GanjaPreneur420's 1st Grow

[Dutchman1990]

Dec 14:

So.. I decided I am going to flip to flower on Monday. Therefor I have defoliated the girls a bit before and I will probably do a better one in a weeks time.(If I am wrong please correct me..) As the feeding is a bit of a weird situation I have topped the water up to the 2nd mark to hopefully have them down to the 1 mark by Monday so i can feed her a full 4 gal of water/nutrients. At least thats the plan haha...

Below are the pics taken after they were chopped down by a machete.. (Not actually more of a reference for my shaky hands lmao)

Lights were also lowered to about 21" before they go down to 18" on Monday.

Full Shot after hack job and pre lowering of the light.

GG#4

Cookies(1)

Cookies(2)

Cookies(3)

Its crazy as I am looking at these pictures now makes its seem like I didn't take anything off... I did I swear I was scared I took too much off haha

Its also crazy how these Quantum board Led's make these plants look so much lighter than they really are.

That is all for now, stay safe

They are very bushy still! Hope they stretch out a bit more for you ! Looks great

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

I wonder if glasses will change that? Ot is crazy how yellow light green they spear under the lights. They are dark waxy green though

I am sure there are probably glasses that would neutralize the light. Plus I am only using my phone to take pictures so that probably makes a bit of a difference.

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

They are very bushy still! Hope they stretch out a bit more for you ! Looks great

So do I, it makes it very difficult to defol thats for sure. haha

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

Dec 16: So I decided I am going to start the flower period beginning at 11:00 tonight with 12 hours of darkness. I filled the reservoirs to the 6 gallon level and added week #1 of the required nutrients including cal-mag at 50% of the recommended dose. I decided not to defoliate any today and will do it tomorrow to allow them a bit of time to adjust to the feeding, light height, and extended dark period. I will post solo shots tomorrow but for now I have a group shot.

Group Shot Feeding

Group Shot

Sorry 1st pic had the house light on causing shadows and dark areas
Till tomorrow.

 

[Th34v4t4r]

Well you had me at qb-288... I've been looking at the qb-32s by the time I'm ready to afford them into my setup though some other form of bright white light will be along. Other thing that puts me off is I read you have to set them up yourself.

The bubbler and hpmix is cool. I mixed my soil with coco for the extra airation. I'll be looking for these pots toward the next grow though. How loud are they... my space is inconveniently in my bedroom closet... don't want it too loud the fans are already enough lmao

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

Well you had me at qb-288... I've been looking at the qb-32s by the time I'm ready to afford them into my setup though some other form of bright white light will be along. Other thing that puts me off is I read you have to set them up yourself.

The bubbler and hpmix is cool. I mixed my soil with coco for the extra airation. I'll be looking for these pots toward the next grow though. How loud are they... my space is inconveniently in my bedroom closet... don't want it too loud the fans are already enough lmao

Thanks for the comments,

There really wasnt much to setting them up, you can buy these lights already assembled however the cost is a bit more. I decided just to by the boards and heat sink from the supplier and outsource the driver and wires. Cost was cheaper and assembling it really was no problem. I could have done it quicker but I tried to make the light as "professional" or as close to the ready assembled version.

There is in fact no bubbler in any of these reservoirs therefor it is completely silent. They are not required in this system as it is a wicking system. The roots are trained to grow as close to the environment as possible by searching downwards and finding the water. Once they find the water they are used to being submerged and dont require oxygen as they are receiving it through the soil(promix).

 

[Th34v4t4r]

There is in fact no bubbler in any of these reservoirs therefor it is completely silent. They are not required in this system as it is a wicking system. The roots are trained to grow as close to the environment as possible by searching downwards and finding the water. Once they find the water they are used to being submerged and dont require oxygen as they are receiving it through the soil(promix).

So your telling me... I can get a dark pot and let my roots grow through and hit the deck, sit around hunky doory and not rot or strangle each other... like if I knew this then well we wouldn't be fucking with so much soil and coco.

No air stones? No nothing...???

How does this work in relation to ph??? CUer in the reservoir they would be up taking at 5.5ph but through the soil auto corrected to around 6.2ph? 6.5? Ish... so do you keep the reservoir controlled with up and down.

I'm not going to lie you've got me well tweaked with this

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

Dec 17: So today was the day I decided to defoliate the middle bushy areas. They definitely seemed to enjoy their first 12 hours of sleep and don't seem to show any signs of nute burn or deficiencies since the feeding yesterday. I left a few of the bigger leaves near the top of the cola stems as well as some of the outer leaves to continue acting like solar panels. I will now allow them to have a full week of 12/12 before I give them a good clean up(hopefully they stretch to make it significantly easier).

Group Shot Pre Defoliation

Group Shot After Defoliation

Cola stems aren't too happy with all the manhandling... Give it an hour or so and they will perk back up.

GG#4(Pre)

GG#4(After)

Cookies#1(Pre)

Cookies#1(After)

Cookies#2(Pre)

Cookies#2(After)

Cookies#3(Pre)

Cookies#3(After)

I believe that is it for now, till the next update.

 

[Dutchman1990]

Girls are looking good Ase fsr and the defoliation was a needed thing! Well done they will appreciate it for sure! More air flow and light penetration

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

So your telling me... I can get a dark pot and let my roots grow through and hit the deck, sit around hunky doory and not rot or strangle each other... like if I knew this then well we wouldn't be fucking with so much soil and coco.

No air stones? No nothing...???

How does this work in relation to ph??? CUer in the reservoir they would be up taking at 5.5ph but through the soil auto corrected to around 6.2ph? 6.5? Ish... so do you keep the reservoir controlled with up and down.

I'm not going to lie you've got me well tweaked with this

Haha yup thats pretty much what im saying more or less. You would have to do a few modifications to just a dark pot but yea.

Root rot is caused when soil is over-saturated with water and plant roots are deprived of oxygen. Octopot’s hybrid design prevents root rot in three important ways. First, the terrestrial root zone inside the Gro Sleeve is never over watered and the soil profile is well aerated. Second, the hydroponic root zone inside Octopot’s Hydro Reservoir is well oxygenated by the atmospheric exchange at the surface area of water. Third, Root Hybridization causes changes in root architecture that prepares plant roots to thrive in water.

As far as PH balance all I would do(if I did) would test the water in the reservoir through one of the 3 ports on the top where I add my nutes/water.

Yes, I do not check my PH as of now and really its because the nutrients that I use are "PH Perfect" which apparently means that no matter the base PH of my tap water "BC Canada" which is also where the company is from I believe, I would hope that it has been tried and tested.

 

[Th34v4t4r]

Wow well you sir have educsted me...So my next question would be how do I adapt my set up for this... d.i.y home made style...

I've seen in some bubbler systems algeaand bacteria growing in the water. How often would I change reservoir and nutrients.

I wouldn't be able to use my soil formulated nutes would I. I suppose it would all go into the res.... does the soil have to uptake water and remain somewhat moist. Or do the roots just drop through to the res and take what is needed from there leaving the rest of the system for air?

So many questions but I'm really Inclined to adapt for this kinda setup

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

Wow well you sir have educsted me...So my next question would be how do I adapt my set up for this... d.i.y home made style...

I've seen in some bubbler systems algeaand bacteria growing in the water. How often would I change reservoir and nutrients.

I wouldn't be able to use my soil formulated nutes would I. I suppose it would all go into the res.... does the soil have to uptake water and remain somewhat moist. Or do the roots just drop through to the res and take what is needed from there leaving the rest of the system for air?

So many questions but I'm really Inclined to adapt for this kinda setup

I fear I am way to blitzed at the moment to try and answer all that, I will probably go off on some tangent lmao. Although I will say I dont really know how you would adapt it into your grow because I purchased the already made system as I didnt know how to d.i.y. either.

As far as the soil, it just gradually gets wetter the lower it gets as the water gradually soaks into and rises up until a certain point that it dries out completely on the top.

Ughh I already ended up going further than I anticipated lmao

 

[Th34v4t4r]

I was up way too late last night looking into this so thanks for the sleepless night. However I've made a decision I have 2 healthy plants and 1 that needs repotting. I'm going to make a home made system and see how it goes with that one plant. If it gets mould around the fabric pot which is my only worry I'll turn it out and reply into same mix I have now... but it's better to test with 1 pls t then 2 i guess and since this plant is already behind it might give it the edge to catch back up..

I'm on this tonight @GanjaPreneur420 ganjapreneur420

It will be a fully to home made set up tho. I'll see how your octopots come along before throwing money at the legit systems

 

[Th34v4t4r]

Have you used fabric pots??? What would you say the difference is between your sleeve and a normal fabric polyester pot...?? I'm sure your sleeve will be polyester

 

[Stu]

I’ll be following along... these octo pots are really interesting! I’m curious more than anything.
Plants look nice and healthy too!

Cheers

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

Have you used fabric pots??? What would you say the difference is between your sleeve and a normal fabric polyester pot...?? I'm sure your sleeve will be polyester

This is my very first grow period so I dont have anything to compare these 2. The only thing that would worry my however with doing it now would be that you have been watering from the top therefore adding water throughout the grow and possibly over saturating your roots. Whereas I only water over the top on the initial planting of the seed.

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

I’ll be following along... these octo pots are really interesting! I’m curious more than anything.
Plants look nice and healthy too!

Cheers

After checking on them today it appears my PH is off(copper) and or my lights were to low. I will be posting pictures later tonight, so we shall see...

 

[GanjaPreneur420]

Dec 18: Quick update on the girls. All the cookies are showing slight signs of what look like either mild nute burn and or ph issue(copper or zinc). GG#1 seems rather happy, she is growing like mad.

Group Shot

GG#4

Cookies (1)

Cookies(2)

Cookies(3)

And just for fun a shot of the GG#4 under

Happy growing,

 

[Mushie1005]

Looking good man

 

[TryingHigh]

The Octopots are interesting. Very neat.