Durban Poison with Vivosun self feeding pots in coco/perlite

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T_Dub

T_Dub

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I recently started my winter grow so I’ve decided to update this site weekly with progress. Here are the details for the start of week 3 of veg. They are 9 inches tall and topped above the 5th node. I plan to scrog these.

Note that my ph climbed too high (6.8) in the reservoirs, so I believe I experienced a nutrient lockout. You can see some yellowing on the edges. I’m monitoring closely at a new lower ph. I feed all nutrients through the bottom reservoir……no top feeding allowed.

FEEL FREE TO JUMP IN WITH THOUGHTS OR RECOMMENDATIONS! I’m always up for learning something new.


Durban poison with vivosun self feeding pots in cocoperlite 5
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Seeds: Seedsman Durban Poison Feminized
Germination: 24 hour soak in reverse osmosis water and seaweed extract then planted in coco coir.
Medium: Hydrated and buffered coco and 30% perlite mixed in - 3 gallon fiber pots
Water: Reverse Osmosis for most feedings
Nutrients: General Hydroponics Flora Series, Heads Formula (6ml Micro and 9ml Bloom per gallon) plus CalMag. I ph the mix to 6.0. Ppm around 880.

Equipment
Self-Feeding wicking bases by Vivosun
320 watt Timber Cobs plus AC Infinity LED strips plus Mars Hydro UV/IR strips
Controller by AC Infinity
Heater, humidifier, oscillating and exhaust fans are all AC Infinity
Stable heat and VPD last week. VPD averaged .97 last week.
Durban poison with vivosun self feeding pots in cocoperlite
Durban poison with vivosun self feeding pots in cocoperlite 2


These self feeding bases are proving much easier to use than the AC Infinity. I can vaccuum out old nutrients and check ppm and ph easily through the access panels. That was a smart addition. I’m seeing that the nutrient ph and ppm both climb quickly and need to be adjusted daily. Today I added straight RO water to the reservoirs because the ppm had climbed from 900 to 1080.

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T_Dub

T_Dub

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Installed the SCROG net this weekend and checked the reservoir ph (6.4) and ppm (980). Added ph down to target 6.0.
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Today I’m rewiring the tent to add a special dehumidifier designed for grow tents. The one downside to these fabric (fiber) pots is that they put off a lot of humidity in the tent compared to nursery pots.
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T_Dub

T_Dub

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It’s taken several years to collect all of the pieces, but I finally have a good environment set up with an external heater, humidifier and dehumidifier. Not much room in the small 2x4 tent for equipment inside the tent.

Plants look good today….growing quickly and starting to fill the SCROG net.

The dehumidifier won’t fire up until we start flowering.

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T_Dub

T_Dub

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Still seeing some leaf discoloration on one plant. Im wondering if I didn’t buffer the coco enough and I’m now experiencing a magnesium deficiency as a result. Or it’s from the high 6.8ph I discovered in the reservoir. I’m not seeing this on the other two plants, but I am seeing some nutrient burn on the other plants. I diluted the reservoir feed back down to 750ppm to prevent more burn on the other plant.
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A Quick Look at temperature, humidity and vpd over the past hour, day and week. For the past week, my average temperature is 78.9 (lights on 20 hours per day), 71.1% humidity and a VPD of .96. I have my heater set to prevent the tent from dropping below 73 degrees.

Average for the week shown here. Video shows current day, week and month trends and stability using humidifier and heater.
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Here are my VPD goals….ideal zone (grey shaded cells)
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T_Dub

T_Dub

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The self-feeding pots are working great. I am adjusting the reservoir ph (to 6.0) and ppm (under 800) daily but it’s not really necessary. I could probably ignore the plants for 4-5 days currently with the amount of nutrients that these bases hold (1.3 gallons). I have noticed that the ph and ppm creep up in the reservoirs.

I’m using a SCROG net which will make it difficult to remove these pots from the garden later. That’s unfortunate because these plants will need a full flush after I flip to flower simply to prevent salt buildup in the root zone. I may have to flush them in the tent but I hope to be able to drag them to a bathtub.

My plant training is very poor for this grow…..I’m just going to weave as much into the net as possible. I have topped the plants once….might do it one more time to get more tops.
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T_Dub

T_Dub

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I realized that I didn’t explain the self feeding pots too well. The two brands that I am familiar with are AC Infinity and Vivosun. Both are well made and work great. The Vivosun is 30% larger (1.3 gallons) compared to the standard AC Infinity (1 gallon). The base holds the water AND NUTRIENTS. No top watering is needed. These pots keep the bottom 1/3 of the pot damp at all times.

The vivosun have a convenient access panel to the reservoir for ph and ppm testing which is a very nice revision that the AC Infinity don’t have. The access panel is very useful for vacuuming out old solution too.

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I’m using coco coir and perlite, so my goal is a ph of 6.0. These watering tools keep the coco moist…..and coco should never dry out.

The only downside I’ve discovered is that they need at least one flush after veg.
 
T_Dub

T_Dub

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Week 3 of Veg
Placed 18 inches under a light dimmed to provide a DLI of 35 at 18 hours per day.

Checked water reservoirs in automatic feeders and ph was 6.4, ppm was 780. Added .4ml ph down to each reservoir, topped off with diluted solution. Ph now at 6.1 and ppm at 700.

Today I removed leaves and select branches from below the net. There’s no point in having the plant grow a branch that would get pruned later anyway. Then I spread the branches out to cover as many holes in the scrog screen as possible. I need a few more inches on these stems to reach the furthest screen holes….

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T_Dub

T_Dub

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For lighting, my lamp is now 18 inches above the canopy. I started at 14 inches and worked by spread to 18 inches. You can see that in the photo below. I have a built in diimmer, so I’m still dimming the lamp at this stage.
IMG 2024


My 320 watt LED has 3 cobs placed 14 inches apart. I use a dimmer to target a specific ppfd/DLI using an app on my iPhone called “Photone” and a light diffuser sold by them. I am currently dimming to target a Daily Light Integral (DLI) of 35 at 18 hours per light per day. That equates to a ppfd of 548 or 34,000 lux.

Here is the recommended light intensity (DLI) by plant age. DLI is simply a combination of light intensity and duration.
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Here are the measurements taken using the Photone application.
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T_Dub

T_Dub

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Welcome to day 1 of week #4 of veg. This is my ugly scrog. It would have worked better had I trained the branches to spread out before installing the net. Live and Learn. I’m focused on spreading the branches among all of the net openings.

Today is just a bunch of “glamour shots” of the garden to document week #4.

The three Durban Poison look relatively healthy. There are still the remnants of what I believe was a magnesium deficiency from not buffering all of my coco adequately. I am foliar feeding (lights off!) with a mix of CalMag (5ml/g) and seaweed extract (30ml/g) mixed with RO water and ph’d to 6.0. My feed has been consistent with Heads Formula using GH Flora Series…..6ml Micro, 9 ml Bloom, 2-3 ml CalMag and 30ml/g of Seaweed extract.

Here is the deficiency I see….doesnt seem to be getting worse.
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I’ve been adjusting ph and adding nutrient solution daily. My ph creeps up by .3-.4 per day. I plan to replace the nutrient solution next week with fresh nutrients. My formula for fertilizers does not change regardless of veg or flower…..Heads Formula stays consistent.

LED is 18” above the plant tops and dimmed to provide a Daily Light Integral of 35. I purchased some branch clips to bend them 90 degrees but not finding many uses for the clips.

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I’ve been really focused on improving the grow conditions in the tent. I added a controller, hooked up the external humidifier, added a heater and now added a special dehumidifier designed to work from outside the tent. I don’t have any tent floor space (small 2x4) free to use for equipment, so I’m only buying equipment that pump air into the tent through hoses. Just added this Spider Farmer dehumidifier and need to figure out how to automate it. I’m trying to get ready for flower when I struggle with humidity. I’m also hoping to be able to run a grow in summer months when humidity is more difficult to manage.

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T_Dub

T_Dub

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I just recently harvested a couple Durban Poison girls. Loving that pine taste and I harvested one a little early so it's a great daytime smoke for an attitude adjustment without the couch lock.
Beautiful bud there Ninjadogma! I’m hoping to have similar results if things go well.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Durban Poison, but all three plants are the same strain so I’m about to find out. I regret not planting a little more variety, but I really liked the recommendation as a daytime smoke.

Did she stretch much in flower on you? I know she’s reportedly a heavy Sativa, although I wouldn’t guess it by the leaves. . (Seedsman’s strain of Durban Poison is mixed with Skunk for faster flowering times if I understand correctly).
 
Ninjadogma

Ninjadogma

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Beautiful bud there Ninjadogma! I’m hoping to have similar results if things go well.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Durban Poison, but all three plants are the same strain so I’m about to find out. I regret not planting a little more variety, but I really liked the recommendation as a daytime smoke.

Did she stretch much in flower on you? I know she’s reportedly a heavy Sativa, although I wouldn’t guess it by the leaves. . (Seedsman’s strain of Durban Poison is mixed with Skunk for faster flowering times if I understand correctly).
I did a grow on a time frame that didn't have much of a window for stretching. I put babies in 5 gal pots on June 21 and they flipped the first week of August. I took clippings so I've kept the genetics going. I'm giving them supplemental light to keep them in veg during the shorter days and figure I'll keep putting them under the light until they get too big for the shed and then just leave them out to flip. But a 5 gal pot I figure wil prolly max out at around 4 foot.
 
T_Dub

T_Dub

176
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Today is just a Quick Look at the scrog net…..slowly filling in the gaps. I’m guessing two more weeks of veg then I’ll flip to flower. I defoliated a little as well by removing growth below the net and some inward facing fan leaves that were blocking bud sites. I have a second SCROG net ready to go to handle the stretch.

I’ve been foliar feeding at night after lights go out. Using 5ml/g of CalMag and 30ml/g of seaweed extract for the feed.

Adjusted fans. I’m running 5 fans in my 2x4. One under the canopy, two blowing above the canopy, one blowing across the top of my led light (cooling fan) and one at the top of the tent for circulation. I also checked the reservoirs which were at a ph of 6.4. I added .5ml of ph down to each reservoir.

Top of the net
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Not that there’s anything unique here, but here’s the tent. I was trying to show the amount of air movement that I have going in the tent.
 
T_Dub

T_Dub

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Greetings….welcome to veg week 4, day 5. I am learning how to scrog, but I believe I am waiting for my scrog net to fill in the gaps better before flipping to flower. I’ve been aggressively bending branches under the scrog net this week and even performed some supercropping today to cover even more openings. I’m not sure when I should flip to flower so I’m doing more research. I suspect I’ll be flipping to flower within the week.
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katraiter

katraiter

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I just recently harvested a couple Durban Poison girls. Loving that pine taste and I harvested one a little early so it's a great daytime smoke for an attitude adjustment without the couch lock.
Love some Durban! Was one of the first strains I tried to grow officially! It was a really tough plant! I had it outside, in Florida stealth style thru the winter had to cover it one night to prevent it from freezing actually 😂 is definitely one I would buy again to grow . Good smoke and great cannabutter ! And it just smells like heaven!!💚
 
T_Dub

T_Dub

176
63
Love some Durban! Was one of the first strains I tried to grow officially! It was a really tough plant! I had it outside, in Florida stealth style thru the winter had to cover it one night to prevent it from freezing actually 😂 is definitely one I would buy again to grow . Good smoke and great cannabutter ! And it just smells like heaven!!💚
Im even more excited to try it now…..thanks! I’ll be smoking this one for a while.
 
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