Hey everyone, I'm into my latest grow and trying something I haven't done before. I'm using a low-power LED panel over each plant until it's time to flower. So far, here's what I've done with this crop: Sunday, August 29, 2010, is the first day in the Ebb and Flow system. Plants are about 4 inches tall from the lava rock with the exception of Tub 4. That one is barely clearing the lava rock. Tubs are numbered Tub 1 = Front left, Tub 2 = Rear left, Tub 3 = Rear right and Tub 4 = Front right Each plant was rooted in an aeroponic system and then given very mild vegging nutrients for two weeks before moving them to the Ebb and Flow system. All four clones were under a single 28 watt LED "GlowPanel" for this entire time. The initial nutrients are half strength General Hydroponics 3 part Flora Series. The LEDs are always about 4 inches above the plant tops. Room temp is 78F and no air conditioning is necessary to maintain this temp. I have a fan blowing into the room from a larger room next to it just for some air movement. Pump is set to my usual timing of one hour on, two hours off.
Everything is running smoothly. Tub 4 is gaining some height and side branching is starting to show. I’m going to start tracking plant heights. Measured from top of lava to tip of tallest part of each plant. Tub 1 = 8” Tub 2 = 10” Tub 3 = 10.5” Tub 4 = 5”
Today is the 14th day since putting the plants into the E&F system. I’ll measure them each Saturday from now until harvest to keep it at even weeks. Measured from top of lava to tip of tallest part of each plant. Tub 1 = 10” Tub 2 = 10.5” Tub 3 = 13” Tub 4 = 6.5” Just topped off the reservoir. pH is holding nicely at 6.1 and the plants are starting to use some nutrient solution now.
Topped all four plants last night. All of them are still looking great. The LEDs have them growing very well and with great side branching and structure. No signs of any deficiencies. The room temp is staying between 74 and 80F without the air-conditioner. This is the largest advantage to using the LEDs. It gives me some down time on the electric costs during the vegging cycle. When using the HPS lights for the equivalent growth, I would have to use the air-conditioning and 860 watts of HPS, (two 430's). These LEDs and I are going to develop a long and lasting friendship.
Ok, well, after all the work in the new grow rooms last night, I forgot to take my Saturday update pics. I just took them now. Keep in mind that all four of these plants have had nothing but a single 28 watt LED over each of them so far. Tub 1, (Front Left), is now 12.5" tall Tub 2, (Rear Left), is now 12.5" tall Tub 3, (Rear Right), is now 15" tall Tub 4, (Front Right), is now 9" tall All four plants are still showing no signs of any deficiencies and are growing fantastic side branching. "Shorty", (Tub-4), is catching up to the others and after topping, all four have now recovered and are each growing two main colas and 5 side branches each. This strain has the nicest side branching of any strain I've grown. On my last harvest, I got quality buds which were dense and fully potent, from the side branches and at the level of the lava rock. As I replace the nutrient solution that is used, I'm now replacing it with full strength vegging solution. P98BK has one hell of a tolerance for nitrogen. The worst burn I've ever seen on it so far is only the very tips of the leaves. For now, there is no burn what-so-ever as the solution strength migrates from half-strength to full strength GH 3-Part Flora Series nutrients. This P98BK strain just keeps on impressing me with it's growth, stamina and characteristics.
I can't believe I dropped an LED panel right on top of my plant! But I did! Everything is set back up. The plant in Tub-4 got smashed down a bit, but no branches were broken, no leaves torn off. By this evening or tomorrow morning, the plant should be perked back up and looking good again. In all these years, I've never done that! You ought to have heard me cuss....haha EDIT: Crap! Two branches were snapped off. The last crop, I had problems in that tub too. I have a poltergeist in my grow tub! Oh well, I still got 21 ozs last time with nothing from that tub, so this crop will be about 21 oz too. That works for me.
Just to clarify my growing methods that I'll be using upon the completion of my two new grow rooms, here is the process I'll be using: 1. Clip cuts from Host Plants and put them into areoponic cloner to root using K-L-N rooting hormones. Root them for 35 days under the 28w LED I'm using. This puts them at about 6" tall with massive roots. 2. Move the clones to the vegging tubs. These tubs are the same in all three of my grow rooms and can be disconnected and moved from room to room. The clones stay 35 days in vegging in this room. 3. Move the tubs to the flowering room and flower for 70 days. Each 35 days, I'll start a new flowering crop from the vegging room. The plants will move in 35 day increments from rooting to vegging to flowering to harvest. The plants in the flowering rooms will harvest with alternating 35 days periods. Well, that's the plan. Until now, I've had the Host Plants and the rooting crammed into the master bath. The vegging and flowering has been done in my only grow room to date on about 70 day cycles. My new system will triple my current annual harvest weight. On a side note, I'm going to build a 30" x 30" x 72" dual LED grow box and attempt a full rooting-vegging-flowering system using nothing but the same 28w LEDs. It'll be interesting to see how it works. I'll be starting another thread for just that grow. I should be starting it in about another month.
Well, as the pics show, the plants have come along nicely. Tub 4, after having an LED panel dropped on it and two branches broken off, has recovered great and I used LST on two of the remaining branches to bring them all to the same height. It's definitely going to be the runt again this crop. To provide perspective, the tubs the plants are in, are 18.5 inches long and 15.5 inches wide. Tub 1, (Front Left) 14 inches tall. Tub 2, (Rear Left) 17 inches tall. Tub 3, (Rear Right) 19 inches tall. Tub 4, (Front Right) "Shorty" 7 inches tall. Again, I have to say that the 28w LED panels are working better than I had even hoped. The growth isn't quite as tall as they would have been using an HPS, but what they lack in height, they've gained in branching and staying extremely tight in Inter-Nodal length. Today is day 29 of 35 that I'll be vegging. October 2nd will be the last day of vegging, and at that point, as I replenish the used nutrient solution, I'll replace it with full strength General Hydroponic 3-Part Flora Series Flowering nutrients. I feel that by doing it this way, it gives each plant a transition period to adjust to the flowering nutrients. October 3 will be the first day of 12/12 lighting using two 430w Hortilux LU 430S/HTL/EN "Super HPS EN" bulbs. Later in the flowering cycle, when the plants have grown wall to wall, I'll be adding a third light.
Day #1 of Flowering. Well, my last "Single" crop is now into it's flowering cycle. The LEDs have been packed away and two 430w HPS are now over the plants. I'll add the third 430w HPS as soon as the plants are large enough to use it. This will harvest this coming December 11th. November 11th, I'll start the 35 day rooting of the continuous grow. December 16th, those clones will move to vegging and another set of cuts will move to the rooting area. The first of the continuous crops will be cured and ready on April 14th, and from that point forward, I'll have another ready each 35 days. Man, I cannot wait for the entire process to be running smoothly. Tub-1, 17 inches tall. Tub-2, 21 inches tall. Tub-3, 21 inches tall. Tub-4, (Shorty) 12 inches tall. (Shorty has made quite a come-back after being crushed by an LED panel).
It's a "GlowPanel45" thier 28 watt version. I really didn't think it would work as well as it has. An aeroponic rooting/ebb and flow vegging growth done under these panels works extremely well. The branching is what amazes me. And the almost touching, Inter-Nodal length to the entire plant. For flowering??? Ehhh, I think I'll stick with my HPS for now. I'll run a few tests using LEDs and make some decisions then.
Ok, it took me awhile to cut and paste all that from one format to another, into this site. Now I'm up to date with my Journal and will post normally now. My eyes are killing me now....haha btw, it's good to meet everyone.
Yes, that's what I did. The cuttings were all under one of the panels. It covered them well while they rooted. Then when I moved them into the Ebb and Flow, I put a panel over each of the clones. At 10 PM on October 2nd, they entered their first dark period. They've now had 3 days of flowering. Tomorrow, I'm going to start bringing the branches over to even the canopy. Within 3 or 4 days, I should have the canopy nice and even and about 6 inches shorter. I'll bring tubs 1, 2 and 3 even with tub 4. I should get about 5 new tops from the LST allowing side branching to become primary branches. Within the next two weeks, I hope to fill the entire room with tops.
Well, here we are at Day 42 of growth and Day 4 of Flowering. The plants are all nice and healthy and growing like crazy. Tub-1 is at 22" Tub-2 is at 26" Tub-3 is at 27" Tub-4 (Shorty) is at 17" I think because of Shorty's stretching as a result of being further from the lights than the other plants, she may catch up. I won't see the same weight in bud from her, but at least she'll produce. No way to take individual pics of the ladies now, so just a group pic.
I've decided to *not* utilize LST on this crop. My intentions are to see how this strain will react to growing naturally until harvest. The new grow rooms I'll be using for my next and all further crops have been modified for this type of growing. I've increased the amount of grow chambers to 8, (double the past and present amount), and I think by doing so, the room will max out with growth having no plants modified via LST or topping. This will allow the plants to grow faster due to no growth interruptions resulting from LST or topping. I believe that I'll have thicker colas with less colas per/plant, but more colas per/room as a result of having 8 plants instead of 4. The current crop will give me a partial view of the upcoming expectations. I've topped the plants this time, but no LST will be used. On the next crop, no topping or LST will be used. The plants will grow naturally for their entire grow until harvest.
I found if you let it go the yield will be low. If your trying to get a good yield you will need to top ,fim,lst ... As a grower I dislike this strain and have got rid of it totaly.
That's what's cool about growers. They can agree to disagree. I disagree with everything you said in this post, but I know you have your reasons and I have mine. No sense in arguing about it here in my Grow Thread, but I'd like you to watch my progress with the 35 day harvest I'm setting up at: http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-roo...-4-room-35-day-continuous-harvest-system.html I've grown a lot of strains. This one is the best smoke that I've had and most of the people who smoke it also say the same. Perhaps I got lucky with the Phenotype I have. It's a fair yielder and makes up for it's light harvest weight by it's strength and type of high. Those who smoke mine are always asking; "Is Bubba Back In Town? They always choose mine over anything else that's available. I literally can't keep up with the demand. I sure wish it was legal where I live. If it were, I'd be growing for one of the dispensaries. If only I could grow 1000 plants at a time. What a blast that would be. Big warehouse, super-clean hydro setup. Man oh man, what a cool job that would be. I'll bet you and I can agree on one thing; We both love MJ!
Then you've just joined the club of those who really don't understand how to grow marijuana to it's fullest capabilities. Fimming and topping only increase yield in situations where the strain being grown doesn't reach it's natural height limits. That's a fact. The strain and Pheno I'm growing maxes out at 4.5 feet tall. The height I allow it to get to. LST and fimming would absolutely not increase my yield. Secondly, the people who actually smoke or eat my products totally disagree with you also. Your welcome. I'm glad to increase your knowledge. What I just said can be checked and verified because it is fact. What you and GB have said is incorrect and only applies if the plant has finished flowering prior to reaching it's natural height. In several grow manuals, it's clearly stated that when a marijuana plant is allowed to reach it's natural height, it will have the same harvest weight as those that are modified to bush out. No difference in the manuals and no difference in real life.