Strip LEDs in the garden of Paradise

[thetr33man]

Look closely at the plant at the top left: that is the start of a calcium-magnesium deficiency. As calcium also affects uptake of phosphorous, you will see signs of P deficiency as well.

So how to tell if it's a Ca-Mg deficiency and not P toxicity (that locks out Ca-Mg and shows similar symptoms)? In this case, the affected plant is the biggest, healthiest, fastest-growing plant - it makes sense it is suffering a deficiency, as it has the highest nutrient demands.

Secondly, P toxicity usually first shows up as burning around the leaf margins, whereas Ca/P deficiency shows up as random "rust spots".

Mg deficiency - before it gets to the interveinal chlorosis stage (yellowing between the leaf veins) - can be seen with slight curling of the leaf margins.

Finally, I had run out of de-chlorinated water, so decided to use RO water. The deficiency showed up straight away, as the natural Ca and Mg in the tap water was missing in the RO water.

I dechlorinate my water to propagate beneficial microbes in my coco at the root zone from the organic-based nutrients.

One issue with coco is that it is susceptible to Ca-Mg deficiencies. The fibres - which usually contain naturally high levels of Na-Cl (sea salt) - will ion exchange, bonding the Ca-Mg and releasing the Na-Cl. Coco naturally bonds with free metal ions, so will lock up Ca-Mg.

Mg is instrumental in photosynthesis, whilst Ca is very important to the onset of flowering, aiding flower development.

I see a lot of Ca-Mg deficiencies on these boards that are not deficiencies at all!


View attachment 4054899

Great splanation of cal/mg/p issues. Ive been struggling a lot with some non weed plants indoor under LED and this might help me straighten things out...

I dosed this plant pretty good with epsom salt and it took off but has kind of stalled out again now...

 

[Buck5050]

@Prawn Connery this is my build and was inspired by watching your work. Others like @Growmau5 @Randomblame helped with all their knowledge and work. Thank you all!

EB series Gen2 5000k & 3500k wombo combo left fully dimmed right full power.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Great splanation of cal/mg/p issues. Ive been struggling a lot with some non weed plants indoor under LED and this might help me straighten things out...
View attachment 4071833
I dosed this plant pretty good with epsom salt and it took off but has kind of stalled out again now...

Hi mate, hard to tell without any info. I have to admit I don't know much about specific horticulture - lol! - as I've only ever been interested in growing weed, but I'm assuming that plant isn't normally a fast grower so probably has minimal nutrient requirements compared to cannabis. I know a lot of native plants in my area are very sensitive to phosphorous. Having said that, I wouldn't have picked that as a magnesium deficiency, as it looks more like Calcium.

@Prawn Connery this is my build and was inspired by watching your work. Others like @Growmau5 @Randomblame helped with all their knowledge and work. Thank you all!

EB series Gen2 5000k & 3500k wombo combo left fully dimmed right full power.

Nice frame mate. What drivers are you using?

 

[Buck5050]

The drivers are Mean Well HLG-185H-C1050B and are both the same. Here's another angle

 

[Buck5050]

How close are you keeping your strips to the tops of the flowers now? I know you spent some time experimenting with heights early on. Where did you end up?

 

[Prawn Connery]

How close are you keeping your strips to the tops of the flowers now? I know you spent some time experimenting with heights early on. Where did you end up?

I think I'm about 8" off the tops with the frames turned down to 200w each (400w total) now. I've got a pretty even spread of light, so it makes sense to keep them low but turned down a bit. I'm going to end up with a few bleached tips, but the damage was done early and the rest of the buds are looking good. They're dense as fuck. It's turned out to be a descent summer grow, considering daily temps in the low-high 30s (C) and overnight in the high teens and early 20s.

I need to take some photos soon, as I'm probably going to start harvesting tomorrow or Monday, one plant a day over the next week. The two Sensi Stars are probably about two weeks away, while all the Acids except one are ripening at a similar rate. The last Acid will go at least another week. They're all 8 weeks from yesterday.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Harvest time

The Acids front and in the corner behind will get the chop later this week. The Sensi Stars either side probably won't be ready until the end of next week. I moved these plants around and put the left Sensi Star in the back corner, as it was getting too much light from the lower hanging frame to its left. Leaves were starting to bleach - but it's growing a massive cola!

The two plants on the very left got taken out tonight, leaving six plants still growing.

Here's Acid #3. It doesn't look very high-yielding, maybe just over 2oz. The buds are rock-hard and most of the Acids have a fruity acrid-fuel smell. I've taken a couple of samples from each plant. They'll get a 24-hour dark period before I cut them down.

 

[Prawn Connery]

You can see the odd bleached bud tip and a lot of curled leaf margins. I've really pushed the plants hard this grow - perhaps a little too hard - but will have a better reference point for the next grow. I'm continually surprised how much light these LEDs put out and how much more the plants seem to want to feed. This has been a learning experience for me, but still not a bad first grow after a three-year hiatus.

Hopefully I'll have a smoke report in a few days. It'll be rough without a cure, but should give me an idea of the type of high and potency.

 

[Moflow]

@Prawn Connery how tall are the acids? My mate says his acid are pretty short too.
That' a great grow you've done, congratulations!
Your Sensi Star looks like they'll go another 2 weeks but hey, its your call
Here's a ss2 I scalped about an hour ago and put in the fattening room.
Indica pheno I'd say..... Around 2ft tall from soil to top

 

[Prawn Connery]

Yeah, I think the femmed Sensi Star leans heavily on the sativa side, as one of mine has a very hazy smell about it. I remember when growing out the original (regular, non-femmed) Sensi Star, about 1 in five females would be the pure indica pheno, 1 in 5 would be the 10-week sativa pheno, and 3 out of 5 would be hybrids. Your SS does look like the indica pheno, which is the one I like.

And you are right, the ones I have growing now will go another two weeks, which is why I plan to cut them around the end of next week, when they're at about 10 weeks of flower.

So four of the Acids were quite uniform and ended up about 3' tall, while two others were about 3.5' tall and both Sensi Stars are about 4' tall at the moment. Acid #2 looks like it will be the pick of the Acids - it is the second-tallest and heaviest of the six, with lots of multi-branching and bud sites. It also has a very fruity, oily smell. It will get another run with the two Sensi Stars, another Acid plant (#8 clone) I haven't run yet (not enough room this grow) and whichever of my Swiss Bliss x Schnazzleberry seedlings turn out female.

This time the lights will be set at 400w the entire grow and the feeding regime will be around 3.5ml per litre. I may also need to increase my drainage lines to 19mm, as 8 pots seems to be a bit much for the 13mm lines. It's all part of dialling in this set-up, as it's a bit different to my usual style of growing.

 

[Moflow]

I remember someone mentioning a Sensi Star pheno called the orge and that was the pheno to look for but not much more info.
I'l get the original 10 year cut back soon .
I've just transplanted 4 Paradise Wappas to final pots to veg for a week then flower.
Trying to keep them short n squat so I'm running 4 x CXBs about a foot away
They're a big plant.
I have 2 CBD Crews Critical Mass CBD seed plants, just into flower in 3 gallon builders buckets, cloned off course, you never know, it could be a good one!
2 phenos,

 

[Prawn Connery]

I hate trimming, but I got a few nice buds. I'll pull another couple of plants tomorrow.

Smoked some finger hash and it's a real creeper. Very lucid stone, though, and rather uplifting but debilitating at the same time

 

[Prawn Connery]

I remember someone mentioning a Sensi Star pheno called the orge and that was the pheno to look for but not much more info.
I'l get the original 10 year cut back soon .
I've just transplanted 4 Paradise Wappas to final pots to veg for a week then flower.
Trying to keep them short n squat so I'm running 4 x CXBs about a foot away
They're a big plant.
I have 2 CBD Crews Critical Mass CBD seed plants, just into flower in 3 gallon builders buckets, cloned off course, you never know, it could be a good one!
2 phenos,
View attachment 4077294 View attachment 4077297

I tried the CBD Crew Skunk Haze but it didn't do much for me.

I don't know what the real "Ogre" is supposed to be, but you could definitely find some monsters in the old packs. I do like the indica pheno, though it is not a very high yielder. I think Delta 9 claimed to have the Cup Winning pheno which they used to make their Super Star. I've got some of those seeds, as well as some older Sensi Star regulars and newer femmed versions. I've also got F2s from my original Sensi Star indica clone. I wish I had more space, because I'd like to do a straight run of reg-vs-femmed-vs-Delta 9-vs-original clone seed.

Anyway, harvest has come just in time, as my stash of Wappa is about to run out.

 

[Randomblame]

I hate trimming, but I got a few nice buds. I'll pull another couple of plants tomorrow.
View attachment 4077314
Smoked some finger hash and it's a real creeper. Very lucid stone, though, and rather uplifting but debilitating at the same time

Wow!
I have neccessarily change to Cocos, LOL!

 

[Prawn Connery]

Yeah, it's not bad for a first LED grow. But as I mentioned earlier, I need to revise my drainage set-up as it seems the 13mm lines can't handle 8 pots with some of the coco and root matter being washed out and partially blocking the lines at times. I'm going to replace all the 13mm pipes and hoses with 19mm in a bid to make it more reliable. I used 13mm hoses for years without problems, but I had a much steeper angle on the final drain line which provided faster (gravity-induced) drainage that helped self-clean the lines. The other possibility with this set-up is to raise the pots a little more as they have quite a flat flow until they exit the tent. Everything seemed to work fine until late in the grow, so I suspect it was an accumulation of coco fibre being washed out and causing an obstruction.

 

[ganjamystic]

Yeah, it's not bad for a first LED grow. But as I mentioned earlier, I need to revise my drainage set-up as it seems the 13mm lines can't handle 8 pots with some of the coco and root matter being washed out and partially blocking the lines at times. I'm going to replace all the 13mm pipes and hoses with 19mm in a bid to make it more reliable. I used 13mm hoses for years without problems, but I had a much steeper angle on the final drain line which provided faster (gravity-induced) drainage that helped self-clean the lines. The other possibility with this set-up is to raise the pots a little more as they have quite a flat flow until they exit the tent. Everything seemed to work fine until late in the grow, so I suspect it was an accumulation of coco fibre being washed out and causing an obstruction.

have you considered using fabric pots for the internal pots so you don't have coco running out the drainage holes? check out "oxygen pot systems" for example..

 

[Prawn Connery]

I haven't seen those here. They're a good idea - especially for a recirculating coco system.

But to all intents, it's usually not a big problem if everything is working the way it should. With good drainage, root growth is accelerated and holds the coco together as it binds inside the pot. You usually only get coco fallout/washout early on while the coco settles inside the pot and the roots are filling out.

However, if for some reason there is a drain blockage, then the catchment pots start to fill with water and this drowns the roots at the bottom of the pot and loosens the coco as the roots die and decompose. Coco and dead roots start to fall or get washed through again, and this continues to cause drainage issues, causing a loop.

What I found early on was one of the pots had a blocked drain. Coco from this pot - which was towards the end of the system, near the final drain line - may have fallen through and blocked the main drain line. Once I solve all the issues for the next grow, I shouldn't have any more problems.

 

[ANC]

I use ordinary plant bags that I punch full of holes with a paper punch, I lose a bit of substrate every time I water as I do a dip, lift and drain, manually with each plant.
Last night was the first time I've had to top up the bags a little. I maybe had to add a hand or two of medium to each bag. Took so little effort, doing any more to solve this particular problem is probably an unwise use of resources.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Already picked up the plumbing. It's not a biggie, and in fact after clearing the lines the other day all is well. Replacing the 13mm lines with 19mm is just insurance to ensure reliable drainage going forward.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Been a bit slack with the updates

I've chopped 5 acids so far. The bud above was from Acid#1 that got the chop today (after a couple of days dark).

The Sensi Stars are still going and one looks like it will be a real monster. It's completely covered in chrystal - I've got high hopes (pun intended) for it.

On the Acid front, I wasn't too optimistic about the strain until I chopped #2 and had a test smoke: now I know where the "Acid" name comes from, as it's really quite a trippy smoke. Best thing is #2 looks like being the best yielder and finished in close to 9 weeks, so I think I've found a keeper. The others aren't bad, but nothing to write about - which is why I haven't really updated this thread lately.

There's still one more Acid in the flowering tent which is taking a long time to finish but doesn't look like it's going to reward me with a better yield.

I've started on the next generation of Sensi Star and Acid clones, and the Swiss Bliss crosses are starting to preflower, so I might start a new thread next week outlining the new strains and updating some of the mods to my set-up.