Usul's #3: Quest for the Ultimate Closet Grow

[Stealthy1]

Looks great usul! cant wait to see the buds forming...

 

[Green Utopia]

Great stuff - coming together nicely!

 

[usul]

Hey folks, thanks for checking in - good to know I'm not alone on this quest.

Not much has changed but I wanted to get a post up here to mark a milestone: we're now at week 8 of this grow - the half-way point. Here's a shot of the canopy at Day 14 Flower:

Cruel plant torture continues. Last night I did a major pruing of fan leaves and undergrowth. I know conventional wisdom says to leave most of the large fan leaves attached, but when I saw Mike whack off most of the fan leaves on his Super Lemon Haze LED grow and what a difference that made in the growth of the lower buds I was sold. The jury is still out on how it'll work for me but, either way, I'll learn a lot. The girls certainly don't seem to mind. Two more weeks of stretch to go...

The girls have been thirsty and they were ready for a watering last night so right after the pruning session they got a dose of full strength flowering nutes - per gallon:

5ml Hygrozyme
5ml CalMag+
10ml Tiger Bloom
15ml Big Bloom
1/2 tsp Open Sesame

pHed to 7.2. Here's a question for y'all: when I measured the TDS of the nutes before pHing they came in at about 1200ppm. After pH adjustment (which took a bit more than usual because of the extra nutes) the TDS climbed to 1800ppm. Do you other growers notice that adjusting your pH caused TDS to increase?

Anyway, runoff was pH 6.7 and TDS 2200ppm. Good to see the pH floating up a bit, and the difference in TDS going in and coming out is starting to decrease. The plants are looking very healthy despite my heavy-handed training.

Here's a pic of Uma's top bud. Flower development is well under way:

 

[ultrasonic]

Usul do you dilute your ph adjusters before you use them?

 

[usul]

Usul do you dilute your ph adjusters before you use them?

Hey, good to see you Ultra! How's the move going?

I don't dilute my pH up (Potassium Carbonate powder) I just add it straight to the nutes. Would diluting them first make a difference?

 

[ultrasonic]

Hey, good to see you Ultra! How's the move going?

I don't dilute my pH up (Potassium Carbonate powder) I just add it straight to the nutes. Would diluting them first make a difference?

Sorry for just rushing by like that: i'm horrible I know I've been very busy working/tearing down the place/preparing to move. Trying to just keep growing off my mind till I can get started up in 1-3 months. Got some good ideas brewing. 2lbs every 2.5 months shall be MINE.

I'm not so sure about powder, actually. I know adding pure ph adjuster, unless you add it one drop at a time (as per the labels instructions) you'll get a "fog" in your water. That fog is the nutrients condensing in the water, and unless the ph is quickly changed (by stirring) the condensation will remain.

I would sprinkle the power slowly while stirring it in: is that what you do? What do the instructions say for mixing?

yawn

ps-where did you order your seeds from? Used worldwidemarijuanaseeds.com before, but will no longer use them because they screwed up my order by not sending it properly 3 times (not return address, so it was rejected by my country) then refused to resend it properly because they already "did everything they could". They did however refund my money.

Now i'll be purchasing them securely along with a tshirt from the attitude seed bank. 5 more white widow, fem. from Nirvana. Yum.

 

[ultrasonic]

This one's for you usul:

 

[Green Utopia]

Hiya. Potassium Carbonate will indeed raise the PPMs because it has Potassium and other elements that will be particulates in the water. Not to make you spend $ but the good old generic pH Up and pH Down are non-reactive to other nutrients and will not raise ppm. And they're really not that expensive. I find that 1ml in 5G of nutrient and water raises or lowers the pH by about .1 So a few ml is all I ever need. That having been said - I have to add P as well, whch you're getting already. And you've got healthy plants going, so I think I'd keep tweaking what you're doing unless you're super unhappy.

Trimming the fan leaves is definitely beneficial in my opinion. If there is a bud that's not seeing the light, and a leaf can't just be moved - cut that bastard! Buds are the top priority, and they need to see the light.



P.S - I was showing my friend this site today and he immediately spotted your name from Dune. He was impressed with your grow as well.

 

[TorturedSoul]

TDS meters are just EC meters that display differently. Adding any kind of salt will affect the reading.

 

[usul]

Sorry for just rushing by like that: i'm horrible I know I've been very busy working/tearing down the place/preparing to move. Trying to just keep growing off my mind till I can get started up in 1-3 months. Got some good ideas brewing. 2lbs every 2.5 months shall be MINE.

I'm not so sure about powder, actually. I know adding pure ph adjuster, unless you add it one drop at a time (as per the labels instructions) you'll get a "fog" in your water. That fog is the nutrients condensing in the water, and unless the ph is quickly changed (by stirring) the condensation will remain.

I would sprinkle the power slowly while stirring it in: is that what you do? What do the instructions say for mixing?

yawn

ps-where did you order your seeds from? Used worldwidemarijuanaseeds.com before, but will no longer use them because they screwed up my order by not sending it properly 3 times (not return address, so it was rejected by my country) then refused to resend it properly because they already "did everything they could". They did however refund my money.

Now i'll be purchasing them securely along with a tshirt from the attitude seed bank. 5 more white widow, fem. from Nirvana. Yum.

Good to hear you're getting things together and planning for the next grow - sounds like it'll be a winner! I think I'll have only one more grow in my current location before it's time for me to move as well. Moving is such a hassel, but a sweet new setup will help make it worth it.

Everything seems to be fine with the plants so I'm not going to worry too much about the high TDS readings - I'll just factor it into my calculations.

I've also had good luck with attitude seed bank. Fast service, appropriate packaging, nice freebies. Two thumbs up from me!

 

[usul]

Hiya. Potassium Carbonate will indeed raise the PPMs because it has Potassium and other elements that will be particulates in the water. Not to make you spend $ but the good old generic pH Up and pH Down are non-reactive to other nutrients and will not raise ppm. And they're really not that expensive. I find that 1ml in 5G of nutrient and water raises or lowers the pH by about .1 So a few ml is all I ever need. That having been said - I have to add P as well, whch you're getting already. And you've got healthy plants going, so I think I'd keep tweaking what you're doing unless you're super unhappy.

Trimming the fan leaves is definitely beneficial in my opinion. If there is a bud that's not seeing the light, and a leaf can't just be moved - cut that bastard! Buds are the top priority, and they need to see the light.



P.S - I was showing my friend this site today and he immediately spotted your name from Dune. He was impressed with your grow as well.

Thanks Papa! I agree - if it 'aint broke don't fix it. The plants are super happy so I'm just going to keep going. I'm having a great time trimming away those large leaves and the lower buds really respond. Should be interesting to see how much of the screen I can fill by the time stretch is done.

Very cool your buddy liked my name and the grow - thanks for passing that on

TDS meters are just EC meters that display differently. Adding any kind of salt will affect the reading.

Makes sense - thanks TS!

 

[ultrasonic]

Hey usul I wanted to mention to ya bud: Attitude seed bank has a killer 3 day promotion going on... it starts in 3 hours.

Spend over 20pounds and you receive 7 free seeds. wow. I'm going to be ordering a 5 pack of nirvana's white widow, and getting a nice set of freebies. Wow. i'm glad I didn't order last week

YouTube - Quadruple Thunder June Promo From The Attitude Seedbank Revised Trailer 2!

 

[usul]

Thanks Ultra for the pointer to the free seed bonanza - I'd heard about that as well. And I remembered I have some Brainstorm Haze seeds I need to grow before they get too old so I'm going to focus on them and restock my seed bank a little later.

Weekend update: We're now at day 18 flower and here's a shot of the canopy:

It's not as full as I'd like but we're doing the best we can. I've been working hard to keep the canopy height even and it's looking pretty good. Virtually all fans leaves growing off the main stem have been removed and the extra light below the screen is much appreciated by the lower branches. I'm hoping by the end of stretch (10 days to go) to have the tops of all branches nicely positioned above the screen, but there are sure to be a few stragglers.

The girls have been thirsty and they got another feeding today. Conventional wisdom says I should have flushed at this watering, but the plants are looking super happy with not a hint of nute burn so I went for a full strength feeding of Fox Farm bud-building nutes (per gallon):

5ml Hygrozyme
5ml CalMag+
10ml Big Bloom
10ml Grow Big
10ml Tiger Bloom
1/2 tsp Beastie Blooms

Going in pH was 6.5 and TDS was 2200ppm. Runoff measured pH 6.5 and TDS 2800ppm. Interesting that the pH stayed the same. ppms seem way high but its been working for me so I'm gonna go with it.

A couple issues have come up: fungus gnats have joined the party but in very small numbers. Not a big enough problem to warrant immediate action. The other issue is that I've got a hermie. Uma is packing on many female flowers and she's also developing the first ball-like growths of male flowers. No big deal - I just pluck 'em off. I will, of course, keep a close eye on both of these unwelcome guests.

Signing off, here's a pic of a couple nice baby-buds:

 

[N.W.Green]

Very nice grow, im using a small closet as well and you got some beautiful plants right there, cant wait to see thoes nugs POP.

 

[Green Utopia]

You've got great healthy plants! Definitely do not worry about filling the scrog. You'll get great buds, and if you decide you wanna scrog this variety again, then you'll know just how many plants are needed to fill it next time.

You're gonna have so many nice tops. If stretch is pretty much over, I'd let them start going vertical.

 

[usul]

Very nice grow, im using a small closet as well and you got some beautiful plants right there, cant wait to see thoes nugs POP.

Thank you NW Green and welcome to the journal! Closet growing is an art unto itself and I'm finiding it very much like bonsai. Lots of pruning and training is what it's all about.

You've got great healthy plants! Definitely do not worry about filling the scrog. You'll get great buds, and if you decide you wanna scrog this variety again, then you'll know just how many plants are needed to fill it next time.

You're gonna have so many nice tops. If stretch is pretty much over, I'd let them start going vertical.

Thank you Papa! I'm hoping they like the latest batch of nutes. When I checked them just before the lights went out this morning I saw some very early signs of burn - just a whisper of a hint... Now I'm waiting for the lights to come on so I can see how they're doing. Interestingly, I find that some of the most remarkable growth occurs during the dark period.

About the tops, YES! I have many colas forming and it's all thanks to the heavy-handed training and pruning. In addition to the screen I'm doing a lot of LST below the screen and have also devised a thing I call "ScrOG Hooks" - little S hooks made of stiff wire that let me bend a top down and hook it on to the screen. Very handy for placing tops right where I want 'em without having to tuck them back under the screen.

Anyway, on my last grow (same strain) I had three plants and 18 colas. This grow I've got two plants and at least 34 colas - perhaps more if I can get a bit more stretch out of these girls. Your point about letting them go vertical is right on - it's just about time to do that.

More soon!

 

[usul]

Here's the weekly update at day 21 flower. First, a shot of the canopy:

I'd been worried about overfeeding at the last watering but that was two days ago and the girls have never looked better. More tops are making it up above the screen, buds are starting to swell and things are getting frosty.

We have one more week of stretch but at this point I've stopped training and am letting all the colas go vertical. I'm still removing fan leaves that are not catching light or are in the way of lower colas and I imagine pruning will continue for a while.

I realize things look kind of pithy from the photo but I have nearly twice as many colas as I did on the last grow, and these buds are larger than they were at this point last time. My previous grow yielded over 3 ounces of very nice dried bud. This grow.... well, we shall see

 

[TorturedSoul]

Can you spread the plant out any more in order to get light to the lower areas without removing any leaves? I assume that your entire grid is within your light's footprint.

 

[usul]

Can you spread the plant out any more in order to get light to the lower areas without removing any leaves? I assume that your entire grid is within your light's footprint.

Hey TS, thanks for stopping by. Yes, I've got good light coverage over the entire screen (250W HPS + 4 T5 side lights) and what you describe - spreading the plant - has been the goal. Unfortunately, this is as far as the girls can be spread. I've LST'd lower branches that haven't made it up to the screen - so they can get as much light as possible. Even so, there are still more fan leaves that'll need to be pruned as they grow. In general, I try to leave the top two nodes of leaves on each cola - anything below that is a candidate for whackin'.

Should be interesting to see how it all turns out.

 

[ultrasonic]

Sorry I can't provide a link, but read what Roseman has to say about pruning fan leaves: it's great information.

Lookin great usul Can't wait for some nice big buds.