Diaries of an Urban Druid

[pdx]

Tossing a wet hand towel over the top quarter of the fan inside the tent brought the RH up 10% and dropped the temps down by about 3-5 degrees F :cool:
I'm going to look into some homemade co2 generators as well since I won't be able to reliably bring waking temps below 80 consistently. A thought which occurred to me is possibly to start watering with club soda since there's lots of good trace minerals in it as well as having that co2 for the bubbles already being dissolved in the water.

 

[PlumberSoCal]

Thanks.
This is my first time using cloth pots so I'm not sure how I like them quite yet. The handles are convenient and they drain really well though which is great for fixing fuckups like overfeeding.

I haven't tried the fiber pots. Might be good for transplanting into soil. Maybe when i win the lottery.

 

[pdx]

I waited a little longer than I should have probably but I’m going to start tying down the plants for some low stress training.

 

[pdx]

The first rung on the tomato cages I bought are *just* out of range so I put off tying down until tomorrow.
Sprayed them with some diluted liquid kelp and watered them a few hours later with the same solution; Great White was mixed in an inch deep before watering.

I'm still having a hell of a time keeping the temperatures down. The only thing I can think to do is move the entire setup into the basement. There's no supply of fresh oxygen down in that musty dungeon though.

 

[pdx]

Back to running lights at night to combat high temps for now.
Girls are looking just a little leggy but I’m ok with this since I’m going to tie them in a spiral around the tomato cage.

The landrace from Pakistan seems to be doing the best right now. I’d wager it’s stoked on the higher temps compared to the others.

 

[pdx]

I've finally fed them since the last time almost a week ago when I gave them a full dose of nutrients on accident burning them. I had flushed the day after the first feed and then just gave them diluted liquid kelp (2 tsp/1 gal) over the past few days. I have also been misting with the diluted liquid kelp when I catch the lights going off for the 'night'.
I've also been now leaving the tap water out overnight because it's both chlorinated and fluoridated. I didn't wait the first time I watered and am convinced I obliterated the mycorrhizae I dusted on the roots. More mycorrhizae was added yesterday and watered with 5.8 ph kelp water.

Coco coir has not been allowed to fully dry at any point in time. Bottom of the tent has been roughly ~80-85 F while the canopy between 80 and 88 averaging at around 86 mostly. Humidity has been pretty consistently in the high 40s every time I've checked. Since watering with kelp water left out overnight, humidity has been in low 50s... interesting.

Nutrient breakfast shake for the plants as they wake up for their 'day' is 1/4th dose of grow and micro nutes +1/2 dose cal/mag in 6.1 ph kelp water.

 

[pdx]

Every plant has purple stems on them and I was just chalking it up to cold nights. However, I read last night that purple stems are also a sign of wind burn.
Plants have been kind of droopy looking (also a sign) and a few leaves are pretty wonky looking.

I tried raising the fan up and the only other fan I have is smaller but more powerful than the 12’’ I have in the tent.

Obligatory top shot before they’re getting ready for bed today + close up stem shots of the purpling.

 

[pdx]

Tied them down to the legs of the tomato cages with some jute twine. The twine is green though which made it incredibly difficult to work with as I kept losing the string in the plant lol.

Watered/fed again with 1/4 dose of nutrients in kelp water. Considering fimming on top of the lst but not too eager to snip the tips just yet.

 

[PlumberSoCal]

Every plant has purple stems on them and I was just chalking it up to cold nights. However, I read last night that purple stems are also a sign of wind burn.
Plants have been kind of droopy looking (also a sign) and a few leaves are pretty wonky looking.

I tried raising the fan up and the only other fan I have is smaller but more powerful than the 12’’ I have in the tent.

Obligatory top shot before they’re getting ready for bed today + close up stem shots of the purpling.

I have similar which in mine must be genetic as some do some don't and some have more than others but none like yours. Interesting. Can't be wind burn unless you've had the fan right on them with high temps. Don't know.

 

[pdx]

I have similar which in mine must be genetic as some do some don't and some have more than others but none like yours. Interesting. Can't be wind burn unless you've had the fan right on them with high temps. Don't know.

The fan is pretty powerful; it's pointed at the tent angled up at the corner and still produces a pretty hefty breeze. Temps have also been *high* unfortunately - about 86 F when the lights are on.
I really want to grow them outside so I don't have to futz with this temperature issue but I'm terrified of pests.

I'd really love to get some seeds for interesting phenotypes to spread around my garden though. Some of the leaf and flower colorations out there are gorgeous.

 

[pdx]

Responding well to being tied down after just a few hours!

 

[pdx]

I checked in on them while they were snoozing only to discover the motor isn’t working in my oscillating fan anymore! I haven’t even had it for a month what the hell? Heat wave is right around the corner tomorrow or day after tomorrow too...

 

[pdx]

Ph meter is reading 6.2 and this solution says I’m 4 or lower. Recalibrated the meter and it was at 6.0 and slowly creeping up towards 6.2 before I took it out. Interesting. I’m trusting my meter on this one.

Decided to use my conductivity pen finally after mixing up a new batch of nutrients. Bumping up to half dose and I’m getting a reading of 1 EC, ~490 ppm (EC x 500)

 

[pdx]

Took one of the plants out and had to re-tie as there wasn't enough tension to pull the plant down.

Here's some shots of the other 3 a day after a day of lst:
Cuvee Purple

Gelato

Persian Delight

The one that was re-tied today is the Purple Pleiades.

Given their nutrient slurry of kelp water and half dose grow/micro/cal-mag just as the lights came on for the day. PPM wound up being roughly 490 (.5 EC) and EC is 1.0.
pH of the nutrient solution is... either 4.0 or 6.0 depending on whether I want to trust the ph testing liquid or the meter. I didn't follow the directions on the liquid though as I only filled the vial like 1/6th of the way which probably messed with the color; I don't know.
I also decided to do a super fine misting in the air of the same nutrient solution I watered them with to up the humidity and give the leaves something to drink. I knocked off any big droplets I noticed pooling on any of the leaves.

 

[pdx]

The re-tied Purple Pleiades already doing great after bending.
The lone Sativa dominant that I have is a bit brighter of a green than the other three indices I have. The Sativa got slight nutrient burn early on but wasn’t the plant which had nitrogen toxicity.

Lastly this Cuvée Purple is just absolutely bushy and seems to be the happiest plant in the tent. I need to tie down some side branches and probably prune some of the overlapping leaves that are pretty much laying on top of each other.

Lighting cycle had been bumped to a 16/8 for about 3 days now and this morning I’ve extended it to 18/6.
RH has bumped to a steady mid 50s since lst started; this is not causation just interesting. I’ve been watering and misting more often since lst started which explains higher RH :)

 

[PlumberSoCal]

The re-tied Purple Pleiades already doing great after bending.
The lone Sativa dominant that I have is a bit brighter of a green than the other three indices I have. The Sativa got slight nutrient burn early on but wasn’t the plant which had nitrogen toxicity.

Lastly this Cuvée Purple is just absolutely bushy and seems to be the happiest plant in the tent. I need to tie down some side branches and probably prune some of the overlapping leaves that are pretty much laying on top of each other.

Lighting cycle had been bumped to a 16/8 for about 3 days now and this morning I’ve extended it to 18/6.
RH has bumped to a steady mid 50s since lst started; this is not causation just interesting. I’ve been watering and misting more often since lst started which explains higher RH :)

Really enjoying this. Something I wouldn't do but incredibly interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 

[NHWhites]

Looking good. Purple stems might be a lockout issue. Hit them with a foliage of epsom at 1/4 tsp per gal

 

[pdx]

Really enjoying this. Something I wouldn't do but incredibly interesting. Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad to hear it! I was worried I might be getting tiresome with daily updates and was considering pulling back to weekly lol. Which parts of my project would you not do yourself? Are you referring to the LST to get them spiraling around the tomato cages?

Looking good. Purple stems might be a lockout issue. Hit them with a foliage of epsom at 1/4 tsp per gal

Thanks :) I've been giving them foliar feedings of diluted liquid kelp for the past few days and just foliar sprayed about an hour ago with the 1/2 dose nutrient liquid w/ liquid kelp. I'll try mixing up a batch of the epsom salt solution and hitting them with that.

Interestingly, the stems seem to purple at areas of stress. I noticed that the main stem went from green and started transitioning to full purple at the sites where they had to bend upwards again after tie down! I love how communicative plants are.

 

[pdx]

See what I mean about purpling at bends? Really neat :)

Also, bonus shots of my poblano seedlings that have revived from the dead! My roommate forgot to water them when I was out of town and so I soaked with kelp water and tossed them in the tent to see what’s happen and try to save the one seedling still clinging to life. Well, we got a lot more pulling themselves out of the grave!

 

[pdx]

Lastly, the Gelato 33 is still a grumpy plant and I feel like it doesn’t like as strong of a nutrient dose as the indica plants. After bumping to half dose feedings it looks like there’s some nutrient burn on really new growth but it could also be light burn from a droplet I missed after misting the tent lightly.
Her middle aged leaves have definitely improved in color though.