Jack Herer & Bergman's Gold - Indoor, Hydro, LED

[ZenMaster]

This is my second grow (first one just flipped to flower), and my first Hydro…and it’s my first online grow journal. I’ve found it very helpful to be able to review other folks’ journals - especially with pics (being a newbie they are very helpful), so I’m going to do my best to update this regularly and include pics. Hopefully someone will find it helpful - whether it be something I did right…or a learning experience

So here we go…

This grow is Jack Herer and Bergman’s Gold Leaf - both started from seeds (ILGM).

GERMINATION
THURS, MAY 21: begin water soak of (2) Jack Herer and (2) Gold Leaf seeds using pH adjusted tap water (pH 6.2; TDS 42 ppm)

FRI, MAY 22: seeds sank to the bottom of the cups and have begun to open (17 hrs soaking); transfer to damp paper towels inside a humidity dome on a heat mat in a dark room (paper towels dampened with water used to soak);

SAT, MAY 23: signs of sprouting; temp 80F / humidity 99% in dome

SUN, MAY 24: seeds have sprouted (WOW!!); prep ROCKWOOL CUBES by soaking in tap water pH adjusted to 5.0 (TDS 42ppm)

Transplant to rockwool cubes and dose with a few drops of General Organics BioThrive Grow, BioRoot, CaMG+ and BioWeed mixture at 1/2 of the manufacturer’s recommendation for seedlings (pH adjusted to 5.52 / TDS 550ppm)

Lights on 18hrs (8:00AM to 2:00AM) still on heat mat and under humidity dome
Temp 81F / Humidity 89%

MON, MAY 25: the girls appear to be doing amazing and loving life in the dome, getting close to 2" tall

TUES, MAY 26: looking good and “growing like a weed” LOL → now >2"-3" tall and roots visible at bottom of rockwool cubes

WEDS, MAY 27: transplant to larger cups (soaked additional rockwool cubs in pH 5:0 tap water; created drainage holes in cups; layered cups w/hydroton at bottom, then a rockwool cube surrounded by hydroton to support; placed seedlings and their existing cube on top of new cube (so roots can continue developing downward) in cup and filled in sides with rockwool; placed hydroton on top

[tdubwilly]

Ive grown both of those strains from ilgm.

That gold leaf can really produce large colas but if the light isn’t intense enough is has a tendency to be airy so blast the hell out of that gold leaf as much as possible

[ZenMaster]

@tdubwilly thanks for checking out my thread. I can’t wait to see how they do. Did you grow in soil, or hydro? My first grow (soil) is about 4 days into flower and it’s also Jack Herer and Gold Leaf. Had some nutrient issues (lockout resulting in deficiencies) that I battled through veg (actually kept the girls in veg for a couple extra weeks while I identified and resolved the issue) - but they are looking pretty good now. As far as lights - my veg tent is setup with a 432w, 4’, 8 bulb T5. In the flower tent - I’m running a California Light Works Solar System 1100 (w/UVB for last 2 weeks of flower). Hopefully that will do the trick

[ZenMaster]

THURS, MAY 28: The girls are looking good! Temp under dome is 81F and Humidity is 99%.

[tdubwilly]

@ZenMaster

Did you grow in soil, or hydro?

Ive grown both ways but the gold leaf I grew was in soil

Here it is by itself

I put a net on them after the colas started getting heavy, you can see the cola size difference between the gold leaf and the chronic widow

[jonin]

Nice heavy buds! What are you using for lights?

[tdubwilly]

That was simple viparspectra blurples like 4-5 years ago, I run different lights now

[ZenMaster]

@tdubwilly Wow - she’s gorgeous! Hope mine turns out half that heavy.

[ZenMaster]

THURS, JUNE 4: Still under dome on heat mat. Temp stays around 78-82 F and humidity 99%. My plan is to grow hydro. I’ve got an 8 bucket Root Spa DWC (2 actually…one for veg tent and one for flower tent so I can move in the direction of perpetual harvest) that I’m converting to recirculating, Will be transplanting and moving to the veg tent in the next few days. Top fed with General Organics BioThrive Grow, BioRoot, CaMg+, BioWeed, BioMarine and Diamond Black mixed at <50% of mfg recommendations and pH adjusted (TDS: 443ppm / pH 5.52).

[ZenMaster]

FRI, JUNE 5:

[ZenMaster]

**SAT, JUNE 6:

**

[ZenMaster]

SUN, JUNE 7:
Finished setting up Recirculating DWC for my dedicated Veg Tent. These little ladies will be moving from under the dome to their new home for the next 8(ish) weeks very soon!

[Tygrow78]

I like your progress and new setup @ZenMaster. I’ll be following along. I’m just starting my 2nd perpetual grow with a similar rdwc setup. I’ve found the timing to be a little tricky with a hydro perpetual grow bcuz of the short veg times. But I think hydro is definitely the way to go!

[ZenMaster]

SUN, JUNE 7 (2nd Update): Filled system with water to leak test…everything good. Added nutes (General Organics: BioThrive Grow; CaMg+; BioRoost; BioWeed; BioMarine; Diamond Black). Added nutes at the rate of 1/2 of mfg recommendation, then increased proportionately until TDS 498ppm. pH adjusted to 5.48. Plan to let the system run and balance for a day or so before I move the girls from under the humidity dome.

[ZenMaster]

TUES, JUNE 9 - MOVING DAY: Checked pH on nute solution after it had been recirculating and aerating for 24+ hours…it has risen to 7.4 (it was 5.48 when I left it Sunday night). pH adjusted nute solution by adding 1gal pH adjusted water.

pH: 5.75
TDS: 472ppm
Temp: 81F
RH: <50% (before adding humidifier)
RH: 65% (after adding humidifier)

Washed & prepped Hydroton. Transplanted seedlings to net pots and placed in Veg Tent. Top fed each 3cups of nute solution from reservior.

In hindsight I think I should have waited longer before transplanting the Jack Herer (front and back right in the pic). Both of them were significantly smaller than the Gold Leaf (front & back left in the pic) and - as I found out - the roots weren’t strong and abundant enough for easy transfer, plus, they were long and lanky and couldn’t support themselves so on transfer I “dissected” the rockwool so I could set them “deeper” to provide more support. I expect to see a bit of transplant shock…(hopefully they bounce back and recover quickly.

[ZenMaster]

WEDS, JUNE 10: Inside Tent Temp 82F / RH 65% (with lights on). Outside Tent Temp 78F / RH 50% NOTE: I’m only running one of the two sets of lights on the fixture b/c when I run both it pushes 88F. pH has risen again to 6.8. Pulled 4 gallons of nute solution from the system and replaced with 4 gallons of pH adjusted fresh water (no additional nutes).
After Adjustments → pH: 6.2 TDS: 550ppm → Not sure why…TDS went up in the recirculating, aerated nute solution even though I diluted it…boy I got a lot to learn.
While researching my pH fluctuation issues I stumbled across the Torus Hydro PerfectpH. It’s a pH stabilizer that automatically balances the pH of hydroponics systems and eliminates pH swing without buffers or reservior changes. It works by removing charged ion buildup and their website says that in most recirculating systems it will maintain a pH balance of between 5.8 and 6.2. Anybody every used one (or similar technology)? I’ve just ordered on and am going to give it a try. If I can spend $115 and not have to worry about checking and balancing the pH…that would be a huge time saver. I update how it works here in this thread once I have it in hand.

[ZenMaster]

SAT, JUNE 13:
Inside Temp: 81F (lights on)
RH: 61% (lights on)
pH: Has risen to 7.4 / Adjusted to 6.1
TDS: Has risen to 648 (I assume by evaporation since I haven’t added any nutes)

After adjusting pH, I top fed with nutrient water.

[ZenMaster]

MON, June 15:

[ZenMaster]

TUES, JUNE 16:
Temp: 82F (lights on)
RH: 56% (Humidifer is empty…need to plan better)
pH: pH has risen to 6.8 / Adjusted to 5.8
TDS: TDS has risen to 707

Adjusted pH to 5.8; Refilled Humidifier; Top Fed with nute solution.

Check the roots on the Gold Leaf compared to Jack Herer (I have 2 of each going). All four are on the exact same timeline and have been under exactly the same conditions thus far…yet the Gold Leaf is thriving with extensive roots and Jack Herer appears stressed and not doing as well (no roots showing yet). Interestingly, in my first grow (soil), I also have a Gold Leaf and a Jack Herer (and a Northern Lights). Similar situation there…Jack has/is struggled while the Gold Leaf (and Northern Lights) are thriving.

Note to Future Self: May need to grow Jack Herer on it’s own or try seeds from another vendor. The ILGM Jack Herer seeds seem to produce plants that are extremely finicky compared to other strains growing in the same conditions…and they haven’t liked anything I’ve done so far…in soil or hydro. It will be interesting to see how they turn out (my first grow - in soil - should be about 4-5 weeks from harvest), and then compare the soil grow to hydro.

[ZenMaster]

FRI, JUNE 19:
Temp: 83.5F
RH: 60%
pH: 6.5
TDS: 672 ppm

Between Tuesday evening and Friday morning, the pH went up from 5.8 to 6.5…but GOOD NEWS - the PerfectpH I ordered arrived, so dropped it in the reservoir and we’ll see how it does. Hopefully it works as advertised and minimizes fluctuations while holding the “perfect pH.” Aside from that, today we just top fed a bit using nute solution from the reservoir. The Jack Herer plants now have roots through the bottom of the net pot…which they did not have on Tuesday - so I’m feeling better about them at this point.