Viparspectra 300W LED - 420 Giveaway - Blue Cookies, First Grow

[mortar_pestle]

Hello World! Long time lurker, first time poster here brought out of the wood work by the Viparspectra offer. Figured I'd throw my hat into the ring, get some quality peer review and take a shot at the freebies in the process! As the title notes, this is my first ever grow so please pardon any egregious errors that may or may not have been overlooked

Was never planning on posting for the world to see so the retrospective pictures may be a bit underwhelming. I'll give ya the full spread moving forward

Anyway, enough small talk, let's get down to business.

EQUIPMENT:
Tent: Topolite 20"x20"x48" Reflective Mylar (Yeah, some more room wouldn't suck)
Light: Viparspectra 300W LED
Media: FFOF
Inline Fan: Vivosun 6" 440CFM Inline Fan (Purchased as Kit)
Container: Winner Outfitters 5 gallon Fabric Pot
Ducting: Vivosun 6" Ducting (Purchased as Kit)
Carbon Filter: Vivosun 6" Carbon Filter (Purchased as Kit)
Fans: Amazon Basics 7" 3-speed Small Room Air Circulator
Thermometer/Humidity Gauge: Vivosun LCD Display
Humidifier: None
Heating/Cooling: None
pH Meter: None (doh!)

BEANS:
Crop King Seeds - Blue Cookies Fem; 2 seeds

GERMINATION/SOIL DATE:
1/12/21 - per CKS germ instructions, 24hr in water (both seeds w/ tails after 24h), 24h in damp paper towel
1/14/21 - Into Solo Cup, FFOF w/o supplement or additive, and into the tent with lights at 24" !!

 

[Dopesmoka]

Hello World! Long time lurker, first time poster here brought out of the wood work by the Viparspectra offer. Figured I'd throw my hat into the ring, get some quality peer review and take a shot at the freebies in the process! As the title notes, this is my first ever grow so please pardon any egregious errors that may or may not have been overlooked

Was never planning on posting for the world to see so the retrospective pictures may be a bit underwhelming. I'll give ya the full spread moving forward

Anyway, enough small talk, let's get down to business.

EQUIPMENT:
Tent: Topolite 20"x20"x48" Reflective Mylar (Yeah, some more room wouldn't suck)
Light: Viparspectra 300W LED
Media: FFOF
Inline Fan: Vivosun 6" 440CFM Inline Fan (Purchased as Kit)
Container: Winner Outfitters 5 gallon Fabric Pot
Ducting: Vivosun 6" Ducting (Purchased as Kit)
Carbon Filter: Vivosun 6" Carbon Filter (Purchased as Kit)
Fans: Amazon Basics 7" 3-speed Small Room Air Circulator
Thermometer/Humidity Gauge: Vivosun LCD Display
Humidifier: None
Heating/Cooling: None
pH Meter: None (doh!)

BEANS:
Crop King Seeds - Blue Cookies Fem; 2 seeds

GERMINATION/SOIL DATE:
1/12/21 - per CKS germ instructions, 24hr in water (both seeds w/ tails after 24h), 24h in damp paper towel
1/14/21 - Into Solo Cup, FFOF w/o supplement or additive, and into the tent with lights at 24" !!View attachment 4876938View attachment 4876939

Let me know if that blue cookie really smell like blue berries

 

[mortar_pestle]

So, being a rookie first time grower I had an utter lack of documentation throughout the veg phase. Thankfully, times were simple, the girls were happy, and by some miracle most problems were avoided. Early on, had the lights running during the warmest part of the day. This combined with the tent being in a closet made for some toasty temps around 3pm on particularly warm days with recorded temps in the tent getting up to 88F. No bueno. Flipped the light schedule and the new max temp was 82-83F, still a tad warmer than I'd like.

•Both girls did beautifully in the Solo Cups and at 2 weeks from germ were transplanted into the 5-gallon fabric pots; yes, this was quite the jump in volume. No, I didn't realize the potential issues of the peripheral soil being soaked perpetually due to lack of root reach. No issues developed from this but lesson learned.
•During this minimally documented Veg period, Lights were run 18-6. As mentioned above, temps were initially high but switching up the lighting schedule put a nice band-aid on that. Humidity has been low except for in the first 24hrs after watering. Unfortunately, I really didn't have the space to throw a humidifier in there so had to bite the bullet and hope the girls could overcome some adversity.
•Watering was every 4-5 days with approx one liter per pot for the first month, 2 liters per pot for week 5 and onward. Water straight from the tap - perhaps not the greatest idea but certainly the most convenient

Nutrients:
-FoxFarm Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom with dosage based on the feeding schedule attached below. Am I basic? Well, yes, I certainly am. Because of how long the soil stayed saturated ( ) the girls got nutes with every watering (every 4-5 days) up until about a week ago (week 5 of flower). I'm no expert but I'd venture to say that this is less than ideal.
-No signs of nute burn throughout miraculously. Beginner's luck perhaps.

 

[mortar_pestle]

THE GIRLS

I didn't start documenting until I had to leave the girls behind for a one week trip. Left the GF in charge and was demanding proof of life given her notorious lack of a green thumb. Unfortunately, during that week I was gone, we had a random heat wave sweep through the region and temps must have been in the low 90s in the tent for at least a half-day stretch. Can't really blame the GF for that one, but as you can see the plants certainly felt it.

The strategy I chose to go with with LST. Figured I could maximize yield and quite frankly, I was scared as hell to attempt any of the advanced techniques that utilize the choppy chop or where I hear a snap . Probably ended up hurting whatever my ultimate yield would be and I'm absolutely open to any and all suggestions for maximizing yield on round 2!

3/5/21 - Day 50 from Soil, Veg
-Lights still 18-6. Note the burnt fan leaves in the front on both the Left (L, she will be called) and Right (R, accordingly) plants. No Bueno. Have been monitoring temps more closely ever since
-I used the pipecleaner-through-the-fabric method to LST em both. Perhaps went a tad overboard but hey, rookies gotta learn. The goal was to keep the canopy even at about 6" from soil. Definitely some deviation with canopy ranging from approx 4-6" from soil.
-That solo cup with the gelatinous mess...yeah, about that...tried to make an apple-cider vinegar cocktail to trap a few fungus gnats that had somehow managed to take hold. Went in the tent around day 35 from soil and clearly there were intermittent periods were the humidity was wayyyy too low. Gonna have to work on that too. Fortunately, in a glorious victory for the history books the gnats were defeated and to this day remain banished to the shadow realm
-Only pic that I got from the GF while I was away. Single view, disappointing, I know. Unfortunately, that's the only view I took for each update from 3/5/21 until today. That being said, now that I'm exposed to worldwide critique, I'll be sure to get y'all the views you want and deserve!
-What's with the fishing line? Yeah...planned to SCROG and instead of simply buying a screen I decided to be handy. Turns out I'm not so handy. Definitely gonna have to go with the good old fashioned screen purchase for the next run

 

[mortar_pestle]

Just for clarity sake, comments and critiques are absolutely welcome and appreciated! Here to learn!

 

[mortar_pestle]

3/8/21 - Day 53 from Soil, Veg

The last day of veg. Picture taken just before 24h period of lights out followed by flip to 12-12 schedule. Gave first dose of Tiger Bloom before lights out, with dosing consistent with week 5 of the feeding schedule published above. Look at all those neon worms!

 

[mortar_pestle]

3/13/21 - Day 58 from Soil, Day 5 from Flip

Surprisingly quickly, the stretch begins! No changes to feeding schedule or lights quite yet. Minimal scent at this point. Beginnings of pistils forming at the main tops of each plant (Front Right from Girl R, Back Left from Girl L). Later on I discovered I should have trained the plants such that their primary cola would end up central under maximum light intensity instead of in the far corners as actually happened. Certainly a mistake and one whose consequences you will see shortly...

 

[mortar_pestle]

3/20/21 - Day 65 from Soil, Day 12 from Flip

The pistils have arrived! First showing on the main tops around day 7 from flip and on the lesser tops around day 12 from flip. Scent still mild. Fishing line proving to be approximately 0% effective in functioning as a screen for a SCROG grow. Now its essentially a SOG grow with a screen for some ?structural support. Yeah, we will say it's there for structural support. Watering the girls every 3-4 days at this point. Noted a pretty drastic increase in water uptake over the course of the past week. Girl R continues to assert herself as the dominant pheno, occupying about 70% of the screen. Not really sure what I could've done different at this point to even them out more. Thoughts? Or is it just better to let one dominate and not interfere with nature? Curious what y'all would've done.

 

[ViparSpectra]

Great, good job, have a great day!

 

[Leeski]

Look good be nice to see them in natural light good luck with the rest of your grow great work thus far

 

[mortar_pestle]

Let me know if that blue cookie really smell like blue berries

Unfortunately, the GF and I both got crushed by the virus back in the early days. Smell 95% out of commission for 13 mos and counting...
I am gonna have a buddy come over in a week or two and do a "smelling" so i can keep y'all updated!

 

[mortar_pestle]

Look good be nice to see them in natural light good luck with the rest of your grow great work thus far

Thanks for checking out the grow! I absolutely will step up my documentation game from here on out. Best pics with grow light off and room light on? Or both off and flash on? Also picked up a loupe and will be posting the trich shots in the next few days

 

[mortar_pestle]

3/24/21 - Day 69 from Soil, Day 16 from Flip

The stretch is in full swing. Girl R continues to be dominant, with Girl L slower in the vertical growth as well as budlet formation. One thing to note is that because of my job, I work rather long shifts and switch between day and night shifts weekly. Because I like to be able to check on the girls daily, I did implement a somewhat irregular lighting schedule. The girls go 12-12 for a week at a time, but when it's time for me to switch from day shift to night shift or vice-versa, they'll go 12 hours on, 24 hours off, then back to 12-12 schedule. This extended period of 24 hours in the dark once per week has been in place since initiation of the flip. I know I'm gonna catch some heat for this as it is abnormal and may hurt yields. ideally I would have had another tent with similar plants that I could run in a constant 12-12 as a control but it will be interesting to see if flowering maturation speeds up due to the intermittent extended periods of darkness. Of course, I could have had lights turn on in the middle of a shift and turn off during the middle of my time in between shifts, but I was an airhead when I implemented this little experiment and now I'm running with it.

Anyway, the girls are happy and healthy!

 

[mortar_pestle]

3/26/21 - Day 71 from Soil, Day 18 from Flip

Did I need to document in a two day interval? Probably not, but the girls were putting on vertical height so fast that I couldn't help but snap some pics! As you can see, they really are putting on about an inch of height per day. At this point, girl R is getting dangerously close to the light. It was on this day that I noticed some heat damage on the new leaf formation of that central budlet. Not good, not good at all. Although you can't see it, with this set up I have the inline fan hanging above the light on the far right of the tent with ducting running across the tent and exiting on the top left. In this current setup there's no room left to raise the light. Doh! I went ahead and took out the inline fan and pulled the ducting back to the exiting vent port at the top left. I repositioned the inline fan outside the tent such that the circuit is Tent-->ducting-->Inline fan (outside tent) --> ducting --> carbon filter (outside tent). The air pull was still quite good with 6" inline and when I seal up the tent there's still a nice vac formation. With this, I was able to raise the light to the very top of the tent and max out available vertical room for the plants to grow. Below is a pic of the girls before the above rearrangement, next post will be after.

 

[ViparSpectra]

3/26/21 - Day 71 from Soil, Day 18 from Flip

Did I need to document in a two day interval? Probably not, but the girls were putting on vertical height so fast that I couldn't help but snap some pics! As you can see, they really are putting on about an inch of height per day. At this point, girl R is getting dangerously close to the light. It was on this day that I noticed some heat damage on the new leaf formation of that central budlet. Not good, not good at all. Although you can't see it, with this set up I have the inline fan hanging above the light on the far right of the tent with ducting running across the tent and exiting on the top left. In this current setup there's no room left to raise the light. Doh! I went ahead and took out the inline fan and pulled the ducting back to the exiting vent port at the top left. I repositioned the inline fan outside the tent such that the circuit is Tent-->ducting-->Inline fan (outside tent) --> ducting --> carbon filter (outside tent). The air pull was still quite good with 6" inline and when I seal up the tent there's still a nice vac formation. With this, I was able to raise the light to the very top of the tent and max out available vertical room for the plants to grow. Below is a pic of the girls before the above rearrangement, next post will be after.

View attachment 4878882

Can i repost your picture in our official group?

 

[mortar_pestle]

Can i repost your picture in our official group?

Of course!

 

[ViparSpectra]

Of course!

Thank you, you are so nice

 

[mortar_pestle]

3/29/21 - Day 74 from Soil, Day 21 from Flip

Three day interval from prior pic. Note elevation of light as mentioned above; it gave about 8-10 inches of desperately needed room for the stretch. Girls still requiring water every 3-4 days. You can see girl L starting to kick the stretch into gear. As you will see, this is pretty clearly two different phenos we've got brewing here. I know everyone is annoyed with the blurple pics. Took the girls out completely today for a real photo sesh. That set will be coming up soon. Stay tuned!

 

[mortar_pestle]

4/2/21 - Day 78 from Soil, Day 25 from Flip

Girl L really taking off. I didn't (and still don't) know how to deal with an uneven canopy. At least a 6in difference between the two at this point and it continues to increase. Does anyone train the taller of the two girls at this stage to try to keep it even? Or is elevating the smaller of the two the better move? I didn't know what to do and didn't want to rock the boat so, of course, I did nothing. This is still issue numero uno though. Fortunately the taller girl is right next to the exhaust ducting at this point and gets the highest degree of air flow and (hopefully) cooling. I also threw in the 6in circulator fan between the last picture and this one. Seems to bring down the temp a few degrees below the canopy but unsure really how effective it is. All thoughts and critiques are welcome and appreciated! Once again, I apologize for the blurple. Almost to real time and real pics!

 

[mortar_pestle]

4/10/21 - Day 86 from Soil, Day 33 from Flip

Approaching the end of week 5 from flip. The stretch has ended and it's time for the girls to fatten up! Watering every 2-3 days, the girls are thirsty. Fan leaves are starting to fall off from the bottom of the plant. No signs of nute burn yet but checking em daily for any issues. Strong and steady. More importantly, the last blurple pic!