3rd Indoor Grow .. Wedding Cake/Grandoggy Jones

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hello everyone.

I am starting this grow diary to try and help me improve the way I grow, and to help newbies like myself learn from my mistakes haha. So I'm hoping that you good people from this forum will share your knowledge/experience/ideas to help me on my way to being a better grower. Any help/advice/ideas/constructive criticism/encouragement on growing and my set will be greatly appreciated. I will try to be as thorough as I can so I can get the right help if needed. Please bear with me as this is my first time doing something like this, there will most probably be lots of edits lol. I have also uploaded the Feeding Program that I will be using as a guide.

I ordered seeds through an Australian seedbank due to having trouble finding any overseas seedbank guaranteeing delivery to Australia and taking credit/debit card as well. I was lucky to find these seeds, Wedding Cake from New420guy and Grandoggy Jones from Connoisseur Genetics. On the 21/06 3 x WC and 3 x GDJ seeds were started using the paper towel method between two plates from the GWE site. I used a temperature controlled heat pad at 21°C as it is quite cold here at the moment. Within 24hrs 2 seeds of each strain had popped, by 36hrs(23/06) all seeds were ready to be planted. All seeds were put into Eazy Plugs that were soaked in 1/4 strength nutrients, 1.25ml A+B each per litre and .25ml Go Roots per litre, pH5.8. They were then put into a humidity dome with the vent closed, and the dome put in a W75cm x H60cm tent under two 24watt purple T5 globesPS1 light kit | MOJOCOW.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

25/06 two seedlings of each strain had popped through the plug, one having trouble getting the membrane from the off. Applied a drop of water a couple of times to see if that would help. Opened vents on humidity dome. By the next day all seedlings were up, one WC looking a little average and one still having trouble removing membrane. Got sterilised tweezers and gently pulled off membrane successfully. Left dome on with vents open for 24hrs and then removed dome, turned off heat pad.
30/06 checked plugs and found the seedlings ready to be put into a jumbo solo cup cut down a bit, probably could have been done 244hrs earlier, my fault. Prepared solo cups with 70% coco 30% perlite and 1/4 strength A+B nutrients/Go Roots, pH 5.8. Then left for two hours before planting seedlings. Seedlings put back under T5 light, 3 to 4 inches from canopy. Over the next week kept medium damp with 1/4 strength nutrients in a spray bottle and tent at 23°C. Humidity is a bit of a battle here at the moment, its a very cold winter, central heating is making it a bit dry. Even with my humidifier on, I cant seem to get it higher than 58%.
On the 02/07 I added two more T5 globes to the light..white this time to help with growth and heat, light kept 3 inches away.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

10/07 Seedlings are ready to be put into their last pots in the big tent, they have grown a fair bit over the last 8 days. I prepared the pots then watered with 1/2 strength A+B(2.5ml per Ltr) and Go Roots .25ml per Ltr, then left to sit for 24hrs. The next day the seedlings were planted. I made holes in each pot big enough for the solo cup, cut away the solo cup gently, then planted and watered the seedling in. Lights were adjusted to 36" from canopy at 50% power. Temp is only 23°C and humidity is at 52%, still struggling with the cold and ducted heating, its a bit of a battle. The Wedding Cake didn't seem to need time to recover after the transplant, just started taking off straight away under the ES 300's. The Grandoggy Jones took 3 days to recover, but are doing well now.
Pictures are taken day of transplanting 11/07

 

[Smoklahoma]

I'll be following along for the ride. Been contemplating doing the same.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I really enjoyed the WC i grew from NewGuys420 really frosty smooth smoking. Your doing well with your grows it's exciting to see. Best of luck

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Cheers mate. Not sure what sort of ride its going to be, maybe a bit bumpy with the temps and humidity at the moment.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

I'm looking forward to trying the Wedding Cake for the first time SoOrbudgal, reviews are quite good on the strain. Thank you for your encouraging words and luck. All your help/advice/input with my grows has and is always greatly appreciated, thanks again..

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Not much to report except that I am still dealing with low temps and humidity. I now have one big humidifier in the room the tent is drawing air from, and a smaller one in the actual tent. Temps are ranging between 17°C at night and 23°C during the day. Humidity is fluctuating between 46% and 53%. If I raise the temperature on the house ducted heating it dries the air out even more. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

On the 17/07 day 1 of the 4th week since all seedlings sprouted I added Go Green to the feeding schedule, which is like a calmag with a couple of extra benefits. The feeding measurements for the next week will be Go Roots .25ml/L, Go Green 2ml/L, A+B 1.25ml/L..giving me a EC of around 1.1. I should also mention that I stir in the additives to my water(21-23°C) in the order I wrote them in this comment, then add equal amounts of A+B until I get my desired EC, aiming for EC 1.0 for this week. I am also only watering/feeding every 2 to 3 days at the moment. Started plants at 90cm's from lights, 50% power. Measured today WC is 84cm's from light, GDJ is 85cm's from light. Turned power up to 60% on lights to try help a little with heat.

As I am coming to the time when I would like to top, 5 to 6 nodes, was wondering how everyone tops? Does anyone take numbers 1 or 2 nodes off at the same time? Just been thinking about my past 2 grows, and noticed that the bottom nodes had developed longer branches than the others but had less bud. So I'm wondering(haha) if I take node 1 and maybe 2, would the plant focus its energy on more of the productive areas. I'm guessing that's what mainlining is more about, but I don't want to strip as many nodes. Probably sounds like a dumb question, but don't have the experience yet to answer it.

These photos were taken today 18/07. The first 3 are of the Wedding Cake, they are doing quite well considering the conditions aren't the best at the moment. They are just starting on the 5th node, correct me if I'm wrong please, and they are healthy enough to top over the next few days IMO. I will be topping them twice, maybe three times, depending on veg growth.
The 4th, 5th and 6th photos are of the Grandoggy Jones. They have been slow in growth compared to the WC since transplanting but seem to have taken off a bit more in the last couple of days. They are on their 4th node and will be topping I think around the end of week 4.
All plants seem to have responded very well to turning up the light by 10% 24hrs later

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and look forward to any help/advice with my questions and grow. Cheers.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hello everyone.

It has been about 7 days since I last posted on grow 3 due to being a very busy week for me, starting a new project. The last week has been a bit of a up and down week for my grow 3, have had a couple of problems with the Grandoggy Jones plants. The plants starting showing symptoms of overwatering and also what looked like the start of Nitrogen Toxicity, tip burn and darkening leaves. I did a full flush with pH'd water then left the GDJ to dry out for an extra day or so than the Wedding Cake. I made a mistake by upping the nutrients too early for the GDJ when I went to half strength I think, they seem like they are quite a sensitive plant. But by yesterday the GDJ's plants seemed to be as healthy as the WC, but will be keeping the nutrients for the GDJ plants at a EC 1.0 for the next week just to be safe, then slowly raise the EC after that.
The Wedding Cake has been a dream to grow so far, not much I can really add about the WC plants except that watching them grow has been a delight. I will be slowly raising the EC on the WC plants this week to around 1.6, keeping a good on them as I raise the EC.

19/07 I added the third Electric Sky 300 to the tent for a bit of extra heat, and now the tent sits on around 24-25°C during the day, which has made me a bit happier. The humidity is slightly higher as well, between 50-55% during the day.

21/07 Yellow sticky pads delivered and put in pots. There was a bit of a fight between a couple of leaves and the sticky pads, pads won:dead:. I made a mistake by putting the pads too close to the plant, got a little leaf damage. So if your looking at the holes in the leaves and you think bug problem .. its not. It was an attack by the yellow sticky pads on my plants, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. lol

23/07 Started training. So during my research on training in the past week, I stumbled upon a tutorial that I became quite interested in. This tutorial by BU2B .. How I average a pound per plant - GrowWeedEasy.com Cannabis Growing Forum is what I will be following for this grow, and I'm pretty excited about it. Today I topped all plants between nodes 3 and 4. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do, literally I had a tear running down my cheek lol. When I have topped previously its been between the 4th and 5th node, but that extra node seemed like a lot of plant haha.

24/07 Plants recovered from topping quite well, all leaves were up not droopy.

Pictures were taken yesterday 23/07. First three are of the WC, third pic of 1 plant topped. Last 3 pictures of GDJ, third pic of 1 plant topped.

Cheers.

 

[Smoklahoma]

Looking good. That's a great tutorial. Was planning to do the PPP method myself but I got some funky crap growing in my buckets that can't seem to get rid of.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks buddy. Its a very well done tutorial, glad I stumbled across it while researching. I noticed your post about the problem. Looks like you have two well respected growers trying to help you. Talk to these growers mate, they know their stuff. Cheers.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hello everyone.

End of week 5. Once again I have had a bit of a hectic week with life and growing, research overload. I have had a pretty productive week with the grow three tent. At the start of the week I had to trim the tips off some of the large fan leaves, they were touching the rim of the pot and some were starting to touch the ground before light went out. I am now feeding all plants nutrients/additives at an EC 1.6 .. Go Roots .25ml/L, Go Green 2ml/L, Grow Fast 2.5ml/L and A+B 1ml/L. I will be slowly raising the EC to EC 1.8 over the next week or two, keeping a good eye on the plants Humidity and temp are still a bit up and down, but the weather here is slowly getting warmer. I have done a lot more training as well on the plants .. info and pictures below. Other than that, I have just been doing general maintenance/care for the plants and tent, lots of cleaning:frown:. Cheers

28/07 5 days after topping the plants I stripped all vegetative growth from underneath node 3, except for the two fan leaves with node 3.

29/07 started training the plants horizontally .. which was a little scary to start off with lol

30/07 Cut all large fan leaves off plants as they were getting in the way of training, leaves were starting to lay on top of each other.

Pictures are before and after stripping the vegetative growth below node 3 .. not sure what order they will upload in sorry, been having trouble.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Pictures of training branches horizonal and removal of large fan leaves..

 

[TOKABIGONE]

Hey there old Aussie, your grow looks really good. This might be a dumb question if I'm missing something but I see your medium is in a screen cloth bag and then in a square white pot. Does that not defeat the purpose of a grow bag to root prune by air circulation around the bag? And the drain petcock is just for water run off? Sorry I just haven't seen this setup before. Thanks I'm off to bed so I'll look for your answer in my morning, lol ! Happy pharming!

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks buddy, appreciate the compliment. My nerves are starting to ease, been a little anxious learning these new training techniques. Really enjoy your tutorial mate. Cheers

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

HaHaHa .. old Aussie. How are you buddy? Thank you for the compliment on the grow, appreciate it. I will put up some links for the pots I am using mate, it will be better than me trying to explain it, and not as boring. One of the links is a video by the bucket company on YouTube, my pots are 10gallon(37L) design on the inside. There are a few more videos on YouTube as well of actual proper setups. Will try to take some pics of my pots and how the roots are growing tomorrow, have to be careful lifting 37L of damp coco in the mesh inserts.
https://www.thebucketcompany.com/the-medical-planter/
https://www.thebucketcompany.com/screen-pots/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WbZOJaA5Fw

 

[TOKABIGONE]

You be careful there my good man, you are getting past the lifting stage, lol ! I can give advise now that I din't bother to listen to at your age most likely with the same result!! Snicker Snicker! Have a great day sir!

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hahaha .. you are funny mate. I'm hoping to have plenty of years lifting left in me, once I heal that is. I always listen to all advice, especially from older wiser people with more life/growing experience/knowledge than me. And you are right, Im at the age where I should be looking after myself a bit more. Appreciate the advice.

Not sure if you had a chance to have a look at the links I posted or not, but I will try to explain the pots I use the best I can. The net insert for the pot only barely touches the pot in certain places, there is actually a gap between insert and pot(refer to pic's below). The design of the wall of the pot and the design/size of the insert is how the gap is made, by my observation only. The bottom of the pot has raised round bumps that keep the insert/medium out of the runoff, and helps with drainage. There are some great pics and videos out there that shows you the root system while mid grow. Unfortunately my brother and roommate tried to lift the insert out today so I could take pictures, but the top of the insert started to rip open where the seam is. So will have to wait until the end of the grow to show you buddy.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

TOKABIGONE here some pics of the pots .. best I can do at the moment buddy.

 

[TOKABIGONE]

I see now thanks. Air gets in thru the top and down the sides, cool. Having a little brain fog this morning so I'll check this more later!