Xlr8's PPP and Snow White grow cab journal 2009

[Xlr8]

any updates xlr8?? cant wait to see how the roommate turns out, ive been lookin for a good grow cab and narrowed my first choice down to the roommate so i cant wait to see it in action. Thanks for posting a journal on it!

Cool! It would be fun to have another roommate going - let me know when you get going with it - if I can help at all I'd be glad to do so... I'm pretty happy with my purchase, and I think it's a great option if you are only providing for yourself or yourself and significant other - which is why it's a good fit for me.

Well, as of today things are progressing nicely. In the last 2 or so days the PPP have grown about 2 inches and are now about 8" tall. The Snow White's are looking great - very bushy and indica looking. I upped the nutrients to about 700 ppm just prior to the growth spurt - so they seemed to like it. It's a constant battle with the ph right now, but there are some factors that are complicating that I think. (unrinsed hydroton possibly, and I've been using only distilled water so there is not much of a buffer to help hold the PH - or so I've been told).

There's getting to be a lot of new leaves developing in the lower areas of the plants and it's no longer all about growing new leaves at the top - it's fun to see them fill out. I'm starting to see little pistils at the nodes - they look great.

Lastly, I started putting a small fan in for air movement for about 4 hours each day - I'm hoping this will help strengthen the stems a bit - though they already seem pretty robust for their size.

I'll try to do more pictures either tonight or tomorrow - I'm having some prob's with the camera, but I can usually get it to work with some tinkering.


xlr8

 

[illadelph0099]

does the roommate have the co2 option just like the bloom box and producer?

 

[Xlr8]

The PPP just keep growing - almost 10" now, and about 4" growth in the past 4 days. (I should note that my post this morning was actually from a measurement the day or so before - I'm still adjusting to this rapid growth spurt). Okay here are some pictures from today (Mar 10) - the wetness on the fan leaves is due to them getting a light misting of ph balanced water just before I took these (they seem to like it...):

View from the top Snow White left, PPP on right:

Another view:

Snow White:

PPP:

PPP Closeup:

Another PPP Closeup:

I'll try to update and include pics as often as I can during this (my first) grow.
xlr8

 

[Xlr8]

does the roommate have the co2 option just like the bloom box and producer?

Hey there illadelph0099. Good question. It doesn't, but I'm not too concerned - I'm pretty optimistic this will meet my needs of providing for myself. That is a nice option that the bloombox and producer have, though. I think there are some pretty clever home-made co2 solutions I could see myself checking out at some point...

 

[DBOY101]

looking very healthy xlr8. on what day did you put the plants in the system? mine are just starting to show the first roots in the bottom of the cubes

 

[Ms.Fox]

Great looking plants! Beautiful work!

 

[Xlr8]

Thanks DBOY and Ms. Fox for the kind words!

DBOY - I put them in the system right after the roots were showing through the rapid rooters (around 1 month ago, and about a week or so after putting the seeds into the rapid rooters). I hand watered them for the first couple of weeks and didn't run the hydro tub initially after putting them into the box, but I think that was a mistake. Once I started using the hydro tub they seemed to really take off due to the oxygenated water in the tub. I also found that it is more difficult to monitor and control PH etc. when hand wateringIf you are seeing roots on yours I'd say you are ready to move them to the 5" net pots and (hydroton or rockwool) and start using the box. I just transplanted the rapid rooters into the pots and surrounded them with hydroton. One mistake I made was thinking that once I mixed up nutrients and PH balanced my hand watering bottle I was good, but I've noticed that PH will fluctuate based on temp, nutrients, etc. and you'll have to really watch that (it's easier when using the larger reservoir to do this imho).

Those are my thoughts, but use your best judgement. Hope that helps!

xlr8

 

[IronLionZion]

Lookin phenomenal!

 

[Xlr8]

Thanks Iron Lion - meaningful words from an experienced grower such as yourself. Much appreciated!

Hopefully I can keep it growing smoothly from here on out. Made a couple of rookie mistakes earlier on, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

 

[FloCash]

Looking good, your plants look healthy and happy!

I noticed that your PPP plants seem to be more sativa dominant then mine. Yours have the finger like leaves and the leaves on mine are much more stout. It'll be interesting to see the final product of both. Were your seeds purchased from Nirvana?

 

[illadelph0099]

so when are you thinkin youll switch to 12/12 and flower those?

 

[Xlr8]

Looking good, your plants look healthy and happy!

I noticed that your PPP plants seem to be more sativa dominant then mine. Yours have the finger like leaves and the leaves on mine are much more stout. It'll be interesting to see the final product of both. Were your seeds purchased from Nirvana?

I checked out your grow (great growing btw!) - you're right they look quite a bit different. Mine definitely look more sativa I think. In fact, I haven't seen any other PPP look so sativa before. I got them from Nirvana, and they were labeled PPP... I just hope they don't stretch and get too over-tall on me. I agree - it'll be interesting to see the difference. Thanks for the kind words and checking out my grow.

xlr8

 

[Xlr8]

so when are you thinkin youll switch to 12/12 and flower those?

Great question. I haven't made up my mind yet - I'd love input from others on this too, I've only got a little less than 3 feet of height. Probably a few more days to a week depending on whether the PPP's continue their growth stretch.

Also - it's apparent that my snow white's are indica dominant hybrids and the PPP are sativa dominant hybrids. I'm worried about the height difference.

Any experienced growers wanna weigh-in on when I should start flowering? Thanks for the input!

 

[Xlr8]

I think u have 2 males,, im hoping not

Well, they were feminized seeds so I'm hoping not - that would really be a buzzkill. Thanks for checking out my grow pitviper!

xlr8

 

[IronLionZion]

yeah I'm not seeing any indication of males pitviper.. Wonderin if you could point that out to me...

 

[illadelph0099]

any new pics of those beauties??

 

[Xlr8]

Well, the PPP were starting to get out of control fast size-wise so I felt obligated to kick them into flower. They are probably at about 16" now, and have been growing about 1" a day. They are on flowering day #2

The Snow White are noticably smaller and I would have liked to let them veg a bit longer, but I didn't dare let the PPP get any taller before flowering due to height constraints.

Both were supposed to be indica/sativa hybrids, but they are clearly taking on opposing traits... I'm chalking this up as a learning experience as far as mixing strains in a limited space small grow...

Otherwise, everything is looking good I think. I am seeing a little burn since switching to the flowering nutrients, but I've also been a bit disappointed in the nutrient calculator that dutchmasters has. First, I get a much higher ppm than they show by using the amounts listed (almost twice as much). Second, I've been running pretty far below the recommended nute strength anyway and it still seems a bit hot. There is no question to me they like the koolaid, but I am doing a lot of math to adjust down and not able to come close to following their calculator... I'm at about 850ppm as I start flowering (vs. their recommendation of around 1100) Oh well, I'm learning every day.

Next post will have pics!

 

[Xlr8]

Here are some pics of flowering day #2 - I tried to adjust the color to remove some of the reds in the photo from the hps bulb:

 

[flyfishinrock]

Those are looking really nice, your right they do appear to be VERY different ratios of indica/sativa. At least you will get to have two very different types of bud to smoke!
I have had problems with the nute calculators also, though I haven't tried dutch masters. I found that usually the ppm difference is because there are different ppm scales. If you do the conversion to EC its a lot more universal.

 

[Xlr8]

I'm curious if anyone has feedback on what I'm facing as far as the massive height and strain difference ... Should I start doing some LST on the PPP's that are growing so fast? Or should I just chill for now?

Thanks in advance for the input!