Poormans Swampgrass Tron Grow

[Minus]

Hello again everyone.I'm going to journal this grow after all.
Hell,I figured why not?
My last grow was a poormans grow and even though I did not harvest
a mass quantity,what I did do was grow some of the best smoke I've had in awhile for next to nothing.
The strain was unknown but it came from a local grower who grows out in the swamp.
I harvested quite a few seeds from that last grow and have successfully popped a few.
This grow is second generation(for me)and I hope to do even better this go round using basically the same setup.
There is alot of bad rep for MG going around and I understand the reasoning behind this but I am poor and MG is cheap!
I am officially calling the strain:Carolina Swampgrass
My setup:
I will be using my good old trusty tron again with about 18qts. of miracle grow soil.(3 month nutes in the soil)
I started with six plants,three started showing first signs of male so they're gone.
Three left,not officially females yet but looking good.
I have just topped one plant and supercropped the others.
I am also using a 10gl. flower pot next to the tron for one other plant.
It contains 30qts. of MG soil as well.
The plant I've tranplanted into this pot was started in my aerogarden.(A great Xmas present I must say)
Transplant was two days ago,looking good.
Lighting
The old tron has three utube flourescents and I added four 100wt equivalent CFL's from the top.
I rigged a four socket droplight rig above the 10gl pot with four 100wt CFL's also.(When plant gets a bit bigger I will add an additional four.)
Light cycle has been on 12/12 for almost two weeks as of now.
Nutrients
I was going to go natural again but decided to go MG all the way to see what I come out with.
I will be using MG Azalea/Camellia/Rhdodendron water soluble plant food. 30-10-10
(for acid loving plants)
I will also be using MG water soluble Bloom Booster Flower food.
15-30-15
Note on my soil:
I added 1 part perlite to every 3 parts soil when I mixed it.
Total investment to date:Had the tron for awhile though I paid $200
Soil,lights,nutes about $70,for a grand total of $270
This grow will be all CFL's as will anything I ever do.(I have my reasons)
Ok,that about covers it.I will try and get pictures up this weekend to officially kick off my journal.

[Medical75]

Sound's like a nice name . Is it skunk weed?

[Minus]

No clue honestly.Guys been growing it for many years out in the swamp.
It probably is a skunk strain but I can't say for sure.It has an aroma of skunky grapefruit.

[Minus]

Ok,here we go!Pics as promised.

Off to a good start with the tron.


Here is where my plant in the 10gl bucket started.(I love this thing)


Here it is after transplant.Doing well so far.



Here is the light drop I made.(4 more full spectrum CFL's coming soon)


Plans?
In the next few days I will be sheathing the enterior of my space with mylar that I aquired.

That's all for now.This journal is officially kicked off.
I hope you enjoy this adventure with me!

[Minus]

Small Update

The last plant in the tron showed sex today.What a bummer but that's the way it goes.More room for my two ladies now.

[Minus]

Good morning all.

Well,it seems that the soil I purchased contained some dreaded spider mites.
More of a pain in the butt than a major threat.Seems that alot of growers run into this problem from time to time.
I've been doing my research as to what I can do naturally to control this persistent critter.
Browsing the internet,(google is my best friend)I have come across numerous
articles in various gardening forums.
One prevention I was able to enact today.I found this article: Natural Garden Pest Control: Repel Pests with Plants, Ladybugs and Home-Made Pesticides
Upon reading it I came across this recommendation:

"Chives planted near tomatoes and carrots repel pests and improve the flavor of the vegetables"

This interested me as I have chives in my aerogarden.
I decided to give it a go and tranplanted my chives into my tron with my two ladies.

Ok,I decided that I may want to add a few mite eating insects.The question now was,what to get?
Predator beetles are expensive.I ruled them out because of that.
After some poking around I found a site that sells ladybugs at a relatively low price. 300 count for $3.85 a) Live Ladybugs in mesh bag 300ct.
300 ladybugs.That's alot!I'll have to do the math to figure out a good ratio to introduce to my tron and then I may house the rest or just set them free in my yard.
Either way you can't go wrong for that price.
It will be interesting to see how both of these methods work.
I will keep this journal updated once a week with pics to see what's going on with my simple garden.
Until Sunday!

[pan4gold49]

Looking good.

I better get some popcorn.

Pan4

[Minus]

Got tipsy,pay no mind.Update Sunday.

[Minus]

This is what I was trying to post last night.I had to make a couple privacy changes.

YouTube - Look What I found

[pan4gold49]

Thanks for the show Minus.

Pan4

[Minus]

You betcha friend.

Putting up my weekly update today as I'll be gone tomorrow.
Everything seems to be coming along.I'm going to wait another week to order ladybugs.The price is great but shipping is a bit high.($23)
I think I know where to get a few locally so I'm going to check on that first.
The chives have transplanted well and I do believe they are having an effect,time will tell.
Ok,here we go with pics!(I am such a pic hoe)

Oh!I have to add this.Yesterday was a good day.Mail lady was beeping her horn.I went out to see what was up.(I have large dogs,she won't come in the yard.)She hands me a box.It is from Marlboro.I had entered their copperhead road contest sometime back.I completely forgot about it.I open up the box and whatta ya know it's a damn sandisk sansa fuze.(4gb)
I have to say this thing is so friggin cool.Music,video,recorder,photo album,fm radio.Has a memory expansion slot also.It was a good day!!!

Ok on to the pics.















Ok,that's it for this week.Thanks for stopping by.Update next weekend.

[Minus]

Bad news today.The plant I had outside the tron showed male.Such a pretty bushy plant too."Sigh",that's the way it goes.Spring is coming up and I don't have a seperate space for veg. but I do have a new sprout from the aerogarden so I'm planting it into the pot and will be 12/12 cycle from the get go.
Trons looking good,pics this weekend.

[pan4gold49]

Sorry about the male.
The rest of your plants look fine.

Pan4

[NEPharmer]

That sux, the first, and only one, so far, to show sex for me was also male. 29 to go! Good luck with the rest. Let us know how the spider mite issue is going. I was thinking about trying the preditary insect method myself, as Im sure the spider mites will be back no matter how clean I keep it! But looks good Ill be watching.

[Minus]

Originally Posted by pan4gold49

Sorry about the male.
The rest of your plants look fine.

Pan4

Yeah,I was hopin it was a girl but that's the way it goes.
Thanks man,my other two ladies are doing well,I also changed the cfl's today to a better spectrum(daylight 100watt).They are liking it.

Originally Posted by NEPharmer

That sux, the first, and only one, so far, to show sex for me was also male. 29 to go! Good luck with the rest. Let us know how the spider mite issue is going. I was thinking about trying the preditary insect method myself, as Im sure the spider mites will be back no matter how clean I keep it! But looks good Ill be watching.

29!I hear ya man.You should get a few ladies out of a count like that.
The chives seem to be helping with the spider mites quite a bit.
I have yet to pick up my ladybugs but they're comin!