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Here we go. As some of you may know, for reasons unknown to me, no matter what i did, soil and soilless grows failed for me repeatedly in the humid, hot climate I am in. As an effort to find out if the problem was with something in the medium (harmful fungi, pathogens, etc.) that I can't see, I tried hydro. I sowed the seeds after soaking in water and after the seed split (2 x THC bomb, 1 x 8 miles high) and 3 days later, the water pump broke. One of the THC bombs didn't survive the stress of no water for 20 hours. The other two did. I replaced the pump, and 2 days later, I had to leave for a party (we do events) for ten days. I left the system running, and added sufficient (but extremely dilute) nutrients. The nutes I use are locally based from south India, and the dosage is 10ml/litre. I put 1ml/litre, ph'd the water to about 6.0 and left. Lights were running on 18/6. To my ecstatic surprise, I came back to find these at Day 18: 8 miles high https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133990-8mh-day-18/ THC Bomb https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133991-thc-bomb-day-18/ I was pretty damn happy, to say the least. The 8MH was a bit twisted at the tips because of making contact with the CFL tubes, and the THC bomb had it's stem growing in a loop-de-loop like a roller coaster, but no further complaints whatsoever. https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133989-img-20140702-160556239/ They looked like they were facing a bit of an Mg def, but the amount of times I have seen people tell me to 'play it safe' and go err on the deficient side than excessive side was firm in my head and I decided I'll tackle it in a day or two. On day 20, upon checking the pH, i found that it was a tad high, and ph'D to about 6.0 again. The ppm was around 210 (my ppm meter has a margin of error of 10 ppm, and when it measures anything above 1000 ppm that margin of error goes to 50ppm, but it's better than having no ppm meter at all). I added enough nutes to make it about 400ppm. Here's how they're looking on day 23. On day 22 I changed the light cycle to 15/9. I have a friend who has done his master's in plant genetics - although this isn't his forte, he told me that plants grow much better when the change from veg to flowering is a bit more gradual, and even one step in the middle for a couple days makes a difference. So that's what I'm doing. Is it worthwhile? No idea, but can any harm come out of it? Probably not. Supercropped 8MH on Day 22. I'm a big fan of supercropping over topping, simply because I have a better feel for getting it right. I have fucked up topping a few times, but never have I messed up supercropping. 8MH day 23 https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133996-8mh-day-23/ https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133995-8mh-day-23/ Unusual, but the 8MH was placed in the hydro system in a spongepot. Haven't read this before anywhere but haven't researched it. And I'm seeing some very vigorous root growth. I find it easier to germinate seeds in spongepots anyways, so this might be my way of the future. https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133992-8mh-day-23/ THC Bomb day 23 https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133997-thc-bomb-day-23/ https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133998-thc-bomb-day-23/ Remember the looping stem? I bent it down and covered it with hydroton and repositioned the dripper tube. It is now in the process of becoming a part of the root mass. I'm sure the humidity is helping. https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133994-thc-bomb-day-23/ https://www.opengrow.com/gallery/image/133993-thc-bomb-day-23/ Right now they are under 80w of CFL t5 tubes, but they're obviously not getting all the 80w. When should I move them under the HPS (400)? Also, as the humidity is only set to increase till about the end of august (till a max of 80-90) after which it will come down to 50 or so in sept, I'm wondering if it would be safer to sex these, then veg the females into monsters, then cut her up into clones and flower? It's unlikely i'll do this if there is only one female, as I am far too impatient to wait that long. As soon as I get a bit more cash I will be building another two identical systems. One with more sites for cloning, and one that I can flower about 4-5 clones in. I have the seeds, just need the rest. Also starting a very big outdoor grow this month. Just finished soil tests and the NPK content is on the low side, the organic content is on the low side, red soil, and there's a decent amount of water due to a tributary running through the middle of the field. the pH is also around 8.2 - on the high side. How would you advise me to go about treating 1 acre of such soil? I want to go 100% organic. Any advice would be more than welcome. OpenGrow, here we go again. : ) Greetz from India El Chupa

Greetings from India. I'm at about 18-21 N, 70-73 E It is my first inddor grow ever to be successful (hopefully), as i finally feel I have ironed out all of the problems I was facing earlier. I have grown massive trees of indian landraces and much tinier trees of seeds from mandala, dinafem, mr.nice and nirvana, but once moving to a new city with less outdoor space and a much warmer and significantly more humid climate, things were difficult. I have now managed to sort everything out. So here's the information: Medium : Coco based organic medium, organic additives include the easily available ones, like neem cake, pongamia cake, cottonseed cake, karanja cake, EWC. I also have cow manure to use if necessary, as well as bone meal. Other medium additives: I have ordered my beneficial bacteria and fungi (trichoderma (viride and harzanium), mycorrhizae (Ventricular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae), Pseudomonas Florescens and Beauvaria Bassiana. The first two are well known as being effective in preventing harmful bacterial/fungal growth, everyone knows myco, psuedomonas florescens is another fairly general bio-pesticide and Beauvaria Bassiana is a insecticidal virus (parasitic) that infects nearly any arthropod that comes into contact with it's spores, or any arthropod that comes into contact with an infected arthopod. It is a pretty cool little thing that is vicious against pests (and, unfortunately, probably many beneficial bugs). Growing space: Here's the crazy part - I have about 7.5 sq metre/80 sq feet (9x9) of flowering space and about 1.8 sq metres/ 20 sq feet (10x2) of veg space. they are both separated by a sliding door and are light proof. room walls are flat white - no mylar here as far as i know lighting (veg) - ~90w of T5 tube lights as well as 400w HPS, soon to be more when i choose a mother plant lighting (flowering) - The largest size ballast available in this country are 400w Magnetic Ballasts. So I have a setup whereby I can accommodate upto 6 x 400w HPS bulbs, but as of now, I have only 2 set up. Intake: Passive through a straight, unbending, hard 6" wide plumbing tube that's pulling air from outside Exhuast: Massive exhaust fan that's pushing air outside. I don't remmeber the CFM/CMH of the fan but the air in the room is exchanged every 2-3 min. strains: 5 x 8 miles high (mandala seeds, regular) 5 x thc bomb (bomb seeds, regular) I have 5 more of each left, we'll see how things go (i number the days with roman numerals until the seeds break the soil's surface as it is just how i like to do things) day i: seeds sowed in sannie's spongepots, watered with bacto, waiting to break surface! Pictures soon folks!