Shady’s Natural Selection… Round 4: More Strains & Growing Pains

[justiceman]

Oh shit the drip gear is coming around the corner. Nice dude that set up will make things a lot easier ay?

This time I will substitute Light Warrior with B’Cuzz Coco and chunky perlite. I’m planning on using 50% Happy Frog, 40% Coco, and 10% chunky perlite. I’m not sure if I should also lower the pH of my tea since I’m mixing soil and coco…

Sounds like a decent soil mix. As for PH I don't think you really have to lower it. I know that coco calls for a ph of around 5.9, but since you are mixing it with happy frog witch has tons of organic materials(humates, beneficials, probably dolomite, etc) I don't think a lowered PH will make much difference because of the PH buffers in HF but to be safe if you were to give them 6.5 maybe you could lower the PH to around 6.2-6.3 instead just to be safe.

On my last run I used Roots Organis Soil. It's a combination peat based soil mixed with coco fiber and perlite so it's very similar to what your about to mix. I kept the PH around 6.3 and didn't have any troubles in that department.

Damn shady those underdawg nugs are looking nice:character0029: and I always like the black background shot that way one gets the true unbiased definition of the nug color. Would you say your prefer the #2 to the #4?

Hmm it seems Chemdog's Sister #1 yielded the most out of the bunch followed very closely by underdawg #2. what would you say you did different to those then the other ones to achieve a greater yield, or were they positioned closer to the light then the others?

Hey man think you could take a picture of the bcuzz coco and put it up so I can get an idea of the consistency? I can do the same for some Canna I'm going to use next quest if you like.

 

[Shady]

Shady Round 5 Update…

nice nugs shady , nice yeild to bro.

Thx Dr Tweed! It's a wonderful feeling to open the kitchen cabinet and have a nice variety to blaze... :bong2:

HOLY BUD!! Those DUD looks killer dude!! Hows the smell and taste? #4 looks danl already but #2 damn bro looks terrible... I got 5 beans of joe shmoe DUD bx1 i hope i got that #2 looking buds lol

Excellent news TCM! You should find some killer phenos as they're the same beans... :itwasntme The DUD #4 is nice, but DUD #2 is pure funk!

nice shit shady as always

Much appreciated Mike! Hope you like this update too... :anim_30:

thats some hot shit shady, looks as good as you get in the dam and if it tastes as good you'll be smilin like a cheshire cat fo sho bro. :rofl

whats up with the bubba kush only churnin out 5.4g's??

roll on round 5!

Thx John! I'm smiling all the time now... :evilgrin As for the Bubba Kush, that was the one that never stretched past the screen and ended up getting pollinated by the 707 Headband... No worries on the weak yield as that Bubba did well in Round 3.

hell yea! those buds look rockin! oh so were doin the "tell winta a soil mix to get then switch it up" game lol seems like a nice mix bro!

:D Hahaa... Have you heard The Blueprint 3?
:music We off that... Welcome to the future...

But on the serious tip, the Happy Frog, Light Warrior, and Chunky Perlite is supposed to be Joe's mix... So it's a proper recipe for success. :lipssealed

Great nug shots , looks as though that headband 707 was not your smalllest yielder.

Thx for the props M.S.T.!!! Yeah the 707 HB turned out some decent numbers, but it's not the same as the nugs carried by the socal collectives... I've got to keep searching for that 707 Headband... :hunter:

Shady great update as always. Ladies are looking killer and still looking forward to seeing your drip setup and that manifold. :confused0059:

Thx brah! I guess you've waited long enough for the irrigation setup... :wait

Dank as always homie! How long you veg those girls for?

Thx bud! I germinated the beans on 1/21/10... The clones were clipped around the same time... :thinking

Oh shit the drip gear is coming around the corner. Nice dude that set up will make things a lot easier ay?



Sounds like a decent soil mix. As for PH I don't think you really have to lower it. I know that coco calls for a ph of around 5.9, but since you are mixing it with happy frog witch has tons of organic materials(humates, beneficials, probably dolomite, etc) I don't think a lowered PH will make much difference because of the PH buffers in HF but to be safe if you were to give them 6.5 maybe you could lower the PH to around 6.2-6.3 instead just to be safe.

On my last run I used Roots Organis Soil. It's a combination peat based soil mixed with coco fiber and perlite so it's very similar to what your about to mix. I kept the PH around 6.3 and didn't have any troubles in that department.

Damn shady those underdawg nugs are looking nice:character0029: and I always like the black background shot that way one gets the true unbiased definition of the nug color. Would you say your prefer the #2 to the #4?

Hmm it seems Chemdog's Sister #1 yielded the most out of the bunch followed very closely by underdawg #2. what would you say you did different to those then the other ones to achieve a greater yield, or were they positioned closer to the light then the others?

Hey man think you could take a picture of the bcuzz coco and put it up so I can get an idea of the consistency? I can do the same for some Canna I'm going to use next quest if you like.

Yeah bro... :icon_spin: The drip is about to drop. I currently set my soil pH to around 6.25 to 6.35 and my hydro pH is always around 5.7 to 5.8... I think I'll prob stick with 6.25 to start this new mix of soil and coco. As for the DUD's, I def like DUD #2 better than #4... All of the DUD's from Round 4 were culled at the end of Round 3 to make room for new genetics. Only DUD #3 remains in my garden... Surprisingly DUD #2 and Chem's Sis #1 were both on the perimeter of the tray, and were treated no differently than the other plants. IMO, it's genetics...

No worries on the B'cuzz Coco... Follow this quote for more photos:

Ok, I finally opened that bag of B’cuzz Coco pure fiber…
http://i808.invalid.com/albums/zz2/ShadyRound4/Round%204/BcuzzCoco1.jpg

:anim_44:

Shady Round 5 Update…

Last Friday night I managed to carefully slide in the West Coast Growers’ irrigation manifold onto the tray. Next time I’ll have it setup prior to the scrog installation…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold0.jpg

Then on Saturday I finally connected all of the drip lines and stakes, but held off on setting up the pumps and air stones as there was still some nutes left in the res…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold1.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold2.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold3.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold5.jpg

Each drip line was cut at 24” and staked slightly offset from the stalks…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold6.jpg

Here’s a nice shot of the 50 gal res that’s filling with 40 gal of RO from my Hydrologic Stealth RO 100…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/WCGIrrigationManifold4.jpg

Intermission for some more cured nug shots from Round 4.
First up is Double Underdawg #1…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/DoubleUnderdawg1-1.jpg

I should reiterate that I did not keep or take any clones from any of the DUD’s in Round 4 (only DUD #3 remains in my garden and I will prob pop a few more DUD beans in a couple rounds). That being said, here’s the final shot of Double Underdawg #2…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/DoubleUnderdawg2-1.jpg

And since the Master Kush x Bubba Kush is now one of my favs I’ll end the intermission, and Round 4 nug shots, with some killer MxB macros…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba0.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba1-2.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba2-1.jpg

I had to take a closer look at the MxB trichomes of the shot above…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba2macro.jpg

Finally, here’s two diff angles of a larger nug… I couldn’t decide which I liked better.
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba3-1.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba4.jpg

I think it’s time to take a look at Round 5’s upper canopy. These shots were taken on Saturday night…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ShadyRound50-1.jpg

A higher vantage point of the scrog…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ShadyRound51-1.jpg

It seems appropriate to start the bud shots with one of the five Master x Bubba’s in coco…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba0-1.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MasterxBubba1-3.jpg

Then there’s the Double Underdawg #3 begging for more food…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/DoubleUnderdawg3.jpg

And the OG Kush in coco is getting frosty…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/OGKush-1.jpg

All of the seedlings are about to blow up with the res change I did last night. Here’s the new mix for Week #4:

Shady Bloom Feedings…
Summary of Sunday’s Hydro Res Change... 5/9/10
The following amounts are as follows in ml/gal and based upon a 25 gal res (filled w/40 gal of R/O):
Drain to Waste - CM:7/Grow:0/Micro:8/Bloom:12/FB:0/Hydroplex:5 = 983 PPM, 5.71 pH *Start of Wk #4

* Again I’ll reiterate that my method of shady dilution, in hydro, means that these numbers are done differently from my soil teas… For example this mix of 7 ml/gal of CalMag resulted in 240 PPM’s. Compare that to my soil mix wherein I use 5 ml/gal of CalMag which results in about 340 PPM’s…

Time for a sneak peak at two of my fav seedlings so far; first up is Chem Valley Kush #4…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ChemValleyKush4-1.jpg

And I’m particularly impressed by Raskal’s OG #3…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/RaskalsOG3-1.jpg

I’ll end this shady update with a new product that I’ve wanted to try for a long time, and just recently picked up… Roots Excelurator.
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/RootsExcelurator.jpg

:cool

 

[R. Face]

Absolutley beautiful canopy man, wow it is seriously impressive, super shiny and no def.! I love it man, and please report back on the Root Excel bottle, i hear that shits expensive but obviously you get what you pay for..

 

[TheCoolestMan]

Im following Face on that statement this is seriously impressive! Nice and clean! Ur Master Bubba looks like something i could fail in love with ;)

 

[LEBDOG]

That's a nice shot of your reservoir, but for a easy res change, why didn't use just use the tub! Someone should make a lid for tubs these days...

 

[winta]

im better than hov,drake and whoever made the beat ;) but yea it seems like u got a fire ass mix bro! those cured shots are sick cant wait for a smoke report :)

 

[mikegreenthumb]

thats the exact same oscillating fan i got in my tent

 

[Dr Tweed]

hey shady that screen is impressive really lush ,fine work buddy nice pic's too it that a fire pheno is see ......nice bro

 

[mikegreenthumb]

are you drip feeding your soil ?

 

[Skunkmasterflex]

well my friend DUD #1 and #2 both are stone cold foxes thats for sure! the master x bubba is crazy as shit too! bet those meds are NUTS!!:)
round 5 canopy be looking so fly man, vast improvement from round 4, shady just keeps going harder thats for sure! the DUD #3 looks to be gettings super frost already, along with the CVK #4 and your raskal #3(seems as your #3z are always the keepers, kinda weird how that keeps working out eh?haha)
...roots excelurator by H&G eh? should be fun to work with, my boy HDK tells me they have a great product lineup but hes, should be cool to see how it does with soil/coco
Bottom line, everyone looking great, keep up the awesome work bro! ~SMF~

 

[true grit]

Shady that Roots Excelurator was a righteous purchase bro. You will be VERY happy. I live by that stuff in soil, insane root growth.

 

[Socachi]

Nice setup on the drip sys Shady, I see it's just a straight feed in and no drippers. I see you got yourself some RE I just started using it and am curious how the roots will look when I harvest. Bud porn aaaah..

Surprised we didn't see a step by step on setting up your drip system like you've done with other projects.

 

[justiceman]

Yo dude those nugs are looking like fire man. I can see why you like that master x bubba so much! Damn resinous. Here is my shot of the canna coco as promised.
http://i23.invalid.com/albums/b389/kingoflessthen3/IMG_0438.jpg

It looks like they are both of quite the similar grade.

Man that perlite looks super chunky! I am loving it. That og in coco sure is frosty. Can't wait to use pure coco next quest.

I think your gonna like that roots excel. I had a sample from my hydro shop that I used on my plants during veg. they seemed to produce some good quality pearly white. See for yourself.
http://i23.invalid.com/albums/b389/kingoflessthen3/Rootshotstransplantday243.jpg

 

[mikegreenthumb]

still waiting on those breeding project shady? on another note all is looking well my friend ****sending positive thoughts to your grow***

 

[LEBDOG]

Photo Help from SwampWater

Shady, your shots are looking better all the time, not like they weren't good to begin with. I feel like the color balance is such a pain in the butt (with my camera). I wanted to find an alternative to this method of shooting. I had observed many cola shots seeming to have been taken in near darkness.

I asked SwampWater how he get's such good shots (great color balance). He takes his flower shots in near darkness (only enough light to focus), with the lights off. I wonder how I can do this without effecting the plants. I guess I can time it really well to just before or just after the lights go on?

I also like how taking the pictures in the dark creates a strong clear subject focus for the shot as the background fades to a sick darkness. This way you also don't have to block out the nugs around the subject. I hate to give away this technique, but think you and I can both implement shots like this in our future. What do you think about this? How can you do this without flashing the plants in the dark? Will this flash hurt things if done "properly"?

 

[true grit]

Shady bro, lets talk VPD. So last I saw you had posted pics of lower leaves fading first and airflow etc. Well I have been playing with airflow and hotspots, etc, but am still finding some PM issues, now on the lowers since I removed direct airflow.

Plants are floor level, so I'm bout to put them on 8" platforms with casters to put the lowers in a more ideal air way. This will also push my lights up higher which should in theory keep heat higher as well.

How do you prefer your airflow? I have a good 12x8 with 5 oscillating fans on low, a swamp cooler, and fresh air intake... had to turn things down quite a bit to keep humidity up, now just need to dial in...

 

[Shady]

Shady Equipment Upgrades…

Absolutley beautiful canopy man, wow it is seriously impressive, super shiny and no def.! I love it man, and please report back on the Root Excel bottle, i hear that shits expensive but obviously you get what you pay for..

Thx brah! Yeah man... :shake after last week I seemed to hit all sorts of defs and battles with heat stress, pollen, trimming, etc. Time to sit back and reflect on all the humbling issues as I toil in the background... :dull

Im following Face on that statement this is seriously impressive! Nice and clean! Ur Master Bubba looks like something i could fail in love with ;)

Right on TCM! I'm loving the MxB... :inlove

That's a nice shot of your reservoir, but for a easy res change, why didn't use just use the tub! Someone should make a lid for tubs these days...

LMFAO... :D I would if I could find a good lid. This works just fine though and now I've got a res that can be moved into the bedroom in the future.

im better than hov,drake and whoever made the beat ;) but yea it seems like u got a fire ass mix bro! those cured shots are sick cant wait for a smoke report :)

:smirk "I'm on to the next one..."

hey shady that screen is impressive really lush ,fine work buddy nice pic's too it that a fire pheno is see ......nice bro

I really appreciate the kind words Dr Tweed... :nod Everthing is starting to fill out for the last half of bloom.

are you drip feeding your soil ?

Nope, this is pure B'cuzz coco cut with 40% chunky perlite... :icon_spin:

well my friend DUD #1 and #2 both are stone cold foxes thats for sure! the master x bubba is crazy as shit too! bet those meds are NUTS!!:)
round 5 canopy be looking so fly man, vast improvement from round 4, shady just keeps going harder thats for sure! the DUD #3 looks to be gettings super frost already, along with the CVK #4 and your raskal #3(seems as your #3z are always the keepers, kinda weird how that keeps working out eh?haha)
...roots excelurator by H&G eh? should be fun to work with, my boy HDK tells me they have a great product lineup but hes, should be cool to see how it does with soil/coco
Bottom line, everyone looking great, keep up the awesome work bro! ~SMF~

Sup SMF! Always a pleasure to have you check out my small little journal... I'm really doing my best to keep up with you and all your sick skillz brah! :whew

Nice setup on the drip sys Shady, I see it's just a straight feed in and no drippers. I see you got yourself some RE I just started using it and am curious how the roots will look when I harvest. Bud porn aaaah..

Surprised we didn't see a step by step on setting up your drip system like you've done with other projects.

No worries Socachi... The step by step is being fine tuned... :icon_dizzy:

Yo dude those nugs are looking like fire man. I can see why you like that master x bubba so much! Damn resinous. Here is my shot of the canna coco as promised.


It looks like they are both of quite the similar grade.

Man that perlite looks super chunky! I am loving it. That og in coco sure is frosty. Can't wait to use pure coco next quest.

I think your gonna like that roots excel. I had a sample from my hydro shop that I used on my plants during veg. they seemed to produce some good quality pearly white. See for yourself.

Excellent root porn justiceman! Nice shot of the Canna as well... Seems very similar. :sign0005:

still waiting on those breeding project shady? on another note all is looking well my friend ****sending positive thoughts to your grow***

Nah... it already started without my knowledge... :sweating

Shady, your shots are looking better all the time, not like they weren't good to begin with. I feel like the color balance is such a pain in the butt (with my camera). I wanted to find an alternative to this method of shooting. I had observed many cola shots seeming to have been taken in near darkness.

I asked SwampWater how he get's such good shots (great color balance). He takes his flower shots in near darkness (only enough light to focus), with the lights off. I wonder how I can do this without effecting the plants. I guess I can time it really well to just before or just after the lights go on?

I also like how taking the pictures in the dark creates a strong clear subject focus for the shot as the background fades to a sick darkness. This way you also don't have to block out the nugs around the subject. I hate to give away this technique, but think you and I can both implement shots like this in our future. What do you think about this? How can you do this without flashing the plants in the dark? Will this flash hurt things if done "properly"?

Taking shots in complete darkness is difficult without a tripod and manual focus set with lights on, then take the shot with the lights off and flash on... My Sony Cybershot camera has an infrared night framing mode, but it's still difficult to get perfectly focused shots without a little ambient light. IMHO, the best time to take shots would be within the 10 min after lights out... or just turn the lights off 10 min early for the money shots. :itwasntme

Shady bro, lets talk VPD. So last I saw you had posted pics of lower leaves fading first and airflow etc. Well I have been playing with airflow and hotspots, etc, but am still finding some PM issues, now on the lowers since I removed direct airflow.

Plants are floor level, so I'm bout to put them on 8" platforms with casters to put the lowers in a more ideal air way. This will also push my lights up higher which should in theory keep heat higher as well.

How do you prefer your airflow? I have a good 12x8 with 5 oscillating fans on low, a swamp cooler, and fresh air intake... had to turn things down quite a bit to keep humidity up, now just need to dial in...

I prefer lots of airflow... I now have 4 fans... one oscillating on the lower canopy, another oscillating fan aimed directly at the mid and upper canopy, and two more aimed at the upper canopy and just between that and the lights. I think the key is adequate, but not too fast of airflow... when leaves flutter that's good, but when they whip around wildly that's bad. Once RH is good and temps are dialed in, I think the PM situation will be addressed by not only sufficient internal air circulation, but a multi-faceted prevention approach. IMHO, sprays, and preventative measures are a necessary evil... :thinking



Shady Equipment Upgrades…

Last week I finally setup the irrigation manifold and I’m very happy with it, except that it works almost too well. The setup is pretty simple. First you have the air pump…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Irrigation0.jpg

The air lines feed perfectly through predrilled holes in the handles…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Irrigation1.jpg

Then a 50 gal res filled with 40 gal of RO, and you can see the two flexible air diffusers being run 24 hrs/day. The water pump is in the deep end…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Irrigation5.jpg

I drilled 1” holes to accommodate the ¾” plastic tubing and electrical cord which was gorilla taped after feeding the plug through…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Irrigation2.jpg

Then connect the supply line to the manifold…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Irrigation3.jpg

There seems to be no loss in pressure, so my 400 GPH (6.67 gpm) pump will easily overflow a 5 gal bucket (used to collect runoff from the tray) in one minute…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Irrigation4.jpg

I will need to setup a larger res to allow for longer pump durations, but these plants collectively have been irrigated with 5 gal per day DTW, and will prob require a little more in the next few weeks. Either way, watering for 1 min is far too long. The actual pump duration would be better at around 10 sec or less and at more intervals during lights on. In the next few days I plan on adding tees, on the drip lines, to feed both sides of each pot.

In the meantime, I’ve purchased an awesome timer. It has replaced two of my fav timers, the digital (for pumps) and mechanical ones (for lights)…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/Timers.jpg

It’s the Sentinel Master Digital Timer (MDT-1), and it operates my lights, pump, and can be programmed for durations in seconds. There’s a remote temp probe (line is too short though IMO) for high temp shutoff and a third outlet for devices that only come on during lights off. There’s a battery backup for the clock’s memory and you set the time of day along with the light on/off times. The pump timer is based on recycling, therefore you set the duration of pump on time and off time. Then you select whether this occurs 24 hrs a day, only during lights on, or only lights off. I will figure out the best durations over the next couple days after the drip lines are modified.
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/SentinelMDT-1.jpg


:evilgrin

 

[Shady]

Shady Updates...

Shady Veg Update…

On Friday evening I topped nearly every clone in the Shady Veg Station. Over the last week, I’ve been watering the usual soil mix for the bottom shelf mothers and watering with CalMag only once to mini flush the pots. And on the 2nd shelf I realized that there’s at least 5 more weeks before the Shady Bloom Room will be ready for the next round. So I topped every clone in the tray. Here’s a revised canopy shot of the 2nd shelf plants while I clean the tray and res…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/2ndShelfClones.jpg

Then I changed the res with the following mix:

Shady Veg Feedings…
Summary of Saturday’s Hydro Res Change... 5/15/10
The following amounts are as follows in ml/gal and based upon a 10 gal res (filled w/15 gal of R/O):
Ebb ‘n Flow - CM:5/Grow:5/Micro:6/Bloom:4/Zone:3 = 700 PPM, 5.82 pH

During this second veg cycle, I’ve noticed that the older clones on the deep end (right side) of the tray grow much faster than the shallow end due to flood depth. Since I’ve got another 5 weeks before the next round, I’ve placed the shorter and younger clones on the deep end so that they can catch up and level out the canopy…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ShadyEbbnFlow.jpg

Time to take a look at the bottom shelf mothers; first up is the Purple Kush, which I may cull from my garden for a healthy cut, or hit with some CVK Pollen soon…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/PurpleKush.jpg

It’s getting hard to contain both Casey Jones, which were supercropped numerous times and finally topped…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/CaseyJones-2.jpg

The Master Kush x Bubba Kush, and OG Kush are recovering from my earlier shady experiments…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MxBOG.jpg

Double Underdawg #3 and Chem’s Sis #4 are starting to get bigger after the last repotting…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/DUD3CSIS4.jpg

BTW, I’m trying a Shady Experiment on the top shelf… Cloning directly in coco with Raskal’s OG #2 and 3. Also Chem Valley Kush #4 and Chem’s Sis #1 are already rooting in FFHF and FFLW. Both have been supercropped and are responding well to the training…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/CVK4ROG23CSIS1.jpg

And the obligatory shot of the updated Shady Veg Station with all happy and healthy clones…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ShadyVegStation-3.jpg




Shady Bloom Deficiencies, Feedings, and Breeding…

Let’s start with the bad news first… I was planning on doing some cross breeding, but discovered that it has already begun. Unfortunately I overlooked a couple banana sacks on the bottom canopy of Sensi Skunk #3, which now has beans that will be perfect by harvest in five weeks. Also, it appears that the adjacent Chem Valley Kush, Raskal’s OG, and the OG Kush on the other side have a smaller amount of beans in production. Shame on me for the oversight… But I caught this a week ago and went through some mixed emotions on whether to cull the culprit. Since I’ve had hermies before, I’m convinced my light leaks and frequent photo sessions for the 20 min after lights out is not optimum conditions. Oh well, the damage that has been done, and pollen chucking would have taken place anyways. I’ll save the pollen I collected from my males for the future, and I’ve kept SS #3 in for the finish unless she starts tossing out more nanners. Anyways, I’m now looking much closer, but all other plants appear to be good girls. Here’s a quick shot of Sensi Skunk #3 with a slight Nitrogen deficiency…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/SS3Def.jpg

Also, this last week seemed to be pretty warm due to all of the new equipment being run. Stretch is also slowing down for Round 5, but now the upper canopy is less than 13” from the light on the tallest plants, which IMO coupled with the low dosage of CalMag and overall PPM’s has resulted in heat stress of the plants in the center of the scrog. Almost as if those leaves were burning more energy and didn’t have enough nutrients, specifically Nitrogen, Calcium, and Magnesium. After daily observations, notes, photos, etc. I’ve upped the CalMag slightly for the 5th week only and have raised the lights an inch for now. Here are some N, Ca, and Mg deficiency coupled with heat stress photos:

First is DUD #3 with heat stress and Ca def…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/DUD3Def.jpg

Next are healthy leaves of a MxB on the perimeter of the scrog…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MxBDef0.jpg

And the leaf of the same MxB directly under the light exhibiting heat stress and Mg def…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MxBDef1.jpg

Luckily I’ve caught this early enough to take corrective action, and the Master x Bubba still looks way better than the previous round…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MxBDef4.jpg

I’d like to point out that I’ve never flushed the coco or hydroton pots. I don’t like to flush unless it’s absolutely necessary to prevent lockout or salt buildup. These girls have been treated too nice these last 4 weeks. So instead of a real flush at this 5th week of a 10 week cycle, Friday evening I did a mini flush diluting what was left in the res with RO, then I added Great White and 1 ml/gal of Bud Candy. The mix was set at 600 PPM and 5.85 pH. I watered until I got significant runoff from all pots. This is only the 2nd time in Round 5 that I’ve used Great White and Bud Candy during bloom.

The following morning I mixed the res with Hammer Head PK 9/18 for the first time, and I upped the overall PPM’s with a mini slam of CalMag in this halfway point… Keep in mind that the 10 ml/gal listed below is actually 10 x 25/40 = 6.25 ml/gal or around 350 PPM’s at 0.5 conversion ratio (0.7 EC or 700 EC). Next week I may drop back down to 8 ml/gal (which would equal 5 ml/gal based on the dilution ratio) until the final flush since I’m using RO and half the tray is pure coco plus chunky perlite… I will probably slam these girls in a one day feed with MOAB to start Week 6 depending on how they look.

Shady Bloom Feedings…
Summary of Saturday’s Hydro Res Change... 5/15/10
The following amounts are as follows in ml/gal and based upon a 25 gal res (filled w/40 gal of R/O):
Drain to Waste - CM:10/Grow:0/Micro:8/Bloom:16/FB:0/Hammerhead:5 = 1115 PPM, 5.80 pH *Start of Wk #5

The following shots were taken on Sunday night just after lights out and the canopy is starting to green back up, but you can see the bleaching of the leaves in the center…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/R5Wk5CalMagSlam0.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/R5Wk5CalMagSlam1.jpg

I think the Hammer Head and extra CalMag is gonna kick things up a notch as the girls are already looking much better. This is Double Underdawg #3…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/DUD3-1.jpg

One of the five Master Kush x Bubba Kush in coco…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/MxB-3.jpg

OG Kush is looking like fire…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/OGKush-2.jpg

Chem Valley Kush #4 starting to shine…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/CVK4-3.jpg

Raskal’s OG #1 begging for more CalMag and Nitrogen…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ROG1-1.jpg

Raskal’s OG #2 is starting to get funky…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ROG2-2.jpg

Raskal’s OG #3 is still my fav so far…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ROG30-1.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ROG32.jpg

This money shot of Raskal’s OG #3 was taken in complete darkness using the Sony Night Shot framing and then camera flash… Focal length, and effective flash distance are very important.
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/ROG33.jpg

Finally I had to take a closer look at the infamous Sensi Skunk #3…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/SS3-1.jpg


Last, but not least... Here's a quote from the opening post of the LED Test Grow:

Shady’s Welcome to the Future… Round 6: Testing LED’s off that Mix.

:hi: Greetings Fellow Farmers!

I’ve been busy in the cuts last week preparing the Mother’s for the LED test. Trying to visualize what I expect the canopy and setup should look like. I’ve added a 6” booster fan to the top of the tent, and have begun to DIY a floor fan as an active intake (got this idea from GM) to prevent the tent from imploding…

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/FanDIY0.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/FanDIY1.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/FanDIY2.jpg

Figured it would be too easy to test very healthy plants, so I’ve been bad to my mothers and have put them through hell and back… Supercropping, topping, and now scrogging... Hopefully there will be another round as I’ve got plenty of healthy clones ready for a show. In any case the mothers are starting to revive after being repotted along with additional ventilation for the tent.

In the beginning of the week I had chopped quite a bit of the lower canopy and then came up with a new Shady Mix… I’m sure it’s not original, but we shall see if it works. I mixed 20% Chunky Perlite, 40% B’cuzz Coco, and 40% Fox Farms Happy Frog. Well, let’s take a look at the upgraded setup so far… First is the new tray which is approximately 27” x 45”, and I’ve added shims and gorilla taped it to a couple of res to allow for drainage into a 5 gal bucket…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED0.jpg

The other side of the tent has an oscillating fan which I’ve taped to a 5 gal bucket filled with water as a weighted platform…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED1.jpg

Then I double checked my layout of the 3 gal Smart Pots…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED2.jpg

On Thursday I saturated all of the 3 gallon smart pots during the transplant with the following tea, which includes Roots Excelurator for the first time. Actually the first 3 gal of tea didn’t have the RE, but the last 5 gal did… 8 gal total for eight 3 gal pots, and the runoff was 3 gal total…

Shady Veg Feedings…
Summary of Thursday’s Soil Section Feedings... 5/13/10
The resulting teas are as follows in ml/gal:
Veg Station & Mother Tent - CM:4/FB:5/Sweet:0/PBP Grow:9/SM-90:0/Roots Excelurator:1 = 673 PPM, 6.30 pH

Here’s a quick shot taken on Friday evening…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED3.jpg

On Saturday night the girls are looking much better from both sides of the tent…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED4.jpg

http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED5.jpg

Tonight I finally placed the SCROG netting and was able to slide it over the fan…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED8.jpg


All the girls look good from below after being pushed around…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED7.jpg

I’ve weaved the tallest branches through the net and pulled it down tight…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED6.jpg

Finally, everything is looking great…
http://i858.invalid.com/albums/ab146/ShadyRoundFive/Shady%20Round%205/LED9.jpg


:cool The panels are now 6” from the canopy, and I'll raise them another 6".

Tomorrow I shall finally flip the switch to bloom… :flower

:whew Any questions on the LED's should be directed to that thread...

 

[justiceman]

Damn shady here I was wondering what you were up to and you come out of the cuts with this Sentinel Master ay? Dude that is one super bad ass controller man! Very nice features. I bet you are loving that thing:heart

And you have certainly been doing some work in the veg tent to. Haven't been wasting your time at all I see. Nice job man!

Interesting how the MxB leaf closer to the light is deficient in mg but the one on the outer perimeter is not. Would you say that is because the leaf closer to the light is photosynthesizing at a higher rate so it's requirements are slightly higher then the other leaf? I have noticed that when I see deficiencies they tend to be on the leaves closer to the light.

 

[winta]

dam shady tuff ass upgrades!