1st No Till grow - Grapefruit x Blueberry & Tangerine Power

After about a 20 year hiatus in growing I’m finally getting back to it!

I had some GF x BB from Chimera that we’re about 6 years old and some Sin City Tangerine Power of the same vintage that I decided to pop.

I had been listening to the KIS Organics podcast and got interested in no till from listening to it and found a local supplier with ready to go living soil so I figured I would give it a go.

I’m running a very small setup - 2 x 2’ grow area in a tent, 250 HPS, 5 gallon geopots w/ Blumats. I had another thread up about my growing area - it’s in my garage… and I’m in Canada so needless to say I was worried about the lack of heat. I’ve been running a little heater in the space off an Inkbird controller and have had zero issues.

I had read about herm issues with the TP so I let the veg go long and ended up with 1 female GF x BB and 2 TP females. So that’s where we are today.

Just under the 3rd week of starting to flower - I expect them to have to run 10 weeks total. Well see! Will probably drop a little pollen in the next week or so and try to control it as much as possible to not ruin the crop.

Progress so far:

GF x BB on the left, TP on the right.

Will try to get some better pics going forward!

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Fantastic!!!

Looking amazing and glad I got a front row seat

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That is so good to see more people getting back into it. I had 8 years off and just started back a few months ago. Actually just finished my first harvest a couple weeks ago and looks like I was about where you are now when I started my thread.

Takes seat next to @toastyjakes. Front and center brother.

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I’m in here as well. I love seeing older genetics popping up. Grabs the rolling tray, produces a handful of cones. Ready for the show!

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Good luck my man! @ReikoX may have some tips if you get in a jam

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Just a quick update - I figure Sundays are best… that gives a once a week update on the garden.

All coming along nicely - the flowers are beginning to get quite resinous and take shape.

I’ve been struggling with “hungry” plants with lighter coloured leaves. I been watering with fish fertilizer and biothrive bloom to supplement. No burning - but the garden hasn’t significantly greened up. I’ll just keep supplementing as I go.

I have checked PH run off and all is good.

If it’s not getting worse I’ll just keep going down the same path.

Here is the garden at about 3.5 weeks of flower:

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Do you happen to know what is in your soil mix? If your reading fish and bio thrive bloom you could be lacking in calcium or magnesium. You could try 1/4 teaspoon of epsom salts per gallon.

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Thanks ReikoX - looks like the soil is:

1/3 peat
1/3 rice hulls
1/3 humic: fish compost, leaf compost, cow compost and worm castings.
There is also rock dust, kelp meal, crab and oyster meal.

I do have some GO CalMag that is used diluted once about a week and a half ago. I’ll apply at full dose today and check my pH runoff again and see what’s up.

My blumats ran out on me once (about 6 weeks ago) and essentially flushed 2 or the 3 geopots. Perhaps this is the issue?

I have top dressed with fresh soil and used the aforementioned amendments, along with a trace element feeding over the past 2 or so weeks trying to correct this.

Will report back on pH again… maybe they just need more nitrogen but I’m a bit gun shy loading that up in flowering.

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Sounds like Calcium is covered in that mix, I would add 1/4 teaspoon epsom salts to a gallon of water and give them a foliar spray. They could just be putting their energy into building buds.

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I don’t see anything in the mix for magnesium and though I do (greensand, langbeinite and dolomite), I still need to use Calmag plus at least once a month in my drenches as the plant availability isn’t quite there yet in my new soil as it takes time to break down and release

This :point_up:

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Thanks ReikoX and MotR.

I’ve never actually done a foliar feed - let alone in flowering!

So spray with lights on to the point of runoff? Any adverse affect on flowers?

Thanks!

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I have a hang up about it too though its better to foliar than drench for a faster result and ensure that is what is going on…once or twice should be no problem in flower just focus the spray under the leaves as this is where they absorb foliar feeding at and don’t do it all the time :wink:

The only adverse thing I can think of is if your humidity is ~40%+ it can promote rot and may leave a residue…I would spray just before lights on so they have time to absorb it without staying wet for too long and may need to do a bud wash at harvest to remove the residue

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This is probably the latest to foliar honestly. You could add it to the next watering. But it wont work as fast.

Spray before lights out, try to get even coverage.

Lights out, lights on lol…everyone has a preference :stuck_out_tongue:

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It really is just a preference with epsom. :+1::seedling:

My IPM sprays have some light sensitive components, so it’s just a habit to do it lights off.

Yeah just figured I would point it out before the question and confusion comes up :wink:

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Given I’m running a scrog in a 2 x 2 tent getting at the plants properly is a bit of a PITA.

Outside of that my humidity is all over the board. As I’m growing in the garage it’s 40%ish with lights on and way lower during lights off (depending on how much fresh air is being drawn in)… has been single digits on occasion (but fluctuates wildly obviously as the DB increases with heat.

I’m honestly leaning the slow and steady way of top watering with epsom or calmag. I don’t want to sound ungrateful for the advice as I’m sure it’s sound! It will be difficult to be as precise as I want in the current arrangement.

I’ve liked the scrog for certain aspects and really dislikes it for others - physically manageing the plants being the buggiest issue!

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No worries man! Each grow is different. Use the same 1/4 teaspoon epsom per gallon next watering. I like to use Sul-Po-Mag AKA langbenite at this stage of flowering. I add a teaspoon to a gallon jug if water and shake it up a few times a day for a couple days. After a couple days 90% is dissolved in the water.

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Outta like at the moment so…Yup! Totally agree :stuck_out_tongue:

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Ok - Sunday night update:

Plants still yellow - getting worse but not accelerating significantly.

I did feed with water and Epsom salts - didn’t seem to have an effect.

I checked runoff again - fed with 6.7 water which ran off at 6.3 so all good there.

I’m left with it just has to be nitrogen. Going to do what I should have done first and brew up some EWC tea and feed this week and see where that leaves me.

Buds are putting on weight - and getting quite resinous, the fan leaves are just particularly yellow.

Hoping the tea does the trick as I’m out of ideas after that

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