Medallica
Active Member
Intro
Hey,
With the legalization in Canada, I've recently started growing again and quickly realized I had forgotten most of what I knew 5 years ago.
With legalization I've been able to track down some proper stuff. I used to grow (believe it or not) with Miracle Grow nutes, Walmart energy savings LED house bulbs, pre-fed soil, the walls were covered in vapor barrier and I never once looked at my water Ph before feeding. So when I say I've forgotten most of what I used to know, its probably for the best!!
That all said I'm creating this thread as a multi-purpose post to get the input of more experienced growers, promptly ignore it and record my mistakes as I accidentally kill plants in the name of stubbornness! I'll be recording what I do, what I'm growing, my set up, ect. Its basically a Newbie's Grow Journal, with the invitation to criticize and judge me for comical entertainment.
The Setup
This time around I've made some serious improvements.
-I've got a 3x3 Mammoth classic tent
-A small but effective HLG 120W Quantum board
-Some Gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4
-Growing in Coco* (Mistakes were made)
-Ditched the hard plastic pots for fabric
-Ph levels are being checked, poorly with aquarium drops (6-7.6Ph range only)
-The plants are Chernobyl clones
* Some notes you may find amusing! When switching to Coco I went looking for Perlite. After a few stores not having any in stock, I saw Vermiculite and asked the employee what it was. Like a newb I blindly trusted him when he told me it was just a different brand, but the exact same thing. Well after mixing my coco with it, transplanting my plants into it, watching it for a week and wondering why it wasn't draining as advertised; I finally decided to fact check what I was told and burst out laughing at my mistake. Root damage occurred during transplant and though they've recovered, I am nervous at just the though of transplanting again to fix this issue. So for better or worse (definitely for the worse) I'm seeing this through to the end. Maybe a more experienced grower has some input on this specific situation, maybe I'm just being paranoid and coco is so good it'll save me from myself, I just don't know and that's okay! for now!
I have been checking the Ph, but the plants started their life in soil, transitioned to coco and its all just so confusing to me to be honest. From the bronzing on their leaves, I'd say its equally as confusing to them but at least we're in this together!
Progress
I've learned a lot in this grow and will be transfering a lot of my new wisdom onto my next grow, but there's still more to learn, these plants haven't died yet and they still produce the occasional female pre-flower. I've trained the plants all wrong, and yet I feel like they're special and unique. I'm evening out the canopy as best I can, but made a huge mistake early on. I pinched the top of the clones to get more tops, then impatiently began LST right away. The result is a sideways plant with most its tops on one side, that I've been trying to train branches out to counterweight it when/if buds come. So unintentionally I've created branches that intertwine and support each other down low, I'm excited to see if this is a natural way of supporting buds, or if I'm just having too much fun and losing sight of the sweet end goals.
When I first picked up the Gaia green, I was following the Directions on the packaging (1tsp/gallon of media). The plants took a turn for the worse and after some lurking I've discovered most Cannabis Growers use 2 Tablespoons per gallon of media. Well with 5 gallons of coco/vermiculite in each pot, that's TEN TABLESPOONS and not the 5 teaspoons I've been using. Awesome! Problem fixed, right? Oops I forgot to mention that I had just watered the day before, so watering again was risky (especially with the vermiculite mistake) but not doing anything wasn't looking good either. So I measured out my nutes, Phed my water and went to work. That was yesterday, so I can't say which direction I just sent them in yet. The leaves aren't looking anymore droopy than before and I honestly don't know if the droop was from too much root moisture or nutrient deficiencies, so only time will reveal if I made the right call or have once again assaulted my plants.
I'll keep this updated mainly for my own reference later, but also for anyone who enjoys the read, finds a small bit of comedy here, ect.
Advice is welcome but I refuse to believe you're a guru until I've smoked your bud.
Thanks for coming along for this disaster with me,
Medallica
Hey,
With the legalization in Canada, I've recently started growing again and quickly realized I had forgotten most of what I knew 5 years ago.
With legalization I've been able to track down some proper stuff. I used to grow (believe it or not) with Miracle Grow nutes, Walmart energy savings LED house bulbs, pre-fed soil, the walls were covered in vapor barrier and I never once looked at my water Ph before feeding. So when I say I've forgotten most of what I used to know, its probably for the best!!
That all said I'm creating this thread as a multi-purpose post to get the input of more experienced growers, promptly ignore it and record my mistakes as I accidentally kill plants in the name of stubbornness! I'll be recording what I do, what I'm growing, my set up, ect. Its basically a Newbie's Grow Journal, with the invitation to criticize and judge me for comical entertainment.
The Setup
This time around I've made some serious improvements.
-I've got a 3x3 Mammoth classic tent
-A small but effective HLG 120W Quantum board
-Some Gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4
-Growing in Coco* (Mistakes were made)
-Ditched the hard plastic pots for fabric
-Ph levels are being checked, poorly with aquarium drops (6-7.6Ph range only)
-The plants are Chernobyl clones
* Some notes you may find amusing! When switching to Coco I went looking for Perlite. After a few stores not having any in stock, I saw Vermiculite and asked the employee what it was. Like a newb I blindly trusted him when he told me it was just a different brand, but the exact same thing. Well after mixing my coco with it, transplanting my plants into it, watching it for a week and wondering why it wasn't draining as advertised; I finally decided to fact check what I was told and burst out laughing at my mistake. Root damage occurred during transplant and though they've recovered, I am nervous at just the though of transplanting again to fix this issue. So for better or worse (definitely for the worse) I'm seeing this through to the end. Maybe a more experienced grower has some input on this specific situation, maybe I'm just being paranoid and coco is so good it'll save me from myself, I just don't know and that's okay! for now!
I have been checking the Ph, but the plants started their life in soil, transitioned to coco and its all just so confusing to me to be honest. From the bronzing on their leaves, I'd say its equally as confusing to them but at least we're in this together!
Progress
I've learned a lot in this grow and will be transfering a lot of my new wisdom onto my next grow, but there's still more to learn, these plants haven't died yet and they still produce the occasional female pre-flower. I've trained the plants all wrong, and yet I feel like they're special and unique. I'm evening out the canopy as best I can, but made a huge mistake early on. I pinched the top of the clones to get more tops, then impatiently began LST right away. The result is a sideways plant with most its tops on one side, that I've been trying to train branches out to counterweight it when/if buds come. So unintentionally I've created branches that intertwine and support each other down low, I'm excited to see if this is a natural way of supporting buds, or if I'm just having too much fun and losing sight of the sweet end goals.
When I first picked up the Gaia green, I was following the Directions on the packaging (1tsp/gallon of media). The plants took a turn for the worse and after some lurking I've discovered most Cannabis Growers use 2 Tablespoons per gallon of media. Well with 5 gallons of coco/vermiculite in each pot, that's TEN TABLESPOONS and not the 5 teaspoons I've been using. Awesome! Problem fixed, right? Oops I forgot to mention that I had just watered the day before, so watering again was risky (especially with the vermiculite mistake) but not doing anything wasn't looking good either. So I measured out my nutes, Phed my water and went to work. That was yesterday, so I can't say which direction I just sent them in yet. The leaves aren't looking anymore droopy than before and I honestly don't know if the droop was from too much root moisture or nutrient deficiencies, so only time will reveal if I made the right call or have once again assaulted my plants.
I'll keep this updated mainly for my own reference later, but also for anyone who enjoys the read, finds a small bit of comedy here, ect.
Advice is welcome but I refuse to believe you're a guru until I've smoked your bud.
Thanks for coming along for this disaster with me,
Medallica