The Hexapus's Garden

Weaselcracker said:
Almost forgot. Here is a pic of the vegging Mama Thai from today. Generally this crazy look from her is a sign of the ph being low. I feel like I've been upping it a little higher than usual to counteract this look, but weeks keep going by without improvement. I've been in a hurry lately so haven't exactly done a forensic investigation of the circumstances- not losing sleep over this at all.


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Reminds me of my girl. Im sure you remember that lol. Man im sorry to see its still happening to you. Man we sure racked our brains over that one lol. Your in exactly the same spot i was lol you thought maybe overwatering which normally would make sense but this problem just doesn't make sense at all. Wish we could figure this out, even though I don't have my droopy girl anymore it would be nice to know what causes this lol. Good vibes your way brother!
 
I'm not worried about the Mama Thai, Lexort. She will come around, or I'll start more Thai seeds. I'm pretty sure it is what I think - ph. But I really must take my own advice and do some side by side tests on small plants once I get some clones going.

Nivek. I've been wondering about you, and your plants. Miss seeing your journal.
 
Weaselcracker said:
I'm not worried about the Mama Thai, Lexort. I'm pretty sure it is what I think - ph. But I really must take my own advice and do some side by side tests on small plants once I get some clones going.

Nivek. I've been wondering about you, and your plants. Miss seeing your journal.
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yes, well, i understand,, i wonder about me as well,,my wife does too,, how odd,,
 
Thanks for link. It's hard to tell sometimes with a pix. Moreover, I've locked out my plants in a basic solution. Every grow and strain have their issues for me it seems. Good luck and I'll watch and learn my friend.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
 
nivek said:
But the coolest plant, so far is the mama thai/Thai Stick,, she is so very different,, completely,, skinniest leaves ever,, so classic a look,, just a few weeks into flower still,, this one has me super excited,, indeed
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I want to see a pic. I have a supposedly BBL from Nirvana that has very narrow leaves, totally diff from its mates. What does it smell like?
 
well, ok then,, here it be, courtesy of the creator of weaselhead hash, , mama thai/thai stick,,

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twenty five days into flower,, i tested for odour and could not really smell any,, yet,, i gave it the ole college finger test too,, oh that sounds dirty,, oops

the mama thai,, sixty four or five days in,, crap pic and plant has issues as well,, but rock solid,,

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the three amigos,,

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and last for now,, the mama thai/pineapple chunk,, has a touch-o-amber as we speak,, but gettin a week or so more

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all my last series of plants got out of control on me in the veg room,, for some reason i changed when i topped them and they are all far too big for my teeny room,, i have branches bent and tied and all sorts of terrible things,, what was i thinking??? dunno,, dummy,,

one more thing , quick, weaseley,, i am finally moving away from smoking the herb,, right now i am decarbing my buds and consuming them plain,, i have finally experienced a 'body stone',, not just a silly theory any longer,, what a different stone,, as most know already,, probably just me that did not,,

right now, being saturday,, i am enjoying some decarbed weaselhead hash,, quite a buzz i must say,, only thing i can compare it to is coke -a-cola, can't use that c word here,, the other one probably ok tho,, ha

been years since coke -a - cola entered my system,, but i have a good memory, this not quite there but heading in that direction,,

cheers for now mr cracker,, chat soon,, rain stopped,, out i go,,
 
Hi Weasel! Just been offering advice to you over on Vlads coco thread; thought I mite as well come over here and say g'day...And to you too nivek!
Basically I've been saying I can solve all your problems. Not really, but I do think you will like a switch to coco/organic. Very user friendly and forgiving way to grow!! But use good quality coco, which will be ph and, sometimes, cal/mag buffered, at about 60-70% of the mix, the rest being organic amendments and perlite. Mix it all up and let sit for a few weeks, as long as you want; the longer the better, really. Good coco will hold a lot of water, and when fully wet can also hold lots of air - it will still have a springy feel like memory foam.
I've just been discovering over recent weeks these very facts as I've changed from a poor coco to a good one and am playing catch up with my new and improved root-balls... But they have been lush and green and healthy.
I am starting to sound like an advert for the coco industry but the good stuff really is a revelation; and very low maintenance esp. in big-ish containers....
 
That's very interesting Santb. I'll scurry over and see what you posted there. I'm not even sure I've really heard of organic style coco. I guess I haven't been paying attention. The question comes to mind - whether I should be watering it multiple times a day (setting up auto-watering) or whether it's more like my situation now with peat and weekend waterings. The other question is - how do I know what is good quality coco? I don't know what the stuff I just bought is like- the Beats Peat. How would I tell? Should I be looking for Beats Beats Peat?
I'll go see what you said. Thanks

Edit- so as I thought you might- you kind of answered those questions- well, a little bit.
I have a little bit of Botanicare coco as well as the Beats stuff.
What do I judge quality by- water retention? - drainage?
I'd love to hear more about what you're putting in your coco and how it all works out. Any info -feel free to lay it on me- here or wherever. (like if you started a journal for example) Sounds like good grounds for more side by side grows,with coco mixes.
 
This is the stuff I've just started using: Nutrifield Mega Brick.
Apparently anything with the Dutch "RHP" Standard is the stuff you want. It guarantees you getting coco properly prepared and washed - meaning no salts (coco is grown and processed mostly on coastlines), no pests, no diseases. Many use it as a soil-less hydro type media, and use specific coco nutes.. It can hold a high percentage of it's own weight in water, yet is free-draining, simultaneously able to hold a lot of air(esp. with help of some perlite, rice hulls, bentonite whatever)..
I make a mix up of coco (approx 60-70% of total mix) with some home-made compost, EWC, hand-fulls of rock dust, lime, gypsum, blood and bone; tablespoons of seaweed/kelp, epsom salts, oven-baked eggshell powder and small amounts powdered store-bought organic pellets, some perlite and some bentonite. Let this sit in a warm spot for 3-4 weeks minimum...I also recycle my old potting mixes as you'll (apparently) get 3-5 uses out of coco. This also allows the rock dust and eggshell chance to actually breakdown enough to be useful, although how quickly this happens is debatable. I choose to use rock dust and eggshell because they're natural, and I assume that at least SOME of the fine dust must be relatively quickly available in the soil. Your finished moist mix should crush together in your hand when you make a fist, and puff back out on release.
I turn my coco into soil (sort-off) doing this mostly to avoid having to measure nutes etc. I also allow the plants to dry out quite a bit between waterings to encourage root growth so in a 20-odd-litre container I mite only need to water every 4-6 days. (Be careful, tho - on its own,esp. in smaller pots, coco can dry out quickly also, esp. if you usually water in small amounts. I water till it's soaked, then let dry out..) Coco can be forgiving like that; there is always a little bit of moisture in there somewhere... Could buy you an extra day or even two if you're away longer than expected.. From there I treat it like any other valuable, fast-growing houseplant.. I keep an eye out, train as I like and every 3-4th watering I add weak-solution organic nutes just to make sure; usually powdered pellets in water or fish-based organic liquid ferts.
Water is usually aerated tap water or rain water; sometimes straight from the tap. I have a cheap, inaccurate pH meter, which I rarely use. The hardest part for me is to just leave the plants alone... I'm a fiddler. I kinda envy you being away for such long periods - guaranteed differences every time you look, for better or worse. Looking at your plants every fifteen minutes does NOT make them grow any faster. I sometimes force myself not to look for 3 days just so I know they'll definitely be bigger...
Coco is also organic obviously, and, unlike peat, sustainable.
Yay Coco!
 
Thanks for all this- very cool. I'm tempted to ask about the ratios in the mix of additives- but I understand that this is something I need to get a feel for myself, as a basic organic gardening learning hurdle. It's all fairly mysterious to me at this point, but that's just a newbie thing, which I look forward to getting past.
I well remember spending a lot of time hanging around huge piles of coco, especially in Thaliand which is, I think, still the worlds biggest exporter of coconuts. What looked like many generations worth of coconut husk would be piled along the beaches under the palms- huge hills of it. I was never surprised to hear that some people got salty batches.
 
No probs! As a current, practicing Noob, I'm am still learning obviously. But the organic route really is easy. You can do a lot yourself, or buy everything ready to go but the point is you don't really need exact measurements if you use a little common sense... Obviously you wouldn't half fill a pot with just blood and bone, for example. But you pretty much COULD with EWC... I tend to put about half of what I think I need, thus covering any mistakes made in haste or arrogance. You can always add later but you can't take out. Plus, mostly with organics it's hard to over-fert.. I mean, you have to TRY to do it.. As I said over at Vlads place, organic/coco is perfect for the time-poor and the lazy alike..
 
"(like if you started a journal for example)"
You inspired slash shamed me... So finally I did it. And I'm glad now. Hope you'll stop by..
 
My garden is obviously in a state of disruption and change right now. Almost every aspect of it, from cloning to veg to flowering, seems to be either having some sort of problems, or is up for review while I ponder whether or not I want to completely change some of my methods. All this is done kind of half-assed, at breakneck speeds as usual, while I dream of having a few days at home to really get my head around things.
This isn't to say I'm unhappy about the situation. I'm not really. I've got enough smoke still, and I know that what goes down must come up- I appreciate the opportunity for change. What's more- I'm used to it.
But it makes it harder to find things I'm happy to take photos of for this journal. Throw in the fact that my photos look crappy under the new bulbs, and it doesn't leave much wriggle room. I've always disliked the look of unfiltered photos under Led or Hps lighting.
I didn't even start a journal on 420 till I finally got a camera filter, in the form of hps sunglasses. Now that filter option seems to be no more, or at least...uhhhhh.... less more, at least till I figure out whatever my next trick is ;). Yes, such awesome grammar. If I'm taking photos of shitty looking plants, I would much prefer having good photos of shitty plants over having shitty photos of shitty plants.

So when Spitz asked me to do a tour of the grow- I felt kind of like -it's six in the morning after a party and my house is trashed, garbage and empties everywhere, dirty socks and underwear hanging out, the girlie's cat gone psycho and puked and crapped on the floor (again, the bitch), and I have to be leaving to work in 20 minutes and I'm waking up to a knock on the door with a bunch of honored guests looking for a tour of the house. Uhhhh... Maybe next week?

Yes I know... I understand. You want photos of all that stuff. You crave those photos. Sickos.

I'll try. I'll see what I can come up with, if I ever get a chance to actually be in my own grow when the lights are on.
Here is one photo of something I actually do like the look of.


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The mystery plant in veg- which I'm guessing is a Mama Thai/Thai Stick cross. Very nice shaped leaves on him/her. This is probably what Nivek is talking about. I'll have to scroll down and see. I haven't properly replied to his post yet anyway.
 
WC: I don't know if this will be helpful, but when I take pics, I turn off most, if not all, the lights and rely on the flash to illuminate the plants. I seem to get a more color-correct pic that way. At the very least I remove or turn off the lights closest to the camera. This seems to work for me because I grow under CFLs, but you might try with your set up. A minute or two without full light is not going to hurt them.

As for chasing down problems, isn't that what we do? Other than their scheduled feedings and up-potting, we are always inspecting and spraying for mites, tying back branches, analyzing nute and PH levels, removing dead leaves, rearranging plants and raising and lowering plants. I don't think we get more than a day or two where nothing has to be done.

Being neat and tidy has to fit somewhere in our busy lives.
 
Those leaves are so skinny! I'm only used to indicas or hybrids.. Gotta get me some of that for summer grow! Looks awesome!
 
Hey Nivek- very cool to see all those Thai crosses. I stare and stared at them. Your Mama Thai looks different than mine but I always find that when I see 'my' strains in other journals they look very different. Mama Thai as I know it usually makes large blobular buds which are quite whitish- fairly long pistils. I think I recognize the leaves on your MT/TS cross as looking like my mystery veg plant (?).
Time to sprout some more seeds soon...
 
Thanks Ak. It's helpful in that it gives me a little prod to consider the lighting situation. I've tried to make it in there just before lights on -to shine a fluorescent light for taking photos- but I can't generally catch it at the right time because of busy-ness. The other option is to unplug the lights when I do go in there, and then use a florescent light (hmmm two different spellings and spellcheck gives them both the thumbs up, very interesting) for photos- which I don't actually have, by the way, except in the form of a great heavy thing which I'm reluctant to drag in there.
Unplugging the two 600 watt lights feels like drastic measures and I don't really like doing it- but it may come to that.
Some sort of handheld light would be a nice option. Or maybe one or two installed in the room if small enough to not cause too much more crowding.
Definitely getting different bulbs next time.
 
Here are a few more pics.

~Mama Thai~

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This is my worst affected plant in veg. Gone crazily curly. I never did like the permed look much.

Note the flat pinkish tint to the photos. These are the best I could do.




~Malawi Scrog~

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This is three phenos which I'm trying to narrow down to one eventually. Hence the quantity. Now, I realize that they don't look that bad after all my complaining. They look ok for plants late-ish in flowering.
They looked at about this level of damage early in flowering. At that time I flushed them and messed around with the feeding. Whatever I did appeared to stop them from getting worse. They've sort of grown in to their damaged look, since at this age it's somewhat more ok to see some leaf issues. If you zoom in you may be able to see upcurled leaves which look like they're from heat stress. This showed up early in flowering- did the same thing the first time I flowered them as well. Temps haven't been very high so I'm not sure what that's about.
They look better in the photos than in real life, but all in all I'm happy that I managed to get through whatever the issue was and get them this far looking half decent.
Buds are small- all 1" width or less and it looks like a real job trimming. I probably will leave the buds a bit scraggly when I trim, to save my sanity. (Wouldn't want to jeopardize the sanity, oh no....)



~Pineapple Chunk~

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Shitty photos and the plants look even more crappy in real life. Much more. I think one problem at the moment is that they're underfed. If you guys are going to argue that they don't look crappy, I'll have to make efforts to get some better photos of their crappiness.
I need to go in there and trim out a ton of dead foliage. The PC is one strain I don't really like to work with. It's so horribly sticky and clingy and fumey. The smell lingers for days. It's like I have to put on full protective gear to even touch the stuff, unless I want to be completely violated by it's scent and be sticking to everything I touch.
I'll be happy if I can replace it with the Critical Cheese. A much less toxic smell :thumb:
 
I think they look good.. What are you growing in? Have I embarrassingly been giving soil advice to a long time soil user? I might need to re-read your journals!
 
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