Copperfield's Budget Soil Grow: Girl Scout Cookies, Garden Shed Grow, 2019

[Copperfield]

Hi all, Copperfield here.

This is a budget shed grow, in cheap soil, with self built lights.....what could go wrong

Strain - Girl Scout Cookies/Bruce Banner/Critical Orange Punch/Sour Diesel Auto
medium - budget soil/perlite mix
20lt Pots
Garden Shed Grow
Lights Used - 2' 28w T5 Tube for clones (Aquarium light)
4 x 4' 28w T5 tubes for veg (Self build £30)
6 x 50w COB Led (Self build £55)
Nutrients - Hydro Coco Grow/Bloom/Boost

My starting point was to germinate 2 feminised GSC seeds in a wet paper towel, which was then put in a zip lock plastic bag. After 4 days there was a inch long tap root on both so I planted them into plastic cups.

Now to the shed....I framed a 9 foot by 4 half foot section.



This will be the flower section at the end of all this, so wanted it to be light tight for obvious reasons.
Also gets cold here in UK so i've insulated ceiling and walls. I will be fitting 50mm polystyrene sheets on floor, and covering with laminate floor and a heavy plastic sheet on top and carrying on up walls about 12"



After that I fitted a 4" intake fan and a 6" outlet fan with carbon filter, and popped on a door.






Now back to those 2 girls I planted....

The 2 Girl Scout Cookies are in red plastic cups, these dated April 22nd.




About a week after I germinated the 2 GSC, I stared germinating 2 feminised Critical Orange Punch, 1 feminised Bruce Banner and 1 Sour Orange Auto.

Same as the GSC's, I did the wet paper towel and zip lock bag method, and as before after 4 days I had inch long tap roots on all. Then I made my first mistake... Instead of using plastic cups, I planted them in small brown degradable pots....





By the 27th April, the 4 new seeds had popped through and all were looking good. At this time all plants were kept in a tall plastic tool shed
I had converted with the help of a aquarium light and a small 4" inline fan.






6th May

The flower section was ready enough, so I got the plants ready. I was going to veg them in the flower section until the veg section was finished being built. I put the 2 COP and the 1 BB (Critical Orange Punch/Bruce Banner) into red plastic cups and the auto into a 20lt pot.
MY MISTAKE WAS.....I left them in the small brown degradable pots, which slowed the 4 plants down for a few weeks.




more to follow.

BC

 

[Copperfield]

Right, time for part 2

By the 11th May I'd put white plastic sheet on walls, and built a 4' Veg light with 4 28w T5 tubes with separate ballast brought online. These were fitted to a piece a 9mm OSB board covered in white plastic.



Same day I re-potted the Girl Scout Cookies into 20lt pots, with a basic soil and perlite mix.



This when I noticed the Bruce Banner and the Critical Orange Punch were growing super slow, and the Sour Orange auto seamed to be going backwards

After 10 days of just slight watering being needed, and me being busy with life stuff, I left them to do there thing....

this was when I topped the GSC's, pics dated 21st May



The auto had practically stopped growing by this point. The BB and 1 of the COP were starting to pick up, but the other COP just didn't look right.

This was time when I started to focus on getting a flowering light together. I'd seen a few video's and listen to different opinions and decided to go with a self built COB light using 50w chips under 120 degree lens. I used PC heatsinks with fans to draw heat away, and housed them inside a floodlight housing.
This was to be fitted to 1" aluminium frame, 3 lights in each row and having 2 rows....



Seams to run cool and quiet for now. with all 6 lights running it's drawing 316 watts at the wall.

 

[Copperfield]

Part 3.... 27th May

The Girl Scout Cookies were going along nice after being topped. The others were still going slow and the auto seamed to just refuse to grow

So it was now I decided I needed a veg section.....unluckily for me the funds had dried up and real life stuff was starting to take over.
On the opposite side of the shed I built a makeshift veg tent...


I managed to get a small 4" carbon filter and fan for the exhaust, and a passive vent for the intake.

2nd June

Everything is still alive and kicking, which is a bonus. I only had 2 20lt pots left, so I put the Bruce Banner in one and the Critical Orange Punch in the other. I put the auto in a smaller pot, I'd given up all hope on it doing anything.
The GSC's looked really good, and was thinking of taking some clones and opening them out a little and see how they go.

Part 4 coming soon...happy growing ppl

BC

 

[jimbobdaz]

Subbed!... looks like you have a similar size space to me, unfortunately i could only use half of it to grow. Looking good

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

Healthy looking plants.

 

[Preston9mm]

I'll hang around if ya don't mind...


You're speaking my language buddy! I've been growing in modified sheds from the start.... just now starting to get dialed in. LoL

 

[Copperfield]

I'll hang around if ya don't mind...


You're speaking my language buddy! I've been growing in modified sheds from the start.... just now starting to get dialed in. LoL

More the merrier

Subbed!... looks like you have a similar size space to me, unfortunately i could only use half of it to grow. Looking good

Nice to have you aboard Jim

 

[Copperfield]

I'll hang around if ya don't mind...


You're speaking my language buddy! I've been growing in modified sheds from the start.... just now starting to get dialed in. LoL

Pull up a chair mate, your more than welcome

 

[jimbobdaz]

What's the grow plan buddy? Just let them go? Sog/scrog? Etc...

 

[John Wick]

Looking good, I'd like to pull up a chair and check this out.

Hey, welcome to the forum !

Wick

 

[jimbobdaz]

Have to say thats a nice bit of ply work you have done there... better than what i see most chippys do at work lol

 

[Copperfield]

Have to say thats a nice bit of ply work you have done there... better than what i see most chippys do at work lol

Thx Jim...its a work in progress

 

[Copperfield]

Looking good, I'd like to pull up a chair and check this out.

Hey, welcome to the forum !

Wick

Thx Wick...your more than welcome to hang around

 

[WankirA]

Then I made my first mistake... Instead of using plastic cups, I planted them in small brown degradable pots....

I'm using those bio peat pots too, your comment suggests they are not a good idea, can I ask why are they no good?
I believe my first & second grows were a little slow, but as a novice i was blaming myself, maybe i was wrong?!?

Great set up and build though @Copperfield really putting the effort in with all of it, can tell its gonna be a great place to while away many, many hours.

 

[Copperfield]

What's the grow plan buddy? Just let them go? Sog/scrog? Etc...

Not really sure at the moment Jim. Just really waiting on the COB light to show me its doing a good enough job intensity wise. I got the 2 GSC under there at the moment with just a bit of support to help me open them out...I took 10 clones off the 2 plants while I was opening them up and training them a bit, and now they've been on 12-12 for 9 days....This was them 2 days ago....

They don't look to bad. The 2 plants are covering a 4 half foot by 2 foot area and im just using one row of the lights totalling 156w at the wall.

 

[Copperfield]

I'm using those bio peat pots too, your comment suggests they are not a good idea, can I ask why are they no good?
I believe my first & second grows were a little slow, but as a novice i was blaming myself, maybe i was wrong?!?

Great set up and build though @Copperfield really putting the effort in with all of it, can tell its gonna be a great place to while away many, many hours.

I think it slows the roots to much. I don't think the pots get soft enough for the roots to go through quickly, so it slows the plant as it try's to work its roots through. That's my rough thinking anyway....someone on here might have a more logical reason.

 

[WankirA]

Makes sense, i do cut bottom off it at 1 week, figured the tap root is the important one.

 

[jimbobdaz]

I used to use the peat pots, always cut slits in the side, don't think they really help that much though

 

[Copperfield]

Here's part 4....

5th June I decided to take some clones from the 2 GSC and use that opportunity to train them both a bit.



I took 7 clones at first, and just tied the branches down to the pot edge.


On the 9th June I built a frame for them to grow to and through to offer a bit of support in flowering.
All the plants are now under the T5's except the clones.



Everything still looking healthy and good for now....




on the 15th June I decided the put the 2 GSC on 12-12, so I moved the clones/Bruce Banner/Critical Orange Punch to makeshift veg section. The 1 Critical Orange Punch wasn't doing much good and neither was the auto, so just left them in to give them a chance.

 

[Copperfield]

19th June....

Everything still looking healthy....even the clones are starting to root



23rd June....




By the 25th June 6 of the GSC clones were ready to be put into soil...leaving me 4 GSC clones in the cloner and 1 Bruce Banner.
The girls in flower were still doing good as far as I could see.



I will put some fresh pictures on tomorrow and bring the journal right up to date.

Happy growing people BC