Tribulations of an Absentee Gardener

[PCBuds]

...Growing autos with a 12/12 from seed light schedule may be a possibility.

You can grow autos with 18/6 lights on from start to finish.

More light, bigger buds.

Autos have ruderalis in them.

That helps keep bugs and disease away.

They don't care about light schedules or leaks.

They might even grow in Siberia?

 

[SecondAttempt]

What’s new in this grow?

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

What’s new in this grow?

Still nursing the unexpected intruder that germinated after being planted for several weeks. It’s an ace seeds Panama and seems to be taking forever to come to completion! After an “abused” start it’s grown into a very large plant just as the Honduras did. The buds, however, aren’t looking as large and dense as my previous grow.

I have fabbed some smaller custom containers that will accommodate 8 plants in my meager footprint. While I have yet to plant anything in them, they are maintaining a very consistent moisture level that looks conducive to good grow conditions.

I’m still an avid fan of this swick system and the vertical light orientation is a great companion if your looking for massive yields with very modest care. As soon as this plant is harvested, however, I will abandon the vertical light setup. As mentioned before, my priorities are variety rather than quantity. The overhead SIL’s are going to be a better fit for my goals.

Life has been a bit tumultuous for me lately on several fronts and gardening has been put on the back burner for a while. When I get up and running again, plans are to try autoflowering strains under 12/12 from seed light regimen with some minor early pruning in an effort to keep the size manageable.

Thanx for the inquiry.

BCDD

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

SOON

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

SO WHERE’S BOOCOO BEEN?........

My prolonged absence was unexpected. I accidentally stumbled upon a very enjoyable hobby that quickly morphed into a profitable venture that I just couldn’t turn my back on. Unfortunately, this resulted in a consistent flow of traffic through my old woodworking shop. As mentioned earlier in this thread, this building is also where my stealth grow operation lives; not a good combination. So, temporary suspension of my beloved gardening project was required.

Fast forward a bit: Problem finally resolved by recently contracting an outside company to market my wares. Now I’m strictly involved with production and have eliminated public contact (pain in the ass anyway!) so let’s get back to gardening!!

Its been gratifying to see view tally of this old thread approach the 10k mark. Thanx to all who have stopped by to take a peek during my absence and welcome back. Looking forward to getting everyone caught up again

To be continued........

 

[flylowgethigh]

Still nursing the unexpected intruder that germinated after being planted for several weeks. It’s an ace seeds Panama and seems to be taking forever to come to completion! After an “abused” start it’s grown into a very large plant just as the Honduras did. The buds, however, aren’t looking as large and dense as my previous grow.

I have fabbed some smaller custom containers that will accommodate 8 plants in my meager footprint. While I have yet to plant anything in them, they are maintaining a very consistent moisture level that looks conducive to good grow conditions.

I’m still an avid fan of this swick system and the vertical light orientation is a great companion if your looking for massive yields with very modest care. As soon as this plant is harvested, however, I will abandon the vertical light setup. As mentioned before, my priorities are variety rather than quantity. The overhead SIL’s are going to be a better fit for my goals.

Life has been a bit tumultuous for me lately on several fronts and gardening has been put on the back burner for a while. When I get up and running again, plans are to try autoflowering strains under 12/12 from seed light regimen with some minor early pruning in an effort to keep the size manageable.

Thanx for the inquiry.

BCDD

Me too. I didn't know there was another SWICKer around ICMag.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

WOW!! A kindred spirit! I, too, thought I was flying solo here. Thanx for stopping by. Please feel free to share your experience with the Swick system. Where did you first learn about swick? I was infatuated by a thread on a brand x forum started by Sweet Sue several years ago. Twisted the system about a bit to fit my needs, added an auto fill feature and learned to bottom feed through it and I became hooked quickly!! I can’t imagine ever straying to another way of growing. It’s so incredibly easy to establish and forgiving of abuse I’m astounded it hasn’t been more widely accepted.

Thanx again for stopping by and please do share your experience.

BCDD

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

NOW FOR A SHORT REWIND......

Let me backtrack a bit to bring everyone abreast as to where I am today.

Early in this thread I laid out several goals I hoped to achieve with this experiment. First and foremost was to design a semi-autonomous grow system. After 3 years, I still score this one a really big success. At day 50 of my present grow, I have been absent on two occasions for a total of 31 days and all 3 plants are doing quite well.

Another goal was to be able to accommodate a variety of different species in a small footprint by keeping the plants compact and hopefully shorten the seed to harvest time. I hoped to achieve this by limiting the grow container size and using a 12/12 from seed light schedule. Score this one an EPIC, EPIC disaster!! So far, everything I’ve grown as turned to an unmanageable monster despite all of my converse efforts. In one of my last posts prior to going awol, I had mentioned that I planned on trying some autos on a 12/12 from seed light schedule. While I still have faith this will keep my plants at a manageable compact size, I have yet to follow through on this theory. I’ll share the reason why a bit later.

Additionally, I wanted this system to be as labor un-intensive (if that’s a word?) as possible, being the lazy sob that I am. This has turned out to be a really bright spot as well. After sitting idle for a long while, I cleaned the float valve in the swick basin, flushed and filled the reservoir and flushed and refilled the grow bags with my coco/perlite mix, maybe 30 minutes involved. After the initial setup and germinating the seeds, the only maintenance involved has been to periodically adjust the height of the lights and transitioning to the vertical light system at about day 30. So, let’s say maybe 10 minutes involved over the span of 50 days. Color me happy!!

So far, the system has proven to be fairly well tuned. I recently made the first mod and that was simply to attach the two outboard vertical lighting frames to the doors of my grow cabinet. It was a bit of a pain to remove them from their hangers and set them aside somewhere when I wanted to take a peek at the plants. Also, that gave me a badly needed couple of inches clearance to the plants. I’ll include some pix a bit later. I have a second mod planned at the completion of this grow. I’ve found that it was a mistake placing the float valve on the back side of the basin. Verifying the nutrient level and proper operation has proven problematic with a large plant directly in my path.

To be continued........

BCDD

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

SO WHERE ARE THE AUTOS?......

In the early 70’s I got really stoned on Columbian Gold once; it lasted about 10 years!! At the end of the decade, new employment tragically required abstinence. In 2015 I rediscovered cannabis but was totally underwhelmed with the new strains. Since then I’ve grown over 3 dozen different cultivars, mostly with sad disappointment. Nothing seemed to come close to the fond memories of the Columbian Gold of old.

When my gardening adventure suddenly came to a halt several months ago, there was no doubt my next grow was going to be something AUTO. All of this got shoved to the back burner, however, when I was able to procure some CG72 seeds from USC. Could this finally be the eureka I’ve been seeking for the last 6 years?!? Could this actually be the descendant of the weed of my youth?!? Reports look promising and I’m not about to pass up an opportunity like this. The auto experiment is just going to have to wait a bit.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had stellar results with the USC seeds thus far. Last year I popped 3 of the 10 seeds I’d received. Only 2 germinated. These 2 took a torturous almost 90 days to show sex and both were male!!! #@:€§¥£§!!!! Some puzzling results I’ll share at a later time.

On 5/23 I popped the remaining 7 seeds. Only 5 germinated and 2 of these are severely stunted. Disappointing!

Again, all are living with a 12/12 from seed light schedule. The first pix I have are at day twenty. I had just returned from a 10 hiatus to find the 3 viable plants looking well.

 

[TyroneShoelace]

Welcome back! I am happy to see this pop back up in my subs. I hope you rekindle your 70's nostalgia.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

Thanx Tyroneshoelace. Great to have you rejoin the thread.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

Growth over the past 10 days have been surprising. Using a 12/12 light schedule from seed as a tool to compromise growth has been a frustrating failure!!

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

My comfort zone for overhead lighting allows for a plant height of 36”. The max head room was exceeded on day 35 so it’s time to go vertical. The overhead SIL’s were replaced with my 21) 4’ led tube array.

For what it’s worth, I also changed the light schedule to 13/11. These plants are torturously slow to show sex. My first bout took almost 90 days before displaying its disappointing male gender! In its native habitat day lengths vary only mildly and reportedly took up to 11 months for a complete growth cycle. That, coupled with the sparse pure sativa stature and buds that presented poor bag appeal by today’s standards are without a doubt responsible for the demise of this cultivar.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

At day 50, I returned after a 14 day absence and found a jungle. To get a reference of the size of these plants, my cabinet is 4’X6’ and it’s pretty full from wall to wall! I’m going to suffer for having not done some radical pruning but being away so much has made timely pruning impossible.

At day 54 my 30 gal reservoir was depleted. This will be the first refill for this grow. Approximately 75 ml of FloraNova bloom and an equal amount sensi calmag to 30 gal of unfiltered well water. I normally use FloraNova grow throughout the grow cycle but I’ve run out and someone gifted me this bloom formula so that’s what it’ll be. I use calmag when I’ve got it and when I think about it. I know coco coir as well as LED lighting are notorious for leaching calmag but I’ve never recognized any identifiable deficiencies whether I use it or not.

As a side note, one of my initial primary goals was to make this system a functional one cabinet perpetual grow, thus another reason for the 12/12 from seed light schedule. If I can ever get a handle on the size, I hope to harvest a couple of plants a month and simply germinate new ones in there place. Since my reservoir always contains a full strength feeding solution, there’s been a question as to how I avoid nute burn on the tender new plants feeding from the same reservoir as the older plants. Pretty simple, actually. When I fill my grow bags with the flushed re-used coco/perlite mix to germinate my new plant, I soak it with unfiltered well water and then force out as much water as possible by applying pressure from the top. I then place a seed in a peat starter cube and burrow it slightly into the coco/perlite mix. I then place the bag on my swick surface. For the first several days the new plant roots are introduced to nothing but the initial pure water in the grow bag. As it begins to evaporate or be used by the plant, the full strength nutes are slowly wicked up into the grow bag from the swick reservoir. Ive started all of my plants off this way and so far it’s proven to be a perfectly timed introduction to the nutes and I’ve yet to experience any nute burn.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

And here we are today, day 62 and still no signs of gender. Probably another 2-3 weeks.

I spent some time removing fan leaves and making a feeble attempt to corral some of the stems against the cabinet walls but it quickly became evident I’m fighting a losing battle. I’m seriously concerned that doing some needed wholesale pruning at this stage may stress the plants and result in a hermie. I noticed a statement on the mandala seeds site that stress can cause a plant to be a full fledged male. I’ll have to say I question the validity of that but I’ve lived long enough to “never say never”.

Other than some collateral damage to a few leaves being to close to the lights, the plants appear healthy. The biggest concern is proper airflow. I have a couple small fans embedded back there somewhere and a 6” inline duct fan is maxing out. So far so good.

I think I’m just going to hope for the best and let it do what it’ll do. Stay tuned........

 

[TyroneShoelace]

Hell of a jungle you have there. It's a shame the autos have a mind of their own when it comes to flowering. But they seem vigorous as anything, so there's that! I'd definitely be snapping necks and doing some pruning. If a plant herms after that it's prob not work growing IMO.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

Thanx, Tyrone. Actually, these aren’t autos. They are just extremely slow to flower due to the genetics developed in their native environment. Looking for as much as 6 months from seed to harvest. Not going to devote this much time to a grow again!!

You’re right, for all practical purposes they look healthy despite the overcrowded conditions. I’ve delved into the back reaches of the cabinet and even in this region they look incredibly healthy. What scares me is the fact they will continue to griw even during early flowering stage. I’m afraid I’m going to open the cabinet doors one day and they’re going to reach out and get me!!

I’m thinking I’m going to be left with no other choice than start removing some of the massive growth and see what happens.

Keep y’all posted.......

 

[flylowgethigh]

WOW!! A kindred spirit! I, too, thought I was flying solo here. Thanx for stopping by. Please feel free to share your experience with the Swick system. Where did you first learn about swick? I was infatuated by a thread on a brand x forum started by Sweet Sue several years ago. Twisted the system about a bit to fit my needs, added an auto fill feature and learned to bottom feed through it and I became hooked quickly!! I can’t imagine ever straying to another way of growing. It’s so incredibly easy to establish and forgiving of abuse I’m astounded it hasn’t been more widely accepted.

Thanx again for stopping by and please do share your experience.

BCDD

I love you growing sativas in there. Gives me confidence to try them. I also read Sweet Sue's stuff, wasn't it from like 2015 or something? I kinda came up with this idea on my own after reading Thailers SIP thread, and making a hybrid of that system. Someone called it a SWICK and I looked that up, found Sweet Sue's stuff. IMO it is a perfect watering system for bag growers inside. I like the flexibility of moving / rotating the bags, and when it comes time to remove the root ball, just cut the bag and dump the soil into a recycle bin, toss the root ball. I have 2' x 2' x 6' available per plant, and use 10 gallon bags.

How do you refill the water reservoir while you are gone, and add the cal-mag and Ph the water automatically? If I wanted to have a self-filling reservoir I could, but mine lasts several daze which is all I need now. Currently a 13 gallons, and eyeing the tall /narrow 23 gallon trash cans they have at the local supermarket - that I can't find to buy. I bubble air through the reservoir, which raises the pH of my 6.8 tap water, as something is off-gassed.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Since my reservoir always contains a full strength feeding solution, there’s been a question as to how I avoid nute burn on the tender new plants feeding from the same reservoir as the older plants. Pretty simple, actually. When I fill my grow bags with the flushed re-used coco/perlite mix to germinate my new plant, I soak it with unfiltered well water and then force out as much water as possible by applying pressure from the top. I then place a seed in a peat starter cube and burrow it slightly into the coco/perlite mix. I then place the bag on my swick surface. For the first several days the new plant roots are introduced to nothing but the initial pure water in the grow bag. As it begins to evaporate or be used by the plant, the full strength nutes are slowly wicked up into the grow bag from the swick reservoir. Ive started all of my plants off this way and so far it’s proven to be a perfectly timed introduction to the nutes and I’ve yet to experience any nute burn.

When I up-pot into the bags there are not enough roots, so I top-water for a few daze. You could use automatic top-watering from a different reservoir, as the roots in the bag develop and the wicking kicks in. I think top-water will push down and discourage wicking up, due to the hydro pressure. It seems to anyways. A SWICK is perfect in any case, cause any runoff stays in the bed. Found this website:

https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/diy-...tering-system/

I used a lot of the ideas (and links) to make my water control box. Nearpow Timer, NP2000 pump, some 1/2" tubing, top water rings. I would use that for about a week, at most, and when top watering in feed and microbes - but I am in soil.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

I have a float valve in my basin that’s drawing from a 30 gallon drum that’s elevated a bit and external to the grow cabinet. It lasted 52 days from the commencement of this present grow. I suspect the nutrient mix is probably a suspension and possibly susceptible to settlement so I’ve got a short air hose routed to the bottom of the drum and occasionally plug it up to the compressor for a good agitation.