1st Grow, Clone SCROG Organic Soil

Sungod

New Member
I would like to start off by saying thanks to 420MAGIZINE for providing such a useful and entertaining tool for growers of all experience levels. More importantly I would like to thank the countless members who share their extensive knowledge and experiences to assist those of us who wouldn't other wise be able to provide themselves or loved ones with their precious medication.

This is a legal medical grow for my wife. We decided that it would be more cost effective to grow our own than make countless donations at the local dispensaries or collectives. I figured it couldn't be much harder than keeping a potted house plant right??? Well needless to say I am very lucky I ran into this site before taking the plunge. To put it mildly my growing experience/knowledge level prior to doing research on this site was ZERO. There is so much information on this site and I promise that if you are willing to take the time to look you can find the answer to just about any question you can come up with, and even ones you didn’t know you had. I've read so many completed journals ,good and bad, front to back it makes my head spin. To be honest I learned the most from the bad ones. I use the good ones to emulate, and use the bad ones as lessons learned. So I am going to do my best to post the good bad and the ugly, so that someone might learn from my success or misfortune.

My goal was to start a grow from scratch and come in under $1,000. The following is a list of materials that we procured prior to turning the key.

7 Home depot buckets $16.38
6- 5" pots $2.70
1 Bucket lid $0.98
Iguana grow $36.07
Iguana bloom $36.07
6" inline fan $119.95
Thermo/humidity meter $14.81
15lbs activated carbon $54.23
milwaukee ag900 tester $135.55
Ph buffer 7.01 $5.36
Storage Solution $5.36
Probe cleaning solution $5.36
Ph get up $9.19
Ph get down $9.19
Flex ducting $21.37
Duct tape $2.96
Duct starter collar X2 $6.94
6" inine fan 435cfm $119.95
Used sun systems 1000w $270.00
switchable ballast w/ 6"
Cooled hood & hps bulb
Solar max HO Mh bulb $113.11
3 Fox farms ocean forest $42.27
1 Fox farms light warrior $14.71
Digital Timer $17.43
Large bag perlite $10.99
Pt. Seaweed extract organic $4.99
PVC for SCROG frame $11.89
PVC cutting tool $12.98
Fence for SCROG $0.00 (extra laying around the house.)
Cabelas game pully for light $0.00 (found in garage)
Plywood into attic $0.00 (found in garage)
24" box fan $0.00 (already owned)

My wife chose strains based on availability and their medicinal properties. White Russian with hopes to use it as a heavy pain reliever and sleep medicine. And Recon based on the recommendation of the collective where they were obtained. Total donation for 6 clones was $120.00. To me the cost was more than reasonable the clones were very well rooted and pest free.

Materials Total $1101.60
Clones Total $120.00
Grand Total $1221.60

So I was close to staying under $1000.00, but I splurged on the MH bulb. I convinced myself that it was a necessary investment, so hopefully it will pay off.
 
The journal actually starts on December 7th, (Pearl Harbor Day) but life hasn't been real generous with time as of late, so I going to have to play catch up for a little bit. I hope you all won't mind.

Anyways my wife contacted her collective to talked strains and she decided on White Russian, and Recon. We drove to pick them up and when she put them in the truck the first thing i noticed was how much they already smelled.

We got them home and closer inspection revealed that they had been cloned in some sort of plug that felt like a sponge. When we removed the clones from the standard 6 plant nursery tray, they revealed their impressive roots.

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below is a group pic on homecoming day. From front to back White Russian, Recon

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As soon as we got them home we carefully transplanted them into 5" pots with straight FF light warrior. we put the soil in a 5gal bucket and pre-moistened the soil with water to ensure even soil moisture during the transplanting process. Then we filled each 5" pot with the pre moistened soil and planted the clones up to the first node. The recon was more than half way down the pot. After transplanting we watered thoroughly crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

The following is just a collection of images from their first day home.

White Russian #1
Clone_transplant_WR_1.jpg

clone_transplant_WR_1_side.jpg




White Russian #2
Clone_transplant_WR_2.jpg

Clone_transplant_WR_2_side.jpg





Recon #1
Clone_transplant_recon_1.jpg

Clone_transplant_recon_1_side.jpg




Recon #2
Clone_transplant_Recon_2.jpg

Clone_transplant_Recon_2_side.jpg
 
So we moved them into their new home which is a 5' 4" X 6' room with white walls. 1 6" 435cfm exhaust fan that pulls air from the grow room through the 1000w hid light w/ MH bulb and up into the attic. This lowers the air pressure in the grow room and does not allow any unwanted smells to leak into the house. When I switch to flower I will add a charcoal filter in front of the light. The fresh air is pulled in through the 6" return line from the attic. I use a cabela's big game hoist for effort
less light adjustments.

room28.jpg


Everything looks great they got a fresh drink of water to wet their whistle and I closed them up for the night. Now, neither one of us have used cannabis prior to my wife being prescribed it, other than experimental use in high shcool, and we couldn't believe that we had cannabis, a plant that we've been told was such a bad thing for so many years, growing in our house. So to say the least excited we couldn't leave them alone. Well its a good thing that we did because the light didn't have glass in the hood and quickly raised the temp in the room into the high 90's. So their first 18hr light period was spent with the door open which made our sleeping area look like high noon. Long story short I had to temporarily move them to a larger room in the house that could disperse the heat better.

Two days later I had to go out of state on business for a week. They stayed in their temp home until I returned and was able to replace the hood glass. Once the glass was replaced the temperature in the room promptly lowered to an acceptable range. I now run temps between 72 and 84 degrees F, with lights on, depending on the outside temp. and night time temps between 60 and 75 degrees F.
 
Hi Sungod, you have picked some genetics with extreme wack. Much Luck! I'm ready for the show. :popcorn: :peace:

Oh heck, :welcome: to the 420Magazine forums. I would say jump right in, But you already have! Nice to meet you. :welcome:
 
Hi Sungod, you have picked some genetics with extreme wack. Much Luck! I'm ready for the show. :popcorn: :peace:

Oh heck, :welcome: to the 420Magazine forums. I would say jump right in, But you already have! Nice to meet you. :welcome:

Thanks cocoJoe, I'm not sure what wack is but I have my fingers crossed that it is a good thing lol. Either way there is no turning back now.
 
Two weeks into the grow I ran into my first problem. I noticed the leaves were getting yellowish orange spots all over the leaves of the White Russian and the tip were curling up and eventually wither and die. With the help of the Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial I came to the conclusion that I had a magnesium deficiency. I read that epsom salts can help correct the problem, but they had to be used with extreme caution because to much Mg is just as bad as not enough. I decided with my experience level that I was not willing to take the risk just yet. I read about a micro nutrient solution that worked well, but I was not able to find any at my local hydro shop. I talked to him about my problem and he told me that if I just started feeding them with the Iguana Juice that it should correct my problem. See I was so worried about burning the young roots that I was only watering them and the light warrior didn't have enough nutrients for the young plant to thrive on. I immediately started feeding with quarter strength Iguana grow and within a few days they recovered nicely. Sooo nicely in fact that they quickly out grew their little 5" pots and it was time for transplant.
 
These are pics approx 4 weeks into the grow. Trying my hand a low stress training.



White Russian #1
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White Russian #2
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Recon #1
recon_1.jpg




Recon #2
recon_2.jpg





The Recons are very beautiful plants. They just seem to be much more vigorous than the other two. The white russian have recovered and shown nice new growth but I feel they are still a little stunted from their experience.
 
Started building the cage for the SCROG. The design is pretty straight forward its basically a rectangle that is slightly longer that the room is wide so that I can get the curved effect. If someone needs the construction broken down i have no problem going into details.



SCROG frame
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Corner close up
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Corner close up with support pole installed. The pole keeps the frame from riding up the wall.
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finished product with fence installed
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If I could do it differently I would rotate the fence 90 degrees. I think it would be easier to move the plants where I want them.
 
Everything is looking great so far you two!!:cheer::cheer:

I just started my second grow and my first LST, I really think it can be used to increase your yield indoors, especially in small grow spaces.

Only thing I did notice and I personally don't have enough experience to say for sure, but I think they recommend anchors to tie the base of the plant to the opposite side of your pot. I think the idea is so they when you pull on the plant it doesn't pivot lower than the soil level and pull on the root system and damage the roots.

I can't say from experience though and maybe a little adversity will make them that much stronger. I hope your first grow goes very well, seems like you two have done your homework.

Subscribed :popcorn:+rep for great start.
 
Oh nice, and I mean NICE screen, you added it while I was posting...was medicating at same time...sometimes I ramble.

That thing is amazing, that is maximizing the output of your light! Good job!:cheer::cheer::cheer:
 
Oh nice, and I mean NICE screen, you added it while I was posting...was medicating at same time...sometimes I ramble.

That thing is amazing, that is maximizing the output of your light! Good job!:cheer::cheer::cheer:

Thanks MH I really happy with the way it turned out. The curved sides does two things for me. One it helps keep the outer nodes close to the light and second and very important for me is it gives me a little extra head room in a tight space when I have to crawl under pull the plants through.


By the way MH I love the way your girls are looking in your second grow. I cant wait to see how they fill out while vegging. Very nice.
 
Well some bad news, I know I have pictures from every week of the grow, but i can't seem to locate them so I'm just going to have to give you what I have. I hope you won't mind. Not much has happened just trying to fill the screen.

A Few shots while they are sleeping right before they wake up. I think its funny how droopy they look when the light is turning on. And it amazes me how fast they perk up after the light has warmed up.

I don't get to see them very often in natural light


Group pics
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Recon
Recon_21.jpg

Recon_11.jpg




White Russian
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The hardest thing about this grow has been trying to control different strains on the same screen. If I had to do it over again i would def only do one strain at a time. But I think I can make it work.
 
As a new grower I think the SCROG gives me something to do other than watch the plant veg. I think It makes me feel like I've done something and keeps me from over caring for the plants.
 
As a new grower I think the SCROG gives me something to do other than watch the plant veg. I think It makes me feel like I've done something and keeps me from over caring for the plants.

They are really looking good. You running the main tops up the screen to the wall?

:peace:
 
They are really looking good. You running the main tops up the screen to the wall?

:peace:


That is what I was planning although the LST that I did in the beginning the tops are no longer dominate on the recon. Timing is going to be critical but if I run out of room on the screen during the stretch I think I'll just super crop them.
 
Sungod, White Russian should be about as good as it gets. Serious genetics to be growing. :popcorn: :peace:

Thanks cocojoe we have our fingers crossed.
 
Some quick pics for today just a couple of group shots from outside looking in.



This is what the room looks like except the door is usually closed
room30.jpg




With the fan moved out of the way
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side shots
Room_Side.jpg
 
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