Fykshun
Active Member
Hola Rollit!
I’ve started this journal because as a newb I realized that all of my questions didn't really have to do with wanting to know what I was supposed to do, they had to do with knowing just which corners I could cut and how far I could cut them. All of us have so many resources to obtain trustworthy facts about growing, that we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking there are mysteries left to solve, and we seek reaffirmation in someone else who has cut corners successfully. There's nothing wrong with this, in fact sometimes great innovations come from this approach, but I do like a little honesty in all this Internet haze (because we’ve all got plenty better haze to deal with, yeah?).
So, to get to my point, my intent is to display without shame my very first grow wherein so many corners were cut, I can't count them all, and then compare it to my second grow, wherein I hope to have cut no corners at all. I will give you all the candid bits (ha! not cannabis), nothing to cover up my many mistakes, in either grow for that matter - I still do not profess to be anything other than a newb.
Please also be patient with me; I am just now finishing the flowering of my first plant (perhaps two weeks shy of harvest). I will post pics when I get this all figured out, but first I will give you the rundown of the first grow.
Location:
• Seattle, WA
• Indoor
• Winter lows are low 30F
• Summer highs are high 80F
• Humidity is not a huge factor despite the rain, because cool air releases moisture much more quickly than hot air (hence humid Southern climates)
1st Grow:
• 1 plant - 8 Miles High (sativa dominant from Mandala Seeds)
o Healthy clone from reputable MMJ co-op
• http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/mandala-seeds/manadala-seeds-8-miles-high/prod_1046.html
Grow Space:
• Upstairs bedroom closet
o 2'l x 4'w x 5'h
o Flat white walls (great idea if you’re sketched about film and Mylar)
o Carpeted (bad idea – dirt, dust, critters, etc…listen to the literature about cleanliness! I could care less about water damage, there was none.)
Lighting:
• 315w of full range CFL
o 30k, 41k, and a 50k (two spirals and a tube in a shitty "reflector")
o Intended for veg. through harvest
o Advertised to put out 17,000 lumens
• I don't have a light meter, and frankly I don't care - it's not enough light!
Ventilation:
• NO PROPER VENTILATION
• Passive outside air via open window
• No extraction/filtration (no exhausting of heat or spent air)
• One Holmes 10” fan
o static, and blowing from base of closet to top (lights in path)
• Two 8” Holmes oscillating clip-on fans
o one rotating indirectly through canopy
o the other static and blowing hotter upper air out of closet (in hopeful theory)
Growing Setup:
• Hydroponics
• DWC in 5gal black food grade bucket
o 6” net pot bucket lid (these are slick – I bought 10” bucket lids for next grow)
o Clone in 4” rockwool cube surrounded by standard clay balls (packed too tightly, hence the bigger net pot bucket lids for next time)
o 3 gal of nutrient soup
• Run to waste on 1 week (7 day) changing cycles
• Using General Hydroponics three part Flora system with the nutrient calculator on their company’s own website
• I have two 40gal air pumps from local pet shop, independently running through two 5” air stones in bottom of res.
• I have no upper water/nutrient source (i.e.: GH Waterfarm irrigation ring), and I didn’t water or flush from top at all through grow
Measurements (and the tools I use)
• PPMs during early veg. were 400-600
• PPMs during veg. were 900-1000
• PPMs during flower are pushing 1200
o I use a BlueLab Truncheon to measure PPMs/EC (this was an expensive tool, but I trust it very much)
• pH at all times ranged from 5.7 to 6.1
o I use a Eutech Instruments double-junction digital tester for pH testing (again an expensive tool that I trust very much)
• Also very accurately provides temperature in desired setting
o An important note: my frequent reservoir changes are extremely integral to my success in maintaining acceptable pH with very minimal fluctuation
• Nutrient temps were my largest issue, ranging from 72F to 79F (YIKES!)
• Closet temps were actually ideal, ranging between 68F and 80F (I spiked very few times to 84F on our hottest days) – There is no way I could have done this without CFLs
• Relative Humidity also stayed within acceptable ranges of 45% to 60% (throughout grow, not a daily fluctuation)
o Digital Hygrometer from Holmes gives you memory of high low on all measurements (great for spying on midnight lows and midday highs when you can’t be there to check for yourself)
• AND it’s indoor/outdoor, so I dangle the outdoor sensor in my plant canopy and hang the main unit high in the grow space to give two readings – one at plant/light level, the other a general ambient grow space temperature.
Okay...I guess I need some pics!
I’ve started this journal because as a newb I realized that all of my questions didn't really have to do with wanting to know what I was supposed to do, they had to do with knowing just which corners I could cut and how far I could cut them. All of us have so many resources to obtain trustworthy facts about growing, that we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking there are mysteries left to solve, and we seek reaffirmation in someone else who has cut corners successfully. There's nothing wrong with this, in fact sometimes great innovations come from this approach, but I do like a little honesty in all this Internet haze (because we’ve all got plenty better haze to deal with, yeah?).
So, to get to my point, my intent is to display without shame my very first grow wherein so many corners were cut, I can't count them all, and then compare it to my second grow, wherein I hope to have cut no corners at all. I will give you all the candid bits (ha! not cannabis), nothing to cover up my many mistakes, in either grow for that matter - I still do not profess to be anything other than a newb.
Please also be patient with me; I am just now finishing the flowering of my first plant (perhaps two weeks shy of harvest). I will post pics when I get this all figured out, but first I will give you the rundown of the first grow.
Location:
• Seattle, WA
• Indoor
• Winter lows are low 30F
• Summer highs are high 80F
• Humidity is not a huge factor despite the rain, because cool air releases moisture much more quickly than hot air (hence humid Southern climates)
1st Grow:
• 1 plant - 8 Miles High (sativa dominant from Mandala Seeds)
o Healthy clone from reputable MMJ co-op
• http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/mandala-seeds/manadala-seeds-8-miles-high/prod_1046.html
Grow Space:
• Upstairs bedroom closet
o 2'l x 4'w x 5'h
o Flat white walls (great idea if you’re sketched about film and Mylar)
o Carpeted (bad idea – dirt, dust, critters, etc…listen to the literature about cleanliness! I could care less about water damage, there was none.)
Lighting:
• 315w of full range CFL
o 30k, 41k, and a 50k (two spirals and a tube in a shitty "reflector")
o Intended for veg. through harvest
o Advertised to put out 17,000 lumens
• I don't have a light meter, and frankly I don't care - it's not enough light!
Ventilation:
• NO PROPER VENTILATION
• Passive outside air via open window
• No extraction/filtration (no exhausting of heat or spent air)
• One Holmes 10” fan
o static, and blowing from base of closet to top (lights in path)
• Two 8” Holmes oscillating clip-on fans
o one rotating indirectly through canopy
o the other static and blowing hotter upper air out of closet (in hopeful theory)
Growing Setup:
• Hydroponics
• DWC in 5gal black food grade bucket
o 6” net pot bucket lid (these are slick – I bought 10” bucket lids for next grow)
o Clone in 4” rockwool cube surrounded by standard clay balls (packed too tightly, hence the bigger net pot bucket lids for next time)
o 3 gal of nutrient soup
• Run to waste on 1 week (7 day) changing cycles
• Using General Hydroponics three part Flora system with the nutrient calculator on their company’s own website
o During flower the only additive I am using is GH KoolBloom (liquid), again per their own calculator• I have two 40gal air pumps from local pet shop, independently running through two 5” air stones in bottom of res.
• I have no upper water/nutrient source (i.e.: GH Waterfarm irrigation ring), and I didn’t water or flush from top at all through grow
Measurements (and the tools I use)
• PPMs during early veg. were 400-600
• PPMs during veg. were 900-1000
• PPMs during flower are pushing 1200
o I use a BlueLab Truncheon to measure PPMs/EC (this was an expensive tool, but I trust it very much)
• pH at all times ranged from 5.7 to 6.1
o I use a Eutech Instruments double-junction digital tester for pH testing (again an expensive tool that I trust very much)
• Also very accurately provides temperature in desired setting
o An important note: my frequent reservoir changes are extremely integral to my success in maintaining acceptable pH with very minimal fluctuation
• Nutrient temps were my largest issue, ranging from 72F to 79F (YIKES!)
• Closet temps were actually ideal, ranging between 68F and 80F (I spiked very few times to 84F on our hottest days) – There is no way I could have done this without CFLs
• Relative Humidity also stayed within acceptable ranges of 45% to 60% (throughout grow, not a daily fluctuation)
o Digital Hygrometer from Holmes gives you memory of high low on all measurements (great for spying on midnight lows and midday highs when you can’t be there to check for yourself)
• AND it’s indoor/outdoor, so I dangle the outdoor sensor in my plant canopy and hang the main unit high in the grow space to give two readings – one at plant/light level, the other a general ambient grow space temperature.
Okay...I guess I need some pics!
