Tips, Tricks, and Maybe Secrets

[FullDuplex]

Well guys let me first state that i am new to the site and love what i have gathered so far. The resources here are fantastic and have a wider base of help from experienced growers/breeders that are willing to share there knowledge. This is a hard thing to find but they are there. My purpose of this thread is to first introduce my self and then share some tips and tricks that i have learned over the years and kinda pass around the knowledge. I hope some will follow suit as well as ask as many questions that may be concerned. i just want to give back the way that the info was given and shared to me.

 

[FullDuplex]

Currently i have a Mossy jem growing and she is doing well. This is my first run at autos and it seems to me that this is where i should have been all along. I have grown many other strains as well as bag seed, had to start to learn somewhere, and over time i have seen as well as learned several things about our fav plants. This new world of autos has me completely intrigued. To sit and watch one of these grow is fantastic and an actual joy. I have put to work several of the ideas that i have developed as well as learned from the regular strains into this plant and she has responded well to the treatment.

So more about my set up....

My current grow op is mostly DIY and home made except for lights and fans everything else is built and designed in the garage by me. It may sound goofy but i have this tick about if you put more into it and lots of thought behind it it will work for you. It may take a few modifications but who gets it right the first time? I have a 3x3x5 cab that houses a 250watt MH/HPS HTG supply light. This light is completely functional and was at a great price. No malfunctions and there line of bulbs are bright. I also am running 2 4 foot flouro fixtures to provide side lighting and the walls are lined with mylar. I figure after this grow i am gonna go with flat white as i have seen this reflect light 10x better. After i coverd my floor with water proof white plastic i was hooked, opening the door to my room is like opening the lid of the arc of the covenant in Indiana Jones, light every where. There are a few other fans in there to move air but nothing high speed, just all placed in the right spots.

the inline that i am running is a 6'' 435 cfm blower that is connected to ducting and a DIY cool tube. When i built this cool tube i was able to keep the reflector in tact so i wouldnt loose any downward reflection. I am able to keep temps at a solid 76.2 and i mean solid there is no change in temp till night time when the lights go out and then back to 76 when the lights hit the canopy. I attached a few shots of the cab to give you an idea of what i have going on.

So if there are any questions or things you would like to add please do as i hope to learn just as much as i share in this thread, even if it is all me posting my experiences lol

Happy growing to all.

 

[mossy]

Well done my m8...

Cannabis growers are the most generous people I know..
whether it is time..experience..knowledge..or support..
it is all given freely.

karma goes around and comes around.


Looking forward to seeing what you have to share..

 

[FullDuplex]

Well done my m8...

Cannabis growers are the most generous people I know..
whether it is time..experience..knowledge..or support..
it is all given freely.

I have to agree, i have ran into a few that were not as keen to provide help but more good than bad TBH.

karma goes around and comes around.

indeed it does, and i can attest to this one in both life and growing

Looking forward to seeing what you have to share..

trying to get these posts up so i can PM you so we can share thoughts and ideas too, i too have a few things id like to share... and i hope i can learn plenty from you sir.

 

[FullDuplex]

How well do you know your H20

How well do you know your H20

So i guess the first topic ill start on is a little secret of mine. This is available to everyone and the best part about it is that its free. It contains high levels of life sustaining minerals and can do magical things to your grow.

I know that several of you soil growers focus on using RO water or distilled water. Something that has not gone through the city treatment plant is usually ideal. Most of the chemicals, such as chlorine, can take a toll on our precious ladies. Not to mention the fact that it has a pH typically some where in the seven range. So with those two items in mind you can already see the issues with using water from the tap. Its almost as you have to revert it back to a natural state kind in the same fashion that RO does.

This is the main reason that i do not use tap water at all! I take too much pride and time into each and every plant i start to have them destroyed by attempting to give them what they need to survive. So i had to come to a solution in where i didn't have to go to the store all the time and purchase distilled or RO water. Or even worse sink more money into a RO system for the home. So i started doing what I know best and have done for years as a Veggie Gardner. I started harvesting rain water.

Now most of you may think that there isnt much that this stuff can do over RO water or distilled water but i beg to differ. Before you decide to skip to the next thread hear me out a little. I started using rain water on my plants about a year ago. There are a few things that i do to the water before feeding, and ill cover them, that help keep it balanced. First thing that I will tell you is that it falls at almost the ideal pH range for our ladies, coming in at anywhere from 5.0-6.0. Almost every ounce i have harvested has been right at 5.8-6.0, and i just add a buffer to the water to maintain the same pH level until that gallon is gone. Now this may vary form area to area based upon climate conditions and pollution, which results in acid rain, in the area.

When i was using RO water i would have to constantly monitor the pH, whether in soil or hydro, and most of the time i had to take it down like most of us do. This was a pain in the ass to me. There are already enough things that i have to monitor and look at that i didn't really need another and i had to find a solution to this to make it work like clock work. I wanted to be able to test the water at anytime and get the same results as i did the last time i checked levels and it be persistent. I tried a few things to develop a more balanced consistency in the water and with the RO this did not happen. Leading me to find something cheaper as well as more stable. This is when i began to place buckets out side and catch a little rain water and begin my testing.

First round went well, after collecting a little over a gallon of water i began my first set of tests. The water at that time came in at 5.9, so i decided not to buffer it and see how many days it took to balance out to 7. It took 5 days to come all the way back to 7. In my experience with RO water it was back to 7 in 2-3 days. So this cut some of the time i was spending checking levels in my water back. Then i decided to buffer the water to 6.0 with a solid pH up additive. After making this change to the water i was able to hold the water at 6 for over a week. This was great for me. I now could check the water once a week and know that i know its the correct pH. Mind you i am very obsessed with the pH of my water as i have learned it can destroy everything you have worked so hard for.

So with this new found access to free life essentials for my ladies i began pushing it further. I wanted to get as much out of what i had as well as keep it fresh and clean for my ladies. After a few more tests and placing a few theories into place i found a way to keep the water pH perfect and loaded with Oxygen for the entire time the water was being used. I typically prepare two gallons at a time as i keep a small grow most of the time. I am in this for two things, the joy of botany and personal consumption. I dont believe in making a profit off of something that God has given us free.

I have the advantage of having an additional fridge in my garage that is only being used for the freezer, so i had tons of room to store the water chilled. This was part of the process of keeping the water at good pH levels. Not only did this assist in keeping the pH levels right but it also prevented any bacteria that may be in the raw water from growing, so no disease. Once i began this i realized that over time of storage that the water would loose any oxygen that it had in it. I needed to find a way to keep it in there as i used the water for feeding. Now i usually feed every three days, unless the soil becomes dry before then, but with in those three days i know the levels of O were depleating and by the time i reached the end of the res the O levels had to be minimal if any. So i figured that i would give something a try that i knew kept another form of life alive for quite some time in water. This was the little tabs from Wal-mart you can get for your portable Minnow bucket Yes they sell little tablets that you can place in the water to keep O levels at peak for any reason, whether it be minnows, or in my case high levels of O for a special root system.

Now that time has passed i have this system in full operation with pumps now rather than placing a tab in the water every three days. So with the water being chilled, and Oxygen levels staying high i no longer have to buffer my water except for the time i place it into the "feed" res. Once in there it stays at 5.9 till the last drop, and ive tested that last drop lol. i have had amazing results using this method. Like i stated above i have had to purchase any water since, i have a few collectors out back now that catch and filter out the leaves and other garbage, and i have an unlimited supply for both my veggie garden as well as my "herb" garden.

My current grow is with my own soil mix and rain water only till about three weeks, it never drooped, got sick, yellowed or showed any health issues thus far. I have gone to bloom nutes at this time to kind of push her to get a good yield. And forgot to mention i have a 2 month old photo period plant in the room with the jems.....ill cut the lights on it when the jem finishes, she she been raised on rain water only, no nuts have been given to it at all and she is monstrous. So take from this what you will or call me crazy, either way i know this has produced great things for me. ill go through the archives and get you some pics if i can find them to show differences.

FD

 

[FullDuplex]

My Thoughts on Trimming

My Thoughts on Trimming

There are some key debates that i often see in a majority of cannabis boards. Most of them deal with light, soils, ferts, and the most famous "is it ready?" There is one however, that i see asked quite a bit but never really see any answer to other than general ideas. So I thought i would share my thoughts on this as well as a few shots of some ladies in the different environments.

Should I trim my plants? Depends or does it? I see this pop up from time to time and the answers are usually vague. I my self have been guilty of posting short one line answers for this, but in detail its all most too much for someones thread. One of the key points to the life of a plant is the ability for it to store food and then metabolize it and turn in into energy to grow. In its vegetative state the plant begins to warehouse this energy into its larger fan leaves for later usage. As it grows it develops several of these warehouses until it reaches maturity, either by nature or control, and then moves its energy to producing flowers.

As we feed these plants ferts over there life span, we give the plant something to boost the level of energy that it stores. So with that in mind think about this. Over the course of its life we monitor the levels of nutrients we apply in order to find the max we can feed them with out burning them, that way in the end we can benefit from the results of or hard work. But if we strip this away what have we worked for?

In the past i have done my fair share of clipping and manicuring, i have also learned many things from it. Hense my motto "the less you mess with them, the less you stress them." I don't know what it is about cannabis cultivators having the itch to snip and clip. For some reason there is some little monster in all of us that likes to use scissors on plants....

With that being said I will go over the times i have found useful as well as a mistake. My first grow was in a DWC set up that i made from scratch. First off this was a challenge for me as it not only was my first DWC, it was my first grow ever. There was TONS of learning involved. At about 5 inches i decided to top. End result was a bush as intended but with the beginning of 4 new branches. As she grew she bushed over the edges of the bucket she was in. As she grew the bottom leaves were showing evident signs that they were not getting enough light. There were new side branching sites that were three nodes high but all had a three leave pattern. This showed that that the bottom was not getting enough light to mature properly. As the nodes grow the leaves should two. 1, 3, 5 and so on and so forth. As long as there is proper light and nitrogen in the veg state they should progress in this manner. I have had all the way up to 11.

So i clipped them. I clipped the bottom eighth of the plant. Removing anything that did not show progressive growth. The result of this was more than i can handle. I removed a section of the plant that was doing nothing but being dormant. I saw the plant as wasting energy on keeping something undeveloped alive. The tops of the plant exploded. I think from two things, the massive amounts of O2 the roots were receiving, allowing production of new growth, and the fact that the plant could focus its energy upward now. Long story short i had to super crop the top into flower resulting in out growth of the box and small tops .... Like i said learned a thing or two.

Here is an example of one in similar fashion. The grower here did manicure the lower section of the plant maintaining great results. This little monster is in a stealth enclosure and he trimmed to allow both plants to have room and his later results for his female were rather large.

You can see that he did no more trimming to the plant allowing the fan leaves between the bud sites there. Some of them will block light from certain bud areas, but these buds get a chance to swell in the end. Allowing the leaves to die naturally on this plant during flush is the best thing he can do from this point. Then he can let that little demon out to clip.

Here is another example of trimming but on the more heavier side.

This Jem is from a grower who opened her up for more colas. Which is a great idea. I had no idea the branching abilities of this strain, until i grew my own. I can tell you if bound down she will produce. As you see here there are fewer fan leaves than the above mentioned plant. This has allowed the plant more light over the general area of the bud sites. This will give him more colas and longer buds. The only draw back is he is going to have to wait a little loner for them. Although this is a draw back the end result will still be decent for the grower as he has technically added more bud sites.


There are adverse effects on plants when too much trimming is done. It doesn't harm the plant it just tends to slow the plant down. I see some hydro and soil growers a like take 1/3 or more of the bottom of the plant. If this is taken late into veg this WILL impact the results of your buds. If you removed the ware house there is no food stock. the sugar leaves that are laced in between the buds are not enough to feed her. You'll notice yourself feeding her higher levels of ferts in the end as she finishes, due to the fact she has no natural food to pull from. This often makes for a harsh smoke as the levels of ferts in the medium is high and requires a heavy flush.

If you allow the plant to naturally use the food stored in its fan leaves its giving the plant exactly what it needs, when it needs it. By removing the nutrients out of the soil you force the plant to eat its self and during the end of flower this, i think, is key. If you remove the warehouses the plant has noting to rely on other than what you were feeding it. So you have done two things, removed its food stock and flushed out all the food you were putting in the soil. Giving the buds nothing to swell with. During the last weeks of her life she is going to work the hardest and i think for her to be efficient she needs that natural source of food.

I can tell you this. During this past grow i didnt remove one leaf in order to test the natural ability of this plant. I wanted to see her in her full potential under the best conditions i could provide, and she thanked me. I now have removed a few fans that have faded out fully to yellow as they are technically dead. The result of this was good as this allowed some more air into the thick head bud and the one bud below has swollen almost double in the last day due to new light. As she yellows more and more each day the buds get fatter and fatter, and i see fields of resin getting milkier and milkier. This alone makes a believer out of me.

Thanks to Anonamix and Iron Lungs for photos.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

that's too much to read.

 

[cyber echo]

Hello mate,
As far as trimming goes, I would avoid it and instead go with LST or anything else that gets more light into the budding areas without having to damage the plant in any way. Just tie the top of the plant and eventually pull it down over a duration of 3-4 days, and a few weeks later, you will have a bush. (Considering you kept training it, there are several lst guides you can read I'm not gonna make this post long)

You should also take into consideration that the flowers themselves are dense and block light, are you gonna trim flowers too ? Nah.

Grow horizontally if you want to maximize yields, and flowering nodes on top of each other will only mean less light from both leaves and flowers as you go down, unless you are using vertical light, than that is another subject.

About lights,
You should really check out these CMH bulbs and invest in them. I have one and if u take a look at the pics in my thread, you can see how "natural" the light is. Also has good amounts of uv and a full SPD. "Throws" less heat at the plants too. On my setup I can probably get the cooltube at like 8-10cm from the canopy.

If lst had been applied, getting the cooltube that close to the canopy will light the whole plant up. Thats what I am planning at least. We shall see ...

Nice thread bro.

ps: as far as the plant "eating itself". Just do a proper flush at the right time and the plant will deplete its reserves. Some people feed for too long and then "have" to harvest, and so never have time to do a proper flush.
If you are doing hydro, 5-6 days of pure water is all you need for the plant to yellow up and consume its reserves.
If you are doing soil, you need a bit more, just make sure you flush with a "light" (really light) solution instead of pure water, since light solutions are better are getting stuff out of ur soil due to how ions attract themselves. (same with coco, but coco needs way less time than soil, prolly as long as hydro)

 

[FullDuplex]

Hello mate,
As far as trimming goes, I would avoid it and instead go with LST or anything else that gets more light into the budding areas without having to damage the plant in any way. Just tie the top of the plant and eventually pull it down over a duration of 3-4 days, and a few weeks later, you will have a bush. (Considering you kept training it, there are several lst guides you can read I'm not gonna make this post long)

I agree with you here. I love LST and what you can do with it. Its amazing how trainable they really are had a few looking good but turned out male.....

You should also take into consideration that the flowers themselves are dense and block light, are you gonna trim flowers too ? Nah.

Exactly

About lights,
You should really check out these CMH bulbs and invest in them. I have one and if u take a look at the pics in my thread, you can see how "natural" the light is. Also has good amounts of uv and a full SPD. "Throws" less heat at the plants too. On my setup I can probably get the cooltube at like 8-10cm from the canopy.

If lst had been applied, getting the cooltube that close to the canopy will light the whole plant up. Thats what I am planning at least. We shall see ...

I have been looking into these and reading about them. Just have to see if they make them in my wattage. I dont mind trying anything at least once its how you learn

Nice thread bro.

 

[FullDuplex]

that's too much to read.

I understand that, but if there is some one looking for info or learning they wont mind reading. I guess ill have to keep it simple and summarize my articles for some minds.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

reading sucks

 

[mossy]

Just call me the Bush Trimmer....

A "Standardised" long season canna.
I super-cropped her to keep her under my max-headroom.

You should also take into consideration that the flowers themselves are dense and block light, are you gonna trim flowers too ? Nah.

Yeah...

Then I stripped all the crappy little/light bud from her stalk..
so she would put all her energy into fattening the Big bud..
rather than maturing the crappy small bud that I hate to trim..and can't be bothered to smoke.

I got 180 g's Dry...of Fat bud..only..off her.
But..
I left as many intact fans as I could on her.

Love the water info..I should be getting my water butt shortly..
and I have the aeration block..so I'll give it a try.
I know how much they need the oxygen.

I got my m8 to test my water with his pool ph kit..
it was over 8..
If I can use Natural water I will...

 

[cyber echo]

Hehe mossy,
I was actually talking about the top bud blocking light from the lower buds, you minimize this when the plant is mostly horizontal, as the number of nodes stacked over each other is significantly less. Instead of bud sites over each other, you'll have them growing side by side, for the most part.

 

[FullDuplex]

reading sucks

lol i agree, but i would have never been as far advanced with this as i am with out it

Just call me the Bush Trimmer....

A "Standardised" long season canna.
I super-cropped her to keep her under my max-headroom.

Yeah...

Then I stripped all the crappy little/light bud from her stalk..
so she would put all her energy into fattening the Big bud..
rather than maturing the crappy small bud that I hate to trim..and can't be bothered to smoke.

I got 180 g's Dry...of Fat bud..only..off her.
But..
I left as many intact fans as I could on her.

and the results here are out standing. Even though you have removed off about 1/3 of her under side you left what she would need to focus on the upper buds.

That plant looks outstanding cropped like that.

I will be using the lower under developed buds for hash this go around was gonna do a dual harvest, but ill be gone for a week or so with no one to take care of her while i am at the beach. So Hash it is.

Love the water info..I should be getting my water butt shortly..
and I have the aeration block..so I'll give it a try.
I know how much they need the oxygen.

I think that you will find this really rewarding. I have recently assisted my father in law in getting things ready for his garden of veggies. I have made him some of my Compost Tea and he uses the stone each time to "activate" the tea and water mix. His 3 week old tomato plants are now reaching 6 foot.

I got my m8 to test my water with his pool ph kit..
it was over 8..
If I can use Natural water I will...

Not to bad just some simple buffer and it should stable out for you. Mine does all the time and i finally got me a replacement fridge for all my harvests of rain water as the wife sold off the other one i had....

 

[mossy]

I know m8..I've LST'd as well...I know what you are saying


(BUT..I've been on the little black af..and I think it is safe to say she has a mischevious side...)

 

[FullDuplex]

I know m8..I've LST'd as well...I know what you are saying


(BUT..I've been on the little black af..and I think it is safe to say she has a mischevious side...)

Really?

May i ask what she is doing?

 

[Iron Lungs]

Hey FD,

loved the trimming article!!! i feel very honored to have my girl as an example (in a positive way) haha

 

[FullDuplex]

Hey FD,

loved the trimming article!!! i feel very honored to have my girl as an example (in a positive way) haha

Hey thanks man, and its always a good to share the things that i have learned over the years. I just like to share is what it comes down to. I cant really talk about my hobby.....cept for here

 

[Iron Lungs]

Hey thanks man, and its always a good to share the things that i have learned over the years. I just like to share is what it comes down to. I cant really talk about my hobby.....cept for here

I know what you mean man! it is a wierd situation haha ill start talking to people about marijuana, and growing (only VERY close people) and i'll start rambling and rambling and they look at me like shut up! ha its a love not many people get to enjoy!

 

[FullDuplex]

For those who have doubts about my rain water theory......Thought id show ya the close to end results of the use of it.