Sapphyre & Rockslide

ppm 250, Light set to 40% @ ~300 ppfd. Top feeding for now until the girls can start using feeding themselves better with the wicking system. Using Spider Farmer Gravity-Fed Self-Watering System.

Second set of leaves are starting to appear. Using filtered water. Probably should have let it hit room temp before I used it. I'll try to remember that next time or just use tap water

They've been pretty receptive to any changes I've made. I bumped the light to 100% which helped increase the temp in the tent. Turned on the exhaust to low to expel excess humidity. Turned the irrigation system on. Microdosed them with grow big and big bloom. The Rockslide is barely behind the Sapphyre in growth, but the Sapphyre is a 60 day auto and I think the Rockslide is a 70 day. Both seem happy in their environment. Temp was 85 so I bumped the tent fan speed. But along with the exhaust, it should be ideal soon

I went ahead and mixed up some new coco and perlite because I wasn't too jazzed with the ratio of the other batch. Starting this one and changing a few things right off the bat. Top feed only until around 4 weeks. No nutes for a bit. I topped this pot off. I was worried about the others streaching, but the light is more than efficient in this tent to keep them from streaching. Also starting this seed in the pot. Goal is low stress all around and more patience from me.

EDIT: add some comparison pics of the other two. 3 day difference, maybe I'm overthinking it. I just dont know what to expect from a 60 day auto

It's been an a roller coaster, but I think I'm back on track. I ran into some obvious amateur mistakes. The plants were slowly dying of magnesium and calcium deficiency, and it locked them out any other nutrients. I started this grow without CalMag and pH down 😅

I've done a bit of reading about coco coir and listening to podcast about growing indoors, in coco, and nutrients. I still need to get a better understanding of nutrient balance, but it's starting to click.

I'm thankful that they're picking up again because I was pretty close to scrapping them before I leave town for a few days. But they're doing good again and I'm feeling confident I'm gonna come back to some explosive growth! They've come a long way in just the last 4 days

One of my issues were I kept getting conflicting information about how high to run my ppm. I'd see 1000ppm-1200ppm from a lot of sources on hydroponics, and I was getting the same from a close gromie who has a few different hydroponics systems, but not the wicking bases.

I finally found a good podcast where they talk to different growers and finally found consistent information on growing in coco and with a passive hydroponics system like mine. So my humidity was too high, my plants were dying under too bright of lights leaching them of magnesium that they were starved of because I didn't buffer my coco. Then I had to get a lesson on cation exchange because they weren't responding to the CalMag

Needless to say, it's been a crash course. But the original Rockslide is doing great and Rockslide #2 is killing it now that they're getting the right mix. It's probably going to out grow the other since it barely hit a hiccup. A couple leaves got washed out from the mag deficiency, but overall it's been moving along pretty quickly.

The sapphyre is virtually dead at this point. I'm gonna leave it to feed while I'm gone and see what happens, but I'll likely start a new seedling when I get back.

It's been a bit since I've updated this grow. I got Rockslide #1 and #2 set up on wicking system before I left for a week and came back to happy thriving plants. The first picture is from that day.

Can't recommend the gravity fed system more. It's been tricky to figure out as an amateur, but worth it to take one more chore off my hands. I adjusted the EC to 1.0 before I left and bumped it to 1.2 a few days after I got back.

The left is my original Rockslide and the right is the backup Rockslide I planted since they had a rough start. Both in different coco mixture, neither of them great honestly, but the first had more perlite and some vermiculite in it because it was a seed starter I had made before all this got started. I made a new coco mix with less perlite in it for a 80/20. I did not buffer either with calmag, but I did "flush" Rockslide #2 with it after a couple weeks. It seems like it's made a difference compared to the yellow new leaves on the other. Seems like even though that's what new growth looks like, it last longer and looks more severe in the one that didn't get the "flush".

My pH meter was off by 0.3 so that didn't really help either. I was able to finally get that recalibrated after I got back home. It's likely what a majority of my problems were coming from. I was not checking pH when I started this new journey. Boy, I've learned a lot since I first transplanted those first seedlings. One being that you usually don't transplant autos. Lol. A good struggle pushes me to learn though. I'm pretty happy with the current state of the grow.

Rockslide #1 is in very early flower. I've been focusing on nutrients and environment with this grow, so I chose not to do any training. Id like to get into that with my next run. I've topped my outdoor photos, but only once. I have been tucking fan leaves though to expose the lower leaves.

Rockslide #2 is absolutely crushing it. It hit a slight bump with magnesium deficiency at first, but I gave it a big triple dose of CalMag water and it's been smooth sailing ever since. It's about 3 weeks younger but taller than the other. I'm excited to see it's potential.

On top of all of that, I realized I had what I needed to make a Co2 generator with an old brewing kit Ive had! Warm water, 1lb of canning sugar, and some ale yeast. After about 5 days, the bubbles really start rolling through the bubbler on top and I fit an airline into that and into the top of the tent.

Again, can't say enough good stuff about theses genetics from Speedrun. It's been resilient and since I've got my pH and nutrients dialed in more, the growth has been great! I'm excited to see what they can do with solid conditions from start.

I already know all the stuff I want to do differently next run. Stick to one strain, use soil amendments like kelp, mycorrhizae, and worm castings. I'd like to get some better nutrients like Bloom Yellow or Sensi. Start with charged coco. Better preparation all around

For now, I'm just gonna continue to focus on getting these to harvest successfully!

We just keep getting bigger and bigger over here. Day 57 for the left and Day 40 for the right. I started a new Sapphyre about 10 days ago that's also doing well.

My DIY Co2 generator is working great. I'm hoping it can go for about 40 days. Best part is all I need is more yeast and sugar to keep it pumping out.

The basement is getting a little cool, so I closed up the tent and bumped the light to 80% to keep temp above 70 in there. I might need to get a coop heater eventually when temps hit 10s and single digits next month. It's been a little difficult getting the temp above 66 on a very cold day. Especially since I need to run the exhaust full time so the house doesn't smell.

RH is running between 50 and 60

I think I could dial the EC Back a hair. I think last I checked it was 1.3 and it seems like it might be a touch too high.

I've got myself a vivosun oscillating fan coming in next week so help with airflow and making sure one part of the plant isn't drying out too fast.

I nearly have enough spare equipment to open up a drying tent or a veg tent. I may check out some 2x2 for that. As far as the 4x2 Melonfarmer tent Im using, my only qualm is the lack of support in the center to keep it from collapsing from negative pressure. Im going to have to build something from PVC to help with the structure so the plants can have more space.

EDIT: I'll try to upload the timelapse another time. It keeps crashing the app when I go to post it

My brother got me a vivosun camera to do timelaspe! I wasn't sure if I'd use it all that much, but I love the timelapse! It's great for seeing the progress. I've been trying to focus on getting these to harvest, so I haven't been posting as much. So far, everything is going well enough. I definitely want to switch nutes soon as I can. I think the all purpose fertilizer is just too imbalanced for these autos. The one on the left should be done soon and the right I'd say has a couple weeks left. I think it's finally done stretching and is looking like it's starting to bulk up like the left.

Got myself a new 2x2 tent the other day and was gifted a light and exhaust fan. The sapphyre is doing well in it so far. I ended up with some fungus gnats because I guess the fan plug came loose and so I had to put DE on the soil and hung fly paper.

Also, learned to pH adjust to 5.5 or 5.6 for these wick bases for account for drift. If it's 5.5 in the vat, it's probably going to end up closer to 6.0 to 6.3 in the bases after a few days. Adjust, rest, adjust

Took one off nutrients while the other continues to bulk. Gonna let this one get some color before I take it down. Nice, sticky, greasy buds. Really dense. Terpene profile was described to be sweet dessert and rubber bands and I can confirm the rubber band scent.

Spent a few hours defoliating, trimming, and hanging limbs and plant. I separated everything into smalls on mesh, medium hung on clips, and whole plant hung in the dry tent.

This grow went well enough considering all the user error issues I started out with. I started running out of herb before I started processing the first one, so it didn't get as much love on the flush as the second plant. Could I have let this one flush longer? Sure. But it was looking great and I wasnt trying to process this in the middle of the week

The first plant was less than half the size abd I got 3 Oz dried off it, so I'll hopefully finish with a little over 9 oz of dried Rockslide.

I've got a sapphyre that I'll not be updating, but i might do a separate run eventually. It's a lot shorter, so it's a interesting plant for small spaces.