TGA Vortex 400W Stealth Grow in Supersoil

[J.W.]

What's up everyone?
I got up early this morning to catch the plants just before the lights kicked on to take clones. I decided yesterday after really taking a close look at each plant that V4 is going to be the keeper!!!
No doubt about it in my mind; it's the healthiest and stoutest out of all four, and has plenty if budsites. I took clones of all of them this morning, and I might have found an outdoor home for the other three, so I cleaned them up as well -- even more, actually, as they'll be easier to transport and they'll be outdoor, so new growth will not be a problem. I snipped off all the lower spindly shoots right at the base, taking care to snip it off cleanly while not snipping the adjacent fan leaves. I went almost halfway up each main shoot, and the plants are opened up nicely. I was taken by surprise at just how well V2 and V3 look. As you'll see in the pics below, either one of those could have been kept as well, as they look great!
Here's the clones (I took three of each).

 

[J.W.]

This one really took the supercropping well earlier in veg, and had lots of lower growth that could have easily been trained. She was also the first to show sex, and she really had me thinking there for a while that she was going to stay. The last week or so she hasn't kept up with V4 in growth and stem size, and I have her genetics, so she'll get her turn.

 

[J.W.]

This was one of the two that got damaged earlier in veg, and she was probably damaged worse. She healed up nicely, and seemed like an all-around healthy plant, she just didn't stand out among the others for any reason in particular. I'll really have to see the finished smoke from these to get too much of an idea what's up, so I'll have to flower her clone in the future to see if she holds a secret!

 

[J.W.]

All I can say about this pheno is WOW. The main stems that remained and developed after the accident turned out strong and green. As I said earlier, she has an almost coffee-ish smell, and I'd be interested to see if she maintained this fragrance through flower, and how it would show up in the buds. She recovered from the damage nicely, and is just a beautiful plant. If I wasn't keeping V4, this would have been it.

 

[J.W.]

Drum Roll . . . . . . . .
And here she is!!
She's plenty big and has lots of potential to put out some buddage. She took all the training I could throw at her, and she's so ready to flower that she's about to explode. Her smell has changed since early in veg; she went from being young and having a sweet smell, to having an almost over-ripe smell now. Subcool hit the nail on the head when he said mangos and baby poo, haha. That's a perfect description of what she smells like. She had plenty of sucker shoots, and I took them off, leaving the shade leaves. I'll bend all of these bigger stalks down when she goes 12/12 and gets the whole area to herself. I can't wait for buds!!!

 

[Banditt]

Nice looking grow man. I've been wanting to try out the vortex. Doing JTR at the moment. That pic of the root defender stuff from your first post made me giggle a little. The logo on the packaging is from a local hydro shop where I get most of my stuff. I'm guessing we are pretty close to each other proximity wise as that place only has 6 retail outlets and they are all pretty close to each other. Small world.

 

[TCurtiss]

JW

Looking good, keep it up so I know what I am in for

 

[J.W.]

Nice looking grow man. I've been wanting to try out the vortex. Doing JTR at the moment. That pic of the root defender stuff from your first post made me giggle a little. The logo on the packaging is from a local hydro shop where I get most of my stuff. I'm guessing we are pretty close to each other proximity wise as that place only has 6 retail outlets and they are all pretty close to each other. Small world.

Thanks man. Yeah, the store I go to is a local-type shop, and we are probably close. . . Their root defender is good stuff.

JW

Looking good, keep it up so I know what I am in for

I appreciate it man, I'll stay on top of things and keep you updated. I don't think she'll stretch too awful bad, as she has tight node spacing for being such a big plant.

 

[TCurtiss]

Thanks man. Yeah, the store I go to is a local-type shop, and we are probably close. . . Their root defender is good stuff.

I appreciate it man, I'll stay on top of things and keep you updated. I don't think she'll stretch too awful bad, as she has tight node spacing for being such a big plant.

No thank you

I still have a ways to go with these little tikes

 

[J.W.]

Sorry for the crappy HPS-orange pic, but you get the idea. Last night I cleaned and disinfected the grow area, changed bulbs, put little holes in the tops of the smart pot to tie my floral stretch wire to, and opened up the plant to the brand new world of the Hortilux eye red spectrum. ~54 more days until green heaven. . .

 

[J.W.]

Where do I begin!?
V4 is looking great, and I'll post pics when I start to see pistils everywhere.
Also, just about all 12 of the clones are rooted! Most of them showed roots in less than a week, so they're nice and healthy.
Although I managed to find a different home for V1 and V2, I could not find anyone who would take V3 -- which was my 2nd choice to keep -- and it definitely worked out in my favor. . .
After I offloaded V1 and V2 and put V4 under 12/12 by herself, I put V3 under a couple small CFL's until I figured out where she would go. She was sitting there looking beautiful and taunting me, and since my clones also rooted, I decided to step my game up and find a way to keep and flower V3 and expand my operation. I already had some extra grow accessories and my Son Agro in my old Hydrofarm, so a few days ago I went out and splurged to get this nice CFL Blue setup you see here for clones and vegging, and I also got this cool Homebox to flower V3 in!
It's the large homebox, and will be plenty big for her, even though she's large. Since she's so tall and is only going under 150W, I took off more lower branches, leaving just the top few nodes to make large colas. If I do get too much fluff, I'll just use it to make bubble so it's all good. That's V3 in the 3rd pic.
When V4 gets through flowering under the 400W in the closet, I'll take the best clone of each of the 4 original seedlings that was under my CFL setup, and flower those under the 400W right away with no topping while they're still fairly small and won't clutter in the small space. Whichever pheno is best in my book will be my Vortex mother, and I can then start grinding through strains I've been wanting to try instead of one-at-a-timin'.

 

[J.W.]

A couple days after I bought the Homebox, I knew I needed a couple more things to put in both flowering areas to do this thing right. I was on a budget but still hunting for quality, to allow myself as little to worry about as possible about what's going on while I'm not home. For the closet area #1, I picked up a 449 cfm 6" vortex blower, some 6" flexible duct, and a knob-adjustable motor speed controller. I couldn't quite afford an air-cooled hood for my PL, and the carbon can that goes with the Vortex fan was almost expensive as the fan! I had to pass up on those this time, but I'm an HVAC tech, so I knew I could temporarily rig something up. When I got home, I took some of the small-holed netting that my organic onions come in, and stretched it across the intake of the fan, and ran a few inches of ductwork. I then filled the ductwork with activated carbon, sealed that end with more of the netting, and hung and neatly wired the new upgrades in. I used braided stainless cord to hang the fan, and rubber gasket material to pad the steel cord from vibrations against the already existing closet shelf boards. I ran the exhaust duct end through the boards, up above the curtain, and out. I ran the suction end (with the charcoal) to the light with some slack, and taped it to the frame hole on top of the reflector. It's not OEM, but it'll get me by until I get more cash flow. I didn't like having to put such a bend in the ducting, but the fan was huge and I need that flexibility to adjust the lamp height. The bends aren't that tight and it really doesn't seem to affect the suction at all, so that's good. The controller works great, and I'm amazed at how quiet this whole setup is now. We'll see how well my rigged carbon filter works. . .
All in all, the improvements come with open arms for sure. It was a pain in the ASS hanging everything, as I was doing this alone, working around the plant, and that vortex fan was HEAVY. I had to stand on a chair working above my head, haha. I'm old enough to know hard work pays off though.

 

[J.W.]

The carbon filter that I originally had in the closet grow space made a perfect fit for my Homebox. It pulls plenty of cfm for the size of the tent, and does a good job of keeping air moving and cool inside the grow tent with the small 150W in there. I also bought some nicer pull-and-ratchet light hangers for the Hydrofarm. I hung the carbon scrubber and ran 6" duct from the exhaust end through the opening in the top of the tent made for the ducting, and wired everything up and tidied up the cord holes to prevent light leaks. This setup also puts a big smile on my face, and I'm pretty happy with what I got going on. Now, it's just a waiting game until my beautiful girls show their potential!

Hope you enjoy the pics everyone! Peace!

J Dub

 

[TCurtiss]

Looking good JW

I also have to do most work by myself and hanging this does require some thinking and planning, just take your time and do it right

I use a 4 inch 165 cfm fan for my grow which is not much bigger than your so that fan you have will work just fine

Keep up the great work

 

[J.W.]

Actually T, my fan is a 6" Vortex that circulates 449 cfm. That's a TON of air movement for my space. That's why I bought the speed controller, and didn't worry about any extra drag with my rigged-up carbon filtering. The carbon filter that was originally in there that went into the grow tent moves 235 cfm, which is just about right for that area Thanks for the kudos brah

 

[TCurtiss]

Actually T, my fan is a 6" Vortex that circulates 449 cfm. That's a TON of air movement for my space. That's why I bought the speed controller, and didn't worry about any extra drag with my rigged-up carbon filtering. The carbon filter that was originally in there that went into the grow tent moves 235 cfm, which is just about right for that area Thanks for the kudos brah

Was the 235 a 4 or 6 inch fan?

Thanks

have a good one

T

 

[J.W.]

The blue filtered 235 cfm was a 6" fan, made custom by an independent company called "Foothill Filters." There is a 235 cfm Vortex fan with 6" duct ports, and that runs right around 200 bucks. I opted for the inline Vortex with 6" ports also, but forked over the extra money for the highpower fan at 449 cfm. I paid almost 300 bucks in-store for mine, but I prefer buying things in-person rather than online. Here's a comparison:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270519925100&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WXS%3F&GUID=2d4a7e911290a0e203e72037ff29bb17&itemid=270519925100&ff4=263602_263622#ht_500wt_928

[URL="http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/vortex4172cfmpowerfan-1.aspx"]http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/vortex4172cfmpowerfan-1.aspx[/URL]

The foothill filter works great, too. I highly recommend the high-power Vortex. It comes with a ten-year warranty, is built VERY well, and runs as smooth and quiet as I could ask for, even when adjusted to full speed.

 

[TCurtiss]

The blue filtered 235 cfm was a 6" fan, made custom by an independent company called "Foothill Filters." There is a 235 cfm Vortex fan with 6" duct ports, and that runs right around 200 bucks. I opted for the inline Vortex with 6" ports also, but forked over the extra money for the highpower fan at 449 cfm. I paid almost 300 bucks in-store for mine, but I prefer buying things in-person rather than online. Here's a comparison:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270519925100&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WXS%3F&GUID=2d4a7e911290a0e203e72037ff29bb17&itemid=270519925100&ff4=263602_263622#ht_500wt_928

[URL]http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/vortex4172cfmpowerfan-1.aspx[/URL]

The foothill filter works great, too. I highly recommend the high-power Vortex. It comes with a ten-year warranty, is built VERY well, and runs as smooth and quiet as I could ask for, even when adjusted to full speed.

Thank you for the info, my fan is in need of replacing as it is doing double duty now, it pull all the air threw the carbon filter before leave my cabinet plus it removes the hot air from the hood also so I am thinking as they say in the movies = more POWER

It is getting a little hotter going into the summer here on the west coast

Thanks again and keep on truckin

 

[J.W.]

Today was the only chance I'd have for a few days to be home during lights out, and be able to take a quick picture with flash and the closet cfl on without being all orange from the HPS.
I watered her earlier this morning, and she's really forming some nice budsites, even on the lowers. She takes about a gallon-and-a-half of water now before she's thoroughly watered, and I cultivate the topsoil lightly before every watering. This watering I added a teaspoon of epsom salt, just as a one-time thing as she's a huge plant and will pack on a lot of buds. She starts her third week of flowering tomorrow, and I can't wait to see how she continues to develop!
I was worried the past few days that it was getting hot in there, which kind of puzzled me, because it's been unusually cool lately. When I would walk up to the grow area, I would feel a surge of heat. I quickly realized that this was due to the exhaust blowing out from the inline Vortex fan -- that thing really works good! It's mostly bulb heat, and with the fan speed adjusted almost all the way up right now, it's stayed mid-upper 70s and around 45% humidity inside that area. I checked the temps at the plant level with a k-probe on my digital multimeter.
I've included pics of her at a few different angles, as well as a couple pics of V3, who is looking good herself at day 9 of 12/12. I hope to see BIGGER buds in a few days when I can take another pic without the HPS. Either way, I'm just hoping that each pic will get better than the one before!

 

[J.W.]

Here's a nice string of pics of varying quality and lighting. I took her out to clean and disinfect the grow area, and figured I'd take a bunch of random shots while I was at it! She's frickin' wide as hell, and not easy to maneuver around, that's for sure. I've been rotating her under the light every couple days, and just removed the tie-downs this morning. I'm thinking pretty soon she'll start packing on enough weight, and I'll have to start staking her. I'm hoping so, anyway!