Guerrilla Comes In From The Cold! - First Indoor Grow

[Onamatopeia]

BTW I don't know how you readers estimate your yield.

My estimate is going to be fun as I am new to indoor with basically a bunch of bagseed.

My guess is in 8 square feet with 300 actual Watts of LED, actual experienced good growers are getting 8-16 oz. per grow. So if I hit 8 in this first grow I would call that a major success for me. I think anything less than 4 at this point would be a big disappointment.

 

[Onamatopeia]

Freaking out as right now is the first dark period that actually counts. No idea how lightproof my setup is.

That's a lie. I have some idea. I closed the closet and looked at light leak from the tent to the closet and from the room to the closet. But I have no actual experience forcing a dark cycle on a plant. I figure with the closet door closed there will definitely be enough darkness. But key is that venting into my small closet and nowhere else I don't think is viable long term. So I have to be able at least to crack the closet door without light leak.

My next grow I think I am trying Smart Pots. If I do six plants probably 5 gallon pots. I figure I could do anywhere from 3 to 8 plants for my 8 square feet. I also figure I will use clones of my best plants from this first grow. Veg em till they fill the space and flip em into flower.

Scared now to use FFOF soil as apparently it often has bugs in it. I am paranoid about bugs in my grow and have already seen way too many things flying and crawling on my babies (which are not that far from a window). The further I get from Miracle Grow the more I realize that it is basically a sound product. They are getting way into the cannabis biz too, as I am sure people know...

In my mind I never really thought I could grow indoors and not have to use a whole room and jack my power bill up. Insane that this whole grow, with two fans going, is way less than 400 Watts total. Somewhere around 340 at the moment.

I recommend tents to anyone who worries about modifying their living space, as these will grow and move with no impact at all on the space barring a catastrophe. I really like my tent.

My tent is made by Apollo, 2 X 4 X 5 feet. It is doing great for me. No light leaks in, though you can see the faintest bit of purple around the zipper seam from the outside in a dark room. However the material is great, poles are metal. Took me 45 minutes to assemble, longer than I expected. One significant issue is one of the support poles is about an inch too short. This is a pole you hang your lights and carbon filter on. Due to my setup behind a pole in a small closet, reassembly in the final grow space took forever. Tent fabric is tight on these and it takes serious time to massage it around the poles. By the time I realized the support pole required me to take the fabric off the frame, the grow was two weeks old. Too tight for me even to get a piece of tape around the frame. I am reluctant to disassemble as the plants would have to come out, and the lights and it just feels like I can get through this grow relying on the other two support beams and the frame. I think I can drill some holes and just screw it together, but that it too big a clusterf*ck to deal with right now.

But the tent, nice thick fabric, I like the zippers a lot. It has two 6" holes, an 8" hole and a 4" hole. I don't know why so many big holes since it is only 40 cubic feet.

It was less than $100 bucks, so I think if it is a competent tent it is very worth that much.

Same thing with my lights. I went cheap on them, 600 stated LED Watts/ about 300 true Watts. So far at least plant growth is phenomenal. Plants seem to be responding as well as what I read in most grow journals. I really think this is enough light, at least for veg. Honestly if these lights hold up I would say f*ck the $1000 lights. These seem a way better investment.

Something people rarely mention when they plan a grow setup is the fact that, like gym memberships and so many other things in life, many many people who begin this will not finish the first grow. That is just a fact. So for those people this is 100% wasted money until proven otherwise. Much better to sink $500 into this and see if you like it, than to spend thousands.

I know a guy who spent $4,000 on his setup- $4,000! Having never grown a plant before in his life. If that doesn't work out he is f*cked.

 

[Groovy Bud]

Undergrow,
Paste your pictures into "paint" and then "resize" them to "20%-40%" on both parameters (height and width). You can do this several times one after the other. Just play a bit with it. Remember that the ideal size for forum pictures is around 600-800 x 400-600 pixels. Doing this on Paint will make them lightweight and you will be able to upload them on your 420 gallery. Then, just open your recently uploaded pictures, right click on them and then "copy URL". On the future, when you want that picture on your post, just look for the little symbol above on Reply Toolbox that has a landscape inside a portrait. click it and paste your photo URL. Done.

I will read your entire journal tomorrow, I just wanted to help you posting some pictures right away, so that you can get more people interested and motivated to help and support you.

 

[madscientist9]

eagerly awaiting pics

 

[ChefDGreen]

Show us the goods undergrow!

 

[Onamatopeia]

Okay, maybe my first photo is now posted?

Didn't feel like I could post again until I figure this out. Hopefully you see a pic of my six, 5-gallon buckets with my babies one day after first tasting soil!

 

[Onamatopeia]

My other pics keep getting error messages.

When you see the next ones you will see an EXPLOSION! Since flipping 'em they have all grown up a lot. The plant near the fan was somewhere below it and is now two inches into the blades. They are all a foot tall, with six potential colas. Honestly, when I cut out the boys I think the canopy will still fill up.

Screwed up a little with water. I was letting them dry out and it got to be five or six days and I kinda forgot about watering them. The last day I was like "they didn't seem to grow much" then they all started wilting and I figured it out.

From what I have read, with LEDs making denser, more potent bud, with my level of LED looking real strong, I am really thinking this is gonna be an epic grow.

To slam it home, I got some new toys. First, an LED light that just puts out red flower rays. Then I got some of the silica stuff and a pro brand of bloom booster.

My lights were already working great. Growth was already insane. But now, with the bloom light, the silica stem strengthener, and the bloomy food, these guys are gonna be sick!

Every plant is so freaking healthy, it's never like this in guerrilla country. My God your plants in the wild are always in danger of being eaten, blown over, drowned, starved, trampled, or just plain weak. I would sometimes have five foot tall plants yielding less than an ounce. These babies won't get much past two feet and from what I have seen in others, these could do well.

I also got a dehumidifier. This thing is small, might not do much. But I notice that when storm comes through, humidity goes through the roof. Get one of those late in harvest would be real bad. Even if it only dials back the humidity by 3% it is worth it.

Mold in the outdoors around here is the WORST. It is a dream killer. It steals your best buds. I don't want to see it inside. So that dehumidifier, small as it is, is going 24/7 from here on out. This particular model only draws about 20 Watts, which is in keeping with my minimalist approach.

There could be other expenses, and I still think about putting in a screen fro SCROG, but I think I have spent all the coin except electricity. Even with the extra light and dehum, only drawing about 450 Watts.

I wished you guys lived nearby so we could hang out. I still feel the need to be quiet about it for a variety of reasons.

Now to work on getting more pics up!

 

[ChefDGreen]

I sure see them, bud. Nice! Any reason you started three seeds per pot? Are you planning on up potting?

 

[Onamatopeia]

Thanks, Chef! Outdoors sometimes I start three seeds per pot. The idea being each pot will end up with at least one female. It only sucks if you get three females cos then there isn't room.

They are 5 gallons so I'm gonna try to get through the grow with just these.

One thing that I didn't anticipate was I had a hard time watering them early on, as the big bucket took so long to dry out I ended up drowning them a little. It is easier to manage them in smaller pots when they are babies.

Here is one with the two LED lights above. Those lights are bigger than I thought- one of them is 15 or 16 inches long.

 

[Onamatopeia]

Here's one a couple weeks in. Can't see it til it's posted, but I think it is after I topped them.

 

[Onamatopeia]

This one is current. They are now so thick, the canopy is a couple leave deep basically everywhere. If they didn't sex now I would have to chop some down.

I think topping them early has also helped me keep the canopy pretty even. I haven't trained the canopy really since I started 12/12. Tomorrow I am going to start male hunting!

 

[Onamatopeia]

This would not load right side up. It is sideways, sorry.

All the plants have this insane branching that starts an inch from the soil. I hope you can tell from the pic!

 

[golfer420]

Subbed! Great to finally see pics. Looks like nice SOG! Great learnings for me to use when I try new non-auto seeds.

 

[Onamatopeia]

groovybud, thanks for the tip!

 

[Onamatopeia]

Good luck, Golfer! I would definitely recommend topping them early. It did slow them down by a couple days, but now each one could handle a square foot of space and totally fill it up.

Topping when they are little also makes it, I think, easier to keep the canopy on the same level.

 

[FeralA9X]

Awesome pics mate, looks like that tent has nice full coverage already, mine are still smallish but im hoping all my growth will be within the next couple of weeks while they get used to the 12/12 schedule, but saying that i only have 2 girls in mine hehe
Doing a great job mate, keep it up

 

[ChefDGreen]

Yah wow thats a great canopy youve made,

 

[Onamatopeia]

Thanks everyone! Feral, it is much easier to get coverage for me when I have 18 plants in there! Eagerly dreading when the boys come down and I have to reconfigure!

I thought since I just bought a new batch of gear, that I would detail every single thing I have purchased for this grow so far:

Tent: Apollo 2 X 4 X 5

Lights: Apollo 100 X 3W
GalaxyHydro 100 X 3 W (so far I like the Apollo better)
G8 LED bloom 90 W
2- Apollo light hangers

Soil: Miracle Grow Organic Potting Mix (I recommend only if you lighten it with perlite or something)
Miracle Grow water crystals
6, 5-gallon plastic plant pots from nearby garden center

Fans, air:
6" clip on fan
4" Ventech inline fan
8 feet ducting for 4" fan
Speed controller (so far not used)
4" carbon filter (so far not used)
Ivation mini dehumidifier (8 oz/day)

Food: Miracle Grow 7-7-7 African Violet plant food
Dynagrow Bloom
Dynagrow Pro Tekt

Misc: Twisty plant ties (so far unused)
Coated plant wire (so far unused)
Bamboo plant stakes (so far unused)
Carson 60-100 X mini microscope
Measuring spoons for 1/4 and 1/2 tsp measurements
Garden clippers (already owned)
Fine point bud scissors (already owned)

As mentioned above, I think I am done with my significant expenses. This list here cost $800, give or take $20. It is more than I planned to spend. But having seen my grow so far, there is no doubt in my mind that I am physically equipped to grow great buds. Anyone that wants to grow might want to reread this list as there were a lot of things on here that I (who has been growing since high school) didn't think of until I realized I needed it.

When I think to my next grow, what can be reused and what needs to be repurchased? Well, probably a different soil next time, and the plant food will need to be replaced. If my state sold clones I would purchase genetics, but since they don't I think the next grow should cost less than $100 in new items.

BTW I figured my electricity costs for the grow. It is 50 cents per day or less.

Again, if anyone is reading looking for ideas, I recommend you can go pretty damn small and still supply yourself. If I were to redo this grow, the first change is I would buy a smaller tent like a 2 X 2 or 36 X 20 inches. Unless you smoke more than a pound a year, that is all the tent you would ever need! I am a heavy user and that would easily supply me. Plus I could have also bought one less light that way, had several less plants, just a smaller and more manageable task.

 

[Onamatopeia]

I think today the plants are a month old. Never in my guerrilla career did I ever have plants this vibrant, with this many leaves and branches, as these all do, when they were a month old.

My heart still thinks that fine outdoor bud is the best I will ever smoke, but these plants looks so fantastic! So outdoor weed, grown under the sun in guerrilla conditions, that stuff will always be my favorite. But I think on the whole I am in for an upgrade.

Guerilla style, there's so many things that go wrong. You often have to harvest too early, sometimes weeks too early. My nugs were always loose, and the tight ones got mold. So when I think back, I have been happy with every year having a lot of really good stuff and a lot of loose, weaker stuff. It was fun, lots of fatties, I gave a lot away. But only the very best would be on a level with the primo indoor stuff.

Don't you hate people who are all weed snobby! If I have unlimited super dense nugs of my own creation, I may just become one of those snobs! I'll be all like, that only tastes like it's 15%, shit's weak!

 

[FeralA9X]

I think today the plants are a month old. Never in my guerrilla career did I ever have plants this vibrant, with this many leaves and branches, as these all do, when they were a month old.

My heart still thinks that fine outdoor bud is the best I will ever smoke, but these plants looks so fantastic!

Don't you hate people who are all weed snobby! If I have unlimited super dense nugs of my own creation, I may just become one of those snobs! I'll be all like, that only tastes like it's 15%, shit's weak!

Hahaha im going to join you on that one, my plants have never looked so good as these babys in my tent. Im definitely very snobby and only smoke my own creations LOL i already get to the point if i smoke something else i end up comparing it to my previous grows. So far im yet to buy anything that measures up to what we can grow ourselves