The Monster Mash

[BU2B]

Small update -
In an effort to at least give you an idea of why I’m not posting when I’m not I’ve created the following alert symbol.

What it means if you see this:
My body and health are running the show. No need for apologies or well wishes it’s just the way it is. I have liver cirrhosis, gastrointestinal issues, arthritis, bad back and hips and basically just a general run of the mill antique maintenance schedule. I didn’t wear well.

I’ll be back, eventually; “all things must pass’
Anyway- that’s the low down, consider the health alert posted and I hope to be back Wednesday✌️

[blowdout2269]

Get to feeling better friend. You need to take care of yourself first. “All things must pass”
We can wait!

[Franklin]

Is this mic on?
Been watching from a distance but figured it was time to pull up a seat. Really a fun show, @BU2B . I hope you get to feeling better.

I really appreciate your openness about self doubt. I have the same feelings often so it’s affirming to see someone else talk about it.

Really looking forward to popping some of these Frankenstein seeds in a few months. Maybe I’ll make a cross with the orange zkittles and call it Franklinstein.

[Longtooth]

Welcome to Overgrow @Franklin!

Ring that bell. Might have one good ring. -Never can tell! Roll away the dew!

Step in and introduce yourself here: Introduce Yourself @OG (Part 2)

[blowdout2269]

Whad up @Franklin! Welcome to the party.

Yeah, what @Longtooth said.

Introduce Yourself @OG (Part 2)

I think it may be good idea to start this Introduction topic for current and new members, so we can get to know each other … I’ll point out new members to this thread. If you are new member just click “Reply” and composer window will appear. Please if you had account on OG1.0 be sure to participate in old school members guestbook. Previous discussions: Introduce yourself @OG Vol. 1 (2017 - 2020) Introduce Yourself @OG (Part 1) (2020 - 4/2022)

[BU2B]

The Monster Mash
21 February 2023

Updates on the way soon.

[BU2B]

@Franklin hey bud! Glad you decided to check out The OG and the grow. Super stoked to have you along for the journey.

[BU2B]

The Monster Mash
22 February 2023

We’ll have 40 flowering growth tips per plant during week 4 of veg mode. Remember me saying all this method really does is take advantage of the plants natural growth structure (just tweaking it a bit for indoor growing)? Well here’s the proof. Is this method anything new? No, not really. Is this layout and structure revolutionary? Possibly. Will learning and taking advantage of this layout and structure really improve my over-all yield without increasing my grow time? ABSOLUTELY, without a doubt, YES!

PLANT A - Before and After clean-up

PLANT B - Before and After clean-up

PLANT C - Before and After clean-up

The Three Little Monster on day 30 [32 - 40 flowering growth tips per plant]

Thoughts on growing Feminized Frankenstein S1 AKA Frankenstein’s Daughter from seed to this point…

• She is not a fan of cooler temps or cold toes
• She doesn’t like the wind directly in her face (messes with her beauty shots)
• Like most Indica heavy hybrids she likes calcium when little
• She will take extreme note of ANY pH fluctuations
• She does like her magnesium
• A growers dream - takes a licking and keeps on ticking!
• Internodal spacing is still LONG even with extended light hours
• Nodes on side branches after topping rapidly lose symmetry

WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME
FD can be a bit picky. Yes even the HILDA phenotype; but this is nothing that is truly out of the ordinary for any strain and especially a NEW strain from seed as opposed to a cutting. I think she would prefer (and her growth tends to back this) to be left unfettered and unchained and grown under warmer more humid conditions with mild to gentle wind. The plant really does appear to like and respond well to additional magnesium (and a little calcium). It is my estimation that grown outdoors with minimal to no training this strain would and will be a TRUE Monster! I’d estimate generally unrestrained height at between 5-7 feet with a VERY full leaf load due to it’s tendency to deviate nodal spacing rapidly off the main branch. You might want to keep that in mind when growing indoors as I think if you blink twice she could easily get away on you.

Grown indoors, either in Hydro or another growing medium; you’re going to need to keep an eye on her. I really wasn’t kidding about all the notes above so keep that in mind when ‘growing your own’. Truth be told she grows like a dream, hardy and durable appearing to be able to quickly bounce back from incidents and accidents, is pliable and EXTREMELY trainable without the need for High Stress Training and will quickly be having you admiring her many positive attributes.

• note on the graphic: if growing autos I use the same structure as shown with two exceptions. The plant is grown out as a quad I.e; all four sides of the initial + are used and plants are NOT topped at the end of each main branch. This is is due to autos starting flowering around week 4. For autos this will produce about 80 flowering growth tips by week 5. Ya, you’re gonna need to do some culling.

[GrouchyOldMan]

Beautiful Work Maestro!

And an excellent set of growing notes as well. I’ve used your PPP technique many times and seeing it here on the Hilda pheno is like meeting an old friend.

The basic form is in place and it will be fascinating to see how these plants fill out. How long do you plan to veg this time?

My experience with Hilda is that she’ll explode once you flip to flower, and she does know how to make her some bud! How bout five dozen of these bad boyz at harvest time!

Thanks again for your work on this @BU2B.

-Grouchy
PS, best wishes for a quick and positive outcome on that thing, you know what I’m talkin bout…

[Smoklahoma]

Those girls are looking good. Got feeling your going to have a packed tent. Great food for thought with the notes. I’ll be keeping that in mind. Great work!

[blowdout2269]

Looking good bud! Seems about right on schedule, aye?

Ya know, I personally would like to know about your equipment. Me being a hydro newbie and all, hehe. I got those 8 SG in soil, but I already got the bug for DWC again. Mistakes were most definitely made, but I can not be beaten. The itch is getting stronger by the day, lol. I’d like to build a bucket system. Perhaps with separate reservoir.
Thoughts?

If it’s gonna sidetrack this discussion. Just DM me whenever you can. No hurry. I won’t be starting the building for a month or so.

[BU2B]

@GrouchyOldMan

How long do you plan to veg this time?

I think we are very close to being right on queue. I generally like to wait about 3 weeks once all topping is complete before switching to flower (transition to bloom). This allows the plants some time to get some height on flowering branches which in turn allows the plant to be spread out more once flowering is underway in earnest. Most of the 3 girls are only one node away from topping at the tip of both main branches. We may need to add another week due to slow cold related growth, but that is looking increasingly unlikely.

short answer 8 weeks of veg (currently week 4 +2 days)

[BU2B]

@blowdout2269

I’d like to build a bucket system. Perhaps with separate reservoir.
Thoughts?

Absolutely nothing wrong with discussing this in the main thread - It’s a Hydro journal after all

I am sure I am not the only one with thought’s on the matter nor am I dogmatic enough to believe MY WAY is the ONLY WAY. This could prove to be nice topic for discussion as we watch the grass grow.

Thanks for the interest - WooHoo more dangling root water babies!!! Hydro folks… the floor is yours; give the man a piece of your mind and be sure to let us all know why you do what you do and how it works for you [Thanks in advance].

[Franklin]

It’s super fun and informative to watch the PPP training step by step. I’ve only ever grown in soil and to be honest, though I’ve grown off and on for three decades, I never even met IRL someone who grows. I hardly even smoke that much anymore, I just love growing it and giving it away. So the point is I’ve never seen hydro plants in real life. If these were plants in soil I might think that they have been chronically slightly overwatered due to the curling down of the leaf and the general downturn of the leaf structure. But is this how hydro plants generally look at this stage? Aside from that they seem super healthy from my soil grower eyes.

[breadwinner]

I love this @BU2B you’ve really reduced it down to a science im taking notes maestro, lol

@Heliosphear the ‘visual hype-man’ too!

[CosmoNut]

Great read and info here. It may not be anything revolutionary but you have put a lot of thought and time into explaining while pairing with photos that makes this priceless.

[BU2B]

The Monster Mash
22 February 2023

Tid-bits

The cup shown way back is not going to be included in the Guess The Weight game. It seems the cup shown earlier was just too LAST YEAR for the prize pool and is no longer available in old town.
This cup will be offered instead:

First place and second place will both receive this cup. DEA tails on the giveaway coming soon.
Entries begin on the first day of flowering.

[BU2B]

@Franklin

is this how hydro plants generally look at this stage?

@Franklin uh, we’ll it’s how at least one of these girls looks. No, it’s not how they ‘normally’ should look. Plant B is my one problem child but she appears to be growing out of it just fine. She has to me what looks a lot like nitrogen toxicity and magnesium deficiency all at once. She is pretty picky with her pH, does like extra magnesium and though not over or under watered I found that re-directing the fan so that it didn’t blow in her face and increasing the ambient and tub temp a bit have made a significant difference in the last 3-4 days to the amount of curling in her leaves.

[BU2B]

The Monster Mash
23 February 2023

DOH!
Ever have one of those lives? One where you are actually required to pay attention and are responsible for the consequences of your actions?

Hmm curling leaves in Hydro - classic sign of lack of O2. New pump thinks I. So, get one, I do. Improved air flow? Ya, but not what I was hoping for a 32 watt 6 port aeration pump. I had to get more black lines out of the box and noticed a pack of new one-way valves as well. Oh well, may as well replace them in all the lines right? I do just that and presto - uh, guess I should have replaced those first. It’s like having a new pump twice as powerful as the old one and 6 lines instead of 4. Amazing that. The old pump works just fine but now I have a backup ready to go for when I get that bigger place and more growing room in my growing room … in the next life

The girls smiling and waving as they soak up the ‘tiny bubbles’. The dirty looks you were seeing were NOT directed at you folks - those glares were fixed squarely on me.

I have a sign on the fridge; sometimes it helps - maybe it’s time to move a copy to the grow room!? The sign reads; “HEY YOU! Brainless old man! Check everything BEFORE you leave this room!”

[BU2B]

The Monster Mash
23 February '23 - part 2

“One, two, three, four, two, zero - Let’s do another one for the open road” father mountain Nahko

Side Topic -
Bare Essentials for a working Hydroponics System

• Black airlines and an air-pump capable of at least 10 Liters per hour
  

  
  
  This pump will provide up to 10 Liters per hour of O2 per line

• A growing container. This can be anything from a ready made system to large heavy duty totes or plastic buckets.

Insulated growing containers such as double totes or double buckets will help regulate liquid temperatures. It is important that you eliminate all sources of light that might possibly enter your growing container. This can be anything from eliminating all clear air lines to insuring no light is leaking into the tub from around the net pot, water/nutrient intake, or around air lines.

• Root inoculant, cannabis specific nutrients, Epsom salt, cal/mag, pH up/down (or equivalent) and Hydrogen Peroxide should always be on hand.

There are many different brands and options available for most of the ingredients listed above but ALL should always be on hand if you’re growing in Hydro. Root inoculant AKA root yogurt should always be added with ANY additions to the growing container whether pH balanced water or a nutrient feed. If using powdered or granulated inoculant it is critical that it is specifically designed for Hydroponics. Some inoculant brands include a lot of inert ingredients that can drastically raise the ppm in your growing container or reservoir.

• A method to consistently and reliably measure pH

Once again, there are a lot of options available to you, from cheap and cheerful dime a dozen meters (that you replace when you change socks) to pH strips, more expensive and reliable meters and constant read in place systems.

• Net pots, hydroton (ceramic stones) and starting medium

Net pots can range in size from 2-8 inches in diameter with larger sizes requiring more hydroton. Ceramic stones also vary in size with smaller stones preferred. You starting medium can be anything from rock-wool to jiffy pods or coco pods. ALL of these items to your specifications or choice are going to need to be in your inventory if you’re planning on growing in Hydro.

If any of you good folks can think of anything else that is not just a suggestion but a requirement for a working Hydroponics system PLEASE pipe in.

Next in this side topic will be -
Variations on a theme [from single tub growing containers to RDWC and beyond]
I’ll give my OPINION on what I know and leave it up to you good folks and personal research to fill in the rest.