250W Stealth Cab Grow

J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
NGB-Style Stealth Cab 250W HPS DWC ScrOG Grow

Outter Cab Dimensions: 41.5"H x 40"W x 25.5"D
Veg/Flower Chamber: 36"H x 25.5"W
Current Strain: Reserva Privada's Sour Kush

This is technically not my first grow, but might as well be. My first two attempts ended in male plants. As a complete beginner, I was worried about hermies and shied away from fem'd seeds. After watching big, hairy balls pop out of my first two grows, I would welcome a hermie. Hasn't been a total loss, though, as I've learned a crapload from the experience.

Eventually plan to increase my grow space, but for now this is the best I can do. Might be beneficial to learn in this small space anyway. And when I expand, I can still use the cab as a veg or mom room.

This time, I'm running two RP Sour Kush fem'd seeds - #2 & #3 (#1 is in soil). The tap root on these bastards shot through rockwool in about a day or two. Since then, I haven't noticed much growth. Still in lame stage (broke RW surface 5 days ago), so probably no updates for a bit.

Including pictures of cab in case someone is building their own. Might help.
Mums.jpgFront2.jpgUtility.jpgLFT.jpgFront.jpg
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Finally started seeing a little growth. After the roots popping through rockwool so fast, I was a little surprised the fuckers took so long to get through the hydroton and net cup. They're in the res now and developing nicely. Should start seeing more upper growth. This is an exciting time, ain't it? Not as good as when it starts touching the screen, but good times all the same. Their whole lives are ahead of them. Oh, the possibilities.

One new wrinkle in this grow is the Eye Hortilux bulb I got. It's noticeably brighter and consequently puts off more heat. I'm looking at the Super Lumens switch on the Lumatek and thinking of flipping it on once I get to flower. Damn cab, though, and its heat buildup. Last grow I turned my exhaust fan off during an extremely cold period for about ten minutes...maybe 15. The fucker shot over 100 degrees. Wonder if that had an effect on them turning male. I've read some theories on environment being a deciding factor on sex. I don't know enough about plant biology to know better. Seems if the plant was male or female from seed, there'd be a way to find all the female seeds. They're putting holographic people in British airports for goodness sake, and you're telling me that we can't discover the sex of a damned MJ seed before sprouting? Bullocks!

Boring pics for growth reference
2011-02-09_22-19-36_319.jpg2011-02-09_22-19-24_946.jpg
 
xivex

xivex

Active Member
Hang in there man. Looks like youve got it down and got some good genetics to try. Subbed.

Just gets more exciting by the day! :)

X
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Thanks X. Yeah, my biggest problem right now is I got genetics out the wazoo but no space to grow 'em in. Got two more orders on the way, then that's it. Until I get more space, of course.

I thought we could edit posts indefinitely, but I was wrong. Wanted to add this root pic to the others...
Roots.jpg
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
legallyflying said:
[...] here is how you determine EXACTLY how much nutrients are being given to your plant and how you should be mixing in your nutrients.

Fill your Rez at LEAST 3/4 full before adding anything!
Add your Macro nutes and let mix around [...]
Add micro and anything else you think is goIng to fix the fact that you really don't know what the fuck your doing
Top off with tap to the desired level
Mark THAT WATER HEIGht with marker [In my case, I have to use a dipstick with water level marked]
 Let mix for 20. CALIBRATE your ph pen, test ph.
Add your up or down..that has been DILUTED at least 10:1 from the bottle strength. If you see a little cloud form when you pour your shit in there it's waaaay to strong. Don't do it.
Let mix and test again. Yadah yadah.

Ok let's say your ppm is 1030 and your ph is 5.6 ( like mine was 4 days ago)
You come back the next day, the water is lower and now the ppm is 1080 and ph 5.8. Still ok to me.
Next day, even less water gone, ppm at 1150 ph 5.9.. Ok, now it's time to take a break from watching German fisting porn and give your plants some love.
Add clean tap only to the fill line you marked. NOW test the PPM. Wow it's 960. Now you know that your plants absorbed 120 ppm of nutes in 4 days. 960 is pretty close to the original 1030 so I'll probably leave it for another day.
Now I'll come back the next day, there is like 10 gallons of solution gone so to get me back up to the original 1030 or close, I'll mix like 5 gallons of fresh nutes in the exact proportions I did originally and add it in the Rez. Test the ppm, if it's higher than you want but not by much your golden because youll top off again with tap to the fill mark.

The main point is this folks: the only ppm comparisons should be done when the rez is at the same height! Plants transpire water and leave the minerals, its normal for ppm to climb because of this.

In veg I'm pretty lazy and I use root excelerator which is expensive so I do this for several weeks without changing the Rez. In flower, I maybe go two weeks tops. Because I'm such a fuckin dope Mack daddy I typically top of with fresh water everyday because I plumbed my grow set up so my filtered water comes out to a hose bib about a foot from my reservoirs. I fill test and RECORD ppm daily simply because I don't have to lift anything and risk injuring my jerk off hand. This allows me to track exactly how much nutrients are being absorbed every day.

Make sure you change your flowering Rez every week or at MAX. Every two weeks. You can never know WHICH mutes are being absorbed and if you keep adding back nutrients, the PROPORTIONS between the minerals can get fucked up am lead to lock out problems. This is why I hardly ever just add macro or just micro to my Rez. I always add balanced nutes. [...]
Click to expand...
Original post is #113 on legallyflying's thread: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/400225-scrog-off-new-school-vs-12.html#post5209403

More advice from legal...
"Currently I dose as follows, again the flowering dosage is lower than the bottle for the latter parts:

Week 1 300
week 2-3. 600
Week 4-6. 600-800
Flower 1st 8-900
Flower 2nd-4th 1000-1100
Flower 5th 1200-1300
Flower 6th 1500
7th - 800
6th - 600
Flush, 3-4 days clean tap

Start low and look at your plants. If the get really dark in veg, lower the nutes. If they get yellow or become stunted, increase. In flower, watch for discoloration, twisting leaves, or spots to show that you need to increase. If your always in the low or conservative side you know you need to increase and you won't get trapped in the "I have lockout" quagmire because you'll know that's not the case, they just need a little more nutes. YOur veg Rez can last two weeks before changing. Change your flower Rez every week to 10 days."

legal is the man. If ya didn't know, ask somebody.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Serapis said:
[...]I'm at 1100 ppm because I watch what the PH is telling me. If my PH is 5.8 one day and the water is at 900 ppm, the following day, if my PH has dropped, it indicates the plant is taking in more nutrients than water, and could use more nutrients. If the PH raises a bit, I back off the nutes and just add water. Following this method, my current ppm is at 1150 ish. For the first few weeks of flower, I expect it to require more nutrients than I have been giving. I'm thinking about using the Fox Farm solubles, as I already have them from a previous grow. I was going to use just the Flora Nova Bloom for the entire grow, but I'm tempted to push the buds. My last grow, I skipped the solubles and I can tell the difference in bud quality and bag appeal.[...]
Click to expand...
Original post is #10 on Serapis' thread: https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/395228-nirvana-bubblelicious-waterfarm-scrog-secret.html
 
xivex

xivex

Active Member
JimBro,

Do you use Silica? Could help the plant support itself better. Gro-Tek Pro-Silicate is what I've been using...3-5 mL /gallon every watering. Lately, been using 3 mL. Bottle recommends 5 mL/gallon max.

X
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
No, I don't. I'll have to look into it. I noticed the lean on the one plant. I wrote it off to the position of the light (even though the space is too small for that to be a factor really). My last one did the same thing, but was on the other side of the res. Thanks for the tip, X.

Stopped by the hydro store today and picked up the Dutch Master Silica.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Growth update pic. Starting to reach screen. Oh boy, oh boy.
2011-02-19.jpg

Changed res and went with more nutes than I wanted. When I mixed it, ppms were ~800. An hour or two later when I went to put it in, the ppms were 1000. Hopefully they can handle it or this will be a short thread.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
So...you know that feeling you get when you flush a toilet and it starts backing up on ya? You quickly start trying to calculate water flow vs. toilet capacity. Well, these SKs are the shit and I'm worried they're about to pop out the toilet. I may switch to 12/12 here soon. I gotta get a bigger toilet, man.
 
G

Growbigorgo

Member
yeah, they just over double in size, the og's get really big so if you have an OG dominant SK then you probably should start to think about flipping. I will measure mine tomorrow and give you the size when I flipped and now, it will give you a good guage. I am used to growing Warlock which is said to have a good stretch but the OG is waaaay worse than it.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Thanks, Growbig. If you're not able to get that measurement, that's okay. I will flip in the next day or two regardless because the #3 seems to be growing by the hour. I bet I could see her grow if I stared at her for a few minutes. Hope that's not a male gene in there causing it to be so aggressive, but with all I've read about the SKs, I'd be more surprised if she didn't turn hermie. Definitely OG dom.
 
G

Growbigorgo

Member
Yeah from what I saw they will show you by week 3 or 4. Mine that was a hermie was the nice thick one. It wasn't the tallest but had the most uniform node structure.
 
G

Growbigorgo

Member
I measured today and they have almost tripled in size. The OG's were between 12-14 inches at onset of 12/12 and are now around 35-37 inches. I'm in the 6th week and the stretch is pretty much done, just filling out now.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info. That makes the decision much easier. Guess I'll have to scrog the crap out these bitches.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Flipped to 12/12 the day after my last post. Switched out the res today with transitional nuts.Scaled it back to 750ish. They seemed to handle the aggressive solution I hit 'em with the other day. But I'll wait another week or two before I go that high again. It's been a few days, so the stretch ought to start soon.
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
The scrog is not as even as I would like. The #2 (on the right) grew cockeyed from the get-go, though. Plus, the left plant always gets the better light in my current setup. I need to figure out a good way to rotate the scrog for future grows so one week one plant gets the light's sweet spot and the next the other does. The other picture I uploaded is of the Sour Kush and Tangerine Dream dirty mothers I'm working on. Don't know much about dirt, so I'm probably feeding them wrong, but they haven't died yet. The TD had a very rough start, but has bounced back and is growing slow but with nice form. Speaking of growing slow, all these plants were germed on the same day. See much of a difference between a small HPS light with hydro and cfls in dirt? It's subtle, I know.
2011-03-01.jpg2011-03-01_2.jpg
 
xivex

xivex

Active Member
JimBro,

You got enough room to add a small CFL light into the right side of that box to help with the slow growth of the plant on the right? Like screw it in the rightside wall, jutting out horizontally into the box, about 6" above the plant on the right?

Plus the xtra blue spectrum from a 6500k CFL (get a strong one) would help your potency and growth.

X
 
J

JimBro

Well-Known Member
Good idea, X. The only concern I would have is more heat buildup. If I do that, I would probably drill a 3 or 4 inch hole along that wall too to help with heat dissipation. That might be something I need to do anyway. Honestly, though, I need to quit bullshitting and buy a house. Get me one of them there closed rooms, 2400watts, AC, CO2... Know anybody with a setup like that?
 
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