Ill_Evan

Cyril Ramaphosa announced this evening that there will be a national lockdown from this Thursday, 26 March 2020 from midnight. Now I've noticed our lovely forum has yet to be infected with a coronavirus themed topic so far, and I'm sorry to be the one to make one (not really) but this is something that has been on my mind. So two things; growing supplies, and in the event that personal boonj is low, weed supplies. Two things that make this lockdown just a little kak to get. If courier services are still good (albeit probably overwhelmed) during lockdown, then I guess we good. But if not, then what, get enough stock to last you the next 21 days? That sounds like a lot of factors to take into consideration. I know myself I have had to run out a few times when something urgent has come up with one of my grows. Getting better at predicting problems, but no one is perfect. Personally, I'm still waiting for my personal grow to harvest for my own supply so for the time being I'll need to get from you-know-where I can already foresee some of them running out of supply in the next few days. So, to stock or not to stock is there really any better time than a pandemic to practice a tolerance break? Otherwise, now that the topic is here, any other pandemic related chatter is welcome here so we can keep things central. Stay safe out there it's going to be a little nuts.

Pre-Training Got some beefy stems beginning to form. Minimal stunting from the topping and defoliation. Enough healthy growth to begin training the plants to grow flat and start the formation of the foundation for the manifold. Placed some screw-hooks wide of the plants to get a wide angle of attack for the training as the plants are still growing somewhat vertically and the training needs to be gentle and slow, adjusted daily until the next topping. Post-Training Expecting to do the next toppings within the next week

Yikes, nice recovery so far, @SmokeyZero

Chop chop I like to leave a nice chunk behind after a top. The growth node becomes nice and beefy which helps the plant support itself later just before harvest when the buds are their ripest. Took another reading with the refractometer. The Royal Gorilla measured in at 9 and the GDP at 7. So we have an increase since the last measurement. Will be some time till another measurement is taken. The next topping will be between the 3rd and 4th nodes of each of the two stems now growing on each plant. The 2nd nodes will be removed as well at the time of topping. Now we wait until the stems are long enough to slowly start low stress training (LST). At the rate the plants are growing, I'd say training will start in two days.

Was going to do the first topping tonight but the plants looked a little sulky since the defoliation yesterday so I checked everything and it seemed all was within limits but by chance I discovered the pH pen was not accurate. Gave it a collaboration and decided to just reset the res with some fresh water and nutes as well as bump the EC up slightly. Got myself a brix meter and have been playing around with it on some tomato plants recently. Decided to use it on the current grow and start recording the brix of these two plants at certain intervals. Brix can fluctuate during the day, before and after feeds, or in retaliation to stress. I'll be using it to determine general health of the plants as well as their reactions to reservoir changes. I took a measurement of the brix when I did the first few cuts the last update and I recorded a measurement of 5. We are aiming to get that above 12 at peak veg and as far into the 20's in flower. It is said that a brix level of above 12 means your plant will be resistant to disease and pests and will be overall healthy. A brix level of above 20+ is said to create almost crystal-like trichomes on your buds. So let's measure and see what happens

Very nice. Looking forward to following the progress

@Oolong83 what lights and how many you running?

Schweet. Reason I ask, the suckers that didn't make it into my DWC are now blomming outside in some coco and I have another one in soil. Just screwing around, I doubt anything remarkable will come from cannabis starting to grow outside at this time of year, but also didn't want to just chuck those seedling out. The one in soil started getting a bit pale so I gave it some feed and now waiting for a result. I'm so used to having results within a few hours with DWC

I like the thread idea Even I challenge my plants sometimes just for the basic reason of seeing what happens. Recently tested some seedlings at a very high EC and now I know what a seedling/plant looks like if the EC is too high. Big brain! When would you expect the plant to respond to the feed?

Looks sleek, nice going

RDWC with scrog is the goal already got a design ready, just need the space

I plan to top in-between nodes 3 and 4. I want to grow out the 3rd node on each plant as the main stems, and then do further toppings to get a total of 8 main stems for each plant. I will also attempt to get this 8-way manifold to be as initially flat as possible for support of the final buds and spread for yield. Tonight I decided to take off some of the bottom growth so the plants focus on growing everything above for now. I will top when the 3rd growth nodes have a bit more established growth to work with. ..I also didn't like how droopy the one looked so it was an aesthetic decision as well

Agreed. If you gotta deal with it, the people have success with this

Schweet, this is a good start. In that case, I would stand behind my initial opinion. I think that Futurama combo is a great idea considering the price. You will be able to learn everything you need to with that setup and from there you will know how and what to do going forward. I personally grow in a tent that exact size and if you scrog you will be able to get a good yield without sacrificing quality. When it comes to hydro/soil/coco decision, that depends on mostly personal interest, and how much you'd be willing to spend on accessories such as pH, EC meters etc.

If you have an idea of how much yield you want, how often and a budget, that will pretty much determine your setup.

DIY bruh!

You'll be able to do a full grow with a setup like that no problem. You'll just need to sort your actual growing medium and type. In a setup like this, I'd personally do 4 x 20L fabric pots with Living Organics Soil, and throw in a scrog net as well to maximise yield considering that LED. I've seen guys start out with worse LED's, the Apollo series isn't terrible but it's also not the greatest. Just keep that in mind when imagining expectations. It's a phenomenal price for that combo. All you would really need to upgrade is the LED to a 250W QB. From there it's a bigger tent and beyond.

Okes, there are local products that do the same as "Serenade". There is no reason to go and blow cash on a product that isn't even registered in SA. Second of all, both "Serenade" and the below local product are organic fungicides, meaning they contain organic bacteria which assists the plant with fending off conditions such as powdery mildew. They are meant as preventatives. You use it before you ever suspect a problem. If you have PM one year, then just get the below product and use it the following grow. PM is a bitch and is easier prevented than dealt with. Lastly, the overall health of the plant is also important. A healthy plant is less susceptible to disease and pests in general. Lekker https://ecobuz.co.za/protect/

..and we are back ere'body! With a bit of revision and some lessons learnt from the last incomplete grow, I am on the way with Royal Gorilla as well as a Grandaddy Purple. Royal Queen Seeds - Royal Gorilla Green Smoke Room Seeds - Gran Daddy Purple The plan is to ditch the scrog idea from last time. It's such a mission when coupled with DWC, which I am going to keep, but instead of 15L cooler box reservoirs I am going big with 30L cooler box reservoirs. This should assist in flowering with not having to fill my reses every day..maybe now every 2-3 days. So in order to maximise yield minus the scrog, I'll do an 8 way manifold by topping each plant a total of three times and using low stress training to get as much spread as possible. The Gran Daddy Purple has a shorter flowering time than the Royal Gorilla, this will need to be kept in mind closer to the end of flowering. There is a possibility it will need to be harvested sooner than the Royal Gorilla. I do not want to sacrifice either to a shorter or longer harvest period than necessary. Each plant will be harvested when either is ready in their own time. Beginning the veg stage now, I intend to use the coming colder months closer to flowering to induce as much colour in the GDP as possible, genetics be willing. The Setup 80x80x180 Grow Tent 250W Quantum Board with Potentiometer and Current/Voltage Reader 2 x 30L DIY DWC Air pump + Air Stones Clip Fan Sonoff TH16 Wifi Switch + Temp/Humidity Sensor I have connected a Sonoff switch to the exhaust system which acts as a temp/humidity reader and can be used to automate the exhaust to operate depending on temp/humidity perimeters if need be. The device plus the sensor cost me R480. First Few Weeks of Veg Plant on the left is Royal Gorilla, plant on the right is GDP. Will update at major milestones

Depends if whoever checks the product at SAPO decides to not let it through. I don't know much about importing illegal products but I do know if you look around you could probably find what you're looking for anyways.

Almost R50k to register an imported fertilizer.. and that's per product. That's why you don't have many options and why it's usually expensive. You can thank the department of agriculture.

Currently working in a hydro store. It was the first opportunity that I came across that could get my foot into the door into the industry. Before working at the store I thought of working on a farm and doing medium to large commercial production somewhere in the world. Nowadays something small and personal like @CreX's idea sounds much nicer. Little spot with some plants and a vibe.

Of course just the eggs

Did even more thinking. I believe this to be fungus gnats. They are harmless to humans, however in high populations the larvae feed on roots so you will have to sort this out. Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) in a spray bottle diluted with water would be my go-to solution.

I rate do your 5 day flush then harvest. May just, just catch an amber trichome during the flush. My