Tugafox 1st Indoor Grow - Soiless Mix- Money Maker - Grow Journal 2014

[Tugafox]

Hello & Welcome to my first grow journal.
This journal is not from seed to finish because I only signed-up early this month. So, I´ll start with what I have going on now.
I´ve been growing Skunk plants for 3 years now, in a closed but airy balcony, using Sunlight and nature´s natural cycles. I moved to a small flat without balconies and being tired of feeding the "street market", I decided to grow my own and took the plunge. Some hundred euros later, here I am trying to learn this fine Art.
I´m European and English is not my mother tong so I apologize for any mistakes in grammar or spelling you find in my journal.
With all that being said, let´s start:


What strain is it?
Strain Hunters Seed Bank - Money Maker Femenized

Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages?
Info from Seed Bank:

Genetics:
Green Crack x OG Kush (feminized) | 70% indica - 30% sativa
Height:
short plant (average internodal distance 5-7 cm)
Flowering Indoors:
8 weeks flowering time. Yield up to 1000 gr/m2 (with 1000W HPS).
Flowering Outdoors:
8-9 weeks, with production up to 1000 grams per plant depending on the final size. 
Support for the branches is recommended.
Taste (burned):
nutty, vegetal, spicy, fruity.
Scent (unburned):
berries, spices, kushy, roasted.
What the dried bud/crumbled bud looks like: the dried buds small but very dense, with huge calyx clusters dripping with resin already after few weeks of flowering. The crumbled bud is sticky, dark green, with black hues. Small, thin hairs.
Speed of high onset:
fast hitter.
Duration of high:
medium lasting.
Quality/type of high:
strong, physical, very intense on the legs, couch locking, meditative.

Medicinal qualities:
against insomnia, pain, lack of appetite.

~~~~~~~~

# plants - 3

Is it in Veg or Flower stage?
In Flower

If in Veg... For how long?
Germinated 28 February 2014 (12 hours soaked in a glass with destiled water, then paper napkin between 2 small plates)
Hit soil in March 3 - 1 liter smart pots
1 st Transplant to 3 liters pots, 2 nd transplant to final pots
Veg 4 weeks (18/6) with a mix of Sun, CFLs and slowly introduced to LED
Topped once in 5th node.

If in Flower stage... For how long?
Flipped lights to 12/12 in 4th April 2014
Saw first hairs in 15th April

Indoor or outdoor?
Indoors
1 Hortiline Tent, size: 1 meter x 1 meter x 2 meters high

Soil or Hydro?
Soiless Mix

If soil... what is in your mix?
Composana Universal

If soil... What size pot?
1 X 9 liters, 1 x 15 Liters, 1 x 30 Liters

Size of light?

1 X 135W Ufo LED
1 X 85 W 6500 K CFL
1 X 30 W 6500 K CFL
2 X 30 W 2700 K CFL
(Watts in CFLs are actual draw)

I run the lights at night

Is it aircooled?

Exaust: 1 in-line Fan Vents TT 100, 2 velocities
1 Fagor heater-fan heater TRV-210
1 Clip Fan 15 cm, 2 velocities
Passive intake

Temp of Room/cab?

Minimum registered - 19ºC (w/lights off)
Maximum ,, - 26ºC (lights on)

RH of Room/cab?

Minimum - 48%
Maximum - 70 %

PH of media or res?
PH of soiless mix - 5-6.5
Water - 6.5 to 6.7 + Distilled Water

Any Pests ?
Gants or some other similar type of flying insects

How often are you watering?
When needed, i stick my finger in the soil and lift pots to check

Type and strength of ferts used?
Biobizz Grow, Bloom and Top-max (try pack)
Did not use any ferts during first 3 weeks of veg
First time: 1/2 strengh: they didn´t like - showing small burns in some leaf tips
2 nd time 1/4 strengh: they didn´t seem to like it so I backed off completly with veg nuts and only gave 1/4 strengh bloom in the 1st week after flipping the lights.
Although the seed bank says this strain "can take high amouts of ferts" I think my girls don´t like them very much. Curiously, I gave veg ferts to my other herbs and they like them.

The Plan:

I grow for my personal use only, so I don´t need alot.
The intial plan was: 1 plant, veg for 4 weeks, with a mix of sunlight, cfls and slowly introduce to LED (18/6), top once and flip to flower (12/12) inside the tent.

I must confess I was a bit worried about this light scheme and wondered how the plants would do without Sunlight so after a bit of thought I decided to have 2 plants, 1 as a back up & they wouldn´t feel lonely
It was my 1st experience with this seed bank so I didn´t know what to expect. I germ. 3 seeds and had 100% success. So, now I have 3 plants. I named them as MM A, B & C.

MMA is the strongest girl since the begining, MM B follows right behind and MMC is the runt of the group and that´s why she got the smaller 9 liters pot.

Well, I think I covered the essentials & +
Pics in my next post.
I would really like to get some buds from this grow!

& Good buds to us all

 

[Tamir]

Sounds good... Would live to see the pics

 

[Tugafox]

Hi Tamir,
I´m going to upload my first pics to the gallery now and will add them here after (hopefully still tonight).
Meanwhile...
Will visit your journal too!

 

[Tugafox]

Meet the Girls in the Tent:

 

[Tugafox]

Uploaded some pics to the gallery.

 

[Tugafox]

Group pic
(sorry for the color)

Pictures taken 21/4/14:

 

[farnorth]

Beautiful girls.

 

[Tugafox]

Hi farnorth, welcome!
Thanks, your are kind.
It´s my first tent grow but it hasn´t been that smoth. First, gnats. Now I´m having some leaf curl in older growth leafs.
I topped the girls once but my biggest question tonight is: Should I lollipop (or give them a hair cut as you call it here) the lower growth now that they are in flower?
What´s your take on this?

 

[Tugafox]

Should I lollipop the lower growth (in the pic below) now that she is in flower?
If so, how much should i cut off?

 

[farnorth]

Yes! Definitely. It helps so so much. Around 10 days into flower is the bast time in my opinion. I use a screen so my technique is slightly different..
Unlike many people don't chip off as many full branches. I will pick a spot on the plant and anything under it goes. But if the very bottom branches top is above the chosen point the top 2 nodes stay. And everything else on the branch goes. Lopping off too many branches can slow flower down a decent amount and risk herming but nodes are generally ok. Doing this 10 days into flower allows a few days of vigorous stretch but will retain the chosen spot better than trimming up In very early flower where it will stretch and your chosen line is 12
Inches below where you thought you made
It.

 

[Tugafox]

Thank you very much farnorth!
I´m looking to learn scrog too cause I think it´s a very good technique (to make the best out of my few lights) so will def. visit your journal.
I flipped them to 12/12 in 4th April but only started seeing hairs (showed sex) in 15th April. I think it´s more correct to start counting the flowering stage from 15th. So, they are 8 days into flower right now and still in time for a minor haircut. I´m thinking of removing the first lower branches (in the pic above), put some more soiless mix and maybe do a "bed" of dry pine straw (I collected a few months ago) on top of the soiless mix. Maybe this could help in stopping the adult gnats laying more eggs...

 

[farnorth]

The bottom Branches from the pictures definitely need to go!
As far at gnats go not much experience. But sand works for root aphids. The sand is so micro that it literally shreds the bugs as they crawl around on the top of the soil. However don't take my word I am not sure how it would work in plastic pots as the roots need to breathe and I have only seen this done in smart pots where the fabric allows breath ability. But sand will work to get the eggs in the medium however.

 

[Tugafox]

I´ve read about sand, perlite, neem oil and pest stickers for gnats control too. I know gnats like muddy soils to lay eggs on so keeping the top layer of the soil as dry as possible is a good measure. I don´t like chems and will try to keep them at bay with more natural methods. Clapping & crushing them works, hehehe. Just kidding
I´ve used 1 liter smart pots when they were seedlings and noticed the soiless mix gets more loose, dries out faster, plus roots don´t rootbound as easily which is very good for our ladies.
My pots are plastic, I made many small holes in the bottom but will def. try to get some smart pots for my next grow.
Thanks, I will make a trip to the beach, get some nice clean sand and try it. Trial & error is learning.

 

[farnorth]

If you go to the beach to get sand. Be sure to look at how to sterilize it. Don't want to bring in another species of bug!! I do believe you can bake it. Have heard of soil being cooked as well. Not sure about temp or time though... Guess would be something around 400 for 30 minutes or so?
But definitely want to sterilize sand from the beach! But yeah give it a try!

Or just go for a cardio arm workout every day. Get to clapping!

 

[Tugafox]

Sorry farnorth, had to go check the girls before the lights went out and did them the minor haircut (& asked them sorry about 20 times in the process). Now i´m the one a bit stressed out and need
Lmao, I def. will need cardio workout cause they reproduce at a speedy gonzales rate!
Once again, you´re totally right. I already saw some good videos on youtube on how to sterelize the soil, one example:

The sand makes sense as it might crush larvae. My suggestion of dry pine straws was just an idea that popped in my mind, never tried it before with MJ plants but worked well with my other herbs in pots.
I will give you + reps when I find out how it´s done

It´s a beautiful sunny day here, have a great one!

 

[Tugafox]

Hello everyone, today´s a good day! hope you´re all having a good one too

This morning, before the lights went out I did a haircut to MMA & B but did not touch MMC yet. I removed the branches and leafs below the second node, gave the ladies a drink of water (Ph 6.5) and put them to sleep.
Yesterday, I posted a picture of MMA´s lower growth. Here´s a picture of MMB lower growth before I cut it and...Meet my garden´s Guardian He´s not a gnome but he´s been doing a fantastic job looking after the girls!

 

[Tugafox]

Ok, so I mentioned that i´ve been having 2 problems. One is gnats and the other is a bit of leaf curl as you can see in the top right side of the picture below:

Probable causes:

1 - Low RH - I don´t think so as my RH levels have been between 50%/68% and even over 70% when it rained this week.

2 - High temps - I don´t think so either as my temps have been between 18/26ºC and the maximum I had so far is 26ºC when all the lights are on.

3 - Not enough fresh air/movement - I think this is the cause!

I have 1 in-line fan Vents 100 with 2 velocities as extraction, passive air intake - all tent´s ports opened except one on the top of the tent and a clip fan with 2 velocities which I hanged above canopy. The in-line fan is sucking the air out of the tent directly to a window as I have the tent set-up right next to it. I leave the window opened all the time but with the blinders down. Here´s a pic of the extraction:

1 st Step: Identify the problem - I think I already did.

a) After diligent observation of my set up i came to the conclusion that I could have bought the Vents TT 125 (only a few euros more) which has a higher cfm ratio than the TT 100 I have. Can´t go back on this one but then I remembered that the extractor has 2 velocities but it doesn´t have any button to select - this is done when it´s wired.
My extractor was wired by an electrician. I removed the extractor to check how it was wired and found out it has been working in the lower velocity since day 1!!:icon_roll

b) I haven´t been using the Thermoventilator/fan I have to blow air inside the tent (and I should have!). I used it more as heater when temps were lower early this year.

c) I have one port on top of the tent closed and I could have left it opened. Light getting inside the tent in the dark period is not an issue cause I close the room´s window blinders and the thick curtains and no light gets inside the tent.

d) During the dark period, I zip the tent´s door and windows (it has 1 frontal door and 2 lateral windows). Once light is not an issue, I could have left at least one window opened during the dark cycle.

2 nd Step - Find solutions and apply them.

Solution a) I called the electrician and had the extractor rewired to the maximum velocity and it´s now working at full speed 24/24 h

Solution b) I´m now using the Fagor fan blowing air inside the tent. I put it in a chair outside the tent, near the window. I leave the front door opened so the air reaches the girls. No more closing all the tent´s windows and door.

Solution c) I already opened the top port but tonight while reading Tamir´s journal, I came across a ver good idea suggested by BAR.
I can put a 2nd fan in this port blowing air to the girls. I´m going to buy another small fan ASAP and set it up just like BAR suggested. Thanks BAR!

Solution d) I now started leaving one tent´s window opened during the dark cycle and will continue to do so.

3 rd Step - Observation of results of measures taken - On the making...

 

[Tugafox]

Hello,
Today´s update:

Temps before the light cycle begins:

MMA:

MMB:

Under MMA:

MMC:
Although this lady is the smallest of the group, she´s becoming bushy:
(sorry for the colour)

The ladies streched and I see new growth in many branches.
New growth doesn´t show signs of leaf curl but some leafs on top showed what looks like light bleach.
Light bleach? Omg! They streched alot and in the past days I didn´t measure the distance to the lights. As soon as i saw this, i put the lights further.

I bought a bag of a mix of humus and organic matter (including small wood chips). I gently cultivated the top soil and added a layer of the humus mix in each pot. Then, I added a final layer of the soiless mix.

Today, when I opened the tent, I only found 1 small insect (i´ve been calling them gnats as they are similar to this pest) flying around but he didn´t last long Let´s see how this goes in the next days.

Today, 25th April, 3 weeks completed since I flipped the lights.
The ladies survived the replacement of sunlight by artificial lights (interesting experience for me). Although the leafs don´t look as good as they did when they were in veg they seem to be thriving.
I´m still looking for more lights. I planned having 1 or 2 plants max. but all 3 survived (i guess i´m a better "mom" than i thought ), can´t seem to make up my mind on what lights to choose.

 

[Beleaf]

I'm subbed. Looking good!

 

[Tugafox]

Hi Beleaf, thanks!