13goody13's PNW Indoor LED vs Outdoor Grow: Tangerine Dream AF & Gorilla Glue AF

[Justin Goody]

Using up the rest of my seeds, and definitely ready to explore some different seed companies and newer, more exciting strains. For now I figured I could try a comparison grow using the @carcass favorite budget Oneo LED indoors, and the great Pacific Northwest natural sunlight to grow outdoors. I started these seeds 4/12/20. Floated in Water and H2o2 (90/10) for about 12 hours, and straight into soil this time (1/2 inch deep). Last time I paper toweled them and after 2 days the roots were already 2 inches long and growing though the paper! I will say that about growers choice seeds is that of 4 strains, they all sprouted and were females. But as far as the autoflowers- only 1 of 4 flowered in the last batch. The others, now 100+ days old, are still in veg. A story for another day! Anyway, they sprouted within 2 days and are doing well, with the outdoor seeds about 1-2 days behind. The weather has been a bit spotty but lots of sun and everything is reacting well even with the cold weather. I am using Mega Crop again because I had such great easy results last time- Though I am worried about running out due to shortages and bad planning by me.

So I used what was available to me because of this quarantine crap. G&B blue ribbon organic potting soil, this batch is about 4 years old which seems nice and black. 2 gallon pots, with watering trays. Doing bottom watering this time to avoid fruitflies.

Strains are Gorilla Glue AF (sativa hybrid) and Tangerine Dream AF (balanced hybrid)

Distilled water only (ph 6.5- 7) for the first week, then slowly adding Mega Crop at about 20% dilution.

The outdoor temps have been about 60- 62 during the day, 44-48 at night, spotty showers. It seems cold but they are adjusting well. I want them to be seriously weathered and tough.

Indoors the plants run between 68-78 during the day and drops to low 60s at night, 24 hours ON for the first 10 days, will switch to 20 ON/4 OFF

Light is now a 18-19" above the top of the pots.

5v USB Fan circulating air. Same old reliable 2x2x4 tent

I have covered the soil with primed cardboard, also to avoid fruitflies.

Looking forward to using tips from everyone here. Most of all this will be my first crop without a nutrient flush, which I know many of you believe in. Also letting it finish for another week or so, and going to do the quad squad. It's starting to make more sense to me as well.

My last crop of Tangerine Dream yielded 7.55 oz dry in 70 days, lets see what these can do.

So away I go!

 

[Justin Goody]

8 days

 

[Justin Goody]

The outdoor seeds are definitely several days behind with this spotty WA weather compared to the constant light with the LEDs indoors.

 

[Carcass]

Cool! it'll be interesting to see how this goes!

I have covered the soil with primed cardboard, also to avoid fruitflies.

Those fruitflies are soil gnats- the gnats themselves are harmelss to the plant (they're just annoying as hell)
it's their larva that do the damage- they live in the soil and eat the roots on your plant- you'll probably never see the larva,but they look just like tiny maggots.
If you'd like to get rid of them for good, get yourself some "mosquito dunks" at home depot or lowes.(they're apx $8)
To use them effectively, you'll need to keep your plant water in a bucket or barrel,so you can treat the water with the dunks 24 hours before you use it on your plants.
I keep a 5 gallon bucket in the garage for my plant water-I drop half a dunk in the bucket every 3 weeks or so- they will populate the water with BTI ,the bacteria that kills the larva when they ingest it.
It takes about two waterings with the treated water to kill all the larva- so then you just wait 2 or 3 days for the adults to die off, and you'll be gnat free- so it's not an "instant" fix,but it does work
I just use the treated water on my plants all the time, to keep the gnats from coming back.
The BTI is harmless to everything except mosquito and soil gnat larva, so it doesn't hurt the plants.(or you)

There are other methods for controlling gnats,but using the dunks is the easiest way to do it.

 

[Justin Goody]

I tried the dunks for the last grow, but didn't realize it takes 24 hours in water (I should sometimes read instructions better lol). So I was using them wrong, probably why it took extra waterings before they went away. Good idea with the bucket of pre-made, will make it easier for me not to forget it. I was watering from above last time as well, and this time I will be watering from below so hopefully that will help as well.

 

[Carcass]

(I should sometimes read instructions better lol)

What are these "instructions" you speak of ??? (insert head-scratching emoji here)

They'll definitely help with bottom watering- the occasional gnat that I do get always comes crawling out of the drain holes on the pot.

 

[Justin Goody]

Indoors seems to be right on schedule. Meanwhile outside it’s gonna rain for the next 5 days and the seedlings are tiny in comparison.

 

[Justin Goody]

 

[Justin Goody]

Well there’s been some unfortunate luck with the weather (huge surprise here in WA) so I’ve moved these 2 back indoors to catch up a bit because the next week is all rain predicted. As you can see, In 2 weeks, 1-2 decent days of outdoor sun/mostly clouds (back) vs indoor LED 24 hours (front) makes a huge difference. Who would have thought

 

[Justin Goody]

Looking healthy, the little ones in the back are finally waking up after bringing them inside. Getting ready to quadline the other 2. Temp has been about 80 in here avg, humidity about 31% today. Watering now at full strength (4g/g) with megacrop. No fungus gnat problems so far watering from the bottom.

 

[Justin Goody]

Clipped and topped for quadlining Tuesday and they don’t look like they got any sort of shock. The small ones are obviously way behind but it looks like they are going to be ok after moving inside and after definitely being shocked by the (lack of) weather here.

 

[Carcass]

You've got plenty of weather there...it's just all bad!
At least you've got room for them inside...they might get all caught up under that led for a week.
The bigger girls are looking sweet!

 

[Justin Goody]

Yes they will be back outside Tuesday if the weather is as predicted, so a few more days to get caught up in here. It will get much tighter very soon in this tent with the other 2 doing so well, plus they are supposed to be the OUTDOOR plants.

 

[Carcass]

plus they are supposed to be the OUTDOOR plants.

That's the main reason I bought the second light-we had rain off and on for 3 weeks,so my last outdoor plant
spent about half it's flowering time in the house.
While it was in there, it shared some whiteflies and a few thrips with my indoor girls- the only drawback to bringing an outdoor plant indoors...

 

[Justin Goody]

Training Day #quadsquad -or at least the start of it. These indoor plants are really taking off (maybe even a slight nitrogen OD on the gorilla glue, it looks like a salad) and the TD is already showing signs of flower- the last one started showing at 18 days. The temp is between 69-80 and the RH has been around 41%. These have been getting full 4g dose of MegaCrop since the 1st, and switched to 20/4 on the 1st.
In the corner, the tiny sprouts are @carcass special blend (low rider #2 auto X Northern Lights x Afghani) and will be outside in a week or 2.

And the outdoor 2 went back outside yesterday and they are behind, but healthy and gaining.

 

[Justin Goody]

Training is going well for the indoor crew, a few tiny snaps aside

and the outdoor crew is adjusting well and doing it’s thing in the sun. It’s supposed to be almost 80 here all weekend, glad I brought these out early in the week or they’d fry.

 

[Carcass]

Good job on the training- they look exactly like they should!
Those outdoor girls are going to love the 80 degree weather- it's been 90 here for the last couple of days,but today is going to be like 68- Our hot weather evidently moved up to Wa.!

 

[Justin Goody]

Just topped the outdoor bunch which is thriving in the hot sun. Unfortunately that sun turned back to rain about an hour ago, as it does here. The quadlining on the indoor bunch is going very well. I’m keeping in mind the angle at which each branch sits in relation to the stalk, making sure it doesn’t dip below where it should be. They seem to be enjoying the indoor weather.

TD is several days into flower already, GG hasn’t made up its mind yet.

 

[Justin Goody]

In a stroke of good luck, I just fed my last dose of megacrop (still on the freebie sample bag)...and I also just got the notification that my new BIG bag is arriving today! The cycle will continue uninterrupted, but that was a bit too close for my comfort.

 

[Carcass]

(still on the freebie sample bag

Cool that your MegaCrop is showing up today!
The free ride is over,though- now it's gonna cost you about a dollar per ounce to grow great weed!
so keep that in mind....