Week 9 update: i must be doing something wrong. The damage on the Grape Ape has gotten more extensive. Its pretty obvious in the picture. Upon closer inspection, its almost all fan leaves, but its almost all the fan leaves. Can it survive and produce decent buds with just sugar leaves? Plus some tops continue to grow up more than out. 3 more weeks and im starting the flush. GSC’s still look really good. If they swell up a little more, it will turn into one “bud” per branch. You can start seeing hairs poking out from under the stacked up top leaves. Should be real nice.
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What are your runoff ppms and pH? What nutrients are you using again?
Ive got them sitting on the ground, so im not sure how i can really get run off to measure ph. Ive ran out of good nutes. I have to get some more, so ive been using like Scotts bloom feed or some bs. Its odd how much micronutrients are in it. Ive kept my feed and water at about 6.5. However, i have added about a teaspoon of granular potassium. The seems like it could raise the ph. Ive just been doing like 800 ppm in the feed water. Like ive said all along, i dont have the greenest thumb. That is why i had hoped others would try this and post their findings. I still have hope. Looking back at pics of the last grow, i had some problems then too with the GA’s. So i still have hope. A lot can happen in 4 weeks.
I think the next step of your experiment is going to have to be getting your pots up on some type of little rack that you can put catch trays underneath. 800 ppm also sounds low to me for plants that large, early to mid flower I’m usually up around 1000-1100 comfortably.
Do you add any calmag? How much runoff do you get when you water? If none, that’s likely a culprit. Without sufficient runoff, minerals build up and which can skyrocket ppms and cause crazy things to happen with your pH
I suspect you’re probably right. But without a way to catch runoff, its also hard to leach the soil. That is why ive brought down my ppm’s. Im trying to do a slow leach. Im watering with more water, and trying not to accumulate more salts. If i was doing 12/12, i would be almost done. The Grape Ape also seems to have this propensity. In the last grow, i had 2 grape apes. One grew big buds and had crispy fan leaves. The other one kept perfectly green leaves, very strong smell, but buds that would not swell and stayed on the smaller side.
I was thinking also that since both grows had significantly longer flowering periods, then its unquestionable that 16/12 changes even basic aspects of the flowering period. It may require a whole new feeding schedule. Maybe an extra 2 weeks of nitrogen? Maybe higher amounts of calcium? Who knows? It could change things so much, that a real lab that can analyze what is going on would only be able to figure it out exactly. But before that could happen, someone would have to demonstrate something remarkable. I do believe the GSC’s are kind of remarkable, but i could have made them better. They have shown very little sign of any damage, unlike the GA’S and Bay 11’s, but once again, the jury is still out. The Grape Ape is filling out now. The long bud is getting thicker. I just dont know, which is why i find it so intriguing.
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Oh yeah, and i ran out of cal-mag last week. I need to get some more soon.
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It’s all guess work if you can’t catch any runoff. But yes there’s a lot of variables
This is a pic with my gallon pitcher next to my long bud. I couldnt fit it all, but there isnt too much above it.
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It was thirsty too, so it looks more droopy than normal.
I think im going to top a few of these. I have to stop them from growing up, and force them to grow out. Last time i gave in at 10 weeks and switched to 14/14. I really really dont want to do that, but the GSC’s are so dense that when they start their final swell, there might be no stopping the bud rot. I could not do any LST on them because the branches were so rigid. Like i felt like i could stand on those branches. Now they are starting to fall on the weight of the buds. Someone talk me off the ledge, because im starting to waiver. I dont have anyone to smoke this, so maybe i shouldnt care. I’d just hate to see all my work get destroyed by success. Its just white pistils constantly. Almost 10 weeks of flower and no orange hairs to be found. Most of the calyxes are still less than an eighth of an inch in size. Should i just accept that i will probably get bud rot and just let them get as big as possible? What a messed up dilemma!
Just found this, still reading and definitely interested.
Well you know what i did? I didnt mention it, because it would have been either dumb as hell or great. Given how my plants reacted, i thought it was leaning towards dumb as hell. After i put that granular stuff on, i noticed that my soil seemed very compacted. So i took a stick and made several holes in each pot. I could feel that i ripped a lot of roots when i did it. But then i watered it after that. Not thinking that i might have washed all the granular stuff down the holes and making it super concentrated. So i kinda think that is what happened to my leaves. I think i put a lot of stress on the plant. But i think the stress is over, and it might have helped the plants. You ever have one of those days where you open the tent, and the buds actually look bigger? Thats what happened last night. So i did a little damage, but i may have unlocked something in the plants. Maybe they were not getting any oxygen to the roots.
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Yeah. Get ready guys, because this is about to get crazy.
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Week 10 update. Consider me officially overwhelmed. I have to put up another net, because the bigger buds are starting to lean. I put a dehumidifier in the tent to try to prevent bud rot. I need more wind too. The tent is technically only 80% full, but it feels like its completely packed. With the dehumidifier, i may also need to water almost every chance i get. I am starting to get some orange hairs though, so maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I figure maybe 4 weeks for the GSC’s, and 6 for the others. I started using uvb on the GSC’s. Individual flowers are still pretty small. If these long buds fill up like the last grow, they will literally be the size of footballs. Anyway, here’s some pics.
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My next upgrade is going to be that hydroponic ebb and flow system that uses fabric pots that you can use any medium in. I would use clay pebbles. When i used my homemade aeroponic system, it was very easy to correct issues within days instead of weeks.
I think its obvious that i am not the greatest grower, because my plants have issues that i cannot correct for the life of me. But my buds on these 16/12 grows have been pretty decent. As far as the GSC’s go, i feel that these could go toe to toe with most professionals. But its not because im any good at growing. Im just co.ing to the conclusion that this light cycle just allows the plant to have plenty of time to realize its full potential. I mean these plants look more like outdoor plants than indoor plants (partially my fault because i could not train them properly). I guess what im saying is that this method allows a dunce like me to get really decent results. I cant imagine what a pro’s plants would look like with this method. I sure would love to see though.
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Im glad you’re following. Sometimes i feel like im just writing in a diary, but im ok with it. I have actually read back through this a couple of times to compare the last grow, and to see if there were similar issues that i had before.
There are a lot of orange hairs all of a sudden on the GSC’s. Anyone think these are ready to start flushing?
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Howdy Labweed
Nice looking flowers 