COCO COIR 1st Grow Journal! 1st Indoor Grow! Rasp Cough/Blue Mystic/White Widow auto

[rangerjake]

Here are some shots from today, Day 28.

Leaf w/ spots is on the Blue Mystic. Ordered some FloraKleen and gonna flush her and the Autos.

Numbers are on the board for in/out. Still v high for BM. Autos are doing ok- I think the ppm out is a little misleadingly high. Raspberry still $.

 

[HappyDaze]

I put up pics of a poorly finished Blue Dream in soil I mainlined last year here https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/317073-1st-timer I'm interested to compare your Raspberry quadline to it, they seem to have a similar branch structure. That Raspberry is looking great.

 

[rangerjake]

Day 39 from seed.

Big defoliation today to cut back on the jungles forming on the Blue/Rasp quadlines. Structure getting dialed but I fucked up and bent too hard on a Blue Mystic branch snapping it irreparably past the first node. Hopefully I can turn what I snapped off into a good clone. Thankful to keep those growth tip/fan leave of the first node to give decent productivity off that side. Symmetry be damned!

Raspberry is looking swell and taking to the quadline like a champ. Great structure and symmetry, very consistent in the coco ph and ppms. The star pupil so far.

The Autos are all in different spots, and I am not disappointed. #1 is pretty developed for the end of week 2 of flowering. The branching and efforts I have taken to expose promising bud sites to light make it look like a really promising setup for yield. #2 is looking good, but looks about a week or more behind in flowering compared to #1. #3, the runt, is looking good enough for something I contemplated throwing out 3 weeks ago. Be thrilled to pull 1/2oz from it.


All in all happy with where things are at. I will air my biggest concerns below. Maybe someone see's it and chimes in.

1) Humidity. Tent is in a basement and temp stable every day between 68f and 82f. But, the big basement at this time of year has an ambient RH of about 65-70%. This means that when lights are on the RH in the tent ranges from lows of 48ish to highs of 56ish- these numbers are fine by me. But when lights are out (6 hrs midday) RH sits in the mid 70s consistently. I have a lot of air circulation going on to at least ward off what I consider the biggest contributor to mold/rot. Hoping to see the autos through since they are (so Nirvana says) more resistant to rot/mold with this plan. And that the change of seasons will lower the basement RH for the crucial time in early-mid flower for the photos- especially since they'll be in the dark for 12 hrs at that point.

2) Runoff and root pH. Raspberry is fine. Consistently 6.4, nute runoff tends to be only slightly higher than feed. Autos are ok. Consistent 6.8, a bit of a greater disparity between feed and runoff ppms, but nothing scary. Blue Mystic still the most fickle. Runoff pH still at 7. Drainage has improved after cutting some holes in the fabric pot bottom and relocating with more breeze on it. PPMs have gotten a touch better after flushing with FloraKleen, but still climbs back up very fast after feedings. Hard to hold it low even when alternating nutes with plain ph'd water.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I don't think 70% is to high until you have buds stacking up on colas.

 

[rangerjake]

Well, that's good to hear. That time is coming on the next month or so for the 3 autos. Won't have that on the 2 photos for another 8 weeks at least, and hopefully by then the ambient environment has dried out a bit.

 

[rangerjake]

Time for an update to comprise the last 7 weeks or so:

-the autos went through a big challenge in flowering. After lots of thought and consideration I am thinking the stresses were light leak related. The harvest was good, could have been better. The best plant gave 3-3.5oz, the more critically stressed plant gave 2.5oz of airy and sticky flower, and the runt gave about 31g of decent quality bud.

-in finishing the autos my photos got very big. Put in a SCROG to try and help flatten the canopy and use the "stretch" energy to grow out rather than up. Had mild success with this, but now at 3.5 weeks into flowering I don't think there is much room for these to grow up without getting into the danger zone for the light. Currently about 8-14" below 315 LEC (Philips 3100k).

-aside from height, the photos (Blue mystic and Raspberry Cough) are looking just beautiful. Runoff numbers are pretty good, but consistent. Not a lot of objective plant health signs that are concerning. (knock on wood). Another 5-6 weeks to see these things through. If all goes smoothly I am thinking 6oz/plant should be an easy get.

Below are some pictures of the harvesting process for the autos, the photos getting the SCROG a few days after the flip (8/2), and where the plants stand now after a healthy defoliating yesterday.

 

[rangerjake]

Day 100! Day 26 of Flower.

How's that light clearance???

 

[Mr.furley]

Looks perfect and they are loving it so that's all the data one needs,.good job.

 

[HappyDaze]

Fire hazard = low ....you're golden!!!

As Furley says, they're loving it.

 

[rangerjake]

Appreciate the positive words. Feel like the vast majority of whatever upward stretch was going to happen has happened, and that the spread of the SCROG will limit the up push of any more energy. Assuming that is the case we are resting at the closest 7-9" below the bottom of the fixtures and predominantly 12-14" below the bottom of the fixtures. I agree, plants look happy and I wouldn't be changing anything right now. But lights on temps are still a tad higher than I would want (82ish F), upper 60s in the dark. Humidity is spot on in the 45-60 range. I only want to prepare myself for how and when a light burn/heat issue may rear itself and if others had insight on what to watch out for in both setup and plant response cues.

 

[rangerjake]

Looking top down today. Right to left, Rasp to Blue Myst

 

[Mr.furley]

Looks good here, great green color! No signs on leaf burn, leaf is flat or reaching for the light. Low 80f isn't "text book" but I've seen higher with good results, if you have a good source of co2 the plants can withstand hot temps so spend alot time breathing on them.

 

[rangerjake]

Day 107! 5 weeks complete in flower! Things are getting fat!

Just made some makeshift adjustments to the inside to buy a few more inches of clearance for the lights. Taped some 2x4 hunks to the crossbars of the tent to rest the wooden stay that holds my lights on. So 2" height gained. Still only 8" above the tallest flowers, 12-14" above the average height. Also the lights got pushed closer to each other/center of the tent so now the tallest colas, more on the perimeter, aren't directly under the fixture but slightly off to the side. Hopefully a little help in keeping the light intensity in a safer zone.

Also dropped my thermometer/hygrometer sensor about 6" lower to right at the canopy height, not above it, and lo and behold it dropped what was my average temperature a few degrees. Was 82-84f with lights on and 68f lights off. Now we are 78-80f lights on and 66-67 off. Humidity with lights is 45-55% and 65% off. Money! Stay true- one month to go.

You can see a little in the photos of RC where the flowers in back have succumbed to their own weight that there is some browning of leaves. Minimal damage and spread, only noticed in that one spot. But could be lights and the first signs. Let's hope that extra couple inches helps.

 

[s62]

Looking lush!

 

[rangerjake]

mighty impressed with these 2 little seeds and what they've become so far. hope they stay the course.

 

[Mr.furley]

Great looking garden.

 

[Canuck147]

Beautiful!

 

[rangerjake]

Day 111. 4 weeks (+/-) of flower remain.

Some points of concern, though not extreme concern since by and large the plants look good.

Consistent feeding at 6.0-6.4pH. For most of the first 4 weeks of flowering runoff was only .1 off of what went in. In the past 7-10 days runoff has been coming out decidedly acidic. 5.2ish. The only things I can think of that have changed are:

-temps have gone down the past week. From 82/68 to 76/64. Humidity is golden.
-flowers are finally starting to see the stress of the close lights. potentially effecting things at the roots?
-had a steady, non-overwhelming fungus gnat issue that I have begun treating more aggressively in the past 7-10 days. Beyond yellow traps, I started to spray neem oil on the top of the coir every 2nd or 3rd day. Also done a few times of every other day feeding to let the top of the coir dry a bit more. Still a few gnats around but not too bad atm.

Check the flower photos below. The ones not directly under the lights def look a little different. RC flowers not under the light are starting to have pistils go red. Under the light it's looking white as the new fallen snow. Just timing difference or bleaching? Same sorta thing on the BM. Less about the pistils and more about little white spot on the top of the flowers right under the light, not on the ones off to the side.

Did a FloraKleen flush a couple days ago after getting some high ppms (3000 RC, 2600 BM) and am now back down to reasonable numbers (1400-1600). Had no immediate effect on the pH coming out.

Also some tent photos below.

 

[Canuck147]

Second pic looks delicious.

 

[rangerjake]

Getting close here. Thinking the flush begins in a few days and then 7-10 days of that to harvest. That'll put it at just about 9 weeks from the flip.

Couple questions for those that know:

Trichome development usually happens at what pace? My jewelers loupe and novice eye saw about 30% glassy trics, 60% cloudy trics, and 10% amber at most. I'd love to harvest at mostly cloudy with maybe 20% amber. Is that something that tends to develop at a pace of days or weeks from my current state?

The pistil observation method seems only a little useful as blooms of new pistils are happening closest to the lights and no matter what I am gonna be harvesting at 30-50% white pistils anyway.

Any other advice on flushing or ideas will be good to have. Can taste the finish line and the big trimming job ahead.