The Gauntlet 2023

I am blessed to have full sun. Sunrise to Sunset. :sun_with_face:

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@lophophora.ca Love the side-by-side! Crazy the difference a month makes in conjunction with good care.

Theyā€™re certainly coming along. When you say you are topping again do you still have toppable nodes? Most of mine except the super young ones look like the right side so I figured I was done with topping. I guess you are just doing the newer shoots rather than the older ones, topping all the little pre-topped stuff. I guess the taller shoots I want to top to bound the height are all more mature, I donā€™t think about the new ones.

Shitty drawing
topping diagram

Maybe Iā€™ll go take another look at some of those younger shoots :face_with_monocle: Everything is starting to make sense with your globular bush style - they are all younger shoots because you top every two weeks. Ahh.

Well damn, I wish I understood this earlier.

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Yeah. I will be topping the center higher ones on the bush. I will show before and after pics next monday or tues when I do it. The wonder dawgs have perfect node structure right now. Iā€™m just going to knock the center tops down. Same with the Purple Queens. DJ havenā€™t decided yet. I might dome her again.

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Overcast mornings make the best pics.


Bumped the nutrients this week. They are really liking getting fed with a gallon of top water then 2 separate gallons a few hours apart.
Yesterday morning
2 Gallon mix
4.5 grams Meg A
4.5 grams Meg B
3 grams Sweet Candy- This shit is a must try. Year 2 using it. ā€œTerp + PK boosterā€
1 TBS Sledgehammer
1 TBS Gypsum
1/2 TBS Big Bloom
1 tsp Microbe
1/2 tsp Kelp

3 Hours later second gallon
4.5 grams Meg A
4.5 grams Meg B
3 grams Sweet Candy
1/2 TBS Big Bloom
1 tsp Microbe
1/2 tsp Kelp


@Bobgrows far right is youā€™re beautiful 90ā€™s Kush clone.

@FieldEffect Wonder Dawg close up.

DJ Short Blueberry in the front pic

DJ

Thanks for following. :sunglasses: :metal: :peace_symbol:

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Looking great, about one more month of vegging left?

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Yep, as you can see. I wish bloom started tomorrow. They are perfect right now. Wishing I would of started them a month later this year. Grow and learn.

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Iā€™ve topped clones and established branches that have staggered nodes. Same effect it just wonā€™t be symmetrical.

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Lol those Wonder Dawgs are probably already through the bottom of the pot and you are screwed by the time stretch hits, then youā€™ll be googling those aerial tree sawing folks looking for a phone number. Iā€™m jealous of the DJ BB, same as always but maybe moreso now :rofl:

Looking absolutely fantastic! Cranking up the PPM on those nutes :rocket: :rocket:

Iā€™d probably start skipping the gypsum as itā€™s liable to pull some of your Mg and K out, not that you are lacking on your inputs there where it may be a problem. Youā€™re getting plenty of Ca from the calcium nitrate (Part B). Just throwing it out as something to consider - Iā€™m just a newb who reads too much. Clearly its working great but you arenā€™t in the phase of growth where youā€™ll be needing the Mg/K as much.

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Yeah, I need to read more about that stuff. You will get your chance on a DJ. Iā€™m definitely not getting my clones going until May next year. Mega Crop 2 part and Sweet candy. Iā€™m loving it. So much easier on the pocketbook. I did away with the slider zip lock bags for the dry nutes. Once the powder gets on the slider it wonā€™t close. I put them in small screw-top plastic containers. Way easier.

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Iā€™m using those screw top containers similar to what nuts come in - half gallon and gallon sizes. Theyā€™re awesome. Easy to scoop out what you need too. Walmart actually sells them which is pretty convenient, I had been searching the restaurant supply stores without much luck.

Gypsum is pretty awesome stuff. Hugely applicable to my situation, so I dove a little deep on it.

Itā€™s CaSO4Ā·2H2O. When it enters solution, if another cation, say Na, which we donā€™t want is on a clay, itā€™ll strip it off (using the SO4 anion) because Na is less strongly bonded to the clay than the Ca wants to be. So Ca will replace the Na, the Na pops to the SO4 (which washes away) and poof now you have replaced Na with Ca in your soil. Or whatever the medium, doesnā€™t matter. Anyway, because of the charges, these elements get stripped in this order:

Na (first to go, thankfully), then K, then Mg, then Ca.

I wanted to reduce Na and K, so I use gypsum to allow those (undesireable in my particular situation) elements to be flushed out at controlled rates.

If you decide to cut it out, know that you are using a large amount at 1 TBS (30 grams) per gallon. Iā€™d taper off of it, otherwise you may find that your K/Mg levels shoot up dramatically. 30 grams per gallon yields 1450ppm SO4 and 1760ppm of Ca. Because I feel like I may be an idiot, asking @LD50 what he thinks. He does hydro nutrient analysis on the regular, hopefully he chimes in. 30 grams is a LOT. Itā€™s above the solubility limit, so it probably doesnā€™t all dissolve.

Iā€™m only trying to help BTW, certainly not trying to derail something that is working very well apparently. Probably time to stop typing.

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Do you think Gypsum should be stopped for bloom? @shag really knows the gypsum 411. I plan on dropping my Meg B cal nit massively right after the stretch. I got my terps down. I want more resin build. So Iā€™m going to use the TPS Signal starting week 2. Come out strong with the Tiger Bloom until the start of week 5 and switch to the original version of Beastie Bloomz 0-50-30 finish with it and TPS signal. My dry-off this year is working well. I have been using a fraction of the water I did last year.

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Personally, I wouldnā€™t be using it at all. But I worry that if you just chop the gypsum out youā€™ll be in a bad way with your other stuff. Hoping you get more reputable input than mine. But I grew increasingly concerned as I studied your recipe that the gypsum could be a potential problem, and may be keeping your plants happy now only by attenuating the K in the other stuff. Iā€™m chiming in like I hope anyone would if they saw me do something that could be marginal.

If it were me sitting in your gauntlet, I would taper off of the gypsum, maybe do 3/4 the amount, 1/2 the amount, 1/4 the amount, 1/8 the amount over the subsequent weeks so the K tapers up towards flower like you want.

The caveats here are that a) Iā€™m an idiot, b) I havenā€™t been growing long, c) I know nothing about hydro d) feel like I have a marginal grasp in general on any of this

Fortunately, you already fed, so youā€™ve got a week for someone who KNOWS to chime in on whether or not Iā€™m wandering lost in the desert with this hypothesis or whether you should reduce it at all in the next feed. I mean, your plants are clearly happy, thatā€™s all that matters.

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I know where your heart is brother. I would much rather be told. Than not. I just went through this with another member. I wanted to say something for a month and just did. I should have spoken up and said something sooner. They are happy right now. I just want a better end product. I appreciate all your feedback. :sunglasses: :100: I have been feeding gypsum in my nutrient feed every other feeding.

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Hereā€™s computed PPM from your first fertilization today (assuming the measurements given are PER GALLON)

Iā€™m just a little worried your gypsum amount is so high, you are mitigating some of the K and making your otherwise K-heavy feed mixture more of a veg mixture. My GUESS is if you take the gypsum out youā€™re gonna have a lotta K all of a sudden from your Sweet Candy and the Sea-K (Iā€™m assuming this is what you are using but could be wrong) is no slouch there either.

The total PPM calculation is going to be wrong because you are saturated with CaSO4-2xH2O anyway, so itā€™s probably not going to all make it into solution.

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That is awesome bro. This guys is why it helps to have an engineer for a buddy. :100: I have a bag of Sea-K. Iā€™m finishing up a QT of Kelp Me Kelp You. My mix ratio is for 2 gallons though. I also only feed the Sweet Candy every other feeding. Iā€™m pretty close if not topped out on these nutrient ratios. I donā€™t think they are going to need any more increases in the Veg stage. I am making a note that you can do this though so I can utilize your mad skills. :sunglasses: :metal:

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Ok, so to clarify:

You arenā€™t using Sea-K yet, wrapping up your bottle of Kelp Me, Kelp You. Thatā€™ll help your K situation.

The amounts listed are for a 2 gallon mix. You feed a total of 3 gallons each, 2 gallons of recipe 1, then 1 gallon of the second recipe a little later.

Iā€™ll rerun the numbers after dinner. Iā€™ll probably just upload the spreadsheet, itā€™s pretty simple to use and super easy to change amounts of stuff thatā€™s already entered and see what happens to your ratios.

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Approx not measured 1 gallon of tap top water. Then each pot gets a measured one gallon of the 2 gallon first mix ratio and the same for the second gallon minus the gypsum. Following me?

I should break my ratios down to per gallon to post. 2 gallons is what I make up for each two pots. Everyone gets the same nutrients. If a plant is lacking something I hit it with AFF and Big Bloom.

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So you make the recipe in 2 gallon batches and apply 1 gallon of each recipe to any given plant for a total of 2 gallons applied. So effectively you are applying half the amounts listed because it gets split between two plants?

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That is exactly right. :sunglasses: Iā€™m glad you posted that. I quite checking TDS at around 658 for 2 gallons. Iā€™ve just gone back to feeling it.

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I am not a gypsum expert myself, I learned most of what I know from slow nickle.

I am not one of those NPK formulation guys.
So take that for what it is worth.

There are many ways to use gypsum.
But I think calcium is real important in time of rapid growth.
That is usually when hollow stems show up if they have not already in the grow.
As far as how it effects NPK chemistry wise that is not my thing.

What I do know is most plants could use more calcium as it is the trucker of all minerals.

So to answer this questionā€¦

My answer is no.
Why?
I feel calcium is needed during the rapid growth process.
Could you find other ways to pump calcium, yes sure you donā€™t always need gypsum.
But I am not able to tell you how to fit gypsum into your routine properly.
But I can tell you the more calcium you can get into your plant the better off you are.

I use gypsum all the way through flower or at least to when the swelling stops.

I have not had a problem with K absorption or lockout of K, I usually see signs of too much K at the end of flower so I never worry about not enough K at the end of the flower cycle.

@ReikoX has been pumping calcium pretty good in his garden, I have not heard him say he has issues with K but he should speak on that. :slightly_smiling_face:

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