Atulip's Closet - LED - Swick Organic Soil - NLxBB - White Widow - Blue Kush

[Atulip]

Here we go again. A bit different than my first grow. We'll be doing soil in swick, adding a new Mars II 400w led, some lst, and might setup a scrog later.

Location:
Indoor closet in a Growlab 80 2'7"x2'7" tent.

Equipment:
Old style Mars Hydro 300watt lights (130 true watts each) x2
Mars Hydro II 400watt (180 true watts) in the mail
4" inline fan with 6" Phresh filter for exhaust. Passive intake

Grow medium:
Coots recipe water only organic soil. 1/3 Peat Moss, 1/3 Worm Castings, 1/3 Perlite. Crustation meal, kelp meal, neem cake, and rock dust minerals as ammendments.

We'll be using the swick watering method in a 2'5"x2'5"x6" perlite bed. Holds around 12gallons of water.

Strains:

World of Seeds Northern Lights x Big Bud
Mostly Indica.

Dinafem Blue Kush
Indica/Sativa hybrid. Cross of blueberry and og kush.

Green House Seeds White Widow
Indica/Sativa hybrid old school strain. Specifically requested by my wife.

Temps are around 70℉-75℉ with humidity sitting at 75%(65% before swick bed). Light schedule is 18/6 and we're using tap water only.

NLxBB was planted on 8/1, White Widow and Blue Kush were planted on 9/10.

Swick bedMy wife made this, I'm not allowed to use power tools she says. )

Northern Lights x Big Bud - Day 41 from seed.
(Topped on Day 23)

Let's tidy her up a bit:

White Widow and Blue Kush - Day 2 from seed

 

[glimmergrass]

I'm in! Looks exciting

 

[cogreen]

glad to see you and the wife are making this a joint project!

 

[Atulip]

9/15

Not much major. NLxBB perked up the next day and she's growing huge. Blue Kush successfully germenated and is rising. No sign of White Widow yet. Since time is a factor and WW is specifically requested, 2 more White Widow seeds planted in the same pot. Each seed is 1 inch apart. Only one will be kept. Dun dun dun

Foil added over swick. Humidity dropped from 85% to 65%. 4 gallons of water added to swick.

NLxBB (thick girl)

Blue Kush (Well Hello)

White Widow (I believe in you)

 

[Atulip]

9/18

Mars II 400 arrived. Huge light output. This brings up our light true watts to 455.(during bloom) Moar Power = Moar Bud

White Widow germinated. The center one planted on 9/10. 8 day germination. So if the other 2 sprout soon we'll give them a week to see who looks best.

Hydroton added over Blue Kush soil.

NLxBB looks to be showing calcium deficiency on one leaf. May be another micronutrient deficiency, looks to be more like white spots than rust spots. Also older fan leaves are turning lighter in color. (N deficiency) New to soil so I'm not sure if that's normal or if we should be flowering soon. 49 days old from seed today.


I think I can squeeze a couple more lights in here.

NlxBB

Blue Kush

White Widow

 

[cogreen]

You've got the LED rockin' in there now!!

I guess if growing doesn't work out for ya, at least you have a nice tanning room!

 

[Atulip]

9/24

2 White Widow sprouts now, no sign of the third. Keeping the biggest. Hydroton added.

Not much movement on Blue Kush, I'm assuming she's spreading her roots.

NLxBB, the N deficiency I thought looks like a magnesium deficiency. Gonna top water some Epsom salts, and increase dolomite lime in our soil mix for the future. Might also have a calcium deficiency, we'll see how she progresses. Very little growth this week.

Going to let swick dry up to encourage root developement.

White Widow

And then there was one.

Blue Kush

NLxBB

Mg deficiency

Couple of these hidden in the middle of the plant.

 

[Atulip]

A little early this week but we have some new stuff. Top of soil still moist so we have a few more days until they run dry. This pesky 12 gallon swick is taking too long to dry.
Scrog added.

NLxBB
No more signs of progression of magnesium deficiency, so I think the Epsom salts worked. Screen added so we can train her better. The goal is to keep her from hogging too much light from White Widow and Blue Kush.

Blue Kush and White Widow
They're starting to take off. Still debating whether to top these two or not, we'll see how they move. Hoping to flip to flower in 3-4 weeks.

Atulip's how to build a scrog guide:

Step 1:
Consume vast amounts of last grows harvest.

Step 2:
Turn on blacklight and put up cool new poster on the door to your grow room.

Step 3:
Use copper wire and duct tape to make a beautiful screen. Copper wire is a better conductor of electricity than string.

Step 4:
Make six egg omelet so you don't starve.

Step 5:
Return to grow room and watch them grow.

 

[Camo420Grow]

Hey atulip ! The NLxBB is looking great! Beautiful plant, I was wondering I don't really understand how the water reaches the roots in a swick method and was hoping you could explain it to me? Much appreciation in advance and I'll be following along for the growth of the white widow and blue kush! And harvest of course

 

[Atulip]

Hey atulip ! The NLxBB is looking great! Beautiful plant, I was wondering I don't really understand how the water reaches the roots in a swick method and was hoping you could explain it to me? Much appreciation in advance and I'll be following along for the growth of the white widow and blue kush! And harvest of course

The perlite in the swick absorbs the water and the fabric smart pots allow water to soak into the soil. The more perlite or aeration in your soil means more moisture will get wicked up.

The swick keeps the soil at a consistent moisture level throughout the grow with no need to hand water or let the soil go through wet/dry cycles. The downside is poor root development because no dry cycles, so we're allowing the swick and soil to dry to encourage root growth during veg.

The NLxBB got a bit stunted while she had a Mg deficiency, but she's made noticeable growth since we supplememnted Epsom salt into a hand watering. So hopefully she doesn't grow too fast, I fear she'll get to tall when she stretches so I've been trying to keep her as short as I can.

As experienced from my last grow I get about 12 inches of good bud from these lights, and anything further down the light doesn't penetrate well and the bud is airy undeveloped. part of this is to blame on my grow style. I prefer no defoliation, so light doesn't get very deep in my plants.

 

[Camo420Grow]

Thank you for the info, I was real interested in how exactly it worked. Sparked my interest due to the ability to leave town on a vacation for a few days and still have the plants watered. I'm thinking of starting my first grow in the next few months and I'm just trying to learn and absorb all info I can.

Whatever your process defol, or no defol. Plants look great so your doing something right that's for sure ! Can't wait to see where the girls go and them making some beautiful buds soon !

 

[glimmergrass]

Hi, Atulip! Really interesting info about the swick system. Thank you!

 

[Atulip]

Swick thread holds a lot more info on the watering style. I like it mainly since I can not worry about over watering or under watering, and only having to top it off weekly.

 

[Camo420Grow]

Glimmerglass, I agree! I'm thinking of doing coco coir because it is forgiving from what I've read. I wanted to start with a dwc but I think that may be a little to much for a first grow! But if I ever do a grow with soil I think I'll use this swick method!

Thanks for the thread reference atulip! I'm gonna learn as much as I can about it

 

[Atulip]

Glimmerglass, I agree! I'm thinking of doing coco coir because it is forgiving from what I've read. I wanted to start with a dwc but I think that may be a little to much for a first grow! But if I ever do a grow with soil I think I'll use this swick method!

Thanks for the thread reference atulip! I'm gonna learn as much as I can about it

I've actually been interested in combining swick with a soiless medium like coco or perlite or a blend. Then pouring nutrients into the swick reservoir. Not entirely sure to if it would wick nutrient rich water or if the nutes would just build up at the bottom. Would be fun to try though.

DWC isn't too difficult, just requires more things to monitor and clean. My first grow results were better than I expected. Crammed 3 plants into a 10 gallon DWC reservoir and only used half my tent space. With 270 true watts of light pulled 5 oz of dried bud in the end.

 

[Camo420Grow]

If you do coco or some soilless in the swick method please do post and let us know how it goes, setup and everything.

As far as DWC goes I haven't completely marked it out of the books yet, I still want to do it, pretty much exactly like yours 2-10 gallon reservoir with mesh net pots sitting on top ! Maybe 2-4 plants my first grow, my ten is 3x3x5'3. And thinking of gettin a P300, 100x3w.
Orrrrrrrrrr
I'm gonna start in coco, hempy pots with same setup.

 

[Atulip]

If you do coco or some soilless in the swick method please do post and let us know how it goes, setup and everything.

As far as DWC goes I haven't completely marked it out of the books yet, I still want to do it, pretty much exactly like yours 2-10 gallon reservoir with mesh net pots sitting on top ! Maybe 2-4 plants my first grow, my ten is 3x3x5'3. And hiking of gettin a P300, 100x3w.
Orrrrrrrrrr
I'm gonna start in coco, hempy pots with same setup.

I've read coco is much easier than any other hydro. My biggest concern with Dwc was water temps too high causing root rot, or having my air pump fail and kill them all. But I was convinced hydro was the best way to get yields, and DWC being much easier to setup over ebb & flow, drip irrigation, and aeroponics. Now I just like the convenience of ignoring my plants for days at a time lol.

I'll probably give swick hydro a try in a couple grows. Whenever I can finish funding my second tent. Until then I can't experiment too much because my small closet limits how much I can grow.

 

[Camo420Grow]

I'll be around and sub to that grow for sure! As far as for my time invested and such a small grow area I feel the same. The dwc would be the best, and I still may choose it. Depends on how much time I'll have available come time for my grow when I decide to do dwc or coco. Is your tent in a closet in the house ? That's where mine is going and I keep my house temp between 69-74 hopefully keeping the house this cool/warm thru out the year I can be fine with tent temp aswell as reservoir temp. What do you think?

 

[Atulip]

I'll be around and sub to that grow for sure! As far as for my time invested and such a small grow area I feel the same. The dwc would be the best, and I still may choose it. Depends on how much time I'll have available come time for my grow when I decide to do dwc or coco. Is your tent in a closet in the house ? That's where mine is going and I keep my house temp between 69-74 hopefully keeping the house this cool/warm thru out the year I can be fine with tent temp aswell as reservoir temp. What do you think?

My tents inside a 3'x3' closet. I run the exhaust through the attic and pull fresh intake through a hole in the wall where I ran a ducting line into the next room. For the hot summer days I can run the ducting directly to the ac vents. With the leds though, I usually don't get more than 2-3℉ higher than the house temperatures, so that's also a big help.

 

[Camo420Grow]

My tents inside a 3'x3' closet. I run the exhaust through the attic and pull fresh intake through a hole in the wall where I ran a ducting line into the next room. For the hot summer days I can run the ducting directly to the ac vents. With the leds though, I usually don't get more than 2-3℉ higher than the house temperatures, so that's also a big help.

I won't be able to run duct thru wall in the closet, the wife would kill me ! but I am for sure going LED so I plan for that to keep my heat down, and fans as well. If have to I'll run duct to the AC vent directly. Never thought of that till you just said it ! Thanks for the idea atulip