Stanky old and new

[Franklin]

Been two weeks since the last update. The USA cookies have been showing some problems, yellowing leaves, curling at times. I think they're more sensitive to the light being bright, they were the ones that got upset earlier when I had to turn the lights down. I think it's forcing them to work too intensely and the nutrients aren't able to keep up in the soil. I've turned the light down some but I also want to pack on the other plants, which are doing great. The super skunk is throwing big bats, super long and they look like they will fatten up nicely. The smell on the super skunk isn't so much skunky right now as just kind of garbagey in a good way. The blackjack is long and slender and is throwing little golf balls and has a really nice perfumey sweet smell. However the real winner is the sour Diesel, which smells like sour candy. I'm going to cross it with my orange Skittles strain to make sour orange Skittles and I think it will be perfect.

[changeofpace2014]

Not much of a break between the seed run Franklin...The New Grow is looking really nice...

[dirtymike]

Nice grow, color is spot on. Natural nutrients are kicking in.

[Bowhunterwoody]

Very nice. Nice and healthy.

[Franklin]

Another week, another update. Everything continues to go really well. I'm amazed at how hands off this living soil approach is. The blackjack, which is 3 weeks younger than its oldest sibling and was several inches below the canopy when I switched to 12/12, has stretched like mad and is now almost hitting the light. Turns out I was really lucky that I didn't let this one grow longer! They are now in their third week since the switch so hopefully it will slow down. The flowers are looking really nice on all of them, three out of the four have even started throwing some frost. It's also starting to stink in there, not too strong yet but I hope it gets there soon!

[Franklin]

AGH this was exactly my thought, that by leaving the lower leaves on I'm providing energy and nutrients stores. Removing the top fan leaves is just to provide better light penetration to bud sites

[AGH]

You're doing great! Interesting experiment with the defoliation, let us know how that goes!

I have always defoliated my plants as well, once about a week before the flip and once a few weeks after that. Although some say to defoliate at the flip and then a few weeks later.

This run, I'm going to do minimal defoliation to see how that goes compared to the relatively aggressive defoliations I've done before. My thought is that with an organic grow, the plant may enjoy having more stores of nutrients in the leaves as an easy access point instead of having to have the roots do all the work. This is based on nothing more than some casual observations so we'll see!

I know that Nebula did a side by side experiment with defoliation vs non-defoliation and the defoliated plants did significantly better although she left the question about defoliating organic grows as an open question and the thought of doing that experiment as well. Heck, maybe I'll do the experiment myself if I feel motivated enough!

Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

[Franklin]

Ten days since the last post and eight since heavy defoliation. I took a different approach to defoliation than usual, I removed all the lower bud sites but left most of the lower fan leaves, and then removed fan leaves from the top 6 inches or so. The first picture is what it looked like immediately after defoliation, the other pictures are what it looks like now. Interestingly, the blackjack, which if you recall was 3 weeks behind, shot up during stretch and is now basically the same height as it's older sisters.

[AGH]

I second SoOrbudgal! Don't sell yourself short! You've learned from your experiences and everything that you say is 100% correct and is why I also grow organic.

Be proud and keep learning!

[SoOrbudgal]

Nope Franklin it's what you've learned and worked it for yourself into what's comfortable and starts easy. I was thinking about the old vipar cause i've got 2 older models myself, they worked better for me in winter couple years back before i got this newer Qboard. Now i know it's because of temps they were much warmer inside my 3x3 and i had both going at same time and rocked that tent but good!! I had a fan going all the time with lights on. Thanks for the info.

[Franklin]

SoOrbudgalBlowdout2269 I have a 3x3x6 tent. I have two lights in there one is a old school viper Spectra 600 blurple at 260 Watts from the wall and the other is a green sunshine 180 that maxes out at 200 but I have it turned down almost to the lowest setting because my leaves have been tacoing. The green sunshine is 18 in from the canopy, I would raise it but it's as high as it could go. The viper Spectra is probably the same. This really is the most consistent grow I've ever had and I think it's due to two major changes I made.

One, I potted the plants in the biggest pots I could, 15 gallons, with a lot of good amendments, mostly my own worm compost but also biochar and a mycorrhiza drench. In retrospect, I'm not sure how much the mycorrhiza drench is really needed because fungi and bacteria are in fresh compost. Really I think it's just a big pot and soil with lots of aeration and lots of decomposed organic matter.

Second, I bought the AC Infinity controller that manages my outflow air, a heater, The circulating air, and in the beginning I had a ultrasonic mister in there. The controller keeps everything at the right temperature and humidity and vapor pressure differential.

This all is a lot of fancy stuff for my style, but looking back I think my grows would be hit or miss for two reasons. One was I was just leaving my environment up to luck. I had an outflow valve and would sort of feel whether it seemed cold or hot and turn it up or down because of that,
but I didn't take any temperature or humidity readings and so I think it was just luck. Second, I was using bottled nutrients but didn't really know how to decipher problems and whether they were due to environment or too much nutrients or two little nutrients or pH. Looking back I think I would often respond to environmental problems with nutrients and that sometimes was making the problem worse. Using the living soil has removed the guesswork from that.

On the other hand, maybe this particular grow is also just luck. I have had many good grows before, this one is just the most consistent.

[Blowdout2269]

I'm with SoOrbudgal.

[SoOrbudgal]

Franklin will you please say as i don't remember if you said..........size of tent, your light and how faraway your lights are from the top canopy of plants please. I find this very importaint to new growers and old like me but new to indoor as i'm always picking up something. Sorry for the blabber. I'm just thinking about my tents an lights trying to find a happy place for them. Thank you

[AGH]

Very healthy looking plants! Keep up the good work!

[Franklin]

Starting to show flower!