Hydro Strawberry Cough Homebox Tent Grow

[Jamahl]

Strain: Dutch Passion Strawberry Cough
System: Hydroponic
Medium: 1x tent Coco and Perlite 1x tent Clay Balls
Reservoir: 1x 160L grow and 2x45L flower (connected)
Grow Area: 2x 1.2x1.2x2m Homebox tents (one Mylar, one white plastic)
Light: 1x 600w HPS with lumtec digital balast and SonTagro bulbs

Basically i have been growing this strain with no success for almost 6mths only to discover that the EZItent that i was using was made of PVC and was giving off fumes that were killing the plants. homebox.net

So i bought 2x Homebox tents and have started again. One tent has new clones in it, the other young plants that were harmed by the old tent but are recovering.

Image Time:

Tents (sorry about side view)

Reservoir (Veg)

Room 1 (White Plastic): New Clones

Room 1: Plant A

Room2 (Mylar): Previously damaged plants...note the yellow lower leaves and burnt margins

 

[Jamahl]

Heres the specs for the system at the moment:
Ph: 6.5
EC: 0.8
Temp: 30C or 86F
Watering: 15mins per hr.

I am keeping the nutrients low to start off with due to the plants being delicate cuttings or damaged plants. I will bring it up slowly.

I am thinking I will need to put the damaged plants into flower soon as i will be going away for December and would like to get them finished before then. I will keep the clones vegging for another month or so. Any idea how big the plants in Room2 will get if i flower now????

 

[Jamahl]

OK decided to put the older damaged plants onto flower as i wont have enough time for the harvest to finish before my holiday otherwise. Yield will probably be down, but just happy they have green leaves for a change after the toxic tent syndrome i had with the cheap tent.

Flower specs are:
PH: 6.2
EC: 0.8-1.0
Temp: 30 C or 86F day and 18C or 64F night

Cant wait till they start looking as green as the mother plant:
The next pic shows the difference between mother and what the toxic tent syndrome did to the clones. They are getting greener already after a week of non-toxic conditions.

 

[Sgt. White]

Hello Jamahl, Fellow grower here. The plant looks like it's gonna bounce back nicely. How tall were they when you put them into flower?

 

[Jamahl]

Hopefully Sgt White, hopefully....

The four to flower were ranging from 6inches to 10 inches in height when put to flower.
They are greening up nicely and i expect a bit of growth in the next couple of weeks before the buds start...remember they have root systems of a 6wk old plant so would hope the growth would be faster than a normal plant of their height.

The clones have started to kick in (its kind of like they just sit there for a few days and then BANG rapid growth.

 

[Jamahl]

Hopefully Sgt White, hopefully....

The four to flower were ranging from 6inches to 10 inches in height when put to flower.
They are greening up nicely and i expect a bit of growth in the next couple of weeks before the buds start...remember they have root systems of a 6wk old plant so would hope the growth would be faster than a normal plant of their height.

The clones have started to kick in (its kind of like they just sit there for a few days and then BANG rapid growth.

 

[Sgt. White]

10'' is the bare minimum for flowering, I'm curious to see how much you get. It was good I came across your thread, I was about to use PVC myself.

 

[Jamahl]

Sgt White..."10" is the bare minimum" just sounds so wrong (assuming youre a guy).hehe

I am guessing an Oz per plant...that will cover my running costs. I just cant leave a mate in charge of the first grow for the last mth just in case there are any teathing problems. The second tent will be 2wks from finish when i come back so i hope my mate can handle it OK.

 

[Jamahl]

OK time for an update...
Nutrients are running the same.
Dropped the Ph to 6.0 (slowly dropping to 5.6 over time as i hear this is best level).

Tent 1 looking good, solid green growth now. Tipped plant B and C.

PlantA

Plant B

Plant C

Plant D

Room 2 have started to kick in. Here is the one with the most growth. I am having some problems with temperature in this room. Dont know why, the rooms have the same fans/drawthrough etc, and the humidity is getting a bit low for a new plant (20%). I have put a bucket in the room with an airstone to try and bring the humidity up. Will tell you if it works.

 

[Sgt. White]

Looking good! Question> How are you feeding, drip? or flood? It looks like drip. Also you say you feed them for 15 min every hour, how much (in milliliters) do you think they are getting? Here's why I ask, I have no pump, I've had to hand feed my plants with a syringe. I have been giving them 60 to 90 ml 3 times a day. Crazy huh?

 

[Retired One]

Was just about to weigh in on your posted temps, but it seems you are aware of it. What is the temps of the nute solution in your res? The first set of pics looks much more like a serious defficiency, deformed leaves and chlorosis, than a toxic tent situation. High nute solution temp causes some aggivating ph problems , which will screw you uptake up beyond belief. Strawberry Cough has a bit of a reputation for being nute sensitve, and you've been running your ph in lockout ranges...keep it between 5.3-5.8. What veg and flower nutes are you using? The best SC grows I have seen beginning to end, have all been organic.

 

[Retired One]

10'' is the bare minimum for flowering, I'm curious to see how much you get. It was good I came across your thread, I was about to use PVC myself.

That's not right. You can grow a plant on 12/12 from seed. How tall they are when they show is entirely dependant on the strain.

 

[Sgt. White]

That's not right. You can grow a plant on 12/12 from seed. How tall they are when they show is entirely dependant on the strain.

The 12/12 thing is news to me, I knew strains come in different sizes, for indoor grow I've read, or been told that you want a minimum of 10" to 12" before flowering.

 

[Retired One]

The 12/12 thing is news to me, I knew strains come in different sizes, for indoor grow I've read, or been told that you want a minimum of 10" to 12" before flowering.

Nope, you can roll 12/12 from the beginning. I've seen plants grow to over 4' on a 12/12 schedule. Now if you want to let them veg out, you wait for the nodes to begin coming in staggered instead of side by side, but there is no "to soon" to flower a plant...provided you don't mind a smaller yield.

 

[Jamahl]

Southern Weed....it was definitely a toxic tent syndrome....when i took them out the tent they greened up, when i put them back they went yellow. Leaves burnt even with EC of 0.4. I tried everything and then when i tested the tent bingo.

Yep get the pH is too high, but the mother plant was doing fine on it. The leaves are heaps greener in the centre of the plants its just the HPS lamp makes them look yellower. I will slowly lower the pH, but i dont think it is too much of a problem.

Temps wise...well i need another fan, but everything seems to be going ok at 30C. I have taken to spraying water around the grow room every few hrs when i am home. Interestingly the older plants in the white tent with the coco cor are sitting at 45-60% humidity. I thing the coco allows moisture evap where as the mylar tent has the clay balls and white cutouts which prevents evap and hence lower RH.

Yes i know SC is nute sensitive, figured that out whilst having the tent issue. I had two mother plants (WW and SC) in the same pot and the WW was loving the higher EC but the SC started to have the tips burn.

Thanks for the advice re 12/12. I knew you could do it from clone, just the crop will be smaller. Just hoping they get a bit of growth in in the next 3wks before the buds start to form (took the last SC 3wks to show).

 

[Jamahl]

OK time for another update....

Got the temperatures under control (i think). Basically i have a hole in the floor and duct in (passively) cool air from under the house. Tent 2 (with the clones in it on 18/6 light) then draws the air from near the hole into the tent (passively again) and actively pumps air out the top of the tent back into the room. Tent 1 (at the other end of the room) draws ambient air into the tent (passively) and then actively pumps air out the top and through a carbon filter located in the roof......Found this was the best way to keep both tents under 30C without having another fan. Now running at around 27C or 81F

Altered the timing of the light cycles so there is less time with both tents ON, hence less build up of ambient heat in the room, hence in the tents.

Interestingly found the Mylar tent a lot hotter than the white PE tent, even though it is the one drawing the cool air in from under the house.


OK my other issue....humidity in Tent 2 (clones). This has been sitting around 20% for a while. I had been spraying water all over the sides of the tent which increased RH for a hr or so, but not long enough as i have to go to work. So i put a damp towel in the bottom of the tent and dipped its end in a bowl of water. Seemed to bring RH up to 30%. I think the problem was that the cool air from under the house had less moisture content and that when warmed the RH decreased (as RH is a measure of the % of saturation, hence higher temps have lower RH with the same "volume" of moisture.).

Enough ramble.....

Essentially Tent 1 (Day 4 of flowering) are looking great and growing very quickly (relative to when they were sick). Everything is green (pics dont do it justice). They should fatten out quite a bit before the buds start.

Tent 2(clones at D10 of veg). Low RH and high temps (30) caused plants to "stunt" and not grow much. Interestingly the leaves seemed to shrink and get wrinkly (i guess to reduce surface area and close stomata). Next couple of days at 27C with 30%RH will tell. One plant is going guns though.

And here are the pics

Tent1

Tent1 Plant A

Plant B

Plant C

Plant D

Tent 2

Plant A

Plant B

Plant C

 

[Jamahl]

Oh forgot to mention that the air ventilation system keeps tent 1 (flower) warmer at "night" as the hot air from Tent 2 is drawn into Tent 1 keeping it warmer when the lights are off.

I have also staggered the light cycles so the overall rooms ambient temperature doesnt build up as much.

Nutirents are still running at 0.8-1.0 EC, but have reduced to pH to 5.4-5.6 for both rooms.
Will look at increasing Tent 1 (flower) EC tomorrow as they look like they can handle it. Will leave Tent 2 (Veg) at the same level till i sort out the temp/RH issue.

 

[DownOver]

Looking good!! +Rep

 

[Jamahl]

Just checked the pics and I can see striations on the leaves...cant see these in real life. Must be the camera.....I guess its (1) on the older leaves from the Toxic Tent and (2) due to the low nutirents i have been weaning them back to life on has resulted in a lack of some nutirients (only slightly as only visible under camera).

Now the pH is back in the preferable range and the Nutrient strength increasing tomorrow, i expect to see a change in this by next week. (wanted to bring the pH back slowly from what it was in the toxic tent so i didnt stress the plants...it was high in the toxic tent as i was testing pH as an issue)

 

[Sgt. White]

Looks like your patients is paying off
Can't wait to see them in another week or so