MARS HYDRO CUP - Lilac Diesel & Birthday Banger -Mainline Grow w/MARS HYDRO TS2000W & Home Assistant Automation

Damn so I'm still trying to keep training the lilac diesel plants down... apparently they stretch A LOT more than my Birthday Banger (will not be growing these together again). Managed to get the Birthday Banger plants moved to the middle so they will still get some good strong light.

Today is the last day of the first week of the stretch, hopefully they don't get too unbalanced.

Looking good, bud!

The two trellis nets to support the buds? Hoping to see some monster Coca-Cola can colas this time, I'm sure.

RadicalRoss said:

Looking good, bud!

The two trellis nets to support the buds? Hoping to see some monster Coca-Cola can colas this time, I'm sure.

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I did that last time too, it helps

Well the training and defoliation cleaned up the space but there's a handful of colas that will just be taller- I can't figure out a way to tuck them back down without doing some weird stuff/covering up a bunch of other buds.



First day of week 2 flowering is tomorrow... I'll get my latest time lapse up here soon.

And it's up - Week 1 flower in 30 seconds!


Had to adjust the camera a couple days in so it looks like they got shorter- also there is totally a blip where I knocked the camera down and didn't notice for a bit while working in there.

Week 2 of flower and no issues yet. I've settled on reducing my feeding a bit and actually brew it up a bit so I'm doing (per 5 gallons of water) 2 TBSP Terp Tea Bloom, 2 TBSP Black strap molasses, and 1/2 cup fresh worm castings. I was going to try kelp meal based on some recommendations on here but I haven't gotten around to ordering it yet.



For now I'm watering every ~3 days and feeding every 3rd watering.

Check that- Roots Organics "Terp Tea Bloom" includes kelp meal and basically serves the same purpose

Feather meal, dolomite, soybean meal, langbeinite, kieserite, crab meal, fish bone meal, bat guano and kelp meal

First picture: (before) Better angle- you can see it’s getting nice and bushy- the middle plants are catching up a bit

2 & 3: (after) Went back through after and did some major defoliation... haven't gotten below the canopy in a bit and some new lateral branches were trying to grow out.....clean and lollipopped now!

Adding a new nutrient suppliment to my regiment. Currently I'm brewing Terp Tea Bloom (3-7-4) with molasses and a little vermicompost.
Just got a deal on Terp Tea Bloom Booster (0.5-6-18 ) which is supposed to be a potent late flowering nutrient. Going to start phasing it in a little at a time starting my next feeding (week 3.5) and completely switch to it from the standard Terp Tea Bloom by week 6.

Other than that they are looking nice, recovering from the last defoliation well. Forming nice little flowers and it's not even two weeks in yet.

Rock 79F and 56RH right now. Trying to get the humidity lower but I'm having trouble taking it down too much without raising the temp now that it's cooling off and my AC isn't going.

Paranoid about Root Aphids and Fungal Gnats after my last run so I'm dosing with Mosquito Bits (BTI) every two weeks preventatively.

Last day of week two flowering and I still haven't killed them yet

Gonna get a time lapse up later today. Canopy is not quite as even as I would have hoped but it could be much worse.... after trimming the lateral branches a little more aggressively on the shorter plants they've closed the gap some.

It's hard to see in the picture but one of the Lilac Diesel RBX2 plants seems to be growing pinkish pistils

Alright, today is the first day of week 3 so another time lapse to catch everyone up.

OKAY! This time I got a picture that actually shows the pink some. ALSO SUPER STOKED with how my early flowers are looking. Larger and fuller than I've seen on week two before....and all my colas look very similar. (the pink has spread and is now on the cola of all my lilac diesel RBX2 plants)

Well it finally happened. I forgot I had my drip running and it overwatered the pots. Thankfully I’ve got the spill tray in my tent... I really need to design a flood cutoff switch soon though. It could have ended much worse- which is why I set it up with a smallish reservoir.

Well I needed my stirring pump and air pump for brewing compost tea in the garage and I didn’t want the water de-chlorinating in the tent to go stagnant so I tried rigging up an improvised Venturi... I got the physics right but it took 1.5 hours to drain the air from an inflated sandwich bag... guess it’s just not enough power.

on the plus side I tested it and my little air pump can work with the 1/4 inch drip to up the aeration (gonna order another cheap $10 air pump on amazon).... and no more stirring pump needed. I'm thinking about running an extra long drip barb into the 1/2 inch poly so I can attach drip on the inside of the poly as well (so I can have a tiny air stone inline in the waterflow on the stirring line).

Looking good.. Loving the time lapses.

It almost looks like the plants recognize when lights are about to go out, because they would start to droop a second or 2 (im guessing an hour or 2 real life) before lights off. Either that or Im just high xD.

Regardless though, looks like the mars hydro is doing pretty well for ya! keep it up

BluntMoniker said:

Looking good.. Loving the time lapses.

It almost looks like the plants recognize when lights are about to go out, because they would start to droop a second or 2 (im guessing an hour or 2 real life) before lights off. Either that or Im just high xD.

Regardless though, looks like the mars hydro is doing pretty well for ya! keep it up

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Thanks, yea the light is still doing solid even though it's only rated for a 3x3... I just focus on keeping my plants in about 6-8" from the actual edge of the tent so they're all in the "optimal" zone. Hoping I win either 1st or 2nd in the Mars Hydro Cup...either light would be a major improvement for my space (the 3rd place prize is a newer version of the same size/class light so it's still probably better).

They do seem to anticipate it... either that or that happens to be when the heat is the highest or something like that? Each frame is like 15 minutes apart, can't remember what the framerate is set to for the videos.

SpawnOfVader said:

Thanks, yea the light is still doing solid even though it's only rated for a 3x3... I just focus on keeping my plants in about 6-8" from the actual edge of the tent so they're all in the "optimal" zone. Hoping I win either 1st or 2nd in the Mars Hydro Cup...either light would be a major improvement for my space (the 3rd place prize is a newer version of the same size/class light so it's still probably better).

They do seem to anticipate it... either that or that happens to be when the heat is the highest or something like that? Each frame is like 15 minutes apart, can't remember what the framerate is set to for the videos.

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Check this out as well... says you need a quality grow journal, but figure you can try it out anyway. My journal isnt complete, but its pretty damn close to the end so Im hoping I qualify. The strains look pretty tasty, ESPECIALLY as a freebie lol

BluntMoniker said:

Comparative Grow – Seedstockers | The Vault

The Vault Cannabis Seeds Store is back for another mind-blowing Comparative Grow, this time in partnership with Seedstockers

www.cannabis-seeds-store.co.uk

Check this out as well... says you need a quality grow journal, but figure you can try it out anyway. My journal isnt complete, but its pretty damn close to the end so Im hoping I qualify. The strains look pretty tasty, ESPECIALLY as a freebie lol

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Entered, worst case they say it's not 100% done yet and I don't qualify

HA! That moment where you go to check on your first batch of compost tea after sitting overnight with your new air pump....

*Please be aerated
*Please don't stink

and....

Oh yea it's sufficient lol