Hello GC! Nice to meet you! Im looking for some feedback and to learn some more about a wonderful past time....cultivation!!!!
After long procrastination I have finally started my 2011 GROW LOG. I will start with basic info and add pictures later tonight. I am a registered Caregiver in the state of MICHIGAN. I started cultivating in March 2010, for the first year my garden was in a local office strip, with that said you can imagine the anxiety. We grew in 5gal soil and 5 gal DWC hydro. During that year there was alot of learning from our failures. I don't claim to know it all and I strive to learn more. I hope to help out some newbies with the experiences that i have encountered and learn from you experts out there. Now to the brass tacks! In December 2010 I started construction at my home and added a garden upstairs. I currently manage a perpetual garden. I can care for 5 patients plus myself and i can possess 12 plants per person i care for (6*12=72plants). I have furthermore made it easy for law enforcement to understand if i were ever to be raided...each patient was designated a color (influenced by reservoir dogs), so there are 12 painted buckets for patient Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Red & orange. My flower room consist of 8 SCROG carts, each cart holds 4 plants and each cart is one week off set in growth....so there are 32 plants, 4 at each week of flower growth. So i harvest 4 plants a week, depending on the genetic i will get 10- 15 onces/weekly. Having 32 plants in flower leaves me with 40 in my veg room. Room Dimensions: Veg - 13*9 and a closet Flower- 13*25 Lights: Veg- My plants go from clone to solo then to 5gal...Cloning and Solo they are under small fluorescents. Once in 5 gal they go under (2) 4ft T5 6bulb. As they grow they move under (2) 400/w MH lights. Flower- I have (6) 600/w Hps and (2) 1000/w Hps...the 1000/w sit above week 3 and week 5. Nutes: I have changed nutes throughout the years, I try to be as organic as i can. I am currently using Roots Organics (bloom, Grow, HP2 HPK,), General Organics (bioBud and Cal-Mag), Earth Juice (Meta-K and Microblast), Blackstrapp Molasses, Extreme Gardening (Mykos and Azos). In veg i rarely give nutes maybe a few feeds of only grow, azos and microblast. For flower i had been brewing a tea for every feed but do to some stress and yellowing i have started to feed every other watering and i water every other day. Soil: I use fox Farm, i mix 2 bags of ocean forrest with 1 bag of happy frog. or a similar ratio when transplanting many plants. Genetics: My tried and true females are Grand Daddy Purps (from the Bay area of Cali) and Strawberry Diesel (KKSC crossed with SourD or NYCD)...Those two i always keep then i pop a bean or grab a clone of something and try to add to the "top shelf" selection. I have grown White Widow, White Russian, Rocklock, Lemon Skunk, Coletrain, OG 18, Super Lemon Haze, Tangerine Dream, WhiteFire OG, Strawberry Bubba, Northern Lights, Acapulco Gold, Chocolope, Le Blanca and Purple Kush in the past. I have recently started Maui Wowwie, ICE, Vanilla Kush (BF), Lemon Skunk (DNA), Pineapple Express (unknown). My yields range by genetic but the lowest yielding plant is the Grand Daddy Purps (GDP) and i reap 2.55 oz/per plant from the 4 i cut this week. And i can get upwards of 4 with some of the more vigorous plants.
Water: This was new to me and a large headache in the begining....i have a well and as nice as it is not having to pay for water the water i get is so fucking HARD! I had a water test done, out of the tap it was 450 ppm...mostly comprised of calcium and magnesium. I have added a 50gal drum in my crawl space and that fills with RO water, then a well pump pushes that clean water up stair via well pump to the faucet in my grow room. Now ppms are 20. Air: My lights are air cooled but the air comes from the attic so heat can build up. Also, i have two large carbon filters on one side of the room and vent fans on the other side (connected by ducting) to create a nice smell and circulate the air a Little bit. I also have five wall mount fans that push solid movement. Temp & Humidity: I have (2) 14,200BTU ac units that cool my room and a dehumidifier. Depending on the time of year it can get a little warm but now that we are getting in the cooler months it is getting more comfortable. My temps stay in the low 80's (80-86ish) throughout the day and humidity is about 35-40%. Controllers: My controller handles my vent fans, AC, Humidifier and CO2 regulator. I haven't been filling CO2 as much because getting the tank filled and upstairs every week has been quite annoying. I hope to get a CO2 Burner in the future to make life a little easier.
Now to the better managed and redesigned garden..... Welcome to THE HERBAL COLLECTIVE! VEG Room [/ATTACH]
100amp Sub panel wired to timers then ceiling outlets One side of room other side SCROG cart 3ft*3ft, 2ft high(wood) on wheel. Added the screens after a few grows. all pvc and rope and that sit 20inches off the cart base.
Controller A/C Power Week 1 & 2 Week 4 &3 Week 5 & 6 Week 8 & 7 Full Garden shot The carts snake around the room, every week or so "week 8" plants are harvested and the 4 largest plants in the Veg are suppercropped and put in that cart and shifted to the week 1 position.