DRO, JuicyFruit, & Maui Wowie in PreMix CoCo & Pura Vida Nutes w/ a Growzilla

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outwest

outwest

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Welcome to my first ever grow diary. I figure this is the best way to document my journey, and also ask questions to the community along the way. I hope that some of the more experienced farmers will follow along and lend a hand!

My overall philosophy is to keep it small, simple, and personal. That said, I'm hand feeding 3 strains: Dutch Royal Orange, JuicyFruit, and Maui Wowie. These are in 3 gallon smart pots with Roots Premix CoCo.

For this round I've upgraded my light to a Growzilla. I'm using an 600w Ushio MH conversion with the phantom ballast set at 100% and a 600w Horti HPS eye with the phantom ballast set to 75%. When I head into bloom I'll probably reverse those. By not running both at 100% it actually keeps the heat down a few degrees. :)

This is contained in a 4x4 grow hut. Two 6" active air fans are in use, one for the light, and one pulling air through a filter at the top of the hut. Air comes in through an opening in the bottom and exhausted through the top.

Ambient temps are at about a consistent 77f and humidity at about 55%. Ambietn lights out temp is about 70f.

For veg I'm using Pura Vida Grow, Floralicious+, CalMag+, & Hygrozyme. For flower I switch to Pura Vida Bloom, Floralicious+, CalMag+, & BioBud. I'm also using Compost Tea occasionally both feeding and foliar, and Bloom Chaos Foliar. My schedule has me feeding the hygro/myko for first 6-10 days, the starting with nutes at 1/4 strength then 1/2 strength then full strength.

Currently I'm at the Hygro/Myko stage with 3ml/1tsp per gal respectively. I've added compost tea into the mix as well. I've switched the lights to 18-6 2 days after transplanting, not sure if that was too soon.

For a pest regimen I'm alternating spinosad and azatrol once a week each. I'm giving an occasional distilled water spray as well. I've never had any PM problems hopefully due to decent air exchange.

Lastly, I have 2 of those exhale breathe bags hanging above the canopy (but not directly above in case they fall!), and two small fans inside the tent circulating air.

I think that covers everything!

Here are my questions so far (lots more to come):

1) How should I incorporate the compost tea?

2) How should I time my foliar feed to prevent burning the leaves? I simply raised the light until the leaves dried during a tea spray yesterday.

3) For this lighting setup, what is the optimal height? I'm currently running it a little more than 2 feet from canopy. The hood runs cool the touch and the temp at canopy is about 80f with ambient temps around 77f.

4) Did I switch to 18-6 too soon?

5) Someone recco'd incorporating drip clean and IBL into the mix

6) Will any green light bulb work during the dark cycle, or do they have to be plant safe specific?

That's all for now. Photo attached. Look forward to responses. Thanks!

outwest
 
Dro juicyfruit  maui wowie in premix coco  pura vida nutes w a growzilla
outwest

outwest

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More questions:

7) I'm setting the PH to 6.1 as religiously as possible, is this good for my setup? Should I vary it at any point?

8) Multiple sources have told me that PPM does not matter since I'm hand feeding and using organic nutes. Is that correct? If not what is a good guide?

9) Are 2 exhale bags overkill?

10) What order should I be mixing my nutes in?

Thanks again.

outwest
 
outwest

outwest

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Bump! Happy New Year!

My plants are all looking droopy like they are either over or under fed. Any thoughts?

outwest
 
sdgrower

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Looks nice and clean!
Q1: In coco I use compost teas about 1x week
Q2: I like to turn off my HID lights (and turn on some cfls) and crank up the dehuey's when I foliar. I also wait until the leaves dry before turning the HIDs back on.
Q3: IME i like to keep the lights at least 2 feet away from the tops.
Q4: No
Q5: I have never used drip clean or IBL so I can't comment.
Q6: It is my understanding that you want the plant specific green bulbs. Something about the green lining in the regular green bulbs.
Q7: I like to keep the ph at 5.8 in coco
Q8: PPM does not matter in true organics but you still need to be careful since the calmag and the flora are not organic. Running organics in coco is difficult due to coco's inability to hold nutrients (per Canna regarding using coco and biocanna).
Q9: Not sure what an exhale bag is sorry
Q10: I start with cal mag and silica then go to base then to additives.

It is very hard to overwater in coco but it is possible. Let your ladies dry out before watering again. I like to make up an identical container filled with media and use it to feel what dry feels like. Try this while they are small to get an idea.

Keep up the good work and you will be in the green in no time.
:animbong:
 
outwest

outwest

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Thanks sdgrower, all very helpful information. I added a stand and flood table to make drain to waste a lot easier. I'll adjust my ph. I'll post some more photos soon.

To be clear, you do seem to recommend letting the coco dry out first. This is a little contrary to what others have said. Why do you take this approach?

Thanks again! Happy New Year!

outwest
 
homebrew420

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I too alow the coco to dry out a little. I do not have a super intense grow setup with all the bells and whistles. The plants seem to do better with this method. For me. Because of very similar issues you are dealing with. I use both fabric and nursery pots i drill hundreds of .25 in holes in. Fabric is better. The long and the short of it is the roots seem to breathe easier. So I feed-feed-water with a pH of around 900-1200ppm and hand water slowly and evenly when they need it.I do not allow them to dry to point of being lite weight. top layer, .5" dry. about every 2 days they get saturated.
They are most likely just waterlogged. let them dry out until they perk up, then go easy on them. Dont put fans on them they will stress.
Hope this helped.

PeACE
 
outwest

outwest

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Thanks, HomeBrew420. Your approach seems inline with what I've seen from others. Let it dry, but only the first few inches, or possibly half the weight of when it is first drenched.

What about volume of food? If I am feeding with this frequency, in a 3gal smartpot 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon will get me pretty good run off.

My schedule has me feeding a lighter dose on every watering. Not really sure what is best. I also don't measure the ppm's as mentioned before, and not sure how to take this approach.

outwest
 
outwest

outwest

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Been a few weeks since my last update. Things are going great. I've made lots of update include a 4x4 tray, and a stand for the tray. Overall the girls are really healthy. The addition of compost tea, the exhale bags, foliar feed, and preventative pest management, and more feedings seems to be working! From left to right are the Juicy Fruit, DRO, and Maui Wowie. Thanks to this community for their helpful tips so far.

outwest
 
Gr
outwest

outwest

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Photo Update

I've been very remiss in updating my diary. Really no problems to mention, a little overfeeding, but nothing serious. So far this is my best run yet , but there is still a long road ahead. I'm 3 weeks and a day into flower. I let the tallest plant veg to 24" before flipping the lights. I opted for 24 on instead of 18/6 during veg. Seems to be my preference. I just put new bulbs in yesterday, this was a little past due, but waited until I could afford them. Should be a nice plus to finish the run.

My biggest problem now is that the garden is a little crowded. This is a good problem to have, all other factors are pretty dialed in. Does anyone have suggestions for dealing with a crowded garden?

Anyway here is a sampling of photos over the past month or so. I could not figure out how to intersperse text and photos. (any tips?) If you're a photo buff, excuse the moderate quality. Please let me know what you think. ENJOY!

1st is 4 days before flower (during a ~3 week veg)
2nd is 2 days into flower
3rd is DRO ~2 weeks into flower
4th is JuicyFruit ~2 weeks into flower
5th & 6th are wide shots ~3 weeks into flower
7th & 8th are Left & Right sides respectively
9th is DRO
10th is JuicyFruit

I'll post some better shots of the Maui soon, but it's the middle of the jungle.

outwest
 
E16 sf
E22 sf
F7DRO sf
F7JF sf
VW sf
WIDE sf
L sf
R sf
DRO S sf
JF sf
outwest

outwest

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Very nice outwest!!!! Plants look great. I'm a huge fan of pura vida!
Thanks, DWB. Now that I've got things more dialed, I'm digging the PV too, even though I have nothing to compare it to. I'm going to mix it up a little on the next round. What else do you use it with?

outwest
 
outwest

outwest

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Yellowing Leaves

Overall this run is going great, but I'm facing some yellowing leaves. Id love to see what people think.

The Maui seems more effected then the DRO or Juicy Fruit. The Juicy Fruit seems to be the least effected.

At 3 weeks into flowering, I put new bulbs in (a bit overdue). I think this was to much light for the plants. They are way to close, but I've completely run out of head room. I also may have slight over fed/watered.

So. . .I've dimmed the lights to 75%, backed off the nutrient strength, and I may modify the stand under the tray to lower it by a foot or so.

Please take a look at the pics of the Maui below and let me know what you think. For the details of this grow, please see the first post. Thanks!

outwest
 
MW Y1 sf
MW Y2 sf
outwest

outwest

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Hmmm

Looks like a nitrogen or magnesium defisiency

Thanks for the response. It could be lockout of some sort. They are getting 5ml/gal of GO CalMag+ and I'm sure there is not shortage of N either. Ph has tested at 5.9 and 6.0 for the past 2 waterings.

Any thoughts on correcting this?

outwest
 

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