Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 11, 2022

Everything went well with the addition of more nutrients, she is responding well from what I can tell.

Roots look amazing, going to put them babies to work now. Light @ 40% and will be cranking that up slowly going into flower.

Got in and get a bunch more defoliation on the lower part of the plant, tied some more branches down I’m trying to get her to spread out more. I took a few snips for the clone bucket and installed the net trellis. Getting ready to flip within the next few days!

Variety719 · Nov 11, 2022

That’s a nice root system on that plant! Big buds to come that is for sure

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 14, 2022

Ok, so I did a bunch more defoliation today and also looking to trim off branching that will not produce good flowers. I'm a bit hesitant to pull too many branches yet because I'm just having a hard time getting her to spread out and grow toward the outside of the tent. Everything is so compact, it's been a real challenge for my LST skills. I'm going to flip to 12/12 very soon but I need a bit of advice.

I have noticed there are a lot of leaves that are twisting in a not so funny fashion and I believe this is likely some sort of deficiency because I think I might have been a bit late adding more nutrients to the res. Is this a deficiency? If so, what? Will things correct themselves going forward?

It's been a challenge keeping temps up in the room too as we have seen daytime temps near zero and night -20F. Not sure if this could be causing the issue or not but working to get temps up.

I want to make sure she is as good as can be before I flip so any advice would be appreciated!

Aqua Man · Nov 14, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
Ok, so I did a bunch more defoliation today and also looking to trim off branching that will not produce good flowers. I'm a bit hesitant to pull too many branches yet because I'm just having a hard time getting her to spread out and grow toward the outside of the tent. Everything is so compact, it's been a real challenge for my LST skills. I'm going to flip to 12/12 very soon but I need a bit of advice.

I have noticed there are a lot of leaves that are twisting in a not so funny fashion and I believe this is likely some sort of deficiency because I think I might have been a bit late adding more nutrients to the res. Is this a deficiency? If so, what? Will things correct themselves going forward?

It's been a challenge keeping temps up in the room too as we have seen daytime temps near zero and night -20F. Not sure if this could be causing the issue or not but working to get temps up.

I want to make sure she is as good as can be before I flip so any advice would be appreciated!

Yeah that could do it. I like to strip off shoots up to the growing tips just a few days before flip, leaving as many fan leaves as possible while making sure i have a plant open enough for good airflow. That will severely reduce and all but eliminate popcorn and larf

Ganjadad · Nov 14, 2022

Wow nice looking roots SLG and beautiful looking girl. Can’t wait to see some fat colas in that net. Great job

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 16, 2022

Ganjadad said:
Wow nice looking roots SLG and beautiful looking girl. Can’t wait to see some fat colas in that net. Great job

Thanks for the kind words bro!

Did a res change today, flipped to flower last night, the girl got her first taste of darkness-

I've been doing some reading on exactly how I should proceed here and most of what I am reading says to change out the res every 7-10 days. I know that is not necessary and mostly what should be done is change out the res when I have added back in the total volume.

A couple of reasons I did not do that- One, I lost my one page of my notes where I had been recording top-off's so I am unsure exactly where I am with that. Secondly, I am unsure exactly how to amend the res to add in a bloom ratio. Until I learn how to do that, I figured it best to just start fresh with a new res change and hit it with a medium feeding ratio of beginning flower nutes, so that is what I did.

Other updates are I've done some more defoliation and tried to do some LST. She is so compact it's not easy. I have the net trellis installed and am thinking I let her stretch into it and push branches here and there to try to get the canopy even. I've cranked the light up slowly over the past few days, sitting at about 60% atm.

As far as the res change, I used the GH chart as a reference to give a medium feed of 800-1000 ppm. After draining out the res and refilling it with RO water (RO water ppm @150 for some reason) the ppm was sitting about 220. For some reason my RO water is higher than it should be. Might drain it out and get a fresh barrel full and test that to see if the filters are clogging or what. I also know there is still a bit of old res water in the chiller and chiller lines that most likely added to the ppm. Anyhow, I added GH trio at the rates in their chart for week one flower which brought the ppms almost to 1200. After things settled down, I pulled about a gallon of res water and replaced it with fresh RO, brought the ppm down to 1060 and looking at ec, 2.11. Called it good.

sportyridr · Nov 16, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
Thanks for the kind words bro!

Did a res change today, flipped to flower last night, the girl got her first taste of darkness-

I've been doing some reading on exactly how I should proceed here and most of what I am reading says to change out the res every 7-10 days. I know that is not necessary and mostly what should be done is change out the res when I have added back in the total volume.

A couple of reasons I did not do that- One, I lost my one page of my notes where I had been recording top-off's so I am unsure exactly where I am with that. Secondly, I am unsure exactly how to amend the res to add in a bloom ratio. Until I learn how to do that, I figured it best to just start fresh with a new res change and hit it with a medium feeding ratio of beginning flower nutes, so that is what I did.

Other updates are I've done some more defoliation and tried to do some LST. She is so compact it's not easy. I have the net trellis installed and am thinking I let her stretch into it and push branches here and there to try to get the canopy even. I've cranked the light up slowly over the past few days, sitting at about 60% atm.

As far as the res change, I used the GH chart as a reference to give a medium feed of 800-1000 ppm. After draining out the res and refilling it with RO water (RO water ppm @150 for some reason) the ppm was sitting about 220. For some reason my RO water is higher than it should be. Might drain it out and get a fresh barrel full and test that to see if the filters are clogging or what. I also know there is still a bit of old res water in the chiller and chiller lines that most likely added to the ppm. Anyhow, I added GH trio at the rates in their chart for week one flower which brought the ppms almost to 1200. After things settled down, I pulled about a gallon of res water and replaced it with fresh RO, brought the ppm down to 1060 and looking at ec, 2.11. Called it good.

That's some wicked tight node spacing...makes you wish you had smaller hands trying to work in there i bet...she looks like a happy camper ready to turn on the bud makin machine

I am seeing/learning first hand with my thrown together scrog setup that things have to be tight or she will get to pushing things around just as they please

Ganjadad · Nov 16, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
Thanks for the kind words bro!

Did a res change today, flipped to flower last night, the girl got her first taste of darkness-

I've been doing some reading on exactly how I should proceed here and most of what I am reading says to change out the res every 7-10 days. I know that is not necessary and mostly what should be done is change out the res when I have added back in the total volume.

A couple of reasons I did not do that- One, I lost my one page of my notes where I had been recording top-off's so I am unsure exactly where I am with that. Secondly, I am unsure exactly how to amend the res to add in a bloom ratio. Until I learn how to do that, I figured it best to just start fresh with a new res change and hit it with a medium feeding ratio of beginning flower nutes, so that is what I did.

Other updates are I've done some more defoliation and tried to do some LST. She is so compact it's not easy. I have the net trellis installed and am thinking I let her stretch into it and push branches here and there to try to get the canopy even. I've cranked the light up slowly over the past few days, sitting at about 60% atm.

As far as the res change, I used the GH chart as a reference to give a medium feed of 800-1000 ppm. After draining out the res and refilling it with RO water (RO water ppm @150 for some reason) the ppm was sitting about 220. For some reason my RO water is higher than it should be. Might drain it out and get a fresh barrel full and test that to see if the filters are clogging or what. I also know there is still a bit of old res water in the chiller and chiller lines that most likely added to the ppm. Anyhow, I added GH trio at the rates in their chart for week one flower which brought the ppms almost to 1200. After things settled down, I pulled about a gallon of res water and replaced it with fresh RO, brought the ppm down to 1060 and looking at ec, 2.11. Called it good.

Right on man, your doing a great job. Keep up the great work I wouldn’t even know where to begin haha

Moe.Red · Nov 16, 2022

Looks great man just talking this thru with you since you clearly got this under control.

You were running 24 hours in veg? Not sure how I missed that.

The RO water can no longer be called that. I suspect the membrane is shot.

You look to be dialed in on nutes but they need to start changing as they stretch. Sounds like you have been measuring top off water to calculate what to add? Help me understand your process.

Your roots look great are you running some enzymes or just that good a grower you don’t need that shit?

Where is your VPD and light distance and %

Personally I’d be thinning her out a lot more. Don’t be afraid to lollipop. I know she is a masterpiece the way she is but you have a system with unused harvest potential if you don’t make her do what you want. Pick your bud sites now and get rid of all the suckers you will never have to the end now and the bud sites will grow faster. Use your feng shui to direct all the energy to your chosen bud sites and the leaves that support them.

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 16, 2022

Moe.Red said:
Looks great man just talking this thru with you since you clearly got this under control.

Thanks for the vote of confidence bro, flyin by the seat of my pants sometimes.

Moe.Red said:
You were running 24 hours in veg? Not sure how I missed that.

Probably never mentioned it but yea. I always thought that was pretty standard, that or 18/6. I take it you suggest the latter?

Moe.Red said:
The RO water can no longer be called that. I suspect the membrane is shot.

You might be right although I am going to drain out what is left in my tank and let it refill and test that. I have a feeling the construction work being done on the adjacent room may have something to do with it. There is a lid on my tank but it is far from being sealed. Thankfully, I am putting everything back together now and the major demo work on my kitchen is now complete. I also know this RO system is a good one, but at best it has to work very hard to get ppms down with our well water that comes in around 800. I can see two of the pre filters and they have stuff in them but don't look overly full of crud. I will know more once I drain the water and clean the barrel and refill it.

Moe.Red said:
You look to be dialed in on nutes but they need to start changing as they stretch. Sounds like you have been measuring top off water to calculate what to add? Help me understand your process.

Yes, I have been measuring and taking notes of top off amounts but I lost one page of my notes this time so I decided just to change it out because I am unsure about how to amend the current res with bloom nutes. Normally, my process is I keep notes of how much water I top off with each day and whatever else I did to the system. Then, when I have topped off to the tune of 14 gallons, I will know it's time to change the res. That is basically how I learned from Aquaman.

Moe.Red said:
Your roots look great are you running some enzymes or just that good a grower you don’t need that shit?

Yes, I am running enzymes and no, I'm not that good. lol

Moe.Red said:
Where is your VPD and light distance and %

OK, so the light is set at 22" above the canopy @70%. I think VPD is good, RH at 50%, Temp 72F, Leaf temps 69-70F.

Moe.Red said:
Personally I’d be thinning her out a lot more. Don’t be afraid to lollipop. I know she is a masterpiece the way she is but you have a system with unused harvest potential if you don’t make her do what you want. Pick your bud sites now and get rid of all the suckers you will never have to the end now and the bud sites will grow faster. Use your feng shui to direct all the energy to your chosen bud sites and the leaves that support them.

I've tried to do this, really I have! lol. I will get in tomorrow and try to do better.

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 24, 2022

Ganjadad said:
Right on man, your doing a great job. Keep up the great work I wouldn’t even know where to begin haha

Thanks bro for the nice words! I didn't know where to begin either but jumped in and learned, still learning, some things the hard way, and had some amazing help here at the Farm. It's a learning curve for hydro but I am guessing once I have a few grows I am going to love it, I already do!

Madmax · Nov 25, 2022

Your in auto cruise mode mate..I’m not far behind you at day 6..I’ll give you a drag to the end lol haha..

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 26, 2022

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-

Silica Boost | Growing Supplement

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.

Moe.Red said:
You look to be dialed in on nutes but they need to start changing as they stretch. Sounds like you have been measuring top off water to calculate what to add? Help me understand your process.

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.

Dragonsflame · Nov 26, 2022

she definitely has the orange dreams looking structure to me.

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 26, 2022

Dragonsflame said:
she definitely has the orange dreams looking structure to me.

Right on, is Orange Dreams one of the parent strains for this Mac Dragon line? or a pheno of the Mac Dragon?

Pardon my ignorance about your strains!

steamroller · Nov 26, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
Right on, is Orange Dreams one of the parent strains for this Mac Dragon line? or a pheno of the Mac Dragon?

Pardon my ignorance about your strains!

Lineage is - Mac Dragon #7 x orange dreams)x mac dragon #7 reversal.
Taken from ; https://www.thedragonlifestyle.com/product-page/mac-dragon-bx-1

Nice!

SweetLeafGrow · Nov 26, 2022

steamroller said:
Lineage is - Mac Dragon #7 x orange dreams)x mac dragon #7 reversal.
Taken from ; https://www.thedragonlifestyle.com/product-page/mac-dragon-bx-1

Thanks for the reminder bro, I had seen that page but forgot about it...lol.

So yea, does that mean the father is the Mac Dragon #7 x Orange Dreams?

Variety719 · Nov 27, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
Thanks for the reminder bro, I had seen that page but forgot about it...lol.

So yea, does that mean the father is the Mac Dragon #7 x Orange Dreams?

I think he pollinated macD#7with orange dream male, found a female then reversed Mac dragon 7 back to it. Had to think that out a few times lol

Variety719 · Nov 27, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
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-

Silica Boost | Growing Supplement

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.

Massively healthy trunk in that gal bro very nice!

Madmax · Nov 27, 2022

I see that orange dreams structure in the dude your drooling.those big dense buds too.I’ve only had one pheno displaying the orange hairs but was a smaller version and skinky aroma .you can see why I wanted the orange dreams Jeff.suxs she’s been lost..the celestial dragon bud structure shines through on my recent grows..

Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

SweetLeafGrow

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Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

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