New Bubbler Grow Coming Soon - Input Welcome!

[mackSwell]

P.S. The downward curl could also be from the 3 hours or so that the light slipped down onto the plant... In any case, newer leaves aren't showing curl, and growth & roots look good.

[Splifted]

P.S. The downward curl could also be from the 3 hours or so that the light slipped down onto the plant... In any case, newer leaves aren't showing curl, and growth & roots look good.

Why is it that everyone, and i mean EVERYONE drops a light on plant? Lol, i feel your pain and so do the rest of the boards. Its like you're not a real grower until you've dropped at least 1 light imp:

Nice setup btw.

[mackSwell]

Thanks, Splifted! I have been admiring your bodacious buds. *wink* You've given great info on your topping & LST results... I might have to give that a try in my next go-around. This poor plant has been thru so much already, I'm trying not to mess with it too much.

[mackSwell]

Well, I screwed up again. *chuckle*

I changed out the resevoir yesterday, with plans to give Champ a night in just balanced H2O with a bit of H2O2. Champ sat happily in a little bucket of pH 5.8 while the tap water in the resevoir 'rested'.

My tap water has a pH of 7.0. I'd added 1 tsp H2O2 per gallon to the resevoir (standard dose I use to prevent algae, and to speed in the dissipation/neutralization of the Chlorine in my tap water.) The H2O2 brings the pH down a smidge, but not much.

Here is comes...

Last night I got another case of the stupids: I moved Champ and the 2nd airstone back to the resevoir, and went to bed.

That's right... I never adjusted the pH.

Soooo, below you will see photos of pH shock, FYI. *shakes head*

Champ was in the pH 7.0 resevoir for about 10 hours.

I added light nutrients to the resevoir this morning (which bring the pH down), then checked the pH and had the head-slapping realization of what I had done. I gave Champ about 30 minutes in pH 5.8 to undue some of the high pH built up in him, then, not wanting to shock him again (by leaving him in the drastically lower pH for an hour or more), I pH upped the resevoir to about 6.5. I've read that even a sudden difference of .5 can shock plants (and that they need a couple of hours in a new pH level to "feel" the effects"), but I didn't want to go any higher than 6.5.

My plan is to gradually add nutrients (till I reach 3/4 tsp/gallon) over the next couple of days to bring the pH slowly back down to 5.8. If the nutrients alone don't bring the pH down enough, I'll have to dump the resevoir and start all over, since I already used pH up.

Yes, it would have been wiser to move champ back to the little bucket and do the gradual change in there, then move him back to the already 5.8 resevoir, but I was in a bit of a tizzy. *chuckle*

pH shock currently appears on Champ as "freckling" on a couple fronds of one of the largest fan leaves.

Also below is an updated photo of the whole plant. Before THIS, new growth continued nicely, but downward curl also remains, and is showing on some of the newer growth. This is why I changed the resevoir to begin with, thinking that there may be a build-up of salts/still too many nutes in the resevoir causing this curl. (no, I haven't invested in a ppm meter yet, but I probably will before growing the Sweet Tooth.)

Now I may never know, eh? Well, that's why this is the TRIAL run, I guess. *smirk*

[mackSwell]

CORRECTION:

Dec 19th post - pH down added to foliar spray for Phosphorous, not Potassium.

[lovetogrow]

ive done the cfl thing, then i went to hps. I wont be back cfl if my grow depended on it. my frist hps was 400w. now im running 1000w mh for veg, and 2x1000w hps for flower. all i got to say is if your running cfls or anything else other the mh/hps then your wasting your time. you say your grow cost like a little over $100. well the rule is " Go cheap, Grow cheap" you got guys in here (that have $1000's in their grows) telling you wasting time and if you order seeds then wasting time and good seeds. and yet you dont listen. if your not going to listen then why ask. we are here to more. but that my two cents if you dont like it, sorry . but good luck anyway.

[lovetogrow]

"You got guys in here (that have $1000's in their grows) telling you that your wasting time and if you order seeds then wasting time and good seeds"
"We are here to help"
sorry about that some times i get typing to fast and dont look back

[mackSwell]

Champ has recovered nicely from his pH shock. The freckling remains on a couple of those large fan leaves, but it got no worse that pictured previously.

Champ is in another fresh rez as of 12/25. pH is back to a steady 5.8-6.1 range.

The downward curl is no longer appearing on new growth, and has improved greatly on older growth. Got curl-down? Change your rez!

I backed the lights down to 17/7 during the recovery phase, but as of yesterday it is back to 18/6. I'm only a few days' growth away from my planned flowering height (up to the bottom removable shelf in the closet), but I may hold off a tad to get Champ nice and stable first.

Today I'm giving Champ 2 CFLs of side lighting to help the middle bushy growth reach its potential. S/He stretched a bit in the last week, as you can see from the 2nd photo. But the growth pattern has been such; shooting up a bit, then growing new branches on the sides of that growth and bushing out.

On lighting -

Ok, folks... Last time: I hear you. Some say HID (MH/HPS) is the only way to grow. Some swear by CFL. And everyone thinks incandescent is a bad idea. I appreciate all the input, if not always the delivery. *chuckle* For this grow, my trial run, I am sticking to my plan. I will learn from this experience, and from all of yours, and make the necessary changes when it is time to start the good seeds.

[mackSwell]

Well, I wasn't gonna mess with LST this run, but Champ had recovered so nicely from his root sever and pH shock incidents, I figured, "What the Hell."

Not so much a space issue, as wanting more colas, and curiousity.

I used pipe cleaners. Soft on the stems... you can make loops that are not tight and still get the desired bends, and you can bend them around/above/below branches & stems you don't wish to bother.

Oh, and I added a little splint to the part of the main stem that had started taking too much strain of the bend... Piece of a popsicle stick wrapped in cotton, secured with Scotch tape.

Thoughts?

[Weedhound]

Mack I love the name Champ for a plant. You are growing with the same lights that a friend of mine uses and your plant looks about the same. From reading your stuff it seems that you have done a lot of studying on growing etc. To me your plant looks ok size-wise but not great; about what I would expect from that type of lighting. Where you will really run into problems will be in flower. I think what the folks are trying to say is that you are going to put the same amount of tiime, work, nutes etc into your grow and it seems to make sense to use the best lighting possible. The difference will show in your yield at the end and at that point i think you'll change to something more effective.

Also are you in flower at this point? I don't lst until I 've gone into flower but that's just me.

I do use foliar sprays on my plants early on in veg...i like VHO by Advance Nutrients and use it regularly but don't do any misting otherwise . It does tend to cause the burning on the very edge of my older leaves too. As long as it stays on the older leaves and doesn't spread i don't worry about it.

Also you may have posted all this info somewhere else but...is Champ a female clone? Or are you not sure yet if grown from seed? What an absolute bummer that would be if you got this far and found out Champ was a he-man.

Last of all.....what are your ppms these days and what kind of water are you using?