Tobh's 2sqft Box

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tobh

tobh

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I had been using the lemon juice for ph down before switching to RO. Thought vinegar would work for ph up, but baking soda has other benefits too from what I was reading yesterday. Surely we have some around this house somewhere.

Here's some more pics. Put the screen back in a bit higher than it was before, gonna have room underneath after all and hopefully won't run into height issues. Should I slowly start defoliating at this point? Figure I've got another week maybe two of veg to fill in the screen a bit before the flip. Don't want to stress them out too much post flip with one big trimming.
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Hit 38% humidity last night at some point, thinking it was probably around lights out.
 
Muckman420

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I had no clue about lemon juice or baking soda, I'll try those when my buffers run out. Learn something new ery day here.
 
tobh

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lemon juice isn't as stable as buffer. powder citric acid is supposed to be more stable, but since i hand water daily the ph fluctuation isn't that severe. i know for sure because I've made a gallon of nute solution just to test if the ph swing was as crazy as most people say it is. Over three days the ph rose from 5.8 to 6.1 which isn't that crazy imo. Definitely a cheap alternative though it adds roughly 0.4 EC to your final solution.
 
tobh

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precisely :) it's really an efficient means of attaining that beautiful ph swing.
 
Muckman420

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My microbial life keeps my soil ph and runoff ph at 6.2-6.8 doesn't seem to matter what it goes in at, which is usually 6.0-6.5.
 
tobh

tobh

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Soil is different than coco though. I'm not "feeding the soil" in this grow. I'm leaning more toward a typical hydro run in soilless medium. They may get some teas at some point but for now any microbial life that is generated is purely by chance.
 
Muckman420

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Soil is different than coco though. I'm not "feeding the soil" in this grow. I'm leaning more toward a typical hydro run in soilless medium. They may get some teas at some point but for now any microbial life that is generated is purely by chance.
What about the smart Pots?
 
tobh

tobh

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They were cheap and the perfect size for what I needed. I think I spent like $1 per smart pot versus $5 for plastic. Based on some reading, plastic is problematic anyways? I did read about someone scoring the sides of plastic pots before planting in them and seeing a reduction in root circling, but I needed guaranteed root health, not speculation. They are really just an experiment, never used em before and wanted to see if the claims were as true as I've seen on here and other forums. Convenience and cost effectiveness was the determining factor in them. Didn't mean to come off with that tone, realized that was kinda condescending of me to say it like that, I apologize.

Hell, I even questioned buying them to begin with because I was concerned about the coco drying out too quickly with them, but I also didn't realize how thick the fabric is either. Thinking one could make these easily with some landscape fabric and save a ton by doing so, will give that concept a try eventually.

I've stopped using the CaliMagic for the time being. Plants don't seem to miss it and with my runoff EC being 2.1 I figure there should be enough cal and mag to get them through mid flower at least and will remedy any issues at that point if they arise. My input EC was 1.7 when I measured the runoff yesterday. Had an increase of 60 ppm over a period of 10 days in terms of runoff TDS @ .5.

This has led me to believe the CaliMagic is sticking around in my medium as with 10mL BioRoot and 10mL A&B my EC is only 1.7. Adding even 2.5 mL CaliMagic puts it up at ~2.0 and that's unacceptable from my understanding, causes the plant to not be able to take up the nutrients as easily.

I also dropped the pH based on some reading I did yesterday to see what happens. I fed with a pH of 5.1, which according to the soilless feed chart puts me right in range for an abundance of availability for nearly all the nutrients. As a result, in one day the purpling of the stems has actually diminished and one clone is even getting back to completely green stems and petioles. We'll see how a few days treats these ladies.

I've been reading a lot about different nutrient profiles and controlling these profiles. I believe I've got the plant of action for the nutrients dialed in pretty good. I'll make another long ass post about that though and get some of you geniuses to confirm I'm on the right track or have completely missed the pot.

Anyways, look at these ladies. Screen is taking its time filling in, but the ladies are branching out well. Whoever said you can't get decent sized fan leaves in a micro grow has never grown in coco, the far back left plant has leaves the size of my hands. Though that doesn't say much I ain't that big of a guy.

Group shot
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Temp residing at 77* F currently, high of 81* daily mid-day through the evening. 27% humidity at this moment, though you can see the daily fluctuation between 37% and 22% RH.
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Under screen shot
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This is that fat one I mentioned, fan leaves the size of my hands in a micro grow.
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Hindsight says I probably should've used different string and made the grid larger, but this is my first attempt at scrog, so it's all a lesson. LST seems to be much more rapid than this. Wanting to flip soon, it's gonna be too hot by May to be trying to fight temps in this tiny cab.

I have 9" of grow space above the screen, so I'm hoping these ladies don't try stretching for the stars. We'll see, it's all a timing thing in this kind of set up, right? Don't want to go too early, but don't want to go too late either.
 
tobh

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Heh heavy buds, you have higher hopes than I brotha. I'll be pleased with solid nugs but anything that actually requires support in there will blow my mind. I topped em after we spoke, so two have four main branches now, and the other two have six. Didn't realize I had done it that way until a couple minutes ago, I was in there giving em a feeding and realized. Bad idea to hit some dry sift then go at your plants with scissors lol. I also lowered the screen, so it's back in its original position.

Next time I'll be topping sooner. Kinda hard to decide when is good, the nodes are offset as these guys are well matured at this point. First scrog run, as I stated it's all gonna be a lesson this run. Thought topping was something you did if you weren't scrog'ing.

I was reading about defoliating and things of that nature. Will give it another week then will probably start getting rid of some of those larger fan leaves. The branches are coming in well enough to sustain putting out their own leaves, hell a few of em are branching out themselves already. I have no intentions of stripping them bare like some people do, just taking ones off that are too much of a pain to move around and/or are blocking light to other leaves. Figure another two or three weeks and they'll be ready to go into flower.

Dropping the ph has helped, having visible growth occurring today. Every time I go mist em they seem a bit more green on the main stems as well, like watching the purple get washed away.

As a result of the topping, I have four more clones of clones rooting. I also topped all the branches on my mom, so in addition to the four clones of clones, I have eight more clones from the mother rooting in the containers I'm sprouting some tomatoes in. Yeah, cliche and totally obvious, but I think things will get creative when it comes to putting them outside. We'll see.
 
tobh

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Quick update, plants are going into 12/12 this evening. Definitely concerned I waited too long, the stress of last week made these ladies explode in growth and it's looking like I'm going to have a hell of a mess in this little box. Might hit the goal though! Pics will come when things are more exciting to look at.
 
tobh

tobh

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Figured I would come by and drop some pics. 5 days since flip to 12/12. Stretch is set in and they're filling out the screen the rest of the way fairly quickly. Have started opening up the bottoms for more airflow progressively. Trying to avoid any hard shock as they've been through a lot this cycle. Anyways, here's the pics:
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Bottom shot, yes it was 90* in there when I shot this. Have to love the SW, barely beginning of march and already having to battle high temps.
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These ladies are pushing my screen up too. I had installed some screws initially to raise the screen, now their purpose has shifted to holding the screen down. A lot of changes will be made the next run. Probably going to finish these out then just maintain a single one for a mother plant with which will be moved with me to whatever state I move to next. Definitely going to be cooler, more humid and a hell of a lot more green than what's down here.

Thanks for stopping by. One Love.
~tobh
 
Toaster79

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Coming along nicely! Everything looks stellar :)

Keep it green!

+++++Vibes
 
tobh

tobh

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Thanks @Toaster79 much appreciated. Still getting some deformed growth but that's due to the unstable genetics. Hoping because of this random mutation that the buds come out amazing and not full of nanners.
 
tobh

tobh

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@DeceiverZ yeah I sure am. Having to train them multiple times a day now as they keep pushing the screen up trying to return to their natural shape. I did some fairly heavy pinching Saturday when I stopped by and the pics above were the results today.

Due to current circumstances I'm only around them around 3 to 4 days a week right now so I'm doing heavy soaks multiple times a day when I'm around and leaving them to sit in a small pool whenever I leave. The media is fairly dry when I return after a couple days. The joys of couch surfing. Somewhat (un)fortunately (for them) I will probably wind up moving within the month, again. That will be interesting moving them in box as opposed to the mad dash two weeks ago.

It is getting pretty hectic under that screen, I'm wondering if I should hit them a little heavier with the defoliating. The two front ones are decent, it's the PIA to reach ones in back that are getting unruly. Such a tangled mess. There are a few branches that are tiny and I'm unsure if they'll reach the screen at all, should I go ahead and cut these now? Could use them for clones..

Multiple lessons learned though. Small space = fewer plants. Scrog = use SECURE materials for your frame, not flexible crap that isn't secured down somehow. Thought 4 would be a great number in there, not so much. Also thought the screen frame was sturdy enough, again not so much.
 
Toaster79

Toaster79

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One cant imagine how much force this plants have :D I have screws all around my pots to tie em down. They loisen my wires every time I check on them. I'm trying to keep manifold horizontal and it's a royal PITA to do so. Especially when I have to be careful not to hurt those ssmall new shoots.

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+++++Vibes
 
tobh

tobh

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One cant imagine how much force this plants have :D I have screws all around my pots to tie em down. They loisen my wires every time I check on them. I'm trying to keep manifold horizontal and it's a royal PITA to do so. Especially when I have to be careful not to hurt those ssmall new shoots.

View attachment 492894

View attachment 492895

+++++Vibes

Heh, yeah that's a much more secure setup than this damn screen. It's giving me a headache, I get home and the back right corner is at a drastic slant towards the lights and the shoots are all reaching for the ceiling. Bastards.

I wish I had a picture of the mother all LST'ed before I ripped her into a thousand pieces. Had branches pulled downwards and twisting back up. Cannabis can be a tough lady when she wants that light.
 
tobh

tobh

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Those look like they could be quite useful though totally impractical for such a tiny grow area. This is *fingers crossed* the first and last grow in this cabinet. Too small and not as efficient as I had hoped. Rather expend energy towards other things we've discussed than keeping pushing with this after this is all said and done. Next run will be with jacks under bigger better lighting. Started looking at various spots today, getting a ball park for the funds I'll need to get by for a few months after relocation from this hell hole state.
 
tobh

tobh

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Alright, a little update. Today is day 14 since flip and we're getting some flowers coming in. Not real sure how many tops there are, but I'll just say there's a top per square and some have two or three tops coming through them. Did a little supercropping to try and keep things level. Here's some pics
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Getting the humidity up really improved things for these ladies as well. They're just generally happier it seems. Until coming to the farm, I had no idea what VPD was. Now I know and the ladies appreciate that new found knowledge.

One Love
~tobh

EDIT: Thought I would throw in a shot of the mystery fire that came from a rather unsuspecting neighborhood. Any idea what it could be? Dude told me his guy said it was Blue Crack, never heard of that one.
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