First Journal On 420

[BuddyFellaWassisName]

Hello and welcome.

I've had journals on other sites in the past but this is my first journal on 420.

I moved to OR a few years ago because I love the West Coast. It doesn't hurt that cannabis is legal for anyone 21 years of age and older but that was not the main motivation for moving here (or so I keep telling myself).

I was in a rental for the first bit and they were pretty strict about no marijuana in their units. That didn't really stop me from getting and using vape pens but I can't help but feel like something is missing when self medicating using those. I much prefer flower since it seems to give you the full 3D experience.

I've grown in the past and still had all my equipment so I got a notion that I'd like to grow again since my stash was slowly disappearing in a series of small fires. So I set up my 4x4 tent and my 600 Watt HPS with other accouterments and set forth to acquire a clone!

Behold FireOG. It was a gift that kept on giving.

Now I've only ever grown hydroponically and I figured that it'd be no big deal that there was a little soil. I could just wash it off, mostly, so that's what I proceeded to do. I got it in some grow cubes and I was off to the races. Well it was around 2 or so weeks later that I noticed something on one of the leaves. I adjusted my coke bottle bottoms and got a closer look. Powdery mildew ... Huh.

Well that mean a trip to the local hydroponics store to pick up some neem oil. Sprayed that plant, powdery mildew goes away. Plant starts to grow and then about 2 weeks later our friend powdery mildew is back. Well, this might become an issue . I guess I'll just have to use neem oil on a regular basis ... this is totally manageable, right?

So the plant grew and I kept doing transplants, each time making sure I had a nice formation of roots,

So I keep at this for a few weeks,

I'm training it and tying it over. I put it under a scrog net to spread it out and let it grow. I like growing big plants .

It was around this time that a new problem appeared and around the same time I stopped taking pictures. I noticed that the plant by all appearances looked strong and healthy (aside from the powdery mildew). I wanted to not use neem going forward from here because I planned on smoking this at some point. The plant leaves started to yellow and die from the bottom up. I also noticed that there appeared to be small white flecks in my reservoir when I did a change. I ignored it the first week and figured it was ... I had no idea what it was ... I just ignored it if I want to be honest.

Well the next week during the rez change I noticed more "flecks" floating on the surface. I adjusted my coke bottle bottoms once again and took a closer look. They were clumping together ... and the clumps were writhing with motion . Let me watch a "fleck" ... it's moving on it's own. This isn't good. The plant was looking worse by the day as more leaves were yellowing and dying and by now it was almost over the whole plant. My pH was having wild swings, my ppm was shooting up... I've got something eating my roots.

Another trip to the hydroponics store to pick up some Azamax. Douse the plant with that and flush it out. Rinse and repeat again a few days later.

Plant starts to recover but by now it's taking some serious body blows. The buds were forming, albeit small, but so was the powdery mildew. I picked up a UV light to try and keep it at bay. It appeared to be working ... mostly. I was keeping it off the forming buds and removing any leaves that it was forming on but I was still on the verge of tears. I kept fighting a losing battle.

Near the end I was thinking I could salvage some and do a bud wash but as I was trimming it the mildew was in the middle of the buds and was everywhere. In disgust after investing some 4 or 5 months into this ordeal I cut the whole thing down, threw in into bags and dumped it in the trash. I then had a nice big bowl from my stash and called it a day.

 

[BuddyFellaWassisName]

Well that was all quite the bummer really and I thought maybe I shouldn't grow again. I can pick up cheap oz's in OR. My better half saw what this did to me and urged me to try again. So I perked up and thought yeah ... I can try this again. So I opted this time to NOT get a clone and instead grow from seeds. I looked around and wanted to purchase from a company inside the US and try to avoid any possibility of them being seized at the boarder.

Well hello Growers Choice . I decided on some feminized OGKush,White Widow, and some Power Plant seeds and got them over the summer. When the time came and I sprouted a single OGKush. It sprouted in less than 24 hours and soon I was off to the races again .

Strong vigorous growth, lush and green:

The last picture was before I left for a weeks vacation. It was doing well and I had it set up to be watered while I was gone.

Or so I thought.

The timer failed for the water pump and well this was what I was greeted with a week later:

I tried to revive it, but she was already in the great beyond .

But I was not deterred!

 

[Dutchman1990]

I’m here and along for the journey!
It seems like it’s been a tough start but it all leads to a learning curve and growing better! Every issue you face you learn to deal with and avoid (or try to) in future grows! Looking forward for what’s to come!

 

[BirdieNumNum]

I am a noob DWC grower in UK.

My last lot went downhill fast and wilted and dried out after a res change and neglect but my air pumps are reliable......I think it was near freezing water that did for em but not sure.

Hoping to get my next grow going in a couple of weeks.

 

[BuddyFellaWassisName]

Current Grow

Seeds from growers choice: OGKush and White Widow
Using Pots 1, 3 and flowering in #5
Media is Grodan rockwool ½” grow cubes
RO Water with a base of Cal/Mag, Flora Blend, Silica, and Photosynthesis Plus – O (smells like an open sewer)
Nutrients are General Hydroponics 3 part solution supplied by top feed by water pump programmed to run 15 minutes 4 times per day.
Lighting is currently a 600 Watt HPS enclosed in an air cooled reflector.
Size of flowering tent is 2x4x7

I also have a 2x2x4 Seedling/clone veg tent that is being lit by a Mars 400 (unit I got back in 2014 or so, can’t exactly recall).

Started on October 22 by putting a white widow and og kush seed in a cup of RO water for 16 hours and then placed the soaked seeds in some paper towel, and then placed inside a sandwich bag an rested it on top of a heating mat.

A day later they both sprouted and these were gently placed in rockwool starter cubes that had been soaked for an hour with dilute, ~100ppm, nutrient solution with its pH adjusted to 5.8.

I think I got a little too eager with the light and put them in the veg tent with the mars 400 a bit too early and the air was very dry, humidity was around 17% in the room so I dug out a humidifier that I had and raised the humidity into the 50% range as well as raising the light as high as the tent would allow. The og seemed to lag behind the white widow and remained behind, still to this day.

In early veg I slowly bump up the nutrient solution from 100 up to 500 ppm. As the plant grows so does the food I feed it. I always try and maintain the pH from 5.8 to 5.9, sometimes it drifts up to 6 and that’s ok but once it goes higher I lower it with pH down. This grow has been fairly stable but initially my ppm’s were dropping and the pH was rising, I’d just top off with full strength and adjust the pH back to 5.9

White widow on the left, OG on the right

I moved them over to the 2x4 around the end of November, I can’t remember exactly, and continued to veg under the HPS but set the ballast to 400 Watts. I kept them in veg until December 13th and then swapped the lighting from 18/6 straight to 12/12. I installed a scrog net above the plants so that I could keep the tops to a somewhat even canopy. I also changed the nutrient ratios a bit at this time for flower transition and brought the concentration up to around 600ppm.

OG on the left, white widow on the right.

They were in flower a week before I left on vacation again. I made quadruple sure that the timers (a new replacement) and pumps were working before I left this time. I also set up a camera so that I could remote in and check on them while I was away.

Thankfully everything went smoothly and the plants stretched a bit, but weren’t quite done when I got back. Now that the weather was cooler and I was home to keep an eye on things I increased the wattage to 600 and the temperature has been maintained to the mid 70’s. I also changed the nutrient ratio for my flowering mix which brings the ppm up to the 800’s.

I also noticed that the white widow had a bit of yellowing in two strips along the front and back. I noticed that the reflector seemed to focus the reflected light into two narrow and strong slits on both sides. When the plant was lower it wasn’t a problem but now that plant had grown higher it was now bleaching out the leaves. To “fix” this I got some paint to paint over the reflector to dampen the focusing into two strong death rays and that seemed to work.

I think when I began flower the plants the white widow was ready. The growth of the tips had changed from symmetric growth to alternating of the nodes. I think I remember this was a sign the plant was mature enough and ready to start flowering. The OG on the other hand was still behind and I think I can see it in the current bud formation. I think it’ll still produce some nice nugs but the white widow will probably fill in a bit more. I’m not sure yet but we’ll see.

So today would be 32 days since I changed the light schedule to 12/12 and signs of flower started happening around 10 or so days after. I feel like they’re a little bit behind but seem to be filling in nicely. I had to do a thinning of some of the fan leaves too to expose the tops, I really don’t know a lot about defoliation. I see quite a few growers implement it and they seem to get great results.

I also took two clones from the OG on the 13th. I took a nice lower branch and also a cutting from higher up just in case something happened. I clone by taking the cuttings and putting them into 3” rockwool cubes soaked in a solution of light bloom nutrients a little beneficial bacteria from the photosynthesis plus O with a pH of 5.8 and root x cloning gel. These are enclosed in a humidity dome and placed on a heating pad. You can leave this alone for basically 2 or three weeks and seems to work quite well.

My plan is to flower the OG alone in the 2x4 once the current grow is done. The lower branch clone was rooted after I returned from vacation so I took it out of the humidity dome and fed it very light nutrients, around 200 ppm and gave it direct light from a small led grow bulb. The clone didn’t wilt and began to show signs of growth a day later. It’s now currently in the 2x2 tent under the 400 watt mars led.

I really liked the way dutchman1990 trains his plants so I’ve started pruning mine by topping it and cutting it back a bit. I’m not sure if I’ll go complete quad line this time but I am going to try and stay on top of training. I usually try and save the top and don’t snip it but instead try and tie the plant over. It becomes a bush that becomes difficult to manage later in flower. Some harvests are taking me waaaay too long and I end up with so much popcorn on the lower branches.

I’ve also ordered a new LED from Budget LED. I’m going to replace the 600 watt hps with their 500 watt series 3+ red spec. Yeah, total overkill in a 2x4 but it’ll be fun. I’m contemplating finishing my current grow with the LED. The reflector I have now doesn’t seem to adequately light both ends of the 2x4 tent now and I think the LED will do a better job. I’m still on the fence. Right now the bottom of the reflector is about 12” from the top of the plant. I could probably get the other light up higher if I move the air filter and could give it about 18” clearance… decisions decisions.

Ok I think I’ve got this journal to the present. Hopefully things will continue to progress and I can soon share some sweet bud porn with y’all.

Hope you all have a nice day. Thanks for lending me your eyeballs.

BFWN.

 

[PCaddict]

Hay I'm in on the first page. Congrats on that light Wow 500 watt for a 2x4 you should have Plenty of light. Is there room for a 4x4 that light would be perfect for a 4x4. I got the 350 watt QB Budget LED light to go with my COBs for my 5x5 tent. I think it will be plenty for my 5x5 we will see when I flip them. More and More people going with Budget LED. I think it is the Best place to get lights. Great service, Small business, Made in the USA, Vet owned and a sponsor, not to mention Quality parts which makes them hard to beat. Good luck on the grow.

 

[BuddyFellaWassisName]

Hay I'm in on the first page. Congrats on that light Wow 500 watt for a 2x4 you should have Plenty of light. Is there room for a 4x4 that light would be perfect for a 4x4. I got the 350 watt QB Budget LED light to go with my COBs for my 5x5 tent. I think it will be plenty for my 5x5 we will see when I flip them. More and More people going with Budget LED. I think it is the Best place to get lights. Great service, Small business, Made in the USA, Vet owned and a sponsor, not to mention Quality parts which makes them hard to beat. Good luck on the grow.

I don't quite have the space right now for my 4x4, and that's ok. When I first started I was in a home depot c22 cabinet with a 400 watt HPS using waterfarms. Grew some BOG seeds and had access to some nice cuttings and that little thing put out more smoke than I could handle. I was giving it away for free at one point. By far my favorite grow/smoke was AbusiveOG.

Just waiting on the new light to arrive today. Neighbors gonna get a light show tonight from the attic window

 

[BuddyFellaWassisName]

Light arrived on Wednesday. It was well packed and arrived in perfect working order. Thank you @Budget LED

Unpacked it and tested it in a spare room. It sure can throw the photons around.

I decided to replace the hps with the LED. I've dimmed it about 75 to 80% of max to see how the plants react. The white widow is showing signs of getting too much light from the HPS. The top is yellowing and a quick check with a light meter app showed it was getting in excess of 85,000 lux. The White widow is front row and center for the light, but parts of the plant further away don't have the same yellowing. Additionally each end of the tent was getting in the low 30,000 lux. Hoping the yellowing didn't go too far and perhaps the leaves might recover . The OG is showing zero signs of yellowing anywhere on the plant.


Leaves showing the most yellowing on the White Widow

OG Kush nice and green

The LED throws off very little heat. I was able to shut the fan pumping in cool attic air and just let the outtake fan attached to the carbon filter run and the temps in the tent stabilized to 75 degrees. External air temperature of the *tent is 68-70. I'm hoping this means I now have a longer growing season indoors . Pretty safe to assume that July and August will still be too hot. Perhaps an outdoor summer grow this year

I cleaned out the reservoir thoroughly for the last water change, I've noticed the ppm's are starting to creep up a little so I probably should do a quick flush of the rockwool next change and give the reservoir another good cleaning. I noticed a little but of sludge on the hose and cable for the water pump but it wasn't very much.

I also need to go back over Dutchman1990's tutorial on how he trains his plants. My clone is coming along, I just hope it's ready in time to flower by the end of February or first of March. I might be able to squeak in one more flower for May-June, not sure but we'll see. It's already been topped and I trimmed a few things away. We'll get there.

Some frost is starting to show up too, never a bad thing.

Thanks for dropping by and as always I hope you have a great day.

BFWN

 

[PouceBlack]

Love the story of dedication. Keep that PMA

Those plants look very fine now. I would personnaly be mildew-paranoid at this point and defoliate a lot more heh.

 

[PCaddict]

I think you are going to Love that light, Congrats

 

[BuddyFellaWassisName]

Well it hasn't been quite a week and a half since I put up the Budget LED but I can see some positive improvements in that short time.

The yellowing in the White Widow seems to have improved and it's looking happier and greener. Things seem to be going very smoothly now.

It's however still a bushy mess and I really should clean it up but I just find I don't know where to start.

When I first replaced the light there were not many visible tricomes on the White Widow and it was unhappy and yellowish. It appears to approve of the change. I think the stress on the plant somewhat delayed flowering but there is potential for an ok harvest.

The OG is still nice and green and is frosting up in a pleasing way. The buds are going to be small since I probably should have vegged it a bit longer but I don't believe it was getting adequate light before with the HPS. Some areas got too much light, other areas, not enough .

OG bud that looks promising:

And a contender from the White Widow:

I flipped to 12/12 on Dec 13th, a little over 6 weeks ago. They're both "supposed" to be finished around 56 days but I'm thinking they'll need to go a bit longer. We'll see .

So far really liking this Budget LED and how the plants have responded to it. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll pull some buds outta this tent and put in the OG clone that seems to be coming along as well.

I'm going to "try" and stay on top of this plant once it goes into the 2x4. I'm going to "try" and keep it nice and low so perhaps I can turn up the LED just a bit while keeping it high and getting a nice even spread. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for dropping by. Hope you can have a nice day, if anyone lets you .

BFWN