Grow Dots and Recharge for the Real Growers Challenge 2022

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 31 - Stats & Notes

Things are still cruising along. Each plant is creating biomass at a normal rate now.

I turned the reservoir back on after the Recharge treatment.

Even though the chart below shows "High / Ok" for VPD, I am not worried. Most of the time, the 1.2 VPD is right next to the green "Perfect" category. See second graphic.




Note: The nomenclatures used below are my interpretation of the color differences.

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 31 Photos

Notables:

Day 31 Super Skunk is now 9-1/8" (23.18 cm) ... on Day 29 it was 7.0" (17.78 cm) or about 23.3% increase

Day 26 Double Grape is now 6-7/16" (16.35 cm) ... on Day 5-5/8" (14.29 cm) or about 12.6% increase

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

 

[TheTerpinator]

I saw you on here and had to quick scroll up to see what site I was on

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

I'm running this grow on this site and THCFarmer. I also have it on GrowDiaries.com, but you can't have as much fun on that site. I use GD more like a documentary.

Here and the other ... it's full-on Hollywood.

I saw you on here and had to quick scroll up to see what site I was on

 

[TheTerpinator]

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 33 (SS) & Day 28 (DG) - Photos & Stats

Another morning of opening the tent and being amazed at the overnight growth and filling out of new leaves.

Pulled a couple leaves off the Super Skunk because they we new, but just laying on the Mosquito Bits cover (the ground).

Another notable - the stems. They seemed to have doubled in thickness this week. Calcium & mono-silicic acid?

Nothing fancy today. Just good old iPhone pics.

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

To keep you from scrolling back ... here is a 5-day comparison.​

 

[TheTerpinator]

Happy little beauty you got there. Gonna be a lady, I just know it!

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

You raise a good point. You can count on a Mephisto's Autos to end up feminized, but I am not so sure about Seedstockers Autos.

Fingers crossed.

Happy little beauty you got there. Gonna be a lady, I just know it!

 

[TheTerpinator]

Yes, sir!

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Cool Addition to the Technology

I noticed since tracking the reservoir temperatures that my cheesy "agitator" was adding temps to the rez water. So, I looked into one of those smart plugs. Amazon had a deal for 4 single units for just about $16. At $4 a unit I thought it was worth it. I see by my attachment, I must have caught a deal of the day or something. Now they are $24.

This is the model I bought:





These are settings I put into the app, with the goal of running for 5 minutes every 4 hours. Just enough to move anything settling to the bottom.




The highlighted item is my "Stop" command. Thankfully, you only have to program one of those. As you can see that is the command to stop after 5 minutes. It applies to all the other commands.

As I have mentioned, I have a 12-gallon reservoir, which is the standard size for AutoPots. Plus, I keep bubbles on constant flow. See Below

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 34 - Notes

5:2 Ratio (Humic/Fulvic) + Kelp (Seaweed) ​

Today, the plants got a treatment of Humic/Fulvic + Kelp (Seaweed) in a 5:2 ratio.



I first learned about this combo from Harley Smith, where he cites a Virginia Tech study that breaks down the science of this ratio, which goes something like: the plant gets 50% more out of both ingredients than if they were given equally or separately. The Wallace stuff (pictured above) is pretty cheap and it is divided up properly already.

Horses Mouth (1 min):

To administer, I drained out the AquaValve chamber, as I did with Recharge. Then did a drench. Once the I noticed the level that made it's way to the valve chamber, I added back in the water mixture I removed to a level that the AquaValve normally keeps the water for proper bottom wicking.

I find I have redundancy or overlap on a lot of my Bio-Stimulants. One repeat is fulvic acid. My Reservoir always has the recommended dose/gal of Mr. Fulvic. Plus, there is Fulvic Acid in Recharge. I also have just plain Fulvic Acid Powder I use from time to time.



Monosilicic Acid (MSA): This is another item I keep in the Reservoir at all times. I think I am supposed to stop MSA towards the end becuase it MAY make the buds too tight, smoke harsh, etc. I run it to the end and my buds, smoke and ash are just fine. Remember, a 1-year grower said that so judge accordingly.


Grow Dots: something to note, my reservoir water measures, on avg., around 0.370 EC. That's less than 200 ppm on the 500 scale. When, I checked the water from the valve compartment it was above 2.0 EC. I watered it down to about 1.4 and pH'd to 6.24. This increased "runoff" tells me the Grow Dots are definitely releasing nutrients.

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Note: for some reason I labeled these Single Skunk.
Should be Super Skunk.


Day 36 & 31 Notes & Photos

You Do Bring Me Flowers​

Today's highlights:

Both plants have exposed pistils. It's on!

Day 34 & 29 Notes (from late last night):​

•. I wasn't comfortable feeding back the runoff water into the AquaValve compartment.

•. E.C. became too high.

•. I diluted one-gallon of Run Off water to 0.836 E.C.

• Added 3 more gallons of RO water with the following additions:

(a) SLF-100 Enzymes
(b) Mono-silicic Acid
(c) Mr. Fulvic

• New E.C. -- 0.336 (more inline to what was in Rez)

• pH'd to 6.00

• 4 gallons total to Rez

• New Depth: 17.25 inches


Day 35 & 30 Notes:

Nothing of significance.

Day 35 & 30 Photos:​

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Week 5 Stats and Averages:​

Overall, I am pretty happy with the VPD. I'll be switching to Flowering numbers soon, so we should see more "Perfects" in the VPD Status column.

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 36 -- Notes:​

Today Marks Day 1 of Week 6

Used the occasion to recalibrate my Apera Pen (PC60)





Reservoir Readings:

This Morning: 6.19 pH -- 0.300 EC
This Evening: 6.18 pH -- 0.338 EC
Post Calibrate: 6.16 pH -- 0.318 EC

Started tracking my AquaValve Compartment:

5.56 ph. -- 1.374 EC -- 69.4ºF

Day 36 & 31: Photos​

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 38 (SS) & 33 (DG)
Week 6 ​

Notable:

• Raised DLI to 40
• Gave the first Dose of CA/Mg - as a preventative.
• Certain Fan Leaves were showing possible signs (bigger/older were removed).
• Light orange/yellowish dots (just a few leaves).

Another 5 Days Later Photo (10 Days Total).

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

Day 40 (SS) & Day 35 (DG)
​

Notable:

(1) Day 40 - Super Skunk is Topped

(2) Day 35 - Double Grape is sort of Topped. Closer to FIM (unintentional)

(3) Drained AquaValve Chamber after CA/MG treatment.

• Measured 4.39 pH & 2.19 EC
• Corrected to: 6.00 pH & new EC of 2.285
• Turned Reservoir Back On - let valves stabilize.

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

More Day 40 & 35 Photos
Potential Bud Sites

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These ladies are not happy with me.
They just started learning about "tucking."
The rest are just showing you potential buds sites from the angle I was shooting.
It's not a comprehensive photo shoot. There were flower locations not seen.

​