1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe - Pot of Gold - NYSD - BB - ATF '13

[runewulfsong]

Well, this is my first grow and first journal. All the great journals and member support spurred me to actually start a journal as well. I will be McGuyvering this journal as I am disabled and am cobbling the grow together on a month by month basis. I don't have to be super stealthy, but I prefer low key, so a tent will be forthcoming (2 most likey) and light upgrades, as well as air scrubbers. I am handling things in a DIY if it's cheaper, buy when that makes sense mentality.

Where are we now?

Strains: Harlequin Joe #2, Pot of Gold, NYSD, Blueberry, Cookies and ATF from mmj co-op clones and a handfull of seedlings from seeds I collected out of MMJ dispensary bags in Cali 2 years ago.
Nutes: Fox Farms
Enviro: Hydro - Souped up prefab Emily's Garden and 2L Hempy
Lights: Right now, T5 and CFL, will add bigger T5s or HPS in a few weeks
Location: Open closet
Medium: Prefab - Hydroton / Hempy - Pearlite
Temp: from 66 - 78f
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Some both, just went 12/12 in closet, veg on desk for now.
If in Veg... For how long? Since 5/16 ish
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Hydro
How often are you watering? As needed, but daily on hydro and every few days on seedlings, when dry.
Type and strength of ferts used? All fox farms this time around.


This grow actually started in a staggered way. I purchased a T5 grow light, an Emily's Garden 6 gallon, 6 port Hydro setup and some reflective emergency blankets. I also have seed starters for outside veggie garden, so those got used as well. Hydro plants were all clones from local MMJ Co-ops.

5/16

I had an idiot moment here and forgot the seedlings were going to stretch hard towards the T5, being all the way in the corner, my bad. So on 5/19 I moved them to my desk and added a cheap fluro grow light x 2. Also moved to small pots with organic soil until I could get some more hydro medium.

Well, as you can see, the clones are looking a bit rough and the seedlings leggy and then some. This is my first play with Hydro and I did NOT realize that if you planted too high, it takes longer for the roots to reach the res, especially if you don't water heavily, my bad again. I started babying them, cycling the water from res down the medium a couple times a day. In my defense though, the Harlequin, Pot of Gold and Cookies were all rootbound in soil when I got them, the other 3 were just scrawny as all get out, but in rockwool, so easy to place into the Hydro setup.

The plants seemed to like the new arrangement. So I kept babying them and this week added some DIY blackout on the opened closet, added 2 clip on CFLs, one daylight and one red for bloom, also finally got a fan in there. I also cobbled together a bubble cloner as cloning in rockwool seems to take a lot longer and I kept seeing a lot of issues in journals from folks with small DIY aero cloners from res overheating, and besides, I had all the stuff sitting around to do a bubble cloner. I also souped up the prefab emily's garden hydro setup with a much stronger 2 line air pump and 3 much larger air stones. The plants seem to like that. I also added some more reflective material around the seedlings to get them every lil bit of light I can.

Finally, I got some pearlite and made a few 2L hempys. My girl and I caught a flu going around so actually had soda around for once, ginger ale and siera mist type drinks. I moved the 4 healthiest seedlings that were pushing into veg and had the straightest stems today and for an experiment, I move 2 into the closet, which went 12/12 last night. Tomorrow or the next day I will make 2L hempy's for the other seedlings.

And the plants in the garden seem a lot happier, especially now that all have roots within the res to one degree, either exiting the huge net pots or at least deep enough into the hydroton to be in the res and feed.

NYSD and BB today:

Cookies and ATF today:

Harlequin Joe # 2 today:

and the sickly Pot of Gold today:

finally a few canopy shots:

and Closed up now:

All feedback appreciated, please just remember this is my first grow, my first hydro and I am disabled to I'm putting things together as I can afford them. I will be getting better lighting in a couple weeks and I will build a carbon scrubber and install some cycling ventilation into the closet and get a couple of Y adapters to double the CFLs and some chains for better light management, then next month a tent and another light, etc.

Also picking up FF bloom nutes in a couple week.

 

[Sinsemillas]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

Fluor's are usually really cold, you can place them much closer. I do this with my indoor grow

I place them almost 1 cm away, and daily i'll pull them up!!

They really seem to appreciate it. Good luck & Good smoke Irie

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

The T5 seems to put out a little heat so I wasn't sure how close to put it, especially with to CFLs hanging off it until the week after next. I need some chains or a better hanger, but payday is 2 weeks off yet.

Thanks for the likes.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

keep your cfls & t5s as close as you can, other than the shoe string seedlings (fixable) you look to be off to a good start, your a prime candidate for coco growing, i have alot of info from me and other members compiled in my coco growing thread i nagged,hinted and got lots of support from members to get the coco section started so ppl can go learn in one area,you should check it out,link in my sig.
you know for what you will pay for fox farms you could prob get the 2 part from --- (much better product imo) have a look Blue Planet Nutrients i think qts are 8$, works great in coco,soil,hydro,pearlite etc,,and my best piece of advice is hit the grow room section and read till your eyes fall out ! lol feel free to ask me whatever you need if i dont know i'll find out
subbed

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

Thanks BID... I'll get the lights lowered. I want to actually upgrade that in a couple of weeks but am trying to find the cheapest, but most effective local solution, which means Wally World or Home Depot for the moment. My farm store has a small hydro section and some things are semi-resonable priced, but others are a bit like being taken advantage of without dinner and a movie first.

I've been reading your coco posts and if I can find it in my stores I'll grab some and try it with the pearlite. All I've found so far is the chunky stuff for mulch (which is what I actually bought it for, lol). I also already plan on BPN after I kill of the FF stuff. Actually planned to hit up Corey in a few weeks and get his input, but like when you started, a little here and there cause disability slows you down both time and cash wise, ick.

Are you still planning on the big tea cyclone brewer? And did you DIY your worm bins? I've seen some decent DIY bins on YouTube over the last year and want to get that started in the next few months for the outside gardens myself.

Thanks for the input.

btw... T5 or CFL for lighting upgrade?

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

Made a few changes today, transplanted the other seedlings to 2L hempy pots and adjusted lighting better over the seedlings and the clone (and veggie starts, lol).

I then did a little nosing on the cobbled together bubble cloner and 3 cuttings are showing rootlings and another has nubs... I took another from Harlequin when I was cleaning the kids in the closet up. I had to perform some extra bondage and remove some fan leaves that were casting too much shadow. I ended up with this one branch that was going to choke out three others, so it got clipped and became the newest cloner fodder.

I'm please Pot of Gold is making a come back, that was the sickest of the clones I started with, totally rootbound, leaves yellow and burned edges. Now, she's the number 2 as far as size and speed of growth. The Harlequin Joe # 2 grows daily, getting bigger and bigger and took to topping and FIM when young beautifully and really grooves on LST. Biggest problem is keeping it contained in that fixed hydro system. I've definitely learned my lesson there, at least as far as cannabis grows go... individual pots are much nicer unless doing SOG and lolipop types. The Emily's Garden V2 will likely NOT be making a return trip to MMJ grow land and will become my new cayanne, thai, serana, pablano, bell and jalapeno house, lol.

A few pics of the girls in the closet, right before trim. I rehung and readjusted the lights to get them closer to the canopy, also flipped the two CFLs around for a couple days to flip the 6500k and 2700k bulbs to opposite sides of the tent.

The side shot, they are growing

The 2 test seedlings, ranking by health they are number 3 and 4. I want to see what happens when they get dropped straight to flower at this stage since I'm not sure about the strain and I had the room in the closet and not so much on the desk where they were, lol.

And finally, Harlequin Joe # 2, that hussy just can't keep her hands to herself, any of the ummmm, 30 or so, lol... I might have overdone the LST/FIM with this one, my bad, live and learn I guess:

I am curious as to what people think would be more suitable, T5s or just a lot of CFLs? I'll supplement with at least 4 CFLs anyway, but for overall lighting. I was thinking about a 250 HPS, but all the reviews talk about the heat and I have no A/C to manage that, so I need low heat and low power draw. I will play with LEDs later, but for now, need immediate results that fit limited budget and the space, but that I can keep building on as I go. That said, I've ganked the HPS/MH and LED is pricey, so that leaves T5s or CFLs. I'm leaning towards T5 with some CFL supplemental.

Thanks for the info and advice. I've already learned so much lurking here and love the community feel and support I've seen. Not too mention all the awesome grows and different styles, it's amazing what you learn and seeing new ways to do things or just new ways to think.

Thanks y'all

 

[Sinsemillas]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

You can have a mix of both T5's and CFL's. But, you can get a CFL 200 watts! that will surely increase your lumen output. You can as well, to help with the stretch, put some "Warm lights", the red spectrum helps keep the plants low. (Btw, If you can, I would remove the screens off the T5's)


Its looking much better dude, those ladies are lucky. Much luck, keep up the hard work.

And, like BigIrish says, indeed, coco would be a really nice option. You can get a mix of coco and vermiculite. Or as well, you could use Light Mix from BioBizz + Vermiculite, so you can feed the plants as you see fit!

When doing anything like LST, trim, fim, or something that will stress the plant, go easy on them they adapt really well, but not too fast, if you trim and LST, do one first, then wait a bit for the other one.

Im happy to see these babys grow. Cheers,

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

subscribed

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

Thanks John. I'm still waffling about the T5 vs CFL for right now. I'll end up with both, lol. Long term I'll have 2 tents and the seedling / mother / clone area. I'm just trying to juggle building in a way that I can keep expanding no with little waste, but also doing the best I can at each step so I can spend the money I would be at the co-op on grow supplies, lol.

Right now one of the CFLs is red and the other blue, well, 2700k and 5700k. I plan on getting at least a few more of each, a couple Y splitters and a couple more clamp lights as well, or maybe just outlets I can hang. I also want to play with LED as well, but it's pricey and I'm seeing a lot of mixed results based on manufacturer and model on the LEDs, so those go to the back burner.

 

[ottothief]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

rough start wulfsong but with your continued vigilance the plants are doing good.Plants are tougher than we think.We learn as we go and they forgive us (most of the time)for learning at there expense.Lowering the lights was a great move.I am subbed and i think there is going to be a great outcome.Nothing but good vibes

 

[ottothief]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

BTW the technique of Lst is a great move.

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

Many thanks otoothief ... it's a learning experience, growing inside and hydro, but I love it

 

[BigIrishDoode]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

t5 & cfl are basically the same thing,one is long and gets good area coverage the other is twisted in a ball giving good spot lighting, i like t5 since it covers more area, heat issues: cfl &t5 put out plenty of heat its just more diffused when i got my first hps a 400 i was sure it was gonna heat up my closet, but temps went down 5f ,there was only 1 heat source vs 20 cfl mini ballasts,its a myth that cfl is lower heat watt for watt cfl gives off more i had nearly 400watts cfls ,food for thought, a 250 hps would give you far more lumens/par than same amount of cfls wattagewise and likely less heat, i know all about growing on a disability budget it took years and a very supportive gf to get to where im at now, a tent or 2 is a great investment, i have 4 lol only 2 in operation atm, lst is a must with cfl grows you have 8 inches max of optimal working height, so keeping the canopy even and low are top prority, i would really reconsider the little hps, i went round and round with it before i made the leap, and wish i had long before i did, my first harvest with hps was triple that of my previous cfl grows, but i understand you gota do what ya gotta do, the plants look healthy and happy

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: 1st DWC/Hempy Harlequin Joe, Pot of Gold, NYSD, BB, Girlscout Cookies, ATF '13

Thanks BID... of course, it will come down to price, ugh, but I'll definately keep looking at HPS lights too. I figure I'll end up with multiple light setups long run anyway and since we're doing heirloom veggies inside since northern WA doesn't have a good growing season for tomatoes without a greenhouse, extra lights are good And yeah, I have noticed a slight temperature jump in the room with the 2 additional CFLs clamped on. Strangely, I "feel" the temperature change more in that room, but the thermometer doesn't show it as being more than a degree or 2 warmer, at least not when I'm looking. I was originally thinking a 250w HPS for flower and a few more CFLs for veg, then later adding a bigger T5 or LED for veg and the current lights for clones/veggies... but kept reading comments about heat issues and I don't have A/C in this rental.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

if you can just exchange/vent the space you should be fine,and the plants will enjoy the extra co2! a simple 3 inch fart fan from homie d 12$ and a 3 inch flex hose will do it, im my journal you can see it in the background of the plants hanging up to dry, i use that with a 400 hps batwing refelector in a small tent in AZ! keeps temps in the safe range

 

[runewulfsong]

Sweet, thanks BID... already planned on venting and carbon scrubbing, DIY style in a couple weeks, the lights have been the big question. My first thought was HPS for lumen to watt output for flower, but was worrier about the heat, since I can't vent outside, only into the room. But if it's that managable, I could do 1 HPS for flowering and keep the T5s and Fluro for vegging... hmmm, off to price now... new pics in gallery, will do journal in a bit if I still have internet with the weather. +Reps BID

 

[runewulfsong]

Figured I would toss up another update, starting with the cobbled together bubble cloner. I had spare parts sitting around, a couple of old tupperware type containers, on broken with no lid, which became a humidity "dome" and one that I wasn't using but which is air tight. I supper charger the bubblers and air pump on the Emily's Garden 6 gal unit, so I took the air pump and a 4" airstone, a dremmel and some duct tape and went to work:

I didn't have any netpots available, so just drilled holes. I used a sealing tape to make sure the airline for the bubbler doesn't leak and the cuttings just slip into the dremmel made holes in the lid.

I had several cuttings looking sickly in rockwool in a seed starter and moved them in. The first 2 to show small roots got moved to a make shift hempy until sometime next week when I can get some supplies. The hempy was the container my ladybugs came in for the outside garden:

I think I might have moved them a bit early, but without any collars to allow for bigger holes, I didn't want to chance the roots getting stuck and I don't have anything to really jurry rig collars from right now. This really was more a proof of concept test and seems to be working better than the rockwool, so I'll build a slightly bigger one in the next couple weeks using netpots and collars, or at least the collars, lol.

And the kids in the closet today:

Harlequin Jo # 2, still outgrowing everything else.

Pot of Gold, the sickly, yellowed and rootbound clone.... leggy, but coming back:

Girlscout Cookies, a lil slow, but not looking nearly as bad as when I got her. Another stiff and horribly rootbound girl clone:

Stumpy little ATF, starting to throw little branches, but they're staying small and tight to the main stem for some reason:

Blueberry is starting to branch out a little finally, but like ATF, short little branches:

NYSD, like the previous 2 is starting to grow more, but tiny little branches:

and my little seedling experiment:

and

I did notice a couple of odd things today..

1) I have a branch on Harlequin Jo that's literally growing upside down, away from the light:

WTF, did this little branch start smoking it's own non-existent-at-this-point trichomes and get lost somewhere?

Seriously though, any idea what's up with this little branch?

2) I think the 100w 2700k CFL put out a bit much heat for where I had it becuase I got some burning on some of the closest leaves on the Pot of Gold. Is this from heat?

I adjusted the cfl neck to move it between 1" and 2" higher. I know everyone says CFLs can be within an inch of leaves, but is that all cfls or just the 35w ones?

3) I have noticed the girls aren't using much water (those in the Emily's Garden). It holds about 6 gallons in the res, It's using somewhere between 1/3 and 1 gallon a day for all six plants combined. That said, the PPM seems to be dropping by anywhere from 200 to 350 PPM each day. Is this normal? Is it just the plants needing the nutrients more than the water?

Thanks for any insight and comments. I love how helpful, friendly and supportive the members are here. It makes it a real community and it's nice

 

[BigIrishDoode]

dropping ppms are plants using nutes, things look good, you have quite a few plants for the lights you have,i think they are about to have a growth explosion, your gonna need alot more light my friend! id love to get a harlyquin cut/seed i need a high cbd strain! i have seen branches grow like that alot with cfl and lst, it will turn around eventually! looking good overall, hang tough

 

[runewulfsong]

thanks BID... another couple weeks and the new light will go in

So, I should leave the runty branches for now and see how they come along with more light?

I was figuring the PPM drop was them eating, it's just surprising to see so little water go though, don't know why, but for some reason, I think I was equating PPM to water volume like colorie to mass, which is stupid since we set the actual nutrient ppm level when we feed, but this is my first ever hydro and my brain is still thinking of nutrients as coming from solids primarily, lol. I upped the level in the res and topped it off, so it should be good. Really am itching for more lights though, lol... can't wait... this is addicting, the growing and tweaking, lol

 

[BigIrishDoode]

adicting hmmm well i started with a few coco hempys, and my home made cfl light bulb array ,you can see one of my first indoor grows in my 1st journal in my sig plenty of pics on page 1, to now some 2 yrs later,an amateur breeder 4 tent,4 light, funny still using coco hudereds maybe thousands later im scared to addit up,never made a dime ! i dont sell my weed what i dont use goes to sick ppl or into edibles, witch goes to sick ppl lol i really never planed to make $ it was for the medicinal value,after yrs on big pharma i got sick of getting sicker from 14 meds im down to 2 the blood thinner and a few of the painkillers that stuff is satan evil and sinks its hooks into your soul,if you havent dont ever let em get you on that crap ! its hell to get all the way off after 6-7 yrs they dont warn you, so i will lol im aweful preachy this morning,lol yeah its an addicting thing to constantly add and u pgrade your space, it was a tiny closet now a room with 4 tents and a wall of products nutes,gear,bales of coco & soil,amendments, ,we ended up just letting it have a bedroom , but to us its worth it the money saved on rx and otc meds is whopping, and the few sick ppl i help incld my family is so worth it seeing the relief & help it gives ,one woman i was helping sadly shes no longer here ,i was the one source of joy in her life,she was diying from multiple diseases & cancer, i just wish i could have gotten to her sooner, i think rick simpson oil would have cured her, anyway the "compassion" club was charging her 75$ an 8th for crappy grown hydro , i gave her all she needed and refused her $$, i grow all organic to avoid any possible residue & allergic reactions, she had 100s of allergies, and the feeling i got from helping her was best described as bliss, my gf aka spiffy gets migraines & has ibs,fibermialgia,and some nerve damage in her shoulder from a bad ex, and im able to keep most of that at bay with what i do, its an addictive,expensive and very rewarding hobby/obcession!! it has brought my mom relief from pain,insomnia,ocd & anxiety disorder, my brother has rage disorder from brain damage(car crash) and alcoholisim and as long as he has cannabis he can function & hold down a job, the list goes on, with more ppl & problems, but as you can see in my world im a dr/savior that feeling is irreplacable how can i charge anybody ? mother teresa,jesus,and countless others all over the world dont charge ppl , my plan is to create some very spcial strains and build my "brand" and when the time comes i will have my genetics avalible in the seed banks for all the world, at that point i would not mind compensation, and i suppose if i knew anybody that wanted it for recreational reasons only,i suppose i would be ok getting a donation, but i dont know any rec users,so it has never really come up!
wow! im just babbeling my face off, blue dream does that to me! sorry for the book i wrote to you lol well now you know alot about my motivations !
the burned tips look like nute burn , could happen when the water level drops and nute concentrations rise,you could use yogurt cup lids or just cut out some plastic discs out of some plastic to make some collars for your cloner,do you put anything in the cloner water? i used superthrive, and uber mild micro & bloom nutes to speed up the process, i highly recommend some superthrive for stress & growth on younglings, it can rescue sick plants and is a great all around tonic its full of b vitamins and plant growth horomones ,,and its highly economical since all you need is 1-5 drops per gallon a 4 oz bottle cost 10$ ish and last me a year or 2, its also great to boost growth in veg,plants love that stuff! , you can clone in a cup of water one grower here sqwheels does all her clones in a yoplait cup, she just changes the water when they need it, and she get 99% success,! ok im gonna go i need coffee!