Justiceman's grow: The quest for Resin

[Shady]

Sup brah! Love the detailed updates... Hope you get that PM sprayed down and in check... Those colas are looking nice, but the girls are definitely hungry... :thinking

 

[justiceman]

Sup brah! Love the detailed updates... Hope you get that PM sprayed down and in check... Those colas are looking nice, but the girls are definitely hungry... :thinking

Thanks buddy! Ya man not really sure how the PM happened since my ventilation is a 400cfm 6" intake and a 400cfm 6" exhaust, but I'm hoping to get it taken care of for the most part. Ya man I'm definitely feeding them more they are indeed still hungry. I just gave them a 2.4EC feeding.

 

[justiceman]

Week 6 Flower Update

Hey everyone! I hope everyone's gardens are doing well. So it's week 6 of flower and that means it's time to start winding down for the harvest(8 week flower). These girls seem quite decent in size although I can't say they are fatter or more productive then the hindu skunk I ran with a 600w. Oh well this is just by eyeballin though. I can say however the Kushberry smell great! and they are frosted with a really nice amount of resin. Heres what I have been feeding them as of late.

Feeding(2/20/11)
4gal
30ml Calplex
120ml Ancient Amber
32ml Bud Candy
40ml HPK
75ml Pure Blend Pro bloom(soil/coco)
20ml Floralicious bloom
40ml Flora Blend

PPM=1170(2.4EC)
PH 5.9
Temp: 69

Experiment plant:
1 gal
5ml GO cal mag
30ml Bio Thrive bloom
5ml Bio Root
5ml Bio Weed
5ml Bio Bud
15ml Diamon Black
(will not be testing PH nor EC)


Feeding(2/23/11)
4gal
25ml Calplex
60ml Humega
60ml Huvega
32ml Bud Candy
30ml Pure Blend Pro bloom(hydrogarden)
20ml Floralicious bloom
20ml Flora Blend
40ml Hygrozyme
5ml Earth Juice assist

PPM=600(1.2EC)
PH 6.1
Temp: 64

Experiment plant:
1 gal
5ml GO cal mag
15ml Bio Thrive bloom
5ml Bio Root
5ml Bio Weed
5ml Bio Bud
15ml Diamon Black
(will not be testing PH nor EC)

Feeding(2/26/11)
5.5gal
25ml Calplex
120ml Ancient amber
120ml Humega
32ml Bud Candy
20ml Floralicious bloom
20ml Flora Blend
30 Pura Vida bloom
20 Pura Vida grow
45 Natures nectar organaguano
15 Natures nectar potassium
40ml Hygrozyme
PPM= 700(1.4EC)
PH 5.8
Temp: 64

Experiment plant:
1 gal
5ml GO cal mag
15ml Bio Thrive bloom
5ml Bio Root
5ml Bio Weed
5ml Bio Bud
15ml Diamon Black
(will not be testing PH nor EC)

As you can see the General Organics plant is severely deficient in Nitrogen. I'm thinking the base nutrient doesn't cover enough of the N needs even past full strength. Oh well this wasn't enough to fully cover an experiment on the GO line, but it does give me an idea of whats going on. I did notice I was starting to burn her a bit as well so i definitely pushed it to the max in terms of nutrient strength in the medium. I'm thinking the nutrient ratios weren't prime though.

So I'm going to start implementing a new type of "flush". Before I would only water with plain non PH'd R/O for the duration of 2-3 weeks. Now my change will be this. For the first week of flush I'm going to be adding humates/fulvates and digestive enzymes, to help flush out/breakdown/and utilize all of the remaining nutrients in the medium. Then the last week will be plain non ph'd R/O water. So the PM is being kept under control for the most part with periodic neem sprays and such. To bad I didn't check out a sulfur vape a couple weeks back. I'm pretty sure I got it from the cuts I sourced form a dispensary. I'll be more careful from now on.

Here are some shots for ya!



So I beleive I told you guys about my SEA-90 experiment. I have a Casey Jones mom that is kind of in limbo between outside and inside the kitchen(during cold nights). So far I have foliar sprayed her with full strength SEA-90 and she seems to like it so far. Just a few days ago I got some courage and decided to douse her roots with 250ppm worth of SEA-90. So far she seems to tolerate it quite well. This will be a good experiment too since she recently started flowering.

 

[Shady]

Nice update buddy! Wow... 8 wks of bloom is pretty quick... :thinking

 

[justiceman]

Nice update buddy! Wow... 8 wks of bloom is pretty quick... :thinking

Thanks shady. Ya man 8 weeks seems a bit short, but I have seen a lot of strains on the seedbanks claiming to finish in as little as 56 days(8 weeks). It's my opinion that a strains can go for 8-10 weeks as far as the norm goes, but some sativa variety's flower for up to 14 weeks or longer! Who knows though I might end up them go a bit past 8 weeks depending on how they look. They seem to be ripening and the calyxes are getting fatter, so I'm thinking harvest is around the corner.

------------------------------

Flower Update Week 7

Alright guys it's week 7 of flower! So every time I've been running a new strain and because of that every grow has been different. This time around I made the grow really different because I added 400w extra of light instensity(600w hps to 1000w hps). I can say that the 1000w definitely helps with throwing out the resin. As far as yield it seems to be similar to the 600w hps(for my current set up). Now that could be for a few different reasons. Strain, lack of Co2, small root space, or inadequate feeding. It's most likely a combination of everything. I do know that I'm going to upgrade to 3gal smart pots instead of 2 gal in order to get the extra root space, and nutrient buffering. I probably won't add co2 as I'm not really in the position to do that. I'm going to adjust my feeding style, and of course the next strain will be Durban Poison!

Either way here is what I have been feeding them as of late.

Feeding(3/1/11)
4gal
20ml Humic 18
40ml Hygrozyme

Experiment plant:
5ml Humic 18
10ml Hygrozyme

Feeding(3/3/11)
4gal
20ml Humic 18
40ml Hygrozyme

Experiment plant:
5ml Humic 18
10ml Hygrozyme

Feeding(3/5/11)
4gal
20ml Humic 18
40ml Hygrozyme

Experiment plant:
5ml Humic 18
10ml Hygrozyme

Just been giving them humate, and enzymes to try and finish off the rest of the nutrient in the medium. From now on I'm going to give them just non ph'd R/O water and maybe some clearex. By the way all of the humate/hygrozyme feedings have been non ph'd(7.0ph when mixed in) I beleive it's unnecessary to ph those two items as the medium's PH is independent of the R/O water PH. R/O PH is affected so easily as it has nothing in it. I beleive once it stays in the medium it's ph is altered to that of the medium. But of course this all works in theory if you have active biological life thriving in the medium.

I beleive a good way to check the PH and EC of a thriving medium is to actually make a 1:1 slurring(soil/water) shake it around let it sit for 30 minutes and then measure the PH/EC. That's theoretically suppose to be closer to the true PH and EC of your soil/medium as run off numbers only show you the PH and EC of the water and not the medium. Of course this doesn't apply to inert hydro mediums like hydroton, rockwool, and Sure to grow, etc.

These Kushberrys are packin on some resin for sure though. I really like the smell too. Very potent fruity/berry smell. One thing I will say about the 1000w is although it hasn't appeared to increase my yeild by much(yet) it has seemed to increase resin, and aromas, as well as more uniform ripening. I like the ripening aspect as you can start to notice the calyxes swelling on the nug shots. It took longer for that to happen on lower intensity lighting. I can't wait to dry them out try out a sample! here are some pictures for ya.

 

[supasticky]

here comes the purps yo. watch! they're lookin hella nice good job mayn!

-Supa

 

[justiceman]

here comes the purps yo. watch! they're lookin hella nice good job mayn!

-Supa

Thanks supa! ya dude I'm not really sure whether they are going to turn purple or not. I'm thinking they might not though.

-------------------------------

Flower Update Week 8

Alright guys it comes down to this! It's week 8 of flower and the time for harvest is literally right around the corner. At any point between now and week 9 I'm going cut the ladies down. They are looking damn frosty and the smell is great too. They seem to be quite dense as well(thanks to the 1000w). So far the flush seems to be going well. This time around I have been flushing with about 4x the water that I usually use to normally water(sometimes more). In my previous grows for flushing I would just water as normal in order to use the rest of the nutes in the medium, but this time around it really is a "true" flush. Basically I'm going to see if it makes any difference flushing with these copious amounts of water. Here's what I have been feeding them.

Feeding(3/7/11)
16gal
Clearex

Experiment plant:
4gal
Clearex

Feeding(3/10/11)
24gal
Clearex

Experiment plant:
4gal
Clearex

Feeding(3/13/11)
16gal
R/O

Experiment plant:
3gal
R/O

I have been checking my run off just for the hell of it even though I know it doesn't mimic whats going on inside of my soilless medium. When I started putting in the clearex I was getting about 400-500ppm run off! Mind you that clearex and R/O water are 0ppm. After about 24 gal of clearex(3/10) I got the ppm down to about 60ppm. So like I said I know the run off numbers don't reflect whats in the medium but I do know that the decrease in ppm from the run off is definitely a sign that I am flushing all the nutrients out. It seems applied to many nutrients in too high of a concentration and was probably having lockout. Heres why I think that. After I ran the clearex the first time(3/7) I got about 500ppm(run off) out of the medium. I noticed that my plants slightly greened up after that for a couple days until I flushed with 24 gal(3/10). Then they started yellowing as they should. So that leads me to beleive that the high amount of nutrients in the medium was blocking out N and probably a bunch of other elements.

Either way here are some pics for ya!

Family shots
http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2106.jpg

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2119.jpg

Nug shots
http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2109.jpg

(General Organics)
http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2111.jpg

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2112.jpg

(General Organics)
http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2113.jpg

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2114.jpg

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2117.jpg

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2116.jpg

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_2125.jpg


So for the next run I have decided to change a few things:

• 3gal Geo pots instead of 2 gal smart pots for increased root space as well as nutrient buffering.
• 6" ducting for passive intake on the other side of my tent(I already have aggressive intake) in order to increase airflow and put less stress on the intake fan.
• Redo my custom drip rings in order to make them more efficient
• Redo my trellis to make it tighter
• Master Feeding Schedule from Aurora Innovations instead of my current medley of nutes.
• Most likely decrease veg from 4 to 3 weeks in order to save head room and time

 

[Shady]

Very nice work my friend! I always enjoy reading your journals and all of the thoughts, details, and experiments... Not to mention that your canopy and bud shots are great eye candy. Nice info about the clearex in relation to the flush runoff stats too... I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the test plant without pH'ing the organic nutes and if you would do the same again or ever not pH chemical chelated nutes... :thinking

 

[gooey]

nice grow report...happy harvest amigo...peace n puffs

 

[justiceman]

Very nice work my friend! I always enjoy reading your journals and all of the thoughts, details, and experiments... Not to mention that your canopy and bud shots are great eye candy. Nice info about the clearex in relation to the flush runoff stats too... I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the test plant without pH'ing the organic nutes and if you would do the same again or ever not pH chemical chelated nutes... :thinking

Thanks shady I think the same way about your journal. It's always so informative. Ya no prob on the clearex.

As for no pH'ing with organic nutes I think it works quite well so far. My super soil worked out quite well without Ph'ing except towards the end when I added soluble nutrients. The General Organics seems to work quite well without Ph'ing but the yield my suffer a bit. Quality seems to be just as good though. I think I need to do more testing though just to make things solid.

I think I would still pH chemical chelated nutes as I think most of them come in nutrient bottles coupled with other nutrients that are not necessarily chelated. That is another experiment that can be done to find out what happens. If I were to try it out I'd probably try the soul synthetics line without Ph'ing as it is coupled with organic extracts.

nice grow report...happy harvest amigo...peace n puffs

Right on man thanks

---------------

Sorry guys I think I forgot to post my pictures earlier so I put them into my original Week 8 Update on the bottom of the previous page.

 

[Shady]

Right on bro... I need to learn more about chelated vs non chelated nutes to be quite honest. I also need more research on humic and fulvic acids during the final flush in an organic medium... I've never done this and for some reason I thought I read somewhere that it helps, but I could be mistaken... :itwasntme

 

[justiceman]

Right on bro... I need to learn more about chelated vs non chelated nutes to be quite honest. I also need more research on humic and fulvic acids during the final flush in an organic medium... I've never done this and for some reason I thought I read somewhere that it helps, but I could be mistaken... :itwasntme

Sup man. Ya I'll admit I have read a little bit on chelated nutes, but I will say that I definitely have only touched upon it so my knowledge is limited. I pretty much get the jist of what they are suppose to do, but not much further beyond that.

I think I know a bit more about fulvic and humic acid then chelated nutrients, although I do know they are suppose to help chelate elements. Especially micronutrients. Humic acid is a more complex molecule with a heavier wieght then fulvic acid. It usually has a high carbon content and helps to buffer some nutes as well as provide biological catalysts for the micro population. So in essence it's in excellent soil conditioner. From what I understand Fulvic acid is part of humic acid but is separated through some extraction. It is much lighter in molecular weight and is superior in micro nutrient chelation. In essence it helps with nutrient uptake, and is better suited for hydroponics whereass humic acid is better suited to soill/soilless in my opinion. Not to say you can't use them in either or though.

Interestingly enough I see a lot of programs calling for foliar sprays of fulvic acid. I'm not so sure what it's affects are on foliage but maybe if coupled with seaweed, or calcium it will increase uptake into the foliage?

I'm trying to remember where I read about using fulvic acid and digestive enzymes for flushing. It might have been in a gardening magazine, or from someones journal.

--------------------

Week 9 Flower Update

Hey everyone! This will be the last Flower Update for the Kush Berry's! I'm about to cut them down tomorrow and begin trimming! So it's been a pretty decent run. And I have run into problems as with every grow, but we live and we learn, most of the time for the better. So I have learned a few things, and will be implementing them into the next grow. I also forgot to do a few things I planned on doing this grow, but all is well that ends well. Here is what I have been feeding them as of late

Feeding(3/16/11)
24gal
R/O

Experiment plant:
3gal
R/O

Feeding(3/18/11)
16gal
R/O

Experiment plant:
3gal
R/O

So they are super flushed and ready for the picking. The GO plant seems to be pretty decent in terms of bud quality but the yield is obviously lacking. Not to mention when you compare thickness of the main stalk hers pales in comparison to the rest. All in all I may run some other tests outside since only testing one plant isn't really that great of an experiment, but to be honest I'm not really impressed. On a side note the Veg nutes seem to work just fine for veg, and the additives such as bio bud, bio weed, and bio root are pretty solid no doubt. Either way I'll have to try it out again to see If I can crank some different results out of the line. Maybe I should try feed water feed with GO instead of just feeding.

Here are some pictures for ya

If anyone missed it in the last update here it is again.

So for the next run I have decided to change a few things:

* 3gal Geo pots instead of 2 gal smart pots for increased root space as well as nutrient buffering.
* 6" ducting for passive intake on the other side of my tent(I already have aggressive intake) in order to increase airflow and put less stress on the intake fan.
* Redo my custom drip rings in order to make them more efficient
* Redo my trellis to make it tighter
* Master Feeding Schedule from Aurora Innovations instead of my current medley of nutes.
* Most likely decrease veg from 4 to 3 weeks in order to save head room and time
*Roots Organics potting soil instead of pure coco or coco mix in order to achieve extremely active soil biology with the master feeding schedule.

 

[winta]

very nice bro! sorry to hear about the yield on the go plant but at least she is frosty ;)

 

[Shady]

Congrats on the harvest and I'm looking forward to your next round! as they say... K+.... Still not sure what that means... :thinking

 

[supasticky]

+ kharma? lol

 

[justiceman]

very nice bro! sorry to hear about the yield on the go plant but at least she is frosty ;)

All good man it sucks that whole harvest ended up being crap because of the PM:sweating They were indeed frosty and smelly though.

Congrats on the harvest and I'm looking forward to your next round! as they say... K+.... Still not sure what that means... :thinking

Thanks shady. Unforgettably I got owned though but it's cool. My current round is going pretty good.

+ kharma? lol

could be haha.

Hey everyone It's been a long while since I've posted on the farm but I'm back again to browse the forums. Unfortunately my last harvest documented here ended in failure as it came down with a bad case of PM. The wierd thing about it was I've grown in my tent with the same conditions multiple times and never got it before. Who knows strain susceptibility, somehow poor ventilation, inadequate nutrition, inadequate biological defenses. Any one of those could be my guess. Either way it ended in failure and I learned that preventative measures are always good.

Since then I've been taking care of my moms and tending to my Tomatoes and Corn I planted a month or so back. I also have a crop of Durban Poison in my 4 x 4 tent right now about 5 weeks into flower with fortunately no signs of PM, but of course I used Serande once during veg and Green Cure during veg as well as once 3 weeks into flower as a PM preventative.

So far it's looking really good and I have followed my decided changes except for a tighter trellis and customized drip rings. I decided to ditch the drip rings and manifoldafter I made some different types to play with. I like them but for the scale of grow I'm doing I feel it's unnecessary especially considering my lack of rez. As a result of going back to hand watering I had to ditch the trellis as well even though I built a good one out of PVC. The advantage of hand watering Is now I can use all the sludgy organic nutes I want and I don't have to strain compost teas. This should mean increased biological action.

Either way things seem to be going well right now with my durban's inside and I'm just gearing up for my outdoor grow as we speak. I have a few clones transplanted and ready(Durban Poison, Blue Moonshine x bagseed F1) I have a mom of Jilly bean but shes kind of hard to clone for some reason. the Durb and Blue turned out fine but none of the jilly bean cuts rooted.

Either way here are a few pics of whats been happening recently. Master Schedule from Aurora Innovations for the Durban Poison(5 weeks) and General Organics Bio Marine for the Outside plants(Enzymatically digested fish protien aka Fish hydrolysate aka cold processed fish)NOT FISH EMULSION.

I'm going to end this journal as it has become too cluttered and it is hard to find exact grows so I think I'm just going to start posting chronology's of my grows instead that way the whole cycle will be there from start to finish with stats and numbers.

 

[Shady]

Glad to see you are okay and back on track bud! :cool

 

[Bleezy]

That durban looks like some chronic