First Auto Grow (Girl Scout Cookie)

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 33 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

First off, got a few more grow items coming in the mail. Yesterday, I ordered a PH tester pen and also ordered a 1L bottle of Advanced Nutrients PH down. I'm going to do some testing and stuff with tap water and a solo cup full of FFOF w/ holes cut in the bottom. Want to see just how much it's going to take to lower my PH a bit. I will also obviously get some good readings on my 3 gallon pots I'm using as well as some water+nute solution. Want to make sure I know what i'm doing before this PH down touches the plants.

As for the plants, they continue to stretch. The BD is at 17.5'' tall, while the GSC is a nice compact 13''. I'm going to take some pictures of them, but i'm noticing a couple bud sites on the GSC are actually growing half sideways. The stalk itself is not bent or anything. Their is a cluster of hairs that has formed at the top of this branch and now it appears to be growing at a slight angle. Hard to describe, here's some pics.

BD


GSC plant plus closeup of sideways bud

 

[MATTYMATT726]

Small drops of ph down. Youll be surprised how far it will go down by 1 little drop to much. I also feel like less than a gal at a time gives a poor reading imo. I wouldnt rely on small amount of water for tasting lower that the 1 gal.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 34 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

These girls will be 5 weeks old tomorrow! The BD is still stretching, that bitch is 20'' tall as of right now!!!! The GSC is still a nice 14''..

@MATTYMATT726 My PH pen arrived today, PH down will be here friday. I've tested distilled water (5.5), tap water (6.5) and tap water + camg/nutes (6.3). The moisture meter I was using was obviously way off with PH. It (moisture meter) told me that distilled, tap and water + nutes were all close to 6.8-7.2 range.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Ok so after some research and testing, here are the results.

PH of soil when mixed with tap water = 6.0
PH of soil when mixed with tap water + camg/nutes = 5.8

So PH is not a problem. The rust spots were caused by something else. I will keep the PH down, maybe even order some PH up just so I have both. It was $17 for a 1 liter bottle.

 

[MATTYMATT726]

Ok so after some research and testing, here are the results.

PH of soil when mixed with tap water = 6.0
PH of soil when mixed with tap water + camg/nutes = 5.8

So PH is not a problem. The rust spots were caused by something else. I will keep the PH down, maybe even order some PH up just so I have both. It was $17 for a 1 liter bottle.

But thats the problem right there XD soil needs higher than 5.8 so shes not getting so.ething she needs. Like i showed in the chart, you should want around 6.5. PH up is needed. Now while i do not remember which(google will help) baking soda and natural lemon juice will add/lower PH if you have any at home and want to go cheaper/natural route. 5.8 is excellent if in coco but NOT soil my man.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Thanks for the clarification Matt. Baking soda is to raise PH, lemon juice to lower PH. I'll try some baking soda today so I can figure out how much I have to use.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 35 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

5 weeks old today. The GSC has one secondary cola that is growing 2 tops!!! This was also the plant with the nubby 1/2 leaves early in it's life. BD has stretched to 22'' and the GSC is 15'' tall. They should be done stretching soon, within the next few days.

Watering today. I mixed 1.5 tablespoon of baking soda into my 1.5 gallon mix (tap + 1.5tsp camg, 1.5tsp big bloom, 3/4tsp tiger bloom)

 

[MATTYMATT726]

I think your doing good once you learn what ph your soil likes. I really feel coco is so much easier to dial in it just requires lots of measuring nutes. Every soil is different and no clue what amounts of stuff in it. My tap water straight with cal mag, Micro and bloom nutes is dead on 6.0. Comes right out of the coco the same. I test ph my first watering, first week of flower and 1-2 weeks before i feel im chopping per grow and thats just to make sure its going well. Once you get it right youll be sailing.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 36 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

BD has only grew 1/2 inch the last 24 hours. Sitting at 22.5'' tall, i'd like her to stop there lol. The GSC is at 16'' tall. No signs of stress from the watering yesterday. Nice skunk smell starting to come off the plants when I stick my head in the tent.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Jar Cure (GSC #1, Day 2

It's been 4 weeks since it was jarred up. It was at 56 RH yesterday so I didn't burp and I didn't today. The smell and taste are both great it's my go to smoke this week, I've got 21g left.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 37 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Water day. I've found my ratio that gets my PH at 7.0. I have to add 3/4tsp of PH up to a gallon of tap water + nutes to raise it up to 7.0. Loving the fall weather. Leaving the window open the past 48 hours, temps have stayed between 69-74 degrees. RH 31-38%.

*UPDATE* I calibrated my PH pen and tested my water+nutes+camg+ph up solution prior to watering. Tested at 6.97, 7.01 and 6.98. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to water just the BD and test runoff prior to watering the GSC. Thank god I did. I never actually tested runoff with the PH pen. The runoff this time on the BD was 7.35!!!! WTF!!!! I'm mixing up a new water+nutes+camg for the GSC right now (without ph up). The runoff tested at a ph of 7.15 for the GSC with no ph up. So it turns out I DO need PH down. LOL. Smoking pot and dealing with this shit is not ideal. haha. Hopefully the jump in PH for the BD doesn't hurt too much. Next watering I will be mixing some PH down into the water and start the testing all over again. On a positive not, I have everything I need to do this.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

GSC


BD

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 39 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

No signs of stress from the watering the other day. Even though I raised the PH a bit for the Blue Dream, it hasn't shown any ill effects. GSC is really starting to pack on the white hairs. Today I will be mixing up a water+nute solution that tests at 6.0PH. Everything I done thus far tells me the runoff will come out .5 higher than the water going in.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Runoff today with BD was 7.0 Dropped it from 7.35, didn't want to overdue it.

Added 3 more drops (from a dropper) for the GSC. Was able to lower the runoff on that from 7.15 to 6.8! Progress!! I'll add a bit more to this mixture for the next watering.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 40 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream

Stretching has no doubt stopped, the white hairs are multiplying quickly now!!

BD


GSC

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 41 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Watered today, starting with the GSC and got a runoff PH of 6.94. Added some more ph down for BD and got a runoff PH of 6.78. Getting close, I should have it about nailed in for the next watering. Temps have been 69-81 F. RH 30%.

Anxious to see what kind of difference this makes, and REALLY looking forward to the next grow when I can start with the right PH. I took a few pics of them today. The BD is the first sativa dominant plant I've grown, it's got so many little bud sites. I don't even think it's going to have a main cola on top, just a small popcorn nug. LOL. Breeder says 9-11 weeks, tomorrow will be 6 weeks. GSC is much further along and has a nice frosty appearance starting to form around the hairs and sugar leaves. Breeder says 8-9 weeks, last harvest was @ 63 days or 9 weeks. I think it is maybe 3-7 days behind from a slower seedling stage, but I could be wrong.

GSC



BD

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 42 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Plants are both doing well today. Temps were between 69-84. RH 28-35%. I'm starting to notice a lot of purple stems on the BD. Even the main stalk seems to be turning purple from the middle portion and branching both directions. Not sure if this is a heavy PK deficiency or if it's a product of my 68-69 low temperature ive been having. GSC looks and smells great, it's fattening up quick. Tomorrow I will be feeding while finally getting my runoff down to 6.5.

 

[MATTYMATT726]

70 is pretty good temp for plants, so could be from the Haze in the genetics, could be nute related but doubt or could be too cold water when feeding. But hey, purple colors always look nice either way XD

Day 42 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Plants are both doing well today. Temps were between 69-84. RH 28-35%. I'm starting to notice a lot of purple stems on the BD. Even the main stalk seems to be turning purple from the middle portion and branching both directions. Not sure if this is a heavy PK deficiency or if it's a product of my 68-69 low temperature ive been having. GSC looks and smells great, it's fattening up quick. Tomorrow I will be feeding while finally getting my runoff down to 6.5.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 43 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Water day again. Last round my GSC went 3 days between watering, but that was 12/12, the extra 6 hours is drying the pots out quicker.

Heavy feeding. 1tsp camg, 1 tablespoon big Bloom and 1/2tsp tiger bloom. With pH down included I got runoffs of 6.42 and 6.62!!!!

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 45 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Water day again. 1 gallon of tap water for each + 1 tsp CaMg. PH downed to 5.3, will come out around 6.5. GSC is looking great, getting close to 7 weeks old. The tips of some of the white hairs are starting to turn red. It could be done by day 63 like the last one, but my guess is day 65-68. The BD is making progress. I like the formation of the buds on it. Not too leafy either, should be pretty easy to trim.

I've decided that when my GSC finishes, I will start my next BD. Then a few weeks later when the current BD finishes, i'll start my next GSC. That will line the next run up to both finish at the same time.