Josh's First Attempt at a Successful Indoor Grow

[josh223]

I just checked the plants. Nothing worth taking pictures. My girl is a scientist-collecting and evaluating data. I asked her to look at a few of the "more ripe" plants. I was thinking the hairs were around 50% red. She thinks it's closer to 10%. She's the boss and I know my place. I'm going start chopping when the hairs are 80% red or so. I'm thinking maybe...Friday or Sat I'll be able to take a few.

I need to re-LST my NLB mother tonight. The Tutankhamen still hasn't shown any signs of new growth.

CA215-judging by the 5 gallon bucket I used, I think I had around three gallons of trim in there. One gallon at a time is more along the lines of "manageable" I think an amount of wet trim with the same volume of 5-6 oz of dried bud would be about perfect. I almost bought a set of bags, but I've heard some negative reports of them. Mainly that the finer bags take days to fully drain. That, and they are really expensive, led me to try the Gumpy method. Hell, it works.

I really like sieved and pressed hash. I have a rather large keef box. I take the sandpaper off of my random orbit sander and press it against the top. It's pretty efficient, but doesn't work so well with trim. I'll take and throw all the stems and duff from bags into it and get a nice little treat. If I wait and do a lot of accumulating, I can get a film canisters worth. Press that into a little brick and oh yeah...

There's a company that makes a machine that works just like a gold trommel, but with a much finer screen and is used for separating trichs from waste. Super efficient, but rather spendy. I'm thinking of buying a metal-tubbed rock tumbler, cutting out slots with a plasma torch, and gluing 120 per inch mesh to the inside where I cut the slots. Should work at a fraction of the cost.

Yeah, this site is awesome. I've learned so much here.

My plans are to have a perpetual harvest, being able to cut around two ounces or so a week. The A Trains are about done, but the flowering tent has 24 Northern Light Blues in it-three different ages and two different types of grows. The first four are almost done. I think once the A Trains and the first four NLB's are weighed and I give a smoke report, I will start another journal. I have up and coming Afghan Kush, THC Bomb, and Holy Grail Kush as new mothers, in addition to the one Northern Light Blue that is a mature mother.

 

[josh223]

I was thinking I'd be able to do some chopping on a couple of plants this weekend. Now I''m second guessing myself and am thinking two weeks before I re-entertain that thought. Here's some pics of a few of the ripest. What do yall think?

Here's a few picks of the first four NLB's:

Those gals are coming along nicely. Here's some pics of the former NLB mothers, in MG soil, that I threw into flowering:

Lots of tops. Each should yield 6-8 zips.

One thing that I never mentioned here is that when I received my aero cloner, I had just done a trim on those initial A Train mothers. Short story long, 8 out of 26 of those tall as plants are double stalked.

The yield is about the same as the single colas, but more popcorn bud. Just thought I'd give'er a go an see.

Mother NLB:

I'm thinking to take a bunch of clones of of her in the next week or so. Here's some pics of the newest crop of potential mothers. THC Bomb and Holy Grail Kush are getting big quick. That landrace strain of Afghani is also. The Tutankhamen is on the far right. Just a single cotlydin leaf.

 

[CA215]

Do you just have the 1 NLB mother that's now in flower? Moving on to the other strains? They are looking very nice bro I think you are on track to harvesting, would push it out a couple more weeks though just to get that dankidy dank. Are you looking at the trich ratio at all? I'm just going off the white pistils as you are, definitely look like they will be able to push that long no problem. And if you are flushing it's all good, just keep the process running and let them mature. Are you planning on chopping regardless or are u in no hurry? CA215

 

[josh223]

I have one NLB mother under 24 hours of light and two in flowering. Saved one out of the three. I want to keep NLB as it is pretty nice but I am getting away from the A Trains.

I looked through a journal last night. The guy was doing the same thing I'm doing. It got to the point in his journal where his plants look around the same age as my A Trains. He let his plants flower for 30 more days. 100 days for flowering is pretty extreme in my mind. I don't want them to take that long. But at the same time I want to maximize their potential in every way. I don't have a set chop day. I've come this far, I'm not going to half-ass anything now. That's why last night I fed the A Trains again. Two weeks...three weeks...who knows?

 

[greensmurf]

Hey Josh, I've been here silently watching in the corner. looking good!

 

[josh223]

Hey greensmurf, nice to see you. Feel free to chime in and offer your opinion on anything.

It's not the middle of the night and I'm not overly medicated. Hopefully this will turn out better than last nights entry.

Here's a couple of shots of the upcoming mothers. The Tut should be pretty easy to pic out.

Here's the NLB that is still in veg.

A couple shots of the two in flowering.

A train canopy.

A close up of one of the NLB clones. It's hairs are more red than the A Trains.

In the pictures of the A Trains, they appear to be very leafy. It's some kind of optical illusion. None have any leaves with more than three blades. But they sure look shaggy in the pics. That led me realize something. If I'm going to have them around for up to three more weeks, I should do another defol of them. That would make four defols for them. Today is day number 78 for them. Herbies list A Train of taking 55-60 days to finish. The plants are saying something else. Once they are done, I'm sticking to my fast flowering, Indica dominate strains. If I wanted plants to take 100 days, I'd be growing some nice Sativas like Burmese Kush. In all reality, I prefer a Indica stone. I have daily chronic pain. Feeling all paranoid and giggly doesn't help me at all.

That reminds me, yesterday CA215 asked what I was using to check the ripeness. I wish I had a fancy scope of some sort to view the trichs. I want these buds to be right there with maximum THC, a nice couch lock/body high. Unfortunately I don't have anything of that scope, not even a magnifying glass. I'm only working part time at the moment and simply can't afford something cool and fancy. I think I'm going to check out the toy section of Wally World for a kids microscope. That should work. I had one when I was younger. Seems like it was 10X, 50X, and 100X. That should work and I'd think I could get one for around $20 or so. That is, unless someone else has a better suggestion. Up to know I've just been waiting for the hairs to darken.

I suppose that's about it for now. Patience is a virtue I am rarely blessed with. The A Trains are wearing on that. Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention last night, but here's my general plan for the next month or so: In a week or less I'm going to take 36 clones from the NLB mother. That should be a decent timing for them to root and the A Trains to finish. Once they get to flowering I should be able to take one clone each from the Holy Grail Kush, THC Bomb, and Afghani Kush. I want to use these to test their nute usage and also so I can taste them. That's about the time this journal will be closed. After that I'll be taking more clones in preparation for the next journal.

My goal is to harvest 2-4 zips a week perpetually. Yeah, I'd prefer to SCROG with fewer plants, but it seems difficult to do perpetually so I'll most likely stick with Hempy SOG. For the next grow I'd like to add another 600 watt HPS to the flowering tent. In reality, if I could afford it, I'd be running LEDs. Sooner or later Advanced will come out 5 watt diodes. I'll have to make that decision at that point in time. Other than that, more nutes, perlite, vermiculite, and 2 liters, I'll be good to go.

 

[Sphnx]

Hey buddy, Everything is looking great! those ones in the tent are beautiful. As far as flowering nutes what do you use?

 

[josh223]

Thank you Sphnx. I use Blue Planet Nutrients 3 part Elite with all the product line up: Grow, Micro, Bloom, VitaBlue, Liquid Seaweed, Early Bloomer, Liquid Blue, and Root Magic. This is my absolute first time with hydro. I don't own a PPM or EC meter, only one for PH. I use tap water, not RO water. So far, I haven't had one issue with the plants regarding the nutrients. The feeding charts are simple to use. This is defiantly some good stuff. It's also cheaper than other brands. The FedEx shipping rates are utterly ridiculous though. But I can't blame Corey for that.

I just found one of these jobies. Just might order one Friday.

Amazon: 420 Scope 60-100x LED Handheld Microscope

 

[Sphnx]

You have to get a ppm and ph meter. It's absolutely crucial for hydro. RO water will show way different results, different smell, taste, everything.

Blue planet nutes are bomb. They are so well rounded. Have you tried the heavy 16 veg a and b and bud a and b? With the prime additive you literally wipe out 6 to 7 things you need for vegging and flowering. I had the same leafy problem with the blue planet nutes, it made everything foxtail and leaf out almost as if it was reverting back to veg during the 12/12 cycle...

 

[josh223]

I have a PH meter. I use it every time because out of the tap is around 7.0.

I wouldn't mind an RO system, just going to wait until we move to a better house.

I've only used the BPN lineup, in addition to the Root Magic, on the A Trains. It's just a crappy Pheno. The Northern Light Blues are acting totally normal and are getting fed per the same feeding chart. I am going just a tad "hotter" with the A Trains just to see how much they'll take. That's where I could use the EC or PPM meter. So far so good so I'm not going to stress.

I like BPN because it is made specifically for mj. I've talked to Corey, the owner, twice on the phone. He's a great guy and that seems to be the consensus. He's constantly improving the formulas. It would really take a lot for me to start using something else. Just saying...

 

[Sphnx]

Seen my friend. I'm looking forward to seeing how this next round turns out for you!

 

[josh223]

The NLB's in the tent are not going to be as massive as the A Trains-height or weight. If the A Trains take three additional weeks or more to finish, I wouldn't be surprised to get an ounce dried/plant. One ounce X25=Happy Josh. Even 1/2ounceX25=Happy Josh. On the other hand, the NLB clones will run 10-15 g dried/plant.

 

[KingJohnC]

i would recommend a 30x jewellers loop.

https://www.google.com search 30x jewellers loop

 

[josh223]

I read the reviews of that scope I posted the link to. KingJohnC, I do believe you are correct.

 

[CA215]

I have one NLB mother under 24 hours of light and two in flowering. Saved one out of the three. I want to keep NLB as it is pretty nice but I am getting away from the A Trains.

I looked through a journal last night. The guy was doing the same thing I'm doing. It got to the point in his journal where his plants look around the same age as my A Trains. He let his plants flower for 30 more days. 100 days for flowering is pretty extreme in my mind. I don't want them to take that long. But at the same time I want to maximize their potential in every way. I don't have a set chop day. I've come this far, I'm not going to half-ass anything now. That's why last night I fed the A Trains again. Two weeks...three weeks...who knows?

Woooo! Love the mother NLB you kept, her structure is killer love that plant man, and the buds looks very tasty, good shit! Those flowering mothers are going to have some nice numbers. About how long were they in veg until you decided to flip? Totally with you on everything you said in the second paragraph, you should totally run it out if you can, like you said you came this far why not finish it out thoroughly. The hermy issue and mold stuff hurt my ego sucked so bad cutting early for the sake of saving SOME meds.. & for the scope issue, I was looking at that 420scope on amazon as well, a lot of good reviews for something so cheap! I say go for it, I'd actually be wanting to know what you think of it if you do get it. I instead, picked up a usb microscope from the same site called Aven 26700, it's pretty nice but I is not as portable as the 420scope. Good luck with everything, Keep it going strong josh!!

CA215

 

[Lester Freeman]

I'm impressed by the growth of these plants, considering they're in kind of small containers. Very nice looking tent in there mate.
I want a comparsion between how you like NLB after its done, and this A-train.

That NLB that's still in veg looks like very well trained plant, looks like my favorite lady outside named L4.
Keep up the good work brother

 

[josh223]

CA215, looking back through the journal, it looks like the NLB mothers were around 3 1/2 months old when I put them to flower. I guess that would be around two and a half months in veg? Something like that. All three were in one gallon containers and pretty heavily LST'd. I transplanted them into 2 gallon containers (just Miracle Grow potting soil with moisture control). I decided not to re-LST the mothers in flowering because they are already pretty wide. I'm just going to get what I can out of them without much effort. They will be the last ones out of the current flower tent inhabitants.

Lester, there will be all the reports/comparisons you want. One thing, however, does concern me. When I read about A Train, it is described as having a menthol flavor. I'm not sure what I have is actually A Train. I remember very specifically the bag that the seeds came from. I had another bag about two months ago of the EXACT same stuff from the same guy. This stuff is in no way menthol smelling or tasting. It is very sweet tasting and smelling. The best way I can describe it is Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum with a background of something almost funky-like cheese. At any rate, I consider what ever it is to be pretty top rate stuff. I'm using better nutes and have more watts of light/sq foot than my friend that it originated from. So, I can only expect mine to be a little better.

I'm really liking the NLB strain. My absolute only complaint is that the success rates of clones is pretty poor, 50-75%. That may be because I had four sprayers in my cloner that were messed up. Not clogged, just dripped instead of sprayed. That issue has been fixed. May be taking clones tonight.

When I bought the NLB's they were listed as one of Herbies strongest strains. Quick flower, compact stature, high tolerances for everything, high yield, sweet smell, Indica high (?) coupled with a little Sativa, man that's hard to hate.

 

[josh223]

I forgot to mention, I'm still on the fence about the scope. A lot of reviews I read about the one on Amazon said that it is really hard to take a picture through, that a loupe is better. I looked at the usb microscopes but reviews said they are hard to get a picture focused in. Since money is a major concern, I'm working as a college professor at the moment and my quarter ends June 7th, I think I'll go with the loupe.

 

[josh223]

Today's update: Payday!!! I also got some good news. Looks like I am going to pick up another class, possibly two in the fall. That means I can have health insurance for the first time in my life. I'm going to get the back surgery that was needed "immediately" in 2001.

More good news. I found vermiculite and perlite in 2 cubic foot bags half the price as I was ordering 18 quart bags online. Picked up a bag of each. Should get me through a couple of years worth of grows.

I made a few more purchases for the grow. 12" oscillating fan that I hung upside down in the tent. One of those little dehumidifiers that takes the crystals. The basement is fairly damp and the RH in the flowering tent can reach 60%. Those buds are getting dense and I don't want bud rot or other fungal issues. I wish I could afford one of those nice electric models, but most likely I won't need it after we move. After all, I do live in a desert. I also bought a nice looking 60X loupe with three LED's.

I really like how Sphnx has his exhaust setup. I looked at Home Depot for some Y's for ducting. No luck. I might just make some out of aluminum while I'm at work Wednesday evening.

While running errands I stopped by my friend's that runs the collective. He wasn't home but his wife was. They cut a bunch of plants last night-the ones same age as my A Trains. Just saying, really happy that I decided to wait until they are done. I had my camera with me and showed her some pics. She could not believe how my plants are looking. I thought that was a pretty cool thing as they are very seasoned growers.

That's about it. Nothing worth taking more pics of at the moment. Tomorrow or the next day I'll cut a batch of clones and post some pics at that point. I also need to make another batch of Gumby Hash. I may just document how I do it. Oh yeah, finally found some wax paper just for that purpose.

Green Dreams and have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

 

[josh223]

I meant to say that it is looking like I will be instructing a class in the fall in addition to the one I currently teach. I may be picking up a third. 3x$48 something/hour means I would finally be able to be "lower middle class". I can't wait.