New Grower: First Journal For Sativa Dominant Jack Herer Hybrid

[Dan Dark]

I am trying to set up for repeated grows with a harvest every other month or so. I started a few months ago before I was fortunate enough to find these forums - you guys are amazing! So much of what I learned has come from the growers on here who have reached out or replied to my posts with helpful suggestions, grow tips and encouragement - I cannot thank you all enough - I feel like I have found my tribe! Since the grow journals were so useful to me I thought I'd attempt to pay it forward by writing one of my own - from one new grower to anyone who cares.

Since I have already started my growing plans I'll lay out the current state of my crops and where I hope to go with them. I'd LOVE to hear from anyone with ideas or to point out what I can do better!

My current crops and grow status is:

1. 2 Sativia dominant Jack Herrar bought from seed bank in Amsterdam. - both plants in flower starting Oct. 8, 2020. Harvest target date Dec 3-10. (Photos #1 & #2). I initially had a LOT of trouble getting seeds to work. My first attempt failed completely and the second yielded only 3 of 6 seeds sprouted. I sprouted them in soil, outside which may have been a contributor.
2. 1 Sativa dominant Agan Kush bought from Seed Bank Amsterdam. Put into flower October 15, 2020. Harvest target date Dec 10-17. (Photo #3)
3. 6 clones in veg. (Photo #4), cloned Oct. 15, 2020, amazing early stage growth as soon as I repotted at week #2.
4. 9 clones in hold. (Photo #5). I clone plants about every other month from mothers headed into the flower tent. I take the clones and do a last trim 7-12 days before I put them into the flower room.

My physical setup is:

1. Grow media, any good soil mixed with 25% vermiculite. 6" pots with soil mix and rockwool grow cubes to help stabilize my clones until they root.
2. 2 each - 24x48x60 Vivosun Indoor grow tents.
   • One for clones - with a 1000W Mars Hydro as a light source (Photo #6), and a heat mat that fits the entire bottom of the tent to spur root growth. Vivosun 8" fans in each tent to keep them temps down. Even though LED Lights run cooler my Mars Hydro in particular can raise the temp when lit to 80 degrees so I have to watch temps throughout the hot days.
   • One for veg growth - with a bloomspect 1500 w (Photo #7) - Vivosun 8" fan.
3. 1 grow room approximately 12x5X10 with mylar wall coverings, a trailer park humidity control (Photo #8) that amazingly keeps at at about 60% relative humidity! The grow room has 2 CannLights 1000W and one Vander 2000W - for three plants I know it is overkill but my harvest will approximately double each time until I cal truly fill the room. I also have several fans that feed this room fresh air, and help control humidity because the trailer humidifier I have works amazingly well.
4. For humidity control I use a small humidifier in the clone tent and the trailer setup in the grow room. I find the veg tent stays at about 40% relative humidity just from having a lot of plants in the small area.

My nutrient mix is:

1. For clones I pot in 4 or 6 inch pots so they can grow for 3-4 weeks and establish good root growth. I use Clonex along with Rockwool Grow Cubes and take clones from plants in Veg that are headed to flower in 10 days to two weeks. That way I can keep a harvest rotating every other month or so. I use only straight water with about a half does of General Organics BioRoot Booster for the first two weeks or until the clones recover and show some growth. At growth (once they are established) I begin to use minimal amounts of Fox Farm nutrients (I bought the varietal 3 pack from amazon).
2. For Veg I repot the clones in minimum 5 gal cloth bags (eight fits perfectly into my 24x48 grow tents). My next crop I think I'll go to 10 Gal bags though the 5Gal seem adequate. I use the Fox Farms Grow Big and Big Bloom even during Veg and get a nice green canopy. I use nutrients every other water and ALWAYS check moisture to make sure I am not over watering because everything I read says that is the biggest mistake first time growers make.
3. At Flower I change to Fox Farms Big Bloom and every third watering I add Hawaiian Bud Flower Formula that is super high in Phosphate 5-50-17. The plants on photos #1-#3 show the early results, this is at 4 weeks into flower for the two larger plants (the Jack's) and three weeks for my smaller plant (the Afghan Kush).

My routine is:

1. Daily: Check moisture levels and water as appropriate, refill humidity devices, check and log temperature and humidity in each grow area (twice daily), set heater in the grow room to 80 degrees (It is timed to go off at night lowering the grow room temp to ~70 degrees), and look for bugs, yellowing or other items that might require crisis intervention.
2. Weekly: clean and mop floors in all grow areas, check for pests, leakages and fan controls.
3. Every 3-4 weeks, take everything out of the tent or room and clean, clean, clean.
4. Every 6-8 weeks, clone new crop from veg girls ready to go into flower in 10-14 days.
5. Crop rotation. Every time I harvest flowers I move my veg girls into flower and my repotted clones (now 4-6 weeks into their new 5-10 gal fabric pots) into the veg room. I started with three plants grown from seed and now have 6 clones in veg and 9 clones in 6" plastic pots ready to repot in about 2 weeks.

 

[Dan Dark]

One other thing I should note about what I have learned here. I was lucky! I wish I had started here but I am so grateful to have found I made few mistakes - so far! My good luck - and the guidance I get here - might just get me to a great first harvest.

 

[Dan Dark]

Okay, today I changed out the lights in my flower room - about 4 weeks into flower. I was worried that the top of the plants were developing significantly faster - I know that is normal but figured more light might help. I replaced two 1000W Cannalights with two 2000W Philzon's. The light is definitely MUCH better - my luminometer shows double the light at every level of the plant! The downside is the Philzon lights seem to run a LOT hotter - taking my daytime room temps up over 80 degrees. Since I had a heater to get to that before I am not worries - nighttime (lights out) temps run between 68 and 74 degrees.

I also changed the lights in my Veg Tent, using the two 100W Cannalights. I have to say I REALLY li these lights - 1000W gives off a lot of light in a tent, especially with two but they do not run hot. The tent stays at about 74 degrees.

Last, I repotted by clones at the three week mark I like to put them into 6" pots at clone and man they were FULL of roots! I repotted the next eight in line to 5 gal pots they will live in until I harvest (just one repot per crop).

This is turning out to be a wonderful perpetual grow. I started with three plants from seed, two Sativa dominant Jack Herrar and one Sativa dominant Afghan.

I found two new seeds that are labels Durban Poison, I've had for years. They both sprouted! Now if I can just find some more Indica dominant hybrids I am in heaven.

If you are setting up a perpetual grow here's my schedule:

I started with five seeds, all Sativa dominant, hybrid strains. Three sprouted as noted above. These three plants were put into the flower room on Oct 8, 2020. I expect to harvest them between Dec 3 ands Dec 15th. At the 4+ week mark you can see they are sticky icky, almost frosted looking. The pistils are just starting to turn brown/red and the cola's look like they will be HUGE (photos). I have been feeding them Grow More Hawaiian Bud 5-50-17. I have the lights now on a 12/12 schedule but plan to move them to a 8/16 schedule after I flush at the end of November (after which they'll get no additives). I have also heard that cutting the plant can fool it into thinking it is being eaten - not sure I believe it but any opinions are helpful. I'm also vitally interested in anyone's ideas about boosting flower and terpene production at this point as these look truly spectacular at almost 5 weeks.

I took 2 clones from each plant (6 clones total) at about 8 weeks into Veg and put the original seed plants into flower at 11 weeks (Oct. 8). Those original 6 clones have been in veg since the three week or so mark - in their own tent. They grew amazingly fast and VERY bushy in just a few weeks. These plants will be put into the flower room sometime between Dec 3 and Dec 15th, whenever I harvest. You can tell which are my veg girls because they are so bushy!

I took 10 clones Out of my Veg tent plants about 3 weeks ago, when they were 10 weeks old. (Note; it may be weird but every clone I have taken has done well, I have not lost a single plant!). I repotted those today into 5 gal pots, removed the heating mat and started a new veg tent for them to grow into until I move everything from veg to flow and from repotted clones to the veg tent in my December window. When I move the 6 plants now in veg I will clone 9-10 more plants and restart the clone tent. moving my veg girls into a real veg tent with a lot of light. I start to fertilize then only after repotting. Question: is anyone aware of possible issues of repeated cloning of clones> I'm thinking I'll keep a few of my favorites in permanent veg state for a year or so to ensure I do not screw up my genetics.

I have had a lot of challenges setting up a perpetual grow and I hope this helps anyone wishing to start a routine constant grow. I started with realizing that effective cloning is essential. IMO, it removes as much as 4 weeks of grow time in veg - taking my start times from 12-13 weeks to about 8-9 weeks of veg.

I found I needed three different grow areas because I have small spaces (both of my grow tents are 24x48x60). I use one 24x48x60 tent for my clones and early veg (they spend about 5-6 weeks in this tent staring from the date they are cloned. They are repotted at 3 weeks into minimum 5 gal fabric bags. Once in the veg tent they spend about 3-4 additional veg weeks before heading into flower.

My schedule is driven by the terpene production and pistil development so it has a window on the harvest and move side I fill with added or shortened veg time.

I am estimating that this method will yield an average harvest for 6 -8 plants of about 300-400g per plant. I'll have a better estimate after my first harvest in December and any guidance or ideas about this would be very useful to me.

 

[Dan Dark]

Now with a few months under my belt I have arrived at a place I have some real experience with lights and lighting. I wanted to do this on a budget so I started with Amazon specials for two CannaLights at an advertised 1000W. These lights were my first, I paid about $90 each and the first two sprouted my seeds and helped grow my first set up clones. As soon as I had a flowering room I upgraded to a Vander 2000w ($120) with two Philzon 2000W ($189 each). Last I bought a 1000W Mars Hydro. Here's my observations about the lights so far. I also added a Bloomspect 1500W that also lives in my flowering room with my slightly more powerful lights.

1. Cannalights 1000W: These lights introduced me to the bloom switch which increases the amount of red light during flowering. I have found it's best just to leave the red light switch on all the time. I now use these lights inside my 24x48x60 grow tent and I have been surprised how cool they run. They really are perfect lights for small grow spaces and having two inside a small tent has allowed me to grow super healthy and bushy girls from clones. They daisy chain (I was surprised the Philzon did not have this feature as it's REALLY helpful when using a lot of lighting). This light is also fairly quiet, on the same level as any led light with high speed fans, but the quantum board and smd chips don't put off nearly as much heat as the older models and cover a wider area rather than focus the light so you get more coverage at closer range. Amazing if you're just starting out growing or have many plants that need bright light in a small package.
2. Philzon 2000W: These two lights were my latest addition and I have to say if my eyes are any indication they are brighter than anything else I have ever used. The light level is very high - I have over lit the room with three 2000W lights so I see the Philzon immediately next to another 2000W light which I think could be comparable but the Philzon's are MUCH brighter. The one issue I have had is these lights run hotter, raising the temp in my flowering room from low 70's to mid to high 80's when the lights are on. I even had to add a third fan in the doorway to control daytime temps. On the plus side they are not so hot they won't work and the added benefit of having a temperature swing in the room when lights are on (hotter) or off (cooler). I do not think these lights would work well inside a tent - any tent -- with their heat output but as a room light they added a significant amount of light on my budget. DO NOT BE FOOLED by the 3-5 watt diodes on other Manufactures brands, Phlizon uses high power diodes (10 watt diodes) in combinations to reach a full light spectrum at a specified wattage and I suspect that is why it runs hotter. IMO, Do Not Hesitate, your plants will love the light and flourish well. The warranty surpasses most manufactures products and repair/replacement process is as easy as pie.
3. Vander 2000W sits right next to the Philzon's noted above. It is not as bright but it is also not nearly as hot. It's a good mix with a hotter, brighter cousin. It is bright, runs cool and would work in a small tent. Given the choice and price this is a good option for a grow room that needs a lot of light but cooler run temps and less noise. It came with a humidity and temp monitor as well as some clips and pulleys which was a nice addition. They put out less wattage 4-5w versus 10w per diode put out by the Philzon's.
4. Bloomspect 1500W. This is actually my favorite light. It is super bright, runs both cool and quiet. I appreciate the smaller form factor in my over-lit room. I use to to "clean up" those branches that don't rise high enough to drink lots of the powerful lights so I drop this one down on the back edge of my room giving some much needed light to these branches. I suspect I will have added 40-60G's to my harvest and the nugs from lower branches I haven't seen indoors. One drawback is the form factor makes it best for smaller grow areas I would guess 3x3 max. It works well in both my flower room and my clone and grow tents.

What I wish I had known as a new grower. LOTS of people want to grow. That means there is always lights and grow supplies n sale in your local paper. I bought some of my lights for substantial discounts (e.g. 2000 w brand new in the box Philzon for $65!). BEFORE you get on Amazon get on line and look for individual sellers who didn't think through the complexities, space and time required to grow cannabis - you WILL find a lot of deals. I know 420 Magazine needs sponsors to survive and I love all their products but a reseller forum would be so welcomed!

If you have specific questions about any of these lights, I have been using them now for about 4-5 months and will do my best to give real world answers!

 

[Dan Dark]

Day 41 of a targeted 56 day flowing period. I'd be interested in guidance as Sativa's can take as long as 16 weeks to fully flower. These look to me to be on track for 56-63 days (8-9 weeks). The pistils are already turning re?d/brown even on lower branches and the terpenes are sticky icky! I'm keeping watch - has anyone had experience with sativa's taking a longer flowering time?

Photos are today at day 41.

41 of a targeted 56 day flowing period. I'd be interested in guidance as Sativa's can take as long as 16 weeks to fully flower. These look to me to be on track for 56-63 days (8-9 weeks). The pistils are already turning re?d/brown even on lower branches and the terpenes are sticky icky! I'm keeping watch - has anyone had experience with sativa's taking a longer flowering time?

Photos are today at day 41.

 

[Dan Dark]

Now at day 40 of my hoped for 56 da y flowering period. I think I may go longer as the plants are really beginning to fill out! A few learnings for new growers:

1. Check your Ph often. Today I did for the first time in weeks and they were all quite high - over 7. The Ph affects the nutrient uptake and I was noticing some yellowing on my clones but everybody was higher than it should have been.
2. Be patient! Damn it is killing me to see such beautiful buds developing and not be able to sample. I have seen people saying to take one a week or so just to see - but I know it is too early! One indicator (I am told but have not personally experienced it yet) is for the lower leaves to begin to yellow. So far at day 40, all leaves look vibrant, very green, and healthy.
3. Nutrients every OTHER watering. It is possible to hurt your girls by over feeding.
4. Temp cycle your flower room to highs during the day (I get to mid 80's) and lower at night (I get to about 70 degrees). I started this after flowering began and it seems to work well.
5. Use the terpenes to decide what is ripe and what is not. Your pistils will turn brown/red on top weeks before the lower colas get any changes.
6. Today I adjusted the Ph across the clones tent, veg tent, and flower room back down to 6.
7. Clones: trimmed fan leaves and checked roots. I just repotted them at week 4 into 5 gal fabric bags - wait until they have good roots - even a little root bound is okay!
8. Veg Tent: Hard trimmed fan leaves (they look VERY bushy) and I wanted to prepare to take one more set twelve clones when I move them into flower. From 6 plants I removed about an ounce of leaves and lower stem growth. I have 6 plants from clones - now about 6-7 weeks into Veg. When I harvest Veg moves into Flower (6 plants next grow); and my clones (now at 2 months) will move into the Veg Tent for 6 more weeks.
9. Flowers. I made the mistake of putting two plants into flower (the same varietal, Jack Herrer) and one about 2 weeks later. From now on I will plan to flower all my ready plants at the same time to minimize handling and harvest chores. I also think I may have underestimated the time for flowering at 56 days (8 weeks). One plant might be ready but #2 is behind at least a week. I am not sure if light placement, nutrients or some other reason for this. It also has fewer colas developing. During flowering I kind of hold my breath, trim only minimally if at all. I also try to keep them a little wet where in clone growth and veg I allow the plants to get fairly dry between watering. I do my best to not touch anything and adjust them minimally.
10. My plan at Harvest? (COMMENTS PLEASE!) is to flush Thanksgiving weekend (this would put the harvest date between 58 days Dec 5th and 65 days Dec 12th). I have read that you get better cola production by cutting a plant halfway at the main stem and turning all lights off - total darkness for 24 hours prior to harvest. ANY OPINIONS are welcomed!
11. Today's pics attached - anyone want to be betting when I should harvest? Day 56-70 are all on the table at this point and a more experienced eye would be helpful!
    I will wait a few weeks before more..
    

 

[Scottylikesbud]

Lovely plants,
Maybe invest in a hand held 60x micro scope to view trichomes.
Or a digital one.

 

[Dan Dark]

Lovely plants,
Maybe invest in a hand held 60x micro scope to view trichomes.
Or a digital one.

Thanks it was one of the first things I bought. Watching closely through my first real look at the flowering process with y own eyes and it is wild! I have pistils on top turning red and brown while still white on lower flowers. The trichomes seem to be bursting as I get closer to target harvest but I still think I may be too early. I had planned 56 days but it could go another week - or even two. I wish I could get good pics of the trichomes - any suggestions?

 

[Dan Dark]

November 17.
Today I harvested 8 clones from four health plants, all Sativa dominant hybrids. I have placed them into my clone tent on top of the 5 gal repotted clones. I did this now because I hope to harvest my flowering girls in a few weeks and wanted my veg girls to have some recovery time before putting them into the flower room.

My cloning process is:

1. prepare everything beforehand and check Ph. For some reason my water here is more basic and I routinely have to use Ph down. I am finding that apple cider vinegar works well.
2. I choose the healthiest plants with good growth and generally take a few of the top growth with thicker stems. I have found this gives the clones more support and they grow faster as soon as they begin to take root.
3. I take a cutting that is as long as I can get - at least 6-8 inches. I then cut it at a 45 degree angle scrap the stem a bit and dip in a cloning gel - I use Clonex. I find that the bigger the stem the faster they root and begin to grow - at least so far.
4. I then put each one into a 6" pot with 1/2 soil and 1/2 perlite. I also use rockwool cubes to hold them in place. Check the Ph again even after watering to get it down.
5. Each clone is then placed on tope of their sisters that I took over a month ago. They've been repotted when rootbound into 5 gal pots but they are still small enough to host a little 6" pot. This keeps the humidity higher since they are sitting in soil that is moist every other or every third day. Humidity is easy to keep at >60% even in my dry climate.

After Dec. 3rd, and depending on harvest date I will move the girls I cloned today from their veg tent into the flower room. That way they'll have a few more weeks to recover from the aggressive topping to get the clones. I figure this way they get 3-5 weeks of regrowth as they begin the flowering process.

At that point I'll move my next set of 10 clones into the veg tent where they will live for 8-9 weeks as their sisters flower out. My clones will stay in 6" pots until I can see strong root development. I put them right into 5 gal pots and they start growing fast within a week or so. In the past I moved them too soon and could see a definite difference in how fast root growth will propel a plant once it gets into the right sized pot.

 

[Scottylikesbud]

There are clip on micro scopes for cheap.
they are hard to get good photos by hand though.
It’s a challenge trying to keep the phone and bud being inspected still to get a clear photo.
But possible, with some effort.
I also have a female that is about the same age as yours in flower.
She is flowering a bit slow as well,
But has recently started adding some heft to herself
My first plant flowered for like 14 weeks..
But I cut the top half of at 11 weeks in I think?
And the bottom half grew out a bit more.
I’ve been harvesting my plants a lil on the early side this year. Mostly clear and cloudy to maybe 5-10% dark.
I want to try wait for some to get a bit more dark but I am to impatient
I haven’t flushed a plant before harvest yet, so I have nothing to add there.

 

[Dan Dark]

There are clip on micro scopes for cheap.
they are hard to get good photos by hand though.
It’s a challenge trying to keep the phone and bud being inspected still to get a clear photo.
But possible, with some effort.
I also have a female that is about the same age as yours in flower.
She is flowering a bit slow as well,
But has recently started adding some heft to herself
My first plant flowered for like 14 weeks..
But I cut the top half of at 11 weeks in I think?
And the bottom half grew out a bit more.
I’ve been harvesting my plants a lil on the early side this year. Mostly clear and cloudy to maybe 5-10% dark.
I want to try wait for some to get a bit more dark but I am to impatient
I haven’t flushed a plant before harvest yet, so I have nothing to add there.

Wow, I had not considered harvesting a partial plant. Given the low growth I have is pretty robust that might make sense for me. I am also learning patience, fortunately I had stored some nice buds so I am not in need or these girls would be toasted and roasted already!

I have read that flushing doesn't do anything and will not work. Given the body of work I have read I am coming down on the side of switching to water alone the last 7-10 days. The scientific evidence that you can't flush the nutrients is pretty compelling. I do plan now to cut the stalk to get them to plump a but at the last 56 hours. I'm also going to do a 24-36 hour dark period just at harvest.

One consideration is I am seeing faster growth and development as the days come and go. It started very slow, I still have one three weeks behind and it looks like an infant next to her sister. What I saw was at about week 5 they started to really flourish and the colas filled out in about a week. Now I just want to make them more hefty and plump!

Sorry for the burple - from today, just now

 

[Scottylikesbud]

Yes ive read some papers on flushing. Seems it doesn’t make a difference one way or the other. Just preference.
Those pistols still look very white so she is still fattening up like a thanksgiving turkey.
Loving the way these plants turned out
There’s that one monster cola I keep staring at lol.
Ones patients is truly put to the test when
Cannabis finally reaches late flower XD.

 

[Dan Dark]

I was able to get some okay photos of the buds I am seeing. To me there is still a lot of white pistils with about 60% turning colors up on top. They are very sticky and my jewelers loop is good to pick up maturity at that level. I had hoped for 8 weeks but it is looking to me more like 10!

 

[Moto258]

I am trying to set up for repeated grows with a harvest every other month or so. I started a few months ago before I was fortunate enough to find these forums - you guys are amazing! So much of what I learned has come from the growers on here who have reached out or replied to my posts with helpful suggestions, grow tips and encouragement - I cannot thank you all enough - I feel like I have found my tribe! Since the grow journals were so useful to me I thought I'd attempt to pay it forward by writing one of my own - from one new grower to anyone who cares.

Since I have already started my growing plans I'll lay out the current state of my crops and where I hope to go with them. I'd LOVE to hear from anyone with ideas or to point out what I can do better!

My current crops and grow status is:

1. 2 Sativia dominant Jack Herrar bought from seed bank in Amsterdam. - both plants in flower starting Oct. 8, 2020. Harvest target date Dec 3-10. (Photos #1 & #2). I initially had a LOT of trouble getting seeds to work. My first attempt failed completely and the second yielded only 3 of 6 seeds sprouted. I sprouted them in soil, outside which may have been a contributor.
2. 1 Sativa dominant Agan Kush bought from Seed Bank Amsterdam. Put into flower October 15, 2020. Harvest target date Dec 10-17. (Photo #3)
3. 6 clones in veg. (Photo #4), cloned Oct. 15, 2020, amazing early stage growth as soon as I repotted at week #2.
4. 9 clones in hold. (Photo #5). I clone plants about every other month from mothers headed into the flower tent. I take the clones and do a last trim 7-12 days before I put them into the flower room.

My physical setup is:

1. Grow media, any good soil mixed with 25% vermiculite. 6" pots with soil mix and rockwool grow cubes to help stabilize my clones until they root.
2. 2 each - 24x48x60 Vivosun Indoor grow tents.
   • One for clones - with a 1000W Mars Hydro as a light source (Photo #6), and a heat mat that fits the entire bottom of the tent to spur root growth. Vivosun 8" fans in each tent to keep them temps down. Even though LED Lights run cooler my Mars Hydro in particular can raise the temp when lit to 80 degrees so I have to watch temps throughout the hot days.
   • One for veg growth - with a bloomspect 1500 w (Photo #7) - Vivosun 8" fan.
3. 1 grow room approximately 12x5X10 with mylar wall coverings, a trailer park humidity control (Photo #8) that amazingly keeps at at about 60% relative humidity! The grow room has 2 CannLights 1000W and one Vander 2000W - for three plants I know it is overkill but my harvest will approximately double each time until I cal truly fill the room. I also have several fans that feed this room fresh air, and help control humidity because the trailer humidifier I have works amazingly well.
4. For humidity control I use a small humidifier in the clone tent and the trailer setup in the grow room. I find the veg tent stays at about 40% relative humidity just from having a lot of plants in the small area.

My nutrient mix is:

1. For clones I pot in 4 or 6 inch pots so they can grow for 3-4 weeks and establish good root growth. I use Clonex along with Rockwool Grow Cubes and take clones from plants in Veg that are headed to flower in 10 days to two weeks. That way I can keep a harvest rotating every other month or so. I use only straight water with about a half does of General Organics BioRoot Booster for the first two weeks or until the clones recover and show some growth. At growth (once they are established) I begin to use minimal amounts of Fox Farm nutrients (I bought the varietal 3 pack from amazon).
2. For Veg I repot the clones in minimum 5 gal cloth bags (eight fits perfectly into my 24x48 grow tents). My next crop I think I'll go to 10 Gal bags though the 5Gal seem adequate. I use the Fox Farms Grow Big and Big Bloom even during Veg and get a nice green canopy. I use nutrients every other water and ALWAYS check moisture to make sure I am not over watering because everything I read says that is the biggest mistake first time growers make.
3. At Flower I change to Fox Farms Big Bloom and every third watering I add Hawaiian Bud Flower Formula that is super high in Phosphate 5-50-17. The plants on photos #1-#3 show the early results, this is at 4 weeks into flower for the two larger plants (the Jack's) and three weeks for my smaller plant (the Afghan Kush).

My routine is:

1. Daily: Check moisture levels and water as appropriate, refill humidity devices, check and log temperature and humidity in each grow area (twice daily), set heater in the grow room to 80 degrees (It is timed to go off at night lowering the grow room temp to ~70 degrees), and look for bugs, yellowing or other items that might require crisis intervention.
2. Weekly: clean and mop floors in all grow areas, check for pests, leakages and fan controls.
3. Every 3-4 weeks, take everything out of the tent or room and clean, clean, clean.
4. Every 6-8 weeks, clone new crop from veg girls ready to go into flower in 10-14 days.
5. Crop rotation. Every time I harvest flowers I move my veg girls into flower and my repotted clones (now 4-6 weeks into their new 5-10 gal fabric pots) into the veg room. I started with three plants grown from seed and now have 6 clones in veg and 9 clones in 6" plastic pots ready to repot in about 2 weeks.

Hey buddy not sure how much you like your ph up and down by general hydro, but I use this stuff called cyco and this stuff is by far easier to use in my opinion. This cyco stuff you only need drops to change the ph in your nutrient mix instead of tsp and tbls to change it up. Just figured I’d throw that your way because I too was using general until the hydro guys ran out and couldn’t get any more due to the covid crap for weeks so that’s why switched to cyco and believe me my friend I’m soooo happy that I did because for the same price as general cyco will last you years if your not a weekly harvest cycle lmao!! I’ve still been using the same bottles from when I bought them months back and I would have gone threw 4-5 bottles of general by now. Or at least ph up since that’s basically all I normally need if I need to get my stuff on point. I’m not by any means Sponsored by cyco either I’m just a proud grower to have found them in this crises haha! Oooh let me add in that it looks like you might be using a couple of nutrients I too use in my set ups like fox farm. I use them as well just not all the stuff because I also feed my soils and amend with microbes. But just wanted to add that in in case you wanted to talk about ingredients sometime in the future!!

 

[Dan Dark]

Hey buddy not sure how much you like your ph up and down by general hydro, but I use this stuff called cyco and this stuff is by far easier to use in my opinion. This cyco stuff you only need drops to change the ph in your nutrient mix instead of tsp and tbls to change it up. Just figured I’d throw that your way because I too was using general until the hydro guys ran out and couldn’t get any more due to the covid crap for weeks so that’s why switched to cyco and believe me my friend I’m soooo happy that I did because for the same price as general cyco will last you years if your not a weekly harvest cycle lmao!! I’ve still been using the same bottles from when I bought them months back and I would have gone threw 4-5 bottles of general by now. Or at least ph up since that’s basically all I normally need if I need to get my stuff on point. I’m not by any means Sponsored by cyco either I’m just a proud grower to have found them in this crises haha! Oooh let me add in that it looks like you might be using a couple of nutrients I too use in my set ups like fox farm. I use them as well just not all the stuff because I also feed my soils and amend with microbes. But just wanted to add that in in case you wanted to talk about ingredients sometime in the future!!

Thank you! I just bought a gallon of another product but this would be a better solution for sure. I'll be using this in the future. Water here is almost a perfect 7. Worse, if you do not watch it carefully, it can get up to almost 8 in a blink. I've solved a small part of the problem by adjusting everything before a plant lives in it. I allow it to rest a few days and get the Ph at 6 before repotting.

As a new grower this was something I missed. I mean, it's just water, right? My first set of clones started turning yellow which helped clue me in - fortunately in time to save all of them.

 

[Sangmang]

Day 41 of a targeted 56 day flowing period. I'd be interested in guidance as Sativa's can take as long as 16 weeks to fully flower. These look to me to be on track for 56-63 days (8-9 weeks). The pistils are already turning re?d/brown even on lower branches and the terpenes are sticky icky! I'm keeping watch - has anyone had experience with sativa's taking a longer flowering time?

Photos are today at day 41.

41 of a targeted 56 day flowing period. I'd be interested in guidance as Sativa's can take as long as 16 weeks to fully flower. These look to me to be on track for 56-63 days (8-9 weeks). The pistils are already turning re?d/brown even on lower branches and the terpenes are sticky icky! I'm keeping watch - has anyone had experience with sativa's taking a longer flowering time?

Photos are today at day 41.

Damn I'm really wondering if mine are actually Jack Herer haha these look so different

 

[Sangmang]

Great journal though, very thorough. Following.

 

[Moto258]

Thank you! I just bought a gallon of another product but this would be a better solution for sure. I'll be using this in the future. Water here is almost a perfect 7. Worse, if you do not watch it carefully, it can get up to almost 8 in a blink. I've solved a small part of the problem by adjusting everything before a plant lives in it. I allow it to rest a few days and get the Ph at 6 before repotting.

As a new grower this was something I missed. I mean, it's just water, right? My first set of clones started turning yellow which helped clue me in - fortunately in time to save all of them.

Your definitely right about that it’s just water!! I have decent water here as well and the only thing that rockets my ph down like no other is using fish shit lol! Drops it all the way from 6.8 to 4 just from that one addictive I tend to use a lot. I do have to add when using tap cal-mag even tho there are minerals in tap already I have a couple genetics that tend to need more of it than some others do!

 

[Moto258]

Okay, today I changed out the lights in my flower room - about 4 weeks into flower. I was worried that the top of the plants were developing significantly faster - I know that is normal but figured more light might help. I replaced two 1000W Cannalights with two 2000W Philzon's. The light is definitely MUCH better - my luminometer shows double the light at every level of the plant! The downside is the Philzon lights seem to run a LOT hotter - taking my daytime room temps up over 80 degrees. Since I had a heater to get to that before I am not worries - nighttime (lights out) temps run between 68 and 74 degrees.

I also changed the lights in my Veg Tent, using the two 100W Cannalights. I have to say I REALLY li these lights - 1000W gives off a lot of light in a tent, especially with two but they do not run hot. The tent stays at about 74 degrees.

Last, I repotted by clones at the three week mark I like to put them into 6" pots at clone and man they were FULL of roots! I repotted the next eight in line to 5 gal pots they will live in until I harvest (just one repot per crop).

This is turning out to be a wonderful perpetual grow. I started with three plants from seed, two Sativa dominant Jack Herrar and one Sativa dominant Afghan.

I found two new seeds that are labels Durban Poison, I've had for years. They both sprouted! Now if I can just find some more Indica dominant hybrids I am in heaven.

If you are setting up a perpetual grow here's my schedule:

I started with five seeds, all Sativa dominant, hybrid strains. Three sprouted as noted above. These three plants were put into the flower room on Oct 8, 2020. I expect to harvest them between Dec 3 ands Dec 15th. At the 4+ week mark you can see they are sticky icky, almost frosted looking. The pistils are just starting to turn brown/red and the cola's look like they will be HUGE (photos). I have been feeding them Grow More Hawaiian Bud 5-50-17. I have the lights now on a 12/12 schedule but plan to move them to a 8/16 schedule after I flush at the end of November (after which they'll get no additives). I have also heard that cutting the plant can fool it into thinking it is being eaten - not sure I believe it but any opinions are helpful. I'm also vitally interested in anyone's ideas about boosting flower and terpene production at this point as these look truly spectacular at almost 5 weeks.

I took 2 clones from each plant (6 clones total) at about 8 weeks into Veg and put the original seed plants into flower at 11 weeks (Oct. 8). Those original 6 clones have been in veg since the three week or so mark - in their own tent. They grew amazingly fast and VERY bushy in just a few weeks. These plants will be put into the flower room sometime between Dec 3 and Dec 15th, whenever I harvest. You can tell which are my veg girls because they are so bushy!

I took 10 clones Out of my Veg tent plants about 3 weeks ago, when they were 10 weeks old. (Note; it may be weird but every clone I have taken has done well, I have not lost a single plant!). I repotted those today into 5 gal pots, removed the heating mat and started a new veg tent for them to grow into until I move everything from veg to flow and from repotted clones to the veg tent in my December window. When I move the 6 plants now in veg I will clone 9-10 more plants and restart the clone tent. moving my veg girls into a real veg tent with a lot of light. I start to fertilize then only after repotting. Question: is anyone aware of possible issues of repeated cloning of clones> I'm thinking I'll keep a few of my favorites in permanent veg state for a year or so to ensure I do not screw up my genetics.

I have had a lot of challenges setting up a perpetual grow and I hope this helps anyone wishing to start a routine constant grow. I started with realizing that effective cloning is essential. IMO, it removes as much as 4 weeks of grow time in veg - taking my start times from 12-13 weeks to about 8-9 weeks of veg.

I found I needed three different grow areas because I have small spaces (both of my grow tents are 24x48x60). I use one 24x48x60 tent for my clones and early veg (they spend about 5-6 weeks in this tent staring from the date they are cloned. They are repotted at 3 weeks into minimum 5 gal fabric bags. Once in the veg tent they spend about 3-4 additional veg weeks before heading into flower.

My schedule is driven by the terpene production and pistil development so it has a window on the harvest and move side I fill with added or shortened veg time.

I am estimating that this method will yield an average harvest for 6 -8 plants of about 300-400g per plant. I'll have a better estimate after my first harvest in December and any guidance or ideas about this would be very useful to me.

Hey friend just seen another issue you mentioned you were getting with your lights!! I too have lights that get pretty hot!! I have clip on fans for each light pointing directly on the drivers and I hear rumors from the light company’s that doing this saves your lights life time by 90%! Plus the drivers that got toooo too hot to the touch pointing fans at them you could now stick your tongue on without a scare! (Hint will show pictures of proof if need too haha!!!!) Not sure if anyone mentioned that to ya yet on here I’m still looking over your journal to see what I can help ya with. Big plus on nutrient choice in my opinion. If you start to feed your soils and build up the microbiology in your soil you will have great success my friend!!

 

[Dan Dark]

Hey friend just seen another issue you mentioned you were getting with your lights!! I too have lights that get pretty hot!! I have clip on fans for each light pointing directly on the drivers and I hear rumors from the light company’s that doing this saves your lights life time by 90%! Plus the drivers that got toooo too hot to the touch pointing fans at them you could now stick your tongue on without a scare! Not sure if anyone mentioned that to ya yet on here I’m still looking over your journal to see what I can help ya with. Big plus on nutrient choice in my opinion. If you start to feed your soils and build up the microbiology in your soil you will have great success my friend!!

I'm doing that RIGHT now, thanks. The key to light longevity, damn, am in, I can't afford to replace any of these expensive lights!