Rooftop grow journal

Some things I want to bring up.... The top of that roof is HOT, HOT, HOT...and as the temps continue to rise as the summer comes on, it's going to be even HOTTER. I would get them up off the actual surface of the roof onto something so there is a buffer between the heat of the roof and the bottom of the pot. I'm on the other end of the country in the south so I don't know what temps and conditions actually are in your area, but too much heat will negatively affect your plants and with the temps that that roof will reach, it might even bake your roots.

Secondly...the watering thing. These plants are SO touchy when it comes to watering. The best way to water your plants is to allow each container to dry up to the point where, when you lift it, it feels as light as it did when you first loaded it with dry soil. If it don't feel like that, it's not time to water. These plants are sort of like children and they do everything singularly in their own way at their own pace. to setup a watering system to handle all plants at one time will more than likely just kill several of your plants since they don't take water at the same rate or grow at the same rate, so you can't water them as if they do. They will need to be cared for individually as far as watering goes because they do not like to have moisture around their roots all the time. The dry arid soil we use for growing is used because it allows the excess water to drain away from the roots and the plant can keep what it needs. So, I would chunk the "watering system" idea and just come to the realization that you have to tend to these things individually when you're growing in soil. We generally flower about 30 plants at a time and it's a TON of work to care for them. But, if you don't care for them individually, you'll end up with all kinds of troubles. In the beginning years ago, I was trying to put together a design for a system to water with to try to take some of the labor out of the process, but as I learned more and got more familiar with the plants and how they progress, I realized that it wouldn't work. I prep my water in 5 gallon buckets and also don't use the liquid multi-bottle combo kits. A friend of mine out there near you who has grown medically for years turned me on to "Jack's" by J.R. Peters (they have a web site), which is a powder combo (veg/bloom) that costs about 1/100th of what all that other crap they push sells for, and it's about the easiest thing in the world to mix up a 5 gallon bucket of feed. I can buy enough to last me well over a year flowering as many plants as we grow at a time for less than $15 and I've never had healthier plants. For some reason, lots of folks think that nutes are the secret to getting super sized buds or something. The nutes are merely feed for the plant and giving more than they need or giving it when they don't need will only fry your plants. If you use good potting technique, you can get almost all the way through the veg cycle without using nutes at all. By confining the container size and amount of soil that you plant a germinated seedling into, you greatly lessen the time it will take for that plant to develop a root system...the first thing they all do once they're put into soil. We start ours in Solo cups FULL (for some reason, you see people post pics of a cup only 1/2 or 1/4 full of soil....fill the cup UP) of grow soil (we use Roots Organics Original here because it's the best I've ever found....ridiculously expensive, but well worth it). The germinated seed goes in the soil at a depth of about 1/4". I water it in lightly and put the cups under the veg lighting (we use T5's). I don't touch the cup again until I see foliage growth start to pick up and the plant starts using water. While it's making it's root system, the foliage doesn't grow much and the plant doesn't use much water. When the plant has grown larger than the cup (wider and taller), that means it's slightly root bound and it's time for a repot. From there, we go to 1 gallon pots with more fresh soil. Water the pot in, put it under the lights and do nothing until I see foliage growth and water intake. You only water when the container is, what feels to you, dead dry. When the plant outgrows the 1 gallon pot (wider/taller), go up another size. We usually go from a 1 gallon to a #3 size pot. By potting them up this way, the fresh soil with each repot replenishes your nutes and feeds your plants. We generally don't give anything in the nute line until a couple of weeks before they get put into flower because the soil has fed them for me to that point. Now when your plants get larger and they become more root bound, it will take watering more often and feeding on a regular basis. Once they've used up the goodies in the soil and you don't plan on going any bigger with the container they're in, their nutrition is all on you. But you might want to look into the "Jack's." It works great, is super cheap and very easy to work with...nothing like the other stuff.

The only other thing I want to bring to your attention is the pH range of your water. Not sure how much you know about that or if you pH your water, but watering and feeding for an extended period of time out of pH range will lock up the roots of your plants and won't allow them to take in nutrition. So, you need something to measure and adjust the pH range of your water/feed solution with and check every batch of water to make sure it's within range before you use it. The very best thing out there is the pH pen made by BlueLab and will run you about $80. It's expensive, but they're made very well, will last for years and are easy to maintain and clean AND. most importantly, give you a correct reading quickly every time. The super cheap ones sold on Amazon and Ebay aren't worth a dime. You can't even depend on them to work right out of the box new. If you're not willing to invest in a good pH pen, then just buy one of the pH up/down kits. It's not nearly as exact or reliable with these because the range we're shooting for is so tight, but lots of people use those and do OK with them. The kit runs about $12 or $13 and has the up and down drops in it to adjust with. Oh...and don't use filtered water of any kind. Filtered water has had everything stripped out of it during the filtration process and there are vital micronutrients in tap water that they need and use. People who use filtered water in their plants get weird deficiencies because the micronutrients are taken out of the water. Just use water out of the tap. We don't use chlorine in this country anymore. They switched to chloramine which doesn't evaporate and there isn't enough in tap water to harm your plants.

Well, now that I've written you a book, I hope I've helped you out some. I certainly don't know it all and I still learn something new about this on a regular basis. But the more informed you are about the process of growing these plants, the easier time you'll have and the more you'll get at harvest time. If you can manage to get all these to the end and harvest, you should end up with some poundage. We grew 4 clones off outside last summer and didn't put them out until the middle of June. After harvest and cure, we had a little over 5 pounds. So....done right, you can't beat the sun as your light source. Nothing even comes close to it as far as an indoor grow. You can supply yourself for the whole year with a couple of these plants. Happy growing!! Hope everything turns out well with your rooftop grow which is a pretty cool idea! LOL TWW