5H Club ♣ Sipping Time In Netcup Growing

[HalfBee]

5H Club Harvest Festival
The 5G test pair were getting out of control and recent events made them redundant…
At day 49 they were drinking their reservoirs dry daily and continuing to blast roots out anywhere they could.

The SNo was moved into bloom area a week ago… but not until… the carbon filter wasn’t doing it’s job.

One of the issues of growing in small spaces: the equipment used is not stocked locally since they don’t sell the volume the 4x4 gang racks up or spend the big money to buy. Nobody had a 4 inch carbon filter in stock and their order price was too high and delivery wouldn’t fit my time frame. Online also wasn’t much of an option as the shipping was as much as the filter (for the cheapest).

The filter was blocked more with dust in an air flow issue, over the carbon being ‘full’ so decided to open it up and take a look. Is a bit messy/dusty procedure to empty - bake - repack and recommend OUTSIDE

Back in place and off we go…

That red basket in the last update had a few days veg and popped into the bloom area. After a week of 13/11 the roots have put in a strong appearance. The upper half has already stretched a bit and will now have room to be tied sideways.

Harvested the front plant today at day 58/59ish to make room for the other two to spread a bit.

The two Sweet Lemons show different cola styles. The SL_1 is more chunky with a number of frosty leaves, and the plant behind it is more cone shaped with fewer of the smaller leaves. Not sure if this shows what I mean. Cannibalization has been minimal other than a few lower leaves that yellowed out.

Wicking platform and fabric 1 gallon bag through harvest worked this time. There were a few glitches, but compared to the previous watering methods it was fill the res and LITFA. At the end it was drinking almost a full reservoir daily (1L) but not actually drying out the wicks or res. The two baskets also look to be doing a good job, but am not liking how they sit on the platforms as it doesn’t seem steady. They give more air space under the basket (good or bad?) and have to check the fabric root ball as it sat on a solid surface.

[cannabissequoia]

Are you fertilizing/bottle-feeding these?

The fabric lined pots seem to be working very well. I’ll have to try this.

[HalfBee]

5H Club Tea Time
Very good question @cannabissequoia

Last season I started using packaged TerpTea from Aurora (The Roots Organic Folks)…

There’s a feeding chart for 8 week veg & 8 week flower cycle. The 3 lb bag is under $20 and am still working on my first bloom and haven’t opened the new grow yet.
When I transplant up to the bloom size containers, both fabric and baskets, will usually apply 1/4 cup of the grow and 1/4 cup of the Roots Organic Elemental (their Cal-Mag powder) mixed to the lower fresh soil.

For the 1 gallon size fabric and baskets a 250ml bottle is mixed and poured on top soil. The yellow tub size will split the same bottle mix between 2 to 4 tubs. The grow doesn’t dissolve as well in water as the bloom.
SNS-209 is added as IPM at least once a week. Just a small dose and the bottle lasts a while but can also be used as a spray treatment.
Misc - A mixture of molasses and boiling water of equal parts. For some reason it will slightly carbonate while closed tightly. The amount varies if other KNF inputs are used, like aloe, pumpkin, etc…

Simple … pouring it around the stem can sometimes be tricky with tie downs and low branches.
The soil is damp from wicking action so it soaks in, just need to be slow enough to keep it from running out the sides, since in most cases it isn’t enough in the bottle to flow out the bottom and into the reservoir.

[HalfBee]

5H Club A Second Lemon Course

Early in the week was trying for some macro shots.

This leaf seemed to be striking a pose… The lowest of the fan leaves were turning yellow and things are moving toward harvest.

The SNo was busting out the kush and headed for the lights at the 2 week point.

Trimmed up the lower area and trying to spread it across slowly. Got a bit rough on the pencil size stems but they were heading right back up 24 hours later. The few wires aren’t going to do much but will keep working it slowly.

There is still room in the front, but threw a gathering lasso around the Sweet Lemon to position.
The previously harvested one has dried for a week and was put into jars. One of big buds and the other (a bit smaller) of the small buds and larf. Needed two jars so separating that way seemed fine.

When 1 leaf takes up half the allotted one foot canopy it’s hard to keep it in the box…

In the veg there’s the JJ duo. Want to keep these short and bushy. Have grown this before and trying for a different pheno. The last one was a frost pixie that left glitter dust on everything it touched, but no distinctive flavor.

[cannabissequoia]

That fertilizer-- are you dissolving & liquid feeding or top dressing?

What material are using/do you recommend for wicking?

Do you water from the top at all when starting these transplants?

[HalfBee]

@cannabissequoia

That fertilizer-- are you dissolving & liquid feeding or top dressing?

What material are using/do you recommend for wicking?

Do you water from the top at all when starting these transplants?

Hmm… thought I covered it…
Have small water bottles 250 ml in size (like the ones killing the planet that every kid gets in their lunch daily)
Have a 1 tsp measuring spoon that fits in the top opening to measure in the dry ingredients. The liquid is in a similar measuring spoon 10 ml with 1 ml gradients. Pour a dash of SNS to 1-2 mark, add molasses mix up to 5-8 ml level and then tip into the bottle. Fill and shake - shake - shake (as long as your arm holds out)… Pour!

I have top dressed with the tea mix, and if you’re a fan of fungal activity, the mycos is strong with this one…
It’s a bit hydrophobic at first if you spray it to moisten and puts dust in the air which the bag recommends you not breathe. Is also why I don’t aerate in a jug like the live tea folk, it says you can bubble it but should do so in a WELL VENTALATED space. Did it the first time and the worm casting smell was enough to not try it again.

For wicking, have 2 yrds of felt picked up cheap ($1) that strips are cut from. The best substitute is the fabric containers if you have one that doesn’t hold shape or holes, etc. What you’re looking for is a porous NON-organic fabric, something called eco-felt they SAY is available at fabric stores but finding an employee that knows anything makes it all but impossible to find it… lol…

When tranplanting the soil is only as moist as it comes from the bag. The root ball, in the wicking tubs, is fully saturated and won’t need moisture right away. The wicks can be dipped in water just after transplant to start the action, check in a day or two and the moisture level creeps up the side and when that happens Boom

[cannabissequoia]

@HalfBee

something called eco-felt they SAY is available at fabric stores

(there’s an industrial product for wrapping underground pipes(to isolate from roots), aka pipewrap & aka other names i’m sure.)

thanks for the explanation. i’ve been doing a little micro-growing with home blended soil but the vermicompost i made needs some lab testing; it DOES help plants but only established ones & it’s pH is like 8.4 or something absurd. almost certainly an imbalance in there.

just fed some year-old ‘nectar for the gods’ & hoping I didn’t do it prematurely.

seeing your setup is a helpful example.

[HalfBee]

5H Club Seasonal Termination Determination
SNo decided to ignore training and repeatedly reached the lights
The main stem was one of the largest so far.
The cycle it was to fill will remain empty and the next scheduled round starting first of the year.

The Sweet Lemon continues to fill out and has the entire box to spread out.

The yellowing leaves haven’t been seen in a few days. The tips are starting to brown off and doubt it’s nute burn since they’ve only had water since last week, and teas before that, nothing in excess.

SL_1 has been in the jars a week to cure.

Last week when giving the JJ their tea, got a bit sloppy and the first dash slopped topsoil out of the container. Other than the splash, I gave it no mind… Checked a day or so later and there were white roots looped above the soil layer, looking like uncooked ramen noodles. They will probably air prune, but I’ve noticed they propagate all the way up to the surface, just below the saturation level in these tubs.

[HalfBee]

5H Club We Agreed - Lights & Tinsel Only

The ramen root decided to let the elves in and they dropped a bunch of ornaments.

Same branches a couple days after the other photo, you’d think I’d have seen them earlier…

[HalfBee]

5H Club Trimming The Trees

The Sweet Lemon finally reached day 60 and was showing holiday colorations…

The main colas filled in nicely and not a lot of excess leaf material.

But the lowers could have used a bit more selective pruning early on…

A few days ago the Janis go transplanted into a 2 gallon fabric container, inside a plastic basket for support.
Put wicks out the bottom of the basket in direct contact with the fabric container.

Was waiting on the Sweet Lemon to finish, but wasted no time in getting it into the box and under a grid.
Won’t start the bloom cycle until ‘lights on’ Saturday to align with the Winter Solstice (pagan magic)

Have a few twisted branches to tuck yet, and the grid isn’t the large one that fits across the entire box.
Am going to try to keep it under this level for a week before letting it stretch the tops up…

This about says it all…
Buzz ON…

[HalfBee]

5H Club 20/20 Or Corrective Measures

The New Year has happened, the first Sweet Lemon in jars has been sampled and continues to cure.
Second has been jarred and still has a week or more.

The Janis is at week 2 and stretching a bit under the grid. The back side was showing more height so turned 180 and will work it a few days in that orientation.

The middle needs a bit of filling in from some of the taller ones bent over when grid removed.

The 2 gallon container has produced large stems. The upper should hold up to budding without supports and the main stem is working overtime. Two weeks of teas (Tue/Fri) and you can barely make out the trench around the stem, which will build up a bit of sediment by end of flower.

Looking at the tan fabric ‘Smart Pot’ brand 2 gallon, it doesn’t fill the same size plastic basket as the 2 gallon in the picture above. They aren’t as tall, just reaching the lip of the basket, and leave an open gap from bottom to top of the basket. When filled with soil is doubtful they will stretch/spread side to side.

Did an root exploration & recycle on a few of the root balls. The tub size was rooted solidly across.
The basket had 2 layers of barrier cloth and root were through both layers across the bottom.
After drying for however long, the sliced well, then broke up root clumps easily. Added a mixture of teas and other amendments to refresh and put aside to mellow a bit before use. Don’t have any soil on hand so recycle for the next round. The soil so far was only used a couple weeks and stopped. The other two root masses were from plants that went to full harvest and will get the same treatment, with some KNF inputs as well since they’re around…

[HalfBee]

5H Club Skipped Steps - Janice’s Brother Joel Joplin

Had medical emergency this week and spent most of it doing transport and waiting room time. Came home with enough time to refill res and sleep/eat whatnot…

At week 3 it jumped up into the lights again, and the taller ones got pinched and flopped but didn’t help.
The inter-nodal spacing of the top 3 nodes is several inches then begin to stack again.

In removing the grid structure to rearrange the floppers noticed something down below the grid level…

All along the lower nodes were hanging footballs. Stress? Light leak?
The Sweet Lemons before it didn’t have an issue.

Root ball propagation wasn’t an issue. They were fairly even around the perimeter but there wasn’t a single on out the bottom of the container yet so soil will be recycled to another grow.

The main stalks are getting bigger and bigger. Controlling the stretch stages…

The last couple plants were put directly on the floor of the grow box when moved from veg (the stretch ones) because of the reservoir size. Putting it on empty tubs with a water filled on top is bad practice. These in photo are filled with recycled soil that’s being allowed to mellow from amendments. The height should put the canopy into the right zone similar to the risers from past grows and provide stability.

Using a similar method in veg area, this plant has remained short and bushy. Almost ready for transplant (when things get back to whatever is the new normal) and will put them up on at least one tub riser for the first week if not until flip. Waiting on these to show sex…

More of the 5G stock, need transplant but are good for another week.

The Sniper-rawCookie duo also need some more soil space. Their roots are ready and fans so large.
Am going to miss a crop of the JJ, but need to work on some issues if possible in the next couple weeks before I flip any of the 5G.

Hoping the staging works again as it has in past…

[HalfBee]

5G Club Short Month Startup

Much going on, and not much too… The Sniper duo haven’t shown sex yet at 38 days but soon.
The 5G was put in a basket and given a week veg then flipped a week ago…

Placed it on 2 of the soil tubs (one empty one full) that placed the canopy up where it’s happy…
This was end of first week before removing a tub…

Afterwards, the canopy still appears happy. The soil got mixed and amended with both teas, the cal mag, and organic generic plant food. Out of biochar at the moment. When I opened the sealed tub that was under the pink tub, there was a flourish of fungi all stretched up like cotton candy porcupine.

Will probably eject the other 5G and concentrate on the Sniper pair. Don’t want to transfer too early but coming up on day 40 this week and still not a sign I want to see yet… they got a trim up and are a bit ragged at the moment, but they were putting out large fans that wouldn’t allow airflow they needed. Rocking the roots out the bottom yet, big white snappers…

[HalfBee]

5H Club Another Fumble Recovery

Into the second week the tops no longer looked correct, no hairs, stacked like crazy…
Not this time buddy… so working on the second that was 3 or 4 days behind it which still hangs out in veg.
It had an inch off the ends and bottom, given fresh soil all around. Bursting roots out the bottom.

Threw the 5G into bloom a week ago when I cut the other one. Left it in the tub size from recent trim job.
The Snipers were 40+ days and also ready for either a trim or transplant.

Haven’t quite worked out the arrangements for these, Need to raise the green ones a level for at least a week.
The Red has already had a week of bloom cycle. You can see by the roots in the red basket handle, that was new soil after the last trim two weeks ago and solid with roots across the outer surface.

Since (as of today) haven’t seen indications of sex, thing are subject to change…
The soil used in transplant was recycled from both plants that reached harvest and those that only spent a few weeks feeding off it. Have the most recent batch still drying from the male cut down which is recycling the recycled again…

[HalfBee]

5H Club Fresh Picked Flowers

The 5G went the way of all the others since Christmas…

Was a nice stacked late bloomer, the kind that peak around week 4 when the females are ripe.

The SniperRC pair were flipped after transplant to baskets under the full moon last weekend. They are still in the expansion of root zone stage and haven’t reached the edges of the baskets yet.

Didn’t have enough tubs to raise them the double level during the first week, but one tub up will have to work.
They are fairly clean below the scrog line now, and later this week when the tubs are removed they’ll get a leaf strip.

These were the last pair of beans 09_09 (date received not strain related) but one developed a yellow deformation. It’s on half of a leaf, and part of one side of a growth area. Am keeping an eye on it and hoping it will grow out eventually. With the luck on males lately decided to put these into bloom cycle at 21 days as have done in the past. When they show sex will decide if they get extra veg time (or chopped)…

[HalfBee]

5H Club Ladies At Last

Two weeks into flower schedule and the Snipers are showing their stuff.
The duo both showing hairs and ready for the next stage. The young ones also about to show sex and need a bit of maintenance.

Being up on a tub and additional reservoir height raise them almost even with the basket pair.
While the soil levels might be even the plant heights in first photo are not an even canopy.

The roots have just begun exploring the sides of the baskets and will increase and air prune.
Saturation levels seem stable, but they aren’t using a lot of water yet.

These two mislabeled - should be 0909 tall and wide but the days are correct.
Went from day 21 above soil directly to 13/11 cycle to force sexing.
After 11 days they are close to final determination and after transplanting they could have gone another week or more to have a more solid root mass.

Decided to use the 1 gallon plastic with 3 wicks. The slabs off the sides of the tub plants used in the ends of the baskets idea transferred and placed across the bottom over the wick ends.

Trimmed up the Sniper pair and moved their reservoir down to the bottom level.
Removing the extra tub didn’t really give much more space (tape marks old canopy level)

The 0909 pair also got trimmed up and are sharing a reservoir while small.
They still fit with the full set.

Still have my eye on the front two, but so far both looking good for females.

[HaRdRoC]

I like those baskets you’re using. Looking great

[50State]

I love the grow setup with easily sourced Dollarama findings its great to see grows like this. Keep up the good work.

[ReikoX]

Everything is looking happy and healthy.

[HalfBee]

5H Club Stretching Boundaries Of Nakedness

Moving them down a tub level didn’t quite get the message across…
The previous tape marks for upper canopy got ignored by both the Snipers and the lower fans leaves went into overdrive.

Had an early casualty seeking a solution. They all have a 3 to 4 inch internode spacing and was hoping the riser arrangement would keep it down.

After trimming all the lower (a bit too much) working on a flop in pairs system tied together.
Still trying to bring them back down to an even canopy.

The lower scrog level and the upper tape has been plucked and a few of the lower shoots cut.
Took a pair of shoots off the Wide plant and put them direct to netcup in the mug sips in an attempt to clone directly to same system used for seeds. The media was still really moist and limiting the moisture level in reservoir to try for the drier side with high humidity. Experiment in progress…

Am going to blame genetics for the stretch. Waiting to see how it works out.
Already see a few more that will flop if I can keep the open space for lower growth too.