1st grow 1000w hps ScrOG Big Kush

Setup
4 48" T12 full spectrum bulbs for seedlings/clones
1000w Iponic Zone digital ballast
1000w MH not sure of make or how old. freebie with reflector and ballast purchase
1000w HPS Ushio HiLux bought today to replace old freebie HPS bulb that had 3 runs on it. So much brighter!
6" Air cooled reflector 22" x 30" I believe
6' Inline fan with controller
Intake filter
Space heater for when light is off
A/C for hot summer days
Seedling mat with thermostat
PPM Meter
PH Meter
Grodan cubes
8" Vented humidity dome
PRO MIX HP Mycorrhizae for my grow medium
Plastic pots for this grow. Got smart pots for the next grow.
5' x 5' room

Nutes, my local hydroponic store (Growers Paradise) has its own brand so I decided to give them a try as the price was decent. I also grabbed a few other things
Growers Paradise - Ganja Grow $29.99/L
Growers Paradise - Ganja Bloom $29.99/L
Growers Paradise - Ganja Monster $34.99/L
Green Planet - Terpinator $32.99/L
Growers Paradise - PH Up $9.99 PH Down $9.99
Wilson Transplanter With Roots $5.99
Stim-Root powder

Seed Choice
Big Kush from Dinafem
Fem
THC 20% CBD less than 0.1%
Flower: 55 days
Height: 3m
Yield: 600g/m2

New here. this is my first post. I've been lurking around for a while now researching topics, I make good use of the search function. I tried to prepare as much as possible. I have decided to share my first grow with the forum. As I've had ups and downs. A few weeks ago I started recording data on my grow. I want to be able improve each grow and keep learning from my mistakes. I use spread sheets to collect data on the pH & ppm I give to the plants, and the pH and ppm of my runoff. I also take notes to help me decide on the care of my plants based how they look or what I should bump my next ppm up to, etc.

I have a friend who grew Big Kush by Dinafem. I really liked the effect, taste and smell of that strain so I picked it. Plus if I had any questions about how it grows, I get firsthand knowledge from a close friend. Which I wish I would have used to find out how much it stretches during flowering. Which I now know is 2-3 times. Not the best for ScrOG. Anyways it wont stop me.

I started from seeds. I bought a 5 pack from Xotic Seeds in Brampton. They carried the feminized Big Kush by Dinafem which is what I wanted. I germinated by using the drop in water until they crack method. Then paper towel on a plate until 1/4" tap root. Planted in top soil and 1/2" deep and covered ( let them lay what ever way the tap root landed in the hole, I'll let gravity sort that question out out). They all sprouted up with little to no stretching. All good up until this point (feeling like a boss cause I created life from a tiny seed). Well that feeling went away quick. I over watered them and stunted their growth severely. The top soil I was using had poor drainage and became soaked. I ended up replanting in slightly bigger pot and watered less and increasing temp. this helped but I lost 1 seedling before the bump up. Next mistake I made was on the bump up to the 5 gal. I wasn't pHing my water up unto this point. When I bumped up I watered with what I thought was 6.5 pH but turned out to be 5.3 because my pH meter was not calibrated correctly. It took me a while to figure this out. I had signs of pH fluctuation in the leaves and Mg deficiency, I really notice about 10 days after transplanting into the 5gal pots. I flushed the shit out of them when I realized. After this I started to keep records of whats happening to catch these things before they become a problem. The Mg deficiency went away with pH correction. The old leaves were a little wrinkled as well, but the new growth is fine.

I took cuttings off each of the plants as well. 6 in total. I culled one as it didn't have roots after a week. it pulled out of cube with no root development. the other 5 rooted in a week and were bumped up after 2 weeks. its been 4 days and the roots are out of the bottom again, I'm using a rooting mat as my basement is around 67 and roots were not warm enough for my liking. I'll pull heating mat out when I bump up to 2gal. I had a problem with the 1st of the big kush clones I took off the plant I numbered big kush 1, 2 days ago, over night these weird stripes of discoloration appeared and ran down the sides of a few leaves. I pulled most of it off and left the rest to see how it affects the plant. I have an extra clone off that plant so I'm not to worried if it dies. I took an extra clone off big kush 1 and big kush 2 because I like how they were growing up until that point. Here are a few pictures of the clones off big kush 1. the good and bad ones.
Clones ( taken from the plants in the scrog)

Big Kush 1.2 no problems

Big Kush 1 problems from same plant as above

Big Kush 1

Big Kush 1


Scrog Pictures (these are the first pic's, I didnt take any before this)
Day 1 MH

Day 11 MH
Day 1 Flower

Day 4 Flower

Day 4 Flower side


This is where I'm at as of now. Screen is 6" above soil, spread is now 22" - 24" on each plant. Any advice or suggestion would be appreciated.

I spent 3 hours last night removing growth below screen. This freed up space to tuck most of the branches into their own squares. Next pis will be under full spectrum leds so they will be less yellow. installing 4 small ones later today. I've had about 5 days now with my new hps light and I can see a nice change in growth. Got some nice pistil clusters popping up everywhere, I'll take a pic when light turn back on. Until then I have some diy lights to wire. Cheers

Day 11 flower

Day 11 post defoliation

the culled

Branch low angle

Looking good! I reckon with that size screen you could actually scrog just one of those clones, especially with the stretch you're gonna get! I can't talk, I went ahead and germinated 8 seeds thinking some wouldn't survive and kept 7 of them and im so squished now!

Looking forward to see how this one turns out.

JDMase said:

Looking good! I reckon with that size screen you could actually scrog just one of those clones, especially with the stretch you're gonna get! I can't talk, I went ahead and germinated 8 seeds thinking some wouldn't survive and kept 7 of them and im so squished now!

Looking forward to see how this one turns out.

Click to expand...

I'm sure I'll learn more about the stretch. I have a lot to learn about scrogging. Wasn't sure when to flip or how many plants to put under. I'll have a better feel after this run. Just hopping it doesn't stretch to much. I have about 3' - 4' I can move my light up. It's hanging 2' above canopy as it is. I'm also not looking to veg for to long. They why five plants for the next one. So I can fill screen quick. This run will let me know how ambitious I really am. I may have severely over estimated my needs.

I started to train the clones. When I put them into the flower room I won't to have to wait for them to grow horizontal. Bumped them up to 2 gal pots last night and added screen. I have 7 gal pots to put them into when they root out.

Dirty Hippie said:

I'm sure I'll learn more about the stretch. I have a lot to learn about scrogging. Wasn't sure when to flip or how many plants to put under. I'll have a better feel after this run. Just hopping it doesn't stretch to much. I have about 3' - 4' I can move my light up. It's hanging 2' above canopy as it is. I'm also not looking to veg for to long. They why five plants for the next one. So I can fill screen quick. This run will let me know how ambitious I really am. I may have severely over estimated my needs.

Click to expand...

Have you checked out this tutorial?
https://www.rollitup.org/t/lbhs-scrog-tutorial.438789/

I think people miss the point of a scrog, and actually they're infact just using a screen. Not to say that doesn't have benefits.

JDMase said:

Have you checked out this tutorial?
https://www.rollitup.org/t/lbhs-scrog-tutorial.438789/

I think people miss the point of a scrog, and actually they're infact just using a screen. Not to say that doesn't have benefits.

Click to expand...

Yeah I saw it, similar to a tutorial i used. I see a lot of "scrog" pics where the screen is 3 feet above pot and is just holding the buds from falling.

Day 12 flower after defoliation

Day 12 flower close up

I got a new ballast from Lightspeed, and a new MH bulb so I can veg under decent light and put away the t12 full spectrum.
I notice some trichomes starting to form. Pleasant odor as well, very fruity.

Day 15 Flower

Day 17 Flower close up

Day 18 Flower

Oh what a lesson my first grow is teaching me. Latest lesson I've learned, nute lock. 1 of my plant was showing signs of nutrition deficiency (yellowing leaves). So I added a little more to my next feeding. The next day I noticed nute burn and the problem had gotten worse. So I thought if its not pulling the mobile nutrients from the soil/roots and it's still taking from the lower leaves, there must be a reason for it not taking in from the roots. Two sources for this I found was pH is out of wack or nute lock. Lucky for me they can both be fixed with a good flushing. I put 19L through each plant. I took readings at the start, middle and the end of the flush. I was getting 5.7pH and 1200ppm at the start of the flush( 1was at 2000ppm whoa! ). At the end of the flush I was getting 6.8ph and 244ppm. This was two days ago. They need a watering today. I'm going to feed at 1/4 strength and ramp it back up over the next 2 weeks. The high ppm was causing a low pH in the soil that I was chasing to get a hold of. I would put in 7pH in and 5.6pH would come out. I got in this situation by feeding at 1/4 strength every watering and ramping it up slowly. I should have started feeding every other watering when I got close to a full strength nute mix. I'm going to feed,water,feed,water...etc and see how they do. They are smelling amazing at this point.

Day 21 flower close up

Day 21 flower top shot

Day 21 flower side view

pic update, Im on day 26, pics are a few days behind. I'll get a few new shots after work tonight.
Cheers
Day 23

Day 24