Yeah, I was kidding myself into thinking I wasn’t going to fuck around with some pollen. What better place to experiment than with a batch where I only care about a fraction of the genetics?
Last round of cuttings shifted into a temporary holding area while the veg tent is retrofitted into a holding cell for the known male Master Ghash. If the other Master Ghash turns out to be male, too, I will be less than pleased. Next round should be a full house of Master Ghash, if all goes well.
Thanks again to Bodhi for the outstanding work and generous testing program!
11AM. Visible deficiency in earliest seedling’s leaf. Checked pH and full strength 3-2-1 seems to be 4.7! I think that’s crazy low, especially for EC 1.3 / 600-700 ppm. Half strength feed, given earlier, was probably still too low in pH and also in EC/ppm.
Recalibrating pH meter now. Looking into pH up solutions.
Seedling tray stacked double, for marginal height increase. No effect.
2x QB288 boards, Photo Red bar, and Far Red puck all reduced from ~31” to ~25” from canopy in Main Tent.
4” fan w intake filter blowing into 2x2x4 Veg Tent at reduced speed. Marnur Humidifier set for 40min on / 2hr off. Testing temp/rH throughout day. Samsung array and 2x QB120 boards timed 20hr on / 4hr off.
2PM. Both of the Master Ghash have sprung from their shells without help. One CBD Chem shows tip burn. Correct pH solution, at ~5.8, watered in. Roughly 6:1 ratio is 3-2-1 formula : RO + Recharge remnants reservoir.
1PM. Temps and rH stabilized in Veg Tent. Marnur Humidifier needs refill ~ every 2 days. New Far Red puck for Veg Tent? Main tent humidifier varies, controlled by Sonoff humidistat.
CBD seedlings gaining more color. Correcting the pH in feed made marked difference. New RO re-mineralizing filter may make mix too alkaline. Test results upcoming. All CBD seedlings showing strange stippling, possible pests? One CBD Chem shows split leaf mutation.
Master Ghash seedlings still vigorous. No negative effects noted ~500ppm feed at ~5.8 pH.
7PM. No negative effects noted from lowering lights. 22” initial distance from canopy is closest possible, until plants get taller. One more CBD seedling showing slight tip burn. Cause unknown.
The pH mystery continues – alkaline post-RO filter puts out ~10 pH! That’s crazy town. Testing continues, to find balance. Possible that Seattle water supply switched reservoirs recently. Earlier tap water pH was 5.8. Now it’s closer to 8! pH pen gives same readings from stock solution, however, so it likely is not the culprit.
Master Ghash seedlings putting out their first leaves like basil! They’re stacked tight, though, so I’m switching the photo red on full time now, to balance the QB288 4k lights. If that’s not enough, I could switch to QBB288 3ks or a 4k/3k mix. With too much red, other plants may stretch too much in veg.
8/29/19
8AM. All girls praying, even the funky CBD Bubba. Master Ghash with the crazy basil leaf!
12AM. Mixing new reservoirs. RO takes forever! May switch to basic filters, by taking the RO membrane out of the equation.
Got the alkaline post-RO filter down to 9.5 by soaking it another day, refilling, and then flushing for 20 minutes. I doubt I can get it to an acceptable range, but time will tell.
Mixing 2x batches of 8 gallons of 3-2-1 with each batch using 2 gallons of water from the former Recharge remnant and 2 gallons from the tap. 5.75 pH all mixed in and 1.35 EC. First res spill (for this grow)! Only filling 6-7 gallons per reservoir, but better too much than not enough.
11AM. Alkaline post-RO filter still too damn high! Sticking it in storage for now, may be useful if source water has a significant shift. Geekpure is sending me their basic re-mineralizing filter, free of charge, since this filter puts out consistent 10 pH.
AC Infinity still unable to send me a replacement S2 MULTIFAN, after two tries where they sent me S4 fans instead. Now I have a spare S4, if one of my small circulation fans goes out.
Meanwhile, all the CBD girls are growing out of their varying maladies. Even CBD Bubba is gaining a semblance of health. I’ll give it at least until my upcoming trip, before I decide to chop or let her continue to limp along. Some tasty ladies are also finicky, so I am dubious about chopping solely on the basis of initial vigor.
610PM. Concerns about validity of Sonoff meter switch (find model number and insert) results apparently undue. Variance of 3 degrees F higher than portable sensor at ground level and close rH between 55-63%. Humidifier tank lasting an insane amount of time now. Like a week?
Master Ghash seed vigor is unreal in comparison to the CBD seedlings. It’s like a vegetable taking over the garden. May ultimately reduce N if leafiness presents a problem for structure throughout growth.
CBD Bubba is tiny compared to the other CBD Chem seedlings. I’ll give it this grace but leave it in the smaller pot. CBD Chems all receive light hurd squeeze, CBD Bubba stem not thick enough to squeeze hurd distinctly. Can it be redeemed?
Vegetative plant scents present throughout the Main Tent. Scent control must be working….? Independent testing needed.
2PM. Transplant day. The new 2.3QT square containers came in, as did a 6” exhaust filter, and the big girls are moving up, with some help from 4:1 Azomite:Recharge dusting. Even CBD Bubba got transplanted up from the cups, the twice lucky runt.
Only Master Ghash seedlings remain in cups and they will get the move soon enough. They already have more substantial roots than the CBD Bubba. Maybe they have 2-3 more days left. All transplanted ladies moved into individual 8” water saucers, while the Master Ghash share a single saucer for now.
With 6” exhaust filter added, 6” fan time increased to 5 minutes on and 1 minute off. Testing if more fan time lowers temperatures without significantly increasing humidifier run time or depletion of its own reservoir. Ozone generator increased to 2 hours on, half hour off.
1PM. Increased fan time has not increased humidifier use. Will continue to increase runtime until humidifier usage crests, but that may not be an issue (due to surface area of larger pots). Sonoff controlled humidifier may end up in the Veg Tent if this trend persists.
One of the CBD Chem ladies is not praying along with the rest (minus CBD Bubba, of course) and this may be temporarily due to transplant shock. All watered until slight runoff begins.
9/4/19
Noon. Exhaust fan currently on 24 minutes, off 3 minutes, and humidity is lower on average but humidifier has not turned on since 9/2/19. Watered all girls. CBD Chem ladies at node 5 (working on 6) and ready for mainline training. They’ll get another day, to shake off any remnants of transplant shock, before topping and training begins. Master Ghash ladies working on node 4 and will get another day or two before transplant into 2.3QT containers. CBD Bubba pitiful as ever but back to praying for salvation. If it continues, I will move it into the Veg Tent.
10AM. Both Master Ghash ready for transplant and almost ready for mainline training. I doubt CBD Bubba will recover enough to be a contender. Sonoff controlled humidifier will go into Veg Tent and the ramping up of exhaust fan time continues in the Main Tent unabated.
9/6/19
630PM. Master Ghash both transplanted into 2.3QT containers, dusted with Azomite-Recharge mix at the roots. Root systems already textbook: not too rootbound but hungry for the next inch.
CBD Bubba will not make it into the veg tent. Its growth seems to be completely stalled. Odd. I’m going to starve it out, after a flush, mainly to dehydrate the coco for re-use. Hopefully there are no pathogens. Post-mortem inspection of root zone highly recommended before re-use!
One of the CBD Chem girls is showing burn and coloring, notably behind the remaining two in development and structure. After mainline training, will reassess for viability.
8PM. All CBD Chem cut for mainline training. Clones stuck in coco, no rooting solution just very dilute nutes. Master Ghash will be ready for the same cut very soon!
1PM. CBD Chem ladies recovering from first mainline training. Large fan leaves removed. Master Ghash ladies ready for mainline training in 2-3 days.
Received Far Red puck for the Veg Tent.
11AM. Master Ghash ladies ready for mainlining. I’ll give them another day.
Clones from first round of mainlining looking vigorous in only coco. Regular watering is key. Next round of cuts will be dipped in iso alcohol for 10 seconds to disinfect prior to sticking.
9/12/19
2PM. Master Ghash ladies cut for mainline training. Tops not entirely ready for wire training. Another day or two should do it. 6 cuts stuck for the next generation, with a few extra discarded.
I think her root zone never recovered from the trauma of losing the supporting foliage. Consumption of feedwater slows and growth is now almost as slow as the CBD Bubba, who remains miraculously alive despite almost zero water. Could this be a pathogen, considering two plants are having similar effects, or is it just from mainline cutting/training? Ugh. I hope I remember to check this out.
6PM. No pathogen detected in CBD Bubba’s coco media by visual or scent. Re-used media in CBD Chem 2 Transplant. CBD Chem 3 transplanted with only original and fresh coco. CBD Bubba discarded. Roots on CBD Bubba negligible.
After transplant shock, if any, CBD Chem 2 and 3 need to be cut for mainline training. CBD Chem 1 may also be ready for its first mainline cut and training.
Master Ghash girls recovering from first mainline cut and demolishing all reserves in the remaining fan leaves. It’s ugly because they’re hungry.
Far Red puck added to Veg Tent and Samsung Array turned on. 2 cuts are showing roots, barely, but this may be due to light colored seedling bags and no dark cover for the root zone. 2.5” square pots ordered to individually sort and shade root zones for cuttings. Meanwhile, solo cups are attempting the same job.
1PM. All girls got a mainline training readjustment. I feel like a chiropractor. It’s serious, this time. I won’t be getting them into flower before my trip, so I need to get everyone snug and the blumats set up before I go. Remaining cuttings may be tossed. There will be at least one more round of cuts, so restocking inventory should not be a problem.
Mixing a batch of 6-row malted barley with fulvic acid and recharge added. Quite the gumbo! I’m pretty sure this is the rough recipe for Roots Excel without a wetting agent like aloe, agave, or soap plant. My mom would be so proud, what with me steeping milled barley sprout in cheesecloth. Hippy roots die hard, lol.
9/20/19
10AM. Watered in my tea with all remaining girls, clones included. The bubbles tell me it’s ready, and I used ~ gallon but I’ll be able to refresh by adding back a gallon of RO. The bacteria will repopulate, even if the other ingredients are diluted by half. Won’t be adding any of this to a reservoir, though, since blumats are already finicky in coco and I don’t need any blockages from biofilm or sediment.
All big ladies bounced back from their mainline training last night, except CBD Chem 1 which was already losing momentum. I may cut her entirely from bloom, if she doesn’t recover enough, but keep a cut running in the background. The stem smell from CBD Chem 1 is closer to actual Chem D than the other two cuts, but the lack of vigor is troublesome. Her cut is doing well as a clone, FWIW.
9/24/19
7PM. All clones culled. Even rooted clones mysteriously withering in the Main Tent. May switch to Root Riot plugs for net set of cuts.
All plants setup with Blumat carrots, before a weeklong trip. It will be a miracle if CBD Chem 1, still in its 2.3 quart pot, survives. It mostly provides feedback on the Blumat system now.
I will cut the Master Ghash just before lights out tomorrow, and I turned off the photo red, all in an effort to limit vertical growth in my absence. I may also top the CBD Chem girls, too. When I get back, feed strength will be increased roughly 25-30% to address lighter green growth and increased nutrient uptake from plants growing into the lights. This would change the formula to 4.5g Jacks, 3g Cal Nit, and 1.5g Epsom per gallon of water = ~850ppm (up from ~670ppm).
7 PM. Upping nutrient strength in new res for Blumat distribution. More Blumat drippers, stakes, and valves to be added to the system.
All plants survived my weeklong trip. Growth was intentionally reduced by light reduction (no more photo red) and was not dramatic in any way. Cuttings will be taken soon, just before the flip.
10/5
6PM. Plants appearing to pick up increased nutrient strength. Green is spreading out from the veins to the leaf tips. Remains to be seen if even higher feed strength will be beneficial.
8AM. Took CBD Chem 1 cuts. I’ll give all the girls roughly a week before the flip. Blumats overflowed plant saucers at roughly 1 drip per 10 seconds. Interval changed to 1 drip per 20 seconds. Check tomorrow for results in reduction.
9PM. Main tent flipped to 12/12 today. Nutrient strength, currently at 800 ppm, shows signs of uneven uptake. Not sure if this is from deficiency or toxicity. Will reduce strength to standard in next reservoir to test differences. Adjusting Blumat drippers remains a challenge. Double drippers will improve distribution of feed throughout media. Zarebo stakes will also create better training options for mainline growth.
10/19/19
6PM. New reservoir mixed at original strength with a few drops of baking soda to raise pH to 5.5ish. Girls greening up and stretching after the flip. Perhaps the loss of green was only pH related and new growth is still in recovery.
Tallest plant, a CBD Chem, is likely to grow into the lights. It’s getting the most serious super-cropping. I will need the zarebo stakes just for this girl. It’s also the plant whose Blumat sensor found equilibrium first. Top maybe 14” from lights and no signs of burn. Tempted to turn up the juice on the driver to encourage its shorter companions.
7PM. Girls watered in. Blumats perfectly set for a consistent hefty media weight without overflow. Watering until the saucer is full, once or twice daily, should achieve desired ~10% overflow effect.
QB288 4k lights increased from 140ish watts to 175 watts to reduce stretch in the tallest girl, hopefully without burn, while encouraging further vertical growth in the under-canopy. 87.5 watts per light is ample coverage for the area and the heat should still be well within limits, especially given fall temps. Test overnight should provide ample results.
7PM. Tops of second tallest girl showing cupping. Lights raised to max height with ratchets. Maybe a couple more inches possible of height increase.
New batch of fulvic and recharge mixed and top dressed in. Zarebo stakes ready for install.
7PM. Pistils on all CBD Chem girls! Master Ghash 1 shows no signs of sex yet, though it is lanky in comparison to its sibling and that could be an indicator. Master Ghash 2, however, looks like it’s going to be male.
Master Ghash 2 showed similar vigor to Master Ghash 1, up until the last round of mainline topping/training, so it should be a decent genetic carrier. The question is whether I want to fuck with seeds and pollen. The tent would be a lot easier to manage with one less plant in there.
10PM. Master Ghash 1 has a few pistils! Yay! Get ready for seeds.
Veg tent retrofitted to quarantine for male Master Ghash, until pollen is collected. Added my temperamental Cretan brake fern and a small rosemary plant. Not sure what the 12/12 cycle will do to them.
Witnessed one flying insect in veg tent. Further inspections to follow. Better that pests take to the male that will soon be tossed, but better still that they never get a hold in the tent.
6PM. The male makes astounding development gains. It may almost be spilling pollen tomorrow. I decided its current quarters are not secure enough, so I’m moving it to the ground floor. When the first pollen sac is almost ready to drop, he will go into a modified shoe closet with 2 aquarium fluorescents but without any ventilation.
Lights raised nearly to maximum in main tent. Watts will stay the same for now, with ~16” to the closest tops. In future I’ll likely leave it about here, adjusting only the watts up and down. Data logging would be nice for temps and humidity.
Zarebo stakes in and girls tied down. Stretch seems to slowed or stopped already but the stakes will spread open the canopy and expose the interior of the girls to more light. Perhaps next run will use only 4k light until after the stretch and then photo red will kick in for bud morphology.
By uploading everything so far, I hope to motivate myself to journal more regularly.
The male Master Ghash still has not popped but is filling out nicely. Because of the mainlining, I have a bunch of neat little pollen lollipops. This, though unintentional, should make it easy to collect pollen.
10PM. Everything popping at once! Blooms begun in the main tent, clones transplanted and ready for more in veg, and male Master Ghash opened up his first bananas. Tempted to cut the many stalks and leave them in plain water to drop pollen. Master Ghash male grew to very convenient shape, through mainlining, for pollen collection.
About to mix a new reservoir and it seems the ladies are really drinking now. Dropping ppm down to full strength 3-2-1 Jacks from about 750ppm. All plants watered with recharge and straight RO yesterday.
Stretch in flower is slow to non-existent in the third week from flip (10/16/19). No distinctive odor yet, just dank. May defoliate in week 4 to open up the lowers.
I work out in perlite… in bubblers…(my weapon of choice)… I’m a beliver of the 1/3 or thereabout for bubblers , im not using the cal nitrite in flower… i just may add a tad for the calcium…not so much for the n as I think that adequate in the master blend . so far Im pleased.
7PM. Damn DST caught me up yesterday, but it’s sorted now. I’m done with the laborious pollen collecting, too. Cut all the stalks, set them in a glass of water, and they can unload plant jizz on the tin foil I set beneath the glass.
Defoliate will go down in bloom soon and I’m split about pollinating before or after. The girls are really kicking bloom into gear now. I wonder if they excrete a blooming hormone that affects the plants in veg, because I’m seeing a lot of pre-sex flowers at node sites there.
Transplants in veg all got their first mainline cut. They need to go into larger square containers, ASAP, and I have to cull at least one. There’s only so much floor space in veg but I could set the extra transplant on its side, on the little shelf.
11/5/19
7PM. Shook the cut pollen stalks and then took a shower. Fans still off, for safety from inadvertent pollination. Even so, I’ll probably get wildly over-seeded.
Veg transplants, in solo cups now, all look happy after the mainline cut. Maybe even better than before?!? In a day, they will get the penultimate transplant into square pots. I think I can even save them all by cramming the extra in a corner.
Bloom girls are chugging along. I’m excited about the defoliation, to see how Master Ghash responds and opening up the lower sites that will ultimately get pollinated. Watering in Recharge tomorrow.
Picked up two used 6” fans today for $20! I’m disassembling and disinfecting them now. These will be perfect for the third tent…oops, spoilers.
630PM. Foliar with 1/2 teaspoon of Epsom salts to 2 cups warm RO water in bloom and veg. Will repeat for next 3 days. Watering in recharge, dumping old reservoir, and remixing reservoir at 3/4 strength Jacks 3-2-1. Also removing the RO membrane from my filter system, as a trial run.
Fingers crossed and much love to the folks in my sick plant thread for talking it through with me!
