Beginning of a perpetual grow

[novitius]

Hi all! So I'm getting a perpetual grow started. I've got a slew of genetics to choose from. Enough to keep me busy for quite a while. I've started with DNA's Holy Grail Kush and Barney's Peyote Critical. Flower doesn't really do the trick for me any longer so I'm planning to start pressing rosin. I'm going to veg in a 2x4 tent. I'm thinking that SOG is going to be the best option for me and will be flowering in a 4x4 under a 2kw led. I may have to add another or just return to the HPS. This is my first grow using LED's. I have a strip in the veg tent that is rated at 36w and it's done a lovely job. I imagine that there'd be some shock moving from LED Veg to HPS Flower though.
I'm wondering if any tent growers have set up shelving inside. I'm imagining two shelves running the length and width of the 2x4. Top shelf for moms and the lower rack for clones or new seedlings. I'll just use the LED strips. I'll have at least two per shelf.
Ive done the math on ventilation and I think a 4" centrifugal (@190cfm) will be enough to exhaust both tents. Ducting from tent ports to a Y converter that will be attached to the filter which will be directly attached to the fan. In pull of course. Does that sound feasible? I'm a little concerned about the circuit as it's old wiring and on Bus fuses so I'd like to cut corners where possible to lower the load.
Oh, I've also got a auto Northern Hog growing in there. It's the tall sparse one to the right, with the thinner leaves. It just showed pre-flower yesterday morning. I've never grown an auto before so this is just kinda a bonus,hopefully. The HGK is the shorter girl with the broad leaves. She should be showing sex very soon as well. The shortest one is the Peyote Critical. That one had a late start. About two weeks behind the others. I had tried to get a Blueberry Headband to germ and it just wasn't viable. The husk was so dense the little girl never pushed through and just kinda died after I attempted to set it free. Then I lost a popped Cotton Candy.I swear it disappeared in thin air. That's the 3rd time I've tried to get Cotton Candy growing and she just doesn't like me lol. Somehow whenever I order gear, I get at least 1 as a freebie and I fudge it up lol.
There's some light burn on the HGK. It grew into the strip. You can see the bleaching and curl on her. She recovered pretty well. The Auto NH did too but did not seem to care. There are some spots from careless watering as well.These pics are about 6 days old. I took them the day after topping the Holy Grail. 3 gal cloth pots, Happy Frog, Mykos spikes, Liquid Kelp, compost tea and distilled H2O. Oh, that's basil I bought from the grocery store and rooted in H2O on the window sill in there behind everything else. It was almost dead before I got it under the LED. Pretty soon I hope to have a decent chef garden at hand and the 2x4 will probably serve as the launch pad for that as well. I'm new to organic soil, I've been using DWC for a long time but that True Living Organics book inspired me to get me feet wet. It's true, soil is less maintenance. No washing a Res or monitoring PH drift to eliminate lock out. No pumps to fail or air stones that get weak. But, the growth is no where as robust. That may have something to do with the low wattage LED too. I'm happy though. Tomorrow I should be able to start taking clones off the Kush, the shoots are at the 3rd internode. That's kinda a rule right? That's when I take my clones anyhow.
I set a poll for this thread to help me decide what to run along side these two ladies for a while. I scored a ton of freebie's from the tude over the summer. The LSD and Boss Hogg are 5 packs. The 818 and Cherry OG are 3 packs and the rest are all singles or I may have two. When I ordered I had planned to run the 5 packs to find the best plant possible but I don't think I'm going to have the room to do that right now. I suppose I technically do...This is why I came here lol. I can't make up my mind!

 

[novitius]

Not a single vote huh? That's rather disappointing. I was hoping for at least one person to vote lol. I guess since there's no votes I won't be adding anything. Actually, to be honest, I don't think I have time to care for more than I have now and my budget is limited. I might germ an LSD because it's been on my list forever. Everything looks good though. The Auto Northern Hog is on day 51 and starting to flower. She has a sweet smell. The Holy Grail Kush is having some issues with what appears to be lockout of cal/mag. My soil meter says PH is at 7 -8 in her pot so I started flushing with 5.5 water to bring it down. My tap runs at about 7 most days. The others are fine at 6-6.5. I put the big LED in. It was advertised as 2000w. It only pulls 208w from the wall. It's a Vander so you know what I'm dealing with. I'll use it until I can afford to replace it. The Peyote Critical was topped, an attempt at a finger pinch FIM, 3 days ago. Every other day they receive liquid kelp. Twice a week I hit them with some compost tea. They're all drinking much more under the bigger lamp. I took 3 clones off the PC and 2 off the HGK. In a few days I'll take some more.Start trying to fill out that green sea I'm after. I'll try and get some pics later.

 

[2RedEyes]

In my limited grow experience, I have not tried any of your strains so I’m not much help...in my younger days of pot smoking, there was just weed, mostly from Mexico with an occasional bag of Hawaiian weed...not till I started research for growing a few years ago that I realized there were all these cool and different strain...all of these sound like fun though...

 

[Rosebud]

i didn't vote as i don't know all the strains either. The headband is a fave of our daughters. Everyone needs a GSC sometime, it is very good for nausea, etc. and a fun stone. I the cherry is cherry pie, that is a great strain.
That's all I got.

 

[novitius]

No worries 2redeyes. I have more beans than I can handle and for once they aren't bag seed lol. I got lucky just after the 'Tude celebrated their birthday last year. Mega freebie giveaway.They do all sound like fun don't they? MAybe I'll be able to document all of them I'm so indecisive I only popped the auto cus it would be done and over in short order. The HGK because how can you not grow out a Kush claiming to be the Holy Grail?? and the Peyote Critical because of it's lineage. The Purple Peyote was a Bubba Kush pheno they paired to Critical + (skunk & big bud). I also have a critical +2.0 in the stash which I guess is the IBL. There's also a few Trainwreck regular seeds I was hoping to have a go at breeding with. Never done any breeding but Trainwreck seems like a good daddy!

 

[HerbWatcher]

LSD is a good one. It grows big fat buds. But it takes 14 to 16 weeks in 12/12. It's worth it sometimes to get them big fat buds. I don't grow her no more, cause it was screwing up my perpetual. One more thing I think you would be happier going with hydro or areo in your perpetual. It's a lot easier than growing in soil for a perpetual. Just my opinion. Good luck and stay HIGH.

 

[Keef]

Novitius-- I don't remember our path crossing paths -- I don't know those genetics either but I'd like to have them !-- I'm relocating and shut down right now but I ran a continously grow for over 5 years -- Aero under LEDS--At one time I was maintaining about 2 dozen varieties in a square meter --
I'm indica heavy and use a 4 part rotation of 60 day or less finishers -- thus the fast finishing indicas -- The way It works (for me)-- Something is moved from veg to bloom every 2 weeks -- After 2 months they start coming out of bloom every 2 weeks !-- Veg has to be able to produce the bloom ready plants or the rotation will grind to a halt !
I clone from clones and as long as I got a live piece in veg I can run dahell out of it !-- I ran a white widow over and over again for over 4 years !- Then the bug wars happen and they took her from me !-

 

[ziggyross]

Not a single vote huh? That's rather disappointing. I was hoping for at least one person to vote lol. I guess since there's no votes I won't be adding anything. Actually, to be honest, I don't think I have time to care for more than I have now and my budget is limited. I might germ an LSD because it's been on my list forever. Everything looks good though. The Auto Northern Hog is on day 51 and starting to flower. She has a sweet smell. The Holy Grail Kush is having some issues with what appears to be lockout of cal/mag. My soil meter says PH is at 7 -8 in her pot so I started flushing with 5.5 water to bring it down. My tap runs at about 7 most days. The others are fine at 6-6.5. I put the big LED in. It was advertised as 2000w. It only pulls 208w from the wall. It's a Vander so you know what I'm dealing with. I'll use it until I can afford to replace it. The Peyote Critical was topped, an attempt at a finger pinch FIM, 3 days ago. Every other day they receive liquid kelp. Twice a week I hit them with some compost tea. They're all drinking much more under the bigger lamp. I took 3 clones off the PC and 2 off the HGK. In a few days I'll take some more.Start trying to fill out that green sea I'm after. I'll try and get some pics later.

I grew a Barneys Farm LSD not a great yield but the smoke was great.

 

[novitius]

Well it looks like y'all threw in some votes anyhow. Thanks guys and gal!
Rosebud, thank you for stoppign by! You have quite the history here! Cookies and headband are amazing. I had a 1/8th of the Thin Mint pheno about 6 years ago and it was tied for the best I've ever had. I picked up some Platinum Cookie shatter yesterday actually. It's a creeper and then you're outta ur gourd. Goofy and without stress. I digress, Cherry Pie is also very nice. It's tied into the GSC lineage I believe.I'm not sure if this is Cherry Pie rebranded or not but I'd be happy if it was. I wish I had the room and the outfit to support them all. It would make choices a lot easier. Thank you for your opinion and input, much appreciated!

Hey HerbWatcher! I have been considering switching back to DWC. I'm comfortable with it as it usually is my mainstay. I read that TLO book by the Rev and wanted to try it out. Aeroponics kinda scare me. A lot of dependency on the emitters. In DWC a pump can fail and the roots still have a O2 saturated environment for a while. I've never really tried it beyond a small home built cloner a few years back. Thanks for the info on the LSD! That is a long long time to wait on nug lol. How were they screwing up your grow? size + timing?

Keef, thank you for sharing your experience! That's a lot of posts man! 24 plants in a 3x3? I'll have to look and see if you have any journals posted. I'm sure I can glean some wisdom from them! I hope there are pictures. I'm after the same harvest rotation you've described. 2 months to gear up huh? I hope my clones all live. I'm sorry to hear about your WW. RiP Lady Dank.

ziggyross, how long did you flower it? Did it really have the hallucinagenic effect? I've smoked some bud that gave me some light colors and the breathing vibe before. I really liked it for walks in the woods or just hanging out with friends. We never knew what that stuff was exactly but when it was around we scored a bunch of it. I'm hoping I can get a high THC-V producer.

It looks like the votes go to LSD. I'm intrigued by the White Strawberry too. I just read up on that on Wikileaf. According to them it's clone only, yet I has a bean right here, though technically I did not buy it. www.wikileaf.com/strain/white-strawberry
"Seeds of this rarefied strain are not available for sale online. Instead, prospective home growers should obtain clippings of mature plants of this strain from a trusted source; such clippings can be grown as genetically identical “clones." It came from Attitude so it should be legit ya? The White x Strawberry Cough.
Again, I appreciate everyone stopping by and throwing their experience in. I'm thankful for the advice also. Rose, you boosted the counts by adding in family members. I like it.
Here's a couple pics. There's a few of the top of the auto. It's neat to see this plant start to flower with no help. The HGK has quite a few tops. Keef and HerbWatcher have me thinking now I should start flowering them soon and let the clones breed each other and go back to hydro.
Anybody know a good strain for focus?

 

[novitius]

I lost a branch off the auto this morning, oops! This is all the growth the buds have done in days. The auto started germination on 2-4. Breeder says 70-80 days which will be by the 26th. I'm hoping these things start to swell soon. I think the el cheapo light may be to under powered. 400 mols or whatever that measurement is. It did boost vegetative growth though.

 

[Snake]

I would like to see someone cross some green crack with some golden goat. I'm not sure how good it would be but who could turn down a big bowl of goat crack?

 

[novitius]

I would like to see someone cross some green crack with some golden goat. I'm not sure how good it would be but who could turn down a big bowl of goat crack?

I'm not even sure what to say about that. Random to say the least. I can't seem to find an appropriate witty comeback. Forgive me.
Best I got is who trained a goat to cook crack and why is it moldy?

Lost another branch on the Auto just with a little pressure from rotating the pot. Branch hung on something and then snagged my arm and just about completely tore off.This branch is just under the other one that came off. But, the rest of the northern hog is starting to show some bud growth again. It just keeps stretching. I'm going to put some stakes in today to help her out.

 

[R1ch]

I also started my planting. Anyone interested can come and give me some advice.

 

[novitius]

The auto is finally starting to fill in. It's got a week according to my calendar. Trich's are still clear, no cloud anywhere on the plant. Production isn't fantastic. I attribute it to the weak light. Except for the main spear all the buds are thumb sized. No where near dense enough either.I'm not sure really whats going on lol. The plant is 4 foot tall from the dirt. It looks green n healthy. It's just not stacking up like I'd want. I cant put the hps I have in that lil tent. Nope...I did some defoliating this morning, removing dying leaves and weak growth. Hopefully it'll help with light penetration. I haven't grown in soil in years and I've never used LED lighting to grow. I'm sure I'm messin up,over/under watering, to much liquid kelp/compost tea?, but I don't think it would've affected the plant that much. Also, never grown an auto either. Clearly I let it stretch to much in Veg. I wasn't to sure about the distance an LED could be, I left it high. Once I lowered it growth exploded from everywhere though. Shoots abound. I just don't think this light I have has enough juice in the flower spectrum. Don't buy cheap stuff!!$89 for 2kw

The Peyote Critical and HGK are doing fine. Just veggin out. They only stand about 1-2 ft tall tho. I think the PC will be great for a single cola SoG. The HGK crowns so much I'm gonna have to SCroG her. I've got a few rooted clones of each. 1 PC went to live in the woods maybe a week ago. No snow and no frost since When the auto finishes at the end of the month I'm going to flip the mothers to flower. I'm going to add a Bestva or King LED soon and hopefully see a big difference. The cost to operate is so cheap I cant imagine setting up my HID. Matter of fact I think Im just gonna give that away to someone who might use it. I see growers here using a wide range of LED lights successfully so I'm going to stick with them and just start investing into better technology. The load they draw is so low I feel ok piecing the lighting together as well.
HGK , ANH and the PC. I have the rooted clones down on the floor in 3 gallons under the strip light. New moms. In a few months this tent will look different. Can't wait til then!

 

[R1ch]

The auto is finally starting to fill in. It's got a week according to my calendar. Trich's are still clear, no cloud anywhere on the plant. Production isn't fantastic. I attribute it to the weak light. Except for the main spear all the buds are thumb sized. No where near dense enough either.I'm not sure really whats going on lol. The plant is 4 foot tall from the dirt. It looks green n healthy. It's just not stacking up like I'd want. I cant put the hps I have in that lil tent. Nope...I did some defoliating this morning, removing dying leaves and weak growth. Hopefully it'll help with light penetration. I haven't grown in soil in years and I've never used LED lighting to grow. I'm sure I'm messin up,over/under watering, to much liquid kelp/compost tea?, but I don't think it would've affected the plant that much. Also, never grown an auto either. Clearly I let it stretch to much in Veg. I wasn't to sure about the distance an LED could be, I left it high. Once I lowered it growth exploded from everywhere though. Shoots abound. I just don't think this light I have has enough juice in the flower spectrum. Don't buy cheap stuff!!$89 for 2kw View attachment 252399 View attachment 252401

The Peyote Critical and HGK are doing fine. Just veggin out. They only stand about 1-2 ft tall tho. I think the PC will be great for a single cola SoG. The HGK crowns so much I'm gonna have to SCroG her. I've got a few rooted clones of each. 1 PC went to live in the woods maybe a week ago. No snow and no frost since When the auto finishes at the end of the month I'm going to flip the mothers to flower. I'm going to add a Bestva or King LED soon and hopefully see a big difference. The cost to operate is so cheap I cant imagine setting up my HID. Matter of fact I think Im just gonna give that away to someone who might use it. I see growers here using a wide range of LED lights successfully so I'm going to stick with them and just start investing into better technology. The load they draw is so low I feel ok piecing the lighting together as well.
HGK , ANH and the PC. I have the rooted clones down on the floor in 3 gallons under the strip light. New moms. In a few months this tent will look different. Can't wait til then!View attachment 252406

I am really curious what brand?

 

[novitius]

I am really curious what brand?

The HPS is gone.I donated it to a local garden shop. It was just an ipower digi ballast with a pair of Sunmasters or Sunmax bulbs and I had a cool tube and the generic reflector for it. The batwing thingy. I actually liked that better than the cooltube but the batwing just let that heat hang out. IT worked well tho! It was like 160 I think with the cool tube included.
If you were wondering what LED I'm using right now it is a Vander labeled product. No recommend! I'd of rather bought a lower wattage light from a brand with a better rep. I should've done more research before purchasing.

 

[novitius]

3 more days on the ANH according to the calendar. The hairs are starting to brown now. Trichs are still clear.
Can anyone recommend a good loupe? I have one that does 30x and 60x but the 60x glass is soooo tiny. It does have little led's on it which are helpful.

 

[R1ch]

Last year I saw a lot of people using white spectrum, so I bought Mars SP-250 earlier this year. I am trying to use it to grow my AUTO. It feels good. I don't know what will happen in three months.

 

[novitius]

Last year I saw a lot of people using white spectrum, so I bought Mars SP-250 earlier this year. I am trying to use it to grow my AUTO. It feels good. I don't know what will happen in three months.

I was looking at those last night actually. I saw a video on YT that was using them. They made the list of possibles. There's just so many options...

 

[novitius]

Today is day 80 from seed on the Auto Northern Hog. It's not ready yet. Close, but not yet. I'll get some pics up soon.The trichome have all gone cloudy. Pistols are now turning to brown and orange. These are the best pics I could get.
I ordered a 1500w King LED on the good recommendations of several people who use them. I can't wait to get that in there and see what it does. The nugs on the ANH are really starting to get some density now. They smell sweet too! I guess the Vander did not represent complete failure. I coulda helped the plant a lot more but I kinda just wanted to give it a stress free run. There's no nanners in the buds even though it did take the loss of two branches due to a light drop. I sort of want to order a few and try again but I think I'll wait on that until after the cure.