HYDRO Project Blueberry

[RagWeedDWC]

That's what I started with, but it flakes off, not a lot but enough to worry me.

 

[RagWeedDWC]

Until the a large amount of the roots hit, I would do that. Your net pots are setup identical to mine, all I strive for is to keep the rocks moist which keeps the rockwool moist until the roots are established. When I do not do that wilting is one symptom not enough moisture. My one attempt at RDWC ended up with roots clogging my return lines, not to mention the res took up to much space in my finite grow space.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

I noticed when I pulled net pots out that the bottoms were staying wet because of all the bubbles popping just below them so as long as the water level is high enough, the hydroton and the rooter plug especially won't dry out.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

No kidding! I had to be extra careful not to scrape them against anything until the paint was genuinely good and dry. I only painted the lids black because I knew there would be barely enough white to go around. The lids are now covered over in HVAC aluminum tape. I should do the same for the reservoir lid in the other tent and maybe even the PVC pipe return manifolds in both of them. While the whole thing was apart I held the PVC up to the light and noticed that under a strong enough source, some light will penetrate the thick white pipe.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Here's the setup after the emergency teardown and rebuild. It's definitely brighter everywhere inside!

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Big Sister Blueberry continues her lonely life with all of her roommates gone. I had to make a decision this morning about what to do with this setup that's stuck in neutral. The two clones I cut from her as well as all the other clones in the aeroponic cloner still haven't rooted. I cut more clones from the moms of my "on deck" varieties so I can try the humidity dome method to see if it gets better results. Chop is no more than two weeks away in the big tent. I looked at cutting clones from Blueberry and decided she's had enough. I installed a ScrOG net to train her to take over the whole tent by herself! If her clones ever root, I can add them later. I also have my last Sweet Zombie seed germinating. I may just grow that one out in coco and keep it for a mom instead of putting it in this tent. Time will snitch.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Blueberry is starting to take up the screen and I have been forced to learn supercropping. Her stem was just too rigid and with the sideways tension her netpot was coming out.

She may yet get more company of her own kind because I took the two cuttings from her that failed to root in the aeroponic cloner and recut the stems so I can give the tray and humidity dome a chance to make those two root after all this time.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Blueberry continues to slowly fill out squares in the ScrOG net and Sweet Zombie is working on its third set of leaves with as little stretching as I've ever seen on a seedling. The remaining Blueberry cuttings have another week before I give up on them. I think they are just too exhausted to make it but they may surprise me.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Wow, I think I must have forgotten to hit 'Post Reply' before shutting down over the last few weeks! Big sis has taken over about a third of the scrog net now. Sweet Zombie could stand to grow a bit faster but looks healthy after pH got out of control while I was sick a few weeks back. One of the Blueberry cuttings made roots but algae in the tray attacked them before I transferred it to hydro, so it might not make it. I'm about to just decide to flip to flower next weekend because this thing is dragging on too long!

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

I trimmed up Blueberry a bit to remove dead and dying stuff. Sweet Zombie is undergrown for its age. I found out why. I decided to recalibrate my pH pen for the first time since I got it. It was a whole point high! No wonder Blueberry still looked like it was suffering potassium and calcium deficiencies when I knew it had plenty. I'm just glad it survived until I came to my senses! Looks like 12/12 will wait until at least next week.

I also pulled the Blueberry clone at left front. The roots died back and there was no point in trying anymore. :sad-frown:

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

This is the week this girl finally gets to flower. Lights were changed to 12/12 with the dawn to dusk timer engaged. I'm in the middle of a water change in the pic. I hook up a hose to the pump and let it run into the floor drain then refill then drain again then refill. It helps get rid of salts and debris like coco bits from those clones.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Week 2 of flower and I'm seeing a response already. Blueberry is showing preflowers now. Sweet Zombie is still getting its strength back. I've given them both a good spritz with the new pressure sprayer of LCPT. I'd really like to have thrips extinct by the time trichomes form.

This is the first week with bloom nutes. I've been in a bit of a pinch with nobody being able to get Soul nutes easily for some reason. Same goes for anything from Hydrofarm. I'm reluctantly looking at alternative nute programs. Amazon has provided a gallon of Infinity (the stuff you use throughout the grow) to keep me afloat for now, so no big panic. Has anyone tried Cyco or Botanicare?

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Week 3 of flower and Blueberry is definitely making as many flowers as it can. Sweet Zombie even has the beginning of a cola now! Blueberry is also dropping yellowed leaves fast now that the nutes are switched. I've added another thrip trap and continue to bomb the little bastards at least every other day.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Week 4 of flower and Blueberry continues to drop fan leaves and make bud everywhere it can. I may just get an ounce or so out of this girl yet. The thrips don't seem to be bothering this tent anymore. It seems the 4x4 is the only hotspot left in the thrip invasion. Sweet Zombie is trying to reach the net but I don't think it will get there.

I'm going to replace the original water line to this house and add a filter system. I hope with the chlorine and pesticides out of the water that Blueberry will do better next go-round when I grow out some for seed.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

I can't believe it's already week 5. Buds continue to grow, fan leaves are dropping too. It seems I'm removing up to a half-dozen yellowed ones every day. It's one night after their latest feed and the buds grew significantly. Picture to follow; I forgot to get snaps yesterday because I was sick and in a hurry to get the chores done. This should be the last feed before the filter is working. I've apparently been ghosted by the plumber I called to reroute the ancient piping from under the basement floor. I may just have to take things in my own hands.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Week 6 and Blueberry looks closer to finishing than she ought to. Fan leaves are dropping off daily and about 50% of her stigmas are orange. Unfortunately, her buds aren't fattening much. Sweet Zombie is tiny but frosty and might yield more than two grams if all goes well. Honestly, I can't wait to chop because I'm so ready to move on to the next grow.

I put in a water filtration system and that whole story deserves its own thread. I'm sure my tap water has less crap in it but TDS has jumped over 300 since I put it in! I don't know if it is because of all the disturbance to a 125 year-old pipe or the carbon filters shedding their smallest particles. I got a much better response in the big tent so I'm staying hopeful that this was a good move. Pictures later when I can get in before lights out; the days are getting very short in these tents.

 

[JohnEmad]

sounds like something isn't in the zone or wasn't if the buds didn't develop fully. old pipes ...could be ...hard to say.
A shame but that's how we learn.
I just ordered some old school blueberry from stock 1st collected in 1976. i cannot wait to see how they grow and taste.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

These two plants survived my forgetting to calibrate my pH meter for a few months and were runted because of that. I had that Blueberry back to health and then I let something that stupid happen to her. She was a Seedsman freebie anyway. Next time I grow BB, it will be with the standard Dutch Passion beans. I want to fill a jar with seeds first grow and then sinsemilla next time after.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

At week 7 of flower Blueberry has about 90% red stigmas and about 80% of fan leaves gone. I expect to chop next weekend. Sweet Zombie is at least looking frosty and more on schedule with its maturation. SZ will probably take another 2 weeks and I don't wanna wait but I will. All this for what will likely be a half ounce of bud of any grade.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

After eight weeks, Blueberry got scissored. I will get a good idea of what Blueberry should taste like after drying but there isn't much there. I should have gotten pictures for the sake of others. When I pulled her out from the bucket after trimming off the buds, I was horrified to see clumps of rotted roots falling back into the water. I immediately checked on Sweet Zombie and found her roots were fine. I added a dose of Hydroguard and turned up the air pump just to be sure. I wondered if the sudden absence of chloramine from the filter installation caused it but I don't think so. I suspect clinging coco clumps in her root mass may have harbored the bad bacteria until it was strong enough to attack Blueberry. I will also be tearing this whole setup down and painting all unpainted surfaces on the PVC manifold just to be sure. Sweet Zombie will finish with the LEDs all to itself for a few weeks. Both tents might get cleared out on the same weekend! I'm getting to the point where I'm trying to gauge when to start the next batch of seeds and it's exciting to finally get close to that day.