New Grower Start up (11/6/22)

[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.

 

[Cannaficionado]

So Im not sure I like how these wicking bases are working. I understand some are going to empty faster than others but the 2 in front have gone through 2 gallons each in 3 days, which leads me to believe that it's more evaporating than anything.

Idk if its their position in the tent, just getting more air, or maybe its warmer by the door by alot, but Ive been moving my probe around and its really not much different from what my ac app is telling me.

The RH is low, like mid 40s, so it could just be evaporating, but that doesnt explain why the other 2 in back 2 days to soak up what I gave them. The front ones I have "topped off" 3 times, each time giving it 1/3 of a gallon and each time it was gone in 3-4 hours.

I let them sit dry most of the day today, until the back 2 dried out fully before I gave them all 1/3 of a gallon more.

If I keep doing this I may just go with the ac bases at least then the res is more inclosed, and it can fit more water in it. With these I can only fit about 1.25 gal in it before the bottom of the pot is sitting in water. I did some volume calculations of the saucers I was looking at and these grated style risers are only 1.5-2" tall so its hard to find a container that works well. These 16"×1.75" saucers were the best I could find and and I can only fill them 3/4 which is a touch more than 1.25 gallons.

Im also not sure if I should be letting these run dry or not, Im assuming no which is why Ive been topping with distilled water so I will definitely be looking at a way to make the reservoirs deeper. Im thinking about looking at some kind of round tupperware I can set risers on. Its the only thing I can think of that isnt limited by the risers 1.5" feet. If it sits IN anything it'll just be an auto pot I have to fill lol. So instead of the headache searching for the perfect container I may just go with the ac bases, they hold 3 or 5 gallons each ands 60 for 4. I only spent 40 bucks on the stuff I have now so its not bad.

Anyway with that said

 

[Cannaficionado]

So plants are looking a little worse for wear today. All of em except the younger peyote crit were pretty droopy.

Wondering if the wicking bases are the best method of water and nutrient delivery, or at least as is. Ever since I started besides the very first day the plants have gotten droopier so I think Im going back to top watering for the time being, the wicks can just take up run off.

With that said, I top watered with feed, each pot got a watering till there was runoff starting. Watermelon zkittles probably got the least amount out of all. I think the wicking base was working the best on that because I basically didnt need to water that one. The other 3 took about 2 gallons between the 3 to get any sort of run off at all. I only water to runoff because I wanted to know how saturated the soil in each pot was. Lets just say out of 4 only one was moist the rest took about the same amount with the younger peyote taking what felt like the most.

Full feed, probably wasnt technically necessary since I also did a full feed with the first bottom feeding last week but I dont think most of that feed made it in the pots, theres a powery residue left over when the saucers dry out and it is most definitely nutrients that didnt make it up the wick but I dont think is a great choice for wicking. So as long as Im feeding I will be top watering. Might do straight water through the bases

Anyway heres some pics of each and the whole tent. Definitely looking sad. Oh, space heater is working nice. Keeping the basement at a solid 75 during the day and 68 at night so great there and the humidity hasnt taken a hit from the heater yet! Only been using it 2 days though so we'll see what the future holds.

 

[Cannaficionado]

Couldnt get any decent pics but the granite runtz is starting to show sex, theres pistils at the 3 and 4th node so I guess the countdown for that one begins, was hoping that one would wait another week or 2, but it is what it is.

 

[Cannaficionado]

So now that my camera was cooperating with me. Wasnt focusing and my phone kept closing out of the camera app. Needed an update.

Since opening the register in the basement the temps are nice. Humidity isnt bad either

Added another riser to get the granite runtz a little closer to the light and raise the dli, raised it and bumped it up to 50% to help out the granite runtz and not overload the others as they are vegging still. The 3 photos are getting about 450ppfd probably closer to 500 with the door closed and with the extra 5 inches the granite runtz is getting closer to 600-625ish. Still a little low but they are getting 18 hours still.

I plan on bumping up the power to 70% and raising the light to the top,after I top the 3 photos after this next node grows in a little more. I really want them to start getting taller so Im hoping after the stress of the top that they really start to reach for the light. Planning on getting a small, but tallish table to put the granite on to keep the light levels in the flowering range.

Tried getting a pic of the nodal growth on each plant. They didnt come out great but each plant has got some healthy internodal branch growth and I think they will all take to a topping well. This watermelon zkittles is getting me anxious as hell. Its really starting to pick up the pace since I got the temps to stay above 70 during the day.

 

[Cannaficionado]

So just to try something out I dialed back my lights figuring my ppfd app was reading low and I definitely think it was. I had the light set at 50% and set about 28-30" above the plant. Yeah I think they were getting way more light than they could process. Its only been one day set at 30% and they have ALL perked up substantially.

This is why I need a real quantum light sensor lol. I was probably getting way more than the 500ppfd on my photos and more 625 on my granite runtz.

Hopefully after tomorrow they will be praying again.

Also to make things easier Im probably only going to defoliate the granite runtz and do a little lst to keep the buds breathing well.

Was thinking about doing the same with the watermelon zkittles, or doing 1 top and letting it go from there. Im sure it will need some pruning down the way but from what I can tell theres not much phenotype variation on it and it already has the same structure as the photos on barneys website.

The peyotes are going to both get topped though, those 2 are suppose to be the plants that produce smaller buds so Im gonna want as many bud sites as possible. But Im waiting till the 5th node is a little more developed, I feel like if I try right now it will be a fimming instead of a top.