Zen’s Spring 2026 Grow

[Zen_seeker]

20260313: GG#4 JW & SB#22

The changes seem to be helping. Compared to yesterday it’s greener.

Yesterday Mornin.


This morning.


If this keeps up I’ll mix up a new dry mix top dressing for the end of the weekend.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20260319: GG#4 JW & SB#22

It’s been a week since the last check. The two foliar sprays and liquid nutrients have things looking much better. Not done yet but a good start.

A lot going on at home and I’m tired of this up/down weather.

 

[Pipecarver]

Looking better and they are sure getting tall, I'd have topped them, its not to late to help them fill in a bit. If it was me I hit them with far reds, just a week of it for 10min at lights out. Too me its like a wonder drug, do you have any? I have an extra one I can send you. I have these small Rapid led pucks 1 is good for a 3x3. I bought them before I bought the spiderfarmer far reds. Just let me know I'll send out tomorrow.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Looking better and they are sure getting tall, I'd have topped them, its not to late to help them fill in a bit.

These were in red cups for 80 days or so before I transplanted. They have been topped at least two or three times already. I bent a few over a week or two back but they are due again for LST or topping.

I’m waiting for them to get better before I stress them more. I’d like to up pot one more time but I’m having trouble finding shorter/wider 3 gallon pots. I’ll either use the green ones or use old black 5 gallon ones rolled down if I have too.

If it was me I hit them with far reds, just a week of it for 10min at lights out. Too me its like a wonder drug, do you have any?

The Photontek is supposed to cover more red but I have no idea if it does. It doesn’t have any separate controls for it.

I have an extra one I can send you. I have these small Rapid led pucks 1 is good for a 3x3. I bought them before I bought the spiderfarmer far reds. Just let me know I'll send out tomorrow.

If it’s cheap to send I’ll try it. I recall you use them for like 15 minutes either at the start or end of lights on?

Can it be attached to the middle of the Photontek light you think?
If it’s a puck light it should be able to fit in the middle underneath the ballast I’d think?

How’s the bathroom ceiling? Was it just from a fluke ice jamming up under the shingles or do you have a water issue?

This constant freezing/thawing/raining is getting to me but the roofs been okay. The basement has been in the 50-60’s for RH all month but hits 30’s on the odd day. Temps have hit 14* at lights out once or twice. At least the plants are in veg and able to handle the environment swings better.

Haven’t seen your clones recently. Are they doing well? G$ is popping a few seeds but they are growing slower than normal.

 

[Pipecarver]

These were in red cups for 80 days or so before I transplanted. They have been topped at least two or three times already. I bent a few over a week or two back but they are due again for LST or topping.

I’m waiting for them to get better before I stress them more. I’d like to up pot one more time but I’m having trouble finding shorter/wider 3 gallon pots. I’ll either use the green ones or use old black 5 gallon ones rolled down if I have too.


The Photontek is supposed to cover more red but I have no idea if it does. It doesn’t have any separate controls for it.


If it’s cheap to send I’ll try it. I recall you use them for like 15 minutes either at the start or end of lights on?

Can it be attached to the middle of the Photontek light you think?View attachment 127078
If it’s a puck light it should be able to fit in the middle underneath the ballast I’d think?

How’s the bathroom ceiling? Was it just from a fluke ice jamming up under the shingles or do you have a water issue?

This constant freezing/thawing/raining is getting to me but the roofs been okay. The basement has been in the 50-60’s for RH all month but hits 30’s on the odd day. Temps have hit 14* at lights out once or twice. At least the plants are in veg and able to handle the environment swings better.

Haven’t seen your clones recently. Are they doing well? G$ is popping a few seeds but they are growing slower than normal.

I mounted it on a piece of thin sheet metal then bent it around my ballast there's no weight to it like a couple grams. I use it for 15 min, 5 before lights out and 10 after. My timer on that light only has 15 min intervals. I saw a video recently that said 8 min was the sweet spot so I'm close enough. I'll ship it tomorrow, my wife has an eye appointment in Halifax so its an outing...lol. I get to sit in the car and wait a couple of hours while they spend 10 minutes looking at her then send her on her way until the next one..

 

[TomH]

The biochar can cause issues if it's not pre charged with microbes and nutes before you add it. It will pull nutes from the surrounding soil, just like fresh un aged wood chips do. The microbes use it as like a storage unit.if it's empty when you add it they will fill it. I dont realy think it has much nuitrient value,if your not reusing your soil you might just be able to get rid of it.

I’ve been using biochar for a couple years, but I also reuse the soil and just rebuild it (as long as there were no issues in the grow) so I’m hopoing at this point, the bio char that is the oldest is really cooked In well. I can’t actually say its made the grows better, probably more as a wholistic approach, it was part of the improvement. So were learning patience, better watering/dryout practices, better feed practices … in other words, many things have changed, which one(s) moved the needle in the right direction? Don’t know, I hope I am’nt moving the needle in the wrong direction with and recent changes.

 

[stonemason]

I’ve been using biochar for a couple years, but I also reuse the soil and just rebuild it (as long as there were no issues in the grow) so I’m hopoing at this point, the bio char that is the oldest is really cooked In well. I can’t actually say its made the grows better, probably more as a wholistic approach, it was part of the improvement. So were learning patience, better watering/dryout practices, better feed practices … in other words, many things have changed, which one(s) moved the needle in the right direction? Don’t know, I hope I am’nt moving the needle in the wrong direction with and recent changes.

We use it too .makes it hard not to having a wood burning stove.the biology is supposed to love it.

 

[Zen_seeker]

I’ve been using biochar for a couple years, but I also reuse the soil and just rebuild it (as long as there were no issues in the grow) so I’m hopoing at this point, the bio char that is the oldest is really cooked In well. I can’t actually say its made the grows better, probably more as a wholistic approach, it was part of the improvement. So were learning patience, better watering/dryout practices, better feed practices … in other words, many things have changed, which one(s) moved the needle in the right direction? Don’t know, I hope I am’nt moving the needle in the wrong direction with and recent changes.

I’ll be leaving the biochar out for the rest of the grow. I should have charged it first but due to time restraints I skipped that part thinking it would be okay and charge up on its own over time.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20260322: GG#4 JW & SB#22


I think this will be the last week I feed liquid nutrients. They look much better but still have some lighter colouration.




I’ll be cleaning up the leaves and branches this week. I topped any of the longer branches to keep them even. Still no luck finding wider soft pots. I’ll use the green ones again if it comes down to it.

Still winter one day and spring the next. Need to start planning the vegetable garden out.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20260324: GG#4 JW & SB#22

While the main tent is holding the plants while I try to “fix” them I found I/we forgot to clean the second 3x3. We started making hash and just skipped it.

So the last 48 hours have been cleaning and now the second tent is ready. Washer tray was a bit of a job but otherwise it was straightforward.

Now I can split the plants after the next up pot. Maybe one of each in each tent or a pair of the same in each tent…haven’t decided.



Need to setup the 18/6 mechanical timers next as I pack them up.

Cleaning out the green 3 gallon soft pots as I can’t find wider ones. I think I have some 5 gallon pots I can roll down and use.

Got to open a new bag of ProMix and mix the dry nutrients before up potting this weekend.

Enjoy your day people’s.

 

[Zen_seeker]

20260327: GG#4 JW & SB#22


Plants are looking much better. Yesterday I dropped the Sensi Cal Mag Extra 4:0:0 and fed FFGB 6:4:4 and 1 TSP epsom per gallon instead. Some leaves have darker stripes or areas.

Talking with Pipecarver about these early yellowing or lime issues. He thinks about 15 minutes of far red LEDs 5 minutes before lights out will help with that.

The Photontek SQ300W has 730nm far reds but it’s always on, no separate controls for them. He thinks that might be overkill but doesn’t know for sure. It does explain why I get a lot of stretching.

So Mr Carver was nice enough to send me one of his far red LED puck lights.


Photontek specs.

Puck light.

I’m going to see if I can hook it up in the middle of the quantum boards in the second tent that has no far reds. It’s just two 220w panels joined in the middle so I should be able to put the light under the seam this weekend.

No one around here has wide shorter 3 gallon soft pots so I started cleaning the green ones from the last grow. They aren’t as wide as I want but these plants have been in small containers much longer than I wanted. I should have been able to flip by April 1st. Now it’ll be mid April after they have time to root in the new pot.

Very tired. Gas company finally fixed things and this weeks bill shows it’s fixed and over with. But the City Water and Property Tax bullshit is still going on. They can’t be this stupid or incompetent. He’s a director for f**k sakes. So it has to be intentional trying to get us to walk away. I’ve clawed back about $6750 of the stolen $8500 but they keep making excuses and sending the wrong paperwork. Even the director hasn’t been able to tell me where $865 he admits he owes us has gone? WTF? So I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall for the last however many years and it’s just draining and frustrating. But I’m not giving up, I can’t after all this BS.

I plan to get most if not all the plants transplanted this weekend in a new soil mix. Now that things are better I’ll stop the liquid nutes and let the dry nutes in the soil mix take over again. Still don’t know what went wrong this time.

Have a good weekend people.