Vortex's Lab: 4x4 Secondary Garden & Experimental Thread

[multiVortex]

Only real suggestion is get it it's own syringe or dose with a measuring spoon (1tsp = 5ml). That and make sure Pro-Tekt goes in 1st before the other 2. If that don't solve it, maybe it's a bad batch of Pro-Tekt. Beyond that, I got nothing

I'm trying this over the course of the morning.

So far I have:

- started with warm water, straight from the tap into a gal milk jug
- broke out a brand new syringe and added 5ml of protekt
- waited 5 min, shaking for 30 seconds, pausing 30 seconds during
- added 5ml of GH's calmag (whatever the "official" product name is)
- waited another 5 min, shaking/pausing as before
- added 5g of MC
- shaked/paused again

Now it's been sitting for about 30 minutes. I have a couple calls over the next hour, so

OK then... scratch some of that, as I've had this sitting for an hour while I was on calls.

So now I'm off to the lab to see how the solution is, and what the results are. Thus far, the only change was the brand new syringe.

Looking good Vortex

Thanks, GeO! Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[multiVortex]

And the preliminary results are in...

Following the suggestion from @farside05 about having a dedicated piece of equipment to dose only the protekt (silica), it seems to have mostly cleared the issue. I checked the solution and am only seeing about a 1%-2% precip rate with my test gallon that was mixed at a 5ml/5ml/5g ratio of Protekt, CalMag, then Mega Crop into one gallon of water.

Still a tick, but vastly improved over all the swirling white flakes from before.

That's messed up that it's so sensitive that it freaked out like that, but whatever.


I also went ahead and satisfied my curiosity by dipping the pH meter in the solution. It was at 7.3, just to note, after sitting for an hour.

Obviously hasn't been an issue so far with the promix, but more to curb the curiosity I guess. So far it seems it's all working out pretty well, so will be staying the course.

 

[farside05]

Good deal. It will be interesting to see how the Faux Tekt I'll be making compares in pH, PPM, and sensitivity to the genuine article. I have the parts to fix my RO system and will probably do that tomorrow. Waiting on my bag of Potassium Silicate powder to arrive

 

[multiVortex]

Very nice.

I was a tick surprised at the pH. Last time I checked (I was still at like 2ml) it was lower, and more mid 6's.

 

[multiVortex]

Well, everybody is in their 5th week and Lemmy is approaching the start of her 6th week of life. Mx Airlines aside (she is about 10 days behind Six and Blue, 7 behind the crack baby, and 2 weeks behind Lemmy).

That being the case, they should be somewhere in the neighborhood of thinking about reproduction before long. Thus, I'll be going ahead and giving them a bit of a flush with straight tap to leach out anything and give a reset base for their upcoming flower. From there they'll get a 5ml/6ml/5g of Silica/CalMag/MegaCrop feeding once their tap quits the drip. As opposed to all previous meals, this one will be pH'd to the lower part of the 6 range.

That should hold them a few good days with a full super soak of a 7gal pot.

This is the part where I wish I'd set them on 6" stands and used small water heater pans that drained into a main tub. Meh, oh well. Just a little longer reach with the shop vac, although I may just take my Chica out, and rotate through. Lemmy already had a flush a few days ago to get her mag def sorted, so that's one off the list. The Mx shouldn't take much to flush. Since she's behind a bit she's on a weaker sched still, and was at 3.5ml/3.5ml/3.5g for her most recent meal. She also hasn't started the bigger upward trend of drinking yet, so probably a good, easy time to do her up too.

I've got a bunch to get done before I can mess in the garden though, so this will be a later this afternoon* kind of endeavor.


* Unless someone pisses me off before then.

 

[multiVortex]

* Unless someone pisses me off before then.

Well that didn't take much.

OK, it wasn't quite a piss off, but I did need to take break for a few and think a few things over. What better way to do so than with the mindless task of slowly dumping water into a pot and watching it come out?

One down, 3 to go throughout the day.

 

[multiVortex]

3/8 of the way home.

The crack baby got hers first, as previously noted. Blue is now at the halfway mark. She's been flushed, and now just waiting on her to finish dripping from that so I can plug some fresh munchies in for her.

After that, Six is up to bat, then mi chica.

 

[multiVortex]

And we're done. Of course I realize as I type this that I didn't get any pics. Well, phooey. I will try to remember to do that next time I'm down that way.

While I was at it, I also re-strapped the bonds. I think Blue is going to be a big girl. Even under the same light, her nodes are farther apart than the rest. The rest have nice and close spacing, as would be expected from great lighting where they don't have to stretch. It's not too close, but as close as one would want. Blue on the other hand is just structuring up like she's going to just be a bigger girl. I'm cool with that, as it makes her easier to train and tuck leaves away.

Lemmy is getting a little bushy, even with tucking. I may need to do a little selective defol on her, but we'll see. Being the first time with these strains of autos I'd like to not take anything without a severe need. I would like to see how they're going to grow on their own outside of the quadline training.

 

[multiVortex]

Here's our happy little Chica, just doin her thing. Little does she know that the snip is looming in the coming days...

The crack baby.

Here's Lemmy.

Here's Blue. Minor issue started to show with her last week, but she's coming around since.

And then we have the Six. Very light tip hits on here in a few spots. Will not be upping the feed as originally planned with the next go around. Will keep it at the 5g range, and may skip the silica/calmag addition to keep the N down a tick.


They're ready for a drink, as you can see, and also need their bondage adjusted as well. Been tied up with the RDWC startup last couple days, so haven't put the attention on these as much as I should have.

That changes here in a bit though. Going to get them a late dinner and tie em up better before they bed down for the night in a few hours.

 

[multiVortex]

Gave 'em their late night snack at ~4g/gal of MC.

Had enough time to tighten up 2 of the girls. Will have to get to blue and six tomorrow.

 

[Baron Von Blurple]

Here's our happy little Chica, just doin her thing. Little does she know that the snip is looming in the coming days...

The crack baby.

Here's Lemmy.

Here's Blue. Minor issue started to show with her last week, but she's coming around since.

And then we have the Six. Very light tip hits on here in a few spots. Will not be upping the feed as originally planned with the next go around. Will keep it at the 5g range, and may skip the silica/calmag addition to keep the N down a tick.


They're ready for a drink, as you can see, and also need their bondage adjusted as well. Been tied up with the RDWC startup last couple days, so haven't put the attention on these as much as I should have.

That changes here in a bit though. Going to get them a late dinner and tie em up better before they bed down for the night in a few hours.

Looking good, and yeah, looks like they could take a .5g bump.

 

[multiVortex]

Aft er being distracted by the RDWC startup this week, and last, to be honest, time to give some extra attention to these girls tomorrow.

We'll be hitting them at the 5.5g/gal mark, plus 5ml/gal of protekt and calmag. From now on, water will be RO based, and I ran the RO contraption this afternoon to whip up 10 gallons of pure water. I'll measure out 5 gallons from that to mix up the nutes.

While watering, I'll also be getting their bonds in order and if need be I may trim a couple fans if they're in the way and not easily tuckable.


Will also be adding a 3rd oscillating fan to the tent tomorrow as well. I like the two that are in there, but they lack a little in being a full 90* of oscillation. It's more like 70* to 75*, and I think the tents will be better served with a third osc fan running.

 

[multiVortex]

Looking at the plants, and calendar, I've decided to mix up the girls' breakfast at full strength of 6g/gallon. They are all in the last of veg/pre-flower now, and probably ready to move from 5 to 6, and then some. So skipping the 5.5 mark and upping to 6.

 

[multiVortex]

Everybody, Mx Airlines excluded, got a 6g/gal drink of MegaCrop (with Protekt and calmag.)

Restraints were tightened, a few fans had to go.

Got a little quick on the draw with one of the nodes on the Blue Dream. Even splinting and taped back up, I'm not convinced it will make it. It was already wilting within 15 minutes, and a couple hours later wasn't looking any better. We'll see, you never when a surprise can come I suppose.

All the girls are looking swell, pun intended, as everyone is certainly into pre-flower if not early flowering. Blue is definitely starting her stretch. It took a while, but I managed to get her more opened up and bring her level down about 6". Had to give up the clips on the side of the bag and put the sticks around the pot instead. May have to run a couple cross pieces to get her to widen out, but we'll see.

Lemmy is just a bush. She probably lost the most fans as they were just everywhere. Total cabbage, lol. She's thinned enough for now, and stretched a bit further.

Six is growing well, but her indica heritage is quite obvious. The crack baby is also doing very well.

These girls are going to make a nice little pull, I think. The foundation is setting up great.


Our late comer, my little chica, is doing well. Looking at her it's obvious that she is behind the other by 10-14 days though. Part of the deal with seeds though; they don't all sprout the same. She's growing strong though, and putting a trunk on her for sure. Nodes 1/2 were pretty close together, then there was a decent 3"-4" gap, and then nodes 3/4 had similar spacing as 1/2. Node 5 was stacking about the same distance apart as 3/4, until it got the snip.

My guess is her sativa lineage will be showing before too long, just as Blue's is doing. I may swap Six and Mx around. They're both on the left, Six in back. Since Six is indica and going to be shorter, it would probably be easier if she were up front. Then Mx and Blue can get taller together, and the back light can raise with them.

Crack baby is in the front right, and Lem is in the center. Her being in just a 3gal pot works well there though. Her saucer is on about a 4" riser right now, and if she starts to overtake the rest in height I can take that away and be good on her.

Speaking of lights, I raised them both up about 6", to put them back about 18"-20" above the top of the plants. I also dialed them up a little bit, and they're now about 70%-75%. I'll be upping that a little bit each day until they're blazing. (Or maybe I see what they can do at 80%-90%, I dunno. Whatever. )


Also added in a new oscillating fan. One of the vivosun corner ones. Got 2 for $50, so putting one in each tent. Combined with the other two already there the circulation is doing really well.

No time for pics today, but I'll try to get some tomorrow.

 

[multiVortex]

Here's a pulled back shot of the girls. Coming along.

Top Left: Six
Top Right: Blue Dream
Center: Lemmy
Bot Left: Mx Airlins
Bot Right: the crack baby


Bonus, leftover seedlings for the RDWC.

 

[Baron Von Blurple]

The micro dojo is happenin.

 

[multiVortex]

The micro dojo is happenin.

Yepper. This is where they get ready to start filling in all that free space. Still some work to get a couple a little more open on a few of them, so we know what I'll be doing this weekend.

 

[multiVortex]

A peek from the back corner. Six top right, crack baby bottom left.

Mx Airlines top left, blue dream bottom right.

And lemmy still in the middle.


So, our super lemon haze (auto lemon drop, aka lemmy) got a handful of fans removed earlier. She's still thick, but a good bit of those fans are tucked, and they are only blocking each other for now. She is a thicky though.

Adjusted the restraints to spread her out a little more. Will maybe keep that up for another week before letting her go up. Will have to see and play it by ear.

She also was in need of a drink, and may be getting close to needing a daily. She was pretty light in her little 3gal home, so if not in the next few days, it won't be long before she's drinking up every day.


Also adjusted the reins on the crack baby, as well as the blue dream. Blue's a bit more open than the others, and may be sniffing the stretch. Will also keep spreading her out a bit, but may also let her start up late in the week. Again, playing that one by ear as well.


Mx isn't quite ready to get her first round of bondage, the nodes aren't quite long enough yet. They need another inch, the top nodes maybe 2", before there is enough to comfortably get her bending. She hasn't skipped a beat with her snip snip at the beginning of the week though, so that's good.

Need to go back down and hit six on her LST still. Her being in that corner, the easiest way to get to her is through the D-shaped access on the side. (Same is also true for Blue, as a note.) That being the case it's a good amount of bending over do significant amounts of adjustments, and I like to take a little break between sides. Nothing to be in a hurry about, so no worries.


Still considering swapping Mx to the back, and bringing Six to the front. Six with her indica lineage is going to be shorter and bushier, and the Mx is already going to be competing with the Blue Dream for height. As those two will most likely be the last two to cut, it would make sense to go that route. I'd like to get Mx's training wheels applied first, as it would be easier to get it started in the right spots before switching spots.


Lem may also be moving and coming from the middle to the front right, switching places with the crack baby. Not 100% sure on this though. Since she's in a 3gal pot and the dirt level is shorter, she may be easier to balance the height out with Six. However, the crack baby does (for now) have an empty side, but it's starting to fill in as well. Empty, or less dense sides I like to put towards a corner, and why the crack baby is there at the moment. With Lemmy being more round and full, easy pick for the middle.

Hoping to get the seedlings for the RDWC out of the Lab soon. They're not completely in the way, but things being a game of inches, it would be nice to be able to move the girls around a couple inches in a few directions.

 

[multiVortex]

Dunno why, but that pic reminded me of something: light filtering.

I had been trying the filter route with the phone, but that wasn't coming out well. So what did I do? Stuck my safety glasses in front of the lens, and it works rather well I think.

 

[Baron Von Blurple]

A peek from the back corner. Six top right, crack baby bottom left.

Mx Airlines top left, blue dream bottom right.

And lemmy still in the middle.


So, our super lemon haze (auto lemon drop, aka lemmy) got a handful of fans removed earlier. She's still thick, but a good bit of those fans are tucked, and they are only blocking each other for now. She is a thicky though.

Adjusted the restraints to spread her out a little more. Will maybe keep that up for another week before letting her go up. Will have to see and play it by ear.

She also was in need of a drink, and may be getting close to needing a daily. She was pretty light in her little 3gal home, so if not in the next few days, it won't be long before she's drinking up every day.


Also adjusted the reins on the crack baby, as well as the blue dream. Blue's a bit more open than the others, and may be sniffing the stretch. Will also keep spreading her out a bit, but may also let her start up late in the week. Again, playing that one by ear as well.


Mx isn't quite ready to get her first round of bondage, the nodes aren't quite long enough yet. They need another inch, the top nodes maybe 2", before there is enough to comfortably get her bending. She hasn't skipped a beat with her snip snip at the beginning of the week though, so that's good.

Need to go back down and hit six on her LST still. Her being in that corner, the easiest way to get to her is through the D-shaped access on the side. (Same is also true for Blue, as a note.) That being the case it's a good amount of bending over do significant amounts of adjustments, and I like to take a little break between sides. Nothing to be in a hurry about, so no worries.


Still considering swapping Mx to the back, and bringing Six to the front. Six with her indica lineage is going to be shorter and bushier, and the Mx is already going to be competing with the Blue Dream for height. As those two will most likely be the last two to cut, it would make sense to go that route. I'd like to get Mx's training wheels applied first, as it would be easier to get it started in the right spots before switching spots.


Lem may also be moving and coming from the middle to the front right, switching places with the crack baby. Not 100% sure on this though. Since she's in a 3gal pot and the dirt level is shorter, she may be easier to balance the height out with Six. However, the crack baby does (for now) have an empty side, but it's starting to fill in as well. Empty, or less dense sides I like to put towards a corner, and why the crack baby is there at the moment. With Lemmy being more round and full, easy pick for the middle.

Hoping to get the seedlings for the RDWC out of the Lab soon. They're not completely in the way, but things being a game of inches, it would be nice to be able to move the girls around a couple inches in a few directions.

Try not to get too worried about shifting positions in the tent. In the wild, a plant is always facing the same position it sprouted and continues to grow in. As the plants get bigger, you can adjust so no one is crowding the other one too much, but other than that, let nature take its course.