Grow Mediums Olderfart does solos

[Olderfart]

Ok peeps, this will be a separate thread on my solo cup mischief. This is kind of a consolation grow since my SSSC solo cup event seeds are still in the mail somewhere.

Anyway, I popped four seeds, gave them a few days in peat plugs, and into solos they went. The medium is coco rinsed and buffered by yours truly with ~20% perlite. Nutes are AN Connoisseur Coco, now just the grow A&B at ~1100EC. (There is still a trace of CalMag in there, but very little since the reservoir topup this morning).

The girls are now at Day 13.

First up, two Dinamed Auto CBD Kush x Dinamed Auto CBD from last winter's seed mischief:

Just for shits and giggles, one of these two solos has only drainage slots in the bottom corner, the other also has ventilation slots up the sides as well, making it into kind of an air solo. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference. So far, not much.

Next up a Canuk Seeds Auto PK (Purple Kush or Pink Kush, I've never been able to find out for sure):

This girl is showing a tad of interveinal chlorosis, so she is still on foliar epsoms with yucca.

Last up, a Mephisto 4 Assed Monkey:

WTF???!! was my response this morning. The spots showed up overnight, not a bloody hint of issues yesterday evening. I doubt that this could be damage from water/nute droplets as the plants have been on irrigation from the irrigation ring for a couple days. Kinda looks like some sort of calcium issue, but not really to my noob eye. In any case, the rez still had ~~100EC of calmag in it last night, so on the off chance that the cal mag was the issue, the res has now been cleared of virtually all of it. In theory the AN nutes should be complete, the package was specifically designed for cannabis in coco, so we shall see. None of the other three plants show a hint of whatever this issue is. Nasty surprise this.

Happy soloing peeps.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Ok peeps, this will be a separate thread on my solo cup mischief. This is kind of a consolation grow since my SSSC solo cup event seeds are still in the mail somewhere.

Anyway, I popped four seeds, gave them a few days in peat plugs, and into solos they went. The medium is coco rinsed and buffered by yours truly with ~20% perlite. Nutes are AN Connoisseur Coco, now just the grow A&B at ~1100EC. (There is still a trace of CalMag in there, but very little since the reservoir topup this morning).

The girls are now at Day 13.

First up, two Dinamed Auto CBD Kush x Dinamed Auto CBD from last winter's seed mischief:
View attachment 1401523View attachment 1401524
Just for shits and giggles, one of these two solos has only drainage slots in the bottom corner, the other also has ventilation slots up the sides as well, making it into kind of an air solo. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference. So far, not much.

Next up a Canuk Seeds Auto PK (Purple Kush or Pink Kush, I've never been able to find out for sure):
View attachment 1401522
This girl is showing a tad of interveinal chlorosis, so she is still on foliar epsoms with yucca.

Last up, a Mephisto 4 Assed Monkey:
View attachment 1401521
WTF???!! was my response this morning. The spots showed up overnight, not a bloody hint of issues yesterday evening. I doubt that this could be damage from water/nute droplets as the plants have been on irrigation from the irrigation ring for a couple days. Kinda looks like some sort of calcium issue, but not really to my noob eye. In any case, the rez still had ~~100EC of calmag in it last night, so on the off chance that the cal mag was the issue, the res has now been cleared of virtually all of it. In theory the AN nutes should be complete, the package was specifically designed for cannabis in coco, so we shall see. None of the other three plants show a hint of whatever this issue is. Nasty surprise this.

Happy soloing peeps.

Yeah, playing with those solo's is harder then it looks. If something goes wrong, it goes awry very fast..

 

[Olderfart]

Thanks @hecno, hey, what could go wrong? coco, solos, salt nutes, auto irrigation. Should be an interesting ride. Stoner just gotta try somethin' new.

Happy New Year, and thanks for checking in.

 

[Olderfart]

All were topped above node 4 this morning. No further problems on the M4AM.

Initial indications re. venting of the solos is interesting. Roots were emerging from the bottom slots of all 3 vented solos, but not the one without side venting, suggesting that initial root development is quicker and more thorough with venting. No real differences in canopy growth so far though, all were more or less similar in node development. Still at 1100EC nute mix, still a hint of Calmag but likely negligible.

Photo update on weekend.

 

[Olderfart]

The Dinamed CBD cross in the unvented cup showed its first pre-flowers yesterday, none of the others have done so yet. The difference between the vented and unvented cups continues to increase, roots coming out of all vented cups have had to be trimmed repeatedly, but less so in the unvented cup. The unvented cup may also have more advanced canopy as well as showing pistils earlier. This is not a serious test though, a sample size of one, and seeds instead of clones can't prove much. But fun anyway.

 

[Olderfart]

Here they are at Day 18. First up, Mephisto 4 Assed Monkey:

Miss Monkey had some sort of odd leaf complaint earlier, but now it seems to be sorted.

Next up, Canuk Auto PK:

Miss PK seems to have a tad of Mg shortage, so she is still getting foliar epsoms.

Next up, two Dinamed CBD crosses:

The first is the unventilated cup, the second ventilated. At this point is seems that venting does not make a huge difference, but the jury will be out for a bit. Initial root growth was stronger in the ventilated cup, initial canopy more advanced and larger than unvented, but that could change. In any case, differences could just be genetics which is why valid tests need to be done with clones. Fun to see the comparison anyway though, and likely confirms that lack of venting is not a big disadvantage.

That's all she wrote peeps, Happy New Year, and happy growing.

 

[DCLXVI]

I am quite interested in how you like the AN Coco line. Been eyeballing it myself since making the switch to a couple coco solos. I did try their Sensi line in soil a ways back. Not my favorite. I found it did not do the "ph perfect" thing until almost full tilt 5ml which was waay too strong for most of the grow.

I did like the idea of being able to run a reservoir for automatic watering and knowing it would stay quite stable. I do think they make a nice product, just don't know if it's something I can figure out using well enough.

 

[Olderfart]

I am quite interested in how you like the AN Coco line. Been eyeballing it myself since making the switch to a couple coco solos. I did try their Sensi line in soil a ways back. Not my favorite. I found it did not do the "ph perfect" thing until almost full tilt 5ml which was waay too strong for most of the grow.

I did like the idea of being able to run a reservoir for automatic watering and knowing it would stay quite stable. I do think they make a nice product, just don't know if it's something I can figure out using well enough.

So far so good I would say. I am not likely to use the AN line for larger grows due to cost, but ya never know. It seems a good option for solos though because the amount used is smaller, and if it works on its own, the growing is easy. At this point, the reservoir is at ~1100EC and the plants are all reasonably happy with it, but of course we are at early days.

If I go back to salt nutes for larger grows, I will likely go with either 2 part MC, or Jack's 321. Not sure whether I would go with coco or peat based, both are still possible.

Shoot me questions any time if I can help with more information about this grow.

 

[Olderfart]

I am quite interested in how you like the AN Coco line. Been eyeballing it myself since making the switch to a couple coco solos. I did try their Sensi line in soil a ways back. Not my favorite. I found it did not do the "ph perfect" thing until almost full tilt 5ml which was waay too strong for most of the grow.

I did like the idea of being able to run a reservoir for automatic watering and knowing it would stay quite stable. I do think they make a nice product, just don't know if it's something I can figure out using well enough.

Hello again mate. As a result of your comment, I checked the pH in my reservoir (which I had not yet bothered with) and it is ~6.4 and change. Completely out of bounds for coco IMO, so I have to sadly confirm your experience that the pH control in this stuff is inadequate at the EC levels that I use for autos. This is with very benign water at ~6.8 mostly from melted snow. I am surprised that I have not run into obvious nute issues at this pH yet. In any case, I am going to have to pH the bloody reservoir manually now which is what I was trying to avoid by using this stuff in the first place. Given the cost of this stuff, the nice (apparently) balanced nute mix is not justified to me if the pH control does not work. Damn shame that. That's me back to 2 part MC or Jack's for solos too if I do more solos after the AN runs out.

Thanks for the head's up, I should have checked the pH behaviour earlier.

 

[DCLXVI]

Well shoot. You've saved me some significant $$. Sorry it's not doing it's thing. You may find with distilled water that the lower ml doses do hold the "ph perfect". Just an idea instead of having to bin all those expensive fluids or hassle with ph adjustments constantly.