Bella Ciao in Coco w/ 600w

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Aug 26, 2008

Waaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppp?!!!!

Hey everyone, I'm new to the board and still a beginner at growing but I am giving it another go after a short break. I've got a small room in the upstairs of my house dedicated to this grow and so far its working out nicely.

Let's see, how about some specifics:

- Early Veg Light: 125w 6400k CFL
- Main Veg Light: 600w SunMaster Cool Deluxe MH
- Flower Light: 600w Hortilux 600w Super HPS
- Lumatek Switchable Ballast
- Air-cooled Daystar Hood
- 256cfm in-line Fantech fan w/ CAN 2600 Charcoal Filter
- Room Dimensions: 11'w x 10'd x 7'h (roof is v-shaped) - air conditioned
- Growing Medium: Botanicare Coco Coir
- Nutrients: GH FloraSeries with Sensi Cal/Mg, Liquid KoolBloom and Floralicious Plus (used some Clonex in the first watering, they didn't seem to mind)

Phew, I think I got everything... lemme know if you have questions or I left something out. I do have one question:

How long before I should throw the MH on 'em? They look like they're reachin' for the CFL but I don't wanna burn 'em either...

Thanks for stopping by... feel free to ask questions, b.s., or just say 'hey'.

~SSB :bong1:

4u2sm0ke · Aug 26, 2008

Hey Looks great I say as soon as they break soil. remember the back of hand method.that air cooled hood should get you close to plants . also i dont think we should be useing nutes yet..IMO...they look a bit young..But what do I know Im stoned right now..lol.
is the room seperated into two rooms ? or are you doing everything in that space?
.Good Luck and i will be pulling up my milk crate for this one..Thanks for shareing with my friend

KEEP M GREEN

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Aug 27, 2008

4u2sm0ke said:
also i dont think we should be useing nutes yet..IMO...they look a bit young..But what do I know Im stoned right now..lol.

Those are just the nutes I plan to use... not really using any yet. I was gonna order some Canna Coco nutes but have decided to go ahead and use some FloraSeries nutes I already have on hand. They're not specific for coco but I'll go that route once I use up what I have....

~SSB

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Aug 27, 2008

4u2sm0ke said:
Hey Looks great I say as soon as they break soil. remember the back of hand method.that air cooled hood should get you close to plants. is the room seperated into two rooms ? or are you doing everything in that space?

Ready or not, here goes the MH... I think they can handle it. And no, the room is all one space currently. In the future I'll probably set up my HydroHut 2x4 as a separate Mother/Veg area though.

~SSB

4u2sm0ke · Aug 28, 2008

IMO...you need more light for that size of space...min 3k lumes sq ft...5k or more lumes best..Good luck keep us posted

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Aug 28, 2008

Thought I'd post a few DAY 4 shots... First one is a group shot and the second is of my runt... Blaze on!

~SSB :bong1:

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Aug 28, 2008

4u2sm0ke said:
IMO...you need more light for that size of space...min 3k lumes sq ft...5k or more lumes best..Good luck keep us posted

Technically I agree, but I'm not using EVERY sq ft of that room for the plants.... maybe half if that which I figure gets me my 'min 3k'. I highly doubt the females I get from these 11 seeds will fill the entire 110 sq feet... LOL! Those would be some MONSTERS! Ha Ha! Plenty of light me thinks................. for now

~SSB :huh:

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 2, 2008

DAY 9:

I watered before I left for the weekend w/ a very light nute solution since I understand coco needs a little 'prebuffering'. I fed them w/ a very light feed and some Cal/Mg as well but they appear to still need more magnesium. I'm pretty sure this is common w/ coco and will just take some adjusting but what do you guys think? Could it be something else? I thought maybe spider mites as I have caught what I believe to be 3 of the little buggers but the curling of the leaves edges says Mg to me... And what's w/ the purple on the underside of some of the curling leaves? Strange... The two little runts are hanging in there but not doing much.... this will definitely be a learning experience....

~SSB :bong1:

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 4, 2008

Well here's a Day 12 update I suppose... I've upped the nutes just a lil to see if that doesn't straighten these babies out a bit.. 480ppm. Some of them are curling under or twisting and I don't know why. Heat stress (backed the light off to 16-17" from about 12"), Mg deficiency, something else? They look 'better' than a few days ago but I'm still a little perplexed. I ditched the tiniest runt because it wasn't doing anything which leaves me with 9 healthy and 1 runt. I'm also thinking its getting about time for a transplant...

First pic is an overall shot, second is of some of the curling (forefront), and third is just some more of the same.... Thanks for stopping by (or not).... I'll be here all grow....

~SSB :bong1:

Aurora_Indicas_Dad · Sep 4, 2008

nice..i like your choice for medium.i use the coco disks myself and never have a single problem with ph or overfeeding. as for prebuffering the coco.i personally dont,i stick with str8 distilled water for the first couple weeks,then i introduce the nutes at 1/4 strength and go from there.

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 6, 2008

Alright so its DAY 14 and my babies were ready for a transplant! They had some very nice root development going on (love the coco!) and I think will perk up w/ the extra leg room. I put them in 2-gal nursery containers and added some Superthrive to the water so hopefully transplant shock will be kept to a minimum. I worked out a nifty drip feed setup that seems to work pretty well also, just needs a lil' tweakin' so everybody gets watered more evenly and a bit slower...

Welp, off to smokey land... come one, come all....

~SSB :bong1:

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 7, 2008

awesomecross48 said:
Looking great man, keep up the good work. About how much did that drip system cost and how much time did it take to get working.

Thanks! the 'drip' system was pretty cheap to set up actually, the pump I had already from my previous f&d attempt ($20) so I just had to buy the hydroport, some adapters, and some hose.... I'll bet less than $50 all told... should work pretty slick when I get the kinks ironed out.

~SSB

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 15, 2008

Well I guess its time for an update.... Almost done w/ DAY 22 and have made a few changes in the last week. I started having some spotting and other discoloration on several lower leaves, plus remember they were so droopy looking? Well, I upped the nutrients to about 60% (using 3-2-1 for veg, 1-2-3 for flower) which REALLY helped and am getting ready to bump it again because it looks like they're still needing some more food...

I replaced the 8-port Hydroport with a 12-port watering hub that doesn't leak and installed plastic T's on the end of my feeder lines which all in all helps it distribute water more evenly to the plants. I also constructed a 'tent' out of panda film with removeable front and rear panels that helps concentrate the light on my plants... Let's see what else... added an air stone to the reservoir so it'll stay oxygenated... going to 75% nutrient strength starting tomorrow.

Anybody have any thoughts on whether I should finish these out in their 2-gal containers or go ahead and transplant to the 5-gal buckets I bought and grow some MONSTERS???

~SSB

bombbudpuffa · Sep 16, 2008

Go with the 5 gal. I use 2 gal for flower and i'm never happy with my yields.

lyfr · Sep 16, 2008

very nice..i say put that 600 to good use and go 5gal:aok: JMO
looks like a real good start, go plants go!

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 16, 2008

Thanks everyone for the input... I'm gonna go for broke on this one I think but maybe I'll keep my 'male suspects' in the 2-gal to see how accurate I am and compare yields w/ the 5-gals should I screw up....

Oh yah! Forgot to mention I started LST yesterday...they bent over nicely.

I'm mainly doing this to even out the canopy in hopes of maximizing yield. I figure if I'm going to invest the $$$ and time to grow these MONSTER-STYLE then I should do what I can to maximize yield..... and its just fun to get some hands on instead of watching from the sidelines all the time... haha.

~SSB

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 18, 2008

Today I decided to upgrade my drainage to something requiring less maintenance. Before, each pot was in its own tray and I would go around w/ the shop vac after each watering and suck it up. Let me just say that those shop vacs don't hold as much as they advertise.... not even close! So needless to say, this process was getting old.... I ended up buying a shelving unit w/ grated shelves that I've placed rubbermaid tubs under to catch the runoff. It seems to work better and I should only have to empty the two tubs once a week or so.... MUCH more appropriate for a stoner such as myself. :watchplant:

As an added bonus, I had leftover shelves to put nutes and the like on.... me likes.

~SSB :bong:

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 22, 2008

Okay... well we're just past the 4-week mark on this here grow meow... I'm about 95% sure I have 3 females and 6 males which I'm a lil' bummed about as well as 2 mutant midgets I threw out early on so not a great female to '**** I can't use' ratio (27% female). The males are going into 12/12 tomorrow morning so I can double check my pre-flower inspection skillz... (edit: actually I've decided just to take a couple cuttings from each 'suspect' and flower those in case I misjudged)

The three females were transplanted to 5-gal buckets today and they were more than ready! I'll give 'em another week or two in these babies and then flip the switch for some (hopefully) good times

The first transplant was a little rough but the last two were a piece of cake so all in all I feel good about it.

I'm upping the nutes to about 80% strength as they seemed to enjoy the 75% and showed no signs of burn. I'm diggin' this auto drain to waste system I implemented.... MUCH less maintenance.

Anyhoo, here are some pics, you can see they really like getting tied down, I'll have some nice bushes when I go to flower... Now please, smoke a bowl or roll a joint and get in the circle!

~SSB

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 22, 2008

awesomecross48 said:
I cant wait to see this finally flower

You and me both! It feels like veg is taking forever but I'm taking my time so as not to rush things... they are lookin' purdy I think though

~SSB

SeÃ±orSmokaBowla · Sep 28, 2008

[...runs off for a sec to reload a phat bowl...]

:joint: :fly:

5 Weeks Veg today! Not that its particularly exciting for anybody else but I'm thinking I may have these ladies 'almost' where I want 'em... 'bout another week I'm guessing and its time to go bush!

I'm having a small nutrient problem involving some yellow spots and tips which (I think/am told) is a calcium deficiency. So tonight and tomorrow I'm running just straight water through to flush out any buildup and then I'm mixing up a new (slightly less potent) batch of nutes w/ some added Cal/Mg. Hopefully this will do the trick but its pretty much a guessing game for me since I'm still learning...

I also decided (last minute) to take a few clones from each plant to grow out a mother plant from and preserve the genetics. Now I just gotta figure out where I'll put 'em once light schedules begin to change.... Always something to tweak, I love it! You can see a cameo of my new pipe in w/ the clones... hopefully soon to be loaded w/ my own herb. Oh how I long to be free of dealers and shoddy bud....

Gotta say I love the LST, I love the interaction w/ the plants and the satisfaction in shaping them how I want. It's easy to get carried away if you're not careful though...

Ok, well I'm out of news for now, not that vegetation is that damned exciting to begin w/ but hey, just visualize the budz...... MmmmmMmmmmmMmmmmm! :smoke1: :watchplant:

~SSB

Bella Ciao in Coco w/ 600w

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