Help the monster grow great weed! (My 1st coco grow)

[Chronic Monster]

This will be my first grow log, I love the farm so decided to post up here.
Props to Logic for running IMO, the best cannabis forum online.

My intention of this grow journal is to get as much input as possible, so comments good or bad are welcome!

I want to grow the best cannabis possible with the feedback from all the great farmers here. :cigar:

I have grown on and off for awhile, but honestly have never had truly top shelf buds.

Just getting back into growing, had to sale most of my equipment during some hard times over the last year.

I have grown a variety of ways but this will be my first coco/chow mix run.

Mix is aprox 55%coco coir(GH 11lb blocks) 10%roots organic 707 mix, 15% hydro clay and 20%growstones.

Strains:
1. Purple Kush
2. Mendo Purps
3. Tsunami
4. Blue Sky
5. Girl Scout Cookies
6. Critical Mass
7. Alaskan Thunder Fuck
8. TRC's Mary Jane(seed.)

Will be looking for male from the MJs to breed with, will be my first attempt at breeding.
Grown the MJs before and loved the smoke.

Pull up a seat, ill get pictures up next week and then do weekly updates.

 

[urbanfog]

along for the ride :D

 

[Chronic Monster]

Here is what the mix looks like that I ended up using, just been hand watering as the plants are still itty bitty.
Going to set up drippers in the next week

 

[Chronic Monster]

Great to have you along Urbanfog, looks like you are my wing man :cigar:

 

[Chronic Monster]

I also have this Black Dhalia cutting which may or may not make it. My friend was killing off the line as he said the strain is one of the hardest to grow that he has come across, and yeilds terrible. But tests upwards of 25 percent thc, and is super stoney.
The cutting was taken off a plant 4 weeks into flower.

 

[mastacheeser]

sounds sexy. atf is one of those i never figured out

nothing like getting back to the basics and doing some work.
ill be creepin. kill it son!

 

[neverbreak]

nice variety of strains bro. lookin forward to yer success!

neverbreak

 

[Chronic Monster]

So turns out these clones came from powdery mildew infected Moms.

Iv never dealt with PM.

Do I have to buy some Eagle 20 and protective gear, or is there anything less toxic I can use that I won't need to purchase all the safety gear required for the Eagle 20?

The plants are still super small and could be dipped instead of spraying.

 

[Topofthecrop]

I've heard good things about serenade disease control concentrate. Comes in a red bottle.

 

[Don Peppy]

Cheers to some better times .. Hope that bs is behind you.. Nice line-up getting back in the game bro.. Got me a chair for the show.. Good luck

 

[Chronic Monster]

Thanks Topofthecrop!
Anyone have first hand experience using Serenade diesase control on PM? (Is that a cure or just a bandaid?)

I looked into getting all the safety gear to be able to use the Eagle20 safely, even though its not terribly pricey, it is out of my budget at the moment.

Wondering if I should just scrap all these plants, and do a straight MJ run from seed.

If plants had powdery mildew at my friends, is it guranteed I will get it?
There is no currently visible PM on any of the plants for what its worth.

Can a plant rid itself of PM on its own if kept healthy?
Any thoughts on adding asprin to my feeding regimine?

If I decide to do a seed run, would the PM hurt the quality of the seeds?

 

[Chronic Monster]

Here is what I'm working with....

 

[Chronic Monster]

Cheers to some better times .. Hope that bs is behind you.. Nice line-up getting back in the game bro.. Got me a chair for the show.. Good luck

Thanks man, I sure hope so to, being homeless is for the birds...lol

 

[ttystikk]

Mr. @Chronic Monster! What's this, you actin' like a noob or sumptin', wot? You started one of my favorite threads, 'overpriced nutrients' YEARS ago, I'm still reapin' da benefits from that one!

To rid yourself of powdery mildew without Eagle20, you'll need a multi pronged plan of attack; this is also known as IPM, aka Integrated Pest Management. The idea is to switch up the mode of attack too fast for the pest to keep up, so each successive wave, while perhaps not strong enough alone, will beat it down and defeat it. Here are some different things to do, in no particular order;

1. Safer 3 in 1 or Safer Soap. These are actually insecticides, but they're effective against PM

2. H²O² - Use this at about 3-5% as a foliar spray

3. Horticultural oil, like Azamax- if you have a bug problem, this stuff is good for double duty. It coats the leaves, protecting them from PM- It's also good for reducing wilt in very dry conditions, something to consider if you can't get your humidity up into the sixties where it needs to be for best growth. While we're on the subject of humidity, I want to kill the notion- again- that high humidity causes or encourage Powdery Mildew. Not True! The shit thrives on plants stressed by DRY conditions, one reason it's such a plague in the arid West of the US! Explains why raising your humidity is on this list.

4. Ground up aspirin and potassium bicarbonate- the aspirin is an immunity booster and the bicarb raises pH while providing a plant nutrient (K), high pH on the leaf surface makes life tough for PM. This is the same as milk, only better for the plants. Drink your own milk, lol

5. Make sure you have good air circulation and fans blowing air across your plants

6. Increase grow room temps to 100f for a couple of hours, taking care to raise or maintain humidity

7. Maintain good humidity levels for VPD; that means at least 65% and even 70-75% if you're running temps in the 80s. Higher humidity makes for stronger plants more able to resist and fight off disease, PM included.

All of these strategies are at least partially effective, and just as importantly they have different modes of action, or methods to kill or harass the target pest. Doing one of these more than twice in a row usually won't get you as good results, so switch around and find three or four that work for you and rotate among them. As you saw, it's easy to combine PM attacks with pesticide applications, and they can be combined with nutritive foliar sprays as well.

 

[Chronic Monster]

What up ttystick :-)
Man, I ain't even trying to front, I'm not that great of a grower...
My buds aren't top shelf, neither is my technique.
2014 shits getting dialed in with the help of the farm!

 

[Chronic Monster]

Anyone remember that HTs article with Swerve where his seed plants were covered in PM?

 

[ttystikk]

I'm a bit concerned about the composition of your chowmix. When I ran a high percentage of coco with hydroton in it, my soil failed to drain well and I had oversaturation problems.

My current chowmix is 80% hydroton and only 20% wetted coco, measured as follows; One part damp coco to four parts rocks. Because it's inert, it's totally and endlessly recyclable, just get the big clumps of roots out between runs and break it up again. It cannot be flooded, it has lots of nooks to hold moisture and bennies...

 

[ttystikk]

What up ttystick :)
Man, I ain't even trying to front, I'm not that great of a grower...
My buds aren't top shelf, neither is my technique.
2014 shits getting dialed in with the help of the farm!

We'll get you squared away in no time, brother- you know that's a fact!

Da Monster Needs His Chronic!!!

 

[ttystikk]

Anyone remember that HTs article with Swerve where his seed plants were covered in PM?

No, but you can get that stuff anywhere, like handling mildewy produce at the grocery store and then bringing it home on your hands. Very common issue when getting produce from CSA.

 

[Chronic Monster]

You are running rdwc with the chow up top yea?

When I did rdwc before i always used just hydroclay in my net pot, how does the 80/20 work for you, im guessing you run the water line below the net pot(im curious how far below)
Does the wicking action of the roots keep the chow mix damp ?

I usually ran water level above netpot as Heath said its better to avoid cord roots.
Not hating on swerve just wondering about the effects of PM on seeds and such....