JohnEmad grows HSO's FF Green Crack & OGKZ

[JohnEmad]

Hey Fellow growers. Here is the start of my grow adventure for these 2 new cultivars as promised. Seeds are in the wet paper towels in a plastic container in a warm dark place as per usual. This method has rarely failed me with close to 95% success rate.
Growing in 4x4x80 Inch tent with 2 - Marshydro SP250's using both Remo Nutes and Mantis all-in-one nutes. This will be my Fourth indoor grow since starting in April 2019. Testing not only the strains but the nutrients and the lights all at the same time. There will be too many details to post them all the time but I will do my best to update regularly and can provide more details if requested. Going to grow in 15 Lt. Auto-pots with 2 seperate reservoirs in 60/40 coco/perlite to try and keep things close to the same for all 4 plants.
Fingers crossed and wish me luck.

[SoOrbudgal]

Your are gonna grow some more wrist size colas eh imma goonie so i'll pull up a chair.

[JohnEmad]

Wrist sized? lol. That's the plan / hope but we shall see. Going back to photoperiod so these could be monsters if I let them grow a bit. I have no access to outside growing of any quantity so this will have to do the job. We just sank into another cold snap @ -30C and 2 inches of snow. Really want to move to a warmer place.

[SoOrbudgal]

Dang JohnEmad sorry about the poopie snow dang -30c gives me the chills just typing it I tell you what these 3 photos I got now they were allowed to grow for months before I could flip them but I sure got to training done on them now poor old gals

[smoorman]

That's about -22F. Something I can relate to. Cold. Used to be questionable whether or not the car would start at those temps. What part of the planet are you from?

[JohnEmad]

Hey smoorman, I am from West Central Canada in the Province of Alberta.
ya -22F is about the same as -30C. plug in the vehicle block heaters or risk it not starting. the going joke is there is 7 to 8 months winter and then construction.

[ocgreen]

I'm not sure winter ever gives up in Alberta. I remember spending a few weeks in Alberta in July 2012 and it snowed 😆

[JohnEmad]

Well the HSO seeds have all germed and been planted in solo cups. I have my next batch of Autos ( THC bomb, Cosmic bomb and Stardawg) up and growing as well. Also added a Gypsy Widow from Exotic Seeds and a Bruce Banger from Seedsman to make this an ambitious grow for me with 2 tents.
They are all under one of the SP250's right now and only the Gypsy Widow has yet to pop up.
9 plants to take me into the summer and will add a couple outdoor plants in a green house probably. This should be a ton of fun.

[SoOrbudgal]

Lots and lots of autos how fun this is going to be

[JohnEmad]

actually the Fast Flowering plants by HSO are photos if you can believe it. Yup giving photos a shot again.

[JohnEmad]

March 28th Day 10 and transplanted the FF GC and OGKZ out of solo cups into 15 L Autopots.
2 were watered though using 1/2 strength Mantis Buffered Nutrients
2 with 1/4 strength Remo Nutes and full strength cal/mag.
Bruce banger in a 5 gallon Growbag using Mantis.
Remo has grown me some fine plants in the recent past but has given me some trouble dialing it in. Hoping the All-in-one Mantis Buffered Nutrients can grow the same size and quality without any stress about things like ph lock out or having a difficiency.
So far the HSO seeds/plants are fast to germinate and growing well. no late ones and on track.
The new SP250 lights are bright and the plants seem to really like them.

[SoOrbudgal]

Looking neat and ready to go JohnEmad

[JohnEmad]

DAY 18 and the grow is going well. Turned on both reservoirs so now the test is well underway. Both solutions at 5.7 ph. RH is a little low at 25 to 45%. Damn dry winter conditions. Need a much larger humidifier. Oh well, Always something not perfect.
So far the new lights are doing a great job at 28 inches above. Plants are praying daily and looking healthy.
The two Fast Flowering HSO plants using Mantis Buffered Nutes are slightly larger but I cannot say if it is because they broke ground a bit earlier or not.
The plants using Remo Nutrients are healthy as well.
Going to veg them all until I reach just under the 1/2 distance of grow space and then flip to 12/12.
Also have a Bruce Banger playing catch-up at 1 week behind the Green Cracks and OGKZ's.
Have a couple Gypsy Widow seedlings that took 12 days to crack their shells in solo cups as well. They may get transferred to another tent unless they can do some serious growing in the next 30 days.

[ocgreen]

Are you trying to increase humidity of individual tent or the room the tent is in?

When trying to grow during winter in a Canadian basement, I didnt have much success with increasing humidity of tent. What I found worked better was to try and increase the humidity of the room tent is in. If I'm dealing with really dry area and only have plants in veg I make the tent vent back into the same room (vs outside) to get RH in mid 50s etc.

[swegrow]

Good looking plants JohnEmad ! Ive read about the autopots and actually thought about getting some for my next grow. In for the ride!

[JohnEmad]

Glad to have you aboard swegrow, I am real happy with the autopots. They grow big healthy plants and take away the need to water so often. One drawback is you cannot quickly or easily move the plants around if needed.but it can still be done.

[swegrow]

I see. Will be following along, looking forward to it!

[Obi-Wan]

This one snuck by me for a few weeks but I’m sub’d now. Looking great so far!! With your Auto pots....do you consider it a drain to waste or a recirculating system? What’s your EC/PPM? How stable is your pH? What’s your opinion on the Remo Nutes? Sorry for all the questions, I’m curious about different grow styles and mediums. I like to try new things to keep me engaged.

[JohnEmad]

Hey Obi-Wan, Glad you found the thread. I am always exploring things and will continue to do so. i want to learn the majority of better ways to grow cannabis.

Autopots is a bottom watering or bottom feeding system. Works off a float valve. The reservoirs use a 1/4 inch line to gravity feed things.

Remo Nutes grows big healthy plants but has given me some problems keeping ph low. I use their full line and have adjusted some items to correct the ph rise. Less of their kelp solution which has some organics seems to have slowed down the swing. I also stopped using an enzyme solution to keep the res clean. I run a small circulating pump 3 times a day for 15 minutes. Result with no clogged lines ever. I also blow air through the lines every few weeks just in case and rinse out the res once per grow about half way through before starting the bloom nutes. EC is usually around 1.2 for veg gradually going to 1.4 or 1.6 depending on the plants.

Mantis Buffered Nutrient is an all in one that uses the same strength from start to finish: 5 ml/1 liter. The EC is around 1.4. I started the seedling on half strength but quickly pushed it to full strength. So far Mantis once ph'd stays fairly stable with only a slow rise in ph.
Part of the ph problem may be my hard well water so I add 50% RO water. Added a little xtra cal/mag to both nutrients at first to insure no deficiency.
Otherwise that's it. I try and let the plants tell me if I am giving too much or too little and stay on the side of less is more.

Growing photos again is great in that you can control the size and plan for larger grows if wanted. I have about 40/42 inches of total grow space with the lights @ 20 inches above.12-14 inches higher and then time for the switch to 12/12. See what happens.
If you read all this then you know why some accuse me of being long winded.
Thanks for the questions.
Cheers.

[Obi-Wan]

By all means be as long winded as you like, I appreciate the thorough response!! It seems your auto pot system acts in a similar fashion to my flood and drain. The plants absorb what they need from the bottom, correct? I’m working on a theory that every nutrient company has its own “ideal EC”, I use DynaGro currently and their line seems to maintain a stable pH between 1.2-1.8. If I get too low or too high things get a little wacky but if I’m in that EC range things stay within the 5.5-6.5 sweet spot for pH. I’ve looked into Remo nutes and the line seems comparable to GH’s Flora Trio line. I ran their full line when I first started growing and the pH battle was more than I could handle, but most people seem to have good results with the trio and 1 or 2 additives. Every nutrient line is an exercise in patience and practice I guess!! I’m giving some serious thought to giving Jack’s nutrients a try, super cheap and incredibly simple, we’ll see??

[JohnEmad]

Ya Obi-Wan, i agree every nutrient brand probably has its own learning curve. Once dialed in grows will be good. I went too strong with Remo at first and had ph lockout. Second round I went a bit too weak and missed some better growth in veg.Hoping this all-in-one of Mantis nutes delivers. It is only available in Canada for now but may soon be sold internationally.

[SoOrbudgal]

Way to grow JohnEmad i'm sure you'll be successful

[JohnEmad]

Thanks budgal, I do my best to help these plants do their thing. This is the place to learn how.

[JohnEmad]

Day 23 and these Fast Flowering plants are also fast growing. The one in particular, the Green Crack on mantis nutes is 10" tall and 17" wide with fan leaves almost as big as my hands. Once they hit double that height its flower time. May have to start some LST but up till now just seeing what they do naturally. The Bruce Banger on the other hand which is supposed to be mainly sativa is looking more like an Indica. It is a week behind so perhaps it will start to go. And the red leaf lettuce is almost ready to harvest.
So far keeping temps steady at 22-29C and RH @ 32-38%. both res ph 5.7, ppm 700 or 1.4 EC. have 1-6" intake fan, 1-12" fan inside the tent and 1-4"exhaust fan(soon to be 6").
I am excited about this grow and everyday it seems things are growing fast.

[SoOrbudgal]

You growing lettuce in the tent or some outdoors? Man I almost did greens thought about it but ran outta room in the tents. I put broccoli in today. How fun to see fast growing photos and nice socks LOL

[JohnEmad]

Socks are a fashion statement, lol.
The redleaf is snuck in between the back plants. Always delicious to have some fresh greens to munch on.

[golfnrl]

For some reason I just realized I missed this thread...thanks for sharing your grow. I appreciate the details. I'm in my third grow but have only been growing weed for about a year. My first autopot grow. I've found the little valves are messy. Been looking for a more reliable replacement.

"... just in case and rinse out the res once per grow about half way through before starting the bloom ". I was wondering about the rez. I've noticed after a few days it gets a little smelly...not sure if that is good or bad but the PH is in the right range. I think I'm going to try what you are doing.

I've been to your province a time or two. Canada is a beautiful place.

[JohnEmad]

Glad you found the thread golfnrl.
I also found a slight build-up of residue in the reservoir so as I said I have a small pump on a timer to circulate the nutrient solution 3 times a day. Having used Remo nutes I have never had a plugged line but I do drain a bit past the last aquavalve and then blow air back through the lines into the main Res every couple weeks. This has kept things running smoothly.
Only been using the Mantis nutes for just over a week and almost zero buildup and very clean solution. Every Nutrient will have its unique learning curve as Obi-Wan said.

Yes, Canada is a large mainly un-populated place with many beautiful, natural settings. No wonder so many people are wanting to migrate here. Many of their countries are badly polluted and their political systems are very corrupt. We are extremely fortunate to live in North America.

ps: like you I have only been growing for a year. On my 3rd autpot grow in 2 different tents this time.

[JohnEmad]

Day 28, temps, RH steady.
Mantis Nutes are still leading the way over Remo Nutes but not by too much.
The GC and OGKZ are making huge fan leaves and are standing 9.5 and 11" T x 20" W.
The Remo plants are 8" T and up to 19"W. Been snipping the odd pair of fan leaves off and doing some tucking. Otherwise letting them do their thing. These HSO plants are vigorous growers.
The BB is starting to look better and keeping pace.
Another 6-8 inches or so and flipping to 12/12.