HYDRO Full Auto - Second Grow

[NickyChicks]

Thanks for your insight, I'm going to chalk it up as warm res temp/root issue. As for the topping and defol, she was the strongest/fastest growing out of the bunch (up until yesterday when she drooped right after the water change). I figured screw it those leaves were shot and grabbed the shears. Also, I had seen a lot of Green75's journals and I've wanted to try his rather aggressive approach to autos. Maybe I should have waited a couple of days but trial and error right? Maybe I'll start a couple more seeds, just in case. However, I truly hope she does prove you wrong😅🙏

 

[alltatup]

NickyChicks I forgot to write yesterday: when the plants are quite young, I've learned that in my grow room environment, it's very important that I change the reservoir with the least amount of disturbance to the young roots. A couple of years back my plants and their roots would go into shock when I left the reservoir lid open too long or disturbed the roots in any way; so I stopped trying to clean the sediment out of the res and just made the water change as fast as possible. The roots have been much happier without any light or disturbance.

 

[alltatup]

Nicky, I went and watched some of Green75's tutorials on YouTube on defoliation and tying down. For one thing, he's growing in soil and you're in hydro: we can't tie down the way he does because his technique is dependent on soil for a firm anchoring of each bud site. So you have to modify your technique to suit your grow environment.

Secondly, his plants were in strong and vigorous growth, super-healthy. His branches were all strong from gentle manipulation and budsites growing fast.
He wouldn't do what he's doing if the plant were not in full health and strength. You won't get results like his unless your plants are likewise strong and healthy.

I've been working for a while now on finding ideal ways to tie down bud sites in my grow boxes: it's a challenge to find the right technique for each grow environment.

 

[NickyChicks]

Yeah I realize I probably topped her too early. 😔However I do have a plan in place for tying down branches, all of my lids have several eye hooks on them that that I use to anchor down the branches. I can add more eye hooks at anytime and anywhere on the lid. I got the idea from Obi Wan during my first grow and it worked really well. What you said about disturbing the roots while they're young makes sense. Though I was pretty quick during the water change, I did have the lids popped open longer than I probably needed. I really do think it had something to do with the temperature or my res but I've remedied that issue. It could have been a combo of things. All I can do now is hope for the best, show her some love, and learn from my mistakes good or bad. I definitely appreciate your input so keep an eye out when I update this grow next week!

 

[NickyChicks]

Oh fudge! Except I didn't say fudge.

Now I'm starting to thinking my plants have TMV. It's really an uneducated guess at this point but one of my Blue Cookies is now droopy and has the same markings as the Strawberry Cheesecake. I also noticed some very faint markings on some of the other plants. From what I've read there's a few ways a plant could get TMV, one of which is from contact with tobacco. Now I wonder if the fact that my friend, who babysat my girls for the weekend at his condo, smokes blunts in his condo would be a way of getting TMV, if that's even what happening. I'm not one to give up easily but I'm not sure what to do. I counted yesterday, I have 85 feminized seeds 41 of which are autos. Should I pop a couple more seeds and cut my losses? I know time is of the essence when it comes to autos so I'd hate to waste time and effort in salvaging a plant that's going to yield poorly because it had a shitty start.

 

[alltatup]

Nicky, I doubt you have TMV. If you have root rot or pH issues, your leaves will start showing all sorts of weird issues.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-plant-problems/marijuana-root-rot

 

[NickyChicks]

Thanks Tat. My head is spinning a little but believe me, I've read the root rot article. So many different variables in this grow compared to my previous/first grow and my inexperience is definitely showing. I removed the water pumps for the top feed to eliminate any heat they would generate. I think tonight when I get home I will do a water change and sterilize the buckets. I'm running out of thoughts and I really don't want to waste my time growing stunted plants. What do you do to ensure your roots stay healthy? I know I've seen you use a chiller to maintain temp, and I'm guessing you use some sort of root inoculant like hydroguard.

 

[alltatup]

NickyChicks Here's my journal on my root rot grow, and I got some decent bud out of harvest because I didn't ignore the problem: I focused all my energies on it and resolved it. If you THINK you have root rot, you better make sure if you do or not and act on it.

The problems start on the bottom of page 9:
https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...strains/page10

Have you done these things?
1. Know the water temp in your reservoir every day, at different times, to know just how high the temp gets w/ lights on.
2. Check the water temp after you add frozen bottles to cool it down.
3. Know how long the chill lasts.
4. Get a good look at or smell from your roots at least once a week to make sure they're going strong. If they're good, they'll have a nice veggie smell. My reservoir has all kind of sediment in it that makes it look very funky, but it always smells good. (See https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...he-driven-snow

It all depends on what you want to get out of growing. If you want top shelf potency bud, with wonderful aroma, body and color, you will study your ass off so that you can learn what to do when a problem begins and what to do to grow the best bud. I don't find it easy at all to grow really excellent weed: I've done a lot of reading, tons of studying tutorials, doing research to find solutions to problems, and of course, lots of practice. I have files on my computer on each grow phase, problems, temp/humid/light, curing, etc. I print stuff out and post it in my grow room to remind me of best practices. And I keep a grow journal.

This is what works for me in my grow room: maybe you have a photographic memory or don't need the same stuff I do; I don't know. This is what I do as I'm learning to grow really excellent week.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

NickyChicks even though I grow in soil I have seen the same symptom on my plants when it gets to warm to quickly and dry wind.

 

[NickyChicks]

Thanks I'm going to check it out when I get a little break today at work. We definitely share the same goals as far as wanting to grow high quality weed. My ppm meter reads temp and as of yesterday res temp was 21.2°C which should be right about 70°F. I would prefer to regulate the temp in my basement to keep temps low in the grow tent and in the reservoirs vs using frozen bottles or a chiller. They smell ok no funk, but I will take a pic tonight. I think I got off to a bad start and didn't give my girls the best environment to thrive in. Sorry if I sounded dismissive of your suggestion of the root rot article, that was not my intention. I know that growing great weed takes a lot of time and effort, what you put into it is what you get for sure. My memory is pretty good but not photographic, the GWE site is always an open tab on my phone. Hopefully now that I have the basement/grow tent temp regulated and the water pumps have become a thing of the past, I will be on the right path.

 

[alltatup]

NickyChicks And I don't mean to come off sounding like I'm lecturing you!! ;-}

 

[NickyChicks]

I truly appreciate the insight and advice of those who are more experienced and knowledgeable. I'll take it however I can get it 😁. Theres a lot to learn but I'm up for the challenge. I had a pretty successful first grow so I've set the bar for myself already but there's always going to be room for improvement.

 

[NickyChicks]

Water change, gave the buckets a good cleaning, rinsed the roots, doubled up on Hydroguard. I also checked for light leaks, low and behold all of the net pot were allowing light in because the reflective covers I have cover the net pots but not completely. Aluminum foil and duct tape to the rescue. The Strawberry Cheesecake had a large clump of idk what but it wasnt looking nice, I trimmed the roots right above it. It's funny how things can muck up so fast. Fingers crossed things start to look up from here on out. I did put 3 new seeds in my germination station this morning. 1 of those seeds will be going into my PC case which I swear will be operating by this weekend. The other two will join the tent, possibly as replacements.

 

[RagWeedDWC]

Not sure if this is on point, but one hard lesson I did learn was keep things clean in hydro. I use hospital grade hydrogen peroxide 3% on anything that goes into my totes. including test probes. I have seen the leaves droop like that when there was not enough air for the roots, but do not recall the color change. Heck of a nice grow and setup!

 

[alltatup]

Don't give up on the girls yet!!!

 

[NickyChicks]

RagWeedDWC thanks! You're probably on point with that. The water pumps I had in each bucket were not sterile in any way and I imagine that generate heat as well. Between that, the warm temps, and they light leaks I had a recipe for disaster is seems. I believe I have remedied all of the issues, after my water change last night, all of the girls are looking pretty happy today.

 

[NickyChicks]

Not giving up but I have my doubts about how big the plant will grow or how much I will yield from the Strawberry Cheesecake and one of the Blue Cookies. They aren't going anywhere yet but they're on my short list lol. I'm glad you shared the link for your previous grow that had your experience with root rot. I thought I had no light leaks but your journal prompted me to look and good thing I did.

 

[NickyChicks]

Day 23. Things are shaping up in the tent. The Strawberry Cheesecake is trying to live it's best life but I've made it tough. I partially snapped on of it's branches, one of it's two. I let it be, it healed, but it starting showing pistils. Looks like she isn't going to be a big girl by any means. The Blue Cookies that was looking kinda suspect seems to have come around. It's now been topped but it's growing pretty low so I haven't tied it down at all. The Blow Dream is the only one that I didn't top, I've been trying down the main stem on an angle and all of its branches. The rest have all been topped and tied down.

I didn't use any FloraliciousPlus in the last water change and I noticed a great improvement in the water. No sludge or sediment. Roots are looking sooo much better.

My LED light fixtures are almost done, hoping they'll be up and running by the weekend. Just waiting on getting five of the eight heatsinks machined so I can mount them to the frame. I got a little taste of the LED life now that I have my PC case micro grow up and running. It's only been two days since the seedling went in, if she lives I'll make a separate post.

Happy growing everyone, stay safe, spread love.

 

[alltatup]

They look fabulous, Nicky!!! Everyone's humming along! ;-}

I keep adhesive tape in the growroom and immediately make a tight splint when I snap a stem; so far this grow, they all bounced back.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I look at my tower I have a Lenovo desk top and I can not see how a grow would work in it?