Fav strain, sog grow, san francisco style

hey never done this so i figured it would be a good way to keep track of things, provide some information and learn some things, i was going to use a blog/journal or whatever it is but that doesn't seem to work well so here i am with a thread.

backstory: i have a local san francisco flavor i've been a fan of for years and even after offering him quite a bit for one clone, he's never coughed one up. after years and lbs i found a seed and it germinated. after growing it, taking a clone and confirming its a female, i've decided to make more clones and do some runs with it so here we go...

here's 2 of the mom's i made the big one is the seed i spoke of above and the smaller is the first clone i made of it, along with a twin to flower and make sure its all good. the are looking a little droopy in the picture, i just took clones and they got a little too thirsty. i feed them with mother plant, a product from hydrodynamic international (they make clonex) i know the research director and this guy puts a ton of time into his work, and is one of the few people that is lucky enough to have access to high dollar research equipment. he said this formula helps increase the brix (sugar) content of the leaves significantly which makes the plant stronger and helps ward off pests. this measure of sugar content is prevalent in the grape and produce markets, but hasn't really found its way into cannabis cultivation. since sugars are the direct product of photosynthesis, this is kinda a speedometer of how your plant is performing. a tool called a brix refractometer is cheap and a neat tool to have, any information is good information in my opinion.

so i take a bunch of clones at a time so i can cherry pick, and so i have backups in veg just in case something happens. my cloning technique is pretty simple since i use a turbokloner. first set up the turbokloner. my version takes about 10 gallons and i use tap water specifically for the minerals in it that are pulled out of distilled water. i ph it to 5.5-5.7 as recommended by the turbokloner associate i speak to. my room is controlled to remain between 22-24C (70-75F) so i don't have any problems with the water getting too hot in the res. take a cut at 45 degrees, make a small slice vertically on 2 sides, kind of filleting it. the idea is that the roots won't have to fight so hard to break through the outer layers. i try and cut into the bast fiber level (supporting level of plant) but not so far to get the xylem and deeper levels that are involved in nutrient transport. (if you see white, then you've definitely gone too far. then drop it in a shot glass of clonex for 5 seconds to protect the cut. it has fungicides and other vitamins that help keep the cut looking nice and not get all brown looking. then fit into one of the collars provided by the turbokloner and place it into the body of the unit. next, i don't mess with it . usually i start checking around 7 days, and usually 7-10 days is decent starts, and 10-14 there are nice fingers on the roots. at this point i add some clonex nutrient solution and put a stronger light over them to initiate growing. i do this because i find the transplant shock is almost nothing when they have already starting growing and go into the rocks. the picture of the roots was taken 20 days after cutting, i like letting my roots get ultra beefy and the plant to start growing as i said before. all in all turbokloner is massively effective and requires little skill to use, the only downfall is if you loose power or have a problem with the plug, they die very quickly if they haven't formed roots yet. (yes, killed a full tray once after unplugging to lift the lid and check progress....duh)

this the current setup, the farthest large tray were some testers i did to see how they would grow and make sure they looked good for sog method. the next tray over is 5 new ones i just replaced the day beore this pictures, and the others are ones that have been in for only 6 days, i'm not sure which is which, but those are the plants i took a picture of in cloner above. when they first go in i do 5 minutes every 20 minutes, and over the next week have taken it up to 5 minutes every hour. when coming from the turbokloner they can wilt quite fast so just running lots of water is the best option, also transplanting into the rocks is far easier with the trays flooded. i usually end up watering 5min/6-8 hours by the time they are flowering depending on how they act. i plan on letting these get about 8 inches (topping the tall ones down to 8 inches) and then giving them the flip. if i can get around an oz each plant i would feel pretty awesome with around 1g/watt, but will be satisfied on my first sog with anything over .5g/w (around a lb, more like 1/2 oz per plant). if i get concerned about output i can always crank up the lights. from the one tester i did, it's a top nug plant that makes one larger nug then trickles down to smaller ones. it will be interesting to compared the topped ones to the non in performance. after my sog run i will probably try a screen as well and compare if the extra pita is worth the output in the end.

some explanation on my setup...hydro obviously and i run 1x4 trays because then the roots can still expand laterally (advantage over pots) but are still able to be rotated to fix any trays that get ahead, as well as pull out singles for trimming and such (advantage over 4x4 and 4x8 ) i also use hydrocorn (NOT hydroton) because i'm not a fan of water retaining mediums, i find that even in the same room with similar sized plants options that retain water never quite match up so you end up with a few too much, a few too little and most in the sweet spot. in rocks, when the water is gone, its pretty much gone, minus any that pools in the pits of the surface. this of course leaves little room for error and if you have a problem with watering they can die quicker, but honestly once they are established (6"-8")they can go 24-36 light hours without water and usually be ok.

my rooms are also set up that any feeding/water-in tubing is white, and any drainage/water-out is black. this just keeps me from doing anything stupid mostly, and with the stop valves i can easily drain my res out to the sink (black tube in mid right hand side) as well as pump in clean water with the lights off, so when the lights come on i just have to mix up my nutes. i keep all controls and such outside the room i can, the room is just plants, lights and my meters.

at this stage i'm using heavy16 veg nutes. the ratios is: .1 water + .2 calmag + 1.3 parts a and b. i also use hygrozyme/cannazyme but don't see this influence the EC much if at all. i aim for 5.6-6.2 in veg (i let it drift then knock it down) and more like 5.8-6.4 in flower. this is a little higher/lower than some say but i like to let it drift to get a range of nutrient uptake levels. i will be switching to flower nutrients soon as i plant to flip them in a week or so, i'm not really aiming for anything just hoping this strain is good for sog. i'm using 1k lights on 50% so 2 x 500w for now, we'll see if i need to turn it up but with sog plants being small and compact i think it will be fine. (On an interesting side note, my 1k lumateks running at 50% register higher on my light meter than a 600 at 100%. on my tables, a 600 ranges from 9-15 on my meter, while a 1k on 50% registers 15-22 in the same places...all similar aged bulbs from ushio) i spray serenade and azamax on a rotating 10ish day cycle for powdery mildew and bug control.

the toys i use .... at this stage i use a light meter and found the internodal length i like comes at about 15-20 foot candles on the highest setting, which has some weird multiplier, i'll post the meter if i can find an online pic, its kind of a pos, but it allows me to compare things and get my tables squared under the light. i also use a fluke 561 to check my canopy temp once they get a little bigger. i've found that air temperature around the leaf measure by probes doesn't always equal the surface temp of the leaf measured by an ir gun, and reduced taco leaves by a fair margin using it. my meter is a bluelab guardian and is made of awesomeness. i have a ip camera, and can log in and check my levels any time, also at nite, my check takes as long as it does to open the door instead of fiddling with pens and all that jazz. it takes calibration about once every 30 days, measures (t-b) EC, temp, pH.

sounds like a good time i'll try and be good and take tons of pictures and keep everyone updated at least weekly if not more.

please post any comments or constructive criticism right here, don't send me a pm, thanks

interested in your setup.....I just started my very first grow( check out my current grow journal).....so stoked, I can't get over how exciting it is...freakin addicting! So curious as to what strain your working with? I'll be checking your post regularly.

widow

thanks for the reply, i am kind of over the honeymoon now, i've grown enough that i still appreciate it, but very rarely get super excited anymore. seems new grow threads get buried under threads months old with lots of posts so hopefully some other people read/comment. the strain is a grapefruit cut, not matched by any of the obvious seedbanks so i'm pretty sure its something custom. your journal looks nice you seem to have a lot of things going at once, i hope you keep good records.

sucks he wouldnt give you clone, what a dick, is it really that hard to just snip a little branch off for a homie? dont clones for like 10$ a pop in the clubs?

Yeah I got a lot going on no doubt. But have the time available and the resources to get it done. I will do things differently next grow for sure....lol. Amazing what a little experience will do for you.....it's humbling and rewarding at the same time . I am very meticulous so record keeping is not an issue. I am going to employ CO2 - have the bottle and regulator with solenoid - next thing to pick up is my controller from green air (https://www.greenair.com/page/cdmc-6-information.html) this is a nice little controller! I also have the Blue Guardian Monitor - it should be here this week via ups....very excited about it, you're the first I have heard that has mentioned it. I love good quality meters......I had a brand CWP ? and it was SHIT! So hoping this Blue Guardian Monitor will be much better!

widow

have my new mom's going since the others got kinda toasted....trimmed up all the small ones to even out the growth among ones with many/few leave....topped the large tray just to see what will happen when they are topped. also here's my junk light meter but at least i have a objective measurement instead of just eyeballing it.

alright here's another update. i have a picture of.....

plants updated, with 2 views, been about 2 weeks since my last picture they are on their second day of flowering.

the new moms vegging along with 1 of the old moms i'm keeping just incase

the new clones i will select 20 from to put 4 more trays of 5 in as soon as they root. this is the smaller turbo kloner, i liked to use it when i can, much easier to deal with. yes the one in the back is stupid big but i figured what the hell and was curious, it isn't dead so let's see what happens. the clones aren't as nice looking as the last batch but that's because they came off that giant weak mom, oh well nothing a week of veg can't erase.

the last run i had some clones left over and they were rooted very nice, i couldn't just toss them (like killing a unicorn) so i decided to pot them since i had some different mixes as well as some super soil i started cooking like 8 months ago and forgot about. so it will be interesting to compare the finished product between the two.

probably gonna trim soon again on the bigger ones, the smaller ones i'm kinda letting fly until i see what happens.

I like what I am seeing here and was thinking if this would get me more yield faster then rdwc?
Looking good man, cant wait to see her finished.

Looking fabulous Dragonpuff.

hey again. here's my update:

moms: old one is looking much better again, funny what water and food can do. the others are growing nicely and roots have just starting pouring out the bottom of their pots. i have both sizes on 1.5 EC motherplant, and 5.5-6.0 pH.

the big room is about 1 week into flowering, things are going pretty good, everything is pretty much spot on 10 inches tall so i should have fairly even growth, but the stretch will be the tell-all. i just took out a ton of fan leaves so thats why some things look pointed in a funny direction. excited about how many shoots their are and how evenly everything is growing, even the ones i didn't top. next week's pictures will hopefully start to be interesting, with nugs not far away.

Keep the updates coming Dragonpuff! Healthy lookin', keep up the good work.

Doc

starting noticing more hairs today so i figured i'd throw up some pics

planted the next trays for veg tonite and since the last picture of roots was mediocre ones, i figured i'd show my best roots this run. it was obviously a fat clone i took and killed a bigger branch, but for 14 days in the turbo kloner, not too shabby.

on a side sad note i'm seeing some dead brown hairs . i tried to adjust the red out with gimp so it wasn't so off color, but you can tell the hairs aren't happy and the 'buds' are far too small for anything like that, no males anywhere close, temps around 75 allthe time.....not sure what caused it but i noticed it 2 days after adding koolbloom and i guess maybe i just over did it. usually i see overages show in the leaves, but its the only things i've done differently. not being in flowering long, its hard to know, any input is cool, but i've taken the res down a very low level until this weekend, and then i will bring it back up with just my regular flower nutes.

i'm seeing white hair growth again, not sure why.... i started a thread on the problems section just to see if anyone knows about the process of pistil death, etc. hopefully it just grows and is cool, i'll post pics later. also i installed a new door today on my room and it looks sharp, it was a bitch to get square, but once it was in she looked pretty smooth.

good news all seems to be well, just a week break i guess. i'm going to do some research on the side and see if i can make pistils die by fiddling with them to find out what happened. here's some pics of the current bud situation.