1st Grow: Jumping Into The Deep End, DWC

[Rexer]

Have you verified the time within the App? Time zone inside the app? Never used it, but I'd check and make sure its not something simple as that.

Verify the time with your cam (if you haven't) to make sure everything is as you want it.

How is the airflow in the tent? Do you have fans inside to help reduce hot/cold spots? An oscillating fan can be a huge benefit.

 

[sneekymofo]

Very weird - I know my girls start heating up as the sun hits the back of the house and the A/C hasn’t kicked on yet, but that is a sudden (and significant) change. Almost 1/2 your daily swing. I agree with Rexer - rule out all the simple tech-related stuff (I’ve been burned SO bad by technology) and make sure that air is moving below the canopy as if it isn’t a tech glitch you are picking up heat from ‘somewhere’. Go through your list of ‘timed’ electronics, but I don’t know of anything outside of lights that kicks out that kind of heat that you see in that graph. Your basement does heat up a little at 4 am, as does the grow room itself, but I’m assuming that’s the heat coming from under-leaf sensor. Never messed with this system (although I love data so I could see me investing ) so I can’t really say beyond that. If it really drives you crazy, you can always try changing the global cycle from 8a - 8p to like 6a - 6p and see if the heat ghost follows you. Maybe that will identify some macro vs micro factors that are adding up. Good luck finding the heat!

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

I personally love the Govee monitor (I’m a data nut too). In my situation it has helped me see that while it appears on the graph to be all over the place, when breaking it down into specific segments, I could actually see the temp drop and the RH raise just from opening the tent to check my ph levels, or what appears to be the hottest part of the day in that room or the coldest part of the night.

I’m actually running two empty buckets with nute solution even though I have no babies in the tent at the moment - its giving me a chance to see what the ppms and ph is doing each day, as is what times my temps or RH spike or drip. And I am noticing a pattern. I’ve been keeping track of the “empty readings” (i.e. no plants) in the hopes that when there are plants in there I’ll be more knowledgeable as to whats going on and why. i’m also running my inline fan at about 1/4 power to see what changes it appears to make as well.

 

[LKABudMan]

The times are correct, I have seen it happening (I am up early sometimes). I have two oscillating fans and a larger floor fan, plus the exhaust fan. I am going to keep the schedule as is and see what happens.

 

[LKABudMan]

This was the first full week on a 12/12 light schedule and the plants are healthy and growing well. Bucket changes yesterday for the Kushs; Kini got bumped up to 70% (1150ppm) and Lorraine is up to 65% (1050ppm). They are drinking 2-3 liters a day and gobbling up the nutes. They are starting to stretch and get bigger, but they are SO BUSHY! I keep trying to open up the middle of the plants but LST is not enough. Every time I try to shape the plants, I end up taking 5-10 leaves. Mostly the leaves covering up bud sites, or leaves growing toward the middle of the plant. However, the next day you cannot even tell.

I was planning to wait to do a heavy defoliation at day# 21 of flower. However, they are so bushy I feel I need to clean them up now. It has been 10 days since flipping to 12/12 light schedule, 12 days since the last major defoliation, and they recovered phenomenally. However, I have also read that you should not defoliate between weeks 1-3 of flower, because you do not want to stunt the growth during the stretch.

So, please take a look at these plants and let me know how you would proceed.

1. Just LST with no defoliation at all until day# 21.
2. Keep LSTing, and only take any leaves needed to expose bud sites. Wait for day# 21 to heavy defoliate.
3. Defoliate now. Get rid of the large fan leaves at the bottom for airflow, and any leaves growing toward the middle. May need to defoliate again at day# 21.

Anyone willing to weigh in? Will defoliating now stunt the growth? Will selecting defoliation cause too much stress to the plant? All opinions and suggestions are welcome. Thanks for reading.

20211031_Alice.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Alice 10/31

20211031_Demeter.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Demeter 10/31

20211031_Kini.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Kini 10/31

20211031_Lorraine.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Lorraine 10/31

20211031_Tent.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Tent on 10/31

PS. Plants are still waking up at 4:15am. Still not sure why, but it is pretty consistent.

 

[LKABudMan]

I had an hour for lunch, so I went ahead and defoliated the first one, Lorraine.

Here she is before defoliation:

20211101_Lorraine_b4_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Lorraine before defol#2 - Top

20211101_Lorraine_b4_side.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Lorraine before defol#2 - Side

And here she is after:

20211101_Lorraine_inside.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021
• heavy defoliation

Inside Lorraine after defol#2

20211101_Lorraine_after_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021
• heavy defoliation

Lorraine after defol#2 - Top

20211101_Lorraine_after_side.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021
• heavy defoliation

Lorraine after defol#2 - Side

I hope I didn't take too much. Here is the aftermath:

20211101_Lorraine_scrap.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Scraps taken from Lorraine defol#2

Now, i have three more plants to go, hopefully tonight:

20211101_Tent2.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 1, 2021

Tent after Lorraine defol#2

 

[LKABudMan]

In case anyone was wondering, I did find the answer to my plant waking up at 4am. And... it was user error. I had mislabeled two temperature sensors, so I was looking at the wrong data. It turns out that plants cannot raise their temperature 4-5 degrees all by themselves. Once I started looking at the correct temperature sensor, things made sense.

Trimmed up some more last night, but ran out of time before lights-out. Will finish up today.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Spit happens!

 

[LKABudMan]

Update: All of the plants have been defoliated and LST'd. I hope I didn't take off too much. As of right now, there is airflow in the middle of the plants. Looking at Lorraine's recovery, though, and I am not sure how long that will last.

20211102_Alice_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• defoliation

Alice after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, top view

20211102_Alice_inside.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• low stress training

Alice after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, inside view

20211102_Demeter_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• defoliation

Demeter after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, top view

20211102_Demeter_inside.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• low stress training

Demeter after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, inside view

20211102_Kini_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• defoliation

Kini after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, top view

20211102_Kini_inside.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• low stress training

Kini after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, inside view

Look how much Lorraine has recovered in just a day:

20211102_Lorraine_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021
• atf defoliation grow

Lorraine recovering from defoliation/LST on 11/1/21, top view

And finally, a picture of the test with all of the girls defoliated:

20211102_Tent.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 3, 2021

Tent after defoliation/LST on 11/2/21, top view

Happy growing!

 

[LKABudMan]

All plants seem to be recovering well after two days. They are still stretching, and I am LSTing to try to keep the canopy as even as possible. Looking forward to seeing some flowers soon...

20211104_Lorraine.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 5, 2021

Lorraine 11/4

20211104_Alice.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 5, 2021

Alice 11/4

20211104_Demeter.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 5, 2021

Demeter 11/4

20211104_Kini.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 5, 2021

Kini 11/4

20211104_Tent.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 5, 2021

Tent 11/4

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Looking sweet there!!

 

[LKABudMan]

Plants are still growing strong. Kini and Lorraine are getting bucket changes tomorrow, and will move up to 75%. They are drinking 2-3 liters a day now. The white widows are drinking and eating less, still over a liter a day. Starting the third week on 12/12, waiting to see some flowers.

20211107_180425.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 7, 2021

Tent 11/7

7C78B279D6DD_1636287217693.png

• LKABudMan
• Nov 7, 2021

Tent 11/7

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Looking awesome!!!

 

[LKABudMan]

On Day 18 of the 12/12 light cycle, I am now seeing flowers on everyone. So excited!

20211109_Flower.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 10, 2021
• flower 12/12

Flower starting

20211109_Tent.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 10, 2021

Tent 11/9

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Your ladies look so full and healthy! I want mine to grow ip just like yours!

 

[LKABudMan]

They are full and healthy. And short! They have grown so quickly through this stage, I can't wait to see what happens now. Do short bushy plants create short buds, or will all of this energy used to grow these bushy plants translate into big buds? Being my first grow, I have no idea what to expect going forward. It has been a heck of a ride, though.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Even though I’ve got one grow under me it was years ago (as you saw in the other message board from way back when), so I’m going to be watching yours to get that answer my friend!

 

[Rexer]

They are full and healthy. And short! They have grown so quickly through this stage, I can't wait to see what happens now. Do short bushy plants create short buds, or will all of this energy used to grow these bushy plants translate into big buds? Being my first grow, I have no idea what to expect going forward. It has been a heck of a ride, though.

It's more about the number of bud sites and how much light is given to them IMO
You're doing awesome, I see even canopies loaded with bud sites!

 

[LKABudMan]

Happy Friday everyone! Another week in the books. The girls are on day 21 of 12/12 and are looking great. The two Kushs are at 75&80% of the AN nutrients (1300-1400 PPM) and will probably go up next time. The white widows are getting a bucket change soon and will be up to 70&75%.

I have finished what I hope is my last defoliation. If my goal was to harvest fan leaves it was a complete success! I had leaves on top of leaves on top of leaves, and was just asking for PM. I am also keeping a hygrometer inside one of the plants to compare against the tent environment. I have noticed that as the plant builds up foliage, the humidity inside the plant can be as much as 10% higher than the tent. They had their own little micro-climates going on. My main goal at this point was to make sure I have airflow through the plants.

Lorraine_Microclimate_Defoliation.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 12, 2021
• climates defoliating

Lorraine 11/1 - 11/11

Tent_Compare.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 12, 2021

4x4 Grow tent at canopy level comparison

In the graphs above, you can see where the plant was defoliated on 11/2, and again on 11/10.

While I was cleaning up, I tried to remove mostly fan leaves. It was tough, as there were budsites coming up underneath budsites. I kept as many as possible while still allowing airflow to the plant. Any experienced growers out there, please let me know what you think. Did I take off too much? Should I have taken off more?

20211112_Tent_top.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 12, 2021

Tent view 11/12

20211112_Tent_side.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 12, 2021

Lorraine from the side 11/12

Also, as you can see, Lorraine has really taken off. She is about an inch taller than the rest of the plants. I am not sure I can LST her down at this point, so I may have to run with it. Should I install a net above them and train them through it?

My plan right now is to set up the net this weekend and run with what I have, but I am open to any and all suggestions. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[LKABudMan]

I got my net set up. Lots of flowers peeking out

20211113_175417.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 13, 2021

Net side 11/13

20211113_175316.jpg

• LKABudMan
• Nov 13, 2021

Net top 11/13