2nd time around as a grower, this time with way more money, skills, and equipment...

[saint0192]

March 23rd - All 3 plants still look good, added ~5ml Flora Micro because I feel they still need the boost for roots, and balanced to ~815ppm, had to adjust PH down from ~6.8 to ~5.77 because this is where I noticed the wrong PH from the 21st and wrote that nasty note to myself above.

 

[saint0192]

March 24th - The plants doubled size today. The PH change and additional Micro made a difference. For the next week at least, the solution will remain roughly 800ppm, pH 5.8-6.3.

 

[saint0192]

March 25th - no maintenance - just pics...

 

[saint0192]

March 26th - The light is 26" off the deck of the pots. The plants are exploding - internodal growth of new limbs on all three, most prominent on JH#1 and JH#2 - should be cloning within a couple/few weeks. Yay!. JH#1 and JH#2 are also exhibiting very slight purple shadows in the crease of the stems, gonna be purty purps I think, because the growth says they are ridiculously health. Root growth has been outstanding since the PH balance and additional Micro. Will continue to keep the 15ml-15ml-5ml regimen for at least another week.

 

[saint0192]

March 28th - Checked nutrients, water level, and PH. PH was up to ~6.25, so I adjusted it down to ~5.75. Water level was fine, as was PPM, which was still ~800PPM. The plants look fantastic, with a large mat of roots formed on all 3, and JH 1 and 2 are starting to see side branches grow. Also in the pictures was my badass bacon and bleu burger I had for supper. It was good.

 

[saint0192]

March 29th - JH#1 has 7 bladed leaves and next set popping out. Well see what she's finishes up as, I think the next set look to be 9s, but too early to tell... The other 2 plants also look great, I adjusted the light toward the right rear to give more light to JH#2 and especially CRIT#1, left height as is, 26" off the deck of the pots.

 

[saint0192]

March 30th - no maintenance today - just checked a few times through the day - they look great still, standing up straight and getting really big. CRIT#1 seems to be catching up in size to the Jacks better so far - gonna leave the light towards the rear for a day or two and see how it goes to equalize the plants. JH#1 is still a monster - incredibly healthy and growing so much faster than the other 2 straight through - I have super high hopes for that plant. I hope she's delicious!

 

[saint0192]

March 31st - Maintenance day - reservoir level down noticeably on JH#2 and even more on JH#1, and still ok for CRIT#1, but it is growing faster with the light adjustment made yesterday, so I expect a couple days to catch up to JH 1 and 2. After adjusting filtered water up in JH#1 and JH#2, and without adding any to CRIT#1, I adjusted nutrients up to 800-810ppm. This took no nutrients for CRIT#1, about 1/2 ml of GROW to JH#2, and about 1.5ml of GROW and .5ml of Micro for JH#1. I added small amounts of water to top off and bring PPM to correct range. PH for all three were in the range of 5.85-5.93, left it alone until next checkup.

 

[saint0192]

April 1st and 2nd - left them alone for the most part. Peeked here and there. The smell is now pungent when I open the tent, and the air is almost tropical humid. The exhaust system is running like a champ, the fan kicks in regularly now because of humidity and is perfectly maintaining it at 50-55%. Temp has stayed right around 70-72 with little fluctuation. The plant have finally exploded. They look very healthy, stand up very straight, and are showing 7+ bladed leaves. JH#1 has 1 set of 9-bladed leaves. No final count yet. hoping for is or 11s still. Today is 1 month from planting the seeds in rockwool.

 

[saint0192]

April 3rd - Maintenance day - topped off water to bottom of the second line (a couple inches below the bottom of the net pot), then added:
- 1ml Bloom
- 1ml Micro
- 2ml Grow
Then added water to bring ppm to ~815-820
Then checked PH, it was a perfect ~5.72-5.58 for all three.
The lights are adjusted up to 26" off the deck of the pots. All three plants are the same height now, I will start adjusting light height tomorrow slowly. JH#1 showing second, fully formed and beautiful set of 9-bladed leaves.

 

[saint0192]

April 4th - Set up Rollitup account and spammed my journal onto their server, I hope all the pics are ok. The plants look phenomenal today, the reservoir maintenance interval of 3 days seems about right. JH#2 and CRIT#1 seem to still be slowly catching up to JH#1.

In my prior grow, I never saw growth like this, the plants are so compact and dense it is ridiculous. JH#1 has 4 branches with 3 or more internodes already, and another 4 smaller branches. JH#2 is slightly behind that, and even CRIT#1 has 4 branches growing out now. These Mars Hydro full spectrum lights are amazing - I really hope they perform as well for flowering, they are supposed to... I have a TP-Link Kasa wifi power plug in front of the UPS so I can monitor energy usage, I'm running this whole setup for less than $20/month. WooHoo!

 

[saint0192]

April 5th - no maintenance today, just observations and pics. The first set of 11-bladed leaves have started, very cool. JH#1 is still bigger than the other 2 plants, but all are growing very fast and look super healthy still. Light adjusted up to 27" off the deck of the pots. The plant's heights measure :

• JH#1 - 7.5"
• JH#2 - 5.5"
• CRIT#1 - 5.5"

I also moved the buckets to give them a bit more room for horizontal growth as the branches hit the canopy.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Nice setup man! Plants are looking great so far.

 

[Herb & Suds]

I admire your diligence on daily updates

 

[saint0192]

Nice setup man! Plants are looking great so far.

I admire your diligence on daily updates

Thanks you two,! That one big Jack Herer plant is starting to scare me a little! I think I have them right at a point where I'm gonna be raising the light a little bit daily. The lowest branches are hitting the canopy now, and it is drinking about a 1/2 quart a day right now, almost double what either of the other two is. Those branches hitting the canopy is gonna be epic.

Oh, also - how I maintain water level in my DWC pots and know how much they are drinking:
I marked a few interesting points on the side of the bucket to watch water level after taking a few measurements such as depth of net pot, height from bottom, gallons for each interesting depth. The spots I marked were: from the bottom, 7.5", 8.5", and 9.5". I kept it at the highest, 9.5", for the first couple days because that is roughly 1/4" into the bottom of the net pot when fully seated on top of the bucket. I did this to keep them wetter for a day or two when I moved them into the pots with no humidity dome. That worked well. The second line down was for the two weeks after that, as the roots had to stretch a little bit down into the reservoir - that also was a good guess. The lowest line is currently my 'time to fill' level, but I wonder if I should make that the high level for the rest of vegging, which lowers my need for as much filtered water, as well as nutes, by a little, and gives the roots more air as the plant gets much get bigger.

 

[saint0192]

April 6th -
4/6/2020 - Maintenance day! Today is the 2-week reservoir change. I mix all three buckets the same way:
- Fill the bucket to the 3rd line down, 7.5" from the bottom, 2 gallons, 2.5 quarts (roughly measured) - starting filtered water measured roughly 90ppm, did not measure PH cuz it doesn't matter, will be adjusted anyway
- 5ml Armor Si - 2ml more than last time. Stir like crazy for a minute and then let it sit for 15 minutes. Reservior measured 125ppm after 15 minutes.
- 5ml CALiMAGic - 2ml more than last time. Stir like crazy for a minute and then let it sit for 15 minutes. Reservior measured 290ppm after 15 minutes.
- 15ml Flora Grow - stir well and wait 5 minutes. Reservoir measured 505ppm
- 15ml Flora Micro - stir well and wait 5 minutes. Reservoir measured 845ppm
- 5ml Flora Bloom - stir well and wait 5 minutes. Reservoir measured 890ppm
- Add between 1/4 and 1/2 liter of water to each until they were approximately 850-860ppm
- Add PH down to - ending PH ~5.65
Observations: The plants look great, the lower leaves and branches are starting to shade, the tent is maintaining 50-55% humidity and they seem to love that. Temp has remained 68-72, also good. All three plants have a mat of roots starting to spread through the whole bucket, gorgeous clean white roots. No root pics today, maybe next checkup. JH#1 is still significantly bigger than the other two. All three plants put on about 1/2 inch in height today and spread more. The difference in leaf style between the Jack Herers and the Critical is a little more obvious now, the Critical is darker and the ends of the leaves slightly more rounded. Expecting the slight burst tomorrow they usually show after reservoir maintenance. The mix is about 50ppm higher than I was keeping, just a lil bump...

 

[saint0192]

April 7th - As expected, the day after reservoir maintenance is spectacular. The plants stand up straighter and put on some size. The two smaller plants continue to catch up to the biggest plant, but that plant is doing it's best to remain the alpha. I thought the next leaves looked to be 11-bladed, but they are 9s and I think that will be the final count. The big fan leaves dwarf my hand now


JH#1 is about 8.5" tall, the other two are about 7.5" tall. I'm going to pinch the top on JH#1 in the next couple days to force horizontal growth and plenty of branches for cloning. At the current rate of growth for them all, I think I'll be doing the same with the other two within a few days.

Today's observations - When I grew before, I had significantly less light, which accounts for some of my surprise at the explosive growth I'm seeing right now, but I had excellent control of the temp and light height to keep the plants pretty compact even back then. Another part of the growth is the strain itself, Jack Herer is supposed to be big.

I also used to grow with GH nutes, as I am now, but I've added CaliMagic and Armor Si. I never used the CaliMagic before, but I've read mixed reviews on it's effectiveness for marijuana, and while I have dealt with magnesium and calcium deficiency, it was when I was still growing in soil. However, I add a small amount to each feeding and will continue to because it is obviously not hurting them.

The Armor Si, however has shown me a lot of promise. I started with the first real feeding, about 1 week after they were moved under the 600-watt LED at about 40" height, roughly 2 weeks ago. JH#1's stem today, at roughly 5 weeks from putting un-germinated seed into rockwool, is as thick as my thumb. Her main growing tip at the top of the plant is about 1/4 inch thick. She is starting to look thick and it is hard to tell how many blades the emerging leaves are going to have because if you look close you can see the next two smallest tips of leaf sets starting already. Always, like a starburst. Awesome. I'll add a pic of that when I see the right one. Even the other variety, CRIT#1, is already as thick as my ring finger, and the main growing tip is also about 1/4 inch thick. They are building up strong. I do have a small oscillating fan in there, but I've always done that, and these plants look almost mutant thick to me.

 

[Dee_Nugs]

so sick that you are using a pi! nice grow!

 

[saint0192]

so sick that you are using a pi! nice grow!

Thanks! It's been super fun to build!

My eventual plan is a central reservoir or three for various stages of veg and flowering so i can keep a PH sensor and TDS sensor hooked up for each to the pi for monitoring.

 

[Dee_Nugs]

Thanks! It's been super fun to build!

My eventual plan is a central reservoir or three for various stages of veg and flowering so i can keep a PH sensor and TDS sensor hooked up for each to the pi for monitoring.

Id love to incorporate some SBC’s into my next grow. Have you used microcontrollers as well, there are so many sensors that could be useful for growing.