Grim's BF Red Dragon Grow Journal...Roots Organics nutes/CFL lights...never too late

Hey buds...I decided that instead of making a thread every week detailing some aspect of my 1st grow i'd just put up this thread with as much details as I can remember.

Basics:

1 feminized Barney's Farm Red Dragon:
The parentage of this line is exotic – a West Himalayan Kush crossed with a true breeding Brazilian sativa. (Utopia Haze) “These buds have a distinct and immediate, exotic sativa high, but is followed minutes later by a wonderful undertow of a solid Kush stone that lasts and lasts. Finished buds have a taste and smell of sweet guava fruit. Red Dragon grows medium short, (80cm) and produces heavy colas of unique red/green buds. Flowering time is short ( max - 9 weeks) giving big yield of highly prized product, that finishes by mid to end September.
Orientation: Feminized
Quantity: 5 seed or 10 seed pack
Type: Indica / Sativa
Genetics: Brazilian. Afghani
Yield: Optimum indoor. 500 gr/m2
Indoor Height: 55 - 65 cm
Indoor flowering time: 65 to 75 days
Outdoor harvest time: Mid/End September
THC: 23 % CBD: 1.2 %

Grow Dimensions:
18" x 19" x 36"

Soil:
- Started seedling in mix of Fox Farm Light Warrior and Roots Organics potting soil (70-30 mix) in a 2 inch peat cup
- In vegetative I transplanted into a 1 gallon plastic pot with 70-30 mix of roots organic soil cut with 30 % Light Warrior and also sprinkled some Bio-AG VAM Endo mix on/around my roots system when transplanting
- In flowering I transplanted into a 3 gallon smart pot container with same 70-30 mix of roots organics soil and FF light warrior with another dash of Bio-AG VAM mix

Water:
-Watered with Aquafina bottle water when still in seedling stage
-In vegetative and flowering started using Rite Aid purified 1 gallon waters because Tap in my area is atrocious. It's def a bitch getting 1 gallon purified water.

Nutes:
-Roots Organics Nutrients except Extreme Serene which was replaced with Neptunes Harvest Liquid Kelp.

Lights:
4 x 6500k 42 watt cfl's for veg
4 x 2700k 42 watt cfls for flowering

Other nick-nacks:
A humidor temp/humidity gauge
power strip
HTG supply 4 inch inline booster fan
Black/white poly
Bamboo stakes
heat mat
12 inch clear plastic run-off tray
2 x 2 ft. jack chain with hooks


I made this thread to also help me compile data and notes for corrections and improvements for future grows as well as advice from all blades.

Pics will be uploaded soon from what I have until now (6 weeks flowering)

 

Here's some pics from my seedling stage:

- lights were kept on 24/0 for 3 weeks into first week of veg.
- I watered about every 4-5 days (learned from my scrapped 1st Tangerine Dream grow that I was over watering, like 2x a day.
- I used shot glass method where I soaked my RD seed in a shot glass of aquafina bottled water for about 18 hours then the paper towel method and placed it inside a small tupperware container on a heat mat...got great results...sprouted in 1-2 days.
After getting about 2mm radicle I planted inside soil mix in peat 2 inch pot.

***Don't ever use those peat cups again...made soil dry out very quickly and just a bunk product to grow cannabis imo...would use solo cup in next grow.

 

Here's some pics of the vegetative stage...mostly plant problems I faced:

- switched lights to 20/4 after advice from Deacon. I saw much more growth with 20/4 than I did with 24/0
- tried using nutes way too early, and corrected that by not using nutes until flowering
- started using 3 6500k and 1 2700k bulbs towards week 3-5 of veg beforehand it was only 2x 42 watt 6500k bulbs on a y-splitter being held on a power strip upside down inside my grow cab.
- used some aluminum ginger ale cans as ghetto reflectors for my bulbs
- noticed bottom leaves starting to yellow and wither...possibly from nute toxicity.
- I transplanted into a 1 gallon plastic pot with some Bio Ag Vam mix sprinkled inside pot and on rootball
- noticed light burns to some of my leaves...or what I think were light burns...

***For future grows...since space is tight...veg for 3-4 weeks instead of 5

- began LST'ing by using string and holes around my plastic container by just bending over top portion of stem to form a 90 degree angle and using another piece of string to hold the bottom stem in place in case of excessive tug from the top...to counterbalance the plant.

 

Here's pics from the early flowering stage - 4/25/11

- switched out 6500k bulbs for 4x 42 watt 2700k bulbs on 2 y-splitters
- my soil imo really held up nicely with supplying my plant with nutes until about week 3 of flowering
- I saw sex of my plant about 1 week after switching to 12/12
- noticed alot of cupping of leaves...don't know what this meant
- noticed light burns towards my canopy
- noticed some leaves were yellowing towards the bottom and drying up...possible lack of lighting down there, also lack of nutes

***for next grow try and get some side lighting going

- smell really wasn't a problem until you got close to the plant...RD really does have a guava smell to it...kinda spicy sweet.
- temperatures were 65 degrees at night and a high of 76ish during the day
- watered 1x every 7 days at this stage
- Started LST'ing heavily because of sidebranching taking over my small grow cabinet...had my main stem forming almost a loop towards the top
- Also switched from tying string directly on stems to just using a simple loop and pull...found it to be less stressful and didn't cause indents in stems.
- watered with quarter strength nutes at about week 2 of flowering then plain water then 50% strength and so on to work my way up.
- did notice some nute burn on lower leaves.

Heres a link to more pics:
http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-...s-into-flowering-i-need-some-tips-advice.html

I'll provide recent pics asap.

Any advice or comments are welcomed and appreciated.

 

Here's some updated pics: 5/15/11

6 weeks into flower!

- about 2 1/2 feet tall with smart pot. Would have easily been 3+ feet if I had not LST'd.
- soil dries out about every 6 days right now
- temps are 68 at night and between the ranges of 71-76 during the day
- another note...I don't have a oscillating fan...the one in my pic is just blowing continually on the plant. it's a 7 inch fan and with my limited space I either need to find a couple smaller rotating fans or just keep this one

Grow Cab:






Canopy:




Lower branches (base):





Porn:

 

Hey, thanks chunk

your right, my budget was tight...i'd say $500-600 or so for everything. Just caught the greenthumb and basically tired of dealing with dealers.

This grow started off not so well and I just took advice from yourself, deacon, possum, lumper, and others grows like smoove's and sarge's to pick it up.

If I can atleast get an eighth off this grow I'll be a really happy man.

 

Just wanted to do a slight update:

Pics were taken from my latest watering...some notes:
- I overdosed on nutes...I learned my lesson...
- started getting burnt tips on some leaves from 2-3 weeks ago and from the pics you can see the damage that was caused.
- right now i'm just waiting for all the yellowed leaves to become crispy before I pull them off.
- I flushed my 3 gallon smart pot with 4 gallons of water (didn't have 6) and I added about 5 ml of Neptune's Harvest seaweed fertilizer
- i'm almost at 3 weeks until chop so these last couple weeks are critical
- right now tempratures in my area are touching 90 degrees so keeping it cool in my grow space is becoming harder

5/19




5/25 - during flush watering
Progressive yellowing of leaves

 

Chunk thanks bud

Hornedfrog...mine does slightly stink but it's not overwhelming yet...it's a real spicy/fruity smell i'm getting right now. I co-sign with you that when I get up to drying and curing it will be some stinky stuff.

How many weeks did you let your RD go to before harvest? I'm at 8 weeks right now and probably gonna chop at 11 but what I noticed is that the top of the colas are starting to shoot out white pistils recently and my trichs are still clearish. I planned everything for chop in 3 weeks so I hope it sticks that way.

Since it's my first grow I don't know how much can get done in 3 weeks.

Also i'm getting alot of progressive yellowing of leaves. I hoped the flush last week had helped but I guess nothing can be done since its so close to harvest time...

Hornedfrog lend me any advice you can bud...it would be much appreciated.

 

Yea i'm def going to 11 with this one...i'm going on week 9 right now...alot of great resin development...porn pics coming your way tomorrow after last dosage of nutes.

I'm guessing yellowing in late flower is nothing out of the ordinary but someone could also chime in on this because i'm getting a bit of it now.

I put in 1 6500k yesterday so now it's 3x 2700k and 1x 6500k with 42 watts a piece.
It's gonna be a bitch but I figure since my lights are on 2 y-splitters form a square shape I would switch the 6500k and rotate it to the next socket every 2 days to see if that helps with my final product.

Heat is becoming an issue for me right now but thank god I started my grow in february. Next time around i'll start in January. Not really a problem with lights off...it's actually optimal conditions for the drying phase so i'm happy about that.

Stay tuned...and any other comments are much appreciated and welcomed.

 

Yea horned frog mine is getting super resinous as well...i'm actually suprised i'm doing this well on my first grow. Just a couple more weeks until chop.

Horned how was the high and how much did your RD yield?

Here's an update:
Most of my plant leaves withered and/or yellowed due to me not taking into consideration that the increasing temperture in my area/growroom reduced my plants watering time from 6 days down to maybe 4-5. Could also possibly be root expansion.
But it was a lesson learned. I made a thread in the advanced section asking if letting the soil dry out fully between waterings helped increase resin and I got a mixed bag of answers. Needless to say on day 6 when I did water...my bud size were reduced, the stems were emaciated and almost toppling over.

- I gave my last batch of roots organics nutes to my plant on Monday, next will be just a plain watering and then the following week will be my Flush...approximately 10 days before chop.
- I've decided to leave all leaves on my plant until chop...don't want to stress her out more than I need to.
- i've gotten my grow room temps down to 78-84ish degrees at lights on.

***Note to self: in my area it would be better to grow indica strains starting in sept-oct, and sativa/sativa dominants in jan-feb.

Some pics from last night...not the best of pics:
5/29-5/31







Glory shots:

 

Update: 5/5

- removed alot of dead matter from my plant...did not want to attract any unnecessary bodies.
- I switched my lighting schedule from 11.5/12.5 back to 12/12. Hope that helps my buds swell some more in these last 2 weeks
- Flushing will occur in about 4 days
- I left some of the dried up leaves on the bud until harvest so that it would be easier to remove the petioles

Dead Material:


Trimmed: