GHG Dream Machine Gardens

Discussion in 'Indoor Grow Journals' started by GreenHardtGrower, Aug 30, 2015.

  1. #1 GreenHardtGrower, Aug 30, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 8, 2015
    *Note: This is my Indoor... The outside is this way... http://forum.grasscity.com/outdoor-grow-journals/1...


    **Puff: I'm an older retired Army fella, just here to spread the love of this plant. IMO, GC rocks and this is the place I decided to plant my pot~


    **Puff, Puff: I love photography, fitness, nature and Cannabis. So that's what you'll find in here..


    **Puff, Puff, Puff: Speak easy and post your pics if you so desire. Feel free to ask... Or just sit in the back and watch as I decorate this hall.


    Welcome to my journey, my...
    *****MAGNUM OPUS******
    I have been running a perpetual garden for about 9 months now, so this is just going to be an ongoing journal to capture and share my adventure...


    ~With that in mind I will start with the most exciting thing I have going on... In my flower room I have three White Rhino and nine Grape Apes in a hydro bucket system (my last run in this system). Currently on day 26 of flower [​IMG]

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    As noted I have been running a bucket system, but after several critical failures with the system I had in my flower room I decided this system was ineffective, so I repaired the one I was using in the flower room with the one I had in my veg room. Instead, I am going to grow some smaller plants in a soilless mix and just use both rooms as flower rooms, rather than vegging two months and moving plants into flower. At least that's the plan as it stands...


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    Lastly Clone Kingdom [​IMG] A few mothers and some Aeroponic cloners to keep the garden stocked.


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    I'll add more to this intro in a later edit... ~dabtime~
    ~GHG


     
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  2. #2 GreenHardtGrower, Sep 1, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 2, 2015
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    And.. lights are up! Today is 28 of flower and I haven't seen any signs of PM... yet...


    It has been cold and rainy for several days now and the humidity in my house is hovering between 60 and 70%. Consequently, it's also been tough to keep the humidity at 50% and preferably less, in this flower room. I think I need to buy another 70 pint dehumidifier.


    Anywho, it's been a month since I last flushed these ladies (when I pulled them from the vegg system). I don't have RO, so I bubble the chlorine out of the water before I use it.


    All of these are crazy stretched, because I had the brilliant idea to keep feeding them a heavy nitrogen mix for the first week minus a day or two, because last time when I pulled them from vegg it looked like several plants lost a lot of chlorophyll as soon as I went from T5 to HPS. So I figured I would see what happens... Now, as I look across the canopy I'm thinking I probably should have put up a second net.




     
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  3. #3 GreenHardtGrower, Sep 1, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 1, 2015
    I have been vegging a Cheese Candy clone I got for a couple of months now, into a mother, but I have not flowered her out. So this is her run! She's a bean stalk!! Clearly, she likes a little different drink than the others with her red stems and very green leaves. The Grape Apes in there were looking yellow before their first water, which was two days ago, almost three. The newer growth throughout the canopy looks better than it did before I upped the nutes, including the Cheese Candy's, and the pots are getting light, but not dry enough for more water. All of these ladies started the 12's two days ago, so they are soon to be looking for some different nutes here for their next feeding. This is the first time I have ever tried to flower off such small plants...


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    Also new for me in this grow is Harley Tsu and some Pineapple Express... as well as a few more Northern Lights (which I nearly got rid of, because I prematurely decided I didn't like her growth pattern)... should be fun and interesting [​IMG]


    My wife actually bagged these ladies up, but I think we should have filled the bags higher - probably mistake number 1
    mistake number 2 is probably the fact that they are different ages, by two weeks and lastly mistake number 3 is that this is a multi strain grow so there won't be an even canopy.
     
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  4. So, as I mentioned earlier, it was time to flush the plants in the Flower Room and I decided it was also time to climb through the canopy to see what I can see above and below.


    I pulled some of these bad leaves, I figure if the plant doesn't want it anymore, neither do I - since it invites pests and blocks air flow. These leaves are at least two feet below the top of the canopy and this is one of the most dense canopies I've had yet. The growth on top seems fine and healthy, so I figure it's the natural process. No light, no life...
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    I also mentioned I kept a high nitrogen mix in the early stages of flower. I won't do that again... These ladies have stretched at least a few inches more than last time. I should have expected as much. The problem is, I didnt account for the added growth and now despite the scrog net, some of these branches are already leaning into each other, and it's only week 4. I highly doubt I can get another piece of net over these ladies, let alone secure it tight enough for it to function. So, I pulled some branches apart and tied them underneath to at least open them up.


    Humidity is still high, but still no signs of PM this time. I have seen it on some of my other plants, but not those in flower. I'm certainly glad about that, but I am ever vigilant, now that I know how fast that stuff can spread.
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    I know, I know... pull the bottom buds to send energy up, but I like to see the few buds that show up at the bottom :) Especially since there is very little light down there.
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    And for whatever reason, this forum won't post a pic upright, no matter what I do- despite the fact that it's upright on my computer... LAME!!!


    Doing a much better job of keeping the underside cleaned up this time around and besides the dehumidifier, I have added two box fans to blow air under the canopy and another oscillating remote control fan over my canopy to increase air flow.
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  5. #5 GreenHardtGrower, Sep 2, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2015
    HELL GROW:
    I probably should have opened this thread with my Hell Grow up front, so the differences can be seen in a more logical format, but maybe this will add some interest to the thread here.


    ~So, the cuttings were taken 15 may and were in the cloner 2 weeks and had 6 weeks of veg time.
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    I intended to only veg these for 4 weeks. So about a week before I put them into flower, I took a lot of cuttings just to shorten them down. I also figured it would increase bud sites for me in flower.




    Just got the plants in, everything was running late for a host of personal reasons. You can see they are taller than my intended net to begin with. The PVC scrog support was also worthless - just not strong enough. So I went back to wood. I just thought it would be easy to clean and keep sterol. You can also see I had every intention of getting that net up, but never did. I really didn't think it would be the problem it became. After all, I grew 8 or 9 "free standing" ladies the run before.
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    Things seemed to be going lovely in Mid June about two weeks into 12/12
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    Shortly after these pics in week 3 I noticed a few spots of PM on the Northern Lights under the LED's I pulled the leaves and thought about the fact that its much cooler under the LED's than the HPS and wondered if that would be a problem considering PM. I made a note of it and went to the grow shop the next day, but couldn't apply any of the PM wash I got, because my spray bottle was bonkers, so It took another day to get in there. I was also running the lights at night because of the heat (I didn't have AC or a dehumidifier kicking this run off) because I had been running a fresh air garden. This made it doubly difficult to get in there to work with any light and consequently I was always a bit behind...


    When I finally did get in there, the PM was a good bit worse... however as I was spraying the Norther Lights in the back corner where the LED's are, I stood up on an empty bucket amidst the foliage and strings I was using to hold the branches up to my crappy scrog mount. No doubt I had a dab or a smoke or two - probably not the best balance... Down I went! I tried in a vain attempt not to fall on the NL, but there were the ropes and I went all the way to the floor. Took a good bit of the plant with me! Luckily the Army taught me first aid. I splinted every limb back in place with tape and sticks... no harm no foul.


    I continued to battle that PM and heat... despite the AC and the Dehumidifier... Which finally lead me to a whole house AC... UGH... By mid July, I was thoroughly enjoying the house AC when my next big problem started. SYSTEM failure at 2 AM! My son comes knocking at the door to tell me water is pouring through the ceiling in the garage! ~I woke up freaked but thought... pouring might be an exageration. It wasn't! I ran to the flower room to see an inch of water on my floor. Going down a hole I had not yet repaired in the floor where the electrician was working. My guess is 15 - 20 gallons leaked out. Where from? I thought it was a water line, or maybe a shutoff valve got stuck. My wife kept telling me it seemed like water was coming out of the bottom of the bucket. That just sounded crazy... I spent a few more days trying to fix it... I had to pull all the plastic from the floor with these fat ladies sitting on it... Gross, wet, mildew hot fucking mess!


    I put clamps and put some silicone around some stuff... when another leak happened. Now I had to pull the bucket with the plant in it all tied up. Did I mention I have 3 herniated disks? Yeah, that sucked! And this is what I found...
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    They were leaking! This is sold as a Hydro system...??? WTF, Over? Couple all this with some timer issues with ghost times... and it truly was a Hell Grow!




    Suffice it to say these were the last pictures I took at week 4 before my heart dropped and all I wanted to do was cut these things down. If you didn't notice I love the pics - if that's an indicator of my heartache and frustration.
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    Still everything looked pretty good. The Northern lights were under the LED. They seem to have great penetration so I figured the tall stretchy NL would be better suited there.


    After this point, I think I was in there spraying PM wash, H202, high PH water (water with potassium bicarbonate) just about every couple of days to keep it under control.


    These are some pics the wife got between week 4 and the end. I cut everything down a week early, because I was starting to lose the battle. I had dumped some Kool Bloom in there around week 5 and that seemed to ripen things up a bit for me, so I honestly don't think I lost much pulling things a week early... I'm just glad that one is in the rear view!
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    Sorry some of these are sideways or upside down. No matter what way I save them when I upload them they are never rightside up [​IMG] I guess GrassCity knows what's best!




    My biggest lesson is, don't delay and don't underestimate your needs. I didn't realize we would have a record breaking hot summer and initially thought I could just do this garden at night pulling in 60 -65 degree air. When I started realizing this wasn't feasible, I was already up against a wall with nothing but 90 plus days for ever ahead. So I had to break the credit card out and take out a loan. Bottom line, I should have had the room built out, before I started, because once the plants start doing their thing - they won't wait for you get your act together.








     

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  6. That's an awesome garden man, awesome.


     
  7. Yeah, I wish I was in a bigger space... doing something bigger, but this is what I got, so this is what I get! If I had it to do over again, I would have done it very differently. It's been a learning curve all the way, and so far, it hasn't let up!



    I retired from the Army in 2011... Sat around... Finished a degree... then another, and when I was coming to the end of that I herniated my back in 3 places... Still recovering from that one. It's put a damper on my fitness and my personal training gig I was starting. Then my wife decided we should start growing and it turns out, I didn't have anything better to do. The idea was to just do one room. Then I decided to move out of my office and use another... Well, it will take over after a while ~if you let it.

    I have not posted my earlier grows yet lol... I'm working backwards I suppose. I'm creating a repository for the annals of time I guess.


     
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  8. Subd up. Look like you handled all that shit better than most. Id be blaming Buddha for sittin around while everything went down haha
     
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  9. Heavily blamed, trust me! lol... Seriously, I haven't Buddha back in!
     
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  10. Hmmm... I have been running my full bloom mix too hot! That means it was hot last week when I started it. Here I thought this leaf curl was related to the cold air from my AC blasting the front tops. Today it looks worse... What's different? The nutes. Checked the PPM and its 1495/1500 PPM! ~ Too hot for a recirculating system... I'm not suppose to be going over 1200 PPM.
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    I pulled 4 gallons out of the reservoir and put 4 gallons of fresh bubbled water... and that brought me to 1240. PH still right around 6. ~learning is in the doing!
     
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  11. I'm getting giddy with excitement!! I can smell the flower room... and the buds are just starting to fatten! I think I need to do a climb through tomorrow and catch some video! Maybe I'll just wait for week 5. Should be a good update by then...
     
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  12. Nice grow.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  13. Thanks mate!
     
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  14. Pandora's box just showed up... Gotta~B~Dab time break before I crack this open!
    What could it be?
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  15. AYYYEEE... Better make sure your rug is glued down before you visit this place... lol!! 1060 CFM going in the flower room
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    Why it came all undercover? I have no idea... I guess fans are super secret squirrel these days. At least it wasn't someones head in there...




    On another note, it's a good thing I got the fan for increased air, but more importantly that I stopped at the store to get some Green Cure because... what is that mine eye do spy?
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    Got some work to do...
     
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  16. Did some lollipopping here in the cornfield. About half of these plants are 2 weeks older than the others, but the older ones didn't have 2-3 feet of roots when I cupped them. I figured that would put them closer to "neck in neck" in terms of growth. At any rate, I vegged them all for about 5 days under 18 hrs of T5 and once the shortest ladies reached 6" I flipped them into 12/12, which was 5 days ago. Most are starting to show some pistols! Gave them all a good drink with a mild nute solution. The Cheese Candies seem to like a lighter mix and could probably do for just plain water for the next feeding.
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    I spent quite a bit of time yesterday in the flower room with my wife trying to put up a second scrog net over these plants which are nearly 5 weeks into flower. Ugh!! Sticky, sticky flippin mess! There were quite a few branches that just started falling down all over the place. At first I started panicking because I haven't had plants just start flopping over so early. I know I have been running my nutes a little high and between that and a slight PH issue, I suddenly started thinking all the plants were suffering from some sort of calcium deficiency, causing weak stems.. LOL...


    We got the trellis netting up as best we could and pushed some of the fallen branches back. Several, I simply cut down, mostly out of frustration. When I tell you blood sweat and tears have gone into this garden, I'm not kidding and the feeling that everything is suddenly going to pot before my eyes despite the relentless effort I put into growing these babies was just tormenting.
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    Okay, maybe not so much blood ;)


    Things seem fine today, PPM's are around 1100 and 5.8 PH. Things are standing up and the branches I cut down have allowed a little more light in and around the canopy. More air is always a good thing in my opinion.
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    There are (4) 600 watt lights in this room plus the LED's. I'm coming to the conclusion that I simply overgrow these lights and need to start the flowering sooner (less veg time), but I may also do less topping on these things in the future. Seems like, when I wind up with a nice bushy plant, I end up cutting most of it down anyway or I'll wind up with a mess of underbud. I suppose we'll see how the cornfield does and I'll make up my mind from there, since they aren't being topped.






     
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  17. Man i wish i could do that many plants, would keep me busy for sure. Waiting sucks lol.


     
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  18. This is the best time... Trust me! This is your first grow and it's very special. It was and still is to me. I had chairs parked right in front of my plants! I spent quite a bit of time with them. I suppose I will cover those earlier grows after this run when I have a lull in entertainment. Just enjoy watching those little ladies and just give them the best place possible, for them to show their colors. They will put you to work soon enough ;)
     
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  19. #NutesOnTheMind
    Tomorrow is day 35 of flower. I used koolbloom during my hell grow. I know this stuff is suppose to stress the plant into producing bigger buds, but I thought it might have caused a couple of plants to hermaphrodite, where I have never had that problem in the past with the same genetics. I'm thinking it could have very well been the heat, since I was struggling with both heat and humidity throughout most of that grow. That was a tough grow, but we also got some insanely fat colas so I'm debating whether or not to use it again tomorrow when I change the reservoir.


    I have also tried bud sweeteners from General Hydroponics - They seem to add flavor to the smoke... However, what I haven't been able to figure out is when it comes to molasses, everyone says get the unsulfured type (blackstrap). Interestingly enough the bud sweeteners from GH seem to be derived in part from sulfur...


    At any rate, I have been doing a lot of thinking about nutrients, my timing and the strengths I have been using. Looking back through my pictures over the last year, I can see that I tend to run my nutes high when I get into full bloom. So I'm dialing that back and changing all my reservoir cheat sheets.


    On that note, I have seen other folks getting great results from a 2 part rather than a 3 part nutrient base. My old man seems to love Advanced Nutrients. I haven't tried it, because when I go to the website I'm immediately inundated with information and pictures of about 200 different bottles of plant juice. Supposedly though, Advanced Nutrients has a line of nutes called PH perfect. They say there is "PH adjusting technology" in the bottle... sounds too good to be true, but I like the idea!
     
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  20. Well, I ponied up a couple of dollars for a new dab rig. I broke the "Commanding General" aka Cheap Glass months ago as it slipped off its carrying case and bounced across a very solid cement floor. Then just this last weekend, my birthday bong aka Green Peace broke as well, which I was using as a dab rig [​IMG] So all I have at the moment to smoke from, is Bong Qui Qui ~ you know one of those cheap $20 first time indestructible bongs? Yeah, she's dark blue and gold and gets the job done, but she has very little class ;) Definitely gives it to you strait tho! lol!!


    Anywho, looking forward to getting this little fella!
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