Avoid some of my first crop errors.

Payback time. Time to shoow and tell, only I aint a braggin'. Oh sure, I got some good yield from my first five plants. And now that I am sitting in a diner, halfway between that room and my next, with my mothers already moved three states to their new home, I can share as a means of payback for all those who helped me get a good start.

Most of all, I would like to help you avoid a couple of costly mistakes that I made while growing my first crop.

First, let's begin with some honest results measurement criteria. Bud Quality / Quantity: On a scale that has on one end miserable crop failure and, on the other, Mr. Postman or Rumpleforeskin buds, my first crop ranks as about a B minus as you can see from the pictures. 78 percentile, say. Oh sure, I got five 10 inch PPP colas that are out of this world. And my bud bag holds 7 ounces of good personal stash. The Skunk 1 buds are fat and delicious and they round out the total harvest from five plants of just over 8.5 ounces.

I cared a lot. I did anything I could to make it perfect, but I fell short. Why?

Zero Sum Game
You have probably heard this expression before. Roughly, it means you can only lose. And in a way, growing cannabis for optimum bud quality and yield is a zero sum game. If you want to get to Rumpleville, you have to provide consistent optimum growth opportunity for your plants, every day of their lives. The trick is not to fumble along the way. I believe that every fumble costs you in terms of final yield.

Presumably, you start off with quality genetics- perfect grow stock from a reputable source. If you start with ditch weed seeds, of course, your efforts are probably lost right out of the gate. I decided to grow Skunk #1 and femenized PPP from Nirvana. My Nirvana experience exceeded my highest expectations. There are many other reputable seed providers out there. It is just smart business to deliver what was promised.

I flowered my first grow in a closet measuring 3 feet by 7 feet by six feet tall. (See pics) It began with one 400w HPS light with a cooling duct that evacuated to a basement chimney vent. Inline fans sucked the air out.

Here is where I made my first mistake: TOO LITTLE LIGHT / UNEVEN LIGHT COVERAGE! I wanted to SCRoG this grow, but it got out of hand because even though I moved the light back and forth over the crop during the day, the middle got the favorable light and grew taller, more quickly, than the ends. Two weeks into the flowering, I installed a second 400W HPS light and now the coverage for a 3 foot by 6.5 foot screen is perfect. But by that time, I had lost control and my SCRoG became a SOG- without permission from me. If you plan any kind of managed grow, such as a SCRoG, be realistic about your even light coverage. I made the correct change at week two, but it cost me a great deal in terms of bud potential lost. The new tandem light rack is excellent.

My second mistake was realized when I opened my closet door to smell that unmistakable smell of unhealthy plants. Leaf tips yellowing. A little curl. Oh no, nute burn! My heretofore and otherwise perfect crop was overdosed!

Fortunately, I noticed right away and flushed and did what was needed to fix the problem. Only one plant suffered much, but it would suffer all the way to harvest- a PPP plant that produced only half compared to its sister. Why did one PPP burn and the other thrive? How had I messed up the nutes / ph level so badly? NEXT MISTAKE: I USED THE DROP AND CHART METHOD FOR MEASURING PH- NOT A DIGITAL METER. I DID NOT HAVE A PH, TDS OR EC METER AT THE BEGINNING OF MY GROW.

The problem was twofold: I didn't have a good digital ph meter, EC meter, or TDS meter to know absolutely what was going into my soil. The second problem was that I had them in different sized pots! I ran out of three gallon pots and used one 2.5 gallon pot instead. Because I made another rookie mistake of not filling them up to the top with my potting mix, they settled to to thirds full of mix by the time things had watered in. The one smaller pot had less dirt mass to dissipate the nutes and therefore burned roots more readily. I saved it, but it cost me. ALWAYS USE THE SAME SIZED POTS, ALWAYS USE THE BIGGEST POTS PRACTICAL. ALWAYS PLANT THEM UP TO NEARLY FULL.

I grew the seeds from seed in a small flouro veg room, where I also grew my clones in a home made bubble cloner. Then, they went into the flowering room. I had painted the room flat white and it seemed very bright to me. But the reflective mylar that I added halfway through my grow, pathethic thouugh it may be, obviously made a difference, scattering lots of light into the buds, along the back sides of the buds, etc.. GET THE MYLAR, HANG IT UP!

At first, I did not want to mess with C02. So I pretended it didn't matter all that much. Then I got the C02 religion from Rumple. He said it made a 30% growth difference in the buds, so I became a believer. I tried all kinds of hinky C02 ideas before just getting the damn tank and regulator set up. Actually, mine is a work in progress- a fairly manual system. But it makes a big difference in terms of bud growth. I am a believer. GET A CO2 GOING BEFORE YOU FLIP TO FLOWER.

That's about it. This grow was a blast and very encouraging. The buds all get broken up anyway and so far, I really like the smoke. I have enough to get me to my next harvest in Denver, no sweat. I expect that my next grow closet will be about the same footprint, with slightly higher ceilings, which wil be welcomed.

SCRoG is a great way to grow, Even by expanding the center of the plant somewhat, I created many secondary budsites to become 3 inchers at harvest. I will refine my SCRoG technique, use fewer plants for a higher yield, and continue to learn as I go. Many thanks to the contributors here.

gm

 

Smell has been a challenge, but not one that we cannot overcome. The grow room was in the basement, in an old hot water heater closet. First thing I did was to clean and disinfect the place as I got the wiring issuers sorted out. Then I stapled up 10 mil plastic over every surface. I even caulked the seams of the plastic to make an air tight capsule out of the room. If I had not done this, the smell would have seeped right up through the kitchen floor, where every visitor eventually hangs out. The fans that cool the lights are ducted through a couple of closets to a basement chimney vert, so a bunch of the smell goes right out the chimney- 15 feet over street level.

I chose Skunk #1 as my first crop precisely because it seemed to me that it would give me the greatest odor challenge. If I can deal with Skunk, I ought to be able to deal with less aromatic strains. With air fresheners, incense, and dryer sheets on the light housings, it has been an almost undetectable grow. But almost is not good enough, so I will continue to refine this aspect, among others. I want to evolve my next space so that I am cooling and returning the lamp air, keeping the entire system more or less ‘closed', saving my C02 content. I will try some ideas in my next grow room that I did not have here.

You can also just grow the strains that don't smell so much too. That might be easier / simpler than my crazy experiments.

thanks!


gm.