New Attic Grow Room Setup, Sour Jack Seeds, Soil, 600HPS/LED Veg

[Sphnx]

This is a picture of my veg room I want to install the LEDs in. One of the OLD lights is a t5(I will use for my clones,the other light is just a normal cfl I'll throw away or store in garage or something.) I switched the plants to my flower room light for the time being until I install new LEDs. Again I have no idea why my plants are growing so slowly (8 inches in about 5 weeks). That's why I switched rooms in the first place. Who knows it could have been overwatering the whole time,and the lack of light wasn't the issue at all.

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You've mentioned your plants are growing slowly... what pH are you giving them?

 

[Sphnx]

Anytime you spray the leaves with anything with the lights on, you run the risk of frying the leaves. Foliage feedings, spraying insecticides, etc. So spray when the lights are off and make sure they're dry before turning the lights on. What's your humidity like? If it's higher, fungus gnats and things will thrive, might want to invest in a good dehumidifier. It's kind of crucial for indoor growing anyway. Stick the back of your hand in the light of the hps, if it's hot on the back of your hand it's too hot for the plants, warm is good. Lower your light a bit, theyll respond to it a lot more. You need a couple oscillating wall mount fans, each one on opposite sides of the room, blowing cold air from the ac.

 

[Sphnx]

Too be honest LEDs aren't very good veg lights with that purple spectrum.. if it has a blue spectrum you can switch to, that would be better. Or you'd be better off with a 4' 8 bulb HO t5 set up. Fluoros don't require feedings of higher cal/mag (calcium and magnesium help the plant use nitrogen to grow) they just use the nitrogen from the soil like normal. The intensity of LEDs is what causes the need for more cal/mag. So if you want to beef up the lighting in your flower room, add those in with the hps and do a combo. It would make things absolutely go ape shit.

 

[dropcroptop]

Too be honest LEDs aren't very good veg lights with that purple spectrum.. if it has a blue spectrum you can switch to, that would be better. Or you'd be better off with a 4' 8 bulb HO t5 set up. Fluoros don't require feedings of higher cal/mag (calcium and magnesium help the plant use nitrogen to grow) they just use the nitrogen from the soil like normal. The intensity of LEDs is what causes the need for more cal/mag. So if you want to beef up the lighting in your flower room, add those in with the hps and do a combo. It would make things absolutely go ape shit.

Thanks man for swinging by and giving your well valued input. At the time of that post I was not ph'ing my water. Now I always aim for 6.5. I've never taken the ph of the runoff however. Is this stupid? I read that plants only uptake nutrients at 6.5 so giving them anything less than 6.5 in hopes of balancing the runoff water didn't make sense to me. I think I was infact overwatering not letting the soil completely dry out,along with "sour jack" being a month longer in flower on average,but I'm not sure if the flower time of different strains has anything to do with the veg growth rates whatsoever...

As far as the veg lights I have a couple questions. My LED does not run a blue spectrum mode,so switching to the t5 sounds great. When I started my research I read t5 was really good for veg on energy and whatnot aswell. Being a new grower I thought one bulb would be sufficient. Not even close! I bought the 300 watt led to be a quick replacement. Can you elaborate the 8 bulb HO 4' setup? I saw some multi bulb t5 setups sold for marijuana but they were 800+ for a good light. Could I go to homedepot and make my own 8bulb t5 light setup(I do electrical work) ,or is that not the same thing? Like daisy chaining multiple ballists together until I have 8 bulbs haha?

Also,what is your venting timer on? I started to vent my room for odor at night when the lights are off. And every 2 hours I have one little section of the timer set to vent(15mins ish). I didn't want to vent all day because of the co2 booster I have. I don't even smell the plants haha but my girls tells me I'm just used to it. The only thing separating my room from the world is an ac unit. When it's not venting I'm paranoid they smell is escaping when the ac automatically cuts off when the room is at temp.

Sorry to be so winded,as you can tell no one really follows my thread enough to catch all my little questions. Kinda like your 6000k grow you abandoned cough cough* haha

 

[Sphnx]

I'm no longer growing indoors. The people I was working with turned out to be horrible people and took advantage of the me and the product I put out. So those grows are no more. Back when I was growing indoors, I'd vent 30 min on and 30 off all day long. Co2 should be set to be on when the vent is off. Do you have any hydro stores by you? I got 2 4' 4 bulb t5s for 179 each.. home depot has some t5 set ups but after the hood, bulbs, and wiring you'd be better off just buying a couple from the hydro shop. Also metalked halides are the best option for veg. With the intensity of the bulb, plants stretch quick. 6.5 is really high, the range for cannabis is 5.5 -6.5 for feedings. I normally feed my plants in coco at 5.7-5.9 and soil I'm feeding them at 5.6 (the pH of rain water) because of the soil buffer, it brings it up to right around 5.9. Experiment with the pH a bit, your plants will get normal nutrient at a lower pH.

 

[Sphnx]

And I'm having the same problem getting people to subscribe to my outdoor thread, I guess people don't want to see some monsters... oh well, check it out if you'd like

 

[dropcroptop]

And I'm having the same problem getting people to subscribe to my outdoor thread, I guess people don't want to see some monsters... oh well, check it out if you'd like

Yea I definitely subscribed to your outdoor grow. That sucks to hear about your indoor grow. So you got hired to run a grow room? Sounds like heaven. Did they not compensate you for your epic buds?

I will make sure my ph does not get above 6.5. For a while I have been trying to hit it dead on. But from what your saying i should be good just roughly making sure the water is between 5.5 and 6.5. It is such a pain in the ass to ph my water with the basic ph pen. I need to invest in a better one but I told myself I wouldn't spend another dollar upgrading the grow room until I crop and flip my flower room. That sets my mind at ease knowing the soil will auto regulate the ph naturally.

Also I am waiting for atleast a year to invest in a co2 producer that is automically maintained with a big tank and all. Haven't even begun pricing them. In a perfect world I want the bluelab ph regulator and a drip system so I wouldn't have to do anything. Haha that's me being lazy and optimistic.

 

[Alleybush]

I was wondering if you don't mind all those chemicals you use to get rid of bugs . Afterall, you are going to put it in your lungs or gut. Do people think that stuff stays around?

 

[dropcroptop]

I was wondering if you don't mind all those chemicals you use to get rid of bugs .. Afterall, you are going to put it in your lungs or gut. Do people think that stuff stays around?

Yea man I'm really curious if the smoke will be harsh. I'm flushing with just water the last 10 days. I started the flush on one of the plants,the others arnt quite ready since all the thc crystals are still clear. Next grow I will inoculate my soil with met52 so no bugs will ever be able to develop in the soil regardless of the environmental conditions. Because root aphids can't be stopped with anything organic. Not 100% that is.

 

[Sphnx]

Yea I definitely subscribed to your outdoor grow. That sucks to hear about your indoor grow. So you got hired to run a grow room? Sounds like heaven. Did they not compensate you for your epic buds?

I will make sure my ph does not get above 6.5. For a while I have been trying to hit it dead on. But from what your saying i should be good just roughly making sure the water is between 5.5 and 6.5. It is such a pain in the ass to ph my water with the basic ph pen. I need to invest in a better one but I told myself I wouldn't spend another dollar upgrading the grow room until I crop and flip my flower room. That sets my mind at ease knowing the soil will auto regulate the ph naturally.

Also I am waiting for atleast a year to invest in a co2 producer that is automically maintained with a big tank and all. Haven't even begun pricing them. In a perfect world I want the bluelab ph regulator and a drip system so I wouldn't have to do anything. Haha that's me being lazy and optimistic.

One guy hired me, we moved 100 miles away to grow for him and he never paid me or gave me a cut. Then another guy sold all 3500 and something plants right at harvest to some tweaker and undercut me completely. Bunch of bull... but it is what it is. Those people are struggling and I'm here in paradise, karma is always a bitch.

I use that bluelab pH pen and it's really nice. Holds calibration for a long time. I'm not the biggest fan of drip systems.. I'd rather hand water 100 plants than have something go wrong and none of them get watered, plus its an almost meditative state for me. I get very grounded after I'm all done. Also gives me a chance to inspect every plant top to bottom. Co2 systems are badass. In my LA grow house I had a 100 lb tank hooked up to a digital co2 monitor/timer. Tubes ran all along the ceiling, it was amazing. I'd turn off the ac's and intake/outtake fans and let the plants fuckin cook under those 1000w lights. Man oH man, would those buds swell! I highly recommend getting a co2 system but make sure to get a ppm monitor. Also co2 is heavy and can fall through the floor into other rooms, just a heads up

 

[Sphnx]

Yea man I'm really curious if the smoke will be harsh. I'm flushing with just water the last 10 days. I started the flush on one of the plants,the others arnt quite ready since all the thc crystals are still clear. Next grow I will inoculate my soil with met52 so no bugs will ever be able to develop in the soil regardless of the environmental conditions. Because root aphids can't be stopped with anything organic. Not 100% that is.

Anything you spray on the buds will make it harsh.. generally you don't want to spray anything on the flowers past week 2-3. Are you using azatrol or azamax, by chance?

 

[dropcroptop]

Anything you spray on the buds will make it harsh.. generally you don't want to spray anything on the flowers past week 2-3. Are you using azatrol or azamax, by chance?

Man I used it all haha. Before I tell you the list just remember I'm new! But hey first used "safer" insecticide spray thinking the adult form of the root aphids were fungus gnats or regular aphids....fried the fuck out of the plants and did nothing for the aphids. Then used sns 201 as an inoculant. Tried "captain jacks" and that was nice on the plants. Then I used azamax (soil drench and foiler spray at night). Soil drench with botanigard es(twice 5 days apart) and finally wrapped it all up with acephate 97 foiler spray that did a number to the plants that I applied heavily. Not to mention two foggers with pyrethrian in it....these babys might be a lil harsh hahaha

 

[Sphnx]

Damn dude, that's pretty intense lol way too many products.

 

[dropcroptop]

Damn dude, that's pretty intense lol way too many products.

Yea man if I ever get root aphids in the veg stage again I will just throw them away. But ignorantly I was determined to beat them. The botanigard es is what did it I think. But in the future I'll just use solely met 52. If it is as good as they say. I have yet to been able to buy any since the suppliers only sell it at certain times of the year.

 

[Sphnx]

Have you thought about predator insects? Mantids and lady bugs?

 

[dropcroptop]

Have you thought about predator insects? Mantids and lady bugs?

I tried beneficial nematodes but unless you start from seedling I don't think they have enough time to develop a colony that can kill the root aphids in a timely manor. I went to a field and caught like 20 lady bugs (just imagine how stupid I looked) and when I put them in the room they all flew to the light and died. But I had diatomaceous earth on the top layer of the soil so that may have killed them too haha. I got the root aphids threw the soil I bought I think. Now I bake the soil at 415 for 15 minutes before I put my seedlings in. And I haven't seen any since. I can't even imagine how you combat bugs outside!

 

[Sphnx]

Good idea! I know people who freeze soil too to kill stuff off. Glad you got something figured out... lol sounded like quite the problem. I don't really have a bug problem outside, there are lady bugs and wasps everywhere. They seem to take care of everything. If I see any problems starting, I'll hit them with azatrol, but that's a last resort. I'd rather order up 20,000 pray mantis and let them go crazy for a while, then feed them to my lizard lol

 

[dropcroptop]

Good idea! I know people who freeze soil too to kill stuff off. Glad you got something figured out... lol sounded like quite the problem. I don't really have a bug problem outside, there are lady bugs and wasps everywhere. They seem to take care of everything. If I see any problems starting, I'll hit them with azatrol, but that's a last resort. I'd rather order up 20,000 pray mantis and let them go crazy for a while, then feed them to my lizard lol

Yea I saw the egg packs for praying mantis on amazon,where the heck can you get 20,000 live mantis!!? One day when it's legal where I live, I will definitely go outside with it. Living in the suburbs leads to nosey neighbors.

 

[Sphnx]

They're sold online as feeders for reptiles. Really easy to get, actually. Kind of pricey, but worth it.

 

[dropcroptop]

The plants are on their last week of flower I believe.Im atleast past day 70 of flower. I'm currently watering with 0ml-6ml-20ml of floragrow nutrients. My hermaphrodite plant is done and being flushed with just water. I watered today so I figure I'll water again in a day or so and that will be the last time. Before I cut. Can't wait. The other 5 plants are going a little slower. The try-combs are still clear so despite how ready they look with the natural eye I am waiting until more amber appears. It is super hard to tell with my shitty microscope under the hps and trying to stay steady. I usually have to cut a bottom nug and check that on a flat steady surface. Wasteful. But I am having a practice run with the curing process. It's kinda weird to get the hang of. I am still not confident in that aspect yet. Here are some pics of the flower room. The herme I didn't show. I'm going to get a good photo shoot out of the LED light once the flush is over.

The veg room is really filling out. I'm almost ready to fully fill the scrog with 6 plants once the sour jacks are done. The big bad boy in the back is going into the tent by itself. It's the baby sour jack that has struggled and made it this far. Over 5 months in veg. The other plants are all different in how they are super cropped and topped. I'll get better pictures of all the plants stem structures when I make the flip. But taking pictures under the LED is impossible. Purple strip club vibes going on haha.

No root aphids I've seen so far. I've been putting the diatomitrius powder on the top layer of soil which kills anything in contact so I suspect that is why. If I really investigated it may be a different story. Too scared to haha.