Rurumo's Mars Hydro FC6500 grow journal

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I'm not using liquid extract. It's powder. RAW is the brand. Are you using neem for pest control?
Raw brand is very similar to the GS plant foods brand, I believe, I'll check on that just to be sure. With dry extracts it's a good idea to find out the % saponins. I use neem weekly during veg and for any mother plants I keep at the time. I also usually add some Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide just as another type of IPM whose benefits overlap. I've never had insects or fungal issues while using neem, but just be sure to stop using it when flowers form. By then after weekly sprays (also spray soil after watering), you shouldn't develop an insect problem during the flowering phase. Then you just have to worry about bud rot or PM, which are prevented by cleanliness, air filtration, and keeping your temps/RH at the correct levels.
 

blueberrymilkshake

Well-Known Member
I like the look of this "organic" cal mag. Anyone try the TPS brand? https://tpsnutrients.com/products/calmag-oac?variant=41994579050745

4.5% Ca, 1.1% Mg, nitrogen free. "Chelated" by organic acids, probably citric acid, it does a great job of keeping Ca in solution. It also contains all of the micro nutrients:
Boron: 0.005%
Copper: 0.007%
Iron: 0.01%
Manganese: 0.01%
Sulfur: 0.05%
Zinc: 0.01%

45ppm Ca per ml per gallon.

With this, I could eliminate the TM-7 or at least reduce it's use frequency, just to be sure I'm getting enough boron. I think I'm going to go this route starting with 1 to 1.5 ml per gallon. Also, I've learned that Corn Steep is about 1.2 EC at 4 g/gallon, so I think I'm good to get started with this stuff. I will stop boring everyone with my plans now! I just wanted to have all those #s down in one place for reference.
I bought a bottle of that when I was using RO water with maxibloom. I got it because the 0-0-0, that's pretty cool.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I bought a bottle of that when I was using RO water with maxibloom. I got it because the 0-0-0, that's pretty cool.
Sweet! I that's kind of what drew me in. I have looked at this product before for that reason, but usually just go with gypsum when I need a soluble calcium, but I like this one a lot on paper with the additional micronutrients-I'll be ordering all of this stuff on the 1st-my amazon cart is too full to place an order until I get paid again lol
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I just placed an order for silver nitrate and thiosulfate and decided as a little side project, to document how to make your own STS solution, and then I'll test it out on my new Strawberry Cough cut...that is, if it passes its HpLVd test. If I am successful in getting pollen, then I will be sure to pollinate a branch of SC with my next grow, probably after the Cherry Bomb and Cindy 99, plus by then I hope to have a CB and/or Cindy male to chuck with as well. My plan is to do some breeding in a very small area and to use creative solutions for pollen management. Anyway, I think showing people how to make S1 seeds of a cut they like is a worthy project. I've only done it once mind you, but they did turn out great, as did some other fems I made at the time. STS worked well for me where colloidal silver did not, although that could have been for a number of different reasons.

I will also show you guys how the HpLVd test is taken tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a negative test!
 

Jeffislovinlife

Well-Known Member
I just placed an order for silver nitrate and thiosulfate and decided as a little side project, to document how to make your own STS solution, and then I'll test it out on my new Strawberry Cough cut...that is, if it passes its HpLVd test. If I am successful in getting pollen, then I will be sure to pollinate a branch of SC with my next grow, probably after the Cherry Bomb and Cindy 99, plus by then I hope to have a CB and/or Cindy male to chuck with as well. My plan is to do some breeding in a very small area and to use creative solutions for pollen management. Anyway, I think showing people how to make S1 seeds of a cut they like is a worthy project. I've only done it once mind you, but they did turn out great, as did some other fems I made at the time. STS worked well for me where colloidal silver did not, although that could have been for a number of different reasons.

I will also show you guys how the HpLVd test is taken tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a negative test!
Hell yeah I'm loving it should be fun to watch thanks for sharing this be kind to and old man and tell me what the hell HpLVd test is please
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I'm not using liquid extract. It's powder. RAW is the brand. Are you using neem for pest control?
Neem has been my primary IPM spray forever. The only time I've ever had fungus/PM or spider mites infect my grow it was during a cycle I wasn't using neem regularly in Veg. I use 5 ml neem per quart of water, plus 1/4 teaspoon of powdered yucca extract. Really shake that up as hard as you can. Always spray under the leaves and the soil surface-that will usually prevent fungus gnats if you do it weekly.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Hell yeah I'm loving it should be fun to watch thanks for sharing this be kind to and old man and tell me what the hell HpLVd test is please
HpLVd is a viroid that jumped from hops plants to cannabis, and now it's a huge pandemic which no one really understands the scope of. Dark Heart nursery in CA, pretty much the biggest clone manufacturer in the country, pretty much discovered that it was a huge deal when 25% of their crop started "dudding." Here is the article they wrote about it https://darkheartnursery.com/hop-latent-viroid/

Basically, taking in clones from other people, especially from Strainly is very dangerous. HpLVd follows HIV/AIDS "rules", so basically, if you use clippers or a razor on an HpLVd infected plant, the sap containing the viroid will infect the next plant when you use the clippers/razor again. This pandemic is only a problem for people who actually keep mother plants, to use for clones later on. If you get a group of infected clones from someplace and flower them out but don't keep a cut, then there is usually not a problem because the viroid spreads so slowly you might not even know your plants were infected. But when you keep a viroid infected mother plant, the viroid builds up inside of it, so at some point you may notice more of the physical features of a dudded plant. Dudding is the term people use for the weird stunted look that heavy HpLVd infection gives to a flowering infected plant.

The really scary thing is that HpLVd can spread through seed, from an infected parent, at a rate of 5-8%. Again, that only matters if you keep a plant for breeding or as a mother plant. Basically, we should start testing our mother plants and any plant we keep for a long time for any reason, such as male plants for breeding. And we need to demand our favorite breeders have their breeding stock tested. The agriculture industry has excellent "clean seed" programs to deal with viroids/viruses in certain crops, and we are at the point where we need to start implementing some of the same procedures.

You can see that very few people are taking HpLVd seriously enough. Out of 3 of my friends who grow, and keep a couple of mother plants each, 2 of them have had cuts turn up positive for it, since we started getting our stuff tested like a month ago. This is where you can buy individual tests for $35 each-https://www.kisorganics.com/products/pathogen-genetic-identification-test-kits-free-shipping

The best deal is if you need 10 or more tests-Tumi Genomics in Co sell them for $25 each in that case.

I only need one or two at a time, so I just go with the Kisorganics test, which is from Genie Labs in WA

I don't mind repeating this info in a few threads because I hope more people become aware of the other pandemic going on right now. If you keep mother plants, it's best to have a labeled set of scissors/clippers for each plant, that way spread to them is pretty much impossible. For now, it's also best to keep your mother plants from touching each other, although spread that way is unlikely.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Totally different topic, but fungus gnats are an issue for all of us so I'm always interested in new, natural ways of dealing with them. The other day I saw a study on mustard seed meal, or mustard "cake", which is the defatted stuff left after the press the oil out, being used as a biopesticide specifically for fungus gnats. Anyway, then I found this right away and realized tons of people are already using mustard seed meal for this purpose https://buildasoil.com/products/buildasoil-mustard-seed-meal

I like the picture at the bottom of the page with the trichoderma going out of control in their worm bin. Apparently, mustard seed meal is a feast for trichoderma. My thought is to use the mustard pellets as a top dress in veg after the first transplant, and see how long it takes for them to break down. Even fertigating twice per day, I think enough will leach into the top layer of soil to kill the fungus gnats without adding a ton of extra N. If it feeds the trichoderma, then that's just a bonus! Trichoderma is a highly underrated fungus that produces a ton of enzymes as well as solubilizes P. It specifically produces a lot of cellusases and chitinases, which are some of the best enzymes for breaking down dead roots and for breaking down the chitin in pests.
 

Jeffislovinlife

Well-Known Member
Totally different topic, but fungus gnats are an issue for all of us so I'm always interested in new, natural ways of dealing with them. The other day I saw a study on mustard seed meal, or mustard "cake", which is the defatted stuff left after the press the oil out, being used as a biopesticide specifically for fungus gnats. Anyway, then I found this right away and realized tons of people are already using mustard seed meal for this purpose https://buildasoil.com/products/buildasoil-mustard-seed-meal

I like the picture at the bottom of the page with the trichoderma going out of control in their worm bin. Apparently, mustard seed meal is a feast for trichoderma. My thought is to use the mustard pellets as a top dress in veg after the first transplant, and see how long it takes for them to break down. Even fertigating twice per day, I think enough will leach into the top layer of soil to kill the fungus gnats without adding a ton of extra N. If it feeds the trichoderma, then that's just a bonus! Trichoderma is a highly underrated fungus that produces a ton of enzymes as well as solubilizes P. It specifically produces a lot of cellusases and chitinases, which are some of the best enzymes for breaking down dead roots and for breaking down the chitin in pests.
Apple cider vinegar and dish soap works for me but I don't know if you would consider that all natural :hump::peace:
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
I just placed an order for silver nitrate and thiosulfate and decided as a little side project, to document how to make your own STS solution, and then I'll test it out on my new Strawberry Cough cut...that is, if it passes its HpLVd test. If I am successful in getting pollen, then I will be sure to pollinate a branch of SC with my next grow, probably after the Cherry Bomb and Cindy 99, plus by then I hope to have a CB and/or Cindy male to chuck with as well. My plan is to do some breeding in a very small area and to use creative solutions for pollen management. Anyway, I think showing people how to make S1 seeds of a cut they like is a worthy project. I've only done it once mind you, but they did turn out great, as did some other fems I made at the time. STS worked well for me where colloidal silver did not, although that could have been for a number of different reasons.

I will also show you guys how the HpLVd test is taken tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a negative test!
I found thiosulfate anhydrous worked best. The first strain I reversed was C99 from Female seeds. Had two terrific phenos, mango and pineapple. Looking forward to seeing what you do.
 

hillbill

Well-Known Member
Just have had to use my famously hard tap water for several we3ks because of drought. My plants started showing more and more deficiencies including Calcium. Rained yesterday afternoon so I was able to water with “real” water again. Had this trouble in ate past also.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I found thiosulfate anhydrous worked best. The first strain I reversed was C99 from Female seeds. Had two terrific phenos, mango and pineapple. Looking forward to seeing what you do.
I just double checked my order and I did get anhydrous sodium thiosulfate, which is what I think I used last time. It's so cool you reversed a Cindy 99! I swear, once you've tasted some of the good citrus phenos, combined with that wonderful sativa high, it becomes a legend in your own mind, especially years later. I'd love to try a mango pheno, I have seeds from a Congolese IBL that is supposed to have strong mango terps (it's on my to do list for next year hopefully.) Cindy is one strain I keep coming back to every few years, but this time hopefully I'll find a good keeper. I'd love to cross it to some of the landraces I'll be popping next year. First on my list of landraces is the Hopar Valley #2 (or was it #3? I forget), then the Maruf Black and the Sholgar from Afghan Selections. I think those will be a good group to search for exotic terpenes.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Just have had to use my famously hard tap water for several we3ks because of drought. My plants started showing more and more deficiencies including Calcium. Rained yesterday afternoon so I was able to water with “real” water again. Had this trouble in ate past also.
Watering my garden outside over the years with my high calcium/high (ish) alkaline water, and getting occasional soil tests showed me the soil became very high in calcium, which antagonizes iron strongly. Watering my tomatoes via bucket with 1/4 teaspoon citric acid per 4 gal brought the ph into the low 6s and solved the problems I was having. I also tried some with hose water and an iron supplement, and that also worked pretty well. I learned some lessons about calcium. I just love rain water, and have you noticed how crazy the growth is after a good lightning storm? That is so cool.
 

RottyRzr

Well-Known Member
Totally different topic, but fungus gnats are an issue for all of us so I'm always interested in new, natural ways of dealing with them. The other day I saw a study on mustard seed meal, or mustard "cake", which is the defatted stuff left after the press the oil out, being used as a biopesticide specifically for fungus gnats. Anyway, then I found this right away and realized tons of people are already using mustard seed meal for this purpose https://buildasoil.com/products/buildasoil-mustard-seed-meal

I like the picture at the bottom of the page with the trichoderma going out of control in their worm bin. Apparently, mustard seed meal is a feast for trichoderma. My thought is to use the mustard pellets as a top dress in veg after the first transplant, and see how long it takes for them to break down. Even fertigating twice per day, I think enough will leach into the top layer of soil to kill the fungus gnats without adding a ton of extra N. If it feeds the trichoderma, then that's just a bonus! Trichoderma is a highly underrated fungus that produces a ton of enzymes as well as solubilizes P. It specifically produces a lot of cellusases and chitinases, which are some of the best enzymes for breaking down dead roots and for breaking down the chitin in pests.
Im battling fungus gnats right now. So far I have used food grade diatomaceous earth on my media, a lot of yellow sticky traps and several vinegar traps. More recently I bought gnatrol wdg and have applied that once so far. There seems to be a slow down but not enough to satisfy my wife so Im considering something more powerful!
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
The Gnatrol will work for sure, keep at it a couple waterings.
I also have had good luck with another BT product. It will definitely take care of them with consistency of application. Botaniguard is supposed to work very well too, but the price of some of these specialty products is just too much. BT and neem definitely work at a much lower cost than some. I get fungus gnats reliably every time I use fresh canna coco, so I'll put in fresh sticky traps so I can see when they start hatching, then I'll follow with the mustard topdress and let you guys know how that works. Build a soil has a 25% off coupon email right now just for a few different products and this mustard is on the list, so I bought 10 lbs for like $33 and this product happens to be free shipping at BAS, so after looking around other places online, this is the best deal right now to try this mustard seed meal. It looks like an excellent fertilizer product in addition to the biopesticide function of the mustard isothiocyanates.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Here is the HpLVd test vial, along with a fresh index card and a disposable scalpel-this way you don't have to disinfect any tools or surfaces.

20220731_154022.jpg

Next, the test requires 1 to 2 cm (about 100 mg) of petiole-take this from an older leaf, lower down on the plant, which should have a higher level of viroid if infected vs top leaf tissue.

20220731_154329.jpg

Now chop it up without shooting the bits around. I like to pre-fold the index card so you can funnel the tiny bits into the vial.

20220731_154507.jpg

If you succeeded in funneling them into the vial, you just need to shake it up a few times, then put in the fridge, and mail it in a priority envelope the next day. They provide an email address to send them the tracking # of your sample, along with the # of samples.

20220731_154633.jpg

And that's it! If you are testing several plants, using index cards and disposable razers/scalpel tips/gloves helps prevent cross contamination.
 

DrDukePHD

Well-Known Member
I just placed an order for silver nitrate and thiosulfate and decided as a little side project, to document how to make your own STS solution, and then I'll test it out on my new Strawberry Cough cut...that is, if it passes its HpLVd test. If I am successful in getting pollen, then I will be sure to pollinate a branch of SC with my next grow, probably after the Cherry Bomb and Cindy 99, plus by then I hope to have a CB and/or Cindy male to chuck with as well. My plan is to do some breeding in a very small area and to use creative solutions for pollen management. Anyway, I think showing people how to make S1 seeds of a cut they like is a worthy project. I've only done it once mind you, but they did turn out great, as did some other fems I made at the time. STS worked well for me where colloidal silver did not, although that could have been for a number of different reasons.

I will also show you guys how the HpLVd test is taken tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a negative test!
Duuude I can't wait to see this breeding project of yours, awesome!
 
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