GreatLife4All's DWC G13 C99 Grow Journal - 2013

[CA215]

Reps on a super well documents journal so far GreatLife & good going with all the strains! I am so un organized, would only take a week or so for me too mess up name tags LOL. Keep up the amazing work, will be around to watch your grow progress CA215

 

[GreatLife4All]

Hello CA215

Welcome to my grow journal!

Thank you for the comments - I appreciate them. If I didn't keep things in a spreadsheet - I would be totally lost. Especially when running this many strains. But I have to admit that it is fun watching all these different hybrids grow on a daily basis.

If you have any comments or concerns - certainly post up and let me know.

Reps on a super well documents journal so far GreatLife & good going with all the strains! I am so un organized, would only take a week or so for me too mess up name tags LOL. Keep up the amazing work, will be around to watch your grow progress CA215

 

[CA215]

The spreadsheets you have going are top notch as well.. you really have some great note taking and am sure all this information/experience if going to be gold! I'm trying to hop around ya'lls hydro journals as I know next to nothing about hydro. CA's here to learn Are you shooting for finding a good strain with good genetics that you want to grow out for a couple of years? Or are you someone who just loves different strains & buds all the time? Regardless, I love both situations. Have a good one GreatLife and again, killer smokin' garden!!!

-CA215

 

[GreatLife4All]

The spreadsheets you have going are top notch as well.. you really have some great note taking and am sure all this information/experience if going to be gold! I'm trying to hop around ya'lls hydro journals as I know next to nothing about hydro. CA's here to learn

I love spreadsheets. It seems an intuitive way for me to calculate and track things. And they quickly prove that nearly all errors are of my own making...

Are you shooting for finding a good strain with good genetics that you want to grow out for a couple of years? Or are you someone who just loves different strains & buds all the time? Regardless, I love both situations. Have a good one GreatLife and again, killer smokin' garden!!!

-CA215

I just started growing again after a multi-year hiatus - I finally have the time and space to do it right. I typically have run three different strains to prevent myself from getting tired of any one. I like a real strong sleepy type of high. An active daytime high. And a sorta in-between (which is where White Widow fits perfectly) type of high - one where you can sit on the couch to watch TV and yet still be mentally active.

When I started this grow - I went back to the two strains that I love - Silver Haze and White Widow. The version of White Widow that I received is awesome - absolutely great to grow, easily managed size, good (not great) yield, great taste and smell, and the smoke starts off with a strong mind high and finishes with a nice body buzz. It is a keeper for sure.

Silver Haze is very hard to find now, but there seems to be literally a thousand varieties based off of this. The one that I ordered was called Super Silver Haze - but it is very different from the Silver Haze that I grew previously. After growing and sampling, it won't make the cut. It is not at all like the Silver Haze that I am familiar with, takes longer to flower, yields less, and the high is not as good.

With this initial order I also picked up a new strain - Light of Jah. My first plant is in the final days of flowering - so I haven't gotten to cure and sample yet. But I can already state that indoors and in a tent is no way to grow this variety - it is simply too large and leggy. So I was forced into making an emergency SCROG to hold this plant down. That is in my first grow journal on this site. I have no way of judging - but the yield looks VERY large.

I have a second plant growing in another tent - this one I scrogged pretty much immediately and it is much better behaved. It is still five weeks away from harvest - but the yield looks like it will top the first plant easily. So no complaints about the yield.

But I have to admit - the smoke is going to have to be pretty damned good for me to want to continue growing this plant. A lot of trouble and mediocre smoke is not what I am looking for.

So I am auditioning for two more plant varieties...

I want an excellent Sativa with a shorter flowering time - something 10 weeks or less. The yield doesn't have to be great - but it should be good. The taste must be very, very good. I shouldn't be FORCED to SCROG this variety to keep it under control - although I don't mind SCROGGING for higher yield. The candidates for this role are the Bay 11, Cinderella 99, Sour Diesel, Silver Kush, Sweet Tai, and Amnesia.

I am also looking for a very strong, mostly pure indica. The yield must be great. The taste must be great. The high must be strong enough to cause my mind to shut down - and I have a very active mind. The candidates for this role are the Darkstar, Green Poison, and HJ 33.

The two cheeses I am growing at the request of a friend who helps me with the growing, trimming, and etc. I will grow one of these with each grow that I do from these seeds. He gets the yield from those - I have tried cheese before and wasn't all that impressed. I could have just gotten a bad batch or something - so I will sample his to ensure that I am not interested.

The White Shark 33 looks to be a very interesting upgrade to my beloved White Widow. This is a mixture of WW and one of the sativa phenos of Jack Herer. But I have to admit it will take a lot to knock the WW out of it's current status.

I also have an auto. Never grown one before and thought I would give it a try. But after reading up on autos... I might just kill this one. They seem like a great idea for outdoors, or in a tent dedicated to themselves (you could run a strong light 24 hours a day), but mixed in with what I am growing right now - it doesn't seem to make sense. And I don't want to flower this under 12 hours of light - which is the only thing available. I could stick it in with the mothers - 18 hours under a 400W. But I am afraid it might get too big for that tent.

And finally, I have to admit that after growing out the LOJ - and reading many posts on here... I was truly just curious how far the world of seeds has come since last I grew. Growing out a bunch of seeds from breeders that I am not familiar with seemed like a good way to get myself reacquainted. A lot of really good genetics have now "escaped" from California and been bred into different lines by some really good breeders from all over the world.

I didn't decide to undertake growing this many plants just for fun - although I am hoping it will be! It really has been an ongoing hassle researching which plants I should grow out of all those free seeds - and which ones might go well in a tent together. I much prefer to grow one or, at most, two varieties in a tent. So who knows - I could end up with a mess like I did on my first grow this round. But I am hoping (optimistically!) that I end up with a smorgasbord of different tastes and highs to try out - and that one or two of them become keepers.

 

[CA215]

Good plan GreatLife, Man you are the most in depth grower I have yet to follow on this forum. I mean you area doing everything for a reason, and have a answer for why you are doing everything. Really enjoy all this time and effort you are putting into your meds, will definitely help out other people as well trying to order the same strains you are growing. I feel ya on the whole situation with different strains in the same tent, getting hectic and what not. I think you will do just fine with all the pressure, and in fact, you will get that smorgasbord of willy wonka style variety we all strive for You have great knowledge over your girls, will be around to watch your grow fall into place Great Keep up the awesome work! +repsrepsreps!!!

CA215

 

[GreatLife4All]

Thank you for the comments and reps - appreciated.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Outdoor Plants

When i decided to run this multi-strain grow indoors - I had some extra clones with no place to go. So I started two different projects. An explanation for the second project will have to wait.

The first project was an attempt to get the plants to grow outside. I didn't just want them to grow - I wanted to have them flower immediately and then continue flowering through the early part of the summer here. We are currently at just short of 16 hours of daylight right now. If planted outdoors and allowed to veg normally - an LOJ plant would not be able to mature where I live.

As such, I had the plants in the flowering tent for somewhere between two weeks (for the WW) and 6 weeks (for the LOJ and SSH). I then conditioned these plants by moving them outdoors for an hour, then two hours, then four hours, and finally leaving them outdoors all day and night - took about a week to do this. They were just starting to show buds when I planted them last week.

The guy at my local hydro shop is convinced that they will revert to veg stage. But all of them have very nice buds on them now and look to be flowering hard and fast. The day length will increase to just over 16.5 hours in the next three weeks. Any one have an opinion on this? Will they revert even after budding like this?

Here are some pictures.

Here is a WW that I was doing some LST work on - it has about ten different tops - though this picture doesn't show it well. When I untied it and planted - the main cola has straightened back out and become dominant. This is also the plant that suffered the worst sun burn - you can see the white leaves down low.

This is a picture of a Super Silver Haze - this was grown from seed and has been sickly since day 1. It is looking much better now that it has been outdoors for a couple of weeks. No buds yet - still undifferentiated growth at the top of the plant.

One of the LOJ plants - they have taken off outdoors.

The main cola from the second LOJ plant - this plant looks very healthy and has lots of buds on it now. For perspective - that bud is about the size of a quarter.

I am starting to believe that I might actually get a yield out of these plants. The main danger now seems to be insects and animals. There are deer tracks all around the plants - but they haven't been eating on them from what I can tell.

Because these are looking so good, I might take that auto out to the same spot and plant it rather than kill it. It is still small, but will grow quickly out in the sun.

I am getting ready to change the nutrient solution for the seedlings. Will post a picture update on the girls later tonight.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Week 3 Update - Multi Strain From Seed

Ok - time for the end of Week 3 Update.

Everyone looks very healthy and they are all growing well. A couple of the dycots have turned yellow and will fall off - but that is normal from what i can tell.

Bay 11

Bay 11

White Shark 33

Green Poison

Original Amnesia

G13 Cheese

Cinderella 99

Cinderella 99

Silver Kush

Cinderella 99

Herijuana Jack 33

Dark Star

Sweet Tai

BC Cheese

Auto Creme Caramel - she is headed outside now.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Re: Week 3 Update - Multi Strain From Seed

I have taken pictures each week of this grow and put them into my gallery. As I was going through the gallery today I realized it was very easy to pick out pictures of the Green Poison because it is the only one with Hydroton (which is red).

So here is a collection of pictures showing the development of the Green Poison:

Planted on May 9, 2013

Germinated/Transplanted on May 13, 2013
Seedling - Start of Week 1

May 20, 2013
Seedling - Start of Week 2

May 27, 2013
Veg - Start of Week 3

June 3, 2013
Veg - Start of Week 4

Just thought it was sorta cool.

The Green Poison is growing very fast now. I am really liking this one.

 

[hle144]

Wow the picts with the ones under the T5 look great.. How long was that vegging for? and how many T5's? I veg under a mh that I keep at 430 w for the first 3 weeks and then bump it up to 660 w for the last weeks of veg but electricity cost is high here, looking for alternatives but don't know if T5's can give the same results in the same time... Its the picts of the 4 plants together in your tent.

What are your thoughts?.... Thanks..

 

[GreatLife4All]

Wow the picts with the ones under the T5 look great.. How long was that vegging for? and how many T5's? I veg under a mh that I keep at 430 w for the first 3 weeks and then bump it up to 660 w for the last weeks of veg but electricity cost is high here, looking for alternatives but don't know if T5's can give the same results in the same time... Its the picts of the 4 plants together in your tent.

What are your thoughts?.... Thanks..

No doubt that T5s work great for vegging plants.

My veg tent has a 400W MH light in it. But I run the T5 for the first two weeks of seedling phase and the same time frame on cloning. I don't really believe that a young plant can absorb all the energy that an MH light can put out - at least for the first two weeks.

I have the Advanced Nutrients BaddAss T5 - four bulbs which are four foot long. I think it is 230W total.

I would have no fear of running T5s all the way through veg phase.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Time to update the journal.

I am a little late this week. I was preparing a tent for the newest seedlings. The large plant that I grew actually destroyed one of my buckets and the RDWC system had to be rebuilt as well to stop the leaks. All is good now though.

The lesson... don't grow big plants in smallish buckets.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Week 4 Update - Selection Week

Ok. Here is an update for the fourth week of this grow.

I defoliated several of the plants this week. As each one reached a certain level of growth - off came the fan leaves. I have also fimmed the HJ-33 and Green Poison. So some of the plants may look a little barren this week - but they are growing quickly.

I also defoliated the Silver Kush - and it didn't like it one bit. Has sat there for a couple of days not doing anything. Note to self - don't defoliate Silver Kush next time.

Bay 11

Sour Diesel

WS 33

Train Wreck - not one that has been included previously.

BC Cheese

Cinderella 99

G13 Cheese

Cinerella 99

Dark Star

HJ 33

Cinderella 99

Green Poison

Amnesia

 

[GreatLife4All]

First To Flower

And I put the first three plants into the flowering tent.

The selected plants are the Sweet Tai; Bay 11; and the Silver Kush. All are sativa dominant and have started aggressively growing.

This photo also shows the RDWC system that i will be using to finish these plants off in.

 

[Harley001]

Looks like you are off to good start. I am hoping to learn a lot about your grow. I would like to do a RDWC grow in the future.

 

[CA215]

Killer set up Great! I'm with Harley as well, RDWC sounds like it would be a fun and interesting grow, will have to make a set up here soon and get my hands into the trade That green poison is thriving!! What a contender Keep up the good work bro!
CA

 

[GreatLife4All]

Killer set up Great! I'm with Harley as well, RDWC sounds like it would be a fun and interesting grow, will have to make a set up here soon and get my hands into the trade That green poison is thriving!! What a contender Keep up the good work bro!
CA

I have to admit that I love the RDWC system that I built. At first, I was uncertain that it would make a difference - but it truly does. I would heartily recommend this system to anyone. My system is a DIY version of a popular commercial model - and costs about $500 to build (depending on pumps and airstones mostly). Here is a link to the post where I described how I built the system: GreatLife4All RDWC WW 1000W Grow. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I certainly don't mind helping someone else grow this awesome weed!

I will heartily agree on the Green Poison. One of the fastest growing plants that I have ever seen. She has great structure in her branching already - and you can tell will end up with lots of bud sites. And if she finishes flowering in seven weeks with a good yield of quality meds... Wow. You can bet that I will be cloning her for future use!

The other truly impressive plant is the GDP Bay 11. I defoliated one and let the other go - should not have defoliated at this point. Good thick stem, nice branching structure, short internodes. If the meds are as good as they say - this will be an impressive plant. I really thought that the C99 would win between these two - but Bay 11 is kicking ass!

The WS-33 looks exactly like my White Widow - and seems to have an identical growth schedule. She is lagging a little in vegetative growth - but the widows take off during the last two weeks of veg for me.

And a special mention for the Sweet Tai... It was behind the others for the first two weeks. Then took off dangerously fast during week three - very, very impressive one week growth. It is now the tallest and most full-bodied plant that I have.

I hate to admit it... but there are so many good choices in this bunch.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Looks like you are off to good start. I am hoping to learn a lot about your grow. I would like to do a RDWC grow in the future.

Thanks Harley. Yes, everything is off to a great start for this grow. Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't do something stupid.

I posted a link to my RDWC system build plans in my reply to CA. If you get serious - I highly recommend this system.

 

[Harley001]

Thanks Harley. Yes, everything is off to a great start for this grow. Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't do something stupid.

I posted a link to my RDWC system build plans in my reply to CA. If you get serious - I highly recommend this system.

I have at least 8 to 10 weeks left on my current grow after which I will look at investing in a hydro system

 

[GreatLife4All]

One other comment on growing environment.

I have played many games with lights over the years - lighting is critical as everyone knows. But too much light is just as bad as not enough - there are trade-offs involved in everything it seems.

So I now have dimmable digital ballasts that I use in both of my flowering tents. This allows me to start off the grow using 50% power (500W). As the plants adjust to the system and I increase the nutrients - I move the power to 75% (750W). Once the nutrients are at full strength - I then turn the light to 1,000 watts where I leave it for the remainder of the grow.

I will also give some mention to the height of my light above the canopy. I am not one to move my lights on a daily basis - keeping them just above the canopy at all times. I believe that plants can only use so much light - and anything else is wasted (at best) or dangerous (at worst) for the plants. And HIDs give off a lot of plant usable light.

So I try to position the light just above where I expect the plants to finish. Because I use air-cooled hoods - I can get the plants to within 6" without damage. For this grow, I am trying to get the plants to a height of 36" - and my buckets are 14" tall. So I have positioned my light approximately 56" from the floor - and I will leave it there during the entirety of my flowering cycle. The plants will "grow into" the light and never burn. And I will never again drop my light onto a plant adjusting it...