Uknow 2018 - The Heat is On!

TrentL · Feb 19, 2018

Looking great man. That's a fantastic grow.

chocolatescotchbonnet · Feb 19, 2018

U)<now said:
Updated Grow List Sheet for this season so far.

that's a hell of a list.

U)<now · Feb 20, 2018

Trident chilli said:
Well Troy those are some super healthy plants ... your housekeeping is certainly paying dividends and you are getting plenty of loops ... well impressed with you Bonnets

Any one particular variety you are looking forward too

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to trying the peach bhuts and the Bonnet varieties. Never tried either one of them before.

U)<now · Feb 20, 2018

TrentL said:
Looking great man. That's a fantastic grow.

Thanks! Had a bit of upward leaf curl starting yesterday. Temps in the tent were kinda high when I got home yesterday, at 81F. I also haven't watered in I think 5 days now, so it could be either one of those. I left the door open and watered one of them to test and see if that's the fix. Also raised the lights another 2" so they are about 10" over the canopy now.

I'm also at the stage where I need to put my larger fan in the tent to move more air.

U)<now · Feb 20, 2018

chocolatescotchbonnet said:
that's a hell of a list.

Haha, yeah despite me saying I'm going to cut back every year, it seems to grow every season. I couldn't help myself with all the newer varieties I received this year.

Devv · Feb 20, 2018

As already mentioned, looking great!

Man you have a lot of plants!

chocolatescotchbonnet · Feb 20, 2018

My yellow brain strains don't look healthy.. but seedlings are doing nice.

U)<now · Feb 20, 2018

Devv said:
As already mentioned, looking great!

Man you have a lot of plants!

Thanks Scott! Far more than I planned for this season, but I'm managing. I'll pick my keepers of the seedlings from Jedi and Genetikx in the next few days and pot them up.

Those extra seedlings in trays will be finding new homes this weekend also via give aways to friends and family and I'm going to post a sale add on Facebook tonight or tomorrow to see how that goes. Thinking either $2/plant or 6/$10... Or $3/plant or 6/$12

I need to also start my Annuum's and Aji Pineapple this weekend also. Hopefully I have time, last weekend of travel basketball for the kids this weekend too. It'll be nice to have my weekends back again!

U)<now · Feb 20, 2018

chocolatescotchbonnet said:
My yellow brain strains don't look healthy.. but seedlings are doing nice.

That's unfortunate. What issues are you having with them? Do you have any pics?

chocolatescotchbonnet · Feb 21, 2018

U)<now said:
That's unfortunate. What issues are you having with them? Do you have any pics?

I'll try and post pics later today after work.

U)<now · Feb 21, 2018

Man, I apparently just can't get the watering thing right. All my plants are showing some slight edema now, some worse than others.

I top watered them at pot up on the 9th with probably 6 to 9oz (didn't measure that time) Then again when they felt dry a couple inches down around the 16th or 17th with exactly measured 3oz each... And 3oz was barely enough to even wet the soil on top.

I must have overwatered them at the time of pot up, forgetting they didn't have hardly any roots yet, because they haven't been given hardly anything since then, and 3oz into a dry #1 pot won't cause edema.

Top couple inches are are bone dry and sucked away from the pots an 1/8th inch or so, bottoms you can see the soil and feel it, it's barely damp, not moist...and certainly not wet. Dust literally floats around when I dig through the top couple inches. In the one pic, I dug down 4 inches (in a 6 inch deep pot) and it was bone dry until the last 2 inches where it started to get damp.

I guess maybe I'm forgetting that they haven't grown into these pots yet, but they do already have a root or two poking out the bottom, even the smaller ones with only 2 sets of leaves.

I think it's a combination of me over watering at pot up and a lack of airflow problem now. Going out to the garage to find my 8" fans right now.

This is super frustrating to deal with this again this season after how careful I've been.

I'm literally going to wait until they shrivel up into pathetic stems of nothing before I water these whiney little bastards again.

Below is the worst example, the orange Fatali I mentioned in my previous post...

Then here is a Borg 9 that's mostly fine, barely any signs of edema, couple little specks.

Edit: also, the new growth all looks fine, no edema there, so it definitely was me watering too much at pot up.

:Banghead:

U)<now · Feb 21, 2018

In other news, a couple of my OW's are showing some new growth finally...

Genetikx · Feb 21, 2018

Based on how your medium is pulling away from the sides of the pot, I'm guessing it's some kind of peat? I find peat can hold a good amount of moisture but still look dry. But I do agree that pic of you digging a ditch lol in your pot looks pretty damn dry. +1 on getting those fans.

Pretty sure edema is just cosmetic, nothing to worry about generally. Think I remember edema not really going away once it's in a certain set of leaves, you want to watch for the next set. That will tell you if they continue to get too much water.

Instead of watering a set amount for every plant i.e. 3oz, I just go off weight of the pot. I know what it feels like when it's super drenched, and I know what it feels like when it's bone dry. If it doesn't feel light as air, I'm not watering unless leaves are droopy. And then I don't drench it but definitely want to put a little extra weight in there. You do have to consider size of the plant and pot as well -- just ask yourself how much the plant needs to not die by the next time you think it should be watered. You are keeping a close enough eye on your pants that they won't die overnight or when you're at work.

U)<now · Feb 21, 2018

Genetikx said:
Based on how your medium is pulling away from the sides of the pot, I'm guessing it's some kind of peat? I find peat can hold a good amount of moisture but still look dry. But I do agree that pic of you digging a ditch lol in your pot looks pretty damn dry. +1 on getting those fans.

Pretty sure edema is just cosmetic, nothing to worry about generally. Think I remember edema not really going away once it's in a certain set of leaves, you want to watch for the next set. That will tell you if they continue to get too much water.

Instead of watering a set amount for every plant i.e. 3oz, I just go off weight of the pot. I know what it feels like when it's super drenched, and I know what it feels like when it's bone dry. If it doesn't feel light as air, I'm not watering unless leaves are droopy. And then I don't drench it but definitely want to put a little extra weight in there. You do have to consider size of the plant and pot as well -- just ask yourself how much the plant needs to not die by the next time you think it should be watered. You are keeping a close enough eye on your pants that they won't die overnight or when you're at work.

Thanks Ryan.

Yeah, edema doesn't go away once the leaves have it, I dealt with it pretty bad last season and swore to avoid it this season. Generally those leaves will yellow and fall off later once the cells die. My new growth looks good and pots have been that dry for a couple days now, so it was definitely my over watering at the time of pot up, with the plants just being too small.

I remember now last year when I experimented with going straight from seed cells to #1 pots, I barely watered them at all. Wish I had remembered that this year. Oh well, the damage is done to the old growth, nothing I can do to fix that. New growth looks good so it's onward and upward!

(Edit: I do also go by feel and weight of each pot, however when I'm so affraid to over water and only giving them 3oz, it barely changes the weight of the pot, lol.)

Also, here is the mix I'm using, and I added 30% perlite to it also. It definitely has peat in it. What's a good mix to use or make at home?

Genetikx · Feb 21, 2018

U)<now said:
Also, here is the mix I'm using, and I added 30% perlite to it also. It definitely has peat in it. What's a good mix to use or make at home?

Good deal man, you've got it under control. I'm not a good person to ask about indoor soils, I've been using fox farm ocean forest for about 4 or 5 years now. I was complaining about it a while back for drying out too quick, but I guess that's not a bad problem to have. Once I potted up I can go probably 4-5 days in between watering. That'll shorten as the roots grow. I'm trying to only bottom water even at pot up time. I fill up the pots with soil about half way, soak them, transplant into them a few days later after it's dried up some, then bottom water. The soil is still wet on the bottom so it'll wick up. Another great tip brought to us courtesy of Devv.

U)<now · Feb 21, 2018

Genetikx said:
Good deal man, you've got it under control. I'm not a good person to ask about indoor soils, I've been using fox farm ocean forest for about 4 or 5 years now. I was complaining about it a while back for drying out too quick, but I guess that's not a bad problem to have. Once I potted up I can go probably 4-5 days in between watering. That'll shorten as the roots grow. I'm trying to only bottom water even at pot up time. I fill up the pots with soil about half way, soak them, transplant into them a few days later after it's dried up some, then bottom water. The soil is still wet on the bottom so it'll wick up. Another great tip brought to us courtesy of Devv.

Ok. I looked at fox farm last time I was at the hydro shop, but I only looked at the seed starting mix. I'll take a look at the potting mix tomorrow.

I normally only bottom water after pot up also.

Here is the 8" fan in action, it moves some serious air even on low. It doesn't oscillate though. I really would rather two 6" oscillating fans I could mount inside the tent to the poles on opposite corners/ends. I'll have to look on Amazon, I think they're about $15 each. Some people online say they only last about 3 months though running 24/7. Maybe you could prolong that with some oil on the bushings every now and again. I used this 8 inch one last year also but I ran it on a timer to only be on when the lights were on so it didn't get too cold in the tent at night.

fcaruana · Feb 22, 2018

Amazing grow! Looking forward to following this one. Your excel sheet has inspired me.. I need to take better notes. It's too late for me now, but I can at least keep track of varieties growing and number of plants - definitely gonna do it your way next year.

I had a question - what kind of grow tent is that and which lights are you running?

Looks awesome, I'm excited to see how your purple reapers turn out. What do you think of the BTRs? I'm growing those as well this year and so far I'm amazed at how fast they grow. They also germinated in 4-5 days, which was extremely fast for a superhot I thought.

U)<now · Feb 22, 2018

fcaruana said:
Amazing grow! Looking forward to following this one. Your excel sheet has inspired me.. I need to take better notes. It's too late for me now, but I can at least keep track of varieties growing and number of plants - definitely gonna do it your way next year.

I had a question - what kind of grow tent is that and which lights are you running?

Looks awesome, I'm excited to see how your purple reapers turn out. What do you think of the BTRs? I'm growing those as well this year and so far I'm amazed at how fast they grow. They also germinated in 4-5 days, which was extremely fast for a superhot I thought.

Thanks! The Excel sheet definitely helps me keep track of things as well as my germination percentage for each variety, which is the main thing I want to keep track of.

I love the BTR's. They have good flavor and are screamin hot. They were very prolific last year for me also.

On average, about 70% of seeds for my superhots all germinate with in the first 7 to 14 days for me. I keep them on a heat mat at 83f. I get a few here and there between 14 to 21 days, but after that, not much. I did just have a reaper seed pop yesterday after 32 days in the dirt though.

My grow tent is home-made by me from 3/4" inside diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, some cardboard for the walls and mylar blankets. The stand/tent also folds flat for storage.

Lights are 6 sets of twin tube T8 shoplights from Menards (12 bulbs total). I run the Sylvania Octron XP 6500k bulbs. I think they are $15 per 2 pack. The normal 6500k bulbs are way cheaper, but also about 300 or so lumens less each.

I have pics of how to build that stand as well as detailed costs in last year's glog. It was about $80 for the PVC and just over $200 for lights, bulbs, timer and thermostat and the odds and ends. About $300 total.

Pics can be found here, post number 20 is an earlier version, 43 is me expanding it and boxing it in and post 52 shows the parts, measurements and how the earlier version was assembled.

TrentL · Feb 22, 2018

Watering the early seedlings is a bitch to get right. I'm struggling a little with that too. I potted up a batch 7 days ago and bottom soaked the pots, and *finally* one started to wilt. I was like "oh, must be time to water again" - top 1" of soil was dry. But when I looked at the pot .. I dug down a bit and the bottom 2/3 of the pot was still saturated. So it's definitely not wilting from being dry.

I ended up pulling him out and putting him in a totally dry pot. The crazy thing is the roots on that transplant had already reached down to the bottom of that pot. It had virtually NOTHING 7 days ago; just a tiny little taproot. He was a small dude. Now he's still a small dude but the root had reached down 3 1/2" to the bottom of the 4" pot.

I can understand why it was wilting, I mean, that soil was soaked on the bottom 2/3 of the pot.

Hopefully I moved him to clean, dry dirt in time.

I thought I'd avoid problems like this by bottom watering, and I hadn't overwatered since transplant, because they hadn't been WATERED since then! but guess I left that one soak too long, or maybe perlite or something clogged up the drainage holes, or whatever. No idea.

U)<now · Feb 22, 2018

TrentL said:
Watering the early seedlings is a bitch to get right. I'm struggling a little with that too. I potted up a batch 7 days ago and bottom soaked the pots, and *finally* one started to wilt. I was like "oh, must be time to water again" - top 1" of soil was dry. But when I looked at the pot .. I dug down a bit and the bottom 2/3 of the pot was still saturated. So it's definitely not wilting from being dry.

I ended up pulling him out and putting him in a totally dry pot. The crazy thing is the roots on that transplant had already reached down to the bottom of that pot. It had virtually NOTHING 7 days ago; just a tiny little taproot. He was a small dude. Now he's still a small dude but the root had reached down 3 1/2" to the bottom of the 4" pot.

I can understand why it was wilting, I mean, that soil was soaked on the bottom 2/3 of the pot.

Hopefully I moved him to clean, dry dirt in time.

I thought I'd avoid problems like this by bottom watering, and I hadn't overwatered since transplant, because they hadn't been WATERED since then! but guess I left that one soak too long, or maybe perlite or something clogged up the drainage holes, or whatever. No idea.

Lol. Yep, everytime I think I'm having a perfect season, something stupid happens... Oh well, live and learn. If that's the only mistake I make this season, after the continuous mistakes I made last season, I'll be set up for a great year!

It's unbelievable the difference watering can make indoors vs outdoors. Outside it can rain for a week straight... literally pools in the garden and pots because the soil can't absorb anymore water, and yet there will be zero edema and plants are happy as can be. Then indoors, you give them one extra drop of water any they're all like " OMG we're drownnnnning!!! Someone save us!!!"

Best of luck to you Trent, you have a great glog going also!