BubblePonics Mixed Strains - Hydro Grow

S

Splifford

Member
Hi Guys,

I'm back after three failed grow attempts in a row, lol.

I have learned a lot over the the last couple of months, so hopefully this grow journal will help you avoid the mistakes I made. I am a long way from harvest, but I do feel I am on the right track now.

Here are what I feel are the biggest mistakes I have made with my previous grow attempts. Not everyone will agree, but this is based on my own personal experience.

Mistake #1 - Growing in highly enriched Soil
Mistake #2 - Not using Feminized Seeds
Mistake #3 - Not using Dutch Master Gold Ferts

Here are my first few pictures, these plants are no more than 12 days old, the strains are as follows:

Nirvana - Strawberry Smile (Strawberry Cough)

Nirvana - Bubblicious (BubbleGum)

Nirvana - Blue Mystic

Barney's Farm - Sweet Tooth


General Grow Setup




Strawberry Smile (Cough)



Bubblicious (Bubblegum) - looks a bit mutated but I believe this is because the Fert strength was too high. I have since backed off the fert strength by 25%



Blue Mystic - This is only 8 days old :-o



Barney's Farm Sweet Tooth - Waiting for the seed to crack :-P



PH Meter Shot



PPM Meter Shot



The Best Ferts on the Planet, imo




Hope you enjoy, next picture updates should be in about a week

:-P
 
S

Splifford

Member
Here is the latest update since last week.

The girls are going crazy with the Dutch Master Gold ferts, this is by far and away the best ferts I have ever used. I also introduced an additional Dutch Master method of accelerating the plants growth (photosynthesis) called Liquid Light and Penetrator. The results from these two ingredients, in addition to the regular ferts is quite amazing.

What I have found so far, is that the "recommended" PPM of Dutch Master Gold ferts is much too high for the type of strains that I am growing. The recommended at week 3 is 1000 PPM. My girls are still at 400 PPM and that's about as much as they can handle without burning. This may be a good tip for others out there who are considering these types of ferts, but it is strain dependent.

On the other hand, additional Dutch Master components such as hydro tank additives, as well as Liquid Light and Penetrator can be used at full strength, without harming delicate strains.

Here are this weeks pictures, you will see a big difference in just one week.


General Grow Setup




Strawberry Smile (Cough)




Bubblicious (Bubblegum)




Blue Mystic




Barney's Farm Sweet Tooth - Tough to get a good shot but it is cruising :-P




Dutch Master Gold - Liquid Light and Penetrator. If you haven't tried this, it is a must for rapid plant growth!




If you have any questions, please let me know. Next updates will be in a week from today

:-P
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update....

I can't believe how much the girls have grown in just one week, this is amazing. I switched the lights back to 12/12 a few days ago because I can't let them get too tall. I am still using the MH light and will switch to HPS in about a week.

Veg ferts are running at about 350 PPM but I raised it to 500 PPM today, because the rate was dropping by about 10 PPM per day, so they are starting to eat a lot of food. I will switch to flower ferts next week when I change the lighting to HPS.

There are no signs of deficiencies on any of the leaves, I have never seen this before. The Liquid Light and Penetrator has caused some stretch, but it is tolerable. The girls are now entering their own stretch mode so I may back off the Liquid light a bit.

Here are this weeks pictures, what a difference compared to last week, lol


General Grow Setup




Strawberry Smile




Bubblicious




Blue Mystic




Sweet Tooth - This one won't add up to much, but I'll keep it going just to see what I can get out of it.




Well there you go, I can't wait to see what they look like next week :-P
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update - Week 1 Flower...

All I can say is Wow :o

The girls exploded over the past week, lol. I switched to a 400W HPS light and Dutch Master Gold Flower Ferts a couple of days ago. I also upped the ferts to 640 PPM as opposed to the recommended 1250 PPM. There is a slight sign of nute burn on the very tips of a few of the leaves, so I may have to reduce it down to about 550 PPM.

All plants are now showing female pre-flowers (yea feminized seeds). I had to yank the Sweet Tooth because it became overwhelmed by the growth of the other plants and was not getting any light.

The plants are now starting to change their growth characteristics from Veg to Flower. All branches are reaching up to the light and the internodes on the branches are staggered or alternating. They definitely seem like they are preparing to start budding.

I'm not sure how much more they will stretch, but I hope not too much, or I will start to run out of room. I can afford a double in size from now but not much more. I'm glad I flowered them at 6" or this could get out of control in a hurry, lol

Here are the latest pictures:

General Grow Setup - 2 pictures







Strawberry Smile




Bubblicious




Blue Mystic




Well, that's it until next week, hopefully we'll start to see some flowers on the tops. :-P
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update....

The girls continue to display explosive growth, and way more than I have ever seen with previous grows. I was hoping they would have settled down by now, but they are still growing by about 2" per day. I had to remove the 12" wooden stand from under my BubblePonics tank, because I ran out of vertical grow space, lol

I believe the girls might actually be settling down now, but they still have me a bit worried. I'm hoping they start packing on the buds or I might have to top them in flower, which is not exciting.

I have been experimenting with the Dutch Master Gold Flower Ferts, and it appears that the girls are much more tolerant of higher PPM levels, now that they are more mature. I just changed out the nutrient solution and am running at 950 PPM, compared to the recommended 1500 PPM. There are no signs of Nute deficiencies at all.

Keep in mind that I flowered these plants when they were 6" tall, and now they are almost 3', lol

Here are this weeks pictures, please feel free to ask questions or add comments.


General Grow Setup - 3 Shots









Early Flowers

Strawberry Smile





Bubblicious




Blue Mystic




Next week should be very interesting
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update...

The girls are doing much better than I could have ever imagined, although they are stretching way too much. Right after I took these pictures I had to perform some LST on the highest growing branches because I have literally run out of vertical grow space.

I mentioned this before but it is probably worth mentioning again. I flowered these plants at 6" and they are now approaching 4' at the very tops of the plants, this is simply amazing, lol

The buds are not quite as thick as I would like to see them, but they are beginning to fill out. I expect they will really start packing on the weight over the next couple of weeks.

One thing that is incredible is, I almost don't need a Carbon Scrubber to hide the smell. Inside the grow tent and in the immediate room where the girls are growing, it smells like a light sweet candy aroma, almost like Strawberries or Bubblegum, I've never had a grow like this before.

I did crank up the Dutch Master Flower ferts to 1250 PPM a few days ago, and the girls are taking it in stride, they are very happy with no Nute burn whatsoever. They are also drinking about 1/2 gallon of water every day, so I have to top off the reservoir with water and additional ferts every day.

At this point I would have to say that growing in Hydro with Dutch Master Gold ferts, there is no comparison to any other environment, it can't be beat, period, lol


Here are this weeks pictures


General Grow Setup - 3 Pictures









Strawberry Smile




Bubblicious




Blue Mystic





Well, that's it until next week, this is the most exciting grow I have ever done. I hope it provides you with some inspiration and motivation.
 
Mongobud

Mongobud

Well-Known Member
Looks freakin awesome. Are you topping off with 1/4 strength with the Dutch Master? What PPM do you top off with. Do you need a cal/mag additive with those nutes?
 
shiva71

shiva71

Well-Known Member
Looks good bro, will be keeping an eye on this to see how the Nirvana seeds do...theyre so cheap i cant help being sceptical but hey yours look very healthy!

And a special thanks for using paragraphs!...i wish more people would write like you, so much easier to read!

Why did the other crops fu(k up?
 
S

Splifford

Member
Mongobud said:
Looks freakin awesome. Are you topping off with 1/4 strength with the Dutch Master? What PPM do you top off with. Do you need a cal/mag additive with those nutes?
Click to expand...
Hey Mongo, I'm topping off with pure water to let the entire tank settle for about 30 minutes, then I determine how much more ferts to add compared to my previous PPM reading. The girls are drinking more and more water all the time, it averages between 1/2 - 3/4 gallon of water per day.

There is no need for Cal-Mag as Dutch Master provides plenty of both in their Veg and Flower formulas. I used to use FoxFarm and it just about killed my plants every time, Dutch Master Gold has the plants totally dialed in with no headaches.
 
S

Splifford

Member
shiva71 said:
Looks good bro, will be keeping an eye on this to see how the Nirvana seeds do...theyre so cheap i cant help being sceptical but hey yours look very healthy!

And a special thanks for using paragraphs!...i wish more people would write like you, so much easier to read!

Why did the other crops fu(k up?
Click to expand...
Shiva, thanks for the compliments. My other grows got fuc*ed up because I was using FoxFarm Ferts, believe it or not (massive Cal-Mag deficiencies). There is something in those ferts that just wreaked havoc with these more sensitive types of plants.

Dutch Master Gold can make a rookie grower look like a pro for some reason, lol
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update....

Here's the latest update gang. The girls are now in week 5 of flower, with 3 - 4 weeks left to go. The major stretch has slowed way down but they are still growing as they are flowering. They are now 4' tall easily, and I have had to resort to Super-Cropping the highest tops because there was no vertical grow room left.

I know a lot of articles say never to manipulate plants once they are in flower but I can tell you first hand they love it. The branches were so stiff when I tried to bend them, they actually cracked slightly. I left them that way and within 3-4 hours the ends of the tops were starting to turn upwards already, lol

I had to Prune some shade leaves in the lower canopy because the lower buds were not receiving any light. This is another no-no according to articles I have read, but the plants seemed to love it and the lower buds are starting to accelerate in growth now.

I have been cranking up the fert levels again. I am now running at 1700 PPM with a PH level of between 5.6 - 6.1, and it seems to be the sweet spot. The PH drifts down from 6.0 - 5.6 on a daily basis so a PH Up/Down kit is critical to have.

The buds are still a little small considering they are in the 5th week of flowering, but I am hoping they will start packing on the weight over the next few weeks. I am running a 400W air cooled HPS just 4 - 6 inches above the top of the canopy, I kinda wish I had a 1000W HPS, lol

Here are the latest pictures:


General Grow Setup - 3 Pictures









Strawberry Smile





Bubblicious





Blue Mystic






Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
 
Dr.fillDAblunt420

Dr.fillDAblunt420

Active Member
looks very good.. i got the same setup, and we are about at the exact spot of growth (2nd week flowering) started mine on aug-3. you mentioned your plants grow 2" per day, i use co2 from paintball tanks i have and mine are growing about 2.5"-3.5" per day.
 
S

Splifford

Member
Hi Dr. that happens sometimes, lol

If you have some pics I'd like to compare yours to mine. My top of the canopy buds look very promising, but the lower buds look like little "pop-corn" buds. I'm wondering why I just ordered a dozen Mason jars for curing, lol
 
Dr.fillDAblunt420

Dr.fillDAblunt420

Active Member
ya i got some pics dont know how to post on here tho lol jsut started using this and my seeds arent anything special besides one i have which came from some real white keefy purple cali. lol, but next time i ordering seeds from Attitude
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update...

We're coming down the home stretch folks, only 2 - 3 weeks left until harvest. The buds have been packing on some weight but not nearly as much as I had hoped, this is probably due in some part to the type of strain I am growing.

I have been experimenting again with the Fert levels, and I cranked it up to 2000+ PPM. In fact my TDS meter only goes to 2000 and then it blinks because it won't go any higher than that. It is quite possible that the PPM has been up around 2100. I did start to see some signs of nute burn so I diluted the nutrient solution back down to an average of 1900 and the girls are doing just fine. If I would have tried this with FoxFarm, the fert level would have fried the plants to a crisp.

I did a bit of research on Dutch Master Gold ferts, and apparently they have a special technology called Ionic Channeling, which allows you to really crank up the ferts without frying your plants. They were not kidding, these particular plants are very sensitive to ferts and they are taking everything I can throw at them without burning. Quite amazing I would have to say.

I figure I will keep the fert levels extremely high for the next two weeks and then I will replace the nutrient solution with a Flush solution, which is plain water and Botanicare Clearex. I will run the Clearex for about 2 - 4 hours, then drain the tank and refill it will plain PH balanced water and run that until harvest.

Here are this weeks pictures, you will see the buds are not huge but they are growing quite nicely. Hopefully they will explode in the last couple of weeks.

General Grow Setup - 3 Pictures (is this a jungle or what for 3 plants? lol)









Strawberry Smile - 2 Pictures






Bubblicious - 2 Pictures







Blue Mystic - 2 Pictures







If you have any comments or questions, please let me know. Until next week, Happy :eyesmoke:
 
S

Splifford

Member
Update....

Hi gang, we're about 1 week away from harvest, give or take a few days (yea!). The girls have been really packing on the weight over the last week, and I was hoping that would be the case. A few buds are now showing some Red hairs, and the girls are starting to stink quite a bit, we must be getting close.

Pre-Harvest Flushing Process:

On Wednesday I drained most of the BubblePonics tank and replaced it with plain water, this dropped the PPM down to about 400. I let that run for 24 hours then drained the tank again and replaced it with plain water and Botanicare Clearex. I let the girls run on Clearex until this afternoon and then drained the tank and filled it with plain water. All during this flushing process I kept the PH level between 5.6 - 6.2.

The girls have been dropping a lot of dead fan leaves this week, so that is another sign that we are getting close. There is one thing to notice as you are looking at these pictures, there is no evidence of any type of fert deficiency, I was quite surprised by this.

Here are this weeks pictures:

General Grow Setup - 3 Pictures









Strawberry Smile - 2 Pictures






Bubblicious - 2 Pictures






Blue Mystic - 2 Pictures






Random Closeups -2 Pictures






I will probably have one more week of pictures before harvesting the girls. During the drying process we'll take a look at what what we finally end up with.

Until next week.... :eyesmoke:
 
D

dwizzle07

Active Member
Splifford said:
Update....










Strawberry Smile - 2 Pictures






Bubblicious - 2 Pictures






Blue Mystic - 2 Pictures






Random Closeups -2 Pictures






I will probably have one more week of pictures before harvesting the girls. During the drying process we'll take a look at what what we finally end up with.

Until next week.... :eyesmoke:
Click to expand...

hey bro great looking grow you've got going on, but i would do at least 2weeks before flushing they dont look very fat and still have shed loads of white hairs aka not ripe :roll:. peace
 
S

Splifford

Member
Hey Dwizz,

I totally agree, but the problem is my girls don't agree. Strawberry Smile and Bubblicious are not monster flowering plants genetically. Believe it or not the flowers I currently have on my Strawberry Smile are some of tjhe largest for that strain.

As the manufacturer says "it's not so much in the yield which is average, it's in the quality".

My plants are ripening, and there isn't too much I can do about it. The hairs are beginning to turn red and the Trichomes are are moving from clear to milky, and amber. I have to make a decision pretty soon.
 
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