Been super busy with the kitchen remodel and have not had a lot of time to spend on this gal but finally got in and gave her a major haircut this morning. I finally got the greenhouse harvest all taken care of and some breathing room to focus more on the house, but in the meantime, this gal is going nuts on me! I removed a bunch of large and small fan leaves and some obvious sucker branches but some of the branching is not so obvious as to whether or not they will be suckers at this point, letting her ride to see how the stretch progresses, and then take the suckers as they reveal themselves.
I got an answer about my RO system. As I suspected, I got a lot of construction fodder that made its way into my RO 50 gallon barrel. I shut off the valve and used up the remainder of the water for the humidifier and to top off the plant res etc. When the water level got lower, I could see the bottom of the barrel and there was a lot of crap settled on the bottom, explains why my RO water ppms were sitting around 160. I drained out the last of the water and washed the barrel out, then refilled it with RO water over the past 2 days. Checked the ppm this morning and sitting at 13 so my filters are all doing their job. The demo work is finished on the remodel and so there should be no more of this problem going forward and glad to see that this most likely did not affect the plant, at least as far as I can tell at this point.
I also this past week got an answer as to what has been going on with my silica additive Tree Trunk. The question was if this stuff was performing as it is supposed to and I do believe the answer to that is no, it has not. I had noticed that the base of this stuff in the past was very strong and I didn't I need to add much to raise the pH fairly quickly, but after the last res change, didn't seem to be as effective. I ended up ordering a gallon of Silica Boost-
The strength trainer for your plants. Bloom City’s Silica Boost formulation delivers water-soluble silicon from potassium silicate directly to the plant’s roots. Improves heat and drought tolerance, increases resistance to environmental and pathogen stressors, and improves water uptake in the...
www.bloom.city
I have observed that it takes a day or three for a fresh res to settle down and that for the first few days, the pH will drop as the base is established. After the last res change when I noticed the Tree Trunk was not nearly as effective and I was almost out so I ordered the Silica Boost. It arrived just in time and so because I was unfamiliar with the product, I started adding small amounts to see how strong of a base it is. I was a bit surprised that it seemed to take way more than I thought it would. If I remember right, the pH was around 5.6 at the time and it took 20 ml of the Silica Boost to get it back to 5.9, which I thought was a lot at the time. However, the base is strong indeed as I have not had to adjust the pH up since so I am very happy with this product. Since then, I see the pH as very stable and have had to adjust it down one time since using pH Down, which I see as 100% normal.
I'm still dumbfounded by this plant and her short, stout stature. 11 days into flower and no sign of pistils or stretch at all. I've rooted some clones and am thinking about keeping one as a mother to grow this pheno again. I'm not sure what the hybrid ratio is for this strain but from what I can tell, this pheno is leaning heavily toward the Indica side, which I really like. Can't wait to see how she progresses and all the things I am learning along the way.
Glad to see you back at the Farm Moe and hoping you have good news coming from the Dr.'s!
So yea, I am measuring top offs and since my last res change (November 15th), I have added back in almost 4 gallons. From your direction here, I am thinking I need to learn how to amend the res soon to keep up with the changing nutrient needs during flower. Ppm has slowly been dropping and sitting at about 825 atm. I would be curious about what formula you use to calculate amendments to the res? I think I have the logistics down fairly well, I just need to learn how to keep the res in line with what the plant will be needing going forward.
Last two photos are after I gave her a major defoliation.