First Grow, 400W Closet Setup

[cheetah2007]

lookin good mate! Cheers!

 

[DoobyDoo]

Flowering, day 11....

Well, between the alcohol mist and the ladybugs, I think I have my pest problem (which wasn't ever really much of a problem) licked. I haven't seen a whitefly for three days, and don't ever see more than 2 or 3 of the aphid/spider mite things running around at a time. I never had evidence of much plant damage beyond a random yellow spot here and there on a leaf, but I like knowing that my plants are literally crawling with bugs that will eat anything that is trying to eat my plants or make trouble. I saw a reduction in bugs with the alcohol mist alone with no effect on the plants, so I think this could be an effective tool in the fight against bugs.

The first picture is pre-prune. The girls are now all 18-20" and growing happily. I did (what I think is) some pretty aggressive pruning today. I took off lots of interior vegetation... leaves that were getting very little light, stunted colas that weren't ever going to see good light, in addition to fan leaves that were blocking light access to potentially good colas. I'm a big fan of creating tunnels for the light to penetrate a bit more and hopefully even out the top colas a bit on the plants.

So far, so good... my first problem has been solved (or so it seems), flowers are starting to show up and everything is healthy. Couldn't ask for much more, I don't think! Thanks to all for the tips... 4:20 Guy, I put a few pieces of sponge out for my attack bugs.

 

[wyteberrywidow]

nice to hear and they are looking good

 

[-=4:20=-Guy]

They are looking GOOD. Good job cleaning out the "tunnels" for the potential bud sites.

I like the pic with the Ladybugs =)

Alot of people dont belive me when I tell them, but I know they work. I once had Spidermites SOOO bad that there were visable webs before I caught it, got some lady bugs and within a week they were gone!

 

[SlowRollin']

Yeah man, those are lookin like some healthy plants! I'm sure they're gonna be tasty...mm...

 

[DoobyDoo]

Captain's log, flowerday one seven...

And the plants keep growing, and growing, and growing...

Not too much in the bug area. I see a whitefly every now and again, but haven't spotted any mites around. Good news! On a related note, I'm done with molasses. The bugs showed up not too long after I started using it... I hadn't had problems before. I put in a bit again last watering and bam, a couple whiteflies. I'll stick to nutrients from here on out when it comes to plants. I did make some tasty cookies with it though

I did a bit more pruning, mainly on the bottom. Got rid of some stems that weren't going anywhere, interior leaves not getting light and an interfering fan leaf here and there. I don't think I'll be pruning much anymore unless necessary, don't want to stress the plants too much.

Temps have been running from 73F to 83F, with an average of 77-79 whenever I check. I am fairly sure it only hits the 80s when I seal the closet off a little better in the morning before leaving for work (it isn't very light-tight), so they are only getting that heat for an hour tops. Humidity has been on the high end, 50-60%, but I have air moving constantly so shouldn't have to worry about mold. Trimming all the bottom growth should help with the air circulation too, but I've been keeping my eye out. They are now all sitting at 22-26", meaning the biggest ones have grown an inch a day since the last update. I'm not sure I've ever seen any other plant grow quite so fast.

That is about all for now, I think. Of course, I couldn't leave without updated pics. Mini buds! Yeah, I know that one is a little dark... I got lazy Anyone care to chime in and let me know if that looks about right for a little over 2 weeks of flowering? Still my first time and all

After some reading, recommendations and looking around locally for clones (don't want to deal with ordering seeds if I can avoid it), I am going to go with Purple Kush for my sea of green setup. I'll be picking up a fluoro setup in the next week or so, nothing fancy, just enough to keep a couple medium-sized mothers happily producing a few kids every couple weeks. But I'm getting ahead of myself... until next time!

 

[-=4:20=-Guy]

Lookin good.

Only thing I would suggest is getting some type of string or net system up to split up all the nodes/colas. This will help yield substantially with as much extra space you have around the edges. If get those main colas bent over to the height of the rest of them and you can probably lower your light back down a notch.

 

[wyteberrywidow]

i try to tell people using mollases is a bad idea but no one cares...but yeah you can scrog or lst to get more yeild...

 

[DoobyDoo]

Only thing I would suggest is getting some type of string or net system up to split up all the nodes/colas. This will help yield substantially with as much extra space you have around the edges. If get those main colas bent over to the height of the rest of them and you can probably lower your light back down a notch.

but yeah you can scrog or lst to get more yeild...

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll definitely be looking into that this weekend... back to the GrowFAQ What a spectacular resource this site and it's inhabitants are!

i try to tell people using mollases is a bad idea but no one cares

I was a bit skeptical, but being a noob got sucked into the hype. Then I started reading more... molasses helps them thicken in the last two weeks, when the colas thicken the most anyway? Hmmm.... A couple knowledgeable people (Al B., for example) explained nicely why it won't work. Combine that all with my experience of molasses bringing in the bugs and it is getting left in the kitchen where it belongs. I am now firmly in the anti-molasses camp.

 

[wyteberrywidow]

im in the camp with ya welcome aboard lol..

 

[-=4:20=-Guy]

I was a bit skeptical, but being a noob got sucked into the hype. Then I started reading more... molasses helps them thicken in the last two weeks, when the colas thicken the most anyway? Hmmm.... A couple knowledgeable people (Al B., for example) explained nicely why it won't work. Combine that all with my experience of molasses bringing in the bugs and it is getting left in the kitchen where it belongs. I am now firmly in the anti-molasses camp.

The way I see it is this. A bunch of SCIENTISTS got together and figured out what a plant NEEDS and made products that give them these things. So basically if the plant needs it its in the bottles of nutrients we pay for not the kitchen.

 

[dannyking]

those pants are looking great! what space are we talking about again??

 

[DoobyDoo]

those pants are looking great! what space are we talking about again??

The plants are in a 3' x 2' space... not very big, but I'm making the best of it

The way I see it is this. A bunch of SCIENTISTS got together and figured out what a plant NEEDS and made products that give them these things. So basically if the plant needs it its in the bottles of nutrients we pay for not the kitchen.

Exactly. That same theory is why I use synthetic oil in my car. I don't know what I was thinking... Oh wait, I wasn't!

I tied down the taller colas, evened everything out and was able to drop the light a few inches. I think this will work just fine.

 

[Dugout]

High doobi do, DUGOUT here. Nice plants. I am new to this to but 4.20 had a great point I talk to Al B. Fucht all of the time and he is very knowledgeable. The problem with this site is you run into a lot of people who think they know what they are doing but give bad advice trying to look good so beware of who you listen to on this. I have been told never never to use miracle gro do to the fact that it is a time released potting soil which does not give the proper nutes to your plant. I use liquid Guano made up of Bat, Seagull and worm castings very good nutes but very strong so you have to be very careful or it will burn up your plants. I got guano for Veg and flower 2 bottles 1 gallon each and I believe it was like $40 a bottle not bad for something that will last a very long time. I have a thread under indoor growing that is called rockwool Al B. Fucht and I talk all of the time on that thread you might want to give him a try. I suggest you find one person like Al and stick with one person's advice so if Al doesn't sound good to you then find someone else you trust on there info and stick with that. Don't get me wrong I still look at all of the threads and the info that sounds good to me I run it by Al for his opinion. With your knowledge of Hydro you will be able to understand him better than I because he gets a little bit technical and sometimes I have to ask a lot of questions to understand I call myself his royal pain in the Ass (HA HA HA). Anyway instead of vinegar I would get some PH up and down. I got my supplies from General Hydroponics you might check out there products I think they are pretty reasonable. I also use 400 Watt MH and a 400 watt sodium bulb for flowering. I was also told to get a good set up with a good ballast to avoid failure of your lighting system I heard there are a lot of cheap ballasts that don't last that long. I probably have about $500 tied up in lights, hood, ballast and small Hydro unit will hold 2 plants comfortably. Anyway keep up with your plants hopefully you will get 2 or 3 females out of 6 seeds if you are lucky if you don't know the strain. I did the same thing with 3 seeds from a bag and got 1 female plant and from what I have read that is about average. Well bro rambled on to long so I will let you go. Burn one for me the Ole Hippy DUGOUT PEACE

 

[-=4:20=-Guy]

High doobi do, DUGOUT here. Nice plants. I am new to this to but 4.20 had a great point I talk to Al B. Fucht all of the time and he is very knowledgeable. The problem with this site is you run into a lot of people who think they know what they are doing but give bad advice trying to look good so beware of who you listen to on this.

O so true. I see people suggesting "growing gimmicks" to often on here and someone knowledgeable isn't always around to shot it down in time.

So always take it upon yourself to read up on any suggestion that you may receive, and decide if its a gimmick or the real deal. Then do a little research as to how its being used in others rooms so you can properly integrate it into yours.

 

[wyteberrywidow]

O so true. I see people suggesting "growing gimmicks" to often on here and someone knowledgeable isn't always around to shot it down in time.

So always take it upon yourself to read up on any suggestion that you may receive, and decide if its a gimmick or the real deal. Then do a little research as to how its being used in others rooms so you can properly integrate it into yours.

i agree with that 100 percent....

 

[DoobyDoo]

Day 21: Three Weeks Down

Nothing significant to report. I took some suggestions and did a little LST on four of the tallest colas, I now have a much more uniform canopy right around 24". Forgot about the "spread out colas" part, been busy the last few days. Something for tomorrow, likely.

They all seem to be coming along pretty well. I've been watering them every other day, although it might get bumped up to every day, as they have been sucking up water at an increasing pace. I have been splitting 1 gallon between them with 10mL Tiger Bloom mixed in. I then fill the gallon container up about a third of the way up and top off each plant with plain water, giving a bit more to the larger ones.

So, here are some pics. The manual focus on my camera is a pain in the ass! It likes to revert to default settings randomly... I think I managed to get a couple decent ones tho. They are starting to look good!

 

[wyteberrywidow]

they are looking good..how long did it take for your plants to show sex???

 

[-=4:20=-Guy]

Nice set of pics!!!

The manual focus makes for EXCELLENT pictures!

I would actually like a copy of img_3820, I love the way it fades and blurs to black. PM me

 

[DoobyDoo]

they are looking good..how long did it take for your plants to show sex???

They didn't show sex until a week into flowering. That was after two weeks of sunshine on my window sill and nearly three weeks under a 400W MH.