Al's 400HPS Rockwool LST Bungle in the Jungle

[Alfred E. Bud]

Not sure if anyone will want to see this as it is almost done, but I haven't seen many rockwool grows on this forum, so I'll give it a try. If I can count a 150HPS dirt grow in 1987, this will be my 2nd attempt...slightly better financed this time.

5 Clones - 3 Blueberry Kush, 2 Blue Dream + 2 MMJ Bagseed
BK - Indica, BD - Hybrid; Seed - Indica - Possible Bubba Kush
Flowering - Day 42 of 12/12
6x6x6 Hugo cubes - Rockwool
400watt HPS - Aircooled
LightRail 3.5 Light Mover
LST
Temp - Lights On - 78-82; Lights Off - 69
RH - 40-60%
PH - 5.5 - 5.8
Any Pests ? Only a few tourists
Handwater 2x Daily - shortly after "dawn" and 4-5 hours before "sunset"
Advanced Nutrients - SensiGrow (veg) & SensiBloom (flower) - per label
ProTekt silica - use instead of pH Up

I started 12 assorted seeds a couple of weeks before Christmas and set up the space while the seeds were germinating. Six clones purchased from a local dispensary and the 6 most promising seedlings formed the starting lineup. The clones went straight to the Hugos and the seedlings, started in rockwool starter cubes, got their own Hugos two weeks later.

The veg was uneventful, about 4 weeks total time. As I played around with low doses of AN SensiGrow, I saw almost every deficiency symptom (maybe it was paranoia), but when I cranked them up to 100% of label specs, everything smoothed out. At about 4 weeks, the clones ranged from 18-22" tall and the seedlings were just behind at about 12-16". Once I hit the switch, things got interesting. I always expected to lose some of the seedlings as males, but not a clone! Long story short, I wound up with 2 good seedling teens and 5 clones...but even their parentage is now in question, as there may be a Skywalker OG among them (could be worse).

Anyway, that's the summary...I'll try to get pics up this weekend.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Here are the seedlings as of 12-17-10.

And the clones...(seedlings still in starter cubes)

Here's a group shot....Clones on the left, 2nd row seedlings, 3rd row clones, 4th row seedlings

I'm using a YieldMaster 4" AC Reflector, Lumatek 400w Digital Ballast, an Active Air 4" inline fan and two 22"x22" Botanicare trays. The trays have sections of plastic egg-crate to keep the cubes from standing in water. Overflow from watering is pumped out with two 40gph submersible pumps.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Here's a group shot as of 01-09-11...I changed the lineup to put the clones in the middle rows and the seedlings on the outside to maximize the light for the clones.

Here we are about a week later on 01-15-11...

And as of 01-22-11...

I hit the switch on 01-26-11 (12/12) and changed the nutes to SensiBloom a week later.

 

[HempRocket]

You are absolutely right, not many journals with rockwool from start to finish. What made you decide to do that?

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Having done a dirt grow "back in the day", I thought I'd try something different. Growing a 2-3' plant in a 6x6x6 cube of rockwool seemed to solve the typical overwatering issues, while keeping the system very simple (handwatering). It also avoids having to use bigger pots or eventually having to transplant into a bigger pot, as with soil or other options, which was good because square footage was at a premium. The $40 spent on 12 Hugos would have bought quite a bit of soil, but taken up more space, not to mention the cost of the pots.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

This is on 02-02-11, under 12/12 for a week now...getting worried about my ladies hanging around death-row males...looking for a quick verdict on the six seedlings. I've always been in favor of capital punishment. In this case, attempted rape will qualify. Of course, they'll get a fair trial...then we're gonna' hang 'em.

Also switched to HPS back on 01-26-11. I've let things get a little bushy and crowded...12 plants in 12 cubes, in 2 trays...10 sq. ft...knowing that the grow would be reduced shortly. Getting close to the top of my travel with the light, too.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

...and then there were seven. Four seedlings and one clone turned out to be male and were summarily whacked. So, you're probably thinking, OK, what about the LST?

The remaining five clones and two seedlings were arranged at opposite ends of both trays...a matched pair opposite each other, then bent down across a chicken-wire trellis to pick up about 12" of headroom. The plan was to let them grow toward each other, and pass each other if necessary, growing from one side to the other, with buds growing vertically from the main stalks (multiple due to previous topping). The initial training also brought the main buds down below the level of the secondary buds, so growth of the other buds was improved.

I should mention that only 5 plants are in LST...4 clones and one bada$$ seedling, since named Wild Thing. Two Blueberry Kush in the back and two Blue Dream in front, plus Wild Thing going from far right, over the top, then to the left side. The remaining clone and seedling were too short and there was no room left on the trellis anyway...they're on the far right side behind Wild Thing.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

This is a group shot as of 02-12-11 at about 2 weeks 12/12.

Still pulling everything down...have spread the trays out and flattened the trellis to get more headroom. This is a few days before adding the light mover.

Here's a select bud just past 3 weeks 12/12.

Here's a group shot and some buds at 4 weeks 12/12...

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Here's what they looked like at 5 weeks 12/12. I've been using Advanced Nutrients SensiBloom (100%). I also recently added a Small Boy water filter (had been using bottled water up to now). No problems so far...holding my breath for the final run. I was getting a little paranoid about crashing at the end...so I started flushing at about 6 weeks. If I had to harvest early for some reason, I didn't want to worry about unflushed nutes. (note:used incandescent filter on my Nikon P100)

 

[blacklips]

 

[HempRocket]

Resin production is incredible. Looks like you sprinkled sugar on them!

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Yeah, like freakin' frosted flakes. I always liked my cereal flakes with extra trichomes.

I'm totally planning on harvesting most of these this weekend (finished 7 weeks 12/12 on Wednesday). The tops in these pics are on almost 6"-long colas (I'll get some new shots this afternoon). There are at least 6-8 of those, plus numerous single & double bud sites (depending on strain), some that I haven't even gotten a good look at yet because of the jungle...I never did do any trimming. I've been checking with a 100x scope and saw several amber trichs yesterday, so I think I'm not too far off on what seems like a quick harvest. The Blue Dream and possible Skywalker clones might go 10 weeks, while the Blueberry Kush should be closer to 8...but I'll be damned if they don't all look pretty good already (the unknown-seedling, Wild Thing, is the best one). And like I said, I'm getting worried about "letting it ride" just to be greedy. And then there's the fact that everything is intertwined and run together (the bungle in the jungle), so it's hard to see what's what without taking a machete to all of it.

On the tech side, the left side of the garden, growing from the plant in the corner (a clone...prob blue dream), are another 5-6 3"-long colas....made possible only by the light mover ($200 well spent). Another seedling and clone are doing well at the other end, also made possible by the light mover. The Light Rail 3.5 IntelliDrive is great...I only have it cycling over a 2' circuit (used one of the two 1 meter rails provided), but that adequately covers a 5' long garden, with about 30 seconds of dwell at each end.

The Hugo rockwool cubes have been completely trouble-free. According to Grodan, one 6x6x6 cube will hold 3 liters of water while still providing the required aeration. My basic mix quantity was 3 liters per batch of nutes...I usually used 2 batches (6L) per watering (7-8 700ml water bottles...about 1 per plant). This usually resulted in about 60% runoff. Since I was pumping out the excess, it was easy to monitor what I was flushing out. I watered with 5.5-5.8 pH and about 1100ppm tds. The runoff was often measured in excess of 1800ppm and less than 5.3 pH, so whatever I was flushing out was better down the drain. I had a couple of good flushes (1 at the end of veg, 1 halfway thru flowering) using 3L per plant - 4 times the usual watering. For the last 1-1/2 weeks, it's been pH adjusted water only.

I never did use any nutrient enhancers, flushes, flavorizers or finishers...just straight pH-adjusted Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow & Bloom and filtered water (Small Boy).

I'll also document all the mistakes that I made once the harvest is done. That will actually run a week or two longer since there will surely be some buds that will need a little more time.

 

[HempRocket]

Well whatever you were doing, you did a great job.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Thanks, but it's not just a job, it's an adventure.

Hey man, that would go great on a bumper sticker....

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Here's the update from last night...various bud pics at 7 weeks of 12/12...

The following were taken with flash just after lights out...

 

[HempRocket]

They're getting nice and juicy!

 

[Bruce Wheelman]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info!

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read the photo gallery tutorial:
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I am moving this to abandoned journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world!

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine!

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

...

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Hi, guys (my 2 loyal followers)...sorry for dropping the ball...

I got to the harvest a couple of days after my last post...and then something came up....Great Meds!!! Not to mention the next crop needing attention, I just didn't get around to taking many pics. As the song goes.."I got stoned and I missed it..."

Here's the summary (7 plants total....#5 & 7 bagseed)

Tot. Wt.
Skywalker OG #1 & #4 32.0g
Blueberry Kush #2 28.3
Blueberry Kush #3 63.9
Wiley OG (WT-#5) 36.5
Skywalker OG #6 5.1
Citrus Tango #7 15.0

180.8g


At this point, I added an 8-tube 2' fixture in a separate closet for cloning and veg. I re-vegged all but the Skywalker #4 under the original 400HPS. This took a total of 6 weeks before putting those back in flower. While that was going on, the veg/clone closet produced 3 good Blueberry Kush clones (my first). Long story short, about 13 weeks after the first crop, I harvested my 2nd crop (details below)...

Crop #2 Skywalker OG #1 36.0
6/26/2011 Skywalker OG #6 27.7
Blueberry Kush #3 31.3
Blueberry Kush Clones (3) 43.7
Citrus Tango 23.9
Wiley OG (5 wks) 11.0
Blueberry Kush #2 (5 wks)14.0

187.6


At this point, I convinced the wifey that another upgrade was in order. If I could get a tent, I could move the veg/clone into the original flower space in my ManCave and set up the tent for flowering, plus she could have that recently commandeered closet back. She finally agreed, but only to the GL80L (3x5'). With that understanding, of course, I purchased the GL120L...(4X8')...the logic being that if I didn't do it, I would need a 2nd tent since the new flower space was no bigger than the original. I thought I might have to sleep in my new tent, but eventually she forgave me.

All my new veg/clone tech allowed me to harvest my 3rd crop a mere 4 weeks after the 2nd...but lagging transplant techniques cost me 5 plants, leading to a somewhat disappointing harvest of 117g, plus one of my 2 new Blue Dream clones looked and tasted more like a Skywalker.

Crop #3 Skywalker OG #1 15.3
7/28/2011 Skywalker OG #4 33.8
Blue Dream #1 (Skywalker) 14.4
Blue Dream #2 43.5
Wiley OG (2) 10.2

117.2



I think I've got the transplant problem figured out and am getting ready to harvest Crop #4...all clones of the original Crop #1 plants. It's going to look like this...

Crop #4 Skywalker OG #1 (4)
8/30/2011 Skywalker OG #6 (3)
(est.) Blueberry Kush #2 (2)


I'm differentiating between Skywalker #1 & 6 because although they smell and smoke pretty much the same, the plants grow in distinctly different ways...#1 taller with buds on stalks, #6 stockier with buds tight to the stem. One thing I noticed was that taking the vegged clones from the tubes directly to the 400HPS caused a growth spurt during the weeklong transition to flowering. Maybe doing the first week of flower under MH would help to improve this.

I'm now about to harvest Crop #4 and will start Crop #5 (4 Blue Dream and 5 Skywalker) under a 2nd light in the tent (1 week MH, then HPS). I'll be able to harvest half of the tent every 4 weeks. Crop #6 is in the clone tray...more Skywalkers and BlueBerry Kush.

Btw, the 4" x 20" Phat Charcoal filter keeps everything under control...amazing. It even sucks in the odors from the veg/clone closet since the whole room is under constant negative pressure, exhausted right into my central heat system (unused 98% of the year....SoCal).

I'll try to post a few extra pics....soon.

 

[Alfred E. Bud]

Here are some shots of Crop #2...revegged plants from Crop #1, plus 3 new Blueberry Kush clones. I'm still using LST, but now with 1/2" plastic pipe and trellis netting.

The taller plants in the background are Crop #3...they overlap Crop #2 by 3-4 weeks.

These pics show the new tent (a GrowLab GL120L).

Crop #4 is on the 8" x 40" tray (raised up in the foreground) and another 2' x 2' tray in the background.