Going forward with a plan.

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romohigh

Active Member
Hey all, Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever floats your boat! Just sitting around, stoned, thinking about how to go forward in my general marijuana growing and looking for some advice and perspective :)

Getting close to my first harvest (indoor, diy led) of some unknown clone I got for free, cloned into six plants total, and hoping I don't fuck anything up in the next couple of weeks (past experience in all things life related says that I most likely will fuck something up, lol).

Just ordered some beans from Great Lakes Genetics; Buddas Hand, Afghan 88, and GG #4. I'm kind of a cheapskate and am nervous about popping these beans with my low experience level. Looking for input on What you think and why: Should I try and re-veg a couple of the plants I'm growing now (kind of have this unknown strain's basic needs figured out), maybe try and monster crop the current plants (if they die, I have nothing but an emotional investment in them), or just start from scratch with the new, known strains?

Another random thought that sits in the back of my mind is timing. It's not even January yet, but I am hoping for an outdoor grow this summer. Maybe I pop some of the new beans and keep mothers of the ones I like, and clone for the outdoors?

At some point, maybe after this harvest, I probably need to shut down the indoor grow and do some construction work on the grow rooms (painting, additional venting, another light build, clone/mother room) but caring for the plants has become such a part of my everyday life that I struggle with the thought of having nothing growing.

Anyways, sorry for the stoner rambling, any suggestions will be appreciated. Here's a couple of random pics for looking at. I cut the nutes about a week ago, but they might be nute burned?



TLDR: What should I do next, keep growing the plants I got (reveg/monster crop), or pop the beans I bought and hope I don't kill them? Thanks for your time and response!
 
R

romohigh

Active Member
Thanks, Nugachino. So what do think, how should I go forward with getting some more experience under me? Keep this plant going some how and refine my soil/nute/water/temp/air stuff or go forward with the new seeds? Maybe both? This grow was straight Black Gold with some extra perlite. I'm researching building better soils, but damn, theres a lot of info to wade through. When do you all plan on cutting clones for summer time outdoor grows?

Here's a couple of more pics, because everybody likes looking at stuff. 3 gallon fabric pots.


 
Nugachino

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
You can reveg if you want. All you gotta do is leave the bottom third of buds on. And flip back to flower. Any stems that don't show new growth within a couple weeks can be removed.

Could even remove the buds at this point. Maybe have some late smoke from it.

Did you get any seeds? Because it looks really nice.

You could also clone it.

I'm a new grower. So take my advice with a truck load of salt.
 
R

romohigh

Active Member
Ha! It's nice to just spit ball with other people sometimes, particularly new growers like myself. I was always (still am) just hoping at getting some smokable nugs out of my first couple of grows. The big stuff i'm learning from this 1st one is/was cloning, water/nutes (mostly ph problems) humidity levels, pest control (fungus gnats and thrips). Can't wait to get going on the next batch, but need to learn more about soils, low stress training, and nutes....and probably pretty much everything else too!
 
R

romohigh

Active Member
Thanks Kingrow1. What are some of the lessons you learned during your 2nd/3rd/4th grow or later that you wished you had learned about earlier? Where should I be focusing my attention to at this point (stilll a newb grower)?
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
romohigh said:
Thanks Kingrow1. What are some of the lessons you learned during your 2nd/3rd/4th grow or later that you wished you had learned about earlier? Where should I be focusing my attention to at this point (stilll a newb grower)?
Click to expand...
I think youve done ok so far, just repeat what youve done and get a good feel for it. Your plants seem quite big for the pot size maybe, the odd simple adjustment will probably take you a long way rather than all the other stuff. Dont make it rocket science as most soils and ferts grow ok weed with little else added. Looks fine for a first grow :-)
 
Nugachino

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
I had pH issues most of my grow. And only fed with organic nutes. Bucket was probably too small as well. 5L for most of their life.

Think 10L is the better base size to go with.
 
R

romohigh

Active Member
Yeah, I didn't really think about pot size too much, thanks Kingrow and Nugachino. I kept five in 3 gallon fabrics and the mother (to bud out) in a 7 gallon, up-potted to these. I have no problem being patient during veg.(I say this now, ha), this batch has been long winded and I wish I had gone to five gallon smart pots earlier on, but I don't think I had the lights to support much more veg. growth.

Honestly, at the time, I think I was running four 3500k cobs during veg. and then built and added another four 3000k cobs during the flower cycle...not really knowing what I was doing, but knowing I needed to add more light for the canopy, so I took my best guess. I am thinking of adding in another 4 cobs for the square footage, but still trying to figure out what k.

This is what I am trying to get away from, just guessing at everything and trying to get more scientific about it. But at the same time, I want to heed the words of Kingrow and not make it rocket science, not over think it. Maybe it is better suited for the LED sub-forum, but I'm still trying to figure out how to utilize dimmers on my driver...when do you dim, and by how much? Right now, I have no dimmers and just run the lights full go for their 12/12 cycle...eh, maybe i'm overthinking it.

Regardless, thanks for any input or minor ramblings you have to offer. Anybody else, please feel free to add in here on any other things you wish you learned more about during your first couple of grows.
 
Nugachino

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
I've only got the one light. A single 90w COB with smaller LED clusters around it.

The only dimming that happens with my setup is in the power up and down cycles over the hour before each. Currently running full tilt.

But need to seriously invest in another 200^ watts.
 
Nugachino

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
No. That's just how mine does it. Rather than just turning straight on and off. It'll ramp up to the settings you've set over the time periods to run for.

Mine will start at say 12% output on any given channel then ramp to 25, 45, 70, 100... like that. But, only high as you've set the channel.
 
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THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
romohigh said:
Yeah, I didn't really think about pot size too much, thanks Kingrow and Nugachino. I kept five in 3 gallon fabrics and the mother (to bud out) in a 7 gallon, up-potted to these. I have no problem being patient during veg.(I say this now, ha), this batch has been long winded and I wish I had gone to five gallon smart pots earlier on, but I don't think I had the lights to support much more veg. growth.

Honestly, at the time, I think I was running four 3500k cobs during veg. and then built and added another four 3000k cobs during the flower cycle...not really knowing what I was doing, but knowing I needed to add more light for the canopy, so I took my best guess. I am thinking of adding in another 4 cobs for the square footage, but still trying to figure out what k.

This is what I am trying to get away from, just guessing at everything and trying to get more scientific about it. But at the same time, I want to heed the words of Kingrow and not make it rocket science, not over think it. Maybe it is better suited for the LED sub-forum, but I'm still trying to figure out how to utilize dimmers on my driver...when do you dim, and by how much? Right now, I have no dimmers and just run the lights full go for their 12/12 cycle...eh, maybe i'm overthinking it.

Regardless, thanks for any input or minor ramblings you have to offer. Anybody else, please feel free to add in here on any other things you wish you learned more about during your first couple of grows.
Click to expand...

I like 5000k to 10,000k for veg but normally I`ll do 3:1 5000k to 3000k or something to get a bit more par

I like 3000k or 4000k for bloom.... but I like 5000k for starting and finishing a lot of strains

So I normally go 5000k up one end and red/blue/3000k up the other end

but yeah 2000k to 5000k works for bloom, 3000k probably gives you more hairs and bigger buds.... 5000k gives more colour change and a bit more frost normally...... depends on what the temps are like as more reds benefit to around 26/30c over 30c or so at the canopy and you end up having to water too much and you can promote all kind of bug problems...... but if you`re used to hids then 3000k leds are closer to hps and 5000k`s closer to MH but can really depend on the chips as some "warm whites" verge being neutral whites some even look cool

I`d say adding deep reds and IR`s when its cool can really help speed growth up... adding blue and royal blues will probably mean less watering in the summer but they don`t add as much weight as reds do.....

Then UV`s you only want to make up 2% to 5% of your total, I`m guessing most people like to use 400w to 1kw of led per Meter ? I try and get away with more if I can best thing about leds is unlike hids 2kw won`t cause a 1.2m x 1.2m tent to get so hot you can`t control it easy

but when my mates used to run 3 x 600w hps in a 1.2m x 1.2x x 2M high tents well there some of the best yields I`ve seen anyone get.... He`s used 4, 600`s.... he got some leds and was then using 600w to 1200w of led in the tents and still using a hps in each tent too........ guess all that heat and deep reds you get off a hps is hard to say no to

I like MH`s buds better myself but you can`t argue with the growth a 600w or 1kw hps can give you........ way too much heat..... way too orange..... I mean you gotta go 1:1 or 2:1 MH to HPS, to get a nice light and really nice buds but you can`t argue with a SON lamp theres a reason people been using them so long

personally I just got fed up with all the heat they give off and that the lamps blow and the drivers blow and such, so started building LED`s..... good led units can beat HIDS but building them for less money is the hard part

I try to spend £1 per w max and normally I can come way under that..... I`ve made a 600w led unit for under £100.... fan and everything ready to plug in and use, that`s why people like to use cool whites and warm whites over blue or red or burple leds anyway cos they are a ton cheaper and do almost as good of a job

3000k good chips have maybe only 30% less par then good red leds do, but some crappy cool white chips could have over 70% less par........ so yeah always good to see some data before buying led chips
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Nugachino said:
I've only got the one light. A single 90w COB with smaller LED clusters around it.

The only dimming that happens with my setup is in the power up and down cycles over the hour before each. Currently running full tilt.

But need to seriously invest in another 200^ watts.
Click to expand...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162003720291?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=460973923449&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

500w sounds better, lol

I`m tempted to get on or 2 of them and some 500w or 600w power supplies like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/600W-48V-12-5A-220V-input-Single-Output-Switching-power-supply-/222240266888?hash=item33be8d5a88:g:MG0AAOSwgmJXzP2H

Then I get these 150mm heatsinks they can do in 150 x 200mm all the way up to 2000mm, think I got a 150mm x 400mm for £21 to £26

then add a 120mm to 180mm fan

pretty easy

Or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161996673590?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

there`s them 200w "grow" leds there pretty good burple but they work well with some white`s

probably run 1 to 2 of them off of one of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201221110440?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

or find a 200w to 300w psu



or you could just add some bright reds cheap


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272381866282?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=571379747468&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Oh and there`s always IR leds

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152018762605?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=451215702607&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


OR I`ve now had them ac direct leds on a load tester the 4 x unit I made was using 750`ish watts with the fan

So them ac direct "150w" leds use about 180w each the output is good

You just need one chip in warmwhite..... and a heatsink 200mm or longer and atleast 60mm or so wide a 120mm ac fan will cool it easy

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272459920948?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=571476895184&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

but you might need to find a 110v version and a 110v fan..... but yeah them LED`s work well and the ac direct makes them very compact, I put 4 of them on that 150mm x 400mm heatsink with a good 150mm fan on them

Now the light gets very warm but you can still touch it and the output is comparable to a 600w hps..... and that was 2 x cool whites and 2 x warm whites, I think 4 x warm whites on a 150mm x 500/600mm heatsink would be a great hps replacement the main thing is how compact you can make them and that they give off less heat and are easy to aim, you can get more grow area back and use more lights without needing more extract or inlet fans or cooling like you do with hids....

Yeah after testing that light I think even 2 of them might be a bit too much for your set up @Nugachino depends how much power you wanna use really
 
R

romohigh

Active Member
Thanks for the great info THE KONASSURE. You also gave me some great advice back at the beginning of this grow, and I appreciated that as well. Hoping to cut these plants down Sunday, otherwise probably try and keep them going until next weekend. I see 95% cloudy trics, 3% amber, and maybe 2% still clear...the wait is killing me! Supply is running low, and I don't want to buy from dispensaries anymore. Trying to read up a bunch on harvest and cure...don't want to mess it all up at this point.
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
romohigh said:
Thanks for the great info THE KONASSURE. You also gave me some great advice back at the beginning of this grow, and I appreciated that as well. Hoping to cut these plants down Sunday, otherwise probably try and keep them going until next weekend. I see 95% cloudy trics, 3% amber, and maybe 2% still clear...the wait is killing me! Supply is running low, and I don't want to buy from dispensaries anymore. Trying to read up a bunch on harvest and cure...don't want to mess it all up at this point.
Click to expand...

remember next time dude you can always rob some buds from the top of the plant for your jar.....or take off all the lower buds and blast some oil out of them while you let the rest swell up more

hope the buds are yummy by now ? smoke report ?
 
R

romohigh

Active Member
Will be putting putting the buds in jars soon, maybe today (haven't checked yet this morning)! I'll try to get some pics up later today. I tested a couple of small buds that dried quickly (not cured) last night and enjoyed, nice mix of head and body high. Will do a more detailed smoke report soon. Overall, I have enjoyed this first grow and harvest and am just stoked that I got some smokable buds out of it :) As far as my plan goes, I am off to home depot today to get some paint and supplies to set up the rooms more thoughtfully before I try this again. My biggest concern towards the end of this grow was humidity control...I was at close to 70% humidity for the last three weeks or so! No mold problems, but it was stressing me out and eventually will be a problem if I don't address it. Once again, thanks for the helpful advice and I wish I could smoke a bowl with you all to show the thanks! I'll add more later.
 
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