My grow room is in my basement in the Colorado Rockies. I have a 20” box fan to suck air from my gym into the grow room through a 2’ vented hole in the wall between rooms & it easily stays under 73°F year round with low humidity accept during seedling & early Veg when I add it. I also trim everything except the main branches & colas, lollipop everything below the Scrog & run a ton of air circulation in the grow room both in & out of the tent. It took a number of grows to fine tune the room & set-up, but I guess that will never end & I still have much to learn…
if you are able to keep that humidity low your in the green then. Being in KY I always had humidity issues come summer. Too expensive to run ac in th shit house I was in. But sounds like you won't have problems
2 weeks later… Me ladies look very healthy & have grown well through the SCROG. No mishaps through Veg…both the roots & foliage look nice & healthy. Over the last few weeks, I carefully trained & kept only the largest branches and trimmed all smaller tertiary branches. Then I lollipopped nearly all foliage below the SCROG. I kept a few lower branches that still have a chance to shoot up from below the SCROG, now that I’ve added the lower lights, bcuz they were just too freaking nice to chop...maybe all just use them as giant clones? I use a modified tuck technique with Scrogging… I only keep on the beefiest branches and pull them through the SCROG as evenly distributed as possible. Nothing grows wild & I only keep foliage that gets good lighting above SCROG & will contribute to bud growth. The lower lighting ensures that the bottom of each cola is as beefy as the tops. If I can make it through flower without a hitch, I should easily pull over 3 lbs as I exceeded that last grow. I’m flipping them today and plan on a late July Harvest.
Not saying this is the best way, but this lollipop technique has its advantages… I’ve run grows with minimal trimming, grows with moderate trimming and grows with this lollipop technique. The RDWC systems I use create such rapid, thick growth, a smaller 3 x 4 tent just can’t handle the foliage of 4 plants, but I can if I lollipop & still pull over 3 lbs per grow in the least amount of time. ~ Lollipoping produces bigger branches, bigger buds & the largest yields with my particular set-up ~ No yellow, whispy leaves below the canopy that block light, inhibit airflow & steal energy from healthier colas. ~ Reduces chance of bud rot & molds due to improved airflow ~ Channels all growth to the largest colas with the best access to light and airflow ~ Opens up access to the cramped area below canopy to clean, check & manage roots, drain & refill system… I’m still learning & have a long ways to go before harvest, but so far so good.
Yeah im just saying pluck the lower bud sites and leave the leaves when possible. Some people think a lot of leaves will somehow take energy from the kolas but thats just not the case. Lower airy flowers that dont get any light, sure. But leaves, nah.
When you talk about 4lb for 4 plants that's 1lb/plant or 16oz or 480g. I assume that you're talking about wet weight. Cannot see how one plant under lights could produce nearly half a kilo of trimmed dried bud.
I don’t weigh my grow until it’s fully trimmed, jarred and drops to roughly 60% RH. My last grow exceeded a pound per plant…unless my scale is off? Here’s a pic of the last plant I harvested during my last grow and that plant alone was over a pound. Sorry about the burple…I usually turn it off for photos, but I was probably high.
I’ve grown & cross-bred some amazing strains, but realize many here are grow-masters with far more experience & better quality buds. Hopefully, I’ll get there some day, but I do have bud tenders from nearby dispensaries routinely asking for samples of my buds, so it must not be too bad. I’m always open to any good tips for improving quality.
454 g in a lb. ? what exactly is wrong with hydroponics? cognitive dissonance much? @Sdh777 best take care where u get your info from
Ive never had hydro that matched the quality of the organic grass i grow. Not saying it cant be done, but ive had plenty of other organic grass that was as good or close to it and never had hydro that was even in the same ball park. Just cuz its pretty dont mean its good.
@Sdh777 truth be told, I think your system and your plants ROCK. You are taking a lot of modern knowledge and applying it the best that can be done. The use of sub-canopy lighting with your extra led boards is wonderful! Its exactly what should be done. You are looking at cropping some very nice plants the way things are going. The one thing that i could honestly suggest it to reconsider when to lay that scrog net down. Personally, I am only interested in the plant's tops. To maximize this, I lay the trellis a little after I set lights to transition (ie. 12/12). You might want to look over How To SCROG
You are aware that most of the biochemistry and biosynthesis of terpenes (T) and cannabinoids (C) is conducted by specialized disc cells found at the tip of the trichome, right? And that genetic and environmental factors are by far the largest predictors of T&C production. Beyond this, the elicitation of trichomes and the proteins involved in the biosynthesis of T&C (and trichome envolope, etc), are based on environmental cues, but that these responses can also be artificially triggered by specialized chemicals (ie. hormones and Jasmonic Acid (JA)). What I believe you mean to say is that you prefer soil grown cannabis; but this doesn't (even remotely) mean that hydroponics produces lower quality material. Also, by following your train of thought, one would believe organic methods would also imply that the best method of growing cannabis is in the great outdoors via good old Mother Earth. But this is not the case, as any connoisseur knows that outdoor weed is not as potent as specialty cultivated indoor chronic. The source of potassium phosphate (K2PO4) is a mineral. If an organism ingests this material and we later use this degraded organism for its potassium phosphate content, the element K and P has still been obtained from a mineral source, I mean ultimately, so organics doesn't fly by me. What does make sense is that organics (can) provide a balanced diet for a plant to survive. Not all organics are good (!) but proper cannabis regimes do exist. This is also true for fertilizer use in hydroponics. Not all hydro will be good, but in the hands of someone who learns how to use it properly (even using organics), it overproduces and, depending on genetic and environmental cues, will outperform any dirt weed.
I’ve thought about trying an organic grow, but I travel like a freak show, so my current RDWC set-up is on auto-pilot.
Thanks for that feedback! After I built this mini-RDWC system, I ran a side-by-side grow against a nice flood and drain system in another tent using the exact same genetics, lighting, nutes & environment. The difference in growth was crazy, so then I modified my flood & drain to make it work better.
Great info on organics & nutrients! If there’s any area I need the most improvement, that’s definitely it.
4 days after a heavy trimming & lollipopping, the growth has been explosive with a ton of nice colas in the making. Should see some bud formation soon enough… Just after trim & lollipop 5 days ago This was taken yesterday…just 4 days later
Weekend update: Week 3 in Flower Colas beginning to form pH got a bit low while I was out of town this week, but the plants seem fine. This RDWC runs on roughly 20 gallons & only takes about 12 minutes to drain & refill.