1st Grow - Custom Room: Pineapple Chunk, Spc. Kush, Ice, G13, Hollands Hope

[thecannacove]

First thing - Replies and comments are welcome and encouraged :thumb up:

Started my first grow around 5 weeks ago. Started with a seed from a Special Kush plant that a friend had that accidently got polinated. Also bought some clones ( locally about 2 weeks after my Spc. Kush seed had germinated. Clones are Ice, G13, Hollands Hope. Each were rather fresh cuttings (about 4 days old) and were rather small, measuring about 3" each, with the exception of the Hollands Hope that were about 4" each. I also recently purchased 3 - 14" Pineapple Chink clones about a week ago. Oh, small note, one of the G-13's died about a week after purchase. It also looks like the Ice and G13 clones were clipped after mother had gone into flower... Kind of pissed me off but it my own fault for not paying attention.

Until yesterday they were all just being grown in a utility room with less than ideal conditions (room reflectiveness, no ventilation aside from fan that just moved the air and helped with stem hardiness. The 8 smaller clones were growing in solo cups until transplanted into 3 gal buckets which they will grow in until harvest. So here's the current growing conditions for the ladies:

Growing Medium: 1/3 TGA super soil layer, covered with 2/3 TGA organic potting soil in 3 gal buckets.
Room: 4x4x8 (I know, tight space - hind sight is 20/20 lol), custom built with 2x2 frame and walled with 5/8" Foil Styro.
Lights: Custom hood with 8 - 100W equivelant CFLs (5000K spectrum).
Ventilation: 480 CFM inline for exhaust with 6" x 24" carbon filter. Exhaust is dialed down to about half speed because of room size. 500 CFM squrrel cage blower for intake, currently on 250 CFM setting.
Heat control: Oscilating ceramic standard electrical heater with digital adjustable thermostat. (trying to figure out a better way to keep the ladies warm as the grow room is in my garage.

Gave them all a nice drink after transplant into their new soil yesterday (about 2-3 qts, just enough to saturate and get a bit of runoff). I don't plan to give them any fert simply because of the super soil in the bottom, but I do give them some supplements. Last night they got SuperThrive at a strength of 1/4 tsp per gal, Mad Farmer's Be One (Vitamin B1) at strength of 1/2 tsp per gal., and Roots "Excelurator" at .5ml per gal. (all were at half dose).

Pics and sizes to be posted shortly.

 

[thecannacove]

OK. Here's a couple pictures of the grow setup as well as pictures of each of my babies.

Measurements (height only, I'll measure width this evening I think:
Special Kush (From Seed): 9"
Hollands Hope #1: 8"
Hollands Hope #2: 7.5"
Ice #1: 9"
Ice #2: 7"
Ice #3: 6"
G13 #2: 5"
G13 #3: 5.5"
Pineapple Chunk #1: 15"
Pineapple Chunk #2: 16"
Pineapple Chunk #3: 15"

 

[thecannacove]

So I'm curious on how you calculate veg. time for clones. Anyone able to help me out?

Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

 

[Stevieh]

So I'm curious on how you calculate veg. time for clones. Anyone able to help me out?

Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

Hi Canna,

Nice Strains, I have tried kush but only read about the others ....

They look healthy but very stretched is your light near them, if it's a cfl you can get it really close ....

Vegetating clones ...it depends , you say you got 8 foot I would recon start flowering when they are just under a foot but I would top then because they are really stretched ....

hope this helps ...

 

[thecannacove]

Thx Stevieh! Yeah the Pinapple Chunk clones are rather lanky with a fair amount of space between branches, same with Ice #1 and the 2 Hollands Hope. The other 2 Ice and the G13 and Special Kush are pretty squatty and have some bushy potential I think. (I hope). I was think of LSTing them, what do you think?

 

[Stevieh]

Thx Stevieh! Yeah the Pinapple Chunk clones are rather lanky with a fair amount of space between branches, same with Ice #1 and the 2 Hollands Hope. The other 2 Ice and the G13 and Special Kush are pretty squatty and have some bushy potential I think. (I hope). I was think of LSTing them, what do you think?

Yes that's a good shout mate, get on it and get the light closer ........
low stress training ....I don't use that I prefer super cropping but I do that when they are a bit bigger than yours are, LSt will be good to do just now then you could get the light nearer the other plants ....

Check out some threads on how to do it and get the pics up so we can see how you have done ....

May the force be with you

 

[Stevieh]

Hey your picture of ice #1 and ice #2 looks as if it has single leaves .... That looks as if it's re vegetating from flowering ...

watch your nutes as well looks as if got a small bit of burn on a couple of them ....

 

[bongzilla610]

a very ambitious first grow. hopefully it works out well. Steve is right about the stretch on them. Drop the light as low as you safely can- your runnin cfl's so you want them within inches since the usable light drops exponentially after that

about the heat concern, a few options that may or maynot help
I'm not sure what your setup looks like but i'd try a few things to warm it up, firstly make sure you run the lights at the coldest times- like mine sleep in the middle of the day when its the warmest outside and under light all night when its cold to use the radiant heat from the lights.

concrete is cold and hell and holds moisture, go buy a 4x8 foam insulation board at home depot or lowes (prolly 10-15$) and cut it in half and stack it under your tent to try and keep the freezing floor from affecting temp

put a space heater or two by your intake (a safe distance but close enough to heat the air)

then as stupid as it sounds i'd try to seal the garage a bit- go get a few cans of great stuff foam and caulk and fill any air leaks to the outdoors. if you have a heat source inside the garage and air movement you should eventually be able to get temps to rise a bit.

are you gonna flower under cfl's as well? cause if you are you'll need a TON of cfl's for the plants/space your using. if you grab a 600w hps or something you'll end up with a ton more light and also it would prolly all but fix your lack of heat issue- they put off alot of radiant heat during light periods- in a sealed garage it may be close to enough to maintain the warmth during dark periods as well

I'm by no means a pro or an authority on this hobby, so don't take my stuff as law- its just semi-educated guesses haha
good luck man- I'll be watching

 

[thecannacove]

Yep, you're right about the flower and back to veg. The person that sold them to me saw through my ignorance It's OK they were priced right I suppose lol. And they seem to have come back into veg ok, took them a while, but now they are doing ok.

Also the burning you see on some of the plants (primarily the pineapple chunk) got burnt by being too close to the lights a couple days

As soon as I LST I'll post the pics

 

[thecannacove]

Thank you Bongzilla

Great minds must think alike, haha. One of the few things I actually did right was put some 2" R-15 insulation foam under the floor I made for the little grow hut. I also thought to do exactly as you mentioned, I put a space heater right in front of the the intake, but the heater wasn't getting enough power because the ventilation, lights, and everything are all on the same outlet (which I honestly didn't think it would be a problem, but I guess I was wrong

 

[thecannacove]

a very ambitious first grow. hopefully it works out well.

Almost forgot.. damn right Go hard or go home haha. Oh also, about the lighting for flower... I am actual looking into a 600W ballast and hood setup at the moment as I can already see that the light will not be sufficient for long. Might as well grab the ballast and a decent bust affordable hood and then pop a metal halide in there.

Right now the heater is using almost 3X the electricity a 600W HID setup would. I also think you're right about the light in that little hut would come at least very close to taking care of the heat deficiency.


Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

 

[Ringsixty]

So I'm curious on how you calculate veg. time for clones. Anyone able to help me out?

Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

Looking good Nice.
Don't bother what is equivalent to incandescent bulb.
23w CFL x 8 = 184w

Add more light and you will be really happy with the results.

 

[thecannacove]

Ringsixty,

Thank you! I'm quickly learning that (CFL true effective wattage). I also planned poorly with light spacing. I'm going to be elevating the shorter plants today to keep them from stretching too much. Will post new pics with new plant placement.

 

[thecannacove]

Here we go. Much better with the plants elevated so they are all equal. Now I'm trying to read up on cropping and LST'ing.

________________________
Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

 

[thecannacove]

Eh. forgot the pictures...

________________________
Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

 

[Stevieh]

Here we go. Much better with the plants elevated so they are all equal. Now I'm trying to read up on cropping and LST'ing.

________________________
Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

Hey Canna ,

I use Super cropping easier and less effort I think, but when I do it the plants are a bit more sturdy than yours are just now ....

You could try both if your going to do it now.... LST I would say then when steams get thicker try super cropping

Plants are looking happy bro ...!
Peace

 

[thecannacove]

Thank you Yeah I think they look semi happy, but I'm still only 2 days into their transplant so I'm still watching them close to make sure they take well.

________________________
Current Setup: 4x4x8 veg room, 8 x 100W equiv. CFL, approx. 250CFM in/out. 11 ladies growing in TGA Organic Soil with 1/3 TGA Super Soil bed.

 

[bongzilla610]

Much better with the plants elevated so they are all equal.

A cfl guy will need to chime in but i'm pretty sure your still to far away with those lights... they look happy and healthy but i'd drop the light so that the reflector is just above the plants- so the lights are on the tops and sides of plants, then spin the pots daily to distribute the light as much as possible until you can get adequate lighting.. i had my sprouts under like 2 45w and 6 23w and they were about 2-3" away and they seemed to love it... i read somewhere (regurgitating unknown sources...) that you want 100 ACTUAL watts per plant but i've seen guys do a ton more and a ton less...

if you have power issues now you should definitely start thinking about solutions... you don't wanna overload your circuits in any way... does the garage have a separate circuit for inside or outside lights? ifso you could tap into that if you know how to install a box, or just use a screw in outlet in place of the inside bulb...

 

[thecannacove]

A cfl guy will need to chime in but i'm pretty sure your still to far away with those lights...

They are 3" from the plants.. Sorry but last time I got any closer I had leaf burn from the lights.. Yes, some of the plants are farther away, hence the reason I need additional lighting.

if you have power issues now you should definitely start thinking about solutions...

I AM ALREADY trying to think of solutions. An HID setup would allow me to ditch my heater which is drawing most of the power. Introduce HID, remove CFLs, remove heater = net decrease in energy consumption, and increased lumens + more intense penetrating light.

or just use a screw in outlet in place of the inside bulb...

Huh? Screw in outlet?

 

[thecannacove]

OK, so I started LST'ing this morning. Tied the girls down at 11AM and checked them at 6:30PM and they are already starting to "right" themselves! Can't wait to see some new side growth.

I am worried about the taller plants (my 3 pineapple chunks) as they are all about 16". I still tried to tie them down but not sure how effective it will be, does anyone have any suggestions? I've included a few pictures of the LST job, how did I do?

Thanks all! Oh! I almost forgot. To avoid posting too many pictures but still accommodate those who are interested in going this journey with me, you can check out my imgur albums: http://thecannacove.imgur.com