Units 3 & 4


Unit 3

Units 3 and 4, in their 3rd and 4th week respectively, have shot up considerably. I bent the stems down - sideways really, of some of the tallest plants that did not seem controllable by tying alone. I did this with C99 X BB 'echo' & other plants in Unit 2 early in flower and it healed quickly and went on to be one of my biggest plants.


Unit 3 canopy

To my eye, the flowers seem to be developing well and on time. The PH in the reservoirs either stays steady or drops a few points, about 5.5, but they need to be topped of regularly as they are drinking a lot of water.


Unit 4

As I'd mentioned in earlier posts, I'd pruned all the lower 1/3 growth, and I'm glad I did as the HPS is not properly centered and the lowest leaves & branches have been dropping off from lack of light - nothing drastic, but I am anxious to re-center the light and get them under the HPS proper. Of course I've been diligently removing all growth that is obviously dead or comes of very easily on all units to stave off bud rot.




Unit 4 Blossoms


Unit 3 Blueberry mother

I am mulling over the question of whether or not to "nuke" Units 3 and 4 with a dose of Physan 20 in a risky attempt to remove significant amounts of the brown algae that is present, but kept at bay by Hygrozyme and FloraShield. On one hand, I started these plants on Hygrozyme & FloraShield much earlier than the 2 older units so perhaps that will be enough to overpower it. In either case - Physan 20 or not - I might be adding some "bio-soup" I'm creating as a culture for my reservoirs as I explain below. The idea is to get a reservoir, fill it will water, bio-balls & an air stone, SubCultures M & B, FloraNectar & FloraBlend and use this mixture as a "tea" of beneficial microbials to start off reservoirs with before the algae or other nasties can take hold. If I due use the Physan 20, adding this tea will be essential or the algae will just grow back again. If I decide to continue without the Physan 20 routing, then the question is is it better to continue with the FloraShield - which is the sterile route or swap it out for the SubCulture bacterial soup - the organic control route. The decision whether or not to run even a small dose of Physan 20 through my plant's systems for a short while - no more than a few hours - is a heavy one as Physan 20 can kill plants very easily, even at recommended doses and below. I think perhaps it is wisest now to continue letting the Hygrozyme and the FloraShield do their work as I continually remove as many browned roots by hand as I can reach.


Unit 3 Sugar Blossoms mother

The only thing "wrong" with either of the two younger units is the dropping off of lower canopy leaves and that very much appears to be due to their being out of the light - Unit 4 displays this more and it is the unit covered least, Unit 3 has a supplemental light (a Procyon 100) over it's canopy. Still, Lux readings are not bad at all - in the 100,000 - 300,000 range at the top and at the very lowest 56,000 - but those spots are small and at the very end. It will be remedied soon as Units 1 & 2 will be ready to be removed from the room & to be harvested. In light of this I'm inclined to go the way I have been unless I start to see signs of the nutrient deficiencies I saw before, which would mean the algae is now taking over and causing harm.


Unit 3 Blueberry mother blossom

On another note, the Blueberry and Sugar Blossom mothers I chose are living up to their promise - they are vigorish, full of bud sites, strong & stocky. As I've been bending and tying the plants in Units 3 and 4, due to this uneven distribution of stressors during flowering I won't be picking a definitive mother directly based on the results I get in the end. If a plant becomes monster like C99 X A11 'alpha' did, then that's a different story, but as of now, they all look either weak or fine but too alike to make a choice.


Unit 3 Blueberry mother blossoms