New Grower 2nd grow, 1st time AF, 7 year gap

[xyberg]

Here they are on day 38 and 31:

Since they have completely filled this tent wall to wall already they will be going into a 4x4 tomorrow. However, I have been doing LST on them to try and get them to stop light bleaching themselves since even at 23" above the canopy they seemed to be getting light bleached. I have since turned the light down to ~75% though.

Should I be doing more pruning though?? Here are shots of the undergrowth and LST:
[HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG]:

[HASHTAG]#2[/HASHTAG]:

 

[xyberg]

Things are starting to get a bit hectic now and I'm starting to run into a couple of issues.

First, pH is dropping like CRAZY. I have tried two different ways of tackling this issue. 1st I have been simply adding 1-2 gallons of water back into the rez and giving it a couple of hours to properly aerate the water, checking the pH, and getting it to 5.8. I have also just pH'ed the res itself but either way it seems to drop to 4.2-4.4 within ~12 hours.

The next problem has simply become size and growth. I have added a net into the tent and have the lights 26" from the net but any buds that pop up to the light are getting quickly light bleached / nute burned. Should I just continue lowering the strength of the light?? Is there any more extreme form of training I should be employing on the girls to tame their size??? I really don't see how they can grow for another 6 weeks without having my lights turned all way down by the end.

Third, is the positioning of my Exhale 365 bag correct? It does seem like the plants on that side of the tent are a much deeper green and they're also much softer to the touch.


HELPPPP lol

Here they are day 41 & 36 from seed

 

[xyberg]

Just finished pH'ing up from 4.4 for the third time TODAY. I accidentally got her up to 6.3 but let's see what she is at in the morning since she has been dropping so much anyway. Should I just run a FloraKleen flush for a couple of hours on her tomorrow and give her a fresh res and see if that fixes it??

[HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] has beautiful white roots even though she is giving me all the pH problems while [HASHTAG]#2[/HASHTAG] has ugly brown roots but keeps her pH stable. Nothing has been done differently between them except 5 days difference from seed..

Lesson also learned about not LSTing early on, I will tie all my girls down early from now on and I want to play with topping & fimming on the next run.

 

[xyberg]

Woke up to her being at 4.06 this morning. So from 6.3 to 4.0 in about 8 hours. She has generally kept a pretty stable reservoir up to this point and only drifted up and down by about 0.3. She has gotten TWELVE milliliters of pH Up in the past 24 hours when I don't think I've used half that much on her in the previous 6 weeks.

Is my understanding correct that if she is moving her pH up that it means that they need more nutes and if they move it down that they're just drinking water? My ppm's are moving down as well though so it has only been adding to the confusion honestly.

 

[xyberg]

Ok I think it is just that they are downing nutrients like crazy is why the pH is going so fast..... co2 supplementation and lights strong enough to light bleach/nute burn them will do that I suppose. Funny because I really want to get 4 cob's for the corners now too lol

I am seeing random brown spots exactly like the CalMag deficiency I had on my first grow...except I am putting in CalMag already... It is only a few leaves right next to the exhale co2 bag though. Should I up the Cal Mag even more for the whole plant or just wait and observe to see if it spreads any more (it is just 2 leaves with a few spots each right now)

My first instinct is to simply observe because everything is looking a pretty healthy deep green.

I added extra silicone to the [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] week 7 feed schedule because I am planning on getting a little more demanding in my LST and basically moving them in right angles to get them better shaped for the tent. It is amazing how each is already growing into the full 2'x4' space allotted to each of them. I am afraid res changes in the future are going to end up breaking things off because of how intertwined they are becoming but also how high I have to lift them since their root balls are basically filling the 5 gallon bucket at this point. They both have beautiful snow white roots now and I always thought my GH nutes were dying them on my previous grow since they were always an ugly brownish lol.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

Not much traffic here,can happen with new starts and dwc/more complicated a grow.i know didly about it,but ph/ec fluctuations means something but what ? Co2 is heavier thatn air put it middle or high up,cal or mag just on one spot ny the bag 2+2
Jump onto LIve stoners gossip flash a pic,fettled6,bushy some of the dwc folks maybe knocking about.some good and helpfull folks in the water section to
Im on mefone @ me later if ya dont get sorted
Good luck n keep er lit

 

[xyberg]

Absolutely no worries, I think it mostly boils down to me really sweating over the details and there isn't too much to be said or done either except to sit back and learn.

So @Dabber pretty much confirmed that the pH fluctuations are normal and that they do indeed just want more food. I gave [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] a new res and sure enough she is back to her normal self in the 24 hours since. [HASHTAG]#2[/HASHTAG] will be getting a fresh res tonight as well a bit early because she is following right behind in big sis's footsteps by behaving exactly like her. At least this time I have a better understanding though and feel prepared for what is happening. Really I am mostly doing what I did before by just adding 1 gallon of water, pH'ing to 5.8, checking ppm, and replacing the res once it gets down to under 200 ppm with only about a gallon of water in the tank. These girls are THIRSTY now and I am a bit afraid for what is coming because I really can't get any bigger of a tent but they have 5 more weeks to go! I am basically counting on them getting root bound since they almost fill the five gallon res already.

By the way, each res takes me like an hour to mix because of all the additives and rinsing of materials to insure there is no cross-contamination. Is this normal or am I going really slow? I currently enjoy this time and find it very therapeutic since I just put an album, mix, smoke, and relax but my wife wonders why it takes so long lol. I think I just need to get a pack of syringes and droppers to have one for each bottle.

Thank you all for reading my ramblings =P

 

[xyberg]

Here you can see the buds coming along just a couple of days later though! You can also see that I am always slow to move up the lights since I am now having to come up with weird ways to move them higher. The ratchet straps took them as high as it was able a solid 2 weeks ago =/

Day 44 & 39:

The best shots of the buds I could get:

Looking at these pics really tells me I need to lower the power on the lights again I guess for a little while because the next light move will move it up a solid 4 inches.

 

[xyberg]

Awww, sucks that I have lost some valuable conversation about the Exhale bags. But in much better news, I have an Orange Biscuits, and Purple Nuggets seed that have each popped their head above the Rapid Rooter and the Creme-Tasmo was put in upside down I think but she is figuring herself out and you can see the little white tap root wrapping around correctly to fix herself.

In six more weeks I will be popping a Sour Creme (CDLC x Sour Stomper), a Forgotten Oranges (Fugue State x Orange Diesel), and Forgotten Strawberries. 6 weeks after that will be another Bubba Trouble, Port & Stilton, & probably another Purple Nuggets.

I plan on doing LST from the beginning on the Orange Biscuits and Creme-Tasmo while leaving the Purple Nuggets completely alone. With the set of thee girls after that I will probably try mainlining the Bubba Trouble since I will have a documented grow with her doing her own thing and my own late. shitty intervention and attempts at LST.

I have been making all the nutrient schedules and making more bubble buckets for everything to go into!

 

[xyberg]

First purple nuggets died, popped in a new one last night.

The other two are fine and I will be updating tonight with pictures of my bubba trouble girls.