First scrog and living soil grow

JHake

Well-Known Member
Hello RIU.

First journal. I may be one of the worst growers in this forum, so i’m open to any critics, feel free to comment.

Grow space specs:

Tent: 3x3x6,5

Intake: passive

Outake: Bathroom fan rated @ 117CFM at first, i’ll replace it with a bigger one (with odor filter) after a few weeks, which takes the air outside. The actual one just takes it out to the same room, altough it comes out pretty cool since most of the heat is taken out by the fan in the light hood.

Ventilation: right now only one oscillating fan on the floor

Light: 3 days ago I put my 400W HPS with air cooled hood. The hood runs another 117cfm bathroom fan that takes the air outside.
Previous weeks were with the use of a Bestva LED, 132W power consumption.

Humidity: right now my humidifer is broken, so will send it to repair.

Pot: 10gal fabric pot. Not sure about the quality yet. Looks worse than others.

Soil:

I tried to cover the bases from this article, bases i see also reflected in popular mixes like Coot’s one:
https://foliarsprays.com/features-and-benefits/mineralized-soil.html

On nutrients i go in a little detail since i’m in South America and i don’t have access to all the same products people use in USA and Europe.

Base:

- 50% peat moss, this was not very screened, so i kept some sticks and “woody” things in the mix
- 30% perlite
- 20% EWC

Nutrients:

- Fish meal 11-9-5 + 5%Ca + 4 micros + microorganisms
- Alfalfa meal
- Commercial pelletized fertilizer (ingredients list: cow manure, Peruvian guano, beet vinasse) 5-3-13,5 + 2% Mg + microorganisms

Minerals:

- Limestone 1 cup per cu ft
- Gypsum ½ cup per cu ft

Biology:

- I have my own EWC which i started to use as top dressing
- Malted barley, 1 cup per cu ft.

Micronutrients:

- Mix of rock dusts. I will be able to get either basalt or granite next time from this same supplier. The rock mix also came with little samples of diatomecus earth, zeolite and carbonized bone ashes.
- EWC and some of the fertilizing amendments also have micros

I’ve mixed everything and let it cook for like...40 days or so before using it.

Mulch:
- Dried alfalfa hay.

Other things i have available:

- I bought mealworm frass. It says an NPK of 2-12-3 but i’m a little doubtful about the manufacturer...anyways, will start using it on top dressings in little handfuls.
- I started another compost pile to which i added more wood chips in order to have more fungal activity. Although it won’t be ready to use in this grow.
- I’ve made some KNF inputs: Fermented Fruit Juice and Water Soluble Calcium. Will make Fermented Plant Juice also.
- I have a Potassium Silicate product that i used foliar once on this grow.
- I water with aloe vera every 15 days

Strain and growing technique:

- Strain:
Belladona from Paradise Seeds. Didn’t get it from the best source, it’s a seed that one plant gave.

- Technique:
SCROG. First try at it. Made a diy net which i see it’s not the best, but guess it will work.

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Enough with the specs, let’s go with some data:

- November 11th: transplanted plant from solo cup to 10gal pots and gave it 12 hours of darkness before starting with the LED. Picture 1.

- November 23-25th: left 1 pot on the tent and added the diy scrog net. Picture 2.

- December 1st: switch from led to 400W HPS. Didn’t kept both because LED is not mine and must return it before i will harvest, so didn’t want to let it there and then take it off mid or late flower.

- December 3rd: removed mulch, top dressed with gypsum and alfalfa meal. Covered with my own EWC and added mulch back. Picture 3.

Problems/observations until now:

- Never used this kind of pot, material nor size. So learning about watering it. I though it would become dry much quicker. LED use was also something new and it’s influence to heat and humidity inside the tent. Mulch is also something new.
Leaves looked overwatered for me, but i’m getting better at it.

- Regarding the SCROG setup: i’m not sure about doing it right, and also doubtful when to switch to 12/12, mostly because of canopy footprint: i know i’m short with the 400W to cover the 3x3 area. So, if in fact i can cover something like 2,5x2,5, then footprint coverage will be smaller and therefore sooner the photoperiod switch. Thoughts on this?
 

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Update:

I added the drip system, with a diy "hydro halo" lol; just a ring with 4 drippers on it.
She is drinking about 1.3gal/5L per day.
My timer is mechanical so it runs for 15 minutes straight; i'm doing something like:
15 on - 15 off - 30 on - 15 off - 30 on.

Couldn't get my humidifier fixed, will try to do it soon.

It's getting quite bushy and i believe i will be flipping soon to 12/12 photoperiod.

I also did the avocado tech and yesterday found a little worm in it.
 

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Plant was flipped on December 12th. Did 2 top dressings since then. I believe is going good, although i'm getting some trouble organizing the whole scrog net thing. I'll think i add a second trellis on top.
 

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17 days since photo period was flipped. Going good i believe.

Doing weekly top dressings with gypsum, mealworm frass and solid 5-7-15 fertilizer. EWC on top.
Also some malted barley, but with less frequency.

The other day i found my kelp extract i though was missing. Will use it in waterings.
 

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Last edited:
That seems like a lot I use 30 gallon fabric pots and water twice weekly each plant using around 1.5 gallons of its working keep it up I just thought it was a lot
 
Wow, really sorry to have not completed this journal.

My cellphone camera was trash and ended up the grow with lots of thrips. But here are some pics. Plant was harvested at 12 weeks i believe, here are some pics.

Yield from this crop was the biggest one i had yet, really amazed with the results; although there was a good amount of popcorn bud.

Not the best strain to do this i believe. Was doing another SCROG with a more sativa plant but ended up being a hermie so couldn't finish it. Right now i'm doing grows with more plants, but will do another SCROG soon.
 

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