What up growers! Welcome to my 4th grow. After 3 runs with a 250w HPS, I decided to upgrade to a 600w HPS dimmable. As with all my grows, I'm going to scrog this one out as well. Pics from my last grow: This time I'm working with: Darkroom 100: 1m x 1m (40in x 40in) Ballast: Lumatek 600w dimmable for flower Reflector: Air cooled Hood Fluorescent tubes 110w for early veg Extractor fan: 800 m3/hr - 470 cfm Ventilation: 3 Clip Fans, 1 20'' fan, 1 PC Fan I got some temp problems. During my test runs without the air cooled hood - just the bare reflector, and the ballast set to 400w, the temps have reached 30C / 86F. If that doesn't improve when it gets colder outside, I can prolly forget about setting it to 600w.. but we'll see. Installing the air cooled hood might help as well. I'm planning to do two runs this winter and I'm starting off with some short flowering strains. Thinking that I can fit 5 plants for the scrog I'm hoping to grow: 2 x Cinderella 99 from Female Seeds 1 x Blue Cheese from Barney's 1 x Sweet Deep Grapefruit from Dinafem 1 x Power Kush from Dinafem However, the C99 has proven to be a challenge to germinate. While all the other seeds have popped, the first C99 seed sprouted 2 stems, like a conjoined twin. The other C99 still hasn't come thru. So for back up I've popped another C99, and 2 Pineapple Express seeds. I will try to grow them all for about 3 weeks then select the 5 best for the scrog. Day 1 of 18/6 (Sept 21) This is day one for the Sweet Deep Grapefruit, Power Kush, 2 x Blue Cheese and the conjoined C99 twins, under the 110w fluorescent. After about 2 weeks I'll switch to HPS. Temps peaked at 25.7C / 78F. Humidity: 60 % - 65%
Day 5 of 18/6 On day 2 I watered them all for the first time. pH'd to 6.8 til i got a bit of a runoff. I also cut off the weaker looking twin of the C99. The C99 #2 and #3 finally came thru on day 4. I know it's way too early to tell, but as of now I like how the two Blue Cheese seedlings look. The stems didn't stretch as much and are thicker than the others, and their leaves are bigger than the others... And look at the C99 #1, she doesn't seem to be bothered that i cut the twin off. just my observation lol... i know no action yet, but the grow bug got me again. Temps: Room Temp: Avg 22.8 C Outside: 19 C/12 C Box: 22 C when intake ducting is hooked to the window 26 C when intake comes from the room
Day 9 of 18/6 The C99 #3 died after about 2 days of breaking the surface. I knew there was sumthin wrong with it when I noticed that the cotyledon had some cuts on the side when it popped out of the seed. That's ok tho, the Pinaepple Express joined the party on day 5. On day 7 I switched the fluros with a 250 HPS. I will be rockin this for the next 2 weeks or so. Temp with the HPS peaks at 27C / 80F. But mostly stays around 25.5C / 78 F. Notes from the past few days: - Sweet Deep Grapefruit and Power Kush showing a noticeable stretch from cotyledon to first true leave - Both Blue Cheese seedlings have tight spacing. Both have big leaves, Blue Cheese 1 is slightly bigger. - C99 #1 is the smallest from the first 5 batch - C99#2 and Pineapple Express are looking strong From the top, clockwise: C99#1, Pineapple Express, Sweet Deep Grapefruit, c99#2, Power Kush, Blue Cheese #2, Blue Cheese #1 Blue Cheese #1:
Day 14 of 18/6 I just watered them once on day 2 and up to now the soil is still pretty moist. So I will wait with watering until it really starts to get dry on the top inch. The Sweet Deep Grapefruit, Power Kush and the Blue Cheese #1 appear to be the most vigorous from the batch. The C99#2 being 4 days younger has caught up to the C99#1, as the #1 (the former siamese twin) has slowed down considerably. Temps have gone up for some reason to 28C -29.5C.
Day 22 The jungle is getting dense, as the fan leaves are getting bigger by the day. The plants have around 5-7 nodes and I'm planning to top them at the beginning of the next light cycle at the 5th node. I watered them (the first 5) just for the 2nd time at day 20, as I've really had to hold back my urge of watering them too early. In the past I tended to water more frequent during the early phase, but i believe that lead to pH problems amongst other things. The C99#2 and Pineapple Express received their water 2 days after. They all look healthy, leaves are spotless. The Sweet Deep Grapefruit and Power Kush are the biggest from the batch - big up to Dinafem! The Blue Cheese 1 has just as many nodes, while the Blue Cheese 2 is a bit behind.. however both of them are very short in stature. At this point it appears that the C99#1 will be the first to be scratched from the team. She came out as a Siamese Twin.. now she looks just a bit pale, development a bit slow and she grows sideways. On the contrary, the C99#2 is very vigorous.. you can clearly see the sativa characteristics in her. The Pineapple Express is catching up as well. So yea.. next week I'm going to switch to HPS hope I dont have to install the air cooled hood. Its a pain to change the whole ventilation system. Right after that I can start building the screen and get my scrogging on! Happy Growin everyone!
Day 29 of 18/6 It's been quite a busy week for me and my babies. On the 25th day I transplanted the 3 strongest looking from the first batch. I selected the Blue Cheese #1, Power Kush and the Sweet Deep Grapefruit. The roots weren't really poking thru the bottom then, but when i transplanted them i noticed how the roots were already wrapping around the corners. Hope thats not leading too rootbound or something, but really it always happens. So since then they been sitting in their final 11 l / 3 gallons pot. The C99#1 and Blue Cheese #2 got topped on that day too but left them in the small pots. On day 26 I topped the first 3 i transplanted the day before. I took the cuttings hoping they will root.. I didnt have any rooting hormones and the cuttings are really small, maybe about 5 cm, 2 nodes. On day 27 I transplanted the C99#2, which by the way looks very impressive and the Pineapple Express. I cloned the C99#2 too and watered the first 3 only for the 2nd time. On the 28th day I switched to the 400w HPS. I got the bulb in an air cooled hood, but the glass isn't attached yet. The whole garden appears much brighter and with that the temps increased to about 28C - 88F and i'm not sure if the 400w is really that much more effective than the 250w.. since i had to raise the lights as well. Based on the HPS distance/lumen chart, the canopy get about the same amount of lumen. Well I might have to attach the glass before i'm going to switch to 12/12, its just a fuckin hassel to change the set up. So I've already eliminated the C99#1 and Blue Cheese #2 from the scrog but i'm still going to keep them around in their small pots as back up, should God forbid, one of the first five turn male or something.
Day 35 of 18/6 The SCROG is in effect! Alright, on day 33 I decided to put the glass back on to the hood to cool the bulb down. So I had to change the ventilation system. Since then I set the ballast to 600w while I'm sleeping and back to 400w before I go to my day job. I have to do it due to outside temps rising during the day. Obviously I won't have to switch back to 400w in the flowering phase, because the lights will be out by the time I'm going to work. Also on the same day I fixed the screen at about 12 inches above soil level. The Pineapple Express reached the screen first, followed by the C99. The Sweet Deep Grapefruit is just a bit taller than the Power Kush, however the Blue Cheese grows very short. I had to build some blocks under the pot to bring the BC closer to the screen. I noticed some small holes in the new leaves of the SDG... Not sure if it comes from insects, I haven't actually seen any but some small flies flying around the house and in and out of the tent. I was told in the past that this could be due to pH issues? It's interesting how much the temps vary across the screen. With 600w, the left side is gets the hottest with temps around 30C / 86F.. while just a bit further to the right I get 27C / 80F. Last night I discovered some of the ducting not properly attached to the Reflector and the Fan, so I will fix that later hoping to bring temps down some more. But I was wondering, if the temps stay at 27C - 30C... should I keep it at 600w, or switch back to 400w?
Count me in bro, that set up looks sweet, id definetly use the 600 during flowering if you can keep the temps down. It can only increase your yield. How bigs your scrog net, im just still trying to figure out how many i can scrog in the space i have.
Oh yes a good scrog journal. Nice detail bro, great photos as well. As for your question about going back to 400. Well lets face it you didn't buy that light to go back to 400. you bought it for the horsepower and the option to run 400 if a situation came up where that was better for the plants ( unless I am mistaken ). So figure it out and give the light an honest test. It will be worth it the 600 is one of the most popular ones. I am pulling up a chair for this one. I have always wanted to learn scrog. Looks like you know how to do it. I'm all in.
So I recently went through some of the temp issues with my new light and tent this August. I can't tell where your intake air comes from and where the exhaust air goes. But I like the top photo of how that grow turned out. Can't wait to see this one.
Hey man! Thanks for the feedback. I think the high temps issues just solved itself... it started to snow on Saturday, plus fixing the ducting helped as well. The hottest spot on the screen is now only 27C / 80F. My net is 1m x 1m / 40'' x 40''. IMO you can fit as many plants in there as u like. Some like to scrog just 1 plant under a big ass screen... but not everyone has the time to veg that long. Plus I like to have some variety.
Thanks for the kind words. Yea man hop in, hope the ride will run smoothly! So as I said above, I just went to the whole 18 hrs light phase without dimming down to 400w with no issues.. due to the outside temperature dropping over the weekend. I scrogged ever since my first grow... Building the screen is the hardest part. .. otherwise there's nothing difficult about it. You just gotta train them to keep the canopy as even as possible. I can understand getting temps issues in August. I dunno what it is with me, the hight temps was driving me nuts. It's ok now cuz the temps outside are freezing... but it wouldn't be enough if it was just cold outside. For intake, I got two ducting squeezed in a small window opening, they run directly into the bottom of the tent. Plus I got two small passive intakes at the bottom as well. The exhaust is aimed at a window opening too. But I don't feel like it makes a difference, when I close the window for the exhaust to stay in the room. However, i can already sense my next problem! The snow brought the humidity down to 15-20% AND tomorrow when I'm at work and the lights go off at 2pm, I won't be there to remove the ducting for the intake from the window. Without light and this temps outside my plants will probably freeze.
Sounds like the warmth from the lights will be a welcome feeling in your set-up. thats a good situation to have man. Maybe add a space heater to the room. I am considering one for a planned grow in garage this winter.
Yea first time dealing with low temps issues and low humidity too. The temp dropped to 13C/55F, I think that might be the reason the plants look kinda "tired"...
Day 38 of 18?6 Last night I gave the Blue Cheese, Power Kush and Sweet Deep Grpfruit their first taste of Canna Vega. Just a 1/4 dose for starters. Today after training I saw tiny pre flowers on all of them The screen is 40% filled and I think it's about time to switch to 12/12.. but i'll wait a couple days, i dont wanna hurt the yield.
Not really. I know i can't make 1gr/watt... but shiiet i will be happy if i can get 0.5/gram from 5 killer phenos! anyway i'm kinda pissed cuz i broke one of the Pineapple Express' top while training. The PE is the highest one and closest to the net, therefore making the bending more tricky.. and this one just popped like sum crispy carrot man.. straight suppercropped it. its still attached but just by some very thin tissue.. i hope it survives... I got a question tho! I always adjust ph before i water or feed, trying to keep the runoff at 6.5. But i always hear some people say there's no need for that in soil. What's your opinion? Plus.. my pH down solution says its for hydro and coco, but the grow shop guy said it can be used for soil too. It doesn't seem that it has caused a problem with my last grow with it, but the grow before that produced bland tasting buds!
Day 40 / Day 1 switch So it's time to switch this bitch. This light cycle marks the start of the first 12/12 session. I'm expecting to see some crowns in the next 10-14 days poppin up everywhere. I start counting the flowering time only after the bud sites actually start to flower and not from the day of the switch. At this point I must say that the plants I grew before with only a 250w HPS were just about the same size as this batch, for which i used a 250w the first 2 weeks then switched to 400/600w after.
I'm hoping for at least 400 grams. But as long as the quality is dank I'm ok with even less. Quality over quantity all day!