.Grow #1: 2 White Widow, 2 Critical Kush, 1 Truthband Grow #2 (starts on page 2): 4 White Widow x Big Bud *Original Set-Up* 36*36*72 Tent 6 inch intake fan 6 inch desk clamp fan x2 8 inch exhaust fan (with carbon filter) 600 watt Mh/Hps Hood light Happy Frog/Perlite Medium 5 five gallon smart pots Ph up/down solution Filtered water DynaGrow Foliage DynaGrow Bloom Light cycles and Temps: Vegetative Stage: Metal Halide Bulb (MH) Used 20-4 light cycle during the first couple weeks, switched to 18 hours on, 6 hours off after plants developed roots. 70 days total spent in veg Temp/Humidity during on: 75-85f, 65-70h Temp/Humidity during off: 65-75f, 60-65h Flowering Stage: High Pressure Sodium Bulb (HPS) light cycle switched to 12 hours on, 12 off Temp/humidity stayed about the same as vegetative stage. Lights are turned on overnight (9pm-9am) to keep temperatures reasonable and to minimize electricity costs. Added two extra fans to increase air circulation as I was working with limited space and didn't want humidity/mold problems. *Introducing the ladies* (they are all labeled and are guaranteed feminized) Orange = White Widow x2 Emma/Elysian Green = Critical Kush x2 - Blair/Serena Red = Truthband x1 - Faith *Progress and Updates* 2/4 - germination 2/8 - transfer to 5 gal pots 2/10 - sprouted (water only) 2/10 - 20-4 light cycle, preparing for nutrients 2/19 - 1/2tsp Foliage pro per gallon of filtered water 2/26 - changed to 18-6 light cycle added 1tsp/gallon Foliage Pro lowered light hood 12 inches from girls to fully utilize lighting. 3/7/16 - Fimmed the ladies, nutrients remained the same throughout vegetative stage 3/9 - Started LST bending, tying down and removing unnecessary leaves 3/15 - LST, trimmed excess leaves 3/26 - more LST on the branches that grew too tall to encourage an even canopy 4/7 - super cropped last time, bent/knuckled, trimmed long stems for flowering stage. Water only, no nutrients to help flush medium and girls. 4/15 Flowering Stage started. 12-12 light schedule with HPS bulb, , 1tsp bloom nutrient per gallon of filtered ph'd water 5/5 - girls look really healthy. Continued light defoliation to let less fortunate growth sites get some light. July 4th update - Plants have a few more weeks to go, they are taking a long time in the flowering stage, trying to stay patient. The only other concerns I have besides the slow growth due to defoliation is maybe some PH imbalance (my ph meter broke and I haven't gotten around to ordering another), the discoloration around the outside of the smart pots and that Faith (Truthband) has had some new top growth coming in the last 3 weeks that is growing like crazy. I changed the set-up to accommodate the plant sizes and to reduce humidity around bud sites. Currently 7/14: 4x4x7 tent with mylar walling two 6 inch intake fans two 600 watt HPS lights with hoods (also have MH bulbs for vegging) two small clamp fans one desk fan for floor to circulate air and moisture on floor of tent two 8 inch exhaust fans both with carbon fiber filters (I had extra equipment) I ducted my central air directly up to a 6 inch intake and set house A/C at 74. Tent is 80 degrees with lights on at 100% ballast power). 5 LED clamp red/blue spectrum lights for lower growth 5 five gallon smart pots, added 5 tomato cages around plants for support Last 3 weeks I cut the bloom flowering nutrient intake in half and about to begin doing an only PH water to help flush and clean out the soil of any excess nutrients that are lingering in the soil. They've needed watering about every other day. ------ ------ More pictures and info will be added during the growth cycle.
5 plants in 5 gallon pots, in a 36 x 36, good luck with that. Yeah, I am telling you when they are little babies you think it's doable, but then they go into flower you will be going like, crap, my plants can't breath. And no I am not trying to deter you, its just that I have seen way to many people think they can grow more than they should in a certain area and then create all kinds of problems for themselves and their plants.
Great setup. Plants look really healthy. Good job. That Truthband is one of the stretchiest plants I've seen and will take about three weeks longer than the widow and critical. So make sure you plan for your stretch.
Fataqui I wholeheartedly agree with the space issue, as well as the fact that I'm only working off a 600 watt lamp for that many plants. I'm glad you pointed that out as it is definitely an issue I have been preparing for. Fortunately I have a closet space with CFL lights and mylar if worse comes to worst. The fifth plant in the middle may need to be transplanted to allow more room for the other plant's colas to grow evenly on top.
A few pictures taken about a week and a half since the last update, you can see where I accidentally bent a stem a little too far while they were getting trained down. It snapped pretty bad, you can see the duct tape. Fortunately it already healed up and is strong again but I'm waiting for the tape to soften up some more from the humidity before I attempt to remove it.
Starting flowering stage next week, did some defoliating and bending to avoid running out of room vertically during their stretch
Girls are still receiving defoliation during the flowering stage. It takes about 5 days to recover but I'm confident the pay off will be well worth it. Buds are going to be nice and fat
Update. Moved girls to a 4x4x7 tent and added wire around plants to support weak branches with a lot of bud growth. Added a second 600 watt hood light (hps/mh). Added three additional intake fans to keep plants cool (79-83f) during light hours. Added four LED lights in each corner to help promote side and undergrowth.
Getting close, a few more weeks. There's so much growth I had to defoliate couple of the bigger girls. Sticky fingers!
Cleaned up around bud sites for last few weeks, some of the bottom growth wasn't getting enough light. May still have to harvest tops and let second half finish afterwards
And only two days after deleafing around bud sites in flowering stage.. Pictures from my camera phone don't do them justice.
Emma might be done before the rest of the girls because she doesn't have as much undergrowth to fill out. These are a few shots of her smaller buds during lights out.
Continuing water flushing, Emma is definitely the first girl to be harvested. Her bud sites are showing purple. Hopefully it's just her natural color showing and not a nutrient deficiency due to flushing.
Pictures are mostly of Blaire's colas (my personal favorite), Faith's foxtail, undergrowth buds of the girls and Emma's dark colored buds/leaves. I pulled a bud from Emma to check trichrome color and sample the smoke.
Emma has been cut down, trimmed, dried and put in jars for curing. She dried faster than I expected, even with leaving the buds on the stems during drying process. I put humidipacks in the jars to help with the lack of moisture. Her dried weight (buds only) was just under 130 grams which was very underwhelming. I was hoping for at least 5 ounces, she was the least performing plant I had in the tent. I did however get plenty of sugar leaves/trim to make concentrates out of, plus about 1 gram of delicious finger hash Blaire looks so amazing, all I see are thc covered pistils on her!