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Hey again everybody,
Back with my first update -- a recap of Weeks 1-3. Before I get started though, one more comment I forgot to squeeze into my initial post:
First, I'm located in eastern Canada. We get very cold, dry winters here; and warm and very humid summers (although we are legally allowed to grow up to 4 plants
.) Consequently, I'll be following VPD Charts as best I can, such as the one found at vpdchart.com. My plan is to use some combination of exhaust fan speed, warm/cool humidifiers, space heaters, and bedroom ambient temperature to dial into the specific RH and Temp that 'm after. I'll also be assuming a 2 degree C differential between the air temperature in the tent and the leaf surface temperature, although I'll probably test this with an IR gun at some point. I hope to someday automate this process, but for now, it's me constantly checking my AC Infinity Temp/RH probe, refilling humidifiers, and switching shit on and off lol. Oh well.
Second, regarding the GH Flora Nutrients. Please be aware that GH have recently revised their feedcharts. The outdated charts were called "recirculating" and "drain-to-waste"; they now provide LIGHT, MEDIUM and AGGRESSIVE feedcharts. I'll be following the LIGHT guidelines, scaled to 50-100% based on recommended ppm's of nutrient solutions.
Finally, I actually have two different QBs in this tent. They're both HLG 135W v2's, but one is the newer 'R-Spec', and the other is the older 3000k model. As I want my plants to be subject to the same conditions, I'm going to be rotating the two plants so they spend an equal amount of time under each light. I think on my next attempt at two different plants, I'll probably subject them to different conditions to see if some tricks work better than others, e.g., training techniques. But until then, I'm aiming for relative consistency with both of these ladies.
Enough of that, allons-y! :smoking:
UPDATE #1: Recap of Weeks 1-3
WEEK 1
Temp: 23 deg. C
RH: 72%
DLI: 20-25
Cycle: 24/0
Plain Water, pH'ed to 5.8-6.3; no nutes.
I used the paper-towel method to germinate. I know a lot of folk poo-poo it, but it works for me. I soaked two seeds in a shot glass of water for ~12 hours or so until they sank when poked, then poured them onto a paper towel on a small plate. I put this in an open ziplock bag so it wouldn't dry out, and kept it in the bottom of my tent with a small space heater pointed away from it. I had two tap roots after 24 hours or so.
These were plopped into my 5 gallon pots of Pro-Mix Hp....
...and I fucked up first thing and forgot to pre-soak my pots lol. To be honest, part of me knew better, but I kinda wanted to see what sort of difference it would make (yeah right!). Anyway, it did make a difference because I pre-soaked my pots last time and they grew much taller much quicker. Lesson learned. Hopefully I didn't kill my mycorrhizae!
Ah, no biggie. And no need to stress, the buggers are resilient! This is something I've been learning too. Fortunately Pro-Mix HP has a wetting agent so it can get a little dryer than raw peat (at least I think so).
Anyhow, after another day or two, we had liftoff:
I contacted Pro-Mix directly, and they told me to start feeding within 7-10 days. So I gave plain water (pH'ed to ~6) every two days or so, around 500mL each time, for the first two weeks. I also had my humidifiers on blast, keeping things at around 72% RH and 23 deg C. I'd also mist the surface of the Pro-Mix HP multiple times a day if it started looking too dry.
As for lighting, I did the 'DLI-to-ppfd-to-lux conversion' thing to land on a 20-25 DLI value, which turned out to be somewhere around 7,000-12,000 lux at 24/0 lighting from my QBs. On my last grow, I went closer to 7,000; this time around, I went closer to 12,000. The result: the plants are shorter this time around (Although that could be associated with the dryer pots too).
WEEK 2
Temp: 23 deg. C
RH: 68%
DLI: ~30
Cycle: 24/0
I gave my first feeding around day 8. I followed the GH Flora Series 10-part LIGHT schedule at 100% for week 221: fuck up # 2 lol. I probably should have been closer to 50% for this very first feed. On my previous grow, I was stingy with my feeds and fed 25-50% until flowering. It wasn't until I started measuring nutrient ppm that I realized I was underfeeding the plants. As I mentioned above, I think with GH Flora, it's best to start off at 50% for week 2, 75% week 3-4, then up to 100% come flowering - again, of the LIGHT regimen. Doing so will put you around 550ppm during late flowering.
In my defense, the plants were on the 'lighter' green side, but in retrospect, of course they were! They had used up the 'starter' nutrients in the peat-moss. Still looking decent though (here's the taller of the two
Again, I gave a little too heavy a feed once during this week as a consequence of the lighter green color. If the plants starts looking too dark afterward, I may give it an extra plain watering or two before I feed it again. Either way, the plant wasn't showing any symptoms of being overfed:
WEEK 3 - Topping & Training
During this week, I gave an extra plain waterings before giving them any more nutrients; I then fed again at 50% LIGHT strength nutrients; plain watered the following go; then fed at 75% LIGHT (~400ppm). I also topped both, started training, and cranked my light up into the ~40 DLI range, currently at around 28,000 lux or 450 PPFD at 24/0. My lights will stay like this until I go into flowering, at which point I'll be bumping up their intensity and probably switching to a 18/6 cycle. Stay tuned.
In any case, this is more light than I gave them my last grow, and the internodal spacing is indeed tighter. This is making LST'ing a little trickier than last time. Oh well!
In the pics above, you can really see the difference in the lightning temperatures of the different lights. Again, I've been rotating the plants such they have an equal time under each light. Interestingly, you can see a mutation on the plant on the right above -- an early 3 finger leaf didn't sectionalize properly and only has two fingers. Oh well! Mutant plants can make monster buds!
Here's a wide angle shot. Again, this is just after topping:
To Be Continued in Week 4 (by June 27, 2021) .... stay tuned!
-tronN00dles
Back with my first update -- a recap of Weeks 1-3. Before I get started though, one more comment I forgot to squeeze into my initial post:
First, I'm located in eastern Canada. We get very cold, dry winters here; and warm and very humid summers (although we are legally allowed to grow up to 4 plants
.) Consequently, I'll be following VPD Charts as best I can, such as the one found at vpdchart.com. My plan is to use some combination of exhaust fan speed, warm/cool humidifiers, space heaters, and bedroom ambient temperature to dial into the specific RH and Temp that 'm after. I'll also be assuming a 2 degree C differential between the air temperature in the tent and the leaf surface temperature, although I'll probably test this with an IR gun at some point. I hope to someday automate this process, but for now, it's me constantly checking my AC Infinity Temp/RH probe, refilling humidifiers, and switching shit on and off lol. Oh well.Second, regarding the GH Flora Nutrients. Please be aware that GH have recently revised their feedcharts. The outdated charts were called "recirculating" and "drain-to-waste"; they now provide LIGHT, MEDIUM and AGGRESSIVE feedcharts. I'll be following the LIGHT guidelines, scaled to 50-100% based on recommended ppm's of nutrient solutions.
Finally, I actually have two different QBs in this tent. They're both HLG 135W v2's, but one is the newer 'R-Spec', and the other is the older 3000k model. As I want my plants to be subject to the same conditions, I'm going to be rotating the two plants so they spend an equal amount of time under each light. I think on my next attempt at two different plants, I'll probably subject them to different conditions to see if some tricks work better than others, e.g., training techniques. But until then, I'm aiming for relative consistency with both of these ladies.
Enough of that, allons-y! :smoking:
UPDATE #1: Recap of Weeks 1-3
WEEK 1
Temp: 23 deg. C
RH: 72%
DLI: 20-25
Cycle: 24/0
Plain Water, pH'ed to 5.8-6.3; no nutes.
I used the paper-towel method to germinate. I know a lot of folk poo-poo it, but it works for me. I soaked two seeds in a shot glass of water for ~12 hours or so until they sank when poked, then poured them onto a paper towel on a small plate. I put this in an open ziplock bag so it wouldn't dry out, and kept it in the bottom of my tent with a small space heater pointed away from it. I had two tap roots after 24 hours or so.
These were plopped into my 5 gallon pots of Pro-Mix Hp....
...and I fucked up first thing and forgot to pre-soak my pots lol. To be honest, part of me knew better, but I kinda wanted to see what sort of difference it would make (yeah right!). Anyway, it did make a difference because I pre-soaked my pots last time and they grew much taller much quicker. Lesson learned. Hopefully I didn't kill my mycorrhizae!
Ah, no biggie. And no need to stress, the buggers are resilient! This is something I've been learning too. Fortunately Pro-Mix HP has a wetting agent so it can get a little dryer than raw peat (at least I think so).
Anyhow, after another day or two, we had liftoff:
I contacted Pro-Mix directly, and they told me to start feeding within 7-10 days. So I gave plain water (pH'ed to ~6) every two days or so, around 500mL each time, for the first two weeks. I also had my humidifiers on blast, keeping things at around 72% RH and 23 deg C. I'd also mist the surface of the Pro-Mix HP multiple times a day if it started looking too dry.
As for lighting, I did the 'DLI-to-ppfd-to-lux conversion' thing to land on a 20-25 DLI value, which turned out to be somewhere around 7,000-12,000 lux at 24/0 lighting from my QBs. On my last grow, I went closer to 7,000; this time around, I went closer to 12,000. The result: the plants are shorter this time around (Although that could be associated with the dryer pots too).
WEEK 2
Temp: 23 deg. C
RH: 68%
DLI: ~30
Cycle: 24/0
I gave my first feeding around day 8. I followed the GH Flora Series 10-part LIGHT schedule at 100% for week 221: fuck up # 2 lol. I probably should have been closer to 50% for this very first feed. On my previous grow, I was stingy with my feeds and fed 25-50% until flowering. It wasn't until I started measuring nutrient ppm that I realized I was underfeeding the plants. As I mentioned above, I think with GH Flora, it's best to start off at 50% for week 2, 75% week 3-4, then up to 100% come flowering - again, of the LIGHT regimen. Doing so will put you around 550ppm during late flowering.
In my defense, the plants were on the 'lighter' green side, but in retrospect, of course they were! They had used up the 'starter' nutrients in the peat-moss. Still looking decent though (here's the taller of the two
Again, I gave a little too heavy a feed once during this week as a consequence of the lighter green color. If the plants starts looking too dark afterward, I may give it an extra plain watering or two before I feed it again. Either way, the plant wasn't showing any symptoms of being overfed:
WEEK 3 - Topping & Training
During this week, I gave an extra plain waterings before giving them any more nutrients; I then fed again at 50% LIGHT strength nutrients; plain watered the following go; then fed at 75% LIGHT (~400ppm). I also topped both, started training, and cranked my light up into the ~40 DLI range, currently at around 28,000 lux or 450 PPFD at 24/0. My lights will stay like this until I go into flowering, at which point I'll be bumping up their intensity and probably switching to a 18/6 cycle. Stay tuned.
In any case, this is more light than I gave them my last grow, and the internodal spacing is indeed tighter. This is making LST'ing a little trickier than last time. Oh well!
In the pics above, you can really see the difference in the lightning temperatures of the different lights. Again, I've been rotating the plants such they have an equal time under each light. Interestingly, you can see a mutation on the plant on the right above -- an early 3 finger leaf didn't sectionalize properly and only has two fingers. Oh well! Mutant plants can make monster buds!
Here's a wide angle shot. Again, this is just after topping:
To Be Continued in Week 4 (by June 27, 2021) .... stay tuned!
-tronN00dles
. Here's a couple of pics from Day 40. I have some stats down below as well.
