Colorado High - Soilless - LED/CFL - Dutch Dope - 2014

David Bowman

New Member
Strain - Dutch Dope (60% Indica / 40% Sativa)
Started from seed on September 30, 2014
Indoor Soilless Grow in a 4' x 2' x 5' Grow Box

Pots - 6-2 Gallon Black Plastic Nursery Pots
Medium - Generic Soilless Indoor Potting Mix (Sphagnum Peat Moss, Perlite, Vermiculite and Wetting Agent)
Nutrients - Doggett & Simpson Growology 3-Step System, Sierra Natural Science 604A/B, Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus & Molasses

Air Circulation - 2-6" 2-Speed Clip Fans
Air Extraction - 6"x14" Carbon Filter/130 CFM Fan Combo w/Controller
Air Humidification - Evaporative Cool Mist Humidifier w/Controller

Vegetating

LED Canopy Light - Top LED 96x3 Watt Reflector Grow Light (~170 Watts)
CFL Sidelights (As Needed) - Maximum of 12,800 Lumens/184 Watts @ 5000K
Lights On - 21:00-09:00 & 14:30-15:30 (Gas Lantern Routine)

Flowering

LED Canopy Light - Top LED 96x3 Watt Reflector Grow Light (~200 Watts)
CFL Sidelights (As Needed) - Maximum of 22,400 Lumens/336 Watts @ 2700K or Maximum of 5,280 Lumens/208 Watts of 10% UVB
Lights On - 21:00-09:00

Welcome to my fourth grow! Dutch Dope has the highest percentage of sativa of any strain I've grown and, not surprisingly, it's also the tallest. While the first three strain heights ranged from 24" to 28", Dutch Dope tops out at 36", which is the absolute maximum plant height that my grow box can accommodate. I will be double topping again to manage grow height and maximize overall space utilization.

The grow setup remains mostly unchanged from the last grow apart from a single addition to the nutrient line-up of SNS 604A/B to round out the nutrient profile, otherwise lighting, medium and everything else remains the same. Even though I came close this last grow, I've still not been able to get a stable, problem-free grow under my belt, so I'm going back to the basics for this grow. The temperature will be kept under 85° at all times and, as a result, there will be no supplemental CO2. Due to the fact that I have no more space for grow/support equipment within the grow box, and given Colorado's semi-arid climate, there is very little need for dehumidification, so the best I will do is to ensure that the grow environment's RH does not drop below set minimums. These minimums are 60% for vegging and 40% for flowering, but during periods of high humidity, usually during the summer when the whole house evaporative cooler is running, I will just have to grin and bear it. :cheesygrinsmiley:

I will again employ GLR during vegetation as well as the inverted light schedule which worked very well in significantly reducing the impact of those hot summer days and should prove as effective in reducing the impact of those cold winter nights. Since this grow spans most of fall and the first half of winter, I'm planning on employing CFL sidelighting throughout the entire grow, as long as temperatures can be kept below 85°.

Today, I placed 6 Dutch Dope seeds into a glass of tap water. Within the next 24-48 hours, I expect to see some tap roots.
 
Day 2 since the start of germinating and all six seeds have cracked/popped. I'm going to try something a little different this time. Instead transferring the sprouts to a wet paper towel then into the Rapid Rooters, I going to let them sit in the water until each sprout has a well established tap root and then transfer them directly to the RRs. They loved the RR environment so much last time that I want to minimize any delay in getting them into the RRs. Not to mention the sprouts are easier to insert into the RR with a shorter tap root. I would think that in the next day or two I'll be making that transfer into the RRs.
 
Day 4 since the start of germination and I may have spoken too soon. While 5 seeds have popped and are showing tap roots, the sixth seed apparently has not cracked open and what I thought was the beginning of a tap root was some discoloration of the seed case. Nonetheless, I transferred all five sprouts and one seed, tap root side down, to the Rapid Rooters to let them continue to sprout and hopefully start vegetating soon.
 
Thanks for the kind words yuyo! I'm not too disappointed since it appears that it wasn't a viable seed to begin with. This is the first seed that's failed to pop out of the 26 seeds I've started for these four grows. I figure that it's bound to happen from time to time.
 
Day 7 since the start of germination and 5 of the babies are progressing nicely, the sixth never did pop, even in the Rapid Rooter, so this grow will proceed with the remaining 5 sprouts. Three sprouts have shed their seed case and one is now a seedling while the other two are not far behind, the remaining 2 sprouts still have their seed case but are just a little further back and should be joining the others as seedlings soon enough. Since I placed the sprouts into the RRs three days ago, they've been under just the CFLs 24/7. Starting tonight, which is their morning, I'm switching over to GLR as well as turning on the LED canopy light in Growth mode. Presently they are 30" away from the LEDs so they shouldn't be too stressed by the addition of this light source. When they've been transferred to the 2 gallon pots, they'll be ~25" away from the LEDs and grow up and into the target range of 15"-20" between the canopy and the LEDs. Environment remains stable with temperatures staying below 85° and with the RH staying above 50% when the extracting system is not running. The RH drops down to ambient levels during the extraction process but quickly returns to above 50% once it has completed. They've been receiving, on an as needed basis, de-chlorinated tap water, I'll begin feeding them sometime after the first set of true leaves have fully formed.

Here are the Dutch Dope babies on day 7 since the start of germination -

DSCN26315.JPG
 
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