the bigger the pot, the easier go your plant will have (assuming you are using decent stuff). More roots means bigger shoots.
I see a healthier plant in my two strains growing in 10 gallon pots. The most issues I have experienced are in my smallest pot (5 gallon pot).
4. Pace yourself if you are doing a perpetual. We went from nothing growing for a month to starting the perpetual and I probably made a couple choices I shouldn't have made. I dropped 2 Nukeheads, then followed that up with 2 Harlequins and 2 Stankberries (the harley and stanks were regular seeds so I dropped two).
The original plan of Stanks Perpetual was to drop a new bean roughly every 2 weeks. Space any regular seed strains out so they aren't bunched up and you have multiple males around at the same time. I would have been better off staggering regulars (I drop two beans when I do regulars to account for potential males) between 3 feminized plants to ensure I don't have too many plants going at once.
I have slowed down a little to clear the backlog that I have in the flower tent. I am dropping every 3 weeks and I am skipping one week due to the Blue Dream clone. No harm done and we will be good once we harvest the Stankberry and the Nukehead.
5. Change or clean your external filter on your carbon filter if you use them. They can get filthy (especially if you breed in the tent) and when that happens it restricts your air flow. My personal recommendation is buy a spare external filter and change them every 6 months. You can wash them and reuse them. Having the spare just makes it easier.
You can also flip the flange on your carbon filter and extend the life of your carbon filter by doing that. Also watch your carbon filter if you use a humidifier in a grow tent. That can cause it to not work efficiently or even at all if you let it get to humid in the grow area.
The plants definitely love the higher humidity in veg but that high humidity can play hell on your filter, so be careful and don't let it get too high. If you are up over 65% RH with a carbon filter, you are setting yourself up for a filter failure. I had to replace mine from learning the hard way.
6. Be careful when dealing with pollen......right
@Chris Scorpio. We have been extremely cautious this grow since we are doing a little pollen chucking right now. It doesn't take much to cause some big issues.
a. Change your clothes and shower after dealing with a flowering male. Don't take any chances.
b. Keep your spaces as far apart if possible.
c. Keep a spray bottle near your flowering tent....spray as soon as you open the flaps (lightly...you just want to neutralize any pollen that might find its way into the tent.
d. Accidental pollination is going to occur if you do the pollination in your flower tent....so don't do it there, go somewhere with no air flow.
e. Best to use clones to breed. Why take the chance of more seeds than you want on a plant you don't want a lot of seeds on.....take a clone of the male and the female and let them do their business in a tent all by themselves. Once they are done.....spray the freaking hell out of the female with water (a few times over....water deactivates or neutralizes pollen) so that the fans in the flower tent don't blow any residual pollen onto some of the other flowering plants. After you have sprayed them (a few times), you can move the impregnated female back into the main flowering tent.
Summary
1. Check your soil pH if its been sitting for a while
2. Listen to the plants
3. Bigger pots if you can swing it....less problems and more yield
4. Pace yourself on perpetual or it will get out control quickly
5. Do some preventative maintenance on your equipment (specifically your filters and fans)
6. Pollen can be a pain so plan accordingly.
I am sure we forgot some....and I will add any we remember.
No smoke reports on any of the strains at this point.
