2nd Grow and Intro

Hello boys and girls,

I felt like it’s time to introduce myself. I’m Maximus Decimus and I’ve been lurking here for quite some time just reading and enjoying the site and collective wisdom. I’ve been around weed my whole life but didn’t partake until about 3 years ago when I learned that I CAN once again have a great night’s sleep, relieve my anxiety when it pops up, and soothe this savage beast when I’m angry enough to eviscerate my friends and enemies.

I grow because I love the science, the challenge, and exploring new strains while providing for myself and friends. I’m a newb and continue to research and revise my methods and equipment based on trial and error and information gleaned from some experienced and well-known farmers I’ve found here and elsewhere on the interwebs.

However, after my second grow I felt like I should contribute to the forum to share my grow, lessons learned, equipment, and get some feedback for my next run. I would like to thank everyone on RIU that has contributed over the years and unknowingly answered my questions and provided inspiration on my journey.

ROOM
After my first grow I decided that a purpose-built room was in order. I had some space in my attic (wish I had more) so I built a well-insulated 5’D x 4’W x 7’T grow room. I wired in 6 outlets, added conduit for hanging lights and tying netting, etc., painted the inside with bright white, water resistant paint, and lined the bottom with rubber pond liner.

SETUP
I quickly realized that I needed a way to automate my grow room to handle temperature and humidity swings, so I installed a TrolMaster Hydro-X with applicable controllers for lights, temp, humidity, etc.

Air is piped in from my living space using a Cloudline T-6 and extraction to the outside is handled with a Cloudline S6 and TerraBloom carbon filter. Temp is maintained using a 1500W space heater. The humidifier is a HouseofHydro 3-disc unit in a 5-gallon bucket that replaced a dying 1-gallon Chinese turd. Lights are 2 x Electric Sky ES-300 V2s.

Feeding is via a 20-gal Brute trashcan res, an aquarium circulation pump, a 300W aquarium heater, and was originally equipped with a 550 gph pond pump that was later upgraded to a Superior Pumps 1920 gph utility pump for increased flow and pressure. Feed water is pumped out through a ¾” PVC manifold to a 6-port ¾” distribution manifold in the grow room.

Runoff is handled by some trays on casters that I built and lined with pond liner that have drain tubes plumbed into them. The drain lines run to a small plastic collection bin then a Little Giant condensate pump moves that outside of the grow room to a 5-gal bucket for disposal.

STRAINS & GROW
As previously stated, this was my 2nd grow which consisted of 5 Mephisto autos; Sour Crack, Double Grape, Toof Decay, 3BOGxSB, and Crème de la Chem. I also included 1 Amnesia Ryder from World of Seeds. All girls were popped in rapid rooters then moved into 3-gal modified hempy buckets consisting of two ½” drain holes 2” from the bottom filled with #3 Perlite to the top of the holes with Coco as the grow medium.

Nutrients used were CalMag plus and Megacrop 1 and 2-part with Sweet Candy used during flower. Beneficials were Microbe Life Photosynthesis Plus and Root Excelerator. I used RO water with 2 ml/gal CalMag, 3-5 gram/gal MC and .5-1 gram/gal Sweet Candy, ramping up the EC as the girls matured. PH was ~6.0 during veg and ~5.8 during flower.

I maintained a proper VPD during veg and halfway through flower at 82*/75%RH day and 72*/65%RH night and then slowly ramped my temp and humidity down to finish at 75* day 65* night and 55-60% RH during the last 3 weeks.

I used a 20/4 light cycle with a 30-minute sunrise and sunset during veg and early flower at 75% of max output. As the girls stretched I had to reduce the time to 18/6 because I ran out of headroom then gradually reduced the on time during the last 2 weeks to encourage the plants to finish but they still went 1 day shy of 12 weeks from pop because I was waiting on the Sour Crack to turn cloudy and couldn’t reach any of the others.

My original intent was to cycle between autos and photos since theoretically I would be able to veg the photos as the autos finish flowering. As you can see, these 6 ladies cared not for my plans and consumed all available space.

LESSONS LEARNED
Just because they’re autos doesn’t mean they’ll remain small. I used Mephisto’s strain guide for height reference but as you can see, Double Grape, 3BOGxSB, and Toof Decay stretched 1-2 feet taller than advertised! I had to tie down the main cola of DG because she wouldn’t stop stretching and she ended up being over 5’ from base to tip instead of the 22-32” stated. Toof Decay was ~5’ instead of the 22-30” stated. Not sure what caused their considerable height but it was crazy nonetheless.
I’m going to modify my runoff disposal to drain into a nearby vent pipe so I don’t have to empty anymore buckets.

I had the original 550gph pump dialed in for feeding 3 times per day and minimal runoff. This pump didn’t provide sufficient flow to flood the top of the coco and coupled with the lack of runoff, I ended up with nutrient lockout. I plan to always have 10-15% runoff and flush 1-2 times per grow cycle to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

I’m undecided on whether hempy buckets with multiple feedings per day is beneficial but I can say that once they hit that reservoir, they EXPLODED with growth.

I didn’t do much pruning/plucking during flower and I believe it affected my total harvest #s because I had a lot of larf and underdeveloped flower in the lower regions. I’m not a believer in the drastic defoliation that I’ve seen from others, but I can certainly see the benefit in selectively pruning fan leaves to allow light past the canopy.

I’ll provide my final harvest #s once they’re done drying but enjoy some weed porn in the meantime.

I’m open to questions, comments, and advice as I ready for my next grow which will consist of one each of the following photos; Cult Classic Seeds – Cement Shoes, Buddha Seeds – Pulsar, DNA Genetics – Cannalope Haze, and G13 Labs – Double Black which will go into the rapid rooters this weekend.

It's been awhile but I wanted to give an update on the final numbers for this grow if anyone is interested.
3BOG x SB: 4.225 oz
Double Grape: 5.45 oz
Sour Crack: 2.6 oz
CDLC: 2.4 oz
Toof Decay: 2.8 oz
Amnesia Ryder: 3.3 oz
Total haul: 20.775 oz

Plus about 1lb of trim that I turned into bubble hash but I haven't weighed it out yet.

Here's my math on grams / watt:
20.775 oz = 588.96 grams
600w x .75 = 450 watts
588g / 450w = 1.3 g/w

I know, pics or GTFO.

These are 2.3 qt containers and 1 qt Mason jars but aren't indicative of the total since I have already given away 3 ounces of the Double Grape and 3BOGxSB.

The bubble hash is 160, 73, and 25 micron.

nice grow Maximus. you really started out right. i like your idea of vegging regs with the flowering autos.

That was a great grow you had. Those ES-300s really do some work. 20+ zips with some extra on the side is nice.
For your next run are you going to try any training methods?
How difficult was it to wire your room?

raggyb said:

nice grow Maximus. you really started out right. i like your idea of vegging regs with the flowering autos.

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Thanks, I appreciate it, raggyb. I thought so too, maybe I won't out grow my room next time and get to put it into practice.

Benji2018 said:

That was a great grow you had. Those ES-300s really do some work. 20+ zips with some extra on the side is nice.
For your next run are you going to try any training methods?
How difficult was it to wire your room?

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Thanks Benji! In my opinion the lights are fantastic but I don't have a frame of reference. I do wish they were a bit longer and they run a little hot but other than that I have no complaints.
What I don't know is if it was the lights, the feedings, environment or all 3 that caused those little autos (or so I thought) to grow into monsters.

My plan is to SCROG and supercrop these 4 girls on this run. Double Black, Pulsar, Cannalope Haze, and Cement Shoes. I lost the first CH due to damping off so she's a little over a week behind the other 3.

Benji2018 said:

How difficult was it to wire your room?

Click to expand...

It was actually fairly easy but I didn't tap into the circuit breaker box. The wiring for the outlets come out to electrical plugs that I just plug into existing 20 amp outlets that I ran years ago for my audio rack.
I did it this way so I could remove everything and turn it into a closet should I ever sell my house.