Fluidic Space x Misty Kush 1000w Soil Grow

Hello my friends! Today (after a nice smoke ) I decided to start recording and chronicling my current soil grow. On January 1st I received 5 clones. 4 of the clones are "Ice by Nirvana Seeds" while the other clone is called "Misty Kush by Nirvana Seeds". Both of these strains are supposed to by mostly indica hybrids. I've read good things about both these strains and can only hope for the best! I'll be growing in a rather big room (8x10). I don't want to paint the walls or hang mylar. I plan on seeing how the grow goes with just my lights and fans.

As you join me on my journey, feel free to comment, ask questions, give suggestions, or contribute to this thread in anyway you see fit! I don't mind helping anyone with questions and I certainly don't mind taking good advice.

SHEEB'S SOIL MIX

I've always had fun trying to tweak my different soil recipes to get the perfect combination of aeration, drainage, retention, and nutrients. For this grow, I used the following mix:

45% Roots Organics Soil
20% coco coir
20% Fox Farm Ocean Forest
10% perlite
5% vermiculite
*I also add a handful of dolomite lime to each bucket's soil mix to try to give the soil a PH buffer against the fertilizers that will inevitably lower water ph runoff*

I really like using Roots organics as a base then adding fox farm ocean forest to the mix. FFOF is a good soil by itself, but I find it to be a tad "hot" for small clones or seedlings. Adding the vermiculite, perlite, and coco coir helps keep the soil mix light and fluffy. I think by adding these to lighten the soil, it allows more aeration, less compaction, better water and nutrient retention and drainage. Big, strong healthy roots = Big, strong healthy plants!

I used (5) 5gal. buckets (with holes drilled in bottom for drainage) as plant containers.

LIGHTING

For the last 2 weeks, I've had my clones growing under (2) 150CFL bulbs. This isn't much light, but I just wanted to get them acclimated to their new soil and home. They stretched a little as I left the CFL lights 3-4 feet away from their tops.

However, today hooked up my adjustable HPS light and hood. This particular light runs on a digital electronic ballast that allows me to switch between 500w, 750w, and 1000w. I've used MH bulbs in the past for veg, but don't want to spend the extra money on another bulb. I haven't found a huge difference in MH and HPS for veg and the HPS will get the job done for flowering. I am currently running my 5 plants under the 750w setting.

When I begin to flower, I will add supplementary CFL bulbs low in the canopy to help develop the lower buds/branches. I have (2) 150w CFL bulbs w/ hoods, (4) 105w CFL bulbs, and a whole slew of 42w CFL bulbs. I will experiment with different set ups and positioning once i begin flowering. For now, 750w HPS should be plenty to veg.

NUTRIENTS

For this grow, I decided to scrape the organics and use whatever I've had good luck with in the past. In previous grows, I've used fertilizers and supplements that have worked... and some that haven't. I went ahead and bought what I've had the best luck with in the past. My feeding regimen will be a mix of organic and synthetic.

Veg Nutes
- Marine Cuisine
- Ioinic Grow

Bloom Nutes
- Dyna-Gro Bloom
- Snow Strom Ultra
- Bud Blood
- Overdrive
- Indonesian Bat Guano
- Peruvian Bat Guano

Supplements/Addatives
- Great White
- Root Dip
- Photosynthesis Plus
- Cal-Mag Plus
- Liquid Karma
- Rhizoflora Terpinator
- Hi-Brix Mollassass
- Fulvex
- Superthrive
- Hygrozyme
- Dolomite Lime

Preventatives/Incecticides
- Neem oil
- Azamax

I also bought a PH test and a PPM/TDS tester to measure my soil chemistry.

Tomorrow I will update with photos of everything and addition details. Questions and comments are encouraged!

-Stoner Sheeb

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay w/ updates. I've been extremely busy this month which forced me to leave this grow journal on hold.. There's just not enough hours in the day to do everything I'd like!

But for those curious cats that toughed out the wait... I have pics and updates for you!

I'll start at the beginning:

Here are a few pics from way back. I'll start by showing you what I use for soil, fertilizers and additives, buckets, lights, etc.

When I first started, I replanted my clones in 5 gallon buckets and used 150w CFL ON THE SIDES for a week or 10 days. This enabled the plant to grow out, start bushy, and resist it's urge to stretch.

After about 10 days, I started 20hrs on/ 4hrs off cycle with a 1000w HPS. Now, the HPS is able to be moved from 500w, 750w, to 1000w at the turn of a nob. I left them to sun bathe for a week or two at 500w, then moved it up to 750w, where I still have it.

Week 2-3 Veg (I decided to top 2 of my plants during week 3 of veg)



Week 3-4 Veg


And lastly, on week 5, my plants needed pruned. I have 2 fans blowing air around, but I know how important good circulation can be. I ended up trimming alot of the lower foliage and branches with tiny leaves and no much use. I've found that this forces the plant to use those same wasted resources on more important parts of the plant (tops!). I've also learned DON'T GO OVERBOARD! As well as pruning lower leaves, dying leaves, and thinning out the inside of the bushes, I also tied the branches apart using LST techniques. I would find a main branch or top, LIGHTLY bend it sideways, then tie it off to the side of the bucket using old cotton cloth I had cut apart. This allows better light penetration, better air circulation through the plant, and better usage of resources. Also, it causes the plants to fan our and stay shorter. They become SHRUBS instead of TREES. This is important to me given the limited space!

Here are some pictures of the plants during week 5 before and after the pruning and LST'ing.

Before:

After:







I plan on leaving the LST'd plants tied up to grow for another 2-3 weeks then I wan to flower them. They will get very tall, I'm aware of this. I plan to let them be BIG bushes. I have the light and the space, why not go for a decent yield too?

FEEDING:
I have been feeding the plants a mix off my nutrients and addatives at around a 500-700ppm mixture. I've added more dolomite lime to my soil as the run off was reading about 4-4.5 PH during the first few weeks. I also mix my solution to about an 8.5 PH to help raise my soils PH. I know too low of a PH can cause lockout of certain nutrients and minerals so I made it a priority to get the ph back around 5.5-6. Runoff with my current mixture is just a tad below 6... perfect!

I mix my chemicals and additives then let them sit there for 2-3 before using it. This allows everything to kind of brew as well as lets the bad chemicals from the tap water evaporate, giving you clean, pure h2o. I feed them 32 ounces every other day, as well as flood them 2x a week with about a gallon each. They rarely droop and they seem to suck the water up very quickly. I'm not worried about root rot because they are such thirsty girls, water doesn't sit around in the soil. REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR NUTRIENT SOLUTION EVERYDAY BEFORE FEEDING. Sometimes the PH will swing in your brew/tea within a few hours. Always double check everything.


Also, I've began to feed my girls 1teaspoon/gal of hi-brix black strap molasses. They certainly seem to love a little molasses, which keeps the beneficial bacteria in the soil happy and thriving. Like I previously stated, I'm really working on keeping a healthy, robust rootzone during this grow. I think a healthy rootzone will produce the best fruit!

SUMMARY

To sum up my last month of growing for those that choose not to read everything in it's entirety.... here you go:

• Started clones w/ sideways/horizontal 300w cfl lighting to encourage short internodal spacing, bushiness, and more branching

• Fed only ph balanced water until week 2 from clone

• Started using 500w, then 750w HPS light from week 2 on

• Topped 2 tallest plants in week 2

• Feed roots 32oz every other day, then flood 2x a week

• Foliar feed plain ph balanced water everyday before lights off cycle

• Lights remain on 20on/4off cycle

• Nutrient mix between 500-700ppm

• Keep PH betwen 5-6

• Rotate plants every few Days

• Pruned, thinned, and LST tied plants in week 5

• Plan on Vegging for 2-3 more weeks then Flowering under 1000w w/ CFL supplemental light

Any and all questions, advice, and comments are welcome in my journal. I enjoy learning and hope I can provide something to the community. Please give my your two cents! Happy smoking and I'll update you soon!


-Stoner Sheeb

Anyone know why my pictures didn't post dammit?!

I used tinypic for the photo sharing service