1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Technique

[Dan Ultra]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Well, for me it was once I was happy with the base formation of the Flux. So basically once all the arms were close to the pot edge I started letting her grow vertical. Then when she had about 6" of vertical I made the switch.

You can veg pretty much as long as you want. The more you veg, the bigger your plant will be and the better your yield will be. BUT, most people have height or space restrictions that they need to factor in. So just remember that your plant will stretch 2-3 times its height when you switch to flower. Sometimes Sativa dom plants can stretch even more than that. WW is a hybrid with more Indica though, so you should probably plan on the plant at least doubling.

You can always LST a little bit during the stretch if you run into height problems.

 

[Tomula]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Your tent is 51" (123cm) tall, thats the limiting factor, your light should be safe distance from tops of your plants. My plant stretched 40-50% of its height, but it is different with every strain. Make some measurments and you will be OK. Happy growing!

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Defoliation

Before

Bunny Food

After

Top

T-5's on

 

[Dan Ultra]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Lovely!!

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Well, for me it was once I was happy with the base formation of the Flux. So basically once all the arms were close to the pot edge I started letting her grow vertical. Then when she had about 6" of vertical I made the switch.

You can veg pretty much as long as you want. The more you veg, the bigger your plant will be and the better your yield will be. BUT, most people have height or space restrictions that they need to factor in. So just remember that your plant will stretch 2-3 times its height when you switch to flower. Sometimes Sativa dom plants can stretch even more than that. WW is a hybrid with more Indica though, so you should probably plan on the plant at least doubling.

You can always LST a little bit during the stretch if you run into height problems.

Thank you! That helps a lot. I just remeasured, and it seems I have 26 more inches before Scarlett would hit the glass ceiling. She's currently 7 inches high from the top of the tub to her highest point. I'm letting her veg a bit more for higher yields, but I'll watch her height closely. I definitely don't want burned tops!

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Your tent is 51" (123cm) tall, thats the limiting factor, your light should be safe distance from tops of your plants. My plant stretched 40-50% of its height, but it is different with every strain. Make some measurments and you will be OK. Happy growing!

Thanks, Tomula! I love looking at the photos of your current grow! Hoping mine goes as smoothly.

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

A quick note about the Bloombox's performance. I had read about the temperature problems, and I'm hitting them now. My box came with ducting, so I'll be trying to jury-rig something on my next day off. I need a temporary fix, and I'm thinking that if I can just hook up a piece from the exhaust of the 400 Watt light to my window, I'll see at least some improvement. Right now the hot air is just going into my room. Temps are steadily in the 80's at the bottom of the box, and creeping into the 90's at the top.

The box is also louder than I would like. It's covered by the fact that I installed my window air conditioner and leave it on the low fan only setting. The ac is definitely louder than the box, but the box is louder than I would necessarily like. Good thing I like white noise when I sleep.

 

[Kushtie]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

A quick note about the Bloombox's performance. I had read about the temperature problems, and I'm hitting them now. My box came with ducting, so I'll be trying to jury-rig something on my next day off. I need a temporary fix, and I'm thinking that if I can just hook up a piece from the exhaust of the 400 Watt light to my window, I'll see at least some improvement. Right now the hot air is just going into my room. Temps are steadily in the 80's at the bottom of the box, and creeping into the 90's at the top.

The box is also louder than I would like. It's covered by the fact that I installed my window air conditioner and leave it on the low fan only setting. The ac is definitely louder than the box, but the box is louder than I would necessarily like. Good thing I like white noise when I sleep.

The noise from my hydro pumps is temping me into trying soil although I also want to try wrapping my grow room in dynamat or something to see if that helps dampen the sound. Maybe more expensive pumps would be better balanced and quieter as I have 4 cheap pumps for 3 tanks and use the noisiest one for flushing.

 

[Dan Ultra]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Yeah, noise is hard to get away from. My 440CFM fan is LOUD!! My grow is in an adjacent room to my living room and if you sit on the couch next to the shared wall, it sounds like an airplane is taking off. Lol

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Did I ever mention that I HATE being too hot? Well, it's true...enough that I decided to break out some font sizes and colours to emphasize my feelings. I've been melting for the past few days since I've turned on the other side. The air "cooled" light vents directly into my room. I even installed an air conditioner--both to cover the sound and to try to cool my room. It is slightly suspicious, as outside temps do not warrant an ac yet.

I am assuming that during 18/6, the dark cycle isn't quite as important as it is during flowering. I waited for the light to turn off, and I installed the collar and ducting.

Basically, I had to remove the top of the box, remove the finger guard from the back, and temporarily remove the fan. Then I installed the collar that also came with it. While the box was open, once the light cooled, I removed it and gave the glass another cleaning. I put everything back together, put the top on, and then installed ducting.

I don't really have a place for the heat to go, but since it's just the heat from the light and not the actual grow area, smell doesn't matter. I cut a piece of cardboard to fit in the window, and cut a hole for the ducting. I checked the outside view, and there is a nice tree blocking the view--at least at night. I have to make sure once the sun comes out that it doesn't look suspicious. I also have to check once the bulb comes on in the morning that the light isn't somehow reflecting and showing a little circle of intense light in the window.

Looking forward to cooler temps, both in my room and more importantly, inside the grow area. No more 90°F/32°C temps for Scarlett.

 

[7Dust]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

That stuff kool. Keep throwing them pictures out there. Might do set up in my kitchen counter with spice

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Reservoir Change (yesterday)

Week 8 (98 Days from Sprout) I think...

22 Litre Reservoir

Cal/Mag-40mL
Grow (1-2-5)-70mL
Common (2-0-0)-70mL
Veg Boom (1-1-2)-22mL
Super B+ (0-2-1)-46mL
Plantacillin (1-0-0)-6mL
Royal Gold (0-1-0)-46 mL
Prop-O-Gator (0-3-2)-0mL
ppm-1340
pH-5.0

I think I'm off on my weeks...I looked back through, and I know I missed doing an actual reservoir change recently--it would appear I also did one and did not journal it. Sigh. This might be Week 9. It doesn't matter too much though. It's quite funny because I definitely kept trying to figure out when Vegetation started with my grow so I could switch to flowering when it was "time" according to the schedule. Now that I've gotten this far in my grow, I realize that with the method I'm doing, the number of weeks matter less than both what the plant is telling me, as well as my input. Scarlett is now 9 inches tall from top of the reservoir to her canopy. I have plenty of room for her to double in height but not triple. I will be switching to flower next week if all things stay the same.

Speaking of flowering, any thoughts on gradually lengthening the dark period, or is it fine to just whack her with 12/12 right away? My plan is to also top her reservoir off with some flowering nutes to get her prepared as well.

 

[Kushtie]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

I wouldn't bother with all the mucking about involved in gradually increasing the dark period. I like to add 3 hours to each end of my 6 hour dark period and just leave it at that.

I gather some people swear by switching the light off for 24 or 36 hours between veg and flower and it's something I want to try too but not this time as I've got autos flowering already and don't want to risk freaking them out any more than I have to.

From what I understand adding flowing nutes too early might stunt growth through the stretch phase of flowering and with my nutes the schedule says veg nutes for the first week of flowering.

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

I wouldn't bother with all the mucking about involved in gradually increasing the dark period. I like to add 3 hours to each end of my 6 hour dark period and just leave it at that.

I gather some people swear by switching the light off for 24 or 36 hours between veg and flower and it's something I want to try too but not this time as I've got autos flowering already and don't want to risk freaking them out any more than I have to.

From what I understand adding flowing nutes too early might stunt growth through the stretch phase of flowering and with my nutes the schedule says veg nutes for the first week of flowering.

Thanks! Okay, so are you saying you go from 18/6 to 15/12 to 12/12 and then stay at 12/12?

Since I won't be gradually changing the lighting, I won't have to fool around with the nutes either. My schedule switches from "Grow" to "Flower" right off the bat. I've checked out other BCNL grows, and if everyone followed that schedule, I'm not worried about lack of stretch--some people ended up with legit jungles in their boxes!

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Photos from last night

Above shot

 

[Kushtie]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

No....for 18/6 I've had the dark period 1200 - 1800 and when I go 12/12 it'll go straight to 0900 - 2100.

 

[Dan Ultra]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

You'll be okay to switch straight to 12/12 without gradually decreasing the dark period.

With Bloom vs Grow nutes, you should continue your Grow nutrient lineup until the plant starts to flower. It doesn't start flowering right when you switch it to 12/12, so don't start Bloom nutes quite yet. She will show preflowers within 5-10 days after the switch, and then start flowering about a week after. So generally you want to start your Bloom nutes 2-3 weeks after you switch to 12/12

 

[flowergirl21]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Defoliation Part 2

It probably didn't look like it, but I was a bit shy with my previous defoliation. I was nervous, and I don't think I took off enough. I also wanted to give her more veg time than just a week, so I decided to do a more serious defoliation--which is what this method calls for. I'm giving her a few days to recover from this, and I'm switching to flowering!

Before:

After:

Side:

Bunny food--although, he used to gobble it up like crazy. He doesn't quite anymore...

 

[Tomula]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Nice manifold! Great results with the hydro setup. You do not really need to defoil much, I think it stresses the plant more than needed. But thats just my observation. Now you can gradually start with LST to spread them a bit and use up all that horizontal space (Let them grow a bit). Cannot wait for the harvest I bet you will be super happy. Good luck and happy growing!

 

[Kushtie]

Re: 1st Time Grow - Flowergirl21's - White Widow - Bloombox - Hydro - Manifold Techni

Nice manifold! Great results with the hydro setup. You do not really need to defoil much, I think it stresses the plant more than needed. But thats just my observation. Now you can gradually start with LST to spread them a bit and use up all that horizontal space (Let them grow a bit). Cannot wait for the harvest I bet you will be super happy. Good luck and happy growing!

Aye, all that chopping stuff off seems to slow things down however it does keep things in check by the looks of it and gives one time to observe and consider things. It's like the opposite of what I've just done.....fan leaves bursting out the seams of the room so I figured it's probably time to flower them