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MaryMaven

Member
Hi Dave! :wave:


How are those DP x Shit(Early Durban) girls doing? I see it's been a couple of weeks since the last pictures - how is budding coming along? AND, I JUST noticed, not only do you have the sitting on carpet, but it is WHITE carpet - and it is CLEAN. Damn, your ladies go nothing but first class, huh? :D

Peace
Maven
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
Thanks again, Dave. :)


I don't think UB is around over there anymore. But, like you, I don't really go over there anymore, especially since I found this place. Not near as "toxic" seeming over here, you know?


Most everyone I really enjoyed reading was also mostly gone by the time I discovered the site a couple of years ago, including you. I'd be reading along in an old thread and think 'I'll ask X if Y would work when I get to the end,' only to get to the end and find out they were no longer there posting.


I'm generally out of the loop when it comes to in-fighting/"politics" on message boards. I was happy to end up running across you over here of all places. (Oh, god, really, I'm not a stalker! :D You were just a participant in a couple of my fav. threads there so I remembered the name)


Everyone over here, for the most part, seems a bit more 'mature/diplomatic' and I like the vibe here much better. :)


Our vegetable garden is a little over a quarter acre in size. We also have a small orchard, berry patch, and a grape arbor. It's a lot of work, but I love it. We can/freeze/put up everything we are able to harvest. We have 3 married daughters and we supply all of their families with as much vegetables/fruit (fresh and put up), eggs, meat (venison, fish, turkey, beef, etc.) as we can. Gardening is my 'therapy' And I'd rather hoe a row for 6 hours in the sun than wash a sink full of dishes :D


Lord, I do babble on, don't I?


Peace
Maven

Its a shame he's not around there anymore. I always liked the guy. Hope he's still kicking up dirt somewhere.

Im glad you like ICMAG more as well. I dig the site and rarely had any issues here other than the ones I probably started myself:).

Your garden sounds like a small slice of heaven. The perfect place to go to get away from all the struggles of life.

Btw, you came to the correct thread to prattle on. Im prone to doing it myself at times hehe.

Oh man Dave, this thread was epic! No idea how I havent seen it until now! Bravo, lots of awesome stuff in here!

Welcome Ninja Mechanics! Im glad you stopped in and checked it out. Some nice pictures and some good content that could help your garden. Hope you'll stick around for future updates
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
Hi Dave! :wave:


How are those DP x Shit(Early Durban) girls doing? I see it's been a couple of weeks since the last pictures - how is budding coming along? AND, I JUST noticed, not only do you have the sitting on carpet, but it is WHITE carpet - and it is CLEAN. Damn, your ladies go nothing but first class, huh? :D

Peace
Maven

Those 3 ladies are doing quite well. Getting lots of tlc by me. Hungrier girls than I may have expected too. Im taking fertility measurements every two days, then increasing/decreasing food based upon the results. One of the plants ppm levels have gone from over 2Kppm to less than 800ppm since flowering began and were not even at the 1 month mark. The very lowest fan leaves are just beginning to lose their green, but Im trying to stave it off as best I can.

Feed strengths have been upwards of 450PPM for the really hungry girl, and 350ppm-400 for the less hungry ones. Ill keep at it and maybe I can get them all to the 1300-1500ppm range before heavy flowering really kicks in. Thats when fertility levels will plummet very quickly if Im not keeping up with feed strength.

The carpet isn't quite white. It does have some stains from where Ive spilled fertilizer ;). I just try to keep the stains out of the pics hehe. Maybe Ill get some pics snapped of the ladies tonight so you all can see the progression.
 

MaryMaven

Member
Now, using the suction lysimeter, and your ec/tds meter, I get that you know how much overall feed that your plants are using. But how do you know how much of what they are using/hungry for? Do you depend on the leaves alone to tell you - do you have to wait for a deficiency to show, like top of the plant for calcium, bottom for magnesium? Or am I missing something where these meters are concerned and how you know what you have to increase/decrease? Or do you just feed a good all-round WSF and let that be it?


I bought an EC/TDS meter but haven't had the time to make friends with it yet. The SL is, like I said, on my list for the *future*


Looking forward to the new pics...


Peace,
Maven


ETA: heh. when you roll over the "tlc" in your post it says it means 'thin layer chromatography" :D I'm like what the HELL is THAT, and will I need ANOTHER kind of meter for that? hahahahha. Then it hit me. :D
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
Now, using the suction lysimeter, and your ec/tds meter, I get that you know how much overall feed that your plants are using. But how do you know how much of what they are using/hungry for? Do you depend on the leaves alone to tell you - do you have to wait for a deficiency to show, like top of the plant for calcium, bottom for magnesium? Or am I missing something where these meters are concerned and how you know what you have to increase/decrease? Or do you just feed a good all-round WSF and let that be it?


I bought an EC/TDS meter but haven't had the time to make friends with it yet. The SL is, like I said, on my list for the *future*


Looking forward to the new pics...


Peace,
Maven


ETA: heh. when you roll over the "tlc" in your post it says it means 'thin layer chromatography" :D I'm like what the HELL is THAT, and will I need ANOTHER kind of meter for that? hahahahha. Then it hit me. :D

While there is tech you could use in your garden to measure the concentration of macro nutrients in the soil solutions I extract, it just isn't necessary, and its much more expensive than a simple Suction Lysimeter, and a good EC/PPM meter.

But I use leaf health to help me gauge whats going on like you said. Nitrogen deficiency is the most common problem we'll experience simply because plants typically use more N than anything else, especially MJ. Every now and then I may see early symptoms of Mag deficiency, but it doesn't occur very often unless Im chronically under-feeding.

Stick with a well rounded WSF, and as long as you provide an optimal feeding routine, you'll rarely have nutrient related issues. Osmocote helps too when the WSF may be lacking in some areas. Last time I checked, I think the Dyna Gro may be lacking on the Mag, Sulfur some, possibly could use a bit more Ca too, but the Osmocote covers that for me.

Ive got a bag of Calcium-Nitrate, and Epsom Salts, and various other salts I never use anymore because Osmocote + Dynagro covers my bases so well.

Once you get that SL, you'll wonder why you didn't get one sooner. Get a 12" model though, as I find they're easier to get solutions from containers that are 3 gallons or less. There are longer lysimeters, but they're more suited for larger/deeper containers. Plus the shorter ones are cheaper if you want to save money. I know I do.

The best way to use it, is to get your plant to a perfect state of healthy and green, then take a measurement. Afterwards just try to keep the ec/ppm of your soil solution near that value. With repeated usage, and experience you'll be able to narrow down an ideal range for each individual plant, as well as an overall range that works across the board pretty well.
 

MaryMaven

Member
While there is tech you could use in your garden to measure the concentration of macro nutrients in the soil solutions I extract, it just isn't necessary, and its much more expensive than a simple Suction Lysimeter, and a good EC/PPM meter.

But I use leaf health to help me gauge whats going on like you said. Nitrogen deficiency is the most common problem we'll experience simply because plants typically use more N than anything else, especially MJ. Every now and then I may see early symptoms of Mag deficiency, but it doesn't occur very often unless Im chronically under-feeding.

Stick with a well rounded WSF, and as long as you provide an optimal feeding routine, you'll rarely have nutrient related issues. Osmocote helps too when the WSF may be lacking in some areas. Last time I checked, I think the Dyna Gro may be lacking on the Mag, Sulfur some, possibly could use a bit more Ca too, but the Osmocote covers that for me.

Ive got a bag of Calcium-Nitrate, and Epsom Salts, and various other salts I never use anymore because Osmocote + Dynagro covers my bases so well.

Once you get that SL, you'll wonder why you didn't get one sooner. Get a 12" model though, as I find they're easier to get solutions from containers that are 3 gallons or less. There are longer lysimeters, but they're more suited for larger/deeper containers. Plus the shorter ones are cheaper if you want to save money. I know I do.

The best way to use it, is to get your plant to a perfect state of healthy and green, then take a measurement. Afterwards just try to keep the ec/ppm of your soil solution near that value. With repeated usage, and experience you'll be able to narrow down an ideal range for each individual plant, as well as an overall range that works across the board pretty well.


Ah, gotcha! Makes sense. :)


So far, so good this time around. I took your advice when I mixed my medium and added the Osmocote for extra insurance, so each time I've repotted it's been refreshed. I'm really impressed with how things are going so far. :) Now that I've gone into flower, the real test begins because there will be no more up-potting/refreshing of the medium so I have to watch a little closer.


I'm hoping to have time to get some decent pictures tomorrow because I have a couple of questions for you regarding defoliation. I've never been a big subscriber to it; I'm a firm believer that those leaves are there for a reason and I just HATE the 'lollipop' look, it makes me sad.


But this grow, I've created monsters. :D It's getting fairly tight in the grow space and I'm wondering if I need to clean them up just a little more than I have for light/air flow and to open them up. I just don't know if they need it, or if I've just been reading too much and second guessing myself again. I did clean up the lower area just to avoid any rotting problem from touching medium/watering. The (Ace) Early Bubba Hash plants are insanely vigorous and bushy!


What are your general thoughts on it? Do you ever do it to any degree; do you think it has its place?


Peace
Maven
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
I dont do any defoliation myself, but I do practice selective pruning mostly from the lowest parts of the plant. I will do this both in veg and flower. If I have lower branches that are never going to reach the canopy, Ill remove them.

Those sucker branches wont produce anything but larf at best in flower, if they can't reach the canopy(If were using overhead lighting). Different animal if vertical/side lighting is in play.

Some may call that lollipopping, but I dont go to the extreme. Ive seen pics that make me cringe too where the lowest 50% of the plant is removed, which seems like a huge waste to me.
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
More Durban Abnormalities

More Durban Abnormalities

Well it looks like the trifoliate Durban that had outgrown that trait has came back with even more of the problem. She started with 3 leaves per node, and slowly returned to normal. Today I discovered she had actually auto-topped herself, and the new top tripled down on the number of leaves per node.

This plant has 8 that you can see in the picture, with another 2 on the backside! Im just gonna let the plant keep doing its weird thing for awhile and see what happens next.

picture.php


picture.php
 

MaryMaven

Member
Well it looks like the trifoliate Durban that had outgrown that trait has came back with even more of the problem. She started with 3 leaves per node, and slowly returned to normal. Today I discovered she had actually auto-topped herself, and the new top tripled down on the number of leaves per node.

This plant has 8 that you can see in the picture, with another 2 on the backside! Im just gonna let the plant keep doing its weird thing for awhile and see what happens next.

View Image

View Image





Wow, that is so cool! Glad you are going to let her go - can't wait to see what happens next with her. :)
 

MaryMaven

Member
I dont do any defoliation myself, but I do practice selective pruning mostly from the lowest parts of the plant. I will do this both in veg and flower. If I have lower branches that are never going to reach the canopy, Ill remove them.

Those sucker branches wont produce anything but larf at best in flower, if they can't reach the canopy(If were using overhead lighting). Different animal if vertical/side lighting is in play.

Some may call that lollipopping, but I dont go to the extreme. Ive seen pics that make me cringe too where the lowest 50% part of the plant is removed, which seems like a huge waste to me.


Yeah, I think pruning is more what I had in mind when I said defoliation as well. Thanks. I'll try to get a couple of pictures tomorrow. They may be just fine. I am doing a lot of over-thinking and second guessing this time around. I guess because it is the first time I've grown genetics I've actually paid for, and it is a medical grow for my daughter so I get anxious about screwing it up. :)


Have a great evening!


Peace
Maven
 

oldbootz

Well-known member
Veteran
I think defoliation is useful if your plant has an established big root system already when its flipped. If you transplant into a big container and then flip it doesn't seem to help much. Its like the plant knows how much plant matter it can sustain according to its root system size and how much space is left in the container for roots to grow into. If there's not a lot of space left for roots when you flip the plant won't put on a lot of bud, but you get more by removing the large fans at week 1-2 flip in that situation. This applies to soil or soiless mix, hydro is different.
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
Wow, that is so cool! Glad you are going to let her go - can't wait to see what happens next with her.

It should be interesting..

I brought with me some shots of an Early Durban. This one is the most developed so far into flowering. Im thinking 75-90 Days and she'll be done at her current rate, but we'll see.

I took a fertility measurement tonight before watering, and it was at 600PPM. EEK! Its gone from 1200 to 600 in less than a week, and thats with me feeding at 400-450ppm 2 or 3 times during that time span. Hungry girl she is. Its the Shit side of the cross thats responsible for this. They feed more than most other plants in my garden, and can tolerate higher EC feedings with less issues, so Ive bumped her feed tonight up to 490ppm-24oz of solution.

Whenever I have low fertility like this, I find its best to gradually raise EC/PPM levels back to appropriate levels over a week or two period, rather than blast the plant with 600+ ppm feedings repeatedly. High ec/ppm feedings have a tendency to produce unwanted leaves popping up in the buds, imo.

Even with the low ppm levels, Ive only had one lower leaf begin to go pale on me, but if levels stay this low for a week or two more, the N def will begin to spread rapidly. Got to nip it in the bud right now before it gets worse.

Ok a few pics now. Ive got more to sort through, so there will be a second batch of photos for this lady.

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I dont understand why some photos come out crisp and sharp after upload while others get blurry afterwards. So frustrating. Anyone got tips?

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MaryMaven

Member
Just beautiful, Dave. She's really coming along nicely. Feed that girl :D


What's your aperture when you are shooting? If you are shooting shallow (f8 or higher (5.6, 4.8, etc...) and your focal point is just a bit off, your depth is so shallow that the whole picture can look a little fuzzy. I do that a lot when I forget to change my aperture. If you shoot f11 or lower (13, 16, etc...) you have a better chance of everything remaining in focus. But then your ISO needs to be set higher for low light situations.
 

MaryMaven

Member
I think defoliation is useful if your plant has an established big root system already when its flipped. If you transplant into a big container and then flip it doesn't seem to help much. Its like the plant knows how much plant matter it can sustain according to its root system size and how much space is left in the container for roots to grow into. If there's not a lot of space left for roots when you flip the plant won't put on a lot of bud, but you get more by removing the large fans at week 1-2 flip in that situation. This applies to soil or soiless mix, hydro is different.



Thanks, oldbootz, good thoughts on the subject. I do have plenty of roots, thanks to Dave. :D
 

MaryMaven

Member
OK, so, here are the girls, 1 week into flower...

OK, so, here are the girls, 1 week into flower...

1 picture each of each of the (Ace) Early Bubba Hash, then a couple of group shots from above and below to show how they are filling the space. In the group shots, the PxM is in the middle, and the EBH plants are in the 4 corners.


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Each one was topped for 4 main colas. So, you think leave them be, or work them over some more? They are one week into flower now...


Oh, and here's my PxM girl...She's started her stretch now and will come down off her blocks before too long as she will be as tall as the EBH plants ...


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Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
Just beautiful, Dave. She's really coming along nicely. Feed that girl :D


What's your aperture when you are shooting? If you are shooting shallow (f8 or higher (5.6, 4.8, etc...) and your focal point is just a bit off, your depth is so shallow that the whole picture can look a little fuzzy. I do that a lot when I forget to change my aperture. If you shoot f11 or lower (13, 16, etc...) you have a better chance of everything remaining in focus. But then your ISO needs to be set higher for low light situations.

I vary my aperature from as low as 1.8 to 22 depending on the depth of field Im looking to capture. Many photos I take end up shot at varying aperatures as I adjust settings in Manual mode so often.

I tried out a few different dimension settings when exporting photos tonight, and feel like thats where my problems may have been originating from. Going from PC to upload these photos dont lose a significant amount of sharpness whereas several previous photos went from fairly crisp to downright blurry after upload.


Your garden is looking real nice and healthy. Buds are right around the corner now. They've already overgrown their space by the looks of it, and are gonna do that even more as you progress into flowering. Sometimes we can have too many tops. Damn you uncle ben! Your upper canopy and perhaps middle canopy will produce some nice buds in there, but I wouldn't expect much decent nugs from deep in the canopy. Just not enough light making its way down there. I prefer to have enough space between plants so more light can strike lower branches, but sometimes Its not always possible/feasible.

picture.php


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seeded

Active member
Nice pics though what you want is to layer the in focus pictures into a single image. I recommend zerene stacker for the job (you can find a crack online that makes it good to 2025) and taking pictures by manually turning the focus wheel and using a remote control or timer to avoid the shakes. If you manually focus through the entire field of vision you wish to capture and then stack the images into a single picture everything will be crystal clear in the field of depth you wish to capture though you'll quickly find that fuzziness to define what you want in focus is equally as important as what you want to focus on too.

If I'm honest it'll feel a little like forgery at the end of the day but you'll create truly amazing pictures if your previous work is anything to go by so thanks for sharing and back to lurking :tiphat:
 

MaryMaven

Member
You are sooooo diplomatic heh...

You are sooooo diplomatic heh...

I vary my aperature from as low as 1.8 to 22 depending on the depth of field Im looking to capture. Many photos I take end up shot at varying aperatures as I adjust settings in Manual mode so often.

I tried out a few different dimension settings when exporting photos tonight, and feel like thats where my problems may have been originating from. Going from PC to upload these photos dont lose a significant amount of sharpness whereas several previous photos went from fairly crisp to downright blurry after upload.


Your garden is looking real nice and healthy. Buds are right around the corner now. They've already overgrown their space by the looks of it, and are gonna do that even more as you progress into flowering. Sometimes we can have too many tops. Damn you uncle ben! Your upper canopy and perhaps middle canopy will produce some nice buds in there, but I wouldn't expect much decent nugs from deep in the canopy. Just not enough light making its way down there. I prefer to have enough space between plants so more light can strike lower branches, but sometimes Its not always possible/feasible.

View Image

View Image

View Image

View Image


:D Seriously, most any other fellow would have read what I wrote and answered 'What, do my photos LOOK like I don't know how to adjust my camera settings?!?!' hahahaha! Yeah, I was a tad bit buzzed. A bit after I wrote that, I started to come back and delete/reword it because you obviously KNOW your settings. But we had a power outage, then when it came back we were without internet until I finally gave up and went to bed for lack of anything better to do. Such is life in the middle of nowhere. :) Finally got our internet back midmorning today.


Yeah, I never expected this kind of growth - these EBH plants are just monsters. I'll never try more than 1 or maybe two of them in this space again. I think I could have grown just one, spread the branches well, tied her up a little to keep her spread, and the 1 would have produced about as much as these 4 will produce in this space. *sigh* Live and learn. But in the future, I know not to waste these seeds! I cannot wait to try a couple of them outside this summer!


I cleaned them up/out just a LITTLE bit more - opened up the centers a little and removed the very lowest branches that I know wouldn't have done anything besides suck energy. I think what I left has a decent chance of producing fairly well. If I hold my hand down in them now, I can see light reflecting off of it pretty much all through them - it isn't blindingly bright, but it is better than it was.


I'm glad that the PxM will go so much longer than the EBH - after they are done and out of the way it will give her time with all the room/light to herself to bulk up after that.


Beautiful pictures! :) Glad you figured it out.


Peace
Maven
 

Dave Coulier

Active member
Veteran
Nice pics though what you want is to layer the in focus pictures into a single image. I recommend zerene stacker for the job (you can find a crack online that makes it good to 2025) and taking pictures by manually turning the focus wheel and using a remote control or timer to avoid the shakes. If you manually focus through the entire field of vision you wish to capture and then stack the images into a single picture everything will be crystal clear in the field of depth you wish to capture though you'll quickly find that fuzziness to define what you want in focus is equally as important as what you want to focus on too.

If I'm honest it'll feel a little like forgery at the end of the day but you'll create truly amazing pictures if your previous work is anything to go by so thanks for sharing and back to lurking

Thanks for the tips Seeded. Im still working without a tripod atm, and have no timer yet, so the software will probably have to wait a while before I try it out. Look forward to giving it a run though. Im always for improving picture quality.

:D Seriously, most any other fellow would have read what I wrote and answered 'What, do my photos LOOK like I don't know how to adjust my camera settings?!?!' hahahaha! Yeah, I was a tad bit buzzed. A bit after I wrote that, I started to come back and delete/reword it because you obviously KNOW your settings. But we had a power outage, then when it came back we were without internet until I finally gave up and went to bed for lack of anything better to do. Such is life in the middle of nowhere. Finally got our internet back midmorning today.

Yeah, you might say I have a tendency to buck the trend :).
I just now got my internet back too. It was an odd sensation to go a week without any internet. Ive got to get my fix of ICMAG :).

Yeah, I never expected this kind of growth - these EBH plants are just monsters. I'll never try more than 1 or maybe two of them in this space again. I think I could have grown just one, spread the branches well, tied her up a little to keep her spread, and the 1 would have produced about as much as these 4 will produce in this space. *sigh* Live and learn. But in the future, I know not to waste these seeds! I cannot wait to try a couple of them outside this summer!

Not to mention how much less work you would have in tending to 1 or 2 plants only. :biggrin:

I cleaned them up/out just a LITTLE bit more - opened up the centers a little and removed the very lowest branches that I know wouldn't have done anything besides suck energy. I think what I left has a decent chance of producing fairly well. If I hold my hand down in them now, I can see light reflecting off of it pretty much all through them - it isn't blindingly bright, but it is better than it was.

I should have mentioned this sooner, but then the internet went bye-bye for a bit, but when I am cleaning up lower branches, I will actually leave the first fan leaf attached to the main stalk. The sucker branch is gone, but the original fan leaf remains. Does that make sense? Those leftover fan leaves serve as a indicator when we experience a mobile nutrient deficiency, without the problem immediately affecting where bud production is occurring. It gives you a bit more time to correct problems before they spread to the canopy essentially.

I'm glad that the PxM will go so much longer than the EBH - after they are done and out of the way it will give her time with all the room/light to herself to bulk up after that.


Beautiful pictures! :) Glad you figured it out.

Ive snapped some more pics of Early Durban 2 tonight. I think you'll be pleased with them. I look forward to seeing how your ladies flower out, so please share them here.


Peace
Maven
 
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