SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - INTRO

[Sharky88]

Hello fellow 420 Members! Sharky here with my first grow journal and first grow in a SuperCloset 3.0.

I'm going to first describe my setup and then will breakdown the grow by plant stages: Germination, Seedling, Vegetation, Flower, Drying, and Curing. If things work as expected I'll include a review of the strains and smoke at the end. All comments and suggestions are welcomed! ~Sharky~

Current Grow Room - Superlocker 3.0 from SuperCloset

Cloning Chamber

• SuperCloner 14 site DWC.
• 2' SunBlaze T5 High Output Fluorescent Strip Light
• Arctic Breeze Mobile USB-Powered Portable Fan

Vegetation/Flowering Chamber

• SuperPonics 8 Plant Hydroponic Grow System (DWC and Drip)
• Lumatek LK250 Electronic Digital Ballast (mounted outside back of cabinet)
• 250w HID Hut Full Spectrum MH (for Veg)
• 250w Ultra Sun HPS (for Flower)
• HomeBasix 4" Mini Fan
• The Original Handy Cooler Small Fan & Mini-AC

Germination Chamber
SuperCloset Total Germination Package
Seedling Tray - Humidity Dome - Heating Mat and Thermostat - Rockwool Cubes

Nutrients / Reservoir Maintenance

• Botanicare Hydroguard Bacillus Root Inoculant
• General Hydroponics Ph+ & Ph-

Seeds
Barney's Farms Critical Kush (feminized) - 2011 High Times Cannabis Cup Winner
type: Indica
thc: 25%
cbd: 2.1%
yield: 750gr/m2
height: 80-90cm
flower time: 55-60 days
genetics: Critical Mass X O.G. Kush

Royal Queen Seeds Amnesia Haze (feminized) - 2004 & 2006 High Times Cannabis Cup Winner
Type Sativa: 70% Indica: 30%
THC 22%
CBD Medium
Yield Indoor 600-650gr m2
Yield Outdoor 650-700 grams per plant dried
Height Indoor 80 - 140 cm
Height Outdoor 175 - 210 cm
Flowering time 10-11 Weeks
Harvest month October
Genetic background: Original Amnesia Haze
Effect Extremely high, long-lasting, body relaxing

 

[Sharky88]

Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - GERMINATION

Germination Log / Update

November 19, 2014
1. Soaked 4 rockwool cubes in RO water (6.0 Ph) for 30 minutes.
2. Placed 2 Critical Kush (CK) seeds and 2 Amnesia Haze (AH) seeds in rockwool cubes.
3. Placed cubes on seedling tray and covered with humidity dome. I left the top vent on the dome open just a bit.
4. Placed the tray on the heating mat set at 74 F.
5. Covered the entire thing with a blanket.


November 22, 2014

The 2 Critical Kush (CK) popped today!​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820333​

I put both the CK rockwool cubes in net cups in the Germination Chamber in the SuperLocker under 24hr T5 light. Used an extremely mild nutrient solution and added .5 ml per gallon of root magic. Air pump is on.

Room Temp: 68.8F Humidity: 58% Water Temp: 69F Water PH: 6.0 Water PPM: 175​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820334​

November 23, 2014

The 2 Amnesia Haze popped today!​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820336​

I put both the AH rockwool cubes in net cups in the Germination Chamber. All 4 are now about the same size. Night time temps have been low so I'm running the HID in the lower chamber to keep temps up in the Locker at night.

Room Temp: 74.5F Humidity: 48% Water Temp: 71.5F Water PH: 6.0 Water PPM: 175​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820338​

* The front 2 seedlings are the Critical Kush and the back 2 are the Amnesia Haze.​

November 26, 2014

3 of 4 have tap roots which reach to the water.​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820340​

All 4 seem to be stretching already.​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820341​

I put a box underneath the SuperCloner 14 to get the plants closer to the T5 to try and stop the early stretch. If you look at the top of the SuperCloner on the left side in relation to the temperature guage in the preceding and the following picture you can see how far I raised it. It's about 3 to 4 inches higher.​

https://www.420magazine.com/community/gallery/820342​

November 27, 2014
Digital Ph reader came today, I had been using the drops. Found out that the Ph had creeped up to just above 7!
Adjusted Ph back down to 5.6.

Room Temp: 70.7F Humidity: 57% Water Temp: 67.2F Water PH: 5.6 Water PPM: 138​

November 29, 2014
Ph keeps creeping up and I've had to lower it about twice a day to keep it in the 5.5 to 6.0 range. Changed reservoir water today. Same nutrient ratio as before. The tap root on the 4th haze still hasn't popped. It's been raining so humidity is high. It's also been cold so keeping the HID running 24/7 for now. Temps look fine.

Room Temp: 69.8F Humidity: 61% Water Temp: 67.1F Water PH: 5.6 Water PPM: 161​

November 30, 2014
Still fighting the Ph battle. It keeps creeping higher so I keep lowering it, ranging between 5.5 and 6.0. Reservoir was a bit low today so I used some of the same concentration nutrient solution (Ph balanced to 5.7), added a bit more Root Magic and then dribbled it over the top of all four rock cubes until the reservoir was back up to a good level.


December 1, 2014
The final AH finally sprouted a tap root! The tap roots on the other three are now getting hairs and one has a new root starting to pop out. All 4 are starting their second set of true leaves. Moving the lights closer to the T5 seems to have stopped the stretch. I added some aluminum foil to cover the empty net cups today and that raised the water temp quite a bit so I removed it. Going to add some Hydroguard at the next water change just to keep the roots clean and healthy.

Room Temp: 72.7F Humidity: 62% Water Temp: 71.6F Water PH: 5.6 Water PPM:​

 

[Sharky88]

Seedling Log / Update

December 3, 2014
End of the second week since seed and the girls are looking good. All have the second set of true leaves (3-fingers). It's been raining and colder this week so temp's have been a challenge. Ph still keeps creeping higher so I've been adjusting down to keep in the 5.5 to 6.0 range. Changed out the nutrient solution to begin the third week. Went with 2ml/gal --- Grow, Micro and Bloom plus 1.66ml/gal Liquid Seaweed and Vita Blue. Also added .5 tsp/gal of Root Magic. Nutrient solution is at 190ppm for third week of seedling. Moved the reservoir down about an inch from the lights. Added a small USB fan to the Cloning Chamber, gives a nice gentle breeze.

End of Week 2 pictures.
All have second set of true leaves (3-fingers). Left most is AH Sativa. Back middle is AH also, I call him "Dumbo" because of the large 1-finger leaves on it. Front middle is CK Indica, this is the one that lost it's tap root but it has other roots and is doing fine so far. Right most plant is CK also. Slight yellowing on the 3-finger leaves on this one, I'm thinking it was the fluctuating temps this week.​

F'ups this week (aka things I learned):
1. Be careful about having the bubblers too high. I think I had them too high and it ripped a root off one of the seedlings.
2. Tried to block out all light to the reservoir by covering it with aluminum foil. Water temps spiked after this. I think the foil trapped all the heat in so it couldn't breath. Instead I filled each cup with foil and the temps didn't go up so much and res is dark.
3. Cheap Ph tester was inaccurate and repeatedly lost calibration (consistently inconsistent). New (more expensive) tester is more accurate.

 

[Doozy]

I'd be very concerned about using nutes this early on, which may be contributing to your Ph issues. Also no mention of your res/water temp...

I'm not sue what you mean by 'bubblers too high'....the thing you are aiming for is loads of tiny bubbles, not bubbles big enough to damage a root. I've got about 120 ltrs per minute (two Hailea V60s) going through 5 res's about the same size as yours and never had a problem. Get some good air stones and set the aeration at 100%, it's your biggest defence against pythium.

I'd use beermats or even socks to keep the light out. Whatever it is don't let any light hit the roots for any length of time, or the old pythium comes a knockin.

Nice clean setup btw, good luck

 

[Sharky88]

I'd be very concerned about using nutes this early on, which may be contributing to your Ph issues. Also no mention of your res/water temp...

I'm not sue what you mean by 'bubblers too high'....the thing you are aiming for is loads of tiny bubbles, not bubbles big enough to damage a root. I've got about 120 ltrs per minute (two Hailea V60s) going through 5 res's about the same size as yours and never had a problem. Get some good air stones and set the aeration at 100%, it's your biggest defence against pythium.

I'd use beermats or even socks to keep the light out. Whatever it is don't let any light hit the roots for any length of time, or the old pythium comes a knockin.

Nice clean setup btw, good luck

Thanks Doozy! I very much appreciate your input. By "bubblers" I meant the air pumps as you guessed. I'm using an EcoAir 2 which is pumping 132.8 GPH (480 L/h), its driving 2 stones in the same res. I had it at 100% and thought it was too high so turned it down and still have lots of bubbles. I'll turn it back up when the roots get a bit stronger.

I did see one of the roots start to get a little brown spot on it, its the same plant that has a bit of yellow on the leaves. That plant sprouted oddly as well and has a tiny kink or twist at the base of the stem. I'm hoping this isn't choking off the water, O2 and nutes. I cleaned the res and stones with a deluted H2O2 solution last night when I did the water change, but didn't add any H2O2 to the new water. I'm going to add a little Hydroguard in a couple days just to make sure the roots are clean. Don't want to make too many changes all at once so am gonna let the water change settle for a couple days first. The res is a little warm I know and I'm working on that, its currently at around 69 degrees. My target is about 70-75 for room temp and around 65 for water temp.

As far as the nutes, I'm only at 190 ppm right now so extremely deluted. I'm using the info from the nute vendor as well as the problem solving post on 420Mag as a general guideline (see below). I'll keep an eye on that though.

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial

Toward the end of the post it says:
Seedlings should be around 50-150 PPM
Unrooted clones to be around 100-350 PPM
small plants to be around 400-800 PPM
large plants to be around 900-1800 PPM
Last week of flowering use plain water.

CURRENT STATS
Room Temp: 71.4F Humidity: 67% Water Temp: 69F Water PH: 5.6 Water PPM: 190

Again, thanks for the post and advice. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience.

Sharky

 

[Doozy]

All sounds good. If you need to drop the res temp at any stage just use a frozen bottle of water. I use them all the time in my grow...

 

[stealthgrow]

Hi Sharky!!
Greetings from a fellow SuperCloset owner. I own the Trinity LED, I'm subbed. Feel free to check out any of my grows in my signature below. I kept pretty accurate notes about temps, PH, PPM etc..
If you have any questions, post em in my current journal and I'll get back to you within a day or 2 at most.
Cheers man, and good luck.

 

[Sharky88]

Hi Sharky!!
Greetings from a fellow SuperCloset owner. I own the Trinity LED, I'm subbed. Feel free to check out any of my grows in my signature below. I kept pretty accurate notes about temps, PH, PPM etc..
If you have any questions, post em in my current journal and I'll get back to you within a day or 2 at most.
Cheers man, and good luck.

Hi Stealth. Thanks for looking in, appreciate any advice along the way. Checked out your first grow in the closet, awesome job. Gonna sub your most recent grow also since I'm using the same seeds. Cheers Stealth!

 

[Sharky88]

Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - TGIF Update

TGIF Fellow 420Mag Members!​

Some minor changes this week. I removed the book under the SuperCloner so its all the way down. Added a USB fan for a gentle breeze. Weather is getting a little warmer so turned the Lumatek down to 150w output on the HID, remember it's only purpose right now is to keep the closet warmer. Also turned the fan on in the lower chamber which will bring the heat down a little more. Learning there are a few variables that can be changed with this setup to move temps a few degrees up or down here and there. Added 3ml of Hydroguard 2 days ago. Roots look healthy.

TIP: Discovered that Dixie Cups fit perfectly into the 2" net cups to block out the light. One isn't enough so I loaded 5 in each net cup. Haven't tried yet, but I think they will work just as well in 3" cups. See picture below:

Dixie Cups used to block out light in a DWC reservoir.​

Plants are at Day 16 from Seed and all four are just starting their third set of true leaves. Getting some good root growth as well. Looks like I'm on target to move to the Veg Chamber at the next water change in 5 days. Some updated pic's below.

DAY 16 - The 2 fastest growing seedlings. Front is BF Critical Kush and back is RQS Amnesia Haze.​

DAY 16 - Roots look good.​

Cheers! Have a great weekend everyone!

Sharky

 

[Sharky88]

QUESTION Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - INTRO

A question for you fellow SuperCloset owners. I will be moving these seedlings to the 3" net cups in the veg chamber next week. I'm a little worried about breaking off the long roots that extend all the way through the existing 2" cups and into the water.

Have you guys moved plants (with established roots) from smaller to larger sized net cups? Any hints to protect the roots during the transition? Anything else I should know about this move? Will they be shocked for a day or two?

Has anyone had experience with early growth plants and their first exposure to the HID? Can I put them at 16hrs right away without burning them? How close do you guys put your HID lights for the first couple days under lights?

Sharky

 

[stealthgrow]

Re: QUESTION Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - I

A question for you fellow SuperCloset owners. I will be moving these seedlings to the 3" net cups in the veg chamber next week. I'm a little worried about breaking off the long roots that extend all the way through the existing 2" cups and into the water.

Have you guys moved plants (with established roots) from smaller to larger sized net cups? Any hints to protect the roots during the transition? Anything else I should know about this move? Will they be shocked for a day or two?

Has anyone had experience with early growth plants and their first exposure to the HID? Can I put them at 16hrs right away without burning them? How close do you guys put your HID lights for the first couple days under lights?

Sharky

Hi again Sharky.
You have to be very careful not to break the roots when you transplant them. I cut the plastic of the small netcups if I have to. I no longer use the cloning section of the closet and actually removed the shelf altogether. The extra room in the closet is more valuable than a little cloning section. Once you get them into the bigger netcups there should be no shock or anything. They should just keep right on growing. If you do break a root or 2 its not a huge deal, they will recover, It just slows them down for a few days. The seedlings are looking good man.
Cheers&Good luck.

 

[Sharky88]

Re: QUESTION Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - I

Hi again Sharky.
I cut the plastic of the small netcups if I have to.

Great Tip, thanks!

I no longer use the cloning section of the closet and actually removed the shelf altogether. The extra room in the closet is more valuable than a little cloning section.

I read somewhere that others have done this and the extra room would be great, but stealth is more important for me right now. I have a card so am totally legal, I just don't want to have clones or plants out in the open. The locked cabinet is perfect for me!

 

[BadAssGrower]

Re: QUESTION Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - I

Those roots look real good sharky!

 

[Sharky88]

Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - Problems!

Based on that last reply there seems to be some history there. Please keep comments on topic. I definately don't want to be in the middle of a feud. On to bigger problems.

Another entry to the always popular... F'ups this week (aka things I learned):

When using RO water it is very important to add CalMag to the hydro solution.
Had some Calcium deficiency this week, I saw the early signs and didn't react very quickly. I didn't know what it was at first. The issue was compounded because Calcium likes a higher Ph range and I have been knocking it down all week to stay in the 5.5 to 6.0 range. 3 of the 4 got hit pretty hard, the 4th looks ok. They will all live but a couple are gonna be ugly for awhile. From what I've read the damaged leaves probably won't repair although these are the early leaves so would end up falling off or being pruned anyway. 3 of 4 are getting the 3rd node now and those look nice and green after some changes I made. I posted some pictures of the damaged plants below.

This was the AH I call "Dumbo" because it had huge first leaves compared to the others. It along with the others that were hit hardest are all a bit stunted.​

This is the other AH. It's a little earlier but you can see the brown/copper looking spots. ​

This one got hit the hardest. It showed first symptoms differently than the rest. It turned yellow first and the leaves cupped upward, then it developed the brownish spots much later. Of the three, it's in the most advanced stages of Cal deficiency.​

I didn't post a pic of the 4th plant, the final CK looks fine. I'll make another post later today which comments on some changes I made and I'll send some updated pictures after the lights go on later this evening.

If any of you think I mis-diagnosed this issue please let me know.

Sharky

 

[Sharky88]

December 13, 2014
Things are looking much better than my last update. Not positive whether it was Ca, Mg, or the Ph swings that caused the problems. Whatever it was is under control and I have some good growth. The changes I made were:

1. Since I was doing a water change anyway, I moved the girls down to the Veg/Flowering chamber under 16hr./day HPS and 3X per day watering. I'm running the HPS from 6pm to 10am. This keeps the locker temps up during the night when its colder and the lights out time is a little warmer because its during the middle of the day.
2. Drained the Res and refilled with the same nutrient concentration but this time added 3ml/gal. of Botanicare CalMag. Final Ph after everything was added was 5.9! No adjustment necessary.
3. Ph went to 6.3 mid week so I drained half the res and refilled with RO water plus 3ml/gal CalMag. Water added was 5.7 Ph, that brought the Res Ph back down to 5.9.
   

The new growth looks really good. Ph did range up again but I only touched it 1 time all week. Ideally I'd like to be at 5.8 but I left it at 6.1 to 6.2 most of the week. Adding Ph down every day could have caused or contributed to the problems the week before.

It's been 7 days so I'm doing a Res change later today. Probably going to top at least 2 of the girls as well. I'll take some pics and send an update when I'm done. Also picked up a clone at a local club this week, a Banana Kush. I'll add a pic of her with my update.

Sneak Peak: Merry Christmas! I have a Kind LED coming next week! Temps are going to heat up in my locker this summer and the Kind will put out much less heat than my HID. It's supposed to be equivalent to a 300w HID so should be more light than I have now, less heat, and less power consumption. The light frequencies are also better tuned than the HPS I currently use, especially for Veg. It's been cold at night and raining off and on the last couple weeks so the heat of the HID is a good thing for now but, I'm going to switch it out in a week or two. I have plans to put both lamps to good use in the future. ::

Sharky

 

[Sharky88]

Re: SuperLocker DWC Grow - 2 BF Critical Kush & 2 RQS Amnesia Haze - UPDATED PIC's

December 13, 2014 - 3 Weeks 3 Days Since Seed​

Reservoir change today. I'm at 540 PPM but some of that is the additional CalMag so I didn't really raise the nutrients that much this week. Going to give them another week in the same soup as last week and if things stay good I'll pump it up next week. Also topped them today so this week will be recovery and then hopefully next week they'll really start popping. Ph after everything was mixed ended up at 5.9 so I didn't touch it. I topped 3 of the 5 plants, the other 2 need some time. Some pictures below. You can still see some of the damage from the issues a week ago but the new growth all looks good.

CURRENT STATS (*Lights Out)
Room Temp: 61.2F Humidity: 73% Water Temp: 67.1F Water PH: 5.9 Water PPM: 540


Reservoir Change Today. Nice Roots!

Critical Kush - 3 Weeks & 3 Days from Seed

The new Banana Kush - A little stretched and is a clone so uneven nodes.

Critical Kush before Topping.

Critical Kush After Topping.

Closeup of topped 4th Node.

That's all for now. I'll have updates if anything changes otherwise I'll update at the next Reservoir change. Hoping for a quiet calm week.

Sharky

 

[Sharky88]

November 16 2014
Plants are taking well to being topped. Growing like crazy this week. They are drinking a bunch and eating the nutes like crazy.

12/13
Reservoir change, now at 5.9Ph 450PPM
12/15
Reservoir is down .5 gallon. Ph up to 6.3Ph. PPM down to 380PPM
Added .5 gal. nutrient water bringing res to 400PPM and 5.9Ph
12/16
Reservoir at 6.2Ph and down to 350PPM (eating nutes!)
Drained 1 gallon and added a bit stronger solution, ending at 600PPM and 5.8Ph

CURRENT STATS (*Lights ON)
Room Temp: 70.7F Humidity: 57% Water Temp: 66.4F Water PH: 5.8 Water PPM: 600

 

[Sharky88]

EDIT: In the previous post I said the ending PPM was 600. The solution I added was 600PPM but the ending PPM in the Reservoir was 400PPM.

12/17
Really good growth so far this week. They are really eating nutes but I'm not sure which ones. Base nutes or the CalMag? PPM of the reservoir is dropping between 30 and 50 ppm per day. Very small white tips on the leaves of a couple plants which is a sign of Mg deficiency so I added 1ml CalMag directly to the reservoir. Ending PPM was 450PPM at 10am. By 7:00pm PPM was at 430PPM, dropped by 20 PPM. By 1am on 12/18 it had dropped another 30 PPM to 400PPM. They are really eating something. Adding water every other day so they are drinking too, just eating nutes faster than water.

 

[KingJohnC]

Subscribed. Can you please take a photograph of the leaf damage you are describing?

Here is everything you should need to know to post full size photographs

Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

 

[Sharky88]

Subscribed. Can you please take a photograph of the leaf damage you are describing?

Here is everything you should need to know to post full size photographs

Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

Hi KingJohn, thanks for taking a look at this. I actually posted pictures in an earlier post in this same thread of the damage when they were a bit younger. Not sure if its Cal or Mg or Ph or possibly both? Also posted a couple pics in the Problems section:
Name that Deficiency! Help Please

I left most of the damaged leaves, they respond to the lights so are still functioning although they don't look great. I trimmed the first true leaves on a couple because they were pretty far gone (necrosis). Some of the older leaves are still rust colored between veins and some of them actually have holes in between the veins. Might be different issues? I read that the damage won't repair and to look for change in the new growth. None of the new growth has the spots or holes but, they do have a few leaves with very faint white tips which I also read could be Mg deficiency. I'll post more pics when I get home later this afternoon. I was going to do this anyway since its Week 5 Day 1. They are looking so much better since I stopped chasing PH and added CalMag. Ph is higher than I want, currently at 6.1, but I decided not to chase it unless it goes over 6.2.

Thanks again for looking in KJC!

Sharky