What is your biggest question about growing cannabis?

[FurnaceBoi]

BTW, I am a fire alarm and low volt tech. I could assemble my own parts but I wouldn't know what to use. Plus labor etc

[FurnaceBoi]

Always watch the sales. Clone machine $100. Clonex, last bottle $37 lol

[FurnaceBoi]

Right on Bluey I am looking at reasonable bar lights. And ya if you track the prices you can score. I don't mind having overhead on the drivers to keep heat down.

[Bluey]

I too am using a 200w quantum board in a 4x2 space, but it's only for veg.

If I wanted to use it for flower I'd be using a bar light minimum wattage of 240w and shaped like the space.

So Mars Hydro FC4000 320w or Spider Farmer SE4500/G4500

Both a bit of overkill and there are other solutions but those are probably easiest, and when on sale quite cheap.

Wait for the sales if you can

[FurnaceBoi]

Simple question. I have collected a nice bunch of gear to make my small 2x4 grow be very productive.
Well, now I would like to upgrade my lighting in my flower tent.
I'm using a 200w quantum board now. Very interested in any suggestions that would give the full 2x4 coverage.

I am on disability so I don't have an unlimited budget. I do know you get what you pay for too, so not afraid of the investment.

I would love to move the quantum board to my new 2x4 propagation room so I can set up a 2 week sog.

[Rootsruler]

Coco tends to pH on the acidic side. I would stick with soil if you're looking for media buffers.

[Slyvie]

Anyone try amended coco? I read PH is less maintenance with soil and dry amendments - would the PH be similar if using coco with dry amendments?

[Rootsruler]

@midwestweednerd

I would agree with most of what you are saying other than the flushing part and living soil. Flushing will most definitely remove both nutrient and microbe from the soil. Will it remove all? No but it will remove enough to curtail any real meaningful effect the microbes have in delivering nutrient ions to the plant.

AFAIU, most people flush their media to remove nutrient from the media so that the roots don't have access to it to be able to replenish whatever they are using up in the phloem of the plant. This will trigger the plant to start using whatever sugars it has already produced during the photosynthetic process that it has stored in the leaves and branches. The reasoning behind this is that cutting off nutrients to the plant will get them to use up whatever they have in the plant itself hence having a cleaner flower at harvest. This is usually done a few weeks prior to the anticipated harvest window.

While this may in fact be what is occurring one of the negatives I see in doing this is you aren't providing the same levels of food the plant has been using missing out on the last few weeks where your flowers can fatten up along with the curtailing the full production of cannabanoids, terpenes and other VOC's that help with the entourage effect.

In other words I see it as starving your plants along with heavily stressing them when the volume of water used to flush gets run through the soil media.

One of the goals I always try and achieve when I'm growing is to provide as stress free an environment as I can for the plants to be able to max out their performance. Any time used to recover, or worse stunt, is wasted time and energy and decreases the performance the plant is capable of.

BTW, the way I understand it, flushing came about from soil growers using salt based fertilizers over fertilizing their media toxing the plant.

[Rwise]

I dont see any dif using or not using molasses.
I also dont see any dif flushing or not.
There is an article here that says 3 days dark does increase THC content. I wonder IF that would go for pulling the plant and hanging it upside down in the dark while it uses the last of it's moisture.

[Bluey]

I have read in a couple of recent studies the following.

1. Using hydro nutes in soil grows does not impact the micro organisms function or quantity. The salts in the hydro nutes do no harm to the soil.

2. Using molasses likely only increases the sugar weight in the flowers but more research required.

I love how we have a number of different approaches to producing the best weed we can. I am always on the lookout to make it the best experience for the end user, which is me.

[Rwise]

For me what I get when pollinating an auto with pollen from a photo is mostly autos, maybe I just got lucky.

[MidwestWeedNerd]

I’m a organic soil grower but I just consider myself a OMRI grower. I don’t use anything that isn’t OMRI listed in my cannabis grow. I have never read the article on flushing or listened to many opinions on it. Flush is probably something salt based growers started using hydroponics. If you’re growing in a living soil the plant only takes what it’s wanting. And it would be virtually impossible to flush everything out of it to become a blank medium. If you’re growing hybrid style using soil and bottle nutrients that are not OMRI then I would think yes you may need to stop using it for a week or two before harvesting. Use blackstarp molasses for the last few weeks with the watering. Let microbes come back into the picture because salts kill em. The molasses will feed the microbes, mix with the salts to help leech them out and provide micronutrients to the plant so it’s not starving during key development periods. I have used bio bizz all the way up to harvest , my ashes are white my joints and bowls don’t crackle when lit. Proper watering, dialed in environment, good genetics harvest window and drying, curing and storage are way more key.

[Ckbrew]

Cross breeding question. If I cross with pollen from a feminized photo that has been forced to male with a feminized auto, what will the seeds be? Feminized presumably, but photo, auto, or something else?

[Bluey]

I agree with roots & ckbrew.

I don't think flushing does anything but remove nutes from the medium and stress the plant.

I think flushing is a good idea when things go wrong such as correcting pH or correcting a nute toxicity or salt build up, otherwise I wouldn't stress them out.

I don't think it does anything to improve the smoke or product or whatever it is your making. The dry and cure are critical for that. Low and slow is a good approach for me. Others do the opposite and it does change the effects at the expense of harshness.

[Jacci]

Do you remember where you found the photo " pre-flower right next to a spot that doesn't have a pre-flower yet, so you can compare."?