My first grow - Tent SCROG

First off, thanks to all of you veterans that have shown me the way. I'm standing on the shoulders of giants!

So I'm registered with the state and have started my first medical grow. Due to the plant number limitations here in Colorado (three in veg and three in flower) I decided on the Screen of Green method. I live in an apartment and my space is also limited so I purchased a 3' x 2' x 5' tent.

I initially got started with a 90w quad band LED but quickly realized that I needed more light. While the LED produces very good usable light, the coverage is not enough even for my small tent. I mulled about what wattage HID I should get and choose a 600w cool tube setup. In retrospect I should have gotten the 400w because the heat issues have been a pain in the ass and 400w would have been plenty.

I installed a 6" 435cfm Valueline fan that pulls air from the top of the tent and out of the 6" cool tube. I have it running on a router controller (highly recommended) so it is running at about 3/4 speed. I started with a 4" S&P 100cfm fan for intake but the negative pressure was too much and the temps were up in the 90's. I added a 4" 177cfm Valueline fan to the intake and run it on the same router controller as it's big brother. I had to run it on the controller because it was damn loud. I actually think it runs louder than the 6" at full speed. Since the tent is set up in my bedroom and I have no venting of fresh air in or hot air out the temp still hovered in the low 90's during part of the evening.

I finally solved my heat issue (for now) by simply running some of the intake ducting out of my bedroom at night when the lights are on. I'm now drawing air from the hallway and I am seeing a marked difference. I'm at 85 now and couldn't be happier.

I'm growing a fairly heat tolerant sativa dominate strain called Purple Head Knocker. It's a cross between Durban Poison and Trainwreck. I started some Kali Mist at the same time but burnt the shit out of it and put it in a coma for about four weeks. It's recovered now and is the next up to bat.

So I only had the single PHK plant from clone that was ready for bloom. Using the SCROG method along with some early topping and tying (she loves it) I have been able to just about fill the 2'x3' area with budding sites. But enough talk, here are some pictures. Here's the little clone that I started with under the LED.

 

Here's the PHK on the left. The Kali on the right was cloned at nearly the same time and is languishing. The PHK has begun training and has been topped.

 

Here's the PHK in the tent now vegging under a 600w HPS. I've fashioned a screen out of 1" chicken wire about 10" above it. Note how long the cool tube is. I had just enough room to get a ninety degree bend of 6" ducting on the free end. There is absolutely no room for a filter in there! Oh well.

 

Thanks. It's just a poor boy setup. I must say that I am pretty happy with the results so far. I started with Ionic grow but have now moved to GH FloraNova. I like the simplicity and the cost with that line. The PH seems to be better buffered with the GH too. The Ionic always came out too basic. My PHK is now two weeks into bloom while the Kali remains under the LED in veg. I've got more pics coming...

 

Here's the PHK starting to work it's way through the screen. It's still in veg. I haven't really done any fan leaf removal at this point.

 

For comparison, here's the Kali making a recovery under the LED. She's in the forefront on the left. She has been joined by some seed started PHK/White Widow (Purple Rain) plants. The one up front is exhibiting some Sativa characteristics being rather lanky but the three in the back are looking like the Widow being short and stout. I hope to get at least one male out of the bunch to produce more seed stock and also stabilize the breed. It's also worth mentioning that the lanky Purple Rain is being grown in a Hempy Bucket. It's possible that the extra growth from that seedling is due to the different method. I inadvertently used Miracle Grow perlite in the mix, so he/she got more nutes early on.

 

So here's where it starts getting good. The PHK has been on 12/12 for 14 days in these shots.

 

Hopefully someone can learn from this one. After adding three centrifugal fans to try and control the heat I was still getting about 15 - 20 degrees difference in temps between the inside of the tent and my bedroom. The fix wound up being that I ran my intake a little longer to pull air from just outside the door. I'm seeing only a 5-10 degree difference now and a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

So here's the pictures from today. I'll keep updating the thread as my grow progresses. So far I'm pretty pleased with the results. This is damn fun growing weed. I've always enjoyed gardening but this is just beyond compare. I can't wait to smoke some!

 

OK so maybe I can get by until then. Here's some Double Bubble that I picked up from a buddy. By the way I was at Lowes (fuck Home Depot) today and found the Brinks Ecotech security lights in 70w HPS and 100w MH flavors are on clearance for like 90% off. I picked up the MH that was normally ~$95.00 for $9.50. Holy shit! Anyone out there contemplating a micro grow or already using CFL's get your arse to Lowes. Actually you might want to call ahead as I'm not sure that all of the stores have that deal.

 

Thanks! I did have to manipulate it. It was bushing out fairly well with the minimal topping (FIM) and tying that I did. As the tops reach the screen level I sort of helped them through by compressing the new leaves together and poking them through the 1" holes in the poultry screen from below. If I had gotten 2" screen I would have had to do a bit less of that but the 1" screen certainly works.

After the tops are about 2" or so above the screen I carefully pull them back down through the hole and move them out further along the screen and push them out a new hole. It really is intuitive once you get going with it. The screen just allows you to get a perfect kind of upside-down triangle shape with the plant. The first tops to come through the screen are now facing at an angle and new tops are growing vertically up from them.

I've mostly stopped training at this point and am just removing fan leaves as needed and helping to guide the newest tops out to the canopy. There will be some bud sites that will never make the canopy but I think with all the mylar that even those sites will produce some goods. I've not gone crazy with the stripping of growth below the screen. This is my first grow ever and I am playing it cool.

 

Today I put the hempy grown Purple Rain in the bloom tent. I'm going to check the sex while I wait for the PHK to mature. If it's male I'll chuck it. If it's female I'll just continue to bud it. The phenotype on this one is not as desirable as the other three. The hempy is leggy and has an OK smell. The three others smell really fruity and are stout. I hope to get some cloning and/or breeding stock from one those guys. I might create a male flowering box (likely a trash can) to collect some pollen from a male too. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I've also attached a new photo of the underside of the PHK. I've gotten a bit more aggressive in pruning the lower two thirds of the plant. The canopy is really starting to fill in. It's getting sticky!!

 

Last night I was bending the Kali Mist and contemplating tying her over when the stem gave way on the inside. I broke her back!! I think she'll survive though. And what doesn't kill her will only make her stronger, right. I just hope it doesn't turn her butch on me later on. lol.

The three Purple Rain prospects are looking good and smelling fruity. The main stems are very stout yet are easy to supercrop. They crush like celery with an audible "snap" were my other plants are more woody throughout. I read somewhere that hollow stems are a better MMJ genotype. The solid stems are good for hemp.

I'm using a gentle FIM style topping. I'm just trimming the top 3/4 of the leaf primordia. It is effectively slowing vertical growth while the side shoots beneath the top are gaining vigor.

The leaves on the Purple Rain Indica phenotypes are massive. P. Rain #2 has leaves larger than my hand!

I'm pretty stoked about these guys and I'm rooting for a girl.

 

BTW, does anyone know what would cause the little dig-dug pattern in this leaf? It looks like some critter bore through or just chewed a path through the leaf. It's not broken, just discolored there a bit. I'm not seeing any suspects.

 

It's now three weeks of 12/12 for the PHK. The Purple Rain in the Hempy bucket turned out to be a male and has been culled. I put the Kali Mist that I got from clone in the tent. I'm going to try and get her to grow around the side of the screen with her main cola. The other branches will be worked into the screen.

 

I'm going into the fourth week of flower. The stretch on the PHK has pretty much slowed to a crawl and the flowers are starting to put on bulk. The Kali Mist is still in week one of flower and is stretching up into the screen and filling in the blank space. I'm going to encourage the main shoot to stretch out around the side of the screen to make harvesting the PHK easier. I figure I can bend her over later if needed.

Moving forward I'm going to be incorporating a TrichGnome into the grow. I picked him up in the dollar aisle at Target. I'll let you know how effective he is.

 

I've sexed two more of the three remaining Purple Rain plants. Purple Rain #1 is a female. She has shown a single preflower that clearly has two pistils. Purple Rain #3 has multiple little male balzak formations. I am seriously considering relocating him and collecting his pollen. Does that make me gay? Lol. Any advice on how best to do that would be appreciated. I'm thinking of perhaps a trash bin and a CFL. Anyone tried that?