Two Zkittlez Auto by ILGM I have Week 4 here before my “Goals for the Grow”, and then “Germination” and weeks 1 - 3 below. Things are going well thus far and it’s my best 3.9 gallon Autopot start!
Day 27 Side by Side (Before Training, Autopots woo!)
Zkittles # 2 (Day 27)
Zkittlez #2 (Day 26)
Zkittlez #1 (Day 27)
Zkittlez #1 (Day 26)
This week we had explosive growth due to the beautiful nutrients within the autopot reservoir, the great root system we spent the first three weeks building up, and the LST we’ve been working on over the last two weeks.
I’ve spent the last few days adjusting that training daily, working to spread that training out during this crucial stretch period in order to maximize light exposure to each plant’s canopy. I am less focused on height right now, and more focused on getting that even canopy going right now.
The only adjustments I have made to my week three reservoir recipe is adjusting the ph daily, ensuring it remains as close to 5.7 as possible.
Mammoth P Microbes drives PH up a bit more rapidly than normal, so daily monitoring is fairly crucial when using it. However the benefits are way worth it!
I see some pre-flower signs (early pistils and small buds forming), primarily on Zkittlez #1, but I think we still have some solid stretch time going before we get into an early flower period.
Heading towards day 30, I am focused on patience, minimal stretch stress, and focused PH balance!
General Setup:
Seeds: Zkittlez Auto from ILGM
Grow Medium: Coco and Perlite 80/20
Nutrients:
Root Boosters and Blends: Mammoth P Active Microbials, Xtreme Gardening Mykos
Main Nutrient System: Ventana Plant Science Complete Nutrient Line Kit, Stash Trio (Base, Blend, and Bloom
Grow Environment:
Light: AC Infinity IONBOARD S44 – LED Grow Light Board 400W
Tent: AC Infinity CLOUDLAB 642, Advance Grow Tent 4 x 2
Humidifier: AC infinity CLOUDFORGE T3
Ventilation and Circulation: AC Infinity CLOUDLINE T-Series Duct Fan 4 Inch, AC Infinity Duct Carbon Filter, Australian Charcoal, 4-Inch, AC Infinity CLOUDRAY A6, Gen 2 Grow Tent Clip Fan 6”
Autopot System:
Autopot XL x 2
Autopot Geopot 3.9 Gallon Pots
Autopot 12 Gallon Reservoir
HITOP 10 W320 GPH Pump (Airdomes)
HITOP 3 W 80 GPH Pump (Mix Reservoir)
Week 3 (Day 14 to 21)
Day 21 is the earliest that I have turned on my autopots since I converted to a full autopot system, and every aspect of my preparation has steered me towards developing a root systems that grew to build an environment that could tolerate an early activation of both airdome and autopot early activation. I am happy to say I think we succeeded here!
Side by Side
Zkittles #1
Zkittles #2
I gave her two waters this week in preparation. One on day 16 (600 ml) and one on day 18 (800 ml). Each water was delivered at the very outside of the pots to encourage max root exploration of the pots.
I also slowly increased the strength of my airdome pump heading into day 21 to give them some extra oxygen, they responded well to that and showed some perky growth.
The morning of day 21, I mixed 10 gallons of RO water with the following recipe:
10 Gallons Water
50 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
26 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
15 ml Ventana Plant Science Expand
7.5 ml Ventana Plant Science Structure
11 g Ventana Plant Science Stash Base
5 ml Mammoth P Active Microbial
ec 1.05
ph 5.7
I loaded up my reservoir, plugged in my air pump and water stone to keep her aerated, and opened up my aquavalves.
I also adjusted my Ionboard S44 to level 9, giving out about 350 PPFD, but I will be looking to max that out to level 10 by day 24. They are almost ready to push to the max!
Goals for the Grow:
Beat my 3.9 Personal Record = 99 g Northern Lights CBD from Royal Queen Seeds!
I would love to beat 99 g per plant for each of these.
During my last autopot run, I made two germination into potting mistakes.
- The buffered coco was way too wet when potting. This stifled root growth initially, and also prevented me from adding any water and generally slowed down the entire process. I could tell because when I pulled the coco out from the pots, there was a strong taproot but little to no root growth in the middle to upper root zone.
- I packed the coco a bit too much when adding to my pots. I didn’t superpack it tight, but I did pat it down a little but it layers, and I think that inhibited root growth as well.
So my solution, or at least hypothesis to try and solve against these observed mistakes is to:
- I let the buffered coco dry and a few extra days in the bin, and I also laid it out on a tard to let it air dry for around 48 hours before potting up. It was still dark and moist, but when I squeezed a handful of it, only a drop or 2 rang out, as opposed to a fountain like my previous run. It looked much better!
- I tossed the coco into the pot with my two hands and used the back of my hands to simply even out the layers as opposed to compressing them throughout the potting process. This will allow the coco to naturally settle over time, and hopefully allow for proper aeration and root development!
Coco Buffering
I am trying a new buffering mix for this run! Stash recently released 2 new products to go along with their fantastic Stash Blend nutrient enhancement: Stash Base (Veg Nutrients) and Stash Bloom (Flower Nutrients). I am excited to add Stash Base into my buffering mix, it will hopefully create a beautiful growing environment for my gals.
I buffered twice (both for 24 hours). I had 12 gallons of coco and I used 10 gallons of RO water to buffer:
For my first buffer, I went with around 1 ec charge and a ph of 5.75 for each 10 gallons.
My nutrients included:
70 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
5 grams Stash Base - New Product! (Formulated with a diverse blend of organic and mineral inputs—including calcium phosphate, biochar, crustacean meal, feather meal, fishbone meal, glacial and volcanic rock dusts, alfalfa, insect frass, giant kelp meal, neem seed kernel meal, oyster shell dust, sulfate of potash, calcium carbonate, and fish meal—Stash Base delivers a broad spectrum of macro and micronutrients, plus biology-friendly carbon sources.)
3 grams Stash Blend
ec: 1.1 ph 5.75
After the first 24 hour soak, I fully drained it and resoaked the two bins in another batch of 10 gallons of RO mix. I adjusted the recipe.
My second buffer nutrients included:
60 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
5 ml Ventana Plant Science Expand
2 grams Stash Base
2 grams Stash Blend
5 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
I waited another 24 hours, and then I fully drained the coco and worked to dry it out much more than last grow.
As I mentioned above, I let it drain for more than 48 hours in the tub, stirring a bit here and there. I knew it was necessary because there was a bunch of water let loose once I stirred. That made me thing i need to punch more holes into my bin, or maybe I need to put a huge slice of garden fabric at the base of the bin so that the coco does not clog the holes. I’ll likely try both on my 4 x 4 run which is coming soon!
Once the coco felt good to go, and my measurement for that was that I could grab and handful…squeeze it, and only 1 or two drops would come out… my medium was ready!
Germination:
I’ve been using Organiplugs for all my germination for my last 20+ seeds, and I am not going back to any previous system. All you do is: insert the seed, place into a germination cube holder, place in a ziplock back, wrap it up in a towel, place it in a tent, and wait for her to sprout!
I don’t have to worry about anything really, and it almost protects the seed from any real concerns from the seedling/sprouting process.
Once she sprouted (either I see a taproot, or the sprout actually pops out of the hole, or both!), I placed her about ¾ of the way down into the coco.
In the coco hole, I added some Xtreme Mykos to encourage root development, one of my favorite reasons to use organiplugs!
I didn’t need to “water her in’ to the coco, as the coco was still moist from the buffering process. I was actually worried it was a bit too moist, but I went with it anyway. It was, at least, much less moist than my previous grow, and from the way the gals have settled in, I actually think we were in the perfect zone. I squeezed a handful and barely a drop wrang out, so that’s my goal moisture level moving forward!
Zkittlez #2 Day 1
Together Zkittlez #2 (right) and Zkittlez #1 (left)
First week has gone great, my treatment of the coco has resulted in, what I feel like, is a great growing environment.
I don’t see any signs of poor root growth or hesitation, so drying out the coco a bit and not packing it down into the pot was a great move and general growers development from my last run.
I watered a few times throughout this first week, with my strategy being to water 50 ml at the organiplug planting site, and an increasingly larger volume in a dug out circle to encourage root development outward from the plug (see pictures). I am hand watering until around day 21, and then I will turn on my Autopots. I might turn my airdomes on around day 14 on very low to see if that makes any differences and as an additional experiment, but we will see.
My water recipe is for hand-watering is
1 Gallon RO water
4 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
.75 g Stash Base
12 drops Mammoth P Microbes
I watered:
Day 4: 50 on plug, 150 in ring
Day 6: 50 no plug, 200 in ring
Day 10: 400 in ring
Light output:
20 DLI
220 PPFD
Week 2 (Day 7 to 14)
Airdomes are ON… and MUCH earlier (Day 15) than my previous 2 grow, and from what I read, much earlier than conventionally recommended for most grows. This was a part of the experiment for this grow, as I wanted to see what it would be like to really provide a light, aerated coco (non-compressed at potting) while still moist, and let Mykos and Mammoth P do it’s work early.
I went with a very low initial setting with my air pump, as my goal is merely to increase airflow within the root system, and since I don’t have my Autopot system rocking yet, I am sticking to slow and steady initially with this experiment. So far, so good!
Speaking of Autopots, I have prepared the system, but I am looking for a day 20 or 21 operation date. For now, I have handwatered two doses for this week.
My recipe was a 1 Gallon batch:
1 Gallon RO Water
4 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
1 ml Ventana Plant Science Expand
2.5 g Ventana Plant Science Stash Base - I weighed this on my scale and thoroughly mixed it into my 1 gallon
12 drops Mammoth P Active Microbes
Day 13: 600 ml water in largest possible ring
Day 15: 800 ml water in largest possible ring
Lights:
PPFD 320
Week 3 (Day 15 to 21)
Autopots on!!
Day 21 is the earliest that I have turned on my autopots since I converted to a full autopot system, and every aspect of my preparation has steered me towards developing a root systems that grew to build an environment that could tolerate an early activation of both airdome and autopot early activation. I am happy to say I think we succeeded here!
I gave her two waters this week in preparation. One on day 16 (600 ml) and one on day 18 (800 ml). Each water was delivered at the very outside of the pots to encourage max root exploration of the pots.
I also slowly increased the strength of my airdome pump heading into day 21 to give them some extra oxygen, they responded well to that and showed some perky growth.
The morning of day 21, I mixed 10 gallons of RO water with the following recipe:
10 Gallons Water
50 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
26 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
15 ml Ventana Plant Science Expand
7.5 ml Ventana Plant Science Structure
11 g Ventana Plant Science Stash Base
5 ml Mammoth P Active Microbial
ec 1.05
ph 5.7
I loaded up my reservoir, plugged in my air pump and water stone to keep her aerated, and opened up my aquavalves.
I also adjusted my Ionboard S44 to level 9, giving out about 350 PPFD, but I will be looking to max that out to level 10 by day 24. They are almost ready to push to the max!
