will the wickedness never end?

[greyfader]

i forgot i wanted to say something about the media mix. i did not dump the medium after the last grow. i was able to pull the root balls out and shake them off and so recovered most of the perlite.

i added 6 more lbs of worm poo and some more vermiculite and DE.

this increased water retention and so i have adjusted by going from 1 min every hour to 1 min every 2 hours. still delivering about 4 gals per event.

the new media mix feels moist to the touch at the surface at all times but not soaking wet.

the recirculating is happening without restriction.

i'm still using the jack's 3-2-1 formula with fulvic and kelp. reading today 1040 ppm at the .5 conversion and ph was 5.8.

 

[greyfader]

i confess to neglecting this thread! it is now week 4 plus one day of flowering.

stretch is done. i've been cleaning them up and thinning a little.

i've been playing around with the light.

i put the reflective skirt back on but in order to not exceed 2000 umols at the center, i removed 24 14-watt bulbs.

so now my readings are much more uniform over the entire canopy.

in these pics you are looking at 1500 umols at the top of the center plants.

but because of the combination of the removed bulbs and the skirt i am now getting around 1150-1250 umols at the edges.

we lost 336 watts so the fixture is now 1344 watts.

before the bulb removal i was getting 1980-2000 umols plus in the center without the skirt.

yesterday i dumped the recirculating reservoir and refilled with a 5-2.5-1 jack's. that's 5 gr per gal jack's, 2.5 gr per gal of calcinit, and 1 gr per gal mag sulfate. this mix came out to 1270 ppm at the .5 conversion or ec 2.54. 13 ml 85% phosphoric acid brought the ph to 5.5 in the bulk reservoir and it checked at 5.8 this morning.

the strain is rare lemonhead #10.

 

[Texagonian]

@delta9nxs , how’s things going sir? Hope all is well.

~Tex

 

[greyfader]

howdy, everything is fine except for my broken-down old body! i am building a house alone and i mean really alone! other than the concrete work no one else has touched it.

i'm doing it but i come back from the site every day totally exhausted.

i eat, burn a few bowls, and pass out.

get up and do it again. daily except for weather and medical tests. i had a liver transplant in 2009 and after a transplant they treat you like a guinea pig for the rest of your life.

i get full labs done every 3 mos and every scan and test you can name annually. last month it was an ultrasound and last week it was a MRI.

i am probably about to get "hubbled" again! (colonoscopy).

i get mri brain scans annually as part of a long-term study about ptsd in post-surgical patients. i don't show any at all and they don't understand it as most folks getting a major transplant are all stressed out and scared. i'm too high to have ptsd!

i have harvested the rare lemonhead in the sea of green. it is a very nice, high terp profile, intellectually stimulating plant.

sativa leaning upbeat high. very tasty!

but i didn't like the way the flowers formed and so i won't grow it again.

i did do a veg experiment with just one plant for speed of growth. i'll include some pics here of it. i won't flower it as i have clones arriving tomorrow of a very special plant.

i'll wait on the description of the genetics until the breeder puts out a statement.

i've decided that i don't care for sog too much. i'm a big plant grower.

the lemonhead veg experiment shows a 5 week veg with multiple toppings to control height and create a more level canopy. it also increased shoot count at the top.

i have a few pics of the lemonhead right before the chop.

i will try to stay up with the new plant as it is a very special plant bred by a friend of mine.

pics in next post

 

[greyfader]

the lemonhead just before the whack.

then the clone at transplant. a few more showing growth, and today with the yardstick just before i cut it down.

 

[greyfader]

it reached the horizontal tube in 3 weeks from transplant. the last 2 weeks is when the topping was done.

top and bottom of the root ball. perlite, worm castings, vermiculite, and DE.

 

[Texagonian]

Great to see you back and the system you’re using still blows my mind. I need to put mine together for the maiden voyage. I have all the parts and pieces gathered. Just been busy and sounds like you have been too. A couple little kids and sports on top of work is my excuse ?

 

[greyfader]

what sports?

 

[Texagonian]

what sports?

Soccer and karate. Older kids played softball, basketball and water polo

 

[greyfader]

sports are a great way for kids to burn energy. keeps them out of trouble.

and it builds bonds and good memories.

my sports in high school were partying and billiards. and fucking up!

 

[greyfader]

i got the new genetic thursday. it is called Blue Star. it is a cross of Whitaker Blues and Death Star.

JD Short used a west coast clone known as Quimby in a cross with DJ Shorts f4 Blueberry to make Whitaker Blues.

Death Star is a cross of Sensi Star and Sour Diesel.

this is the Mayberry #22 pheno of Blue Star done by Josh Blue of Blue Star Seedco. it is available as a s1 and i think regular as well but i don't know for sure.

i'll have more info later. here's a pic of one.

 

[Texagonian]

sports are a great way for kids to burn energy. keeps them out of trouble.

and it builds bonds and good memories.

my sports in high school were partying and billiards. and fucking up!

Agreed and agreed?? I played base, basket and football along with freestyle box and any kind of skateboarding. Then came high school?. Cars, beers, booze, bud and whatever else we could get plus we were chasing the ?. Good times!!

 

[greyfader]

i just want to show the changes i have made to go back to growing large plants.

five gal sq craftsman bucket from lowes. the square design lets you mount the float valve alongside the tailpiece without interference. i cut it at precisely 7" and set the pool depth at 3" leaving a 4" air gap under the plant. i know from experience this works well with perlite.

the pool holds approx 24 gals at this depth.

i'm using a single 3" tailpiece with this 7 gal feed tub.

perlite is still the main structural part of the medium. i have omitted the vermiculite this time as it, with DE, can form a sludge.

the 7 gal tub with 6 gals of media has been topped with 2 8oz cups of worm castings and one cup of DE.

worked it into the top 3" or so with gloved claw fingers.

instead of using another pool for the reservoir cover, i chose reflectix. two 6' lengths at right angles to each other cover the pool nicely.

the container holds the reflectix lower than the pool rim so it forms a little rough parabolic reflector.

the pump is an eco 185 rated at 158 gph. with this halo it puts out about a quart in 10 seconds. total pump run time 8 minutes per day.

i am running it 10 seconds every 30 minutes right now and it's keeping the entire surface wet to the touch.

the white ring around the plant is a cut-off one gal Clorox jug. i have transplanted directly from the cloner and the ring stays on the first week to help develop a good rootball. it just lifts out over the plant saving from having to do another transplant.

initially running just the inner ring of the light fixture with 12 bulbs removed from center making this temporarily 672 watts.

also, forgot to mention that this set-up puts the top of the medium at 13" above the floor. a little more headroom.

 

[BH]

i just want to show the changes i have made to go back to growing large plants.

why are u leaving that first pot , I would of directly transplanted ? Just asking out of curiosity

 

[greyfader]

hey BH! i find i get a better root ball shape by confining the roots slightly at first. i already had what some would consider a large rootball on the clones as i cloned these in 3.2 cup containers and they were in them for 26 days. so big fist-sized and well rooted.

i forgot to say that's not really a pot it's a cut-off jug with no top or bottom.