Pinktiger777

Well-Known Member
Welcome to my newest journal, all!
Those of you who have seen my previous efforts will know that I often jump off the train and then wonder why my legs are broken or worse.
I call these efforts "my experiments." I really can't help it. A purely perfect grow, with everything going just peachy, would bore me to death. So - in the spirit of those words, I proffer my next batch of successes and failures and panic-ridden moments of doom.
I'm cool.
(Sorry, y'all. I couldn't find a synonym for "experiments" that started with a "P." I tried. But the only ones I found wouldn't make sense in this context.)
So let me bring you up to snuff on my current situation.
And remember, I live in a state (Missouri) that has sorta decriminalized cannabis. But they want to charge growers a fortune to grow their own medicine and want to inspect???? No way. Call me stupid if you want, but I've been stealth since 2017 and intend to remain that way until the Missouri situation becomes more reasonable.
I'm sure I'm not alone.
But enough about politics. This is a grow journal.
I grow in the walkout basement of my home, under the stairs with the larger of my two tents, and across the room and behind the bar with the smaller tent. The small one, a DWC setup, is for making clones and anything else I can't do in the flowering tent. The large one, an ebb and flow setup, is the late veg and flowering tent. I have completed three grows using this setup to root clones and grow plants that I transplant into the larger tent after I harvest the latest grow. Doing it this way I can produce about 8 ounces or so (I'm continually getting more) every 70 days.
I SCROG my grows in the large tent. I found a scrog screen that works great - I only use one wire net, not two, but you can get these that have two levels: Scrog Screen


Here's a run-down on the rest of my equipment, all of which I purchased on Amazon.com:

Tents:
Gorilla Grow Tent , 2' x 2.5' x 5'7"
CoolGrows 4"x24"x36"Mylar Hydroponic Grow Tent 2'x2' (24"x24"x36")


Lights:
2 - VIPARSPECTRA Reflector-Series 300W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum for Indoor Plants Veg and Flower
2 - VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control Series VT300 300W LED Grow Light - Dimmable Veg/Bloom Channels 12-Band Full Spectrum for Indoor Plants

Ventilation:
2- iPower 190 CFM Duct Inline Fan with Carbon Filter 8 Feet Ducting Combo for Grow Tent Ventilation (small tent is 4-inch, large is 6-inch.)
2 - VIVOSUN 440 CFM Inline Duct Fan with 6" x 18" Carbon Filter Odor Control with Australia Virgin Charcoal (small tent is 4-inch, large is 6-inch.)
Note: I have had some issues with the filters not lasting very long, so when I finish the current grow in the large tent, I'm replacing the filter with Phresh Filter 701005 Filter, 6 in x 16 in | 400 CFM. It cost more. But is supposed to last longer. Probably this will be one of my experiments.
In the tent, I use two fans - Comfort Zone CZ6C 6-Inch 2-Speed Clip-On Fan (White, 2 Fans). These are cheap but don't last forever. I've had to replace them once in three years.

Small tent deep water culture unit:
SavvyGrow Hydroponic Growing System Kit - 2 Large Airstones, Bucket with Air Pump - Complete Hydroponic Setup -
Note: I was unable to find exact replacements for the net pots that came with this, but finally found some that will work. Also, the airstones they provided were not big. So I replaced them. Here's the items I found:
  1. VIVOSUN Air Stone 2PCS 4 X 2 Inch Large Air Stone Cylinder for Aquarium and Hydroponics Air Pump (2PCS 4 x 2 Inch)
  2. Beautyflier 50 Pcs Black Plastic Slotted Mesh Net Plant Cups Pots Bucket Basket for Hydroponics/Aquaponics/Orchids (70MM)
Large tent ebb and flow unit:
Viagrow Complete 2 ft. x 2 Ft. Ebb & Flow Hydroponics System (O.D.23.5” length x 23.5” wide x 22” high)
6-inch net pots (I replaced the original as being too large for me.)
Hydroton as a media for the plants
Air pump for two air stones -
VIVOSUN Air Stone 2PCS 4 X 2 Inch Large Air Stone Cylinder for Aquarium and Hydroponics Air Pump (2PCS 4 x 2 Inch)
Water pump (the original failed, so I replaced it with a larger model) - Simple Deluxe 400 GPH UL Listed Submersible Pump with 15' Cord, Water Pump

Both hydroponic systems can be DIY (do-it-yourself) projects. But I was new and unsure and bought them commercially. Several on 420 have tutorials for doing these yourself.

Nutrients:
General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom, Micro Combo Fertilizer
And - I've gone crazy and now I use the flavor enhancers - Flora Nectar, as well as Floralicious Plus, Rapid Start, CalMagic, KoolBloom (wet and dry) Diamond Nectar, Armor Si, and Flora Blend. I also use the PH Down and PH Up by GH. I can't say for certain all these extras help all that much, but I have to say the taste of the smoke now is very aromatic and has undertones of sandalwood, cedar, and oak moss, as well as a more fruity aroma. I realize that many people with hydro don't go all aboard on nutes, and many use other brands. I just mention my setup so you can compare.

Pest Control
I use Great White Mycorrhizae, and Z7 Enzymes. Also, between water changes and grows I use a lot of bleach to clean everything and keep pests at bay. I have had fungus gnats, and now I don't. So I know these precautions work. Not sure if the mycorrhizae works, but I don't have gnats.
It is important to keep mold and algae from growing, so watching carefully in the flood tray for any green growth and eradication with hydrogen peroxide and vinegar mixed is a must for me. But truly, as I clean everything a minimum of every two weeks, I don't have issues with pests and molds. (When the plants are using a lot of water, I drain, clean and disinfect weekly. But early growth doesn't require more than a drain weekly and cleaning every other replacement, unless you see a problem.)



OK - this post is long enough. I will continue in the next post.
 
Sorry for the delay. My day got complicated!

OK, I'm going to post photos of the tents from previous grows and talk about maintenance.










 
The Daily Life of a Hydroponics Gardener - Pitfalls and Pleasures
I went into hydroponics from the first indoor grow. Back on the farm, I used to try to grow ganja and the crop always failed. So, I figured hydro would give me some control over the outcome. And that was correct. But it is also true that you will sometimes feel totally out of control when things all go wrong at once. But a grower determined to do hydroponics will prosper in the end. Hydro is not as unforgiving as it might seem of little errors. But you have to act fast.
The first thing is, realize that you are not alone. Many people here will help if you ask.
There are some caveats you should consider before going hydroponics, though.


Why/Why Nots of Hydroponics

Expense
I spent a lot of money to get set up. I figure it was about $1200 total for the large tent and lights, etc. The second one was more like $400. If you are a good do-it-yourselfer, you can do it much cheaper than that. Instead of a tent, light proof a closet and add ventilation to create negative air pressure. If you go LED, it costs less on lights. But whatever you choose light-wise, you will spend anywhere from $70 to $7000. Your ventilation is also important. Expect to spend $200 or so on ducting, intake air fan, exhaust fan and vent plus carbon filters. I also spent a lot of money on nutrients and had to teach myself (always the hard way, Pink?) to follow a guide. It isn't like making spaghetti sauce. I purchased beakers so I could use metric measurements, and learned to weigh and measure everything I put in the tent. I purchased a TDS meter and a PH meter and learned to use them. I have evolved in a rather delicately balanced mixture of nutrients. I think growers have to follow their own paths on nutrients. Now I buy in gallons so I just refill my quart-size bottles of different nutrients. You save at least 25 percent by doing this. Please note that I'm not trying to convince anyone to do what I do. I'm just giving examples of my thought processes.

Often Inconvenient

Hydro is not like owning a cat. You may not be able to leave it for several days and come back and find it alive. I'm not saying I don't leave now and then, but you have to weigh the possibilities. For example, if the grow is using a gallon of water a day and it is aggressively in veg, you may want to put your trip off until closer to harvest. Just consider these things that have happened to me:
  1. My water pump failed and if I hadn't been home, my plants would have died. Or, one time I forgot to turn the pump on automatic after changing the reservoir. Caught it the next day.
  2. I accidentally turned the lights on 18/6 after they began to flower and the grow revegged. I had no idea what I was doing.
  3. I tried to reuse hydroton from one grow to the next without disinfecting it. I got fungus gnats and other creepy crawlies. Nearly killed my grow.
  4. To be successful at hydro, I find it necessary to keep detailed records of PH, PPM, water level and quality, temp and humidity and general appearance, if remarkable for some reason. I do this on a calendar page for each month, each tent, and keep these as a reference. I also note on the calendar any changes in light schedule, addition of a nutrient between reservoir changes, and a precise measurement of anything added or changed. I can't tell you how much this has streamlined the process.
  5. The water and the lights and ventilation have to work. All the time.
  6. The reservoir has to be changed and cleaned often. I do drain and clean every week when in heavy growth and flower. At the beginning and toward the end, you can monitor the water carefully and maybe only drain and not clean every other week. But I urge caution. A fresh reservoir will protect your grow from many ills.
Faster Growth and Finish than Soil
With experience, you can harvest every two or three months if you have more than one tent. And you will harvest more. But it will cost you. A soil grow is slower and less complicated and expensive. But even with soil, if you have more than one tent you can grow faster. So it really depends on what is most important to you. I really love hydro because I can almost watch my plants grow, they do so well.

I'm sure I missed something, but this advice is just off the top of my head. Readers who differ with my methods or have questions are warmly requested to comment.
:Namaste:
 
My Current Grows
Both tents are currently in operation. However, the small tent is not being used for clones right now. Instead, I have been experimenting with creating feminized seeds, and I don't think it happened. The plants are both WWXBB, plus a couple of rooting clones. I broke them off accidentally and instead of throwing away, I'm allowing them to stay alive. I might even reveg the clones later, and grow them in the big tent.
Once I'm sure the plant I treated has no footballs, I guess I'll discard it. I believe it is poisonous if you smoke what has had colloidal silver on it, even if no buds were on the plant when treated. It's been in flower mode, 12/12, since July 4. I have lots of buds and the harvest would have been wonderful. C'mon, footballs!!!
The flowering tent is now vegging the Mazari Grape plants I transferred from the small tent.
These suffered from transplant shock and heat and light shock for a day or so, and lots of leaves were lost (fan leaves). However, today the plants look wonderful and are growing. So no worries.

In the small tent, I have duct-taped the pots to the lid, to make sure the plants stay upright.












 
I'm going to set in if ya don't mind :popcorn: looks like you got it going on there Pink :thumb:
The more, the merrier! I’ll be posting more pics today.
 
Update on small tent with flowering clones
I am thinking no male parts are going to show up. But that is OK. In the meantime, I plant to finish the two plants in the tent and I'm going to go ahead and use it, even on the treated plant. None of the plant had buds when I sprayed. I think I should have sprayed them with colloidal silver earlier, and that is what I did wrong. I have been reading up on the the use of a plant that has been treated with colloidal silver. There is nothing out there to indicate that it would be harmful, except for remarks by people who assume it is dangerous but offer no proof. So we will see how brave I am in the end! The plants are strong and I still have the two "clones" rooting in the DWC while these flower. I plan to reveg those for the next grow. I'm going to take clones from the Mazari Grape in the large tent before putting them into flower. It's all an experiment, guys.
Note that to hold the plant on the left up, I had to place a plastic cup underneath to support the branch.


 
Update on Mazari Grape in Large Tent
These plants have recovered nicely from transplant shock. I'm training them to grow north and south instead of east/west (so to speak) and will not be flowering until I have lots of tops coming up from the scrog screen. Color is fantastic - a deep green that has blue tones. So different from the other plants in the small tent. If this works well, I plan to change my next large tent grow to three plants instead of four, and do them the same way. Yesterday I changed and cleaned the reservoir, and all is growing fine.





 
Update, large tent
The Mazari Grape plants in the large tent are now in a rapid growth pattern and using a gallon of water daily. No signs of ever having transplant issues. I'm pleased. You will notice in the last picture of the canopy how much they grew in one day. My plan is to get as many tops up as I can before going 12/12. Now that I know my lights can penetrate a more dense growth, I plan to veg a bit longer than I did last time. Estimate another two weeks of this before flipping. Or more. My goal is to harvest 9 ounces minimum of bud. We will see if I make it. Hope so.
The ppm of tds is about 1200 right now.
Ph is holding steady at 5.89. Temp below 81deg. F

The next step for me on this grow, besides replenishing/changing nutrients and water, is to defoliate. When I work with a plant to grow above the net, I usually defoliate below the net. This allows for more light to penetrate where it needs to be, without small shoots crowding themselves out. It also encourages growth above the net, where light is most abundant. Next week, after this weekend's water change, I will begin to remove large fans and growth below the net.

Photos:




 
Update on Small Tent
The plants in the small tent are doing well. The water is staying fresh and no signs of any problems. PH is 5.89 and 1120 ppm on tds. Temp is 75-77, RH 61. Roots look wonderful.
I now know for certain that I failed to hermie the plant on the right. The other one wasn't treated.
But in the meantime, we are going to town budding. I'm going to let it all finish budding and then decide whether to smoke the treated plant or not. May toss a coin. LOL.
The two tops that came off during LST are doing fine underneath the two plants (underneath by necessity, as these two are taking up most of the air space. I have the beginning of roots on both, but it is slow because we are in flower stage. These are just experimental, really. To see what they do.


Photos:





 
Looks good in there.
 

I now know for certain that I failed to hermie the plant on the right.
I hermied a plant once, on accident :rofl: kinda like my own cross, accident :popcorn: I was just starting and I put a girl in flower for a week, she had just started showing "buttons" when I put her back into veg :ciao: normally this wouldn't do anything, but...just as she started to reveg I put her back in flower...long story short I stressed her out and she threw pollen sacs at me :thedoubletake::thedoubletake: good thing I only did 1 at a time back then :rofl: it was a mess :popcorn: but hey your girls are looking good Pink :morenutes:

Question; If I had let that plant go, would the seeds have been like, selfies? :hmmmm:
 
Question; If I had let that plant go, would the seeds have been like, selfies? :hmmmm:
I think so. But I’m far from a botanist. Lol
 
I hermied a plant once, on accident :rofl: kinda like my own cross, accident :popcorn: I was just starting and I put a girl in flower for a week, she had just started showing "buttons" when I put her back into veg :ciao: normally this wouldn't do anything, but...just as she started to reveg I put her back in flower...long story short I stressed her out and she threw pollen sacs at me :thedoubletake::thedoubletake: good thing I only did 1 at a time back then :rofl: it was a mess :popcorn: but hey your girls are looking good Pink :morenutes:

Question; If I had let that plant go, would the seeds have been like, selfies? :hmmmm:

I have never had one hermie on me, and I’ve mistreated them plenty. Guess I’ll have to keep on cloning, but it would be nice to have seeds of this one variety, that I THINK is white widow crossed with big bud. Or, sour diesel. I mixed the seedlings up when I grew them from seed.
 
I have never had one hermie on me, and I’ve mistreated them plenty. Guess I’ll have to keep on cloning, but it would be nice to have seeds of this one variety, that I THINK is white widow crossed with big bud. Or, sour diesel. I mixed the seedlings up when I grew them from seed.
Ok, I know it has to be white widow crossed with big bud. Sour diesel takes too long to Flower and this takes 8 weeks.
 
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