Hi Budman!Welcome to my fourth grow!
I live near Lake Anna Virginia with my wife and son and started growing in September 2021 after two months of studying. For my first grow I grew four plants in DWC buckets using Advanced Nutrients. For my second I grew three plants in soil using Prescription Blend nutrients. On my third grow I'm growing four Purple Haze clones in RDWC. I'm really enjoying the RDWC system and plan to use if for my next couple of grows.
This time I plan on putting it all together. The plan is to grow one seed out as a mother then take four clones. I'll root the clones in the DWC cloner then transfer into the RDWC system for veg & flower. So this is really three different grows.
Grow# 1: Grow 1 mother plant in soil for 8 weeks then take 8-10 clones
Grow# 2: Put clones in DWC cloner for 10-14 days until they root
Grow# 3: Put the 4 best clones in the RDWC system for veg & flower (16 weeks)
All together we're talking about 26 weeks, or half a year. I wasn't really going to start this journal for another couple of months, but I'm finding that I need to journal to keep myself accountable. With noone else watching I tend to get lazy. Just starting this journal has forced me to put my plan down in writing and to start tracking feedings. I plan to post to this journal weekly with the progress of the grow.
What am I growing? MIMOSA X ORANGE PUNCH™ by Barneys Farm
- 65% Indica 35% Sativa
- THC up to 30%
- Effect: Euphoric, Happy, Uplifted
- Plant size: Medium
- Indoor Yield: up to 700 gr/m²
- Flowers: 55-60 days
- Taste/Smell: Citrus | Candy | Mandarin | Orange
- Effects: Euphoric | Happy | Uplifted
Where am I growing? I'll grow the mother & clones in 'The Playpen' then move the clones to 'The Bud Factory' for veg & flower. Both tents are in my basement.
The Playpen:
- 32x32x60 tent
- 100w generic LED
- 4" Mars Hydro variable speed extraction fan, on low
- Passive intake
- 2x6" Oscillating fan on canopy
- Mothers in soil (FFHF+FFOF), clones in DWC cloner
The Bud Factory:
- 48x48x80 Vivosun tent
- Vivosun VS4000 400W LED
- 6" AC Infinity exhaust fan w/ Controller69
- 4" AC Infinity booster fan for air intake (Filtered)
- Two 6" Oscillating fans on canopy + 12" floor fan + Oscillating tower fan
- 4 Site 13g RDWC system + 13g reservoir
Basement:
- Temps: 66-72f Central A/C and heat, radiant heater if needed
- Humidity: 40-55% small humidifier and large dehumidifier if needed
What am I growing in?
- Mother: FFHF+FFOF soil with Prescription Blend & Dynomyco
- Clones: DWC Cloner with 500ppm Clonex solution + Hydroguard pH'ed to 5.8
- RDWC: 13g RDWC buckets, 8" Netpots with clay balls, Mega Crop + bennies
- Water: Carbon-filtered well water @ 100ppm/8.1pH
Any other equipment?
- Heat mat + controller, for starting seeds
- PA Hydroponic Falloponics 4 site RWDC system + res (13g buckets)
- Milwaukee bluelab combo pH & TDS meter
- LUX meter + Photone app
- Wyze V3 Cameras
- Govee thermometer/hygrometers
- Govee water sensors
For my last two grow journals I tagged a bunch of people. Too many? Did I leave people out? This time I'm not doing that. I'll link it to my signature and post links to my other grow journals. If you're here, you found it! Thanks for following along and you're always welcome to ask questions or make suggestions. I hope some of you will find this as fun and helpful as I do. And away we go...
Hope you're doing well and having a great humpday!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!
We won't miss Linda as we have all her daughters here to make us smile.Date: 6/10/22 - Day 52 from seed
Strain - Barney's Farm Mimosa x Orange Punch - Fem Photo
Light height and reading - 100w LED 12 Inches away - 45k LUX
Medium - Fox Farms Ocean Forest + 10% perlite in 2g cloth pot
Nutrients - Prescription Blend
Water - Carbon-filtered well water (100ppm)
Grow space - 32x32x60 tent in basement
Extraction - Mars Hydro 4" Variable Speed Extraction fan
Oscillating fan x2
Weekly temperatures
I haven't really paid attention to the temps and humidity in this tent, as you can see. It's a bit dryer than optimal, but nothing that's causing undue stress.
I waited three days to water instead of two and found a new low weight for Linda. I guess the soil that I initially weighed had more moisture than I'd realized. The new low weight is 2450g (about 5.4 pounds, down from 2700kg about 6 pounds). This is for a 2g cloth pot with my happy frog / perlite mixture. The high weight is still about 5000g ( about 11 lb), so about double. That's consistent with the 4" pot and the 2g pot, both are about double the weight when saturated. I'll bet it's the same in any size pot with this soil mixture. Anyway, I reset the formula on the spreadsheet which recalculated all previous cells. And I'm waiting three days to water now instead of two. She'll be dry when I take clones.
Linda responded to LST really well. I really haven't had to do much, just pulled the 8 mains down level with the middle and the buds in the middle took off. I can only hope that her clones train as easily, I'd love to have four plants just like her.
Unfortunately, this may be the last time you'll see Linda. The cloner's ready and I'm taking clones tomorrow. On Sunday my brother's coming over to take her to his house for flower. I'm glad I found a good home for her. He'd better uppot and flip her soon, though. She's going fill up his 32x32 tent quickly.
I'm all about the clones now. Here's some lessons I learned from my last cloning attempt:
- They don't need a lot of light, but they should have at least 18 hrs of consistent light. Last time I used the aerogarden spill-over light; it worked, but they rooted unevenly and looked close to flowering with only 16 hours light. This time I plan on giving them 20 hours of light a day, and I'm shooting for 800-1000 lux of consistent light.
- Last time I kept the dome on the cloner for almost three weeks. Everything was wet, a couple of the clones molded, and some of the tops rotted. This time I'll use the dome for the first few days, then take it off and see how they do. If I see any moisture on the clones at any point, I'll remove the dome until they dry.
- Thanks to a post I read (I think is was posted by @HashGirl ): Instead of cutting the leaves, I'll try removing all except the top three leaves. Based on the study clones with only three uncut leaves rooted the best. I'll probably do one or two the same way I did the last ones (cut leaves) as my own experiment.
Last time I took all the clones in the basement and put them in a cup of water. Then I took them upstairs to trim, dip in cloning gel, and put in the cloner. This time everything will be in the basement, so when I cut the clone it'll go directly into the cloner.
Equipment
Cloner: 24 site DWC cloner with dome. Small air pump with air manifold on bottom of cloner.
Tent/Light: The cloner will be in a corner of a 2x4 tent with a Viparspectra P2500. I may need to partially obscure to get 800-1000 lux
Nutrients: 3.5g Clonex solution @ 500ppm adjusted to 5.8pH. 6ml Hydroguard.
Other: Heat mat under cloner with ambient temperatures around 72f & 50RH.
Other: Clonex cloning gel (the thick purple stuff)
Process
- Locate branches to remove. I'll take most from the bottom of the plant as they contain more rooting hormones. I'll also take any branches growing from the bottom of other branches, as these need to go before flower anyways.
- Cut branch at a 60 degree angle with sharp blade.
- Dip the cut end in rooting gel.
- Strip all leaves except for the top three leaves.
- For a couple, I'll strip all leaves on bottom 2/3 and cut remaining leaves in 1/2
- Put a cloner collar on the branch, leaving about 2" under the collar.
- Put the cutting in the cloner.
The cloner's full of clonex and warming up on the heat mat. By tomorrow it should be up to 74-76f. I'll take one more pH reading and make any adjustments needed, then fill it up with clones. I'll take plenty of pictures and post them next week. Have a great weekend, stay safe and stay hydrated!
how are you doing my friend?
Hope you are having a good morning @Bill284 I have my son's graduation party this weekend so lots to do. Oh and try to take some clones todayWe won't miss Linda as we have all her daughters here to make us smile.
Hey Mucker
Gardens look fabulous as usual.
I envy your spread sheet.
Something about it always makes me smile while reading it, weird right.
I'm funny that way.
I loved recording my grows.
I wasn't quite as in depth as you.
Didn't weigh anything.
In coco it's just feed feed feed.
But the nutrients the growth the major parameters, all vital factors.
Took me a couple years doing it to finally get things right.
But it's always nice to see what works and what doesn't.
Adjust and do another run.
Then read and adjust and go again.
So important I had that record of everything.
Otherwise your rudderless.
Unless you have 100 % memory recall.
All those log books are gone btw, 5 years perpetual runs.
Everything I did in all 5 rooms.
They dumped them after the fire.
And I've had too many concussions to remember anything.
So putting everything here is the smart thing to do.
In 20 years you can still look back at everything.
Ok g2g , talk soon.
Stay safe
Bill
Welcome @HPS Only glad to have you along. We're really just getting startedAlot to read, but finally I'm here, lol
Nice looking mother!
I wanna see how this journey goes
subbed
Thanks @Gandalfthewhite She really is a pretty plant. I toyed with the idea of keeping her and trying to grow her outside, but I'm not sure I could watch the bugs eat herLinda is looking beautiful
So, I'll be letting her go soon. Hopefully, I'll grow four more just like her!
Welcome @HPS Only glad to have you along. We're really just getting started
Great question, and one which I'm still learning the answer. The first time I took clones (in soil) I treated them like seedlings. They yellowed quickly, as they don't have the reserves of a seedling. Due to their size they don't need as much as the mother either.
Love Lindas structure6/11/22 (Day 60 from seed for Linda) - Clone Day!
Equipment
Cloner: 24 site DWC cloner with dome. Small air pump with air manifold on bottom of cloner.
Tent/Light: The cloner will be in a corner of a 2x4 tent with a Viparspectra P2500 at ~1000 LUX
Nutrients: 3.5g Clonex solution @ 500ppm adjusted to 5.8pH. 6ml Hydroguard.
Other: Heat mat under cloner with ambient temperatures around 72f & 50RH.
Other: Clonex cloning gel (the thick purple stuff)
Mother (Linda)
Strain: Barney's Farm Mimosa x Orange Punch - Fem Photo
Medium: Fox Farms Ocean Forest + 10% perlite in 2g cloth pot
Nutrients: Prescription Blend
Cloning Process
Linda was on her third day after watering so she was pretty dry when I took the clones. She was watered right after taking the clones, which is why she's drooping in the after picture. Here's her full tracker, from seed to clone:
- Locate branches to remove. I'll take most from the bottom of the plant as they're said to contain more rooting hormones. I'll also take any branches growing from the bottom of other branches (suckers), as these need to go before flower anyways.
- Cut the branch at a 60 degree angle with sharp blade (bonzai scissors).
- If long enough, I'll re-cut the branch right below the bottom node.
- Dip the cut end in rooting gel ASAP. I try to do this as quickly as possible to keep the cutting from sucking in air.
- Strip all leaves except for the top three leaves.
- For a couple, I'll strip all leaves on bottom 2/3 and cut remaining leaves in 1/2
- Put a cloner collar on the branch, leaving about 2" under the collar
- Put the cutting in the cloner
Cloning day went very well. On Saturday (6/11) I took 24 clones from Linda. Actually I took a few more than that, but I only kept the best 24. I focused on the bottom of the plant, removing buds that wouldn't make it to the canopy. It was really the same cleanup I'd give her if I was ready to flip to flower. I was able to get plenty of cuttings without really taking anything from the canopy.
Linda Before
The Cloning Process
One trick to the cloning collars: Use one hand to open/spread the cloning collar, then it's easy to put the cutting in the collar.
Linda After
My brother was supposed to come pick up Linda but he had a few things to do to his tent before he's ready for her. So, she's still in the playpen and taking up most of the tent. For now, the cloner is in my son's auto tent (his first grow). Once I get rid of Linda the cloner will go in the playpen. Here's the cloner all filled up on the first day.
I'll be monitoring the clones to make sure they don't get too wet and checking the pH periodically. I expect roots in 10-14 days, so by 6/24. So I'll check back in here in a couple of weeks. Until then, Happy Growing!
I think during the rooting, first ~10 days they wouldn't like anything else than a good rooting hormone which contain enough P, just a little N in nitrates (both promote lateral root growth) and shit loads of Auxins.
Thanks @Verbalist Me too. For a FIM I love the way she spread out. We'll see if I can duplicate it on the clones.Love Lindas structure
Thanks for the info. Until they're fully rooted they're in a 500ppm clonex solution. After they're rooted I put them in a 250+ppm nutrient solution, usually after 14-20 days.I think during the rooting, first ~10 days they wouldn't like anything else than a good rooting hormone which contain enough P, just a little N in nitrates (both promote lateral root growth) and shit loads of Auxins.
I've understood unrooted clones does not really need micros, until the root system has grown to such an extent that the plant begins to veg again.
Micros are mostly in my understanding needed for photosynthesis and drive the plants enzyme system.
Just a speculation, don't know whats the exact science but I'd think especially in the cloners any excess micro ions could possibly accumulate in the solution and make Phosphrus less available. As it is known that micros/metals have an antagonism with P at lower pH.
Good stuff outta here Budman
Have a nice day! - V
