My 600w HPS First Grow - Comments Welcome!

Paaa

Active Member
Around the 1st of March I was discussing with a friend setting up a small grow at home, just a casual conversation, I was pretty happy to get a call from him later in the night saying I'd better sort out a home for my 3 new girls...

I built (if you can call it building) a (metric system! *gasp*) 1.2m x 1.2m x 1.8m box - lined it with panda, installed a couple of case fans for airflow - hung a 600w HPS and had a nice new home for the little ones.

Both myself and my lady wanted to have a go at cloning, we veged the 3 under 24/0 for about 2 weeks, cloned 3 and had 100% success on our first go.
 

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Paaa

Active Member
By the end of the month - the 3 starter plants had become totally out of control - in now what appears to be a stupid move we decided to move the 3 bigger ones to 1 large bin - keeping the other 3 in their own little buckets for the time being. More clones were taken and feeding continued using standard bat guano every couple of days.

Here you can see the crazy bin idea, we tried to LST the front brances down and tied the others to the backing.

Pics taken on 29 March.
 

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Paaa

Active Member
Mid April - Plants still on veg cycle while waiting for more growth and more clones to be taken - the 3 bigger plants were really begging to be turned to a flower cycle by now, the lack of a place for clones to live made me buy even more lights, 2 fluro bulbs and build a temp box for them to live in....

Similar concept to the main box, but much much smaller.... if I had known - I would have built this box bigger right from the start....

The cloning plan was to have each clone, rockwool, then inside the bottom 1/2 of a coke bottle with plastic wrap over the top.... Worked well, we lost 2 out of the 10 we took on the second attempt.....
 

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Paaa

Active Member
April 23 - Lights were changed to 12/12 - all clones were taken from plants and were sitting nicely in their now glowing box. Massive growth from the plants in the 1 big bin - the other 3 in their buckets were not getting enough light I suspect...

Looking at them now, the nodes on each branch are a huge length apart - almost 20cm apart in fact, I'm not sure that was the best idea to have such a monster bunch in with another 3 little ones...

These pics were taken on the 4th of May, so 2 weeks ish of being on 12/12 - clones all now rooted and moved to little soil pots in the same box.
 

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Paaa

Active Member
Just over 2 weeks on - 20th of may - in my novice eyes things are going fantastic - I'm noticing a slight yellowing of the leaves - people tell me this is kinda normal under flowing conditions but I'm still slightly worried.

Started adding about 3Tbs of Epsom Salts to the feeding.

Clones are going fine, just a little concerned 3 of them seem to be lagging behind a bit, still new growth at the tips and good root structure from what I'm guessing - keeping going with them.

(excuse the image quality on these pics - normal camera was out of action on that day)
 

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Paaa

Active Member
This brings us to day 34 of the flowering cycle - 25th of May - I'm unsure how long yet - looking for any advice or comments for a first timer....

The Epsom salts are bringing back life and colour to the leaves a little - keeping in mind they have only had 2 feeds with that added so far - but something to remember for next time around I guess :D
 

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Paaa

Active Member
I should also mention - installed a carbon sock, just a small one and attached a 120mm case fan to it in a way that would make any person with half an idea about airflow cringe.... but still, seems to be doing the job, theres no real smell around the box, just a slight musty kinda smell....

these 2 pics show the change in the bud in just 4 days... really looking forward to cutting and drying, even just a little would be fantastic :D
 

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Paaa

Active Member
only a quick update at the moment - things are going really well, I'm considering cutting back on the guano a little, perpare them for flushing in the next week or so

I did find out my camera is hopeless at trying to take photos through a loop heh...

and that I needed a much higher box for clones, they were starting to just get a little tall for the other box... still 3 of them are stunted, unsure why but they keep on living and growing so I'll keep going with them I guess.
 

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Paaa

Active Member
Took some pics just before the lights were due to go off. Grabbed a snap of the filter and fan setup heh, I'm really unsure if the 120mm case fan is enough, every so often I can smell it - but no one else around here seems to notice anything so maybe its just me.

Day 38 of flowering today, starting to get a little restless on them, I keep wanting to check on them haha - I'll keep my self undercontrol thou, its just a waiting game from here I suspect.
 

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GoldenGanja13

Well-Known Member
That looks great! Yeah keep your smeller on alert. Plant some lavender outside. Oh just read in the new High Times that 24-48 hrs of darkness before harvest will make your plant more potent, well this is what I have been saying for the last 6 weeks. I did 36 hrs and WOW.
Just something to think about.
 

BlackRoses

Well-Known Member
You have some bad nutrient burns there Paaa, If you're feeding them, stop and just give water for atleast a week.
This should help a bit, but good work.

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Paaa

Active Member
Thanks for the heads up! I figured something was going on but wasn't sure what, I've fed them only water for the last 2 feeds.

I think the guano I've been using is a lot more potent than I've given it credit for. I'll take some more pics and update, its about due I think.
 
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