3-Way Nutrient Royal Rumble

[No3odiesShad0w]

So the light fixtures were really annoying me. I had one more XS1500pro just hanging around, so I shoved it into the 2x4. Now instead of running 2 lights at 100%, in running 2x at 75% and 1x at 50% intensity. I was using 500w total across both tents. Now I'm using 525w with the addition of the 3rd light. The plants also have an even DLI of 40-45 now 👍. That's what I wanted.

The 2x3 tent has a few calcium/ magnesium deficiency spots on some leaves on the birthday cake. Not sure if it's pH related or if the grow dots just don't have the amount of nutrition that these plants need or the amount of calcium that they need??? I'm just going to start adding Cal-Mag to the water just to be safe. Not a high dose but a supporting dose. Don't need blossom end rot.

I'm rooting some ginger to plant in my window planters this year. It's looking like I have 3 nodes growing off this piece of ginger. Would be awesome to have my own ginger done I just started making my own ginger bug and brewing my own ginger ale. Probiotic goodness. I've never been more regular in my life and I'm losing weight. Also started my kombucha over again. I've been craving it and I don't want to pay $5 a bottle.

I have my mushrooms growing. The tubs are doing great as always but the bags were iffy until I stood the bags up and introduced some oxygen into them and FINALLY they colonized in 7 days. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to fold the bag and compact it during the substrate colonization period. Still learning 3 years on 🤓

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's not a lot but those brown spots and those muddled colors are def signs that it wants more calcium and magnesium. Meanwhile the purple punch looks like it wants potassium.

Question is, how do I amend grow dots?
I can't add more grow dots. I will destroy my bloom with nitrogen. I can add TPS silica and Cal-Mag. The silica is 0-0-1.3 on the npk scale. Not a lot but maybe just enough for the purple punch and the Cal-Mag just enough for the birthday cake.

The general hydro is kicking ass though. That Terpy.... In so proud of that mistake/sacrifice turned out to be beginners luck and I got a nice blackberry pepper speedy kinda plant out of it. I think I'll be using the GH in future grows. Especially if I like the smoke.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Bluey what pH you think I should try? The water goes in at 6.7-6.8 without adjustment. I add the recharge every 2 weeks. That's supposed to help with the pH .... If you believe what they say....I could lower the pH a bit more but I can't go to low of calcium is already the issue. Maybe there's not enough calcium or magnesium in the grow dots? I remember watching a few episodes of the dude grows show and Scotty talks about having his chemist add more calcium and magnesium into the recipe multiple times and it still not being enough.

It's minor now because it's only 3 weeks into bloom, she's still got 6 more weeks of growth. It could go bad really quick. .... Like that purple punch I tried growing 2.5 years ago. It was going great and in 1 week it went to shit.

[Bluey]

I'd up the pH a little and low dose some calmag and cross my fingers

[No3odiesShad0w]

Bluey see the thing is I could just toss on some of that nature's living soil organic crap on there and they'll probably be perfectly fine. But that would give skewed scientific results. Granted I'm not going to screw myself over for science because I need these to be successful but at the same time I don't want to mess with the integrity of my experiment..... They certainly got plenty of nitrogen with all the tip burn on the leaves but definitely not enough calcium or magnesium.

[No3odiesShad0w]

It moves fast. That's why I didn't trust calcium magnesium issues.

[Bluey]

It does move fast. You could increase pH for mag uptake, lowering pH will reduce uptake, add epsom salts and perhaps even a little dolomite lime for the cal which will have the effect of raising the pH also.

Dolomite lime is calcium magnesium carbonate so you may not need the epsom after all.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Since these are mineral salts, I'll stick to the bottled stuff. It's crazy because the purple punch looks fine but the Birthday Cake looks a mess

[Bluey]

Yep. Some of my plants look like they are dying if given the same diet as perfectly healthy plants beside they..same everything......different needs

[No3odiesShad0w]

Another week down. Week 4. Day 33 of Bloom

Already getting plenty of smell in here. Plenty of frost. The 2x4 is absolutely killing it. Everything about this grow is great. The Nature's Living Soil is performing as it should which is no surprise but the big surprise is the general hydroponics. I'm really happy that my little creation is growing so well in the mineral salts. She looked so terrible when I first started and now she's so beautiful. The EC is slowly going down and in the next week it's going to drop more as the amounts of nutrient go down.

The grape caper smells really interesting. I can't even describe it. It's definitely grape It's definitely grape candy but I can't tell you exactly what kind of grape candy it is. It wants to taste like nerds but it doesn't taste like nerds nerds has that unique kind of taste to it It's a very very different kind of grape taste. ......err smell? I don't know but I know I'll figure it out eventually. It's definitely a really interesting grape candy kinda smell.

The Sour Orange has a really strong smell of tangerine skins but like tangerine skins that were left out in the sun It's a very kind of fuely kinda orange smell. Which I'm happy with. It is called sour so I'm expecting there to be some kind of funky notes.

The 2x3 side looks nice.... In some instances. I think I might have stabilized the Cal-Mag issue with the birthday cake. I gave them a heavy 3ml dose and then a 5ml dose for 8L of water and I'll give one more 5ml then 3ml dose before leaving it at 2ml for the remainder of the grow.
I've also given them NLS original and some flower power as well as 2 whole cups of worm castings with plenty worms in them. I'm just going to have the NLS help out the Grow Dots on this grow. Ever since adding it 3 days ago, I've noticed the first signs of any kind of frost in the 2x3 tent.

[No3odiesShad0w]

I think I got my genetics picked for the next grow. It's about 6 weeks from harvest, so I'm already planning the grow. Also decided of any of these seeds doesn't pop, I'm going to use the Hot Cakes by Going2fast I really enjoyed the flower and certainly want to grow it again. Since I had to add fertilizer to the grow dots side, they automatically got disqualified from the next round. I'm just curious how well GH trio would do with the Earth box system. 🤔🤔 It could be half DWC with the basin while the top is Coco growing. It should work. It's working just fine with the fabric pot and sub irrigating.🤔

If all goes well in this grow and in this next one, I'll be able to take a break during the summer months when growing is the most challenging. Don't have a sealed room because of the window AC unit. The AC is BAD at keeping the rooms environment stable. The biggest issue is the amount of humidity it dumps back into the room when the compressor turns off, which triggers the dehumidifier, which ends up dumping a bunch of heat into the room. All summer long I have them battling each other. I don't get nice colors on plants because I can't get low temps. We'll see. It all depends on how much I have in stock and how much I actually use.

[Bluey]

I battled with the issue of the AC & the dehumidifier compromise for a bit.. I installed a second AC double the size of the first that runs on a thermostat that sorts that problem and seem to have reached a half decent compromise. Once I get temps down to 22⁰C ish in late flower the dehumidifier efficiency starts to fall off something chronically but I can still fill the flower room and keep a decent environment....summer is challenging hey.

[Going2fast]

Never tried gro dots but I use gh flora nova bloom if needed during mid flower. As always it depends on the strain and my compost. In the process of making a separate bin for the almost done soil so it's not so hot.

[No3odiesShad0w]

It might be getting better?

I added 5ml TPS Cal-Mag to 8L of water. I'm gonna do the same tomorrow when it needs water. I top dressed with some NLS original and Flower Power. I'll water it in tomorrow with some recharge. Still got like 4+ weeks to go. They shouldn't be losing leaves yet.

On top of it, IDK if it's nitrogen toxicity or potassium deficiency because I'm seeing browning on all the edges of the leaves on both plants. I'm guessing potassium deficiency but who knows.
It's funny. I was worried about the GH but that's going smooth like butter while the grow dots, I expected to be an easy water only grow and no way. They're loaded with nitrogen so that the plants are green and you know green means healthy. I don't think this is all genetics....I think if it had better nutrients from the start, it would have grown better. TO PROVE that theory, I may have to adjust the list above and grow the Terpy in the Grow Dots 😈 The perfect test. The Terpy did great in organics, fantastic in General Hydroponics, but what would she be like in the grow dots? I think it's going to have to happen that way. Only way to see if the Grow Dots can save themselves or forever go into the bin of shame.

On the positive side, they are flowering, they are still growing, the flowers are stacking and there's some frostiness popping up. That calcium deficiency just snuck in there like woah 😅

The 2x4 tent 😍🥰👑🪴🪴🪴👑 That lovely 2x4 tent. As soon as I open the door, all I can smell is that tent. PARTICULARLY the Sour Orange 😮 That's some spicy orange 🍊 and then it's that grape caper. I still can't pinpoint that grape candy smell but I'll get it. Those 2 are so loud that they're overwhelming the blackberry and pepper smell from The Terpy. She's more earthy while the other 2 are very fruity and bright smelling.
The other things to mention is the frost level..... Good Lord, crazy glue would be put to shame. Especially the grape caper. That one is crazy glue x2 while the sour orange is sticky, she's more like sticky sand just falling off like snow. Totally different kind of trichome development. The Terpy has the most uniformity. The color, EXACT. Bud sizes based on location; EXACT Frostiness throughout the plant..... 👍🥶.


It's Day 38 since flipping. CO2 around 800-1200ppm
DLI 40-50umol VPD is around 1.1- 1.3kPa basically running the dehumidifier all the time to get that 50% with the cool weather. The stems on the Grape Caper are BEET RED. Wow are they red but that's the cool weather for you

[No3odiesShad0w]

Is that nitrogen burn is that the beginnings of potassium deficiency or is that magnesium deficiency? Now I'm seeing it across the board from the purple punch to the birthday cake. The birthday cake is definitely worst but getting better for sure. Especially after I added that Nature's Living Soil they definitely slowed down on the leaf changing. Instead of new leaves turning yellow everyday it's more like 3 days or 4 days in between and I lose like one leaf. So certainly better.

It'll be fine there's like four more weeks left maybe. They'll make it. I'm not feeling these grow dots so much. I'll give them another test with the Terpy the next run but .... IDK poor performance so far unlike the 2x4 tent where NLS and GH are both killing it. I'm pretty sure in the next grow it's going to be these two going head-to-head. Probably gonna have to bring out the fabric pots for this

[Bluey]

What size pots No3?

[No3odiesShad0w]

There's only the two earth boxes and the 5 gallon fabric pot but there's only about three and a half to 4 gallons of medium in there. Next time I'm just going to do the whole 5 gallons get a bigger plant.

[Bluey]

The bigger the better and the easier to manage. Well that's my reasoning anyway.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Another week down. Beginning of week 7 day 47 of Bloom.

The girls are coming along. I FINALLY figured out what the grape Caper smells like GRAPE GUMMY WORMS!! It smells so freaking good!! So sticky and so smelly. The buds aren't huge but then neither are the buds on the sour orange. They are frosty as all hell but smaller in size. The Sour Orange is smelling like orange funk with gas notes. The Terpy is killing it. She looks amazing, she is frosty and all the buds are so thick!! What a winner. Now to figure out how to turn it into seeds. 🤔

The birthday cake finally stopped showing calcium issues and both the purple punch and the birthday cake are stacking nicely. The buds are huge but that's because there's only like 5 colas compared to the other tent that has a lot of colas. Still no frost on the birthday cake and I hate the smell of it, meanwhile the purple punch is super frosty but doesn't have much smell 🤷♂️ we'll see what happens in that tent.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Here is a more comprehensive video of the pre bloom stretch and the first 2 weeks of flowering.

New video on my YouTube Channel. It's gotta be my most weed porny-est video yet.🤣
I'm trying to put that Sony camera to work and I've been experimenting with different stuff. Lots of B reel in this one. More cinematic instead of a picture slideshow style that I've been doing

https://youtu.be/vSyxdGYwmiE?si=kyA4TinB28nUzmOG

I'm getting the practice in and I'm understanding what I'm supposed to do and how because of how it will come together in editing. This photography/videography side quest is turning into a main quest with editing added into the mix 😅

[No3odiesShad0w]

Also, I GOT THE JOB!!!!!! Just received my background check, all clear and I got my employee badge!!! I guess good things do come to those who wait 🤔. But damn, I waited a long time.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Sorry for the long silence. With the new job and whole entire schedule shift, I've been busy and it looks like I'll be busy again this week.

The grape caper might be ready for chop. I'll take some trichome pictures tomorrow, but I think it's ready. They're all mostly cloudy and starting to get amber. It smells of Grape Gummy worms with a bit of funk.

The Terpy is right behind her. She's also cloudy but also very green. EC is down to 0.8 and going down. I want some of that green to fade but she looks amazing.

The Sour Orange and the purple punch are right after that, leaving the birthday cake as the last one.

It's a great grow that's coming to an end. With that there's going to be a big shift in that grow room. I'm gonna ditch the tents and just grow in the open room again. I'll be able to grow 6 plants instead of 5 and I think I get better all around lighting because of the smooth walls with the white flat paint reflecting over 90% of light.

[No3odiesShad0w]

The first 2 pictures are the Grape Caper and the last is the Terpy. The caper is ready to come down today and I honestly.... Might take her down tonight. Day 65 of bloom.

The lights shut down before I was able to get some better pictures. I'm gonna get the good camera set up and I'm gonna do a whole entire photo shoot later. I'm gonna get some great trichome pics and bud shots. I can't believe it's time already!!!

I was ready to get this grow done. I just really want to get rid of these tents. All they do is just trap extra heat and moisture they're not even reflecting light very well. I remember I used to be blinded walking into that room because of the white flat paint 360°. It was hard to work in there without sunglasses but with the tents that light is so contained.
It's a theory though. I have 3 full grows in the tents. I have DATA from all 3 grows, including time lapse. I want to see how it compares to just having my lung room at the VPD without all those extra pockets of heat and humidity. If I'm correct I should have at least a 10 to 13% increase because of better air flow and better managed light reflection.
I've also decided to change some cultivars for the next grow. Instead of the GG#4 and sweet Zombie, I'm gonna grow xxx # 20 x end game #5 and S1 (end game x end game). I was talking to a cultivator on Instagram and he highly recommended I try the S1 if I liked the cherry taste of the UG that I've been growing. I do like those cherry terps, so I'm gonna give some of the other seeds in that multi pack a chance since the end game is the cherry flavored one.

[Bluey]

I have 2050W of LED full spectrum in a 50²ft area with two walls & ceiling milar reflective. I need under canopy lighting the way I've been doing it with photoperiod plants. With autos I won't need that so much but I won't get the yields I get with a full flat canopy, not even close unfortunately but I'm hoping it's less work and will be less time to harvest.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Bluey I fell into the hype thinking I would get something better with the tents, instead in always biting my nails because they are a PM factory and when the lights are on, they're a terpene obliterator. I can't keep temps below 78F (25.5C). I would love to have it around 22C right now but it's just not possible, not with the humidifier pumping out hot air meanwhile is 18C outside. I would need to put in an air conditioner already...... That's why I wanna chop already. Having 1 less tent and 2-3 lights running will make it cooler.

[Bluey]

With that lighting and a better than 13gal/day dehumidifier I need around 4kw of cooling power with ambient around 18⁰C to maintain a flower room temp of about 22.5⁰C. It varies a little but not a lot. I have about 5kw of cooling power. I can't lower temps any more than that because the dehumidifier just shits itself and RH starts to rise fast. I don't think there is any advantage going any lower anyway and my sativas like it warmer in late flower than the more indica heavy strains...23⁰C & 38 to 40%RH seemed to be perfect for tight dense potent buds on my last grow...22 maybe a fraction too low and slowed growth too. The dehumidifier was running flat out non stop for about 7 weeks. Its expensive re electricity

[No3odiesShad0w]

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone ☘️🌈🍀

I got the plans all finalized for the next grow. I'm order for 6 plants to fit, the tents will be coming down (as well as my electric bill)

The Terpy is making a 4th return and this time she will be telling me of the Grow Dots are good or if they're Grow Nots. I love the recharge product that they have and I want the grow dots to be just as good, but first impressions were lacking. I know how this cultivar reacts I've grown her with organics and synthetics, so she should be a good candidate for this test.

Fruity Freak by Hi-Elevation Genetics. After I had trouble with their regular seeds and getting all males, They sent me a free pack of some feminized freak seeds. I'm incredibly excited to grow this one. I've been trying to grow this cultivar the last three grows and just kept getting male plants. Hopefully this is going to be the one 🤞

EARTHBOX # 1 Strawberry OG by Ethos Genetics along with Supernova by super natural seeds.

Both Autos, Both Growing in natures living soil with a coco/perlite/ewc substrate
EARTHBOX # 2 S1(End Game # 5 x End Game # 5) along with XXX # 20 x End Game # 5
Both by Ethos, Both from the End Game # 5 Multi-pack. I ❤️ those 🍒⛽ terps from this cross. This one will be grown with Grow box nutrients. The substrate will be the same one used for the Mandarin Zkittlez/UG grow from my All Ethos grow. Gonna just going to top dress with new material.


All the photos are getting planted now so they can just be transplanted, Autos will be directly sown into the soil at the time of planting. It will also allow the photos to finish first and then the autos. Since I got the new job, I'm gonna start saving for a second Cannatrol unit 😅 It works so well for my situation. Worth the $2000 considering I save over 10k a year by growing myself. It will make storage and dry/cure much easier especially if all plants finish at the same time.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Harvest Day for 1 out of 5 plants, The Grape Caper by Purple Caper Seeds .... The whole neighborhood smells of Grape gass candy. It was like super glue, I got over a gram of scissor hash from trimming maybe 65g. She's not a yielder but man is she Terpy AF. 🥰. Then there was 4.

I also planted the photo seeds today. I'll plant the autos directly into the pot while I'll transplant the photos. Time for bed. 🥱😴

[Ckbrew]

Harvest time happy time. Nothin left to do but smile, smile, smile.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Ckbrew I wish 🤣 there's 4 more to chop. This was just the first one to be ready.

[Ckbrew]

You got 4 more mature plants to harvest? That is a terrible problem to have...

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's deja vu.... It's supposed to be the freak variety with the funky leaves but instead it's growing normal leaves.
I swear this cultivar is cursed. 6 attempts and 12 seeds later and not a single viable plant. Either all males or not freak variety. These seeds were supposed to be feminized fruity freak.

Should I try one more seed or just give up and plant something else? I'm not crazy about the pineapple Express cultivar lineage. Gives me anxiety. So I wasn't growing this fruit freak for the smoke. I was mostly growing it for the mutation. Sighs