Diary Complete Royal Gorilla and Grandaddy Purple Grow

[The_StonedTrooper]

On 6/5/2020 at 2:29 PM, Ill_Evan said:

Yee. Although, the GDP is now a week over the breeder's stated flowering time, so I am considering chopping this weekend. I can't see the buds filling up much more than they are right now. 

Took another pic today of the trichomes. I can spot a few speckles of amber. 

 

Really nice man, congrats and that colour too, there are a fare amount of amber that I can see in this picture. Perfect

[Ill_Evan]

Harvest Day - GDP

Just finished harvesting the GDP. I think a donked up a bit with how I structured this plant. I intentionally kept a few side shoots quite low down on the plant and the flowers never really developed fully at all, just a couple hairs with barely a bud formed. I ended up chucking most of them.

The buds on the main stems came out really nice, but much smaller than anything I've done before. I think keeping the side shoots took away a lot of energy from the main stems and I think this decision was detrimental to the entire yield. I am going to purely focus on the main stems on the next run for sure. Lessons learnt. 

  

[Dank]

Nice one bro, congrats on the harvest 

Be sure to check out schwazzing defol method. Especially good to mazimize yield in small spaces. 

Works well if plants are healthy and being fed, which is all groovey in your setup. 

Nice flowers man, do u have her as a mom, doing another run u could max her out propper.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Dank

[Ill_Evan]

46 minutes ago, Dank said:

Nice one bro, congrats on the harvest 

Be sure to check out schwazzing defol method. Especially good to mazimize yield in small spaces. 

Works well if plants are healthy and being fed, which is all groovey in your setup. 

Nice flowers man, do u have her as a mom, doing another run u could max her out propper.

Schweet I'll check that out.

Nah haven't quite gone the mothering route yet.. still popping seeds of different strains until I find something that really stands out 

[Ill_Evan]

Just had a cheeky puff puff of a tiny bit of the GDP now, I think once it's dried and cured it's going to be much enjoyed 

..and for those that have stuck around thus far, a sneak peak of things to come:

[PsyCLown]

12 hours ago, Ill_Evan said:

Just had a cheeky puff puff of a tiny bit of the GDP now, I think once it's dried and cured it's going to be much enjoyed 

..and for those that have stuck around thus far, a sneak peak of things to come:

Oooh! I see more than 2 plants there.

[Ill_Evan]

25 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

Oooh! I see more than 2 plants there.

Hehe, I'll make the reveal after the Royal Gorilla is harvested 

[Ill_Evan]

Jarred the GDP, weighing in at 36g 

So far my smallest yield on a plant in 3 grows although it feels my kinda potent. Should be quite nice after a bit of curing.

 

 

[Brendzgrow]

Your setup is awesome dude! 
what fan speed controller is that? Looks great

[Ill_Evan]

8 minutes ago, Brendzgrow said:

Your setup is awesome dude! 
what fan speed controller is that? Looks great

It is the REB 2,5N speed controller from AMS: http://fans.co.za/index.php/ancillaries/electrical

[PsyCLown]

Jarred the GDP, weighing in at 36g 
So far my smallest yield on a plant in 3 grows although it feels my kinda potent. Should be quite nice after a bit of curing.
 

 

It wasn't a big plant though and you're used to a scrog.

If you don't scrog next time, I suggest a slight change in defol and training etc.

Not bad though, what sort of yield do you think you'll get from other plant?

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[Ill_Evan]

6 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

It wasn't a big plant though and you're used to a scrog.

If you don't scrog next time, I suggest a slight change in defol and training etc.

Not bad though, what sort of yield do you think you'll get from other plant?

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More than 36g! 

[Stinger96]

I hope so...

Edited June 12, 2020 by Stinger96

[Ill_Evan]

Royal Gorilla trichomes are looking nice and cloudy. Some buds have filled up a bit more. Harvest day should be soon. 

 

 

[The_StonedTrooper]

Looking for a little over 36g there...

[Ill_Evan]

Started the flush yesterday and after taking a few preliminary pics of the Royal Gorilla this morning, I spied a couple amber trichomes and decided I wanted to harvest this evening. I don't want to ripen this strain as much as the GDP as it leans more towards sativa (hence the longer flowering time) so I'd like to keep the amber at a min, but still wanted to at least catch a few just so I know what stage it was at. I will also want to cure it a little longer before really getting into it. Looking at the first pic, it's a wonder I had this next to another plant 

 

 

 

I got some shades of red on the sugar leaves like in the bottom left. Thought it was quite unique. I definitely got some light burn on some buds which may have also caused a little bit of fox-tailing like in the bottom right. 

 

 

I pretty much did the same training on both of these plants, but the Royal Gorilla came out way way better. Much more of the side shoots reached the height of the main colas and benefited well from the more level canopy. The buds are also so much more chunky, I'd say some at least double in size to the GDP. 

So while the Royal Gorilla dries, I have already germinated the seeds for the next grow. That's right, we're not pulling out this time. I've doubled up my space with a 240x120x205 tent which I plan on having two 400W HPS in cool tubes, and 4 DWC systems with 1 plant each. So that equals to 2 plants per 400W bulb. This tent can do more plants and more lights but I'm keeping things within my field of knowledge having grown with these HPS before just in a smaller fashion. 

Which leaves the 80x80x180 tent available once the bud is done drying in it. In this tent I am going to learn how to work with soil and do two plants under the 250W QB LED. If I like how the soil goes, I might go soil in the big tent and double up on the number of plants and use the smaller tent just as a veg tent. 

I'll probably start diaries for the new plants in each tent when they get bigger and I have more content  

[PsyCLown]

Nice, so you finally have another tent going.
Pretty decent size too!

Keen to see the new thread, question is what seedlings are those? I also see 5 where only 4 are going into the larger tent?

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[Ill_Evan]

1 hour ago, PsyCLown said:

Nice, so you finally have another tent going.
Pretty decent size too!

Keen to see the new thread, question is what seedlings are those? I also see 5 where only 4 are going into the larger tent?

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I popped more than I needed because some seeds didn't pop and now I am sitting with more seedlings than I need  the 4 seedlings in the net pots will go into their DWCs and the one in the soil as well as another one in the propagator will go into the smaller tent. 

I am going to be using Freedom Farms Classic. Question, the Freedom Farms site says to pH your water/feed to between 5.5 - 6.0 to maintain the soil pH. While doing my research, a lot of sites say not to pH your water when growing in soil. I only have the phosphoric acid pH down and they say that using it in soil just adds unnecessary chemicals to your medium. 

Freedom Farms specifically say on their site, "an incremental increase in pH resulting from tap water (pH 7-8.5) use can cause the soil pH to increase above the optimal range for nutrient uptake. The soil pH is therefore not buffered against increasing pH caused by using un-pH’d tap water. Watering with a pH of 5.5-6.0 will ensure the pH of the soil remains in the optimal range of 5.5-6.5."

So they definitely want you to pH your water, so is the phosphoric acid ok to use? 

[The_StonedTrooper]

I've used soil most my grows, when they say no need to pH for soil, I imagine they mean in the ground and not a pot, and have not pH the first time growing in soil in a pot, and the plant half way through got locked out from pH. 

When you grow in coco, you need to pH, and if there is any form of coco in the mix of soil, you'll more than likely need to pH, as this is my understanding. 

Using a correct pH is always best for optimal growth, and you are correct in saying that the pH down is going to mess with your living soil, but not by much, and you even can correct the pH with natural things, like lemon juice and such. 

Have also heard, correct me if wrong, that using pH up and down in the same mix, is very bad. If you go far down they say you must start again and throw it out. Seems harsh.

Edited June 15, 2020 by StickyD420

[Ill_Evan]

Thanks @StickyD420. I am going to stop using the standard pH down and get myself a natural alternative for the soil feed. 

33 minutes ago, StickyD420 said:

Have also heard, correct me if wrong, that using pH up and down in the same mix, is very bad. If you go far down they say you must start again and throw it out. Seems harsh.

That I can believe for soil. Probably best to use as few regulators as possible  in the hydro world using both pH up and down actually helps prevent pH swings as the pH up usually acts as a type of buffer. 

[The_StonedTrooper]

Yes @Ill_Evan, I had heard that about Hydro, and the pH as a buffer. You typically want nothing that will effect your Microbes lives in the soil, and chemical pH adjusters will harm them, though a drop or 2 in 5L isn't going to do much harm, you better off without it. 

Happy if I have helpedin anyway. 

[PsyCLown]

I say oh your water and use normal pH up / pH down.

Add microbes if you want with something like em pro soil or environoc, take note that it can drop your pH a lot and you may need to pH your feed upwards then.

Also add nutes.

My 2c

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[The_StonedTrooper]

I do agree with you totally, ive done lots of testing, and using even tap water left out for a day, with no pH adjusters and grown my last harvest just that way, and got a decent smoke and harvest, had to use plenty nutrients doing so.

Then I discovered you can grow in soil as a medium, or growing in soil for the benefit of the living ecosystem within the soil. I made up my own soil, which similar to Organic Matters soil, is alive with Microbes, and since using this soil, I feed the Microbes water that is pH correct and never had to use nutrients at all in three months, and I'm 2 weeks into flowering now, and plants are happy on plain old water.

The difference between the Amazon rain forest, and say a planet such as the moon, are living Microbes. 

Nobody's way is wrong though, as we all do what works best for us, and we are here to share knowledge as family. 

Please dont shoot me

[PsyCLown]

So@Ill_Evan I guess the question is.
You going full on microbes or going to be using nutes?

Or no nutes, I'd be curious to see a comparison of cuttings - one in soil and one in dwc.
See how they grow and then end yield.

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[Ill_Evan]

I've gotten the BioBizz nutes..  but I have EM Pro soil anyways and will probably be using it.