Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS - Organic Soil Journal

[dutch dragon]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

What I do Jaga is get my plagron batmix soil out on a flat surface and add everything I need in the mix and mix it up so it looks good. The perlite in the mix makes it easier to see when its mixed in well as the white bits will be evenly spaced apart. Then I put it all in black bin bags, water it in, and tie the bags up so nothing can get in and then leave it somewhere out the way. Everyday I then open the bags, check if its wet enough and how hot it is. If its hot enough you know its composting nicely, and the micro organisms are happy. I then empty the bag out, mix it up nicely and put back in the bags. It don't really matter how long you do this for, but the longer the better.
What you lost out on with the defol should easily be made up for by the low stress training your doing Jaga, she has now got a massively greater surface area exposed to the lights to absorb all that electricity, I mean light. She is also gonna grow to a flat shape allowing you to lower the lights down giving more powerful light intensity, all this will add up to a better yield

 

[Jaga]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

Thanks Dutch that,s the info I needed being the pest I am water it in meaning adding how much water, thanks a lot I think this info is goning to change the health of future grow,s. And yep thta is my idea a bit like a scrog but all wired down with my light only about 2 1/2inch away, I am thankful that she is bushing out again,,,,,,,,,and truly I have got over my well part of my memory prob,s by putting loads of memo,s on my Calendar this gives an alarm for week 1,2,3,4 and tomorrow 5 so I think she will make it all the way befor we go in Oct I cant even leave her in the pot cause a friend is coming to look after the place while we are gone, and he is a noisy sort so she has to be finished by the 19Oct?? I read some place just recent about auto diesel taking 10 week,s if not im in trouble.
Thanks Bro always good info

 

[dutch dragon]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

The amount of water you should add is not a given amount, but just like when your plant is watered. Not all soggy. If there is a good amount of perlite in the mix then just prick a couple of holes in the bags at the Bottom and water it in slowly giving the water time to soak down. When you see the first drip stop watering. Wait until the bag drips out the excess and totally stops leaking and it should be perfect. Now chuck that bag with the holes in it inside a new bag to stop bugs and disease getting into it all and tie it all back up.
Writing stuff down is a good idea Jaga. Maybe you should get yourself a special notepad and pen which you leave by the computer especially for 420 info. Then whenever you read something you want to use in the future or you find helpful you can just jot it down. Its also handy to remember interesting posts you've read with useful info, jot down the thread name and page number and you have it for future reference. I'm forever trying to track down threads I read when I was fried
Hope she's done on time for you Jaga. How are you gonna dry her out when your not there and you've got a nosey friend looking after the place

 

[dutch dragon]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

Right then butties, time for the old weekly update. Tuesday the girls were transplanted into 18 litre pots of batmix which will be their final home. They are now three weeks old. Watered only once this week cause that's all they needed. I think the screen can go in next week and the hps will get turned on. The weather has been a lot cooler this past week thank god and the girls have been much happier. Here they are.

Group Shot

Average sized Joe

Mega Mindy

Average size Joe's twin sister

Good old Runty, you always get one.
Took two leaves off the three biggest to expose the lowest bud site and help little Runty catch up yesterday. Cant wait for next week when the screen goes in
I wish each and everyone of you a fantastic weekend and trouble free grows.

 

[shottafire]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

Happy little veg cab

 

[Spimp]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

+reps. Nice looking girls!

 

[CajunCelt]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

Very nice plants. I keep reminding myself to get square pots.
What kind of light you got there?

 

[stealthgrow]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

Plants are looking very happy Dutch.
I think I'm going to use your method (and others also)of taking a couple top fan leaves to slow growth to allow smaller plant to catch up. My current grow I've been supercropping and bending but your method just seems less stressfull to the plant. I actually almost broke off a whole branch of my Blue Mystic plant accidentally when I was trying to bend it. Its still alive but very much smaller than the other branches now. This wouldn't have happened using your method.
Good luck with the grow, I'm sending good vibes across the ocean.

 

[dutch dragon]

Thanks guys,
Cajuncelt, there is a 90 watt led ufo in there and 2x32watt 6500k cfl's and 2x32watt 2700k cfl's. The 250hps in the cool tube will be turned on soon for extra light.
Stealth grow, I actually removed the bottom leaves as the bottom most bud sites never make it up to the screen and end up popcorn, so Im hoping the extra light will get them there this time. Pruning a couple of leaves away slows them down for a day or two, but is much less stressful than stripping them bare. I have tried the strip defol technique and I find it detrimental to the plants. Remove what is necessary only and let em keep every leaf possible as they need them to breath with. I usually end up breaking the stems in week 2 of the stretch as I'm forcing them under the screen, scrogging can be very abusive but it never seems to affect yield much. Thanks for the good vibes man.

 

[Light Addict]

Really looking good m8, can't wait till your scrog goes up. Very healthy girls +reps.

 

[Skybound]

Subbed for the ride! Hope you got a lot of weight capacity on the suspension b/c I suspect I won't be the last one to jump on.

Any chance you can share some pics of your grow box? I'm especially interested in the dual exhaust, and how you plumbed the ducting.

Also, I'm trying to nail down the soil drying technique. I notice after about 3-4 days (3.5 gal pot) that the upper layers of soil is fluffy dry, but coursing my fingers deeper, I find the top of the root ball and a good amount of moisture retained therein. I can tell thi because it gets tough to burrow my fingers in any deeper. With the drying method, do you suggest allowing this portion to dry out more? My plant begins it's wilt at this stage, but I know she can take about another 12-24 hours of that before really showing stress. Your thoughts?

 

[ryzla101]

Looking good dutch dragon mate. In your previous grow you say you water with water from the tap. Is this straight out the tap? Do you know the pH or ppm's? I ask as I have a bag of batmix lying around and thinking of transplanting into that now i've seen the excellent results. Thanks

 

[TaylorMade420]

subbed

 

[dutch dragon]

Skybound, I used to use the finger method but have on my last grow used a water meter and the treat em mean keep em keen method that I water just hours or minutes before they wilt. This helps the roots grow more in search of moisture. My meter reads dry and normal at the bottom and the pot feels light. It's difficult to do as you want to water them and care for them, but with watering MJ less is more. Just don't let them wilt as that is stressful for the plants. I let them wilt a couple of grows ago to see how far I could push it and used the measurement on the meter as a guide and I have it just about perfected, it just takes practice and confidence. I highly recommend having perlite in the mix also to stop them getting too much water in the first place. Less water also helps against the dreaded fungus gnats as they thrive in moist soil, and stops airborn fungus affecting my scrog. Basically when I want to water I stop myself and water the next day.
Ryzla 101, I used to put my water through a brita filter before use, but I am now trying plain tap water that has had time to evaporate the chlorine off and is room temperature as I usually add something to it anyway be it nutes or fungus gnat drench or raw sugar. My tap water is 7 ph and the bat mix is 6.5, Ive never even thought about ph before as I have never had a problem with growth or vigor. I think most of the ph lockout people experience is caused by starting out with the wrong soil that wont drain well enough for the roots to thrive, and over watering of course.

My exhaust set up.
In the top right corner is a 185cfm bathroom fan blowing through the roof and outside the box is the carbon filter just attached using ptfe plumbers tape. Inside is the carbon filter cool tube setup which pulls air through the filter over the hps by means of 2x185cfm inline bathroom fans. This is more than adequate for my space and didn't cost the earth, however a bigger fan and filter combination would of course be more durable and could work out cheaper in the long run. We do what we can with what is available By the way the ducting after the cool tube must be insulated other wise the pipe acts like a heater.

 

[dutch dragon]

Got my new grinder in the post yesterday, just tried it out for the first time. Its great. Got it off fleabay from china. The machining is beautifully done and it is a quality product. Not what I was expecting for a low cost product shipped from china I'm gonna use it to make kief from my trim and extract kief from my stash as I smoke it with the aim to make hash in the future when I've collected enough. The OG Kush is still very smokable after kief extraction, it takes the OMG edge off the hit which I prefer. I just gently rub the ground up bud against the screen and that's it, super easy. Will take a while before I have enough though

 

[KingJohnC]

nice grinder!

 

[Light Addict]

Thanks my friend for posting pics of your set up very helpful.

 

[Skybound]

Thanks for the pics DD. question, so you have 2 separate carbon filters and 3 fans (1/1-roof, 2/1-cooltube). Being as though you have 2 separate exhaust systems, are you concerned about reintroducing heat into your tube b/c it is pulling it's air from above itself? I always wondered that about other people's grows.

 

[Jaga]

Re: Dutch Dragons Cheesy 2'x2' 250 HPS, Organic Soil Journal

Right then butties, time for the old weekly update. Tuesday the girls were transplanted into 18 litre pots of batmix which will be their final home. They are now three weeks old. Watered only once this week cause that's all they needed. I think the screen can go in next week and the hps will get turned on. The weather has been a lot cooler this past week thank god and the girls have been much happier. Here they are.

Group Shot

Average sized Joe

Mega Mindy

Average size Joe's twin sister

Good old Runty, you always get one.
Took two leaves off the three biggest to expose the lowest bud site and help little Runty catch up yesterday. Cant wait for next week when the screen goes in
I wish each and everyone of you a fantastic weekend and trouble free grows.

High Dutch them girls are looking great I thought they would with your tack record

 

[Jaga]

Got my new grinder in the post yesterday, just tried it out for the first time. Its great. Got it off fleabay from china. The machining is beautifully done and it is a quality product. Not what I was expecting for a low cost product shipped from china I'm gonna use it to make kief from my trim and extract kief from my stash as I smoke it with the aim to make hash in the future when I've collected enough. The OG Kush is still very smokable after kief extraction, it takes the OMG edge off the hit which I prefer. I just gently rub the ground up bud against the screen and that's it, super easy. Will take a while before I have enough though

Did you get that Kief from grinding just one bud MMMmmMMNice Flea bay china I think I will have to have a look cause the one that I use is made Im fairly sure from aluminium, which I dont like and it get,s clogged up a bit too quickly plus I like the diamond cutter style against the shrak tooth type cutter