New Grower Start up (11/6/22)

[Cannaficionado]

So all my drugs mainly the steroids gave me some energy and all my stuff for my wicking bases came in, think Im gonna line the outside with some expanded clay pepples or some coarse perlite to help keep water in there and not evaporating. Maybe even just some sand.

Im kinda testing this out and 2 plants have shorter to medium leads into the saucers below the grates and the other 2 have long leads. The shorter ones are about 3 to 4 inches. Just enough to hit the bottom and curl up a bit and the others are about double that so a lot coiled in the saucers. I wanna see which one works the best. Have a feeling that the longer leads are gonna be the way to go but who knows. Heres some pics

Risers $8 amazon
Wicking rope $8 for 120ft amazon
Saucers $24.99 for 4-16" on amazon

Heres some pics with the whole set up.

 

[proustdreams]

Depending on which nutrient line you use, it might take some trial and error to get the PH right. With my Veg nute mix, I found that if I added the nutes at 5.6-5.7 ph, it would drift to 5.8-6.0 over a couple days. Strangely, with my Bloom mix I add my nutes Ph'ed at 5.8 and it only drifts .1 to .2 before I add more nutrients to the rez.

Also, I didn't start bottom watering until the leaves reached roughly the edges of the pot. And once I saw the first roots reach the rez I made sure not to disturb them for fear of stressing the plants. By early-mid flower my girls had wrapped their roots around the wicks and when I lifted the Twisted Cookies pot off the risers, I ripped a decent amount of roots off the wicks. I'm not sure if that hurt her or not.

 

[Cannaficionado]

Depending on which nutrient line you use, it might take some trial and error to get the PH right. With my Veg nute mix, I found that if I added the nutes at 5.6-5.7 ph, it would drift to 5.8-6.0 over a couple days. Strangely, with my Bloom mix I add my nutes Ph'ed at 5.8 and it only drifts .1 to .2 before I add more nutrients to the rez.

Also, I didn't start bottom watering until the leaves reached roughly the edges of the pot. And once I saw the first roots reach the rez I made sure not to disturb them for fear of stressing the plants. By early-mid flower my girls had wrapped their roots around the wicks and when I lifted the Twisted Cookies pot off the risers, I ripped a decent amount of roots off the wicks. I'm not sure if that hurt her or not.

Thats what I was thinking. I was gonna give it a good month of topwatering and just let it wick runoff back. I just set them up so I dont have to later. Plus Im fidgety cuz of my meds lmao.

 

[Cannaficionado]

Depending on which nutrient line you use, it might take some trial and error to get the PH right. With my Veg nute mix, I found that if I added the nutes at 5.6-5.7 ph, it would drift to 5.8-6.0 over a couple days. Strangely, with my Bloom mix I add my nutes Ph'ed at 5.8 and it only drifts .1 to .2 before I add more nutrients to the rez.

Also, I didn't start bottom watering until the leaves reached roughly the edges of the pot. And once I saw the first roots reach the rez I made sure not to disturb them for fear of stressing the plants. By early-mid flower my girls had wrapped their roots around the wicks and when I lifted the Twisted Cookies pot off the risers, I ripped a decent amount of roots off the wicks. I'm not sure if that hurt her or not.

Oh I forgot to mention im using the liquid line but when I switch I may go to a completely synthetic line of ferts so that the organic stuff doesnt go bad if it just sits in the reservoirs below. I noticed when I premixed a gal on my last run the organic stuff (i believe it was the organic ones) started to ferment and mold after a couple days. But I did close the bottle back up which I was advised against so maybe it'll be ok since the saucers provide plenty of airflow.

 

[Cannaficionado]

Not really sure if its even worth mentioning but Im not finding out about it anywhere.

Now normally a plant from seed comes in with its cotyledon then its first set of true leaves are 1 finger, then usually the next node forms 3, and from there you get the 5, then 7, then possibly 9 to 11. I know theres genetic abnormalities like only tgrowing 3 fingers or 1 finger on each leaf. But Ive never seen or popped a seed in my life where the very 2nd set of true leaves were 5 fingers but it appears 1 or both of the peyotes may be starting out like this, hopefully this is a sign of vigorous healthy genetics.

I couldnt get a clear picture because the leaves are still small and the 1st and 5th finger are tiny right now. Just thought it was interesting and worth mentioning.

 

[Cannaficionado]

So 16 days in snd I think the root system is starting to build up and plants are starting to switch from seedling to veg.

I always start out at 18 on 6 off as soon as they come through the ground but I think the colder temps have been slowing down growth but the last couple days they seem to really have taken off

Got a good pic of the 5 finger leaf on my older peyote critical

Watermelon Zkittlez is by far taking the lead for growth. Already having its 2nd node fully developed and its 3rd node almost in right now

The granite runtz is definitely the tallest, ans its right behind the watermelon as far as rate of growth

And lastly the best looking plant is the peyote that popped late. Only one without curly leaves right now and Im just more impressed with that one right now.

Gave the plants each 1/4 gal of water yesterday after making my wicking bases. 1 pot had a little bit of run off but was wicked back into the pot within an hour or 2 so the bases with the shorter wicks work rather well.

Also seems like Im getting some karma back from being sick. Parents called me about a space heater they no longer need, good for up to 500sq ft and thermostat controlled so it looks like after tuesday my low temps will be resolved. Now I just gotta work on the humidity, ever since I bumped my exhaust to setting 4 its been riding in the low 40s so I may use the money I was gonna use for a heater for a better larger capacity humidifier that turns off at a certain setpoint

 

[Cannaficionado]

I know I said I wasnt going to be updating daily during veg, but I cant help it, especially when I go to work for 12 hours a day. Seeing the amount of change of the course of one work day is nice

Yes the soil looks super dry but its only the top 1/4" or so, watering tomorrow.

 

[Cannaficionado]

So I think i resolved my temp and humidity issue all in one go. Seems like the back corner of my basement just adjacent to my furnace is perfect.

The exhaust they piped has that corner sitting at about 74°F, acting almost like a radiator for the back part of the basement.

I set up a remote thermometer over there on a table and since it was pretty stable I decided to move the tent over there and now it seems like everything has settled nicely

The only problem I have with this is it relys on the furnace running pretty regularly which set at 72 it does. Im just hoping that when the temps really drop it doesnt get too cold down there. I really dont wanna run a heater if I dont have to.

Other than battling the conditions in the tent everything seems to be fine. Watered a bit last night and a little more this afternoon just because everything hadnt perked up yet. The second watering seemed to help. Although it looks like the peyote criticals are gonna be short short like that caramel cream was. Not a problem it just makes things easier to have a little more space betweem the dirt and the first node for watering and stuff.

This is the peyote that surfaced first. Its only 4-5ish inches tall and unlike the watermelon zkittles and granite runtz the peyotes havent gotten much taller after sprouting, more just started forming nodes right away. I know they will space out more as the plant ages, I was just hoping theyd at least clear the top of the pot before they really started ramping up and they definitely are ramping up. All 4 have leaves developing at the nodes.

This is the other peyote. Tried to get a better representation of the height. From tge soil to the rim of the pot is about 1.75 inches, maybe a bit more now that everything has settled more. Plant is just barely over the rim. The other one is about the same. Slightly more developed but nearly the same height.

Watermelon zkittles is doing very well although I dont think I have gnat larvae causing curly leaves. I think its windburn from my 6" fan. So I shut that off and I also dropped my exhaust a setting too just to help raise the humidity a bit. Was low low. Like the low 40s, which is what really made me wanna move everything.

Lastly the granite runtz. Gotta say at 2 weeks old the structure on this little plant is impressive and makes me anxious to see how it continues to grow.

Also before I forget. I dont know what happened to my controllers temp/humidity probe in the 15 ft move to the back of the basement but I seem to have broken that. Luckily I got one with each my exhaust fan, my controller 69, and the controller 67 I bought by mistake since I bought everything seperatly.

This is probably a good time to mention something about ac infinity that I overlook all the time. But their complete kits all come with 4" exhaust fans, that being the 2x2x4, 2x2x6, the 2x4x6, and my 3x3x6. Which is fine because their fan is rated to move enough air. But only the 2x2s stand alone are recommended with the 4" exhaust. Anything bigger like 2x4 and 3x3 all reccomend a 6" exhaust when buying the tent separately, which is part of the reason I pieced mine out instead of buying the kit. Also when I upgrade and get a 4x4 for flowering and switch my 3x3 to a veg tent I can just buy all the bare minimum stuff like the 3x3 light, 4" exhaust, and accessories, that way upgrading to a 4x4 isnt as expensive.

Didn't mean to leave a ac review or anything but I thought it was worth mentioning to anyone watching looking at buying ac infinity.

 

[Cannaficionado]

So the plants are still small-ish but I decided to go ahead and bottom water the for the first time today.

Im hoping I did it right, ph'd the soil and it came in on average at 6.2, my probe tester isnt the greatest, if the testing liquid I bought is accurate. It reads .2 low on the acidic end snd about .1 high starting around 9.0. So I filled the bases with water with feed ph'd at around 6.5. I figured as it sits and wicks up slowly through the soil its going to drop slightly so by the time the plant starts sucking it up, which I think it is already because the saucers are almost empty, it should be around the 5.8-6.0 range. Kinda low but if its gonna be constantly wicking I figured it would be better to be a little lower. Plants seemed to like it though.

Theres a little damage on my younger peyote fromme trying to get a pic, phone slipped out of my hand and ripped a chunk right out of the leaf...i trimmed up the rough edges. But it doesnt seem to be bothered by it yet, did it last night.

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

Looking good man I’m in for the ride. I can dig the excitement of coming home and seeing growth every day once they‘re getting their groove on. The first 7-10 days is brutal haha.