COCO COIR First Grow 2.0 - Return of the OG

[4202020]

Hey there GWE
and thanks for tuning into my first grow diary!
I'm a first time grower whose first attempt went off course and failed.
There have been a lot of lessons learned and so I thought I'd document my second attempt.
If you're wondering about the name, my first attempt had 2x Gelat.OGs but they didn't do so well! This grow will try another 2, hence the name.

So enough blurb - let's see what I'm using:

Gear:
Lights: Mars Hydro TSL 2000 300W actual
Space: 2x4x6 tent
Circulation: 4x 6'clip on fans + 6' extractor + carbon filter kit
Medium: 60/40 Canna pre-buffered coco//perlite + clay balls
Nutes: Canna A+B // Rhizotonic // Cannazym // Calmag (We'll see about the other 2 in the range later)
System - 3 XL Autopot system with airdomes // clear plastic cup in a solo cup // Jiffy Plug
EC/pH meters

A note on the 2 plastic cup system - Always ensure you have plenty of drainage!
A clear cup inside an opaque one helped me see that I probably didn't have enough drainage during my last attempt.

The seeds:
2x Seedsman Fem Gelat.OG
2x Seedsman Fem Bubba Kush

We'll see which of these grows the nicest and gets transplanted

The story so far:
09/06 I started these babies off in Jiffy Plugs soaked in 0.7EC tap water with a quarter dose of Rhizotonic, pH adjusted to 6 and left them in a propogator with dome.



11/06 - I could see the top of the Jiffy plugs cracking open! They emerged later that evening and showed their cotyledons - very exciting!
12/06 - Today I transplanted the Jiffy Plugs into clear plastic cups so I can monitor moisture, with red solo cups on the outside.
The coco is buffered but before I transplanted I still gave the coco a flush with 1/4 strength Calmag + Rhizo with 0.15 EC spring water, making the mixture 0.4EC overall (I'm told to never trust what the manufacturer says)

14/06 - After letting them sit there for a couple of days here they are!


I watered them today with 1:1 ratio spring water:filtered tap water which came out at an EC of 0.5.
The mix included a full dose of Rhizotonic which made it 0.4EC after pH adjustment.
Using a syringe I only gave enough to make the medium wet.

I think I was a little high and might have switched the labels on the two right hand side plants. The bottom 2 look awfully similar and the top 2 look the same! What do you think?

[golfnrl]

"I think I was a little high" That's kinda funny. I've found that GWS can indeed cause one to wonder, 'did I really do that?'

I like all the details...good luck this time around.

[4202020]

LOL! I was definitely high I switched them back around
Thanks for the luck, I'm gonna need it!

[4202020]

Hey GWE, wanted to add an update on the girls.

I gave them their first nute feed yesterday at EC 0.56 // pH 6.06 until 20% runoff.
This consisted of 3:2 spring to filtered water at a combined EC of 0.34.
I'm following the light Canna feeding schedule from the website; made up a batch of feed at 1.26 // 5.98, then diluted with spring water at 7:15.
I plan to increase EC by around 0.05-0.07 for each subsequent fertigation event which will occur every 24 hours for the time being.

The 2 BKs are doing great! Both are regularly praising the sun and I'm very happy with them.
I've named them Boris (BK 1) and Bobby (BK2)



The 2 GOGs however...



Are looking like this which is interesting as I had the exact same problem in my last grow!
I've named them Obi One (GOG 1)and Obi None (GOG 2) and I'll monitor them - maybe I'm just not destined to grow GOG

Return of the OG? More like Obi Wan Cannot Be

What I'm seeing here as well as my last GOG attempt is:

• Wilting/drooping leaves which began very early on and;
• pale growth, especially when compared to Bobby and Boris's lush, dark green growth - having said that this could be how it looks

I think it could be:

• Bad batch of seeds (But Seedsman are touted as being pretty good overall)
• Poor genetics (Although I've seen other diaries of successful grows)
• Something they don't like about their environment.
• The temps have been a little high so even with LEDs I've struggled to keep it under 30 deg. C - raised the lights a little and turned on some more fans and will monitor, but wouldn't expect drooping. Also this wasn't an issue in my last attempt.
• Fans were whipping them around a little so I moved the airflow a little away from the girls. Also not an issue on my last attempt.

Since the values were checked, and the cups were very light when I went to water I don't think it's:

• pH
• Over/Underwatering

It's really a mystery and I hope I can solve it


Thanks for tuning into my update and I hope you enjoyed reading about the girls!

Have a blessed day everyone

[golfnrl]

I really like that you have named your plants...easier to keep track of that way. I have a plant, Hattie, that has had that pale green color most of her life. She's lagging behind the others in building colas. Do the drooping leaves feel kinda like velvet? Or have a soft 'touch' to them? That's how I'd describe Hattie's leaves. Good luck with your grow. Hopefully things go your way and Obi One and Obi None produce like Boris and Bobby.

[4202020]

Naming them just gives them a little more personality and you care about them more

Thanks for checking in, and actually after checking out your diary I checked the distance of my girls from the lights.

I'd been using the hand test but after reading they can be affected even in comfortable temps, I moved it up a few inches from 15 to 20. Manufacturer actually recommends 18-24 for seedling so I think it was WAY too close before.

I don't think this'll particularly affect their growth but let's see if it solves the drooping issue.

[4202020]

I realised just now that I forgot to answer your question; how rude of me!
I'd say they feel velvety and 'filled' like raw spinach but droopy. By soft, I think you mean like when spinach wilts as it cooks - it doesn't do that or easily fold/crumple.
We'll see how Obi One and Obi None do over the next few days

[golfnrl]

"Naming them just gives them a little more personality and you care about them more "

My sentiments exactly.

[4202020]

Hey there GWE! It's been about a week so I thought I'd check in.
It's been an interesting week full of lessons learned.

I tried to reuse some coco from my last attempt - I'd fed the last batch in this coco before failure and I thought running some pH'd, calmag'd water through would be fine. I was wrong!

But before we get into that, let's see the week's progress - it's been real exciting to see these lil' buggers grow and I love comparing the pics and time lapses of them day by day.

I've been upping their EC from 0.5 by ~0.05-0.1 per feed and moved onto full strength stage 1 veg feeding today of ~1.0 at pH 5.55 including Cannazym.

Controlling temps has been a struggle. It reached 32/33C (~90F) at times which worried me since IIRC indicas tend to prefer colder temps, but these girls seem to be loving it! RH was straddling the 45-60 region which is acceptable. I'll keep my eye on them and bring more fans in if needed.

Watering frequency is now twice daily as the top layer tends to dry out a little quickly due to temps, with an expectation of it increasing to thrice daily right before I turn on the Autopot system. I love hand watering, but without a proper runoff collection system, it's a pain and I've been using a 60ml feeding syringe to extract and remove the waste mix a little at a time. The things we do for love


The Good

Here are Boris and Bobby from last Saturday




As you can see, Boris is quite slim and tall whereas Bobby is short and fat (those leaves got caught against the side of the cup). I think they'll both be wonderful producers, but Bobby clearly sacrificed a little height for chonky growth. Boris is a little spindly but not in a stretched way - I think she'll be OK once she fattens up a little but I've got a fan blowing near her to help the stem strength. I'll support with a hairpin if needs be.

By Saturday evening they were both getting too big for their containers and I swear Rhizotonic must be magic because their roots were exploding out of the bottom of the cup! Wish I'd taken a picture of this. I then transplanted these girls, Here they are looking happy in their final 5Gal pots


When removing Bobby from the cup I'd accidentally broken a few roots which got caught on the sharp plastic but she took it like a champ! In fact when I watched a timelapse of her that day she was still growing fast.
But that's when I noticed Bobby getting some serious burn on Sunday!



The Bad

Checking their runoff, I noticed that Bobby's was close to 1.4 EC! Boris's was a normal range, but runoff pH was 7.0!

And so I learned a lesson about making absolute sure of the EC/pH of my coco no matter what for salt buildup etc. Oh man I felt dumb

I did an emergency flush on Bobby with pH'd water and within a day I'd managed to regain control of the situation (phew!) with lower strength 0.5-0.6 EC feed at pH 5.5. The pH also brought down Boris' pH very quickly.
It was pretty nail biting for a minute (at least for me) and I wondered what flushing with straight water would do, but they seem absolutely fine!



I check the EC and pH of runoff every single feed since their pH is regularly on the border of 6.4/6.5. Every feed is at 5.5 for the time being. Maybe some plants just naturally have a higher root pH?

If I'm not wrong, the first set of serrated leaves are 'true' leaves, and so these girls are both on their 4th set.
I plan to either manifold or SCROG but either way as I understand it I'll need to do the first top when they show their 6th set and I can't wait!

GWE, I need an opinion - is there any point to starting some LST now? I'm not sure there's much to control here just yet and Bubba Kush seems to be heavily indica dominant. I don't expect these girls to be finish too tall but want to maximise yields.

(Edit: In case anyone comes across this at some point wondering - don't use Cannaboost during veg. It's a waste according to the internet) On another note - the Canna feeding schedule says to use Boost during veg... I'm not sure I really want to with the prohibitive cost - has anyone done with and without who could comment on effectiveness?


The Ugly

At this point you may be wondering about Obi One and Obi None.
Well... Let's just say I don't think I'll ever manage to grow those.. They probably need much greener thumbs than I currently possess.
They're still in their solo cups, slowly nute burning to death and barely growing.
I tried to help them recover but I couldn't I'm keeping them on the side, feeding them nute mix which I have left over. We'll see what happens to them but for now I'm planning for a 2 plant grow.
If I could, I'd rename this blog Bubba Strikes Back
More space for a ScroG, and a little more veg time it is!

Thanks for checking in GWE and I hope you enjoyed hearing about Boris and Bobby! I'd love to hear any thoughts or comments below!
See you all next week