Schwer's First Grow Evah! Planning, Prep and Grow

[Schwer]

Day 50 - 7 days post-flip

That nice, even canopy I'd been working on is starting to look more like a topographical map of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hopefully we can get through stretch without it looking like the Rockies.

I watered yesterday morning and included the mag sulfate but I haven't done anything with calcium just yet. I did a lot of reading on the subject yesterday and thoroughly confused myself, but its a new day, I'm feeling refreshed and am fully prepared to confuse myself all over again.

This is a pic of my most impacted BBK when it comes to the apparent mag deficiency. Nearly every leaf is showing signs. What do you guys think about trying a foliar spray of RO and mag sulfate at lights out? Or would that be too much in conjunction with the mag sulfate in the water?

One of my favorite aspects of this process is watching the slow growth of my plants and seeing all the little changes up close. The same was true with my tomato and pepper plants. It really is a beautiful thing.

 

[Smithers]

Day 50 - 7 days post-flip

That nice, even canopy I'd been working on is starting to look more like a topographical map of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hopefully we can get through stretch without it looking like the Rockies.

I watered yesterday morning and included the mag sulfate but I haven't done anything with calcium just yet. I did a lot of reading on the subject yesterday and thoroughly confused myself, but its a new day, I'm feeling refreshed and am fully prepared to confuse myself all over again.

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This is a pic of my most impacted BBK when it comes to the apparent mag deficiency. Nearly every leaf is showing signs. What do you guys think about trying a foliar spray of RO and mag sulfate at lights out? Or would that be too much in conjunction with the mag sulfate in the water?

View attachment 1156183​

One of my favorite aspects of this process is watching the slow growth of my plants and seeing all the little changes up close. The same was true with my tomato and pepper plants. It really is a beautiful thing.

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I’d vote nay on the foliage spray idea. Change 1 thing at a time, watch what happens. Too many variables changing at the same time makes it harder to tell what’s doing what. Also easier to over-do it and dose more than you intend.

New growth looks well recovered. And I’m also not sure if your old deficient growth recovers or stays the same, but more experienced people should.

I’ve only been doing 1/8 tsp/gal of epsom salt, but I hadn’t used it to correct a problem just as a macro ingredient. I read it’s good weeks 2-8, give or take, so I do that.

Looking good, much more even than my canopy was

 

[Lilolme]

How come your not using a cal/mag supplement? Everything I have read including a little card that came with my lights says use it, in moderation, I call every phone number on every bottle of everything I have ever used and have had some very interesting conversations with people that have put their brand aside and helped me tremendously. Cal/mag

 

[Schwer]

How come your not using a cal/mag supplement? Everything I have read including a little card that came with my lights says use it, in moderation, I call every phone number on every bottle of everything I have ever used and have had some very interesting conversations with people that have put their brand aside and helped me tremendously. Cal/mag

Previously the reason was that I didn't know I needed one. Now the reason is that I'm trying to find the right options for a fully organic grow. I've discovered that a lot of the usual Cal/Mag products out there aren't organic, and I've heard (anecdotally) that some Cal/Mag products don't play nice with my microbes. I'm hoping to do some more research on this very subject today.

 

[Schwer]

@Lilolme That's really cool about the conversations you've had, btw.

 

[Tracyfri]

Day 50 - 7 days post-flip

That nice, even canopy I'd been working on is starting to look more like a topographical map of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hopefully we can get through stretch without it looking like the Rockies.

I watered yesterday morning and included the mag sulfate but I haven't done anything with calcium just yet. I did a lot of reading on the subject yesterday and thoroughly confused myself, but its a new day, I'm feeling refreshed and am fully prepared to confuse myself all over again.

View attachment 1156182

View attachment 1156181


This is a pic of my most impacted BBK when it comes to the apparent mag deficiency. Nearly every leaf is showing signs. What do you guys think about trying a foliar spray of RO and mag sulfate at lights out? Or would that be too much in conjunction with the mag sulfate in the water?

View attachment 1156183​

One of my favorite aspects of this process is watching the slow growth of my plants and seeing all the little changes up close. The same was true with my tomato and pepper plants. It really is a beautiful thing.

View attachment 1156187
View attachment 1156188

Im going through the same thing right now. It's not horrible but it's definitely there. I ran half strength nutes last night and cut back on the water a tiny bit. Im in coco and I swore I was over-watering but after talking to other farmers I'm not so sure. I don't think there's any specific link between over-watering and mg uptake. I know it's a chronic issue for some growers. I did a foliar treatment (one time) and increased epsom salt a bit w no results I can see. I'll let u know when the symptoms are going away in case it can help u in any way. Great looking grow btw

 

[Schwer]

@Tracyfri , Thanks for that info as it actually makes me feel better about not doing something, which is probably preferable to doing something when you don't know what you're doing.

The one thing I don't think I'm doing is over watering. After watering my plants they feel like sand bags, and before I water them they feel like volley balls.

 

[Lilolme]

My canopy has gotten out of hand you can definitely tell the center plant is a different strain than the outer ones it didn’t stretch like the others. Gettin dense in the middle too and tough to get in there to do much clean up. Nets gonna go away in the next day or so

 

[Schwer]

@Lilolme That makes me want to repost that Incredible Hulk pic, lol

 

[Schwer]

New growth looks well recovered. And I’m also not sure if your old deficient growth recovers or stays the same, but more experienced people should.

My understanding is that magnesium is a mobile nutrient/mineral so the plant is able to move it from lower leaves to upper as needed. That's what concerns me about ALL of the leaves on that particular plant being impacted, heh.

 

[Schwer]

Day 52 - day 10 in flower

Hey gang, hope all is well. Our A/C was out for a full day and it was hot as balls, but today I am cool and not taking it for granted.

I've done a lot more defoliation in past couple of days, not that you can tell. I've started removing some of the lower LARF makers I'm certain of, but that still leaves a lot of little branches I'm unsure about. Take, for instance, the BBK on the lower right side of my tent. There are so many little heads poking out of the lower branches and I don't know what's worth keeping. No worries though, I'll probably have a better understanding when they're done stretching.

Speaking of stretching, some branches have just decided to take off and leave the others behind. That's been making it a challenge to manage my lights. I've been edging up to ~800 PPFD on average across the canopy and I'm pretty much there now (825 center, 750 on the edges) but some of these branches have stretched up to a point they're getting over 1000 PPFD. I did do a few more tie downs after taking these photos where it seemed reasonable.

And here I am having some fun with the macro lens...

 

[Schwer]

Btw, watering really sucks, and by that I mean it takes what I consider a really long time for me to do properly. I've been watering every two-three days when the pots feel volley-ball light and the bottom 25-50% of the leaves are letting me know its time (and uh, maybe closer to 90% once or twice).

At the start of each watering the soil is repellent so I have to water the first quart on each pot VERY slowly or it just finds the quickest path to the pan. If I water slowly and evenly enough across the top of the soil it gets increasing easier to the point that the each liter is absorbed more quickly than the last without runoff. I typically water 3-3.5 liters per 3 gal pot and try not to get more than a few drops of runoff if any.

I hope this doesn't sound too much like bitching. I usually just throw on some tunes and enjoy my time in the tent, but sometimes I'm in a hurry! I wonder if I'm letting my plants get too dry.

 

[GalaxysEdge]

Have you been able to identify your plants sex yet Schwer?

 

[Smithers]

Btw, watering really sucks, and by that I mean it takes what I consider a really long time for me to do properly. I've been watering every two-three days when the pots feel volley-ball light and the bottom 25-50% of the leaves are letting me know its time (and uh, maybe closer to 90% once or twice).

At the start of each watering the soil is repellent so I have to water the first quart on each pot VERY slowly or it just finds the quickest path to the pan. If I water slowly and evenly enough across the top of the soil it gets increasing easier to the point that the each liter is absorbed more quickly than the last without runoff. I typically water 3-3.5 liters per 3 gal pot and try not to get more than a few drops of runoff if any.

I hope this doesn't sound too much like bitching. I usually just throw on some tunes and enjoy my time in the tent, but sometimes I'm in a hurry! I wonder if I'm letting my plants get too dry.

I made a gadget to combat this problem in my room. It's a 1 gal water container with the bottom cut off, a barb fitting secured through the lid, then suspended upside down. A 1/8" hose to a 1/4 turn liquid valve controls the flow at the handle stick. The 1/8" line slows down the flow so it's great for wetting the top surface. I put a picture, it's hard to see the wand but I fill this with my mix. I ziptied the end a few times to a stick for something to hold on to. When I re-build, I'll be making a much better version of this if I plan on hand watering still.

 

[Lilolme]

I’ve graduated to my bucket for such tasks, $8 submersible pump, I have a longer hose on it now. Finger over the end till I’m ready then quick flood the top, finger over the end on to the next pot. By the time I’m at the last pot the first pot has saturated a little and I repeat till the water is gone usually a gallon or so each

 

[Schwer]

Have you been able to identify your plants sex yet Schwer?

Yes indeed, no sausage at this party (as evidenced in part by the first macro pic above). Chasity mostly assured

 

[Schwer]

I made a gadget to combat this problem in my room. It's a 1 gal water container with the bottom cut off, a barb fitting secured through the lid, then suspended upside down. A 1/8" hose to a 1/4 turn liquid valve controls the flow at the handle stick. The 1/8" line slows down the flow so it's great for wetting the top surface. I put a picture, it's hard to see the wand but I fill this with my mix. I ziptied the end a few times to a stick for something to hold on to. When I re-build, I'll be making a much better version of this if I plan on hand watering still.

That's a pretty great idea! Thanks for sharing that. I absolutely love the DIY stuff. Its such a big part of most of my other hobbies but I haven't employed much of it here. I think sometimes I need a little bit of foundation before I feel comfortable flexing those particular muscles. Not a great personal trait, but at least I get to it eventually, lol.

But now your pic has me thinking... and this is how it starts.

 

[Tracyfri]

Btw, watering really sucks, and by that I mean it takes what I consider a really long time for me to do properly. I've been watering every two-three days when the pots feel volley-ball light and the bottom 25-50% of the leaves are letting me know its time (and uh, maybe closer to 90% once or twice).

At the start of each watering the soil is repellent so I have to water the first quart on each pot VERY slowly or it just finds the quickest path to the pan. If I water slowly and evenly enough across the top of the soil it gets increasing easier to the point that the each liter is absorbed more quickly than the last without runoff. I typically water 3-3.5 liters per 3 gal pot and try not to get more than a few drops of runoff if any.

I hope this doesn't sound too much like bitching. I usually just throw on some tunes and enjoy my time in the tent, but sometimes I'm in a hurry! I wonder if I'm letting my plants get too dry.

When I was growing in peat based soiless I'd water just before the point the soil became dry enough to become Hydrophobic. It still had a good dry back but was less apt to run down the sides w out penetrating. I would treat most any soil mix this way. .realize soil mixes have varying characteristics but I did as a geso it penetrated easier. A wetting agent such as yucca extract may help to alleviate the issue as well

 

[Schwer]

I’ve graduated to my bucket for such tasks, $8 submersible pump, I have a longer hose on it now. Finger over the end till I’m ready then quick flood the top, finger over the end on to the next pot. By the time I’m at the last pot the first pot has saturated a little and I repeat till the water is gone usually a gallon or so each

When I watered yesterday I did try to "pre-water" all of the pots before starting. I think it helped a little, but being able to switch between pots during the whole process would definitely be better. I've been trying to "Tetris" the pot I'm focusing on to the front of the tent where its easy to both water and spin it around to defoliate, but those days are coming to an end. No more individual smooching for me. Honestly, that alone will probably triple my speed, heh.

 

[Schwer]

When I was growing in peat based soiless I'd water just before the point the soil became dry enough to become Hydrophobic. It still had a good dry back but was less apt to run down the sides w out penetrating. I would treat most any soil mix this way. .realize soil mixes have varying characteristics but I did as a geso it penetrated easier. A wetting agent such as yucca extract may help to alleviate the issue as well

Thanks so much, that wetting agent info sounds interesting. I'll be pursuing that for my own edification at the very least because that's new to me.

Actually, all of your replies have been very helpful because at this point I don't really know what's normal and what's not. This is sounding pretty normal.