Vortex and others CFL/HPS 2nd grow, Biothrive/veganic

Hey all!

This is my second personal grow. My first attempt was an entirely home made vegan grow, and due to many issues I encountered with my fert mix and water, it did not yield well. This time around I changed a great deal of my process, starting with my soil and nutes. I decided to go with General Organics veganic Biothrive line minus BioMarine and Diamond Black. In all I'm using:

BioThrive Grow
BioThrive Bloom
BioRoot
BioWeed
BioBud
CalMG+

My soil is not vegan, having left over bags I decided to just use them:

Fox Farm Ocean Forest
Fox Farm Light Warrior

I'm mixing them 50/50 except for cuttings and seedlings which just get Light Warrior

Water is aerated tap water. My city claims the water is at pH 8, but I don't have an accurate meter to check. The claim by GO that you do not have to pH water when using the BioThrive line seems to be holding true. For my babies I use a mix of tap and distilled.

My lighting consists of 3 125 watt (actual) CFL fixtures by Hyrofarm, all daylight spectrum for veg. For flower I have one 600 watt HPS cool tube.

My environment is two separate rooms in the basement. It's fairly open and air circulates fairly well. The flower 'room' is the corner of the furnace/storage room. There is a 4" duct which I just run up to the back of a larger fan. It goes off with the lights and keeps the temps generally between 67-75. Occasionally nights get down to 65. Humidity is low around 20%. The veg room is a smaller bedroom space, temps are more steady around 67-72, the CFL lights don't put out much heat. A humidifier helps keep the humidity near 40-50%. I will have to upgrade my airflow situation as it gets closer to summer.

It all began with a handful of bag seeds of the 'Vortex' strain, although I don't really know if it's actually Vortex. Four of the group sprouted, one went to a friend almost right away. A while after I received 5 clones: A couple Blueberry Haze, one Jack the Ripper, one Chernobyl, and one labeled Carm, not sure exactly which strain this lady may be.

Out of 4 vortex, 3 came out ladies and one was a boy. One plant went to a new home and the strongest of the 2 went into flower 2/4. The other went in 2/12.

The first picture I took are of the 2 smaller Vortex (one male one female) on 1/24, a few weeks old. (below)


This is the largest Vortex on 2/6, 2 days into flower at about 12" tall


These pictures were taken today, 2/20. This is the largest Vortex girl (sorry they're sideways) 3' tall


The other (smaller/younger) Vortex girl in flower- 18" tall, 2/20


In order: 2 Bubblegum Haze, Chernobyl, Carm, Jack the Ripper. All vegging, they took some time to get used to their pots. These pics were taken right before a good watering, they were thirsty! I have been tying down the last two, something I intend to do to the future cuttings.




I'm super pleased so far with the Biothrive line. It has made it very easy for a novice like myself to grow healthy kids. I intend to update as they continue to grow. Let me know what you guys think!

Nice progress! As long as you can adapt to the obstacles your plants put in front of you rather than just stonewalling them, you should have some serious weed on the way man. Looking great!

Thanks thinn! I am really having a great time with this grow. It's such a rewarding process to see your babies mature into beautiful ladies.

Hey guys,

It's been a week since I last updated here. Things are going smoothly and the ladies seem to be growing very well.








On the top left: Biggest Vortex girl today (2/27) at 23 days flower. Then both vortex flowering ladies, the one on the right is 13 days into flower. Close up on the oldest Vortex buds. Then on the bottom left are my two biggest Blueberry Haze supercropped (first time using this method) You can see Jack the Ripper behind those two. Next are Carmen and my other BBH that have been LST'd. And finally some clones I made of the Vortex girls. I think Vortex is the strain I want to stick with based on how easy they have grown and how well they appear to be producing.

More pics to come in another week!

I did a bit of work today with my LST'd ladies.

Here they are after transplant with one re-trained:


And both after training:


I'm planning to veg another week to let them grow out and get used to their new homes before I put them in flower.

I ordered a new 400 watt HPS setup to supplement the 600w.
My circuit is just 15a and it runs the furnace as well so I'm planning to dim the 600 down some. All in all the circuit will power the two lights, furnace, 100 w can fan and a smaller circulating fan. I dont want to put more than 1400 on the circuit leaving about 25% extra capacity so I don't overload it. Based on this I'm probably going to run the 600w 50% at 300w and the 400w full power. So 700w total lighting.

Does this seem reasonable to you guys?

Hey guys! Hopefully someone is reading this journal lol. I'm having a great time sharing my experience and I hope someone is able take something away from it. So far progress continues to be steady and promising. Ill just jump right into it:

This is my oldest Vortex girl today (at day 30 flower) and the younger one her right (at day 22 flower)
I know it's fairly controversial but I did some light defoliation on many of the plants. They appear to be responding very well, with the buds noticeably enlarging.


A few close up shots of the lower budsites of #1 Vortex


Here are the main colas of 1 and 2



Here are the two supercropped Blueberry Haze girls, 3 days into flower. I'm trying to keep these ladies smaller than the first two.


First from the left is Chernobyl, Jack the Ripper, and Blueberry Haze. The LST'd pair will go into flower tomorrow when the new 400 watter should show up


Overall I'm very excited to see how they all grow and yield with their relative training. I am pretty amazed that I have gotten away with using aerated tap water only without any pH'ing. It appears the GO veganic biothrive line really works regardless of pH. Only time will tell but so far, so good!

Here's the next round of ladies:


I would love to get some feedback from ya guys!

How big are the Vortex ladies right now ?

They look about the same as the pics from 3/6. They're at day 33 and 25 of flower respectively. The oldest girl is about 3 foot 5 and starting to put on some real heft. The younger is about a foot shorter since she was flowered smaller but is plumping nicely too. I just installed my new light so I'll post some pics for ya tomorrow. Thanks for following my progress!

Hey all, it's that time again and another week has passed. I did run into a touch of PM I believe came in on my Chernobyl clone, it's under control atm but I know it's gonna show it's ugly face again. I'm looking into some Greencure or similar, the spray I used actually turned some of the lower pistils brown/red where they were most heavily sprayed. It was an unfortunate side effect and I won't be using it again.

Anywho here are the pics!

I got my new 400w dimmable system so here's my flower room. I'm running the 600w cool tube light at 50% and the 400w at 75%. This means they run 300w each. So I'm still running 600w total but with a lot greater spread. I'm also able to run the lights a lot closer since they're cooler. I also added a 4" inline fan bringing fresh air directly into the room. It more or less just exhausts throughout the rest of the basement/house. I trust the circuit to handle another 100-150w if I ever need it to.



My oldest Vortex girls #2 on the left and #1 on the right at 29 and 37 days respectively.


Here are my trained girls: The close left is my lady labeled 'carm' I'm now thinking maybe it's Carmella. Behind her is Jack the Ripper. They both have just been LST'd and are at day 8. The two taller girls on the right are both Blueberry Haze at day 11. They have been tied down in one or two places and mostly supercropped. I really like how even the canopy is in this area. I'd like to try to continue this kind of style rather than just letting em go.


Here's some close ups of the Vortexes


And top #1


And top #2


Vegging now I have Chernobyl, nearly ready for flower. She's been tied once and supercropped.


Since I am trying so many methods of training I decided to give mainlining a shot with three of my Vortex clones


And the rest of my babies!
I have more in a dome waiting to root, from my first group I should have a nice set of genetics to grow from


I am still really excited to see how much I can yield using General Organics Biothrive line. I can't stress enough how easy it has been to use with success. I'm also looking forward to experiencing the different yields from the various grow methods. I definitely expect to get more from my plants with an even canopy versus au natural. I'm hoping to be able to start flushing Vortex 1 around the next time I update in a week. She'll be at 44 days and the strain finishes in 56. It all really depends on how she (and her trichs) looks of course!

Hey to anyone out there in RIU land! I'm not sure if anyones really following me but I'm going to keep on updating at least through the end my first harvest.

Things are continuing to go well, I find a spot of PM on a leaf or two every few days on my biggest girls. I'm going to work up a baking soda spray this week and soak em through to prepare for harvest. It's still a couple weeks away. I know PM is a bitch and will keep coming back, but I'm trying my best to keep it to a minimum and hopefully eventually be rid of it completely. Just in time for the mites haha!

Anywho, here are some pics!

This beauty is Vortex #1. Today she's sittin at day 44. Supposed to go 6-11 days longer by strain but I may let her go two weeks more. The lower nugs are looking more mature than the huge main cola. I'm still going to play it by ear here.



And here is Vortex #2. Remember she is 8 days behind #1 so right at 36 days. Lookin nice still, she is about a foot shorter than #1 and looks like she'll be yielding slightly less due to that.


These are my supercropped Blueberry Haze at 18 days flower


And the rest of the flower crew, 2 LST'd closest are Carmella and JTR at 15 days. In the very center is the supercrop/lst Chernobyl at just a few days.


In veg my 3 mainlining Vortex and clones!


Things keep on chuggin along and I am getting more and more excited to harvest!

Decided to go with some horsetail tea foliar spray to combat the small amount of PM on Vortex #1. It's in the mail now I will update when I get a chance to give it a shot!

Hey guys I just took a few pics of the trics, trying to decided when to stop nuting my big girl. These are day 46 of whats supposed to be a 56 day strain. I need to try and take pics without the HPS so they are easier to see but bear with me. They look to me to be mostly clear some cloudy. I fed today with nutes so I am considering just feeding plain water from now on. Maybe I'm jumping the gun. What do ya'll think?

Looking at them now it's pretty hard to tell with the pics. I'll try and get some better ones when I pull them out into normal light to inspect.

Maybe this one looks better, in normal lighting. It looks to me still a good amount clear but definitely some milk in there. Also as a whole the plant looks very white pistil oriented with a lot of new growth at the top still. Definitely don't want to jump the gun and screw my yield, but she's been swelling and putting on weight in the calyxes for around ten days now.



She looks more done in person but in these pics she almost looks like she'll want another 2 to 3 weeks. I don't have any experience with Vortex so it's been hard for me to call. I'd definitely rather wait a little too long than cut too soon. Plus with Vganic fert I'm not insanely worried about flushing properly.

Any input would be immensely appreciated.

Damn guys, I just found a handful of young nanners on my oldest plant. I checked my timer and realized it got screwy after I had to move everything to another room due to a surprise visit. I think I'd be safe to harvest since im at 7 weeks. Will the hermi still grow more flower if I just pull the nanners? I would imagine the plant is diverting energy to growing the nanners, so I wouldn't expect much more bud development. But I don't really know so I'm asking ya'll! Hopefully I can get some answers soon or I'm just gonna go chop chop today.

Can you post a pic of the PM? Thanks, and your grow is looking great.

Thanks for taking a look man! Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the PM, and since the last couple leaves I pulled I haven't seen any new spots. I changed up my air circulation a bit and it seems to have helped. I'm definitely still going to spray them all down with the horsetail tea for health and protection from future flare ups. If I do see some more I'll get some pics up for sure!

Also it's looking like I'm gonna chop my nanner'd up lady sometime today. I just don't want to risk some pollen getting out and seeding my other young ladies. I really hope I wont lose to much yield altho I'm fairly certain I'll be taking a hit. O well, you live and you learn.

So I chopped and trimmed up Vortex #1. She was showing nanners and being so close to the end it made the most sense. Day 47, fairly early but just a week short of when the strain finishes. I wish I coulda tried to let her finish but I cant risk my other ladies.

So here she is just before the cut, she can hardly stand up!



Then after trimming. The big cola weighed around 35 g so I imagine that'll end up somewhere around 9 or 10 g. The largest scale I have is a postal that goes up to 4 oz and with all the nugs together it was maxed out and then some. I hope that means I'll pull somewhere between 1.5 and 2 oz dry if I'm lucky.



It's a bittersweet day for me. Being a sativa dom it's airy and I'm sure it would have swelled significantly more if given the proper time. I hope vortex #2 or any of the other ladies don't show any nanners, I don't know for certain if it's strain induced or light. I know lighting has had troubles, but I also grew em from dispensary bag seeds which could imply herm seeds in and of itself. Only time will tell.

Wow, Very nice man!

Hey guys, I don't have a plant update for ya today but I have some pics of the curing nugs from V1. She's lookin at just over an oz dried, that's being cut at just 47 days. I know if she coulda finished, my yield would have been much better. I have sampled some small nug and trim and it is very strong stuff. Super duper sativa high, a kind of numb floating sensation.



I'm kind of in a shitty situation now. My friend who grew out the other Vortex of 3 just had his herm out too. I'm still growing out the final Vortex and she hasn't shown signs yet. She is 8 days behind the older girl who herm'd, so should show by Saturday if she's gonna drop nanners. Shitty part is I have 12 clones of V#1 and #2 that are not separately labeled. Even if Vortex 2 doesn't herm I don't really trust them anymore. Bag seeds are really a gamble and it looks like mine came from a hermie plant. Makes sense considering it came from a dispensary environment (no males).

So I have to decide if it's worth keeping hermi genetics around, and risk the chance I'll miss some nanners and seed my whole crop. Honestly I'll probably trash the Vortex line. I have 5 non herm clones in flower right now and if they all come out well I will continue to grow those. I have some clones of the Blueberry hazes as well as Jack the Ripper. I'm planning to buy a stock of seeds soon to try out some new stuff in the future. No more bag seeds in my garden!