Indoor Arty Grows: Rainbow Stone & Citrus Noir

[Vapo]

I'm feeding at around 1.2 EC at the moment and PH6.0 in DTW

....dude I read on the Dutch Pro website, that they recommend a pH 5.8 value......and they say that DP work best at that.....I always used to pH 6.0 and had no probs, I only swapped while using DP....now I just range it in between 5.8 and 6.0 - ish lol.......because i'm unsure which to do:smiley1:

 

[Dr Fluff]

....dude I read on the Dutch Pro website, that they recommend a pH 5.8 value......and they say that DP work best at that.....I always used to pH 6.0 and had no probs, I only swapped while using DP....now I just range it in between 5.8 and 6.0 - ish lol.......because i'm unsure which to do:smiley1:

5.8PH is the ball park for all coco grows and is a good PH for any coco grower.
You can stick religiously to 5.8PH in coco and get good results every time.
At the start of a grow seedling tend to like it a little bit more acidic and towards the end of the grow they can take a bit more alkaline, as it make the calcium and magnesium more available.
A wet/dry cycle (which cannabis likes) makes the PH fluctuate too but not too much, which also makes the various chemicals in the feed available.
It is only a subtle shift but one that growing in coco likes as coco likes to hold on to calcium and lock it up.
Using properly rinsed & buffered coco helps to reduce this but using full spectrum lighting like LED, LEP & CMH enable the plant to use nutrients at a higher rate, which can lead to CalMag/Iron deficiency.
So 5.8PH is the ideal middle ground for PHing feeds in coco but allowing it to range from 5.7 to 6.1 occasionally, with a wet dry cycle will allow the plants to get the full spectrum of nutrients.


What "EC" or which "PPM scale"nutrient strength you use, well that's down to what each strain likes, some can go strong whilst other strain only like light feeding.
It's all about feeling your way forwards and seeing if they are demanding to be fed more.
If you grow a strain numerous times then you get to dial in what it likes, the problem these days is there are so many strains on the market, virtually no one except commercial growers, grow the same strain twice. This means every grow we are feeling out way forwards, often using rules of thumb as a guide, which we tweek in response to our plants needs.

One thing to remember about PPM is there are several different scales, such as the 500 scale (Hanna) the 640 scale (Eutech) the 700 scale (Truncheon).ppm is known as dimensionless quantities; that is, they are pure numbers with no associated units of measurement. A mass concentration of 2mg/kg - 2 parts per million - 2ppm - 2 x 10 -6. There are many different scales used for different industries around the world and for many different reasons!
EC stands for Electrical Conductivity and is measured in mS/cm or millisiemens per centimeter. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids and is measured in PPM or parts per million. TDS is acquired by taking the EC value and performing a calculation to determine the TDS value.
To find out what CF is in EC / by 10 and EC to CF * by 10.

North america tends to use the 500 scale , whilst europe tends to use the 700 scale.
The 700 scale & the 500 scale are the most frequently used scales.
here is how to find the PPM of each of the 500 & 700 scales into EC and vice versa,
2.4EC x 500 = 1200ppm (500 scale) or 1200ppm / 500 = 2.4EC
2.4EC x 700 = 1680ppm (700 scale) or 1680ppm / 700 = 2.4EC


WHAT PPM SCALE IS YOUR NUTRIENT FORMULA REFERRING TO?

Manufacturer PPM Scales (North american companies may tend to use the 500 scale and European companies tend to use the 700 scale. check with the manufacturer if you are unsure)

Advanced Nutrients 700 scale
Botanicare 700 scale
Cutting Edge Solutions 500 scale
Dutch Master 500 scale
Dyna-Gro 500 scale
FoxFarm 700 scale using dechlorinated tap water
General Hydroponics 500 scale using reverse osmosis water
General Organics 500 scale using reverse osmosis water
House & Garden 700 scale
Humboldt Nutrients 500 scale
Hydro Organics/ Earth Juice 500 scale
Miller Chemical & Fertilizer
Nectar for the Gods 700 scale
Rock Nutrients 700 scale
Roots Organics 500 scale
Soul Synthetics 500 scale
Technaflora 500 scale

Here is a chart that shows which meters measures which scales (Nb. Bluelabs "Truncheon" measures EC, 500 scale and 700 scale) which is why i have one.
To increase the size of the chart open it in another window and using CTRL and mouse wheel to magnify. Mac users, i have no idea how to make it bigger, sorry.

I may have got carried away a bit there but it is all useful knowledge and giving someone a PPM strength without stating which PPM scale you are using could cause disastrous effect on another persons grow, if they are using a different scale!

Here is a EC, CF & 500, 640 & 700 scale chart conversion.

You will notice if you look at 1.0EC and follow across the chart you will see the 500 scale, the 640 scale & the 700 scale etc

 

[Vapo]

5.8PH is the ball park for all coco grows and is a good PH for any coco grower.
You can stick religiously to 5.8PH in coco and get good results every time.
At the start of a grow seedling tend to like it a little bit more acidic and towards the end of the grow they can take a bit more alkaline, as it make the calcium and magnesium more available.
A wet/dry cycle (which cannabis likes) makes the PH fluctuate too but not too much, which also makes the various chemicals in the feed available.
It is only a subtle shift but one that growing in coco likes as coco likes to hold on to calcium and lock it up.
Using properly rinsed & buffered coco helps to reduce this but using full spectrum lighting like LED, LEP & CMH enable the plant to use nutrients at a higher rate, which can lead to CalMag/Iron deficiency.
So 5.8PH is the ideal middle ground for PHing feeds in coco but allowing it to range from 5.7 to 6.1 occasionally, with a wet dry cycle will allow the plants to get the full spectrum of nutrients.


What "EC" or which "PPM scale"nutrient strength you use, well that's down to what each strain likes, some can go strong whilst other strain only like light feeding.
It's all about feeling your way forwards and seeing if they are demanding to be fed more.
If you grow a strain numerous times then you get to dial in what it likes, the problem these days is there are so many strains on the market, virtually no one except commercial growers, grow the same strain twice. This means every grow we are feeling out way forwards, often using rules of thumb as a guide, which we tweek in response to our plants needs.

One thing to remember about PPM is there are several different scales, such as the 500 scale (Hanna) the 640 scale (Eutech) the 700 scale (Truncheon).ppm is known as dimensionless quantities; that is, they are pure numbers with no associated units of measurement. A mass concentration of 2mg/kg - 2 parts per million - 2ppm - 2 x 10 -6. There are many different scales used for different industries around the world and for many different reasons!
EC stands for Electrical Conductivity and is measured in mS/cm or millisiemens per centimeter. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids and is measured in PPM or parts per million. TDS is acquired by taking the EC value and performing a calculation to determine the TDS value.
To find out what CF is in EC / by 10 and EC to CF * by 10.

North america tends to use the 500 scale , whilst europe tends to use the 700 scale.
The 700 scale & the 500 scale are the most frequently used scales.
here is how to find the PPM of each of the 500 & 700 scales into EC and vice versa,
2.4EC x 500 = 1200ppm (500 scale) or 1200ppm / 500 = 2.4EC
2.4EC x 700 = 1680ppm (700 scale) or 1680ppm / 700 = 2.4EC


WHAT PPM SCALE IS YOUR NUTRIENT FORMULA REFERRING TO?

Manufacturer PPM Scales (North american companies may tend to use the 500 scale and European companies tend to use the 700 scale. check with the manufacturer if you are unsure)

Advanced Nutrients 700 scale
Botanicare 700 scale
Cutting Edge Solutions 500 scale
Dutch Master 500 scale
Dyna-Gro 500 scale
FoxFarm 700 scale using dechlorinated tap water
General Hydroponics 500 scale using reverse osmosis water
General Organics 500 scale using reverse osmosis water
House & Garden 700 scale
Humboldt Nutrients 500 scale
Hydro Organics/ Earth Juice 500 scale
Miller Chemical & Fertilizer
Nectar for the Gods 700 scale
Rock Nutrients 700 scale
Roots Organics 500 scale
Soul Synthetics 500 scale
Technaflora 500 scale

Here is a chart that shows which meters measures which scales (Nb. Bluelabs "Truncheon" measures EC, 500 scale and 700 scale) which is why i have one.
To increase the size of the chart open it in another window and using CTRL and mouse wheel to magnify. Mac users, i have no idea how to make it bigger, sorry.
View attachment 1060425

I may have got carried away a bit there but it is all useful knowledge and giving someone a PPM strength without stating which PPM scale you are using could cause disastrous effect on another persons grow, if they are using a different scale!

Here is a EC, CF & 500, 640 & 700 scale chart conversion.
View attachment 1060427
You will notice if you look at 1.0EC and follow across the chart you will see the 500 scale, the 640 scale & the 700 scale etc

WOW.......thanks for all the info dude, much appreciated...:smiley1:

 

[Dr Fluff]

Hey AFN buddies

here is the latest installment of my journal and only 1 day since the last update

For all those that have been following my journal over the past couple of days, you already know there has been a big defoliation pending.
It has just got too jungly in there, i keep thinking i'll see a tiger any moment.
Well today was the day the girls got plucked and plucked like a spring chicken.
Furthermore is wasn't just a "defoliation" but an "extreme defoliation", otherwise known as "Schwazzing".

"Schwazzing" is a term made up by a Colorado weed growing company called "Three Lights" who on average have 7000 plants on the go at any one time and produce half a ton of dry weed a month.
I will show you a couple of videos of a a commercial "schwazzing" grow, which has been filmed in timelapse.
I will also post an excerpt from a grow guide site which also explain what "Schwazzing" is apart from being "Extreme Defoliation".







Extreme Defoliation: Schwazzing
Widely in use by certain industrial grow operation schwazzing is the process of removing nearly every fan leaf that grow on a plant at the beginning of the flowering stage, leaving only the top of every budsite intact. This method also involves some kind of lollypopping since every side branch is pretty much removed as well. Just leave the first 2 to 3 nodes from every branch intact.

Timelapse video of schwazzing in an industrial grow setup. These operation have a lot more light power per square meter than a common home grow. The lights can penetrate much deeper! Schwazzing a plant makes sense here.

Chocolope that got a lot of nodes removed, leaving up only the top of the plants, sortly before flowering.

The same plant in flowering: Branches full of buds!
Additional notes
I would not recommend schwazzing for every strain out there. There are alot of cannabis varieties that are able to put on serious weight on the side branches where you would harm more than you do good if you remove too much. Branchy indica type plants are very much content with selective defoliation while some other plants like to be cut more heavily. I suggest you.

Lemon Zkittle that got exposed to defoliation: You can see through the branching to the other side of the pot.

A lot of Budsites are directly visible from the top view, since the light now got a free way down there.

Areas that won't get direct light will be cut most.
Defoliation is a pretty harmless tech, since a plant will develop way more fan leafs than needed to survive. A grow tent is also an environment where the plant is enclosed and save enough so that it can deal with this harm without having to fight pests or difficult weather patterns while at it.

Copied & pasted from - http://homegrow-pro.com/defoliation-make-way-for-the-light/ If you want to read the whole artical on "Defoliation & Schwazzing" click the link.


OK that's the process in action and a couple of descriptions of what "Schwazzing is"!

So here are the pics of my grow post "Schwazzing", remember "Fortune favours the brave"! The following pictures may be shocking "Viewer Discretion Advised"!!ROFL

There is a whole lot more light getting to those lower bud sites now.
One of the ideas behind "Schwazzing" is that because Cannabis is a "Wind Pollinated" plant, it only puts bud production in to areas where Light and Wind can get to the bud sites. The plant is now opened right up and meaning wind and light can reach every part of the plant, The bud sites will now put on more flower and also lots of new leaves. It may be quite possible before crop time another defoliation will be needed but we wait and see!
For further info on "Schwazzing" just google "Schwazzing" and don't forget to share what you find with your pals!!

Now all we have to do is see how the girls fair and how it affects the bud structure.
Stay tuned and don't touch that dial, more updates coming soon!cincin

 

[Vapo]

Hey AFN buddies

here is the latest installment of my journal and only 1 day since the last update

For all those that have been following my journal over the past couple of days, you already know there has been a big defoliation pending.
It has just got too jungly in there, i keep thinking i'll see a tiger any moment.
Well today was the day the girls got plucked and plucked like a spring chicken.
Furthermore is wasn't just a "defoliation" but an "extreme defoliation", otherwise known as "Swazzing".

"Swazzing" is a term made up by a Colorado weed growing company called "Three Lights" who on average have 7000 plants on the go at any one time and produce half a ton of dry weed a month.
I will show you a couple of videos of a a commercial "swazzing" grow, which has been filmed in timelapse.
I will also post an excerpt from a grow guide site which also explain what "Swazzing" is apart from being "Extreme Defoliation".







Extreme Defoliation: Schwazzing
Widely in use by certain industrial grow operation schwazzing is the process of removing nearly every fan leaf that grow on a plant at the beginning of the flowering stage, leaving only the top of every budsite intact. This method also involves some kind of lollypopping since every side branch is pretty much removed as well. Just leave the first 2 to 3 nodes from every branch intact.

Timelapse video of schwazzing in an industrial grow setup. These operation have a lot more light power per square meter than a common home grow. The lights can penetrate much deeper! Schwazzing a plant makes sense here.

Chocolope that got a lot of nodes removed, leaving up only the top of the plants, sortly before flowering.

The same plant in flowering: Branches full of buds!
Additional notes
I would not recommend schwazzing for every strain out there. There are alot of cannabis varieties that are able to put on serious weight on the side branches where you would harm more than you do good if you remove too much. Branchy indica type plants are very much content with selective defoliation while some other plants like to be cut more heavily. I suggest you.

Lemon Zkittle that got exposed to defoliation: You can see through the branching to the other side of the pot.

A lot of Budsites are directly visible from the top view, since the light now got a free way down there.

Areas that won't get direct light will be cut most.
Defoliation is a pretty harmless tech, since a plant will develop way more fan leafs than needed to survive. A grow tent is also an environment where the plant is enclosed and save enough so that it can deal with this harm without having to fight pests or difficult weather patterns while at it.

Copied & pasted from - http://homegrow-pro.com/defoliation-make-way-for-the-light/ If you want to read the whole artical on "Defoliation & Swazzing" click the link.


OK that's the process in action and a couple of descriptions of what "Swazzing is"!

So here are the pics of my grow post "Swazzing", remember "Fortune favours the brave"! The following pictures may be shocking "Viewer Discretion Advised"!!ROFL

View attachment 1060696 View attachment 1060697 View attachment 1060698 View attachment 1060699 View attachment 1060700 View attachment 1060701 View attachment 1060702 View attachment 1060703 View attachment 1060704 View attachment 1060705 View attachment 1060706 View attachment 1060707 View attachment 1060708 View attachment 1060709 View attachment 1060710

There is a whole lot more light getting to those lower bud sites now.
One of the ideas behind "Swazzing" is that because Cannabis is a "Wind Pollinated" plant, it only puts bud production in to areas where Light and Wind can get to the bud sites. The plant is now opened right up and meaning wind and light can reach every part of the plant, The bud sites will now put on more flower and also lots of new leaves. It may be quite possible before crop time another defoliation will be needed but we wait and see!
For further info on "Swazzing" just google "Swazzing" and don't forget to share what you find with your pals!!

Now all we have to do is see how the girls fair and how it affects the bud structure.
Stay tuned and don't touch that dial, more updates coming soon!cincin

...dude i thought it was "schwazzing" haha........great technique and expertly explained.....10/10 bro......some "props" for you, well earned :smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1:

 

[Dr Fluff]

...dude i thought it was "schwazzing" haha........great technique and expertly explained.....10/10 bro......some "props" for you, well earned :smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1::smiley1:

Dude you are soo right!! It is "Schwazzing! I just had to go through and correct my spelling mistakes.
I have done some pretty sever defoliation in the past but never knew it had a name lol.
Schwazzing for awesome bud structure is done around week 3 of flower, which is exactly where I am right now!
I only found out about "Schwazzing" this morning, what perfect timing eh?
Cheers for the kind words too!

 

[TheMongol]

Your garden look beautiful artybut you are a brutal canna master

 

[Dr Fluff]

Your garden look beautiful artybut you are a brutal canna master

Thanks brother @TheMongol

Yup the girls have been treated very strictly but it give a week and they will be looking more beautiful than ever!

The truth is some girls like you to take control and be the boss and when you take control and give them what they need, the respond favourably, giving out more than if you left them to their own devices, the same goes for cannabis plant too!!

Did you watch the time lapse videos? Very impressive stuff!

 

[Mossy]

Schwazzing

I've heard that makes you go blind.......grow hairs on the palms of your hands......



No.....?....................................................


Coz I can't let you Promote anything that would get hairs growing on Stoners hands...they would be subject to combustion while smoking joints... Health & Safety considerations.....

One of the ideas behind "Schwazzing" is that because Cannabis is a "Wind Pollinated" plant, it only puts bud production in to areas where Light and Wind can get to the bud sites. The plant is now opened right up and meaning wind and light can reach every part of the plant, The bud sites will now put on more flower and also lots of new leaves. It may be quite possible before crop time another defoliation will be needed but we wait and see!

You Do have me Thinking.......how often have you heard me Laugh about defoliation debates coz on some seasons my outdoor girls get all the leaves blown off and still Finish well...?

Thoughts to Ponder ..Tag me when you get Results.....

 

[Dr Fluff]

I've heard that makes you go blind.......grow hairs on the palms of your hands......



No.....?....................................................


Coz I can't let you Promote anything that would get hairs growing on Stoners hands...they would be subject to combustion while smoking joints... Health & Safety considerations.....



You Do have me Thinking.......how often have you heard me Laugh about defoliation debates coz on some seasons my outdoor girls get all the leaves blown off and still Finish well...?

Thoughts to Ponder ..Tag me when you get Results.....

Did you watch the video? The time lapse?
Threealight the company that uses this grow style has 7000 plants growing at any one time and produce half a metric ton of dried flowers a month! This style is picking up momentum , with Royal Queen Seeds and Grow Weed Easy both writing articles on it and discussing how to get the best results with "Schwazzing".
I have have been defoliating for years and was possibly the first person in forums to defoliate Autos when I was at Strain Hunters, I see if I can find the thread and get a date.
I originally found defoliation at ICMag but at the time it was only photoperiod growers and only a few, trying it at the time. This must have been around eight years ago, a time when many people were still snubbing Autoflowers and saying you couldn't scrog, fim, top etc without disastrous effects. As you know I don't take things at face value and prefer to experiment always trying to find different and better ways of growing cannabis.

In reality this is only half a "Schwazz" as I didn't do a pre flower defoliation.
This is the second stage defoliation, which is done at week three of flower.

One of the theories behind "Schwazzing" is that cannabis as a wind pollinated plant, need wind and light to get to the budsites in order to properly achieve it's reproductive cycle to produce seeds for the next generation.

Schwazzing achieves the same results as mainlining without having to restructure the plants shape allowing light and air to all the bud sites on each branch.

I would encourage you to try defoliation on a single outdoor plant and watch how fast the plant put foliage back on, this is a genetic trait in order to recover from browsing animals eating leaves from the plant before resin production starts, which will deter browsing animals eat the flower/seeds.

When we look at what people do to cannabis plants in the forums, we see how ridiculously hardy cannabis is.

I shall endeavor to collect and collate more info on "Schwazzing" and make a thread with all the pertinent details and tips, in order for it to be used by other but also so the process is fully understood.

This technique of "Extreme Defoliation" is new to me in it's individual style but I know Defoliation works and I have done it many times.

So far I haven't gone blind and I currently don't have hairy palms (not for the want of trying though)!!

Getting your leaves blown off (surely that is hairy palm territory for girls aint it?)

To be honest I can't remember you talking about leaves being blown off but is hard to read as much of the forum as i would like!
From your experience you know cannabis is a hardy plant and as you said you still got great results!

I'm currently at week 3 of flower but I'm not sure what the flower time is.
The strains I'm growing aren't 60 days seeds to weed like many Mephisto strains are.
I'm guessing it is more like 80 - 90 days seed to weed, which is a bonus when "Schwazzing" giving the plant more time to build up the buds.

The guy who developed this strains calls the his "cactuses" or was it "Cactus trees" because they look like those cactuses you see in old western films as each branch is long and just bud.

Next thing to try is "Dwarfing and Schwazzing" at the same time and see what results I get, I imagine it will be pretty impressive. this current grow I have left them to grow as they choose in as much as I haven't "Dwarfed" and you know I get good results with that!

Thank you for dropping by and taking an interest, it is always a pleasure to have you drop by my journal!!

Once the crop is finished I will tag you and share what the results are!

hugz'n'smokez

Arty