6 x AK-48 - 3 x Advanced XTE-200

[yum000]

Currently the AK's are 18 days into vegetation in what I call my "nursery tent" under a single 125 watt 6500K CFL . My intent is to limit them to 3 branches/nodes, so today I pruned the bottom two nodes. I'll top them within the next several days, and within the week I'll be transferring them to the bloom tent which is currently in use as a dryer for the last crops harvest.

I've been growing for about a decade now, for the past 5 or so years I've grown 4 plants at a time in 3 gallon fabric grow pots, with good results, but because of the limitations of my grow space - a 40" by 40" x 78" tent I can veg no more than 28 days to keep the plants at a manageable size after they stretch during the first couple weeks of bloom. I'm going to try 6 plants in 2 gallon pots this time around-I'm thinking that by switching down to 2 gallon pots and limiting my plants to no more than 3 nodes, I will be able to veg these for an additional week thus increasing my final yield. It's trial & error learning at it's finest.

This will also be the first full bloom cycle I will carry out under my new LED, lights, 3 XTE 200's hung in a diamond pattern over the square screen. I've got an additional 100 watt XTE available to use, but I'm afraid that might be overkill.

 

[Racer1921]

Hey mate. Im a little lost when u say 3 nodes. Do u mean your gunna top it at the 3rd node and make it have 2 crowns and a few scrubby crowns. This is mine. Is this what u mean.0

Sent from my SM-J110F using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[yum000]

Well, I mean limiting to 3 sets of branches before topping

 

[yum000]

Day 21 Veg...

Some clear RO water today, so far they have received one feeding of Foxfarm Grow big @ 1tsp/gal and Big Bloom @ 3tsp/gal. They grew past 3 nodes so were topped today as you see in the close up of one. I'll be transferring them to the bloom tent in the next several days, I'll post an update when I do.

 

[yum000]

Day 22 LST'ing

You know, usually I wait until they're in the bloom tent to start this but just got a bit antsy and decided to go ahead-the bloom tent is still being utilized as a carbon filtered dryer for the last crop and they need another day or two.

I discovered velcro gardening tape you can buy in any garden shop to be an ideal solution for low stress training in the fabric grow pots. Since the whole pot is a magnet for the stuff it's infinitely adjustable, I make a gentle lose loop and first pull over the plant gently, then I attach a second piece of tape further down the plant, just below the bottom branch and pull gently in the other direction and attach it to the oposing side of the pot so as to stretch the plant out horizontally. Perhaps my pictures will make it clearer....

 

[yum000]

One more day on the dry I think before they go into canning jars with boveda packs.

 

[yum000]

Veg Day 24, transfer to bloom tent...

transferred the girls over to the bloom tent today, hung 2 XTE 200 Advanced LED's. Right now, I'm running the blue channel at 100% and the red at 50% I plan to up that as the plants adjust to the new lights over the coming days.

 

[dirt mcgert]

I'll sub in on your grow. I always tie my girls right down due to height limitations(roughly 36inches of actual plant space) from the get go. I'm interested in your way of training after the 12/12 flip. Good luck with your grow. Keep em happy and healthy.

 

[yum000]

Hey Dirt, glad to have you along. Since I've got the screen I don't get too exotic with the training, my main aim is to turn the main stem of the plant horizontal so all the blooming branches are even height, then as they reach the screen level during stretch in 12/12 I just ensure the branches are spread out as evenly as I can in the grid, if they're getting out of hand I'll weave some of the taller branches into the grid itself. Advanced recommends a minimum of 22 inches from the XTE LED lights so that will be my goal

 

[dirt mcgert]

Those girls reaching that screen yet?

 

[yum000]

Hah!, thanks for the prodding there Dirt, I'm late getting my update in, sorry....

Day 29 Veg...

Yesterday instead of plain water I gave the girls a mixture of compost tea, molasses & Big bloom airstone bubbled for half a day before applying. I've readjusted the lst straps, soon to be removing them altogether now that I've got most all the blooming branches getting close to the grid.

Lights are now at 30" from the tops and running both channels at 100%

Ventilation, I've got a Dayton 265cfm blower exhausting air through the top, filtered through a 4x12 Carbon filter, so probably moving less than 100cfm. I've added a small 35 cfm intake fan on the bottom to help. temps right now in the tent are 82-84 degrees, RH 50%.

 

[dirt mcgert]

Coming along nicely. If you want a bigger audience put your journal up in your sig How To Put A Link To Your Grow In Your Sig. plus the more people that are on board can help you out along the way if you run into any unexpected problems. Keep up the good work

 

[yum000]

Day 32 Veg...

I'm following the Fox Farm feeding schedule somewhat loosely, Thursday they received their first dose of Open Sesame, along with 3tsp/gal Big Bloom and 1.5 tsp/gal Grow Big. Today, I flushed them using FF Sledgehammer flush at a rate of 2 tsp/gal of RO Water. I've installed a grid, on the bottom of the tent to get the pots off the floor and create at least a little air space beneath the pots-I made this from a 48"x24 sheet of light fixture egg crate purchased from a hardware store.

I've been adjusting the training straps daily, I've successfully got all of the main stems growing horizontally now I'm opening the center of the plants by strapping down the flowering branches so that the whole plants are growing like an open claw.

 

[dirt mcgert]

coming along nicely

 

[yum000]

Oh, a little more info....

I'm still running just 2 of the XTE 200s in the tent right now, I'll be adding a 3rd soon like in the next few days when I flip them over to 12/12 on day 35 as planned. They are hanging 29 inches above the tops of the plants right now. I have to say I'm very impressed with the performance of the Advanced XTE lights, the plants responded immediatly to them when I transferred them over to the bloom tent and they're still taking off-just fantastic growth rates I've not seen with any other LED light.

Temps in the tent average 85F-90F with a RH of ~50% I closely watch my metrics everyday.

 

[yum000]

Day 34 Veg...

The girls got their first major pruning, I stripped em from the waist down, bent them over and spread them out with the straps too. Also they got a feeding today, 1/8 tsp/gal Open Sesame, 2 tsp/gal FF GB, 3 tsp/gal BB I mixed the nutrients in 4 gallons of RO water in a pickle bucket with an airstone bubbler. There was about 3 qts of runoff after applying the 4 gallons to the 6 plants that I gathered using a turkey baster syringe.

 

[dirt mcgert]

 

[yum000]

btw, I switched the light cycle to 16/8 from 18/6 on Day 32. On another note, just since the feeding earlier today the plants are touching the grid, I'm making the flip to 12/12 tomorrow.

 

[yum000]

Flip to Flower + Power

added another light for a total 3 XTE 200's, at 27 inches from canopy, Advanced recommends a minimum of 22 inches. Most of the canopy is still beneath the grid, as it grows out over the stretch I'll work it through, I've got another 10-12 inches of vertical space left to work with in the tent I can't hang the lights any higher, hopefully with careful training this will be enough.

 

[yum000]

Bloom Day 3...

Just plain RO water yesterday, as you can see a few branches are reaching the grid which I'm using with the straps still to keep the plants spread.