Who the hell is that Rider guy?

Rider509

Rider509

Well-Known Member
So I've never even grown a hangnail before but jumped into a 4x4 indoor grow with both feet. I went into it with the idea that the first grow would be all about learning and the plants would just have to tough out whatever goober mistakes I threw at them. Tough little f*uckers are still alive and doing OKish.

I've got White Widow auto in soil under a 600W HPS, and coming along behind it is Gold Leaf photo in a diy RDWC system under a diy 600W LED. I've topped and LST'd both strains, and even scrogged the WW. Had to unscrog to flush due to not planning ahead. Also ran controlled CO2 during the veg cycle. I have clones that are happy and healthy. I wanted to try everything.

Anyway, it didn't take long to realize that RIU has some very technically literate and knowledgeable members. I'm digging this forum.

See you on the threads.
 

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Nugachino

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
Wait... You topped an Auto? How's that going for you? Just asking because the general rule is you set and forget with auto's.
 
Jimmyclone42

Jimmyclone42

Well-Known Member
Nugachino said:
Wait... You topped an Auto? How's that going for you? Just asking because the general rule is you set and forget with auto's.
Click to expand...
Always top your autos, unless u get a runt.. Then i would leave it.. Top between days 14-20, then leave for a week and start some lst.. Will add a week or so to your finish time.. But will exponentially increase your yield
 
Nugachino

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
Right o. Thought you couldn't do anything with an auto. Wonder if you can top more with the longer running ones?
 
Jimmyclone42

Jimmyclone42

Well-Known Member
Heres some of my topped girls.. And i almost killed them. My ph pen was 2.5 points off. What i thought was 5.8 was actually 3.2-3.3...dont buy cheap pens. And calibrate, calibrate, calibrate.
20170222_035557.jpg 20170222_035544.jpg 20170222_035423.jpg
These are some of last harvest
20161205_014556.jpg 20161205_014647.jpg 20161205_014612.jpg
Cheers
 
F

FortuneSeeker

Member
Nugachino said:
Wait... You topped an Auto? How's that going for you? Just asking because the general rule is you set and forget with auto's.
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I toped a few autos myself... Not all are that fragile... I topped a g13 labs I think, pineapple auto, it didn't get any stress, the next day I was seeing serious growth, but sometimes it went the other way around... Autos are hard to predict, for me at least.
 
Jimmyclone42

Jimmyclone42

Well-Known Member
Topping autos is all about timing.. 3rd node..day 14-18ish. Unless its a runt from the get go.. Then just a little lst.. If done at the right time you should see explosive growth follow..
 
Rider509

Rider509

Well-Known Member
OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:
another one of these guys who starts out for the first time and looks like he was born into it

Way to Go!
Click to expand...

VERY nice of you to say but my plants show the battle scars of my noobness. Heavy-handed LST that turned one into a three-legged monster; an autoflower topping experiment that turned one into a popcorn machine; negating much of the benefit of LST/scrog by overcrowding, underfeeding developing into nute deficiencies (I'm currently battling a definite molybdenum deficiency in one); poor planning of the Gold Leaf grow's elevated RDWC creating height issues; and completely blowing the timing of the start of the Gold Leaf for switch to flower coinciding with the autoflowers.

Those two Gold Leafs are going to take over the tent before the White Widow is done flowering. I need a plan B!

This is seven days of growth from Feb 27 to today!

explosive_growth_7day_LED.jpg
 
OLD MOTHER SATIVA

OLD MOTHER SATIVA

Well-Known Member
well ur too newbie to really know this[joke]
but
no one is perfect all the time ..even the rock godz of cannabliss..and certainly not me..ihad my firstmetal halide in1979
also..defoliation is your friend..sometimesVERY heavy defoliation
when in doubt..flush ..
ph pens/tds meters are your friend..rmake sure batteries do not get old

and expensive jug nutes do not grow better herb

or taste or burn better<--low ppms do hat
 
Rider509

Rider509

Well-Known Member
And what's the old adage... we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes? I've made lots of mistakes so I've got this learning thing down! LOL

1979. That was a long time ago to be growing with MH. I'd have thought you'd be growing by gas lantern! bwahahaha. Just kidding, I bought my first Harley in '76 and I was sad when the dinosaurs died, so I have a few miles under my belt.
 
Rider509

Rider509

Well-Known Member
Since this sub-forum is about LED lighting I thought I'd share what I came up with for my first grow.

One half of this 4x4 tent is covered by a 600W HID with a dimmable ballast, currently pulling about 600W with a HPS bulb.

The other half is eight Cree CXB-3590 3500K 36V CD bin chips, 140mm heatsinks, and two MW 320H-C2100B ballasts currently pulling 240W total. Both canopies are seeing about 50K lux. Canopy temps under the LEDs runs about 70 degrees F, while the HPS canopy is running 80F.

The coverage of the LEDs blows the HID out of the water with a much more uniform dispersion of light energy. I started out with just the HID but the more I researched LED lighting the better it looked on paper. The LEDs also don't bug my eyes or make my skin feel like I was a test subject in the Nevada nuclear trials. The HPS causes my eyes to ache badly and forced the extra expense of Method Seven grow glasses. The plan is to build two more COB fixtures for a greenhouse we bought to overwinter our outside plants in, and run the HID in the 4x4 tent with the new white light 600W ceramic HPS bulb from Eye Hortilux, if my ballast will operate it. Still some research to do there.
 
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