Tranquilgreen - Hydro & Soil - First Grow Journal

[Tranquilgreen]

I just picked up a Western Gardening book from the 80's on the curb, and it's interesting to say the least. Most of what we find amazing about Doc's Kit and his methods has been basic horticulture knowledge for decades. The book strongly recommends soil testing, amendments, and appropriate fertilizers (both "chemical" and "organic").

Ha! I think I have that book in my library and I also have the soil test kit, an old dinosaur of a kit (almost all used up). That was when we decided to grow organically here on the farm. Mainly we used compost from our barn, aged of course, and tossed around by the tractor to "stir" it. Never did any foliar feeding even though we fed the plants with compost "tea".

My soil is depleted from non-use over several years and my old garden is now back in grass. I just put in some raised beds though but they are full of weeds I have to get pulled. The manure/compost pile is now full of sheep droppings and chicken manure. This year I decided to get going again with growing things. That old knowledge is coming back to me now. Funny thing though, I never knew my pH was so out of whack.

I used a swamp cooler when I lived in Tucson Arizona many years ago. I'll have to look into getting one because not only do they use less electricity but they make me feel cooler.

 

[MysterySeeds]

This year I decided to get going again with growing things. That old knowledge is coming back to me now. Funny thing though, I never knew my pH was so out of whack.

I used a swamp cooler when I lived in Tucson Arizona many years ago. I'll have to look into getting one because not only do they use less electricity but they make me feel cooler.

Like Doc has said before, pH balancing is kinda whack because the minerals in the soil will do that whether you like to or not. That said, it's never a bad idea to bring it back to a neutral pH of 7 or possibly down to 6.5.

And I imagine the swamp cooler makes you "feel cooler" because you're saving electricity and that's always cool. ;-)

 

[Tranquilgreen]

More brix readings:

Soil grown White Widow. She had a hard start but greened up as she got further into growing.
Brix 10


And now here is the surprise...

My Chocolate Kush was in my DWC for many weeks until I decided to put her out, tearing the roots that were tangled with the others and put her into soil a few weeks ago. She went into Organic soil, not HB soil, and she stumbled along for a week and suddenly took off.
Brix 13.5


I calibrated my refractometer both before and after. Considering the stress the Chocolate Kush went through she really has done well.

 

[Tranquilgreen]

RH 39% to 61%
Temp 76 to 94

This is the tent yesterday before the big clean up...

Pineapple Chunk

Chocolate Kush

Not sure what the rusty leaves are all about? Shes been treated like everyone else.

Twisted leaves? I was informed that pH was not a worry in a soil grow. I guess there are some who can't buffer a high pH.

I should have some flowers to show in a few weeks. Since this grow was so stressed out on occasion I am combing each one for any sign of nanners. Next photos will be of a more organized tent.

 

[db003]

dam that's a lot of green lol glad to see that the plants are looking better since you went with soil I hope you don't get no trany plants that would suck

 

[Tranquilgreen]

dam that's a lot of green lol glad to see that the plants are looking better since you went with soil I hope you don't get no trany plants that would suck

No kidding! Even worse would be not catching him until after he spreads his joy to all. I do have three plants which were unsexed seeds. I picked the seeds that looked like female seeds. I am curious if the method gets results.

 

[Tranquilgreen]

Here are some pictures after the tent got tidy and more professional looking. Flowering cycle is just 7 days. I sprayed the plants with more de-stress so you can see some wet leaves here.

Wow look at all that room for stretch!

White Widow looking a little bare. I took off the leaves with rusty spots.

Chocolate Kush

Quintonic

Lemon Burst

Geisha CJ

Sour Diesel

White Widow again

Chocolate Kush again

Pineapple Chunk 1

Pineapple Chunk 2

Tent photos

 

[db003]

man I wish I had that much room to grow with for my next grow I will only be growing one plant veg with my mars II 400 and flower under the mars II 700 I am getting in the mail that way I can really let her stretch out

 

[Whitty08]

The ladies looks great. The White Widow has made huge strides! Glad to see she's doing well! Let's hope all that early stress doesn't hinder your flower production.

 

[Dennise]

Things are starting to look up again.........

 

[Tranquilgreen]

For keeping up with this grow, now it's finally moving into the exciting time of flower.


Week two of Flower

The ladies and two gentlemen are all looking better. I used some of Docs stress and some grow on them and I think they loved it. Especially the two males who in three days presented the tell-tale sign of sweet talking the ladies before they got ousted from the tent. The ladies swore nothing happened.

White Widow looking healthier!

Sour Diesel, remember her? She had a tough life but seems to be improving. She was not growing after being over-watered and almost dying of damping off. Re-potted her and built up the soil around her and she started growing again. Now look at her!

Pineapple Chunk 1

And Pineapple Chunk 2 What I really like about these PC is all the branching they are doing without any fim, lst or maneuvering by me.

All the ladies so far. Still looking for some nanners. I swear the ones I found were growing before my eyes!

Chocolate Kush looking healthy with a little show of pre-flowering.

Here are the culprits. They showed up in the dorm but I got them before they ruined this grow. Now they are out on my front balcony for now as I decide what to do with them.

Lemon Burst - Ousted!

Giesha CJ - Ousted!

At least of the three seeds my Quintonic is showing she is a lady and that is the one I truly wanted to be female.

 

[db003]

I would keep those dudes far away from your girls we don't want no teen moms going on

 

[Tranquilgreen]

Hehe, I washed my hands and anything that touched the dudes before returning to the tent to care for the girls.

 

[Whitty08]

Sorry to hear about having two dudes in the tent with your ladies. On the plus side none of the ladies are quite showing mature pistils so I think you should be in the clear. Good thinking on cleaning everything before returning to the tent to care for your ladies. Your ladies look awesome, the White Widow has come a long way! I'm glad you were able to save her. It'll be interesting to see if she gets as frosty as my plant did. I'd like to see if it was indeed the Widow genetics that made her so frosty.

 

[MysterySeeds]

Two dudes out of the bunch is not a bad ratio if you're popping regular seeds. FYI, I chopped up my male mystery plants and put them in my smoothies. Still some good, healthy cannabinoids in those fellas.

 

[Tranquilgreen]

FYI, I chopped up my male mystery plants and put them in my smoothies. Still some good, healthy cannabinoids in those fellas.

Great idea! My sister has many problems, two of which are Lupus and Fibromyalgia which I have read are helped by drinking raw cannabis leaves regularly in smoothies. I have the boys growing on my balcony (completely out of the way of the girls) to get them bigger and more leaves.

 

[Tranquilgreen]

Strange, I thought I posted my update with photos for this flowering but nothing is here. Gonna have to do it again right now.

Third week of flowering July 12
Tent temp range from 74 - 92
RH 32 - 64

Just some photos at the start of flowering with text to identify plant variety.

Note the White Widow. Her leaves are showing there is a problem.

White Widow leaves are strange with brown spots. What do you think? Mag deficiency? There are no bugs that I can find and the other plants are healthy and not producing signs of any problem.

Continuing on...

 

[MysterySeeds]

The unknowing breeder

I have the boys growing on my balcony (completely out of the way of the girls) to get them bigger and more leaves.

Don't be surprised if you have a couple of seeds in your tent. Males can pollinate females from miles away (in rare cases), and pollen travels easily on clothes, pets, hair, etc. That said, you may come up with a pretty bomb cross by accident.

 

[Bapple]

Hey Tranquil!

Great recovery on the SD, she looks great in the pics I can see from a week ago. Your last update pics are not showing......

Happy growing and be careful, as Mystery said leaving the males in the environ of your girls even if on the balcony could end in tears......even your hair will carry pollen for the sneaky males.

 

[Snoop429]

Hi Tranqilgreen, I just looked at a Cannabis issue chart and it looks like it could be phosphorous deficiency based on the brown spotting. Its nothing that ive seen before so another opinion from a more experienced grower would be helpful. Interesting that its just that plant. Did you do anything different with that one? This is the chart that I looked at

Maybe your waters Ph is to low after you bring it down? Looks like anything lower then 6.5 could give you problems over time.

Im interested to see what someone else thinks