HYDRO First legal Grow - Humboldt's feminized Blue Dream

[HappyDaze]

I've never done an online journal before, but I've got time on my hands, so we'll see how this goes.

Note the crispy edges on the bottom leaves. I think starving seedlings a bit promotes good root setting, but I let her get a little too hungry and the pH jumped up.

The seed sat in a drawer for more than a year, but Humboldt has great packaging and it popped in two days. This is in comparison to some TGA gear, bought at the same time that went bad in the little baggie and didn't germinate.

All feedback is welcome.

[SirSmksAlot]

Roots are looking good!

[Toker1]

Next time try the low humidity drawer in the refrigerator. I keep all of my seeds there, vacuumed sealed with a few grains of dry rice at the bottom of each bag.
I have seeds in there from 5 years ago that pop just as fast as the ones I bought last week.

[Obi-Wan]

I’ve held seeds in cheap zip lock bags for over a year and they popped while the better packed seeds that I paid a premium for never popped. Packaging is a gimmick and genetics are king. I would think TGA has better genetics but even the best of them have bad runs. No need to spread bad vibes on a breeder based on 1 pack of seeds.

[Toker1]

Kindly disagree about the gimmick. Any packaging that is hard enough to keep my $eed$ from getting crushed in my collection (I call it my personal seed piggy bank), is worth it too me. Graphics on the packaging...now I’ll totally agree with you there.

[HappyDaze]

Hi Obi, I've read a lot of your posts and have much respect for you. I hope that GWE is a place where I can communicate my experience with honesty, and not worry about hurting some breeder's rep and ego....if it was one pack, I'd agree with you, but I had a 70% germination rate with the Jazz Queen; that was only a couple of weeks after receiving the seeds, and the Jazz pack was zero for ten, albeit, those seeds were old and poorly cared for.

Having said that, you "think" TGA would have better genetics? Or you know from experience?

I'll stand with what I've said, and Karma can sort me out if I'm wrong. If others like Sub Cool's stuff, it's their money, TGA is off my personal list.

[HappyDaze]

[Canuck147]

Looks great! Have fun.

[HappyDaze]

[HappyDaze]

I've been running the light on 100% blue / 50% red to keep it short, but this is too short. Showing some nasty spots...Ca or phos deficient, but not the end of the world. Weekly nute change today should rectify the condition,. There's a little more Bloom and Micro in this mix....we'll see next week.

[Canuck147]

Do you have your light at the distance the manufacturer suggests at this stage? If it is maybe pull it up a bit and make your plants stretch up some. Just a suggestion. Great start!

[HappyDaze]

I'm at the minimum distance recommended by California Lightworks (16 inches), but the plant isn't showing any light stress. Would you expect to see stunting with the intensity too high, and not see any associated bleaching? I'm still getting to know how the spectrum variation and light location impacts the plants.

I've adjusted the controller to 100% blue / 100% red and I'll run it like that for a few days to see if that gives me some longer internodes
I think the Ca deficiency might be stunting her too. Last grow I ran the pH closer to 6.2, this time I let it drift down below 5.8.

Right now it's so tight it's impossible to train and difficult to trim.

[Canuck147]

I didn't say or see light stress - move your light up one inch - by doing that you might encourage her to stretch up so you can see what's happening underneath.

[HappyDaze]

[Scarletwhitewidow]

few years a go humboltd sent me 5 seeds of trainwrecker

[Canuck147]

They are the originators of 'Sour Diesel' - and don't forget mall the great kushes they have.

[Toker1]

I got headband from reserve prima (a dna genetics brand) rocking in veg right now.
I ordered Hazman hippie head band (headband x purple Urkle). Looking forward to that next grow.

[HappyDaze]

I'd like to try a diesel strain, they're pretty stinky from what I gather... I'm pretty sure I'd end up living in my truck if I did. Girlfriend smokes, but having the smell of a dead skunk in the basement for three months probably wouldn't work.

Toker1 What's the odor level on the headband you're raising? Most of my plants have been low odor berry and widow hybrids. The green crack is a skunk cross and it was pungent but tolerable in the house.

[HappyDaze]

So, I did my first defoliation and training today and discovered some stem rot at the base of my plant. I know where things went wrong, so I thought I'd share some thoughts on grow room hygiene, air circulation, and pruning, all of which would might have prevented of mitigated the problem.

Take a look at the second pic...health branch on the left side, slimy little stub on right that fell off while I was defoliating....$#CK!!!!! I'm sorry I didn't start taking pics before I started trying to fix this, but imagine a slimy RW cube with the top edge right at the base of that bottom branch.

Hygiene:

I started a few trays of bedding plants in my tent earlier this spring and the soil had a little bit of green algae on it. Of course the spores were floating around in the tent and when I started my weed seeds, they took root on the top of the rockwool and that was what started the stem rot. If I hadn't introduced the contamination into my grow area in the first place, and if I'd wiped down to inside of the tent with some bleach and water, before starting my seeds, I'm pretty sure the problem could have been prevented completely.

Air circulation:

Before I transferred the starter cube into the net pot and then into the aero bucket, I trimmed the cube, cleaned off the algae, set the cube low in the basket and covered it with hydroton. My thinking was that if the cube was buried and there wasn't any light on the algae, all would be well. I should have probably done the opposite and left the top of the cube exposed to the air, let it dry out and not had the first nodes down below the top rim of the basket, where the nasty shit was apparently still active. Also, I've got my fan hanging right where it was after my last flower cycle, about a foot and a half from where it should have been for a five node seedling.

Pruning:

This pheno is a stubby little thing, and I knew it was going to be a pain in the ass to prune, so I left it for a week longer than I should have. If I'd started stripping back the excessive fan leaves, I would have seen the problem and dealt with it sooner.

Dealing with it:

Thankfully, it doesn't look too bad and I think I've got it sorted out. I pulled all the hydroton out and washed it in a 10% bleach/water solution and then put it in the microwave to steam clean for 10 minutes, so it's sterile (this is SOP for me starting each grow). My root ball is still healthy and white, but I gave it the bottom of the plant / top of the roots a H2O2 bath, which I hope sterilized the problem area before I replaced the hydroton. Defoliation and training was done to about 70%. I left a few branches and leaves that I probably would remove under normal circumstances, but I want to get some clones off this girl in the next ten days in case the stem rot turns out to be fatal.

If she keeps going well, training isn't going to be as straightforward as I'd hoped as the plant has a pretty distinct asymmetry, not just from the missing bottom branch, but all the way up the plant. Normally a seed grown plant puts out the main branches from the central stem pretty much on opposite sides of the stem and in line. This girl has her opposing branches offset vertically, just like you'd see from a clone branch...weird, but I'll see what I can do with it.

BTW...I tossed all my RW last time I organized my grow room... time to try some rapid rooters.

Comments and feedback, welcome as always.

[HappyDaze]

Photo a week after that defoliation and training June 15th

[HappyDaze]

Photo June 18th

I made a lot of changes all at once....against recommended practice. I transfer to 60 liter tub, mixed G.H. Maxi Series nutes that were new, and moved the plant to the HPS room all on the same day.

[HappyDaze]

June 23rd defoliation

[HappyDaze]

Today...17 days after 12/12 flip.

Not a very full screen...between the branch lost from the stem rot, and another I broke during training, it's looking like a small yield. If it looks a little droopy, it's because it's before coffee....just woke up.

[HappyDaze]

Mid flower defoliation pictures July 26, end of third week of flower