Ice Cold Buds

This will be my journal for my very first grow. After joining this site a few months back and reading post after post trying to learn as much as I could I feel I've taken the steps needed to be succesful. A big thanks to the whole RIU community for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us new guys.

I found a nice commercial freezer on Craigslist. It actually came out of a coffee shop inside of a mall. It's an upright with the compressor and wiring all built into the bottom leaving the floor flat and 10" space between the floor of freezer and the cold concrete. It has a lock already built in to keep anyone out that might be looking for a frozen pizza out.

My setup-
-20"D x 27"W x 60"H vertical freezer (internal dimensions)
-6" Vortex S-line 347cfm inline exhaust fan
-4" ducting for exhaust
-Titan controls zephyr1 temp controller
-Lasko space heater with built in themostat
-1 4" intake with dryer exahust vent reversed creating a self adjusting damper for when fan isn't running
-CAN33 carbon filter
-5- 2ft HO T5 6500k grow lights
-Will add 2 or 4 clamp on CFL bulbs in flowering and change 3 of the 5 bulbs to flora sun 3500k HO T5 bulbs
-Hp Promix soiless growing medium
-Fox Farm Trio of nutrients
-Possibly LEDs at tax time, DIY cobs or I'm liking that California Lightworks solorstorm 220 feel free to make suggestions.

I am fortunate enough to have received a clone from a friend. The strain is pineapple. She's about 2-3 weeks old.
She's been sitting in my box for 3 days now, seems like she's adjusting well. They were watered well before taking home so tonight they should dry enough I can transplant her to the 5 gal pot. I soaked the 5 gallon pot with about 30% runoff with PHd tap water last night. I'm hoping I can transplant tonight.

I think that covers the basics sorry for all the reading, I'm just trying to be as thorough as possible just in case I run into some trouble along the way, you fine folks can help me out.

Here are some pictures so you know what I'm working with.

Hell, you KNOW I am along for this ride !!!
Looks good so far.
Only thing I would do different is to not wast that space where the compressor was. (assuming it is a NON working freezer)?
I would bolt some casters on the top and flip it over and dress off the "top with something.
Now stuff that filter & ballast and other stuff in that compressor area and you will have a HUGE grow room.

Just sayin... FD

Agree with fd - looks awesome

Sorry its been so long since the last update, it's been pretty boring for the most part. I transplanted to the bigger pot without any issues. I topped it about a week after transplant. I originally planned on mainlining so it has two good size branches. I then topped those branches and the growth really took off. I then decided with my current light setup a sea of green/Scrog would work better to create an even canopy and take advantage of the space and light setup I have. I've watered it once a week so far. each time with 2 gallons of purified water PHd to about 6.0. The 1st and 2ND watering was with straight water. The 3rd was with 1/4 strength nutes. 4th and 5th watering was 1/2 strength nutes. 6th time I watered it was a few days ago and it had become stressed from underwatering. The leaves had began to droop and some had turned yellow. After 2 gallons of straight purified water it looks much better two days later. I have been using pipe cleaners to hold branches to the sides of the pot. It's working okay for now but I need to build a screen soon. I would like to build it into the pot that way it's portable. I've been thinking of using part of a tomato cage and some twine. We'll see what I can come up with.
I think I'm about 2 weeks from starting the flowering cycle. I would really like to go ahead and purchase a bad ass LED light setup but I think I'm going to hold off for now. I'm leaning towards buying a 8 bulb 2ft T5 light setup with built-in reflector. I then could use my current T5s for supplemental side lighting. That would put me at a total of 13 24w 2000 lumen T5s, with a total of 312 watts and 26,000 lumens. Now for some pictures

Finally flowering begins.

This being my very first grow I really didnt know what to expect. I certainly did not think I would be vegging for 3 months. I just knew I wanted some high quality medicine that I could produce myself. It has surprisingly went much easier than I thought it would. I was anxienty ridden over every aspect from proper lighting to temperature control. I seriously read RIU for 3 weeks straight before purchasing anything. So I just want to say thanks to the whole community for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Back to the grow. March 5th approximately 76 days from bringing the clone home. I will be switching from 18/6 to 12/12 after tonight.

I ended up buying the 8 bulb T5 fixtire I mentioned last post. So totalling 312 watts I think I have enough lighting for a decent yield. Im hoping by moving the single T5 fixtures to the corners vertically I can still get good light penetration after the stretch occurs.

Im glad I have taken the time to veg properly. I have learned alot about topping and training to help create an even canopy. I have encountered some issues along the way that has probably helped contribute to some slow growth. Here the last few weeks I have noticed a bit of nitrogen deficiency. I am using fox farm nutrients and I was first using the grow big for hydro, and it worked ok for awhile but now that the plants roots are bigger the lower nitrogen dose compared to the grow big for soil is causing yellowing of the lower fan leaves. That was about 2 weeks ago when I had the ahaw moment. Everything is heathy as ever now. I gave it a good flush on wednesday to prepare for the bloom nutes.

I also made a screen for the scrog. I really wanted it to be portable with the pot so with some redneck ingenuity I came up some coat hangers, dowl rods and a screen from an old baby gate. I made a hole at each corner of the pot, then put the straightened out coat hangers thru each one. I weaved the dowl rods thru the edge of the screen and attached it using pipe cleaners. It actually works very well!

Now for some pictures of the progress along the way.

What is the screen for? It looks well trained and very even already. The screen might just get in the way at this point.

grouch said:

What is the screen for? It looks well trained and very even already. The screen might just get in the way at this point.

Click to expand...

Your right it might be a little late to add the screen, but heres to hoping for some big fat nugs that that need to be supported with the help of a screen.

Oh I'm all subbed up for this one

Yea, loose that screen, or go with one like mine, (omnidirectional lines) much easier to move colas around when needed to keep a somewhat flat canopy.
Tie your plants to it anywhere !

Yea krusher your plant looks really nice and really even not sure you need the net but iv never did a screen grow but if I plan on having far heavy buds it could help support well good luck and nice tree ya got there peace