Main tent is coming right along. I’m still figuring about the end of Feb or so, which will be about 12-13 weeks from sprout. I got out the microscope and snipped a bit from the plant furthest along. A lot of clear, some milky, and no amber. Got a bit to go yet.
The nute problems that arose a week and a half ago. I trimmed off all the damaged leaves so I could see if more damage ensued. A bit more has cropped up. So far really limited damage. I honestly don’t know if this is damage done from way back that just decided to manifest itself or whether this is a sign the original issue continues. I’m maintaining the mitigation plan with PH at 6.0 instead of 5.8 and epsom at 1.2 g/gal rather than 1.0. I’m on a wait and see plan at this point. Not too concerned as long as I don’t see it pop up everywhere.
Fertigated tonight and things were still dry after 4 oz. No runoff. Added a bit, and nothing. Ended up adding 12 oz for each. What the hell. It’s coco. Let it run.
Yeesh. Been nearly a week since the last update. How time flies. Time to bring everyone up to speed.
Main tent - All is well. A little light burn in the high middle. The few must suffer so the majority blah, blah, blah. The light’s as high as I can put it with the current hangers. I’ve backed the dimmer off a bit, as we’re nearing the last couple weeks (I think). This too shall pass.
In the clone tent the little ones are flourishing. They’ve really busted out. The one showing variegation is still kind of off color on the new growth. Waddyagonnado?
Here’s the problem… The plants are intended for cloning for a SOG. They have scads of shoots and nodes popping out, but the damn things are so compact there’s no way to get them in the cloner. Damn Bspec is doing what it should be doing - vegging compact plants. But I don’t want compact. I want kinda leggy ones for this.
Solution: I have an Rspec board I can swap out for the Bspec board currently mounted on the light. The redder light should make them a bit leggier.
Problem: I tried to disconnect the Bspec and found the quick release clips don’t flip back as I thought and they snapped off. Should have read the assembly instructions first. Now I can’t easily disconnect the wiring from the board to mount the Rspec.
Solution: I have a far red light from HLG to induce a shade avoidance leggier growth. Brilliant!
Problem: The light is bulb only no socket.
Solution: I’ll just go into the workshop and get a trouble light and hang that baby tonight!
Problem: After checking, I remembered I threw out all the screw-in trouble light fixtures for LEDs.
Solution: And here’s where we stop the reverse solution/problem dichotomy. I took a bedside lamp and strung that sucker up with ratchets and zip ties until I can get a clip light from Amazon. What a beautiful piece of tactical engineering (read: rig-job).
By the bye, nute schedule for the little ones is a bit odd. Full strength Jack’s from day one. Tribus and recharge weekly, but also getting fulvic weekly when the main tent gets fulvic (sue me, I’m lazy). I was also a bit inebriated several weeks ago and ended up ordering Optic Foliar’s Watts and Rev, which are supposed to allow the plant to use more light than it otherwise could. Sober, wouldn’t have done it, but let the first without sin cast the first stone. Now I’ve got it and I’m misting that mix every other day.
The plant response to the far red was virtually immediate. I don’t know if I’ve gotten actual vertical growth overnight, but all the leaves and suckers are standing up very noticeably. Everything is lifted now and reaching for the ceiling. That effect happened within hours of turning on the lamp.
For future reference, gold leaf height from dirt is 7" 02/11/22 08:30 am with 5 nodes.
Wow. Just Wow. Checked this morning and the plant that was 7" yesterday is 9" today. For the mathy types that’s a 29% height increase in slightly less than 24 hours. The coco is bone dry 12-ish hours from a good drenching. I guess something has to fuel that cell expansion. Gave them another drenching this morning and I’ll hit them again in an hour or two, just to make sure I’ve got all the dry pockets inside wetted down.
I turned off the far-red light. It did what I wanted, albeit a bit (lot!) faster than I thought. For my future and your current reference, the plant likely started at about 6”. I didn’t measure until 12-14 hours later, when it was 7”. 24 hours later it was 9”, in another 12 hours (now) it’s 10”.
I got the extension I want and need. Everything is much more open and longer. The downside is that the thinner suckers are longer and weaker than they would otherwise be. The secondary shoots off the bottom branches are particularly floppy. But they’re also 6-8” long. I’ll take it.
The Clone King is currently in a sanitization cycle that I’ll dump at bedtime. In the morning it’s snicky-snick. Goal is to pull 6-7 clones from each of the three, for an end goal of 15 potted plants.
Currently 3 days behind my excel schedule, but no worries at this juncture.
The big snicky-snick went down. Those 3 plants are looking like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. I’ve got them watered and draining in the shower as a just-in-case, but frankly I don’t know what I’d do with them if the clones flopped. There isn’t anything left but the top and some big fans. I got 6, 9, and 10 off the three.
Cloner recipe:
Washed and sanitized cloner 8 hours with 4 gal tap, a cup of bleach, and a mini-squirt of Dawn. Rinsed well and drain overnight.
4 gal RO
25 ml Clear-Rez
80 ml Clonex liquid
PH to 5.7
Add 25 ml Clear-Rez every 5 days
Light is a Bspec 135 set at 30 watts, 29” above the foam plugs. Timer for the light is 18/6, unless we get a really cold snap in the next week.
Cloner pump is on 24/7.
Humidifier set to 80%.
No fan for now (ran out of outlets).
Took a pic, but it’s exactly like yesterday’s. I am absolutely thrilled. Everyone looks fine and happy in the new spritz box. Had to really resist the urge to peek under the lid. The only outcomes would be “as expected” or “oops. Oh shit!” Nothing to be gained there.
So I had an emergency harvest go down this afternoon. Clusterfarg in a jar. Sober, so no excuses except no forethought.
One of my five plants was running about a week ahead of everyone else the entire grow. This is just by visual impression - no science involved. I’ve been monitoring that plant’s trich development with a 30x jewelers loupe. Turns out what I see in the loupe is different than what I saw with the wifi microscope I used today. Oops. What I thought was all clear was cloudy with amber. Time to cut!
I had planned to use the Wedryer in the closet because my harvest times would be splayed over the course of a week or two. No problem. Clip, trim, and do my thing. The plant is loaded in the Wedryer, hung, and ready to roll. Here’s problem…. It was only then that I checked the other four with the microscope. What a dummy. Why, oh why, didn’t I check before clipping the first plant into bitty bits.
So I chunked the remaining four plants - all ready - into hangable sections. Then, of course I hung them in the now largely idle tent. Good to go, with the exception of the humidity. I have one humidifier, which was planned for the Wedryer in the closet. Time to modify the plan. The Wedryer is now jammed in the tent with the hanging plants with the humidifier in attendance. It doesn’t really fit, but I got the door closed.
I may move the Wedryer and the humidifier back to the closet, but I’m just gassed right now. Maybe not. I’ll give it a day. I think I have a hell of a lot more control of temp and rh with the AC Infinity fan and Controller 67 than I can get in the closet.
Just in case you were wondering to yourself tonight “Gee, I wonder what’s grinding Woo’s gears?”…
It’s absolutely pissing outside. Jim (the dog) is repeatedly demanding to go out to bark at the neighbors. Because of the inclement weather the neighbors are not outside, nor is Jim willing to wait. Just wants to check again in 15 minutes. PITA dog!
Drying is happening in the tent in the bedroom. 60f/60%. That shit is cold and damp when you’re in your skivvies. Why doesn’t somebody make a warmer and dryer 60f/60%.
What kind of dumbass has to turn on the closet light to peek at clones in a lighted grow tent!? I know one. Who did it in his skivvies.
Why is February so long? I know what the “official” length of the month is, but I’m calling bullshit! It is easily twice as long as the advertised length. And why isn’t the Biden administration addressing this? Coverup? I blame Kamala.
The drying tent is still drying. 60-ish temp and constant 60% RH. Hangers weigh a lot less, so they’ve dropped considerable water weight, but the buds are still pretty moist. The AC Infinity controller is still doing all the humidity management. The humidifier in the tent kicks on at 55% and is still on the original gallon. I suspect that will be changing soon.
I’m thinking (hoping) next weekend might be busy with trimming and readying the tent for the next go-round. The clones should all be ready for potting shortly after.
