Its been a while since I've been sober/awake enough to make an actual update so I'm going to attempt that now while I wait for the solo to heat up
I think everything is going pretty well overall. I'm loving the new tent. Still making some minor tweaks here and there to get the environment stable in the range I want in the 4x4, but otherwise I think it should be pretty smooth sailing with that. Kinda crazy to see how much the AB, SS, and 3BOG are spreading out now that they've got more space and a better light, even just in the last 24 hours. Now that the 2x2 is mostly bare its holding right where I want it to be, which is awesome. Humidity could be a smidgen higher for the seedling/veg stages but I'm tired of fighting with it and its in range, so good enough. Stuck a cookies tub over the two WTF beans as a humidity dome and calling it good.
As far as testing the Real Growers "Grow Dots" goes, I'm really loving them so far, and it seems the WMD are as well. I was absolutely expecting nute burn with them, especially since I started with
OF as my base soil, and using a full dosage of the GD. I think I remember
@Jean-O mentioning that his girls in general tend to be heavy feeders, so if that's the case that may also be playing in. I think I may go ahead and use them on the WTF twins as well to see if its strain dependent or what. If it goes well a second time I will probably order more to try on other strains. As far as care with them, I fed Recharge and Silica a few times at the very beginning, from germ through the first day or two after sprouting. Otherwise, they have just been getting plain PH'ed water when needed. I'm very optimistic about how they are growing, and the potential for a "water only" product that doesn't involve shopping for a bunch of amendments, storing them, mixing soil, storing cooking soil, etc. As much as I am drawn to organics for both the results and ease of use (water only), all of the above are major drawbacks for me so this may end up being a better solution for me if it works out.
I know I mentioned it yesterday, but I am now running with the @HLG 100R in the 2x2 and I'm really loving this light. I can tell even with my awful eyes that the spectrum on this light is far beyond the Spider Farmer lights that were in there before. This is backed up by the fact that I'm having to use a completely different white balance than I was previously. I have it hanging as high as I can in the tent (about 13in above the top of the 5gal WMD, which is a bit closer than suggested by the manufacturer, but I can't get it any further unless I remove the bin from under the plants and I'd really rather not have to deal with that. If it becomes an issue I will, just prefer not to.) and intend to just let the plants grow into it. The 5gal WMD is starting to show hairs though so I think she will be moving to the big girl tent before too much longer. I do like having *just* the Jean-o gals in the 2x2 though, I'd like to be able to do full timelapse videos of my test grows start to finish. I will have to see if I can find my camcorder and tripod and the associated gear to get a timelapse going in the 4x4 as well.
I do find it interesting that the 1gal WMD is showing darker leaves than the 5gal. My working theory is that by giving them the "Suki Treatment," they have less locations in which to store the N they are uptaking, leading to heavier N loads in each leaf. I could be totally off though, not sure of the science on it. It could also be a pheno thing. I will have to retest that as well (which, I was already planning to do with the WTF anyways). There is of course also the possibility that it is due to the smaller volume of the pot. While the concentration is the same as the 5gal, the total amount of media is much smaller, and more frequent waterings may be causing the GD to release their nutrients more quickly. Further investigation will be needed.
The 5gal girl was topped at the 4th node, in a more standard treatment. I have not done any LST with her yet at all. The 1gal girl has now been topped twice, at the second and again at the following node on each top. I intend to top her one more time. I am still debating on if I will bonsai her or not. Shaping them does end up with a more even canopy, where I can keep all budsites even and facing upwards; however, not training them seems to create a bushier structure.
Again, that may be strain dependent, so I will see how she acts as she starts to catch up with her sister. It does seem that the training slows things down, both the vegetative growth in general and the onset of flower. This is a trend I've noticed across the board with my (collective) "Suki-ing" of these autos. Of course, I will continue to test this over time. Running multiples of the same strain seems to be necessary to really get solid answers though.
As a note, I am still on the hunt for a one and done style organic amendment (as in prepackaged, no bulk storage required, etc), and I will begin testing those once I have more than one brand to compare.
As far as the girls in the 4x4 go, we seem to be back to fairly smooth sailing. I'm currently of the mind that the
OF has more than enough N in it to start to carry you all the way into flower, so I'm thinking that until I eventually change soils I will not be using any "grow" nutes through veg. Multiple issues with N excess/toxicity now across this grow, even with the Grow nutes at a very very low dosage. I'm also thinking that their magnesium content is nowhere near where it needs to be, which is made extremely apparent when you actually look at the breakdown of nutrients on their bottles. Add to that the extremely low PH of their nutes across the board, and I think you can figure out where a lot of the PH issues people have with their gear comes from. Crazy to think that these people more than likely drop millions into R&D and their line still has so many issues.
Sorry, tangent over lol.
Anyways, when the SS started showing issues I decided enough was enough. Pulled out my sample pack of the Lotus dry nutrients and have not looked back. I do find it weird that I could find only a handful of references to this nute line, considering that I've now seen them for sale in both the grow shop I checked out, as well as the smoke shop I go to. I started off running that at half the dosage recommended on their soil feeding chart, and since the deficiency symptoms did not stop, bumped it up to 75%.
The girls seem to be taking it well, and I think I have found a happy level for them at 1.3EC. I have been supplementing those feeds with .8g of Epsom salt. My water already has a decent amount of calcium and since there is also calcium added to the
OF, I do not feel that adding calmag would be a good idea. The Lotus nutes also contain a small amount of calcium and magnesium, so I think we are at a fairly happy balance now.
If things do not end up working out with the Grow Dots for whatever reason, I may just go ahead and invest in their Bloom and Boost in full sized containers. Another thing I like is that since they are dry nutes, I can get a precise measurement in grams, instead of the far less accurate measuring spoon (and then later medicine dropper) liquid measurements. You're also getting a more consistent concentration that way, since with the liquid nutes, the fact that you must shake well before use leads me to believe that they are suspensions, as opposed to true solutions (which is very apparent with the Big Bloom in particular), meaning that there isn't really any way to assure truly accurate measurements.
I will definitely wait to see how the Grow Dots work out before making any final decisions though, because a one shot system is the most preferable option for me personally. I'm still hoping to find a good organic option if possible that suites what I'm looking for.
As far as the new
@Marshydro tent goes, I absolutely love it. Hubby is a bit bothered by the noise level when the extraction fan is running full blast, but I've only been running it that high because I did a deep water on the girls when I moved them, so there is a bit of standing water in the tray, which has bumped the humidity a bit. I turned it down last night but the humidity spiked again overnight. Pretty sure I will be able to turn it down again once the tray finishes drying out.
I'm absolutely loving the TSW2000 light though, and you can tell the girls do too. I did stick my two wimpy 100w Spider Farmer lights in there as well, waste not want not, right? I think the tent and the girls should be able to handle the 500w with no issue, especially since the two extra lights are up rather high and are partially blocked by the Mars light. Figured a larger light footprint would be a good thing, without much extra draw. The Mars light is hanging 16" from the tallest part of the canopy (which is spot on for flowering based on the manufacturer recommendation of 12-18" during flower), and the two others are at 30" with all lights at 100%.
I think that covers everything for now? Lol this ended up becoming quite a novel and has taken well over an hour to write, but like I said its been a while since I wrote out a real update. I did also order, and since receive 2lbs of worms, though I have no idea what I'm doing with them lol. Hoping
@WildBill,
@nizmoKush,
@hecno,
@AJrexxx, or anyone else who may know would be willing to chime in to provide some guidance on best practices, since like with anything else I've found a good bit of conflicting info online.