BlueSmoke's 2nd Grow

[BlueSmoke]

Well we are back at this again. We enjoyed the first grow and harvest, and have really enjoyed the fruit of our labor. We got around 4 ounces from our last grow, and have been enjoying the smoke, and have even shared some with friends and family.

Last November as we were harvesting our first grow, I took a couple of cuttings from our top producer. We later found that of the 4 different types we happened to grow in the bag, this was also the one that we enjoyed the most. These cuttings became very nice mother plants. I only wish I had more room to let them grow. They are currently just over 3 ft tall, and I have trimmed them up quite a bit so that they still fit into our mother area. Unfortunately, we do not have room to flower a plan that size....at least until we get a grow license.



During the winter, I purchased a couple of the $20 150W HPS lights. After quite a few ideas, I finally took them apart and mounted the lights on a wood bar, and wired them so that the ballasts are outside the cabinet. The lights are not fan cooled, but that should not be an issue, since the grow area is a bit cool right now anyways. I also worked on a home built Hydro unit. It is basically a black plastic box with 6 3" netcups. I have a small submersable pump that pumps a constant flow of water through the cups. I keep about 3 gallons of nutrient mix in the box.



So far the plants are growing very well. Have not had the insect or nute issues that we had with the first soil grow. Plants seem very happy, and are growing very quickly. They were just put into flower today.

 

[BlueSmoke]

Here are a few pics of the plants.....and the crazy growing roots. At one point they were growing 4" or root a day.

 

[Sir_Tokie]

Looks good but if you are having problems with keeping your mothers. Then you should look into Bonsi your mother plants. I keep my plants very small by using this method. Search Bonsi mother plants on the forum and you will find out how it is done...take care..

 

[BlueSmoke]

Less than a week into flower, and things are looking pretty good. I am amazed at the uniformity of the plants growth. Makes me not want do another grow to flower directly from seed ever again.



I am seeing some issues on a few leaves....a yellowing pattern in the center of a few large leaves. Any ideas?



Also, I added a pic of the branching that I am seeing after pinching the main top, and forcing a split.



The plants have been sucking up water and nutrients like crazy....adding 2 more gallons of water this week.

 

[BlueSmoke]

Well 2 weeks into flowering my first hydro grow. I must say that this has been easier than the first dirt grow. Maybe it is just learning the plants the first time...maybe the hydro...but they do look happy.


Also thought that I would add a picture of the rest of the DIY Dual 150W light. The ballasts are shown earlier in the post.

 

[swiftgt]

nice setup man looks nice and neat!
and your plants are looking very good,
ive got a few plants in flower as well, a bigbud with about 2 weeks left, take a look at my g.j
so did you figure out what the damage to the leaf was, looks like heat stress or may be a lack of a micro nute.

 

[BlueSmoke]

I think that the leaf damage had to due with too much light, too fast. Went from CFL to HPS pretty quick, and may have done some damage. We changed things up for a few days, with alternating which 150W light was on, and after a few days went back to both lights.....seems to have cleared up, and no signs of any further issues.

I think that I need a bigger grow space, or I should have gone with SCROG. I am thinking of keeping the current grow box strictly for mothers and cloning, and then a new area for flowering. I would like to have a couple of hydro boxes going at a time. Current box can hold 6 plant at a time...which pretty much maxes out the space.

Also, this is still the same bagseed from the first grow. It is decent stuff...but I think it is time to play with some different genetics. I ordered some seeds, and they should be here in a few weeks. Next grow will be something new.

I ordered the following:
Medical Seeds Sour Diesel Feminized
Green House Super Lemon Haze Feminized

and got the following for free:
G13 LABS THAI SUPER SKUNK - Reg SEEDS
GIGABUD FEMINIZED SEED
PURPLE LADY FEM SEED

I think I may need a larger grow area, since I think that these will be taller than what I am growing now. Also, I will nto be starting all of these at once. Plan is to grow out the seed to a mother, and then clone from it....and that way I will have a nice variety of mothers to choose clones from in the future. Just need to work at keeping the mothers smaller.

 

[swiftgt]

yea sounds like a good plan
thats what im doing at the moment,growing from seed to get some nice mothers to clone from,
yea more space is aleays good!
there some good sreains you got, but how did you get so many seeds free?
yea looks like your running out of space in your box fast! get them out or start training them!
looking good though!

 

[BlueSmoke]

SwiftGT- I will send you a PM with the website that I ordered from, since I don't think that they want advertising on here. I paid extra for the delivery guarantee, or they will replace.

I am not sure how much training I can do. I have already topped the plants to make them a little bushier.....but I may have to get a bigger grow area soon...not sure how that is going to work...but we will see.

 

[swiftgt]

thanks
there is a thred on here somwhere to post up good seed banks,
so it prob be ok,
looks like your gona be tight for space but its worth a shot,
just have to try bending the tops down slowly with a bit of wire,
thats what i do and it works very well at controling height!
where is your grow box now in your home?

 

[BlueSmoke]

Right now doing a wardrobe grow. Thinking of doing some renovation to have a room in the basement. Our state just legalized medical MJ, so we are looking to grow for medical use. So far our grow has been for personal use, and to supply my in-laws, and a couple of friends. Feeling like it is not really an issue, since we are giving it away, or changing just nough to cover the costs. I can't see charging high $$$, since we started doing it for the fun of it.

Thinking that a 6' X 10' room would be great to have for flowering, and then have a small area set aside for housing the mothers. I would like to be able to keep 6 different strains mothers at a time, and then rotate strains per grow. Would be really nice to have a couple of hydro grows in process at a time, and then have a harvest a month......we can dream, can't we.

 

[BlueSmoke]

Got a nice surprise in the mail today. My seeds arrived from Attitude Seed Bank. Order was exactly as I ordered. Packaging was excellent, and worth the few extra dollars that I paid.

I now have a tough decision to make....I have 6 girls in flower...and growing like crazy, and 2 seedbag mothers that are too big for my grow box. I am thinking that I may try to get the mothers to survive for another month, and then plant them outdoors.

We are also in the process of getting everything setup so that we can be licensed caregivers, and grow for good I am thinking about purchasing one of the ready to use grow rooms. This will me me much more room. Here is the one that I am looking at Grow Room. Does anyone have any feedback on this setup, or ones like it?

 

[swiftgt]

thats great news about being legaly able to grow!
i wish it was the same here!

the growrooms you where looking at are good,but if you where thinking about being a licenced care giver how many plants will you be allowed to grow? you might find that you will run out of space quickly whith the tents!
you might want to covert your basement/garage or any room you can spare to make into a growroom,

 

[BlueSmoke]

Here are a few new pics of the girls. Taken on 4/2, which puts them at 3 weeks of flowering. They are getting pretty big....and as with our previous grow...they have taken up quite a bit of space. May be time for a larger flowering area.

Last night they got fresh nutes, and an air bubbler to go with the pump in the DWC container. We are using Technaflora nutes, and have not had any problems so far. We are up to using the full manufacturers strength nute recommendations. We had been at 2/3 up until now. Plants are at 24" tall, and are getting nice, even bud formation.

We are hoping to get our new flower area nex weekend, which will consist of an enclosure, 4x4 ebb and flow table, and a 600w Air cooled light. I may try to transfer the girls to the new hydro.....or at least give them room to spread to the sides.....

 

[BlueSmoke]

I have been spending quite a bit of time on the boards lately. Getting ready for the new flower room, and the ebb and flow hyrdo....

I made up new nutes for the girls this morning. Made up 3 gallons at full strength. I have not been the best at monitoring my pH, so I decided to verify where the DWC and the new nutes were at. Both were spot on at 6.0...so I left it alone. Plants are doing great. They are 3.5 weeks into flower, and it appears that they are about finished with their stretching, and are flowering nicely. Considering another nute to help them product larger flowers...any suggestions.

I also realized that I have had an easy time of it, making ony 3 gallons at a time...that will change when I start ebb and flow and have a 40 gallon tank. Also will have to switch from my Technaflora, since it is a bit costly in large amounts, and I want to go with an organic mix. Looking at BioBizz...anyone used it?

Well...that is it for now. This has been a very easy, and problem free grow so far. If things keep on like this, we should be harvesting in mid-May.

 

[BlueSmoke]

Just setup my new flower room. The girls were quite cramped in their old digs, and since our state has legalized medical MJ....and I am now licensed...it is time for a nice upgrade.

Got a 4x4 enclosure, with a air cooled 600w HPS light. Need to pick up a fan and filter for ventalation.....and then things will be golden. The plants have been moved, and they are already spreading out. We also put our 2 tall mothers into flower, after we took a couple of clones.

We will be germinating some new seeds soon....so keep an eye on things...

 

[BlueSmoke]

Well...I had to move my old fan and carbon filter to the new grow area. The humidity was up to 77%...so I moved it, and put an oscillating fan in as well. I will get a fan for input, but not until tomorrow...hope it does not get to hot and wet in there.

 

[BlueSmoke]

Had a friend call and want me to stop over. When I got there, he told me that he had another friend that had issues, and had to move 9 mothers, and many, many seedlings. He gave me a seedling, and it is either G13 or NL...but he does not know which. Either will be a nice addition to the new club.

He said that his friend has had issues in the past with spider mites....so the seedling will get a good dip before if gets anywhere near my girls....and will get re-potted in good clean soil...

I hope to get a few pics posted later tonight...after I get some things cleaned up in by room.

 

[BlueSmoke]

I got my new room all setup, and things seem to have stabilized. Moved my fan and filter, and purchased a new 600w light. The fan for the light is an inexpensive booster fan that I got at lowes for under $30. It has enough power to keep air flowing over the bulb.

I decided it was time to flower my old mothers. They are too tall for my mother area, and are really rootbuond. I may transplant to a larger container....but for not, they can enjoy the light and nutrients in the flower are. My other 6 plants are spreading out quite a bit now, and have room to do so. I had a feeling that I will have to stake them up in a few days.

Temp stays between 68 and 74 degrees. With the fan on, the humidity stays between 40-50%. If I turn it off, it shoots up to 70+%.



Here is a picture of the little seedling that a friend gave me today. He thinks it is either G13 or NL....but not sure which. I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[BlueSmoke]

Since the plants have much more room to grow, I decided that I needed to build a frame and net to hold the plants up. Took some time to get the buds settled through the netting. I think that this will also help with supporting the plants as they put on more weight.