SoGnotSOG A journal

I apologize and thanks for steering me straight. Let me copy that and post it over here please

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My Watering.

I used distilled water for germination soak. I checked PH later and discovered it was 7.55. Is this important? I’d like to know if anyone has even anecdotal evidence versus observational recorded data…cannabis nerds :smile:

First two weeks, distilled water. I used a 200CC full syringe in a ring around the plants. Farther out than it was tall to keep the roots reaching outwards. No nutrients yet, but I did water a bit extra after in saw that the fans were drying it out quick.

My watering tubes weren’t of much use yet but I did use a bamboo skewer to check moisture levels deeper in the final grow bags. Like you’d check a baking cake with a toothpick. If it came out bone dry then I would add 100ML down the tubes each watering until I got some moisture back.

Week 3 onward I used the standard measurement of MG mixed with a gallon of tap water allowed to declorinate for a couple days. No filtration or reverse osmosis, I did manage some rain water but had no PH tester at the time.

Week 5, I have pistols at the end of the week and my veg is lost…I thought. :expressionless: "I must switch to 12/12 and it is what it is right? I get some Tiger Bloom and order a PH tester. I’m using 150ml of nutrients MG and TB in each tube every other watering, so TB in this tube in the morning and the next morning its MG in that tube and TB in the opposite. I’m top watering with 150ml every other day and straight water150ml each tube every third day, pushing the nutrients in front so I dont build up so many nutrients.

Week 8, I’m still using the same schedule
above from week 5. I’m pushing TB more and less MG. I’m losing more leaves lower down as the canopy fills up, more LST and pruning this week. All my little branches are clipped and I’ve thinned out some higher sugar leaves.
Week 9, I’m off the nutrients as of Friday night. I have been using 6.4 PH water since week 7 and the plants really have taken off. That extra PH wasn’t helping in veg as much as I think it was, but it was definitely not helping flowering at all. I got it solved and I plan to bring the PH a little lower 6.2 for mornings and use 6.4 maybe higher in the evenings…it’ll probably be a disaster.
I plan a week 11-12 harvest so I’m two and half weeks away. I’ve never flushed soil grown but I’m not wanting harsh smoke or extras in my oils and edibles.
I dont have any special compost teas, sounds interesting. I have enough TB and MG for ten grows and didn’t spend 40 dollars altogether. Next is :thinking: LST and…

My soil mix:

  1. 2 parts, peat moss. I dont think you can screw this up. Is there a difference when the supply generally comes from the same place? Different bags “organic” :roll_eyes: smh
  2. 2 parts, compost. A mushroom or cow manure. Do not use cheap “organic compost” or pay extra for super organic enhanced BS. They literally sell you municipality compost, the cheapest crap full of rotting mulch and mildew infested limbs and pack it in a spiffy new bag…I’m exaggerating probably, there are some that have people who aren’t into selling garbage not fit for highway medians to make a buck.
  3. 1 part, A well known brand name “gardening soil” initials MG. This blend has added long release fertilizer 90 days included in it.

That’s it. There’s no other fillers. You dont need them taking up space in your soil. They provide no nutrition or minerals above trace amounts. The peat allows for a loose airy soil that will hold enough moisture without drenching it when “the top few inches are dry”

I’ve never tested this mix with a modern PH meter but I plan to get that and adjust the mix if need be.

You can enhance it, and risk burning your seedlings and stunting them or just outright kill them before you plant it and don’t listen. By adding nutrients later on above what’s already available will have you balanced with just a bit to much or just to little not a yellow leaf catastrophe.

The soil prep is a pain, especially with “organic compost” Just stick with the mushroom or cow manure compost and even then I still sift it and bust up anything bigger than pea sized clumps. Remove everything you cant bust up with your fingers. It’s easier to pick out the bigger stuff by hand and much easier if you mix in some of the peat moss to keep it from clumping up.
I keep most of the peat out till last because of the dust JFC dont stand right over your mixing container pouring it in :smile:

Now you have hours of kneading and sifting and tumbling it all around keeping those clumps small as possible and then sifting into your final pot.
It’s ready and blended when you can grip a handful tight, let loose and it holds its shape but falls apart without clumps when you touch it.
Now sift it into your bag or pot until its filled, give it a couple shakes to settle it down, dont tamp it hard. Make sure the pot is warm when you plant your sprouted seed, above 65F I like 70ish minimum.

Lastly, dont move your bags. Fill it where it’s going to sit still. If you go lifting it your going to compress it and probably break the rootball apart. There’s root strands running through it that can be crushed by denser areas. Bags moving lifting shifting BAD m’kay? Use grow bags and put a trash bag under it like a catch pan if you dont use those. I like the idea that the bags allow more oxygen and other gases in and out. You only lack good spots for LST tie offs thats easily solved. Next. Watering and…:thinking:

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Just start here, love it. A journal. By “Some old Guy” I obtained some White Widow autoflower feminized seeds. I was not expecting 100% germination and was not prepared to double my setup. I only expected four of seven to even crack in the 24 hour distilled water soak. Before 20 hours had passed all of them were cracked and one was showing a nub of white sticking out. Into the paper towel for 18 hours and then check at 12 hours and HFS! I got tap roots and split shells and plastic garden type seedling cups full of my 2x2x1 soil mix and warm 80’ at max 70’ at the low in a 60 quart plastic storage container. I Macgyvered it with a USB ventilation fan and my “super duper” 2000w (equivalent) full spectrum LED with two fans :open_mouth: fit and secured to the lid. Started light on 18/6 schedule Never checked soil mix ph but I am interested in tracking it now. Water for the first two weeks was store bought distilled with a PH of 7.55 200CC syringe in a ring around the plant twice a day. The fans are sucking the moisture out quick, adjust watering up by half. Let’s see a pic.

couple days old here.

two weeks and I’m anxious because I was today years old, then, when I learned you should never transplant autos EVER. I discovered tap roots spiraling around the bottom of the soil plug :roll_eyes: I used MG fast root, dusting the soil inside and on the plants soil ball. I cut the bottoms off the plastic pots and peeled it off and then stuck it down in the final grow bag hoping it wouldn’t stunt them too bad. Lesson learned and even though its looks wonky AF they never had a problem except I know the tap root isn’t anywhere as deep as it should be, or wouldn’t be, but for my solution to “soil top lock”. Soil growers, top watering builds a rootball like a pyramid upside down. The roots compact that soil immediately surrounding them stem, growing wider around it every minute. The farther out you water the better, or use a new tool and procedure. This.

Its 12 inches long, 1/2" diameter cpvc pipe. I’ve drilled 1/16" diameter holes a few inches up from the end. I place these deep in the growing soil on either side of the plant angled the bottom towards the center of the plant but definitely not directly under it. This forces root growth downward instead of spreading from the bottom of the stem outwards and down, it spreads out down deep and the top remains looser and allows more air into it. I’ve used this on outdoor grows and always get big root systems. I just use a larger diameter pipe, and if it wont drain lift it out and clear the compressed dirt out of it and stick it back in the same hole. After two weeks I added some 2 foot LED florescent type bulbs 4 total I bought at Wally World. I stayed with 18/6 another week, started ferts with standard MG gallon mix 200Cc a day. 4th week I went to 20/4 lights added two elcheapo 20 dollar red “blurples” and a 35w 5k spot/flood white light. I move the lights around, they swing all the way around and my spotlight is on a clamp. I’ve already been LST as soon as the 4th node opened and layed them right over. It’s scary because if you dont start soon you’ll SNAP limbs later and add more stress which kicks off flowering earlier. So now you have problems with veg and flower nutrition and PH all at the same time. If you’re getting the right amount of light, powerful ok, you shouldn’t run extra hours unless you can afford it. There’s a saying about race cars, it’s not a matter of how fast will the car go, but how much you are willing to spend to make it go faster. I will say, listen to these people about the power of the LED lights you’re using. The less power the longer you run accordingly. Anyways 5th week and I’m seeing pistols for real, not the ghost tips from new node growth :smile: I seen a lot of questions and pics about “hairs” and how soon to harvest a couple weeks? :smile: But this pistol problem is a set back because my veg starts dropping off and I’m getting into week 6.

:roll_eyes: I decide I’m not changing anything except to plan for getting some flowering lights for down the road. I start using Tiger Bloom at full dosage supplementing the MG every other day, once I see it doing ok I combine the two, feeding one side with MG and skip a day switch that side to TB. I haven’t been checking ph so I buy a Vivosun pen type instant checker because if the PH is to high during flowering the plant wont absorb the lower ph nutrients. This PH thing has been a B for me for decades without the testing pen losing yield and not being able to diagnose the problem. Into week 7 and 8 and its looking good. I’ve had leaf loss low down, I am confident its low light and some yellowing with extra tiger bloom I cut back half to .75ml a each time and I’m top watering and ferts flipping from the pipes every other day. Plants take about 300ml of 6.4 ph water each morning and again in the evening. Week 8 and I’m still losing leaves low down and inside the canopy, no spots or burns or the M word :worried: just these fungus gnats which I’ve treated the soil with DE and have sticky fly strips up (holy Fn cow there’s so many on the traps!) All this past week I’ve pruned most of the runt limbs and some bigger plate leaves to open the canopy. Week 9 my new Mars Hydro lights arrive and I hook them up. The pair is the 600w equivalent model that draws 100w. I have the lights down to 14/10. I cut off nutrients no MG and no TB. I’m not positive that is a smart move but I’m going to harvest in two weeks at week 11 but maybe 12. I know some details are missing or I didn’t include them. And I’ll answer or fill in any blanks as best I can. I took no special precautions for relative humidity or temperatures except to close my basement windows when overnight temps dipped into the low 50s last week and turn on my AC when the humidity jumped above 60%. I run a couple 8 inch fans continuously from different angles and it’s doing a good job keeping my moisture levels in check. I dont even have a digital temp or humidity gauge or a soil ph checker.

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Ok I pasted that in the wrong order, if you want please delete the other comments on that persons post, omg I am so embarrassed and no worries at all, I screwed up thanks for helping quickly.

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who said never transplant autos? i dont think there is a such thing as never do something unless its dont set your plants on fire. that i will never do, yet

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We are all familiar with disassociated ramblings, lots of pot users on this forum.

I didn’t read all of the above that closely, but it sounds like at week 8 you were planing to flower just a couple weeks more. If Your plants didn’t start flowering until week 5 I can guarantee you have at least five more weeks of flowering before you’ll be ready for harvest.

When the seed growers say 8 weeks they mean 8 weeks of flower and that should be considered a minimum, not 8 weeks above ground.

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I’ve been thoroughly brought up to speed on that, the pic was at 5 weeks, I’m in week 9 right now. When that thing popped pistols I was stunned at 5 weeks! I had very little veg there and my first auto grow inside with a new system, from outside grow experience I wasn’t looking at a big yield so I upped hours of light 18/6 to 20/4 .I haven’t gotten into that part yet so I’ll leave that for now…EVER :wink::smile:

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So you like 13 weeks instead of 12? I’m about two and half weeks from 12, another week is easy if the conditions of the plant is right. I’ve still got fresh white pistols outnumbering red by 3 to 1 on average with the top white trics nothing clear or amber except matured pistols and they’re reddish brown on the most mature tops.

I’ve got a stress, that’s kicked up flowering and tric production. I’ve only used it outside on regular baggy seeds that went to flower but seemed a little short around the end of August.

I pick out the smallest lower branch cola, above the first leaf I start bending it back n forth on the top side till it bends in half.

Give it a day to see if the branch wilts or the rest of the plant seems ok. I like to see some wilt after a day, but it should bounce back the next day.

If it does set up to bend each branch the same way spread out over the couple weeks, even the main cola. Yes. :wink::smile:

This takes experience because you dont want a snap or a crack. You might have to work the bigger ones over time or not at all.
No change shows for a few to several days while the rest of your plant is flowering along, then I guess it releases some kinda chemicals (or maybe…:thinking: demons or angels…certainly witchcraft should not be excluded :smile: ) and switches on a healing chemical which also ramps up thc production.

All veg and growth of new trics on the bent branches slow way down and stop. THC production increases in the rest of the plant…a lot.

I see a drawback, if you were thinking of using a progressive harvest before doing this, you can try leaving the least mature to carry on and start with the ones you want to harvest first.

The main cola. You have to stress something else first, so the chemicals or hormones get released and it’s ready to help the main stay alive after you bend it. :astonished:

Yeah I know its Forking crazy. Get one or two bent a few days before. Plan your bend so it stays towards your light and doesn’t cover much of the canopy below.

I’m not just going to say it works 100% all the time. You got at least 50/50 if the first branch isn’t completely snapped and crushed and it wilts and dies off immediately. O well it was a small one anyways.

This isn’t a blow up flowering gain 30% type thing, but it’s very noticeable after your harvest cures and experience that first pull.

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I should like to explain my tag. SoGnotSOG I’m just Some old Guy not Sea Of Green…in your head in can be Screen Of Green…but no way am I SoGnotSCROG…that’s silly sounding.

I’m also reminded of the color green because I lived in Panama City City Florida (yes city city :smile: not the beach) and the gulf is a clear emerald green most of the time, except when category 5 hurricanes hit 20 miles from you down the coast like in October 10 2018. HFS the wind meter was rated to 200 mph at the airport tower and it was destroyed, just the main column of poured concrete remained. The last reading was 178mph and I lived about 2 miles from there downwind.

I will read this tomorrow. But just skimming thru it, “the m word” caught my eye lol.
Ive been thru hurricanes as well.

These are my mains. I did not pinch or fim? :thinking: any of them. Cramming did not work at all, and if I had topped them my quality would been even lower. My 7th was a stunted runt tied up in the corner because she’s bad, very bad :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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I’ve gotten tip yellow since about week 2. I mention my soil mix being rich enough to last at least 3 months without any major nutrient changes. The MG does get out of control quickly with nitrogen toxicity, the deep deep green leaf with burns on the tips and edges, the farther the edges burn the less feeding you need to do. Just straight water and only as much as you need. This is not a “flushing” grow. I dont have the tools…yet. I water everyday, 300ml through the pipes twice a day now in week 9 heading to 10. I had to top water this morning, the AC and fans have my soil parched and I soaked it with an extra 300ml.

Had some bottom trims drying out and it was ready so I vaped some and man it’s so sweet. I got sand in my eyes. :expressionless: I’m debating on taking all the blip buds down low and just leaving the tops to finish off the last couple weeks. I’ve seen plenty of posts where this is the normal thing, but I have a ton of pistols going on down there and my yields already low. With a progressive harvest I might increase it by 25%. We’ll see, I’ve got a nice lower branch in some uncooked rice that I cut this morning. Trics were all cloudy and just a few clears.

Why the uncooked rice? To speed up drying?

Exactly. I lay it in the bottom of a container with a lid and cover it with a paper towel then cover it with an inch of rice at least and then let it set on top of my coffee maker for some heat. I used to have desicant :thinking: packs big ones but I lost my whole op in a hurricane, October 2018.

I am asking, why would my ph’d water change over night? From 6.43 to 6.88. I even broke out the calibration fluids and it’s dead on the numbers. :thinking: I found a bug carcass in the jug. Looked like part of an earwig with the pincher looking tail. Have I found a new way to screw up? Idk.

I lowered it to 6.21 and top watered 300ml and 150ml tiger bloom. I know it’s a big drop, but I wonder if I’m going the wrong way in flower week 10. @Dagao22 your tagged I think.

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Who can help him out @pptrsha1 @Cannabian @CoyoteCody @Covertgrower @dbrn32

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Ph’ed water will typically move up or down after it sits. The speed at which it moves depends on the hardness of the water. If it’s very hard well water with a lot of dissolved minerals the ph will remain stable longer, than water with out minerals.

Distilled water does not have a ph, although when you check, it will register a number. There are no minerals in distilled water, and it will take on whatever ph the medium is.

I hope answered this detailed enough.

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are you phing the water after you put nutes in it? @Covertgrower answered why it changes but the order of nutes and ph are important too

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