2 Utopia Haze Plants In Coco Under LED - SCrOG

[TegridyGrower]

Welcome to my micro garden! Currently I am growing 2 Barneys Farm Utopia Haze plants. I'm a new member here, but I posted a little bit of background information about myself here: Hello 420 community!

So this journal starts at week 16 (week 7 of flower) and I expect to be harvesting around the weekend of february 6.

First in this post, I'll sum up the most important information about the garden and grow setup, followed by a short update from today which includes most important stats. Subsequently I'll add some pictures of the current situation in the tent and then I'll give a full list of the equipment I use. Parts of this post were taken from my introduction post referred to above.

I'll try to update at least once a week, but probably, it will be more irregular (sometimes a few days in a row, than a week nothing), due to a busy personal schedule.

Core information about the grow

• Strain: Barney's Farm Utopia Haze (2 plants);
• Indoor, 60cm*120cm*180cm (2*4*6 ft) tent;
• Mars Hydro TSL-2000 (max. power draw ~320 watts);
• Nutrients: GHE (actually TA nowadays) FloraTrio & CalMag supplement;
• Medium: coco/perlite, 65/35%;
• AirRap pots, 25L;
• Automated fertigation (3 times a day, at least once a week also by hand with lots of drain);
• Training techniques applied: mainlined until 4 main branches, LST, self made SCrOG, lollipopping, defoliating;
• Tap water EC: 0.4;
• Tap water pH: 8.3.

Update

When I opened the tent I immediately noticed the coco was waaaay too dry. I found out that the digital timer that regulates the pump had reset itself and all the programmed on-and-off-settings were gone. Hence, the girls didn't get any water for about 36 hours. Fortunately, the plants looked fine. I was able to give them all 4 liters of water before drain started. I reprogrammed the settings of the timer and it should resume it's normal fertigation schedule, which is 3 times a day.

The smell is really becoming more pronounced the last few days: lots of citronella tones with subtle skunky undertones.

Stats:

• pH drain: 5.8;
• EC drain: 1.7 (little high, probably due to drying out);
• Ph inflow: 6.2;
• EC inflow: 1.3~1.4 (which includes .4 for my tap water);
• RH: 45% (wintertime is perfect for flowering indoor );
• Lights on temp: 24c (75f);
• Light off temp: 18c (64f);
• Lamp to plant distance: 35-40 cm (14-16 inch) (maybe little more, just raised it but too lazy to go up and measure) and currently at 100% power;
• Current light schedule: 11 hours 45 minutes on;
• Fertigation mix usage L/plant/24hr: 3 liter.

Picture time!

Setup pictures

Equipment list

Main setup:

• Tent: Secret Jardin DS120W R4.0 Darkstreet;
• Lights: Mars Hydro TSL 2000 (maximum usage: 320 watt);
• Relay timer: Davin Hobby Timer DV-400 W 1x 400W (not necessary with LED grow, but better safe than sorry);
• Exhaust: Vents TT 125 UnR1 (280 m2/hr, temperature controlled, built in dimmer);
• Intake: 2 passive intakes on both sides of the tent with Secret Jardin DF16 Ducting Flanges and Secret Jardin DF16LB R4.00 Light Baffles;
• Ducting: Sonoconnect ducting (sound insulated);
• Filter: CAN Original Filter (200 m2/hr).
• Ventilation: Secret Jardin Monkey Fan 16W;
• Ventilation 2: Secret Jardin Monkey Fan Oscillating 20W.

Measurement equipment:

• Temp & RH: 2 no-brand thermo/hygro meters (one outside the tent, one inside);
• Energy: EcoSavers Energy meter (I use this to get both panels of the light dimmed equally);
• EC & pH: Bluelab Conductivity Pen and pH Pen;
• Cleaning: Bluelab probe and conductivity cleaner;
• Calibration: Bluelab EC 2.77, pH 4.0 and 7.0;
• Storage: Bluelab KCI storage solution.

Medium equipment and products:

• Final Pots: 25L AirRap pots;
• Early veg pots: 1L plastic pots;
• Germination medium: Jiffy peat pellets;
• Medium: Canna Coco Professional mixed with 35% perlite (about 75% is being re-used from last grow, fully rinsed and rebuffered);
• Nutrients: GHE FloraTrio and CalMag supplement.

Miscellaneous:

• Fire safety 1: Smartwares RM520 Smoke detector (above the tent)
• Fire safety 2: Fire Knock Out 1.6 (automatic fire extinguisher directly above the tent, will activate if in contact with fire);
• Electricity 1: 1,5 mm IP44 connection cord to power the relay (and thus the lights, plugged in a socked that’s on an empty group);
• Electricity 2: Brennenstuhl power strip 8-way with switch (all other equipment is on this socket);
• Hygiene 1: Sensicare Silk Nitrile gloves;
• Hygiene 2: Isopropanol Alcohol 99,9% (I dilute this to 70% for disinfecting);
• Hygiene 3: Ecolab P3-Ansep Chlorine Tablets (ideal for disinfecting the tent, just 1 tablet on 10L water);
• Syringes: BD Emerald syringe 10ml and 1ml (both sizes with 100 pieces in a box, will last me a lifetime);
• Pressure sprayer: Gardena Pressure Sprayer - 5 Liter;
• Siphon pump: Eurom Electric Siphon Pump;
• Propagator: ROOTiT Propagator;
• Lab glass work: Wanddefol Borosilicate Glass Cup Set;
• Binding wire: GreenForrest Flexi Tie;
• Sticks: Silverline bamboo sticks 300 mm.

Automated fertigation:

• Elho plant saucers (diameter 41 cm);
• Black 10mm tubing (connected from saucer to drain bucket);
• Bunch of rubber rings/flanges to watertight tubing going through the side of the drain bucket;
• Sicce circulation pump nova 800L/Hr (in drain bucket, connected to a 13mm tubing that transports the drain outside of the tent);
• Sicce circulation pump nova 800L/Hr running 24/7 in the fertigation vessel to keep the water agitated;
• H-Tronic 1114620 water level sensor (to control the pump in the drain bucket);
• Hozelock Easy Drip Universal Watering Kit (includes 13mm tubing, mini sprinklers, connection pieces, end pieces, etc. Also a quick garden hose connection set that is compatible with the connection on the pump in the fertigation vessel);
• FlexiTank 50L (fertigation vessel, the top can be closed with a zipper);
• Gardena Classic Clear Water Submersible Pump 7000/C (7000 L/Hr, around .6 bar, which is enough to make the sprinklers sprinkle [instead of dripping]): the main pump to deliver the goods at the plants ;
• Digital timer to regulate the feeding pump.

And off course a load of typical household items are used during this grow, such as buckets, clips, towels, a pair of Ikebana scissors for dry trimming after harvest, mason jars for curing and a bunch of mini hygrometers. To protect my eyes, I use a good pair of Ski Goggles when working in the tent with lights on. I use a camping washing machine and Bubblebagdudes Bubble Bags 5 Gallon 8 Bag Set for hash making.

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Strain info (from breeder):
“UTOPIA HAZE is the result from generations of backcrossing and selection from a prized Brazilian landrace. In its first Cannabis cup the UTOPIA HAZE took both Cannabis and Sativa cups, and was called the overall favourite of the event. This is a tall mould and disease resistant plant, growing up to 130cm, and boasts a high yield of 650g per square metre. It bursts with citrus and mint flavours, and will give you a long lasting cerebral Sativa high.”

 

[TegridyGrower]

Made little video with the sprinklers running, but noticed I can't upload it to the website, hence just a few stills from the video.

Currently the fertigation pump runs 3 times a day for 1 minute. It delivers about a liter per minute per plant, hence 3 liters per day per plant, which results in about 20% runoff in total.

Schedule is as follows: 16.15 lights on and first fertigation. 18.00 second fertigation. 00.00 3th and last fertigation. 04.00 lights off. Light times will be further reduced in the following weeks as will light intensitiy (in slow, incremental steps), while the plants are entering the ripening phase.

Happy growing!

 

[TegridyGrower]

Day 115 and 54 days since the switch to 12/12.

The fertigation vessel was empty, hence time to fill her up again. I used to just follow the schedule on the GHE FloraTrio bottle, but diluted it to get the right EC. These sativa girls don't seem to need a lot: just 40% of the recommended dose of the FloraTrio compartments and 50% of the CalMag Supplement is enough and this mix results in an EC around 1.4 (tap water EC being 0.45). Anything more, and the plants were starting to burn their tips.

The normal GHE bloom formula is 1 part gro, 2 parts micro and 3 parts bloom during the bloom phase. But this time, I deviated from the recommended schedule on the bottle. I used Hydrobuddy to see if I could optimize it a bit. Without using the Gro and a little less CalMag, I could get the N a little lower and make some space for some extra P, which seems to be on the low end of the spectrum with just the Trio serie (next grow, I'll probably start using some supplement like PK 13-14. Or maybe give making my own nutrients with salts a shot ). But it came with a cost: also Ca is 10% lower in this new mix. Anyways, the mix is:

• GH CalMag: 0,58 ml/l;
• GH FloraBloom: 1,3 ml/l;
• GH FloraMicro: 0,6 ml/l.

This resulted in a mix with an EC around 1.3. I prepared 45 liters and hand watered 3 liters to each plant, which resulted in some proper drain.

The plants are doing great: the smell in the tent is amazing, almost like a tropical fruit fest. Today I raised the light again a few 'clicks'. Also, yesterday, I reduced lights-on duration with 15 minutes, so it's now 11 hours and 30 minutes firing photons at the canopy with again a little less intensity. Oh yes my dear girls, winter is coming...

 

[TegridyGrower]

Day 119, 58 days since the switch to 12/12

Trichome inspection has now become a daily routine. It seems that the last few days the size of the trichome heads has increased a bit; also more and more trichomes are at least partly cloudy. But there's still a lot of 'glass' trichomes out there. The vast majority of Lisa's trichomes - the plant on the right, which has shown to be a more sativa pheno - is still glassy. But the more indica pheno Mace on the left, I'd say at least half the trichomes are at least partly cloudy. I have to harvest all at once, but I'll optimize harvest date around Lisa, she is considerably bigger, her tops are longer and look heavier and she has more sativa genes (which I aimed for this grow).

Yesterday, I raised the lights another .5 inch. Today, I dimmed the lights down to 90% power. It's still a lot of light. Based on the PAR maps from Mars Hydro, I'll guesstimate PAR is around 900 µmol in the center. I'll expect harvest in around 20 days and I'm aiming to arrive at a light intensity resulting in PAR around 400 µmol 4 days before harvest. This way, light intensity slowly decreases, tricking the plant into preparing for the upcoming winter, which means it's putting all its energy in a last ditch effort to become pollinated.

The last two weeks I have defoliated very, very slightly. A maximum of two leaves per plant and never two days in a row. I felt it was necessary, because the pack of leaves was very dense. To improve air circulation, I removed some leaves slowly: during this phase of the grow, stressing the plant too much might result in unwanted effects, for example 'hermies'. Anyway, I succeeded in creating some holes in the canopy, but it took me about two weeks.

Last, since a week, there is some slight deficiency showing on some of Mace's leaves right in the center of the canopy, closest to the light. It started with brown speckles, but one of the leaves discolored a bit more. It might be due to light stress, but I suspect there's a little bit of Ca deficiency too. It's not spreading, hence, I'm not too worried about it. pH from fertigation solution and the drain is around or just below 6, so that seems also right in check.

I actually think the discoloration looks really nice

Well, that's it for now, just some pictures to finish the update. Happy growing!

 

[TegridyGrower]

Day 123, 62 days since the switch to 12/12

With the reduced light intensity trichome production seems to be increasing.

Tomorrow, I'll reduce the power of the light further down to 80% and will gradually decrease to 50% close to harvest (within two weeks). The trichomes from the indica pheno, the one on the left called Mace, are getting cloudy fast. No ambers yet, but won't be long now. Also, she is fading, clearly indicating she's at the end of her cycle. She's in 12/12 for almost 9 weeks, so pretty fast for a haze, which again confirms her more indica genetics.

The other one on the right, Lisa, still has a lot more glassy trichomes. I think she's one week behind on Mace. I have to harvest all at once and since Lisa is the biggest, I'll optimize harvest (more) around her. This means Mace will probably be harvested a little bit on the late side.

I am now feeding ripen (1,5 ml/l) and still CalMag supplement (0,75 ml/l) which results in an EC of around 1.3. I figured it was too early to kick out the CalMag, but last week that will also be removed from the fertigation mix. I'll end with a few days of just plain water.

I reduced temperature to 23 degrees C with lights on and around 17 degrees C with lights off (just turned of the heater in the room).

Happy growing & stay safe!

Mace, the indica dominant pheno:

Lisa, the sativa dominant pheno:

Family picture: