Bassman59's Revenge of the Clones! 600w Pro-Bloom LED - RDWC - Grow #2

[kiefisgood]

Hey Bass! Buds are looking nice. Do you think the heavy defoliation really increased the yeild or do you think you maybe did a beter job at LST? I also defoliate but not nearly as much as you did. I have a WW that I vegged for 3 weeks and has over 20 tops without major defoliation. I am wondering if I should try and do more heavy defol. I can post pics if you want to see just let me know

 

[Bassman59]

Hey thanks for jumpin in here kiefisgood.

I am 100% positive it helped increase yield. And I really didnt do any LST. In fact, if you mean in terms of bending in veg, had I done better at it and more, they wouldn't even fit in this 4x4. Hell, it woulda been so stress full in these two tubs due to just the mass, I probably would have killed at least 2 had I bent them right (more).

I'd love to see your pics. I'm sure others would as well.

 

[kiefisgood]

Check out my journal I just started it tell me what you think. Im always loking for feedback.

It is in my sig

 

[FoF1985]

i just read through your grow and wow . i almost choked after that first defoliation and now look how they are now ! WOW !

 

[Bassman59]

ya your grow is totally LST. I havent read up at all on combining LST with major defoliation like I have done. And because I've never done LST I couldnt comment on that really either.

My bending is not LST really. I mean I topped and or fimmed, I defoliated the shit out of them in veg which made the nodes come real close together. And when I bend now, it's a 90 degree twist & turn. Hell I abuse the shit out of them. I think I have S&M plants tbh. The more I beat on them, the more they like it.

Your plant looks nice & healthy though!

 

[Bassman59]

i just read through your grow and wow . i almost choked after that first defoliation and now look how they are now ! WOW !

Hey welcome to my grow FoF.

Please, keep in mind, I missed out poorly on training the shit out of them in veg. I was way to cautious and inexperienced at bending like they want using this major stripping technique. Ideally we want our plants to be 32" squared and mine aren't nearly as wide as they should be. Had I bent them in veg properly they would have but then they wouldnt fit either.

My Mast Kush seeds I just popped will get the full treatment and all 4 (saving one to mother) will get their own 5 gal bucket (I hope). THOSE babies should really do well! I mean they should stomp all over these 6 in this grow.

If you're seriously interested in learning about the technique, I highly suggest you google: Defoliation: Hi-Yield Technique and read all 200 pages of the first one that pops up in google.

I was fortunate to have a major contributor to that thread pay me a visit a couple weeks ago and coach me a bit. I hope to possibly do a much better journal on the technique with the Master Kush. Not that I'm unhappy with this grow. Hell I'm thrilled! But it is my first go at it.

 

[sqwheels]

And one hell of a go it's been...things look great. Keep up the good work, I'll be watching the next too

 

[Bassman59]

Mini Update:

Day 57 in 12/12

Well the girls look good. I bumped the Ginormous up a little bit 2 days ago. Hopefully it adds bulk. I think we're probably 2-3 weeks away. I know I said that about a week ago, but I'm adding another week just in case. I really feel like I harvested too early last grow.

The girls look fine. Today is just a few random pics with my new magnifier camera. I still dont know how to use it well on the gals. And keeping enough of a steady hand is a bitch. I dont want to pluck buds just for pics.

My Master Kush seeds are all beginning 1st set of leaves. They have lanky as hell stems presently. Still in the root riot cubes because today when I went out to run errands I forgot to get a new 4 outlet pump and airstones to put them into 5 gal buckets. I probably wont get that done now till Thursday. Two of them do have root just coming out of the cubes in my cloning tray. I have nutrient set up at about 250ppm using Blue Planet Farmers pride two part with AN B52, a little Hygrozyme, and cal-mag plus. I'll run that light nutrient until first topping/fim. Then I'll bump it to about 450-500 until first defoliation then about 700 or so.

If my timing holds out well. I'll be taking my two AK48 moms and putting them into the two RDWC tubs my current grow is in and flower them when I harvest this grow while I veg out the Master Kush for about 8 weeks. Hopefully sometime after I harvest this current grow, I'll be able to buy a new tent, probably 5x5, LED lights and chiller, and get 4/5 MK's into flower, and clone a mom for 4 girls to go into my current tent when the two AK48's harvest and I'll have a veg tent, flower tent, and propagate in closet cycle working.

Edit: Oh I raised the light up about 5=6" too today. It's intensity was bleaching out the top of the tallest tops so I was too close.

No pics from regular camera today. Just a few from the new scope-cam. Not great pics, but I'm new at it.

 

[Kaiser Sose 3]

Very cool pics. Can't wait to see the final pics.

 

[Bassman59]

Update:

Day 59 in 12/12

Took regular pics yesterday, I'll upload those. Girls are looking great. While I mentioned before the lowest parts wouldnt do well because I didnt train out the big girls enough, they actually look to be doing not so bad down below. I mean they are small buds, but they appear like they may just make it to cut n dry rather than into hash mix.

These ladies are consistently drinking up 2 gals per day. This morning at lights on, at about 1/2 gal down per tub (1gal total) ppm is about 880. At fill yesterday ppm was 800 exactly. And the day before that when I added 2 gals and bumped the ginormous up a little the ppm hit 1000. So this afternoon I'll top off 2 gals. If I don't add any nutes it'll probably end up about 750-760 ppm. At that ppm I could add a mix and bring it up to 980-1000. I'll wait and see. I'll just top off with water and retake. This will let me know for sure how much nutrient uptake they are really using. But I totally expect it's going to show me they are liking the nutrient mix I'm giving them and the bump in ginormous.

I'm only feeding these girls BPN 2 part, B52, Ginormous, Hygrozyme, and calmag.

PH this morning was 5.4

It's time for these gals to start really bulking up. I'm thinking about switching lights to 10.5 on and 13.5 off. Any thoughts on that? They probably have 2 2.5 weeks to go till ready to chop.

Here's pics from yesterday:

 

[sqwheels]

Bassman,

Pictures tell the tale...very nice.

 

[bobulak]

Hey Bass. I have a question. I noticed that your setup has 8 net pots on your res. Do you find that when your plants start to grow fast, it gets to crowded? The reason I ask is that I resisted building a very similar system because I figured it would get over crowded. I have all the parts and after reading your journal I may just give it a try.

You grow looks great btw

 

[Bassman59]

If you're referring to the veg res, yes thats 8 net pots. I wouldnt suggest it. But I had 8 clones and that was the only tub I had when I switched last grow into flower.

I took 6 out of that reservoir when I harvested which was at about 2 months veg time on these clones. In my tent now under flower is those 6 plants. 3 in each tub. Using this technique 3 is really too many per tub (these tubs have 6 net pots). Two using this technique is doable but not optimal if the girls get a proper veg with lots of wide ass bending along with major stripping.

As it is now with my grow I had to bend the hell out of these in flower to keep the canopy as low as possible and even. The net result however is it also made secondary branches take leads and form nice colas. If we look at the wide view, it may be hard to see, but this is 6 plants with 50 colas, and 100 upper area buds. By bending and defoliating however, I also slowed the stretch some which I really wanted to do so the light would penetrate deeper. I hope the result of this is over 1 lb dry. It wasn't done optimally, but I think I am doing ok based on the options I had with the gear in hand.

I just transplanted 4 Master Kush seedlings 2 days ago into 5 gal buckets that will veg for 2 months then go RDWC into flower. I'm hoping to see those 4 give more yield than these 6.

 

[Bassman59]

Bassman,

Pictures tell the tale...very nice.

yes Sqwheels they do, and sadly, I'm not seeing the frosty trichs I'd like to see. I'm worried that the potency of this ak48 is crapola. 2/3 were not impressed last grow, granted I had issues in that grow.

That being said, my fingers get sticky really fast when I go in plucking leaves. hell I dunno. But it worries me.

 

[sqwheels]

Hi Bass,

Sorry I've never tried the ak's, don't know about their potency...but you're right, by now they should have a pretty thick coat of sugar...keep watching

Good Luck,

 

[kiefisgood]

the look good bass. I have started defoliation. but not as drastic as you just some here and there. But i ade sure to start them from the clone into the process. Check y journal if you like I just updated

 

[Bassman59]

Looks good kief. But I have one complaint.

sideways pics. Give no justice to the plants. Turn your camera or rotate in edit.

in fact, pics from directly above are kinda bad too imo. No depth perception available at 90 degrees above.

 

[Blue Planet Nutrients]

Dank colas is all that I see in here

 

[Bassman59]

hi thar, welcome sir!

 

[Bassman59]

Update:

Day 64 in 12/12

We should be seeing some bulk buildup now I think. I can't be sure, but it seems to me they are bulking. Just not sure if it's as expected or on the leaner side. Seems lean to me. I turned off the LED to take pics and we can see they are frosty. Every time I touch them my hands are filled with sticky.

I've bumped ppms to about 1000 now (.5 scale). Been pushing more ginormous into them and a little bit more of the BPN two part Farmers Pride. On a top off they have hit as high as 1150, but when drinking 2 gals per day, I just add 1 gal of straight RO water and it brings it down.

PH this morning was 5.9. It's been in the zone with little need to adjust other than the feeding nutrient, the entire grow.

Now, for a confession: I have not drained and replenished one time even since going into flower! Things have been so smooth, and my visitor a few weeks ago mentioned he has done this many times. As long as temps are kept low, and proper nutrients are used and ph stays good. Truth is, it's a pain in the ass with multiple plants in single tubs. They can too easily fall over and get damaged when I pull the top and move them to the spare tub to clean and refill.

I still can't get good shots on the plant with the microscope cam. Too damn hard to hold steady and jeebus it burns through batteries. But looking under my 30-100x scope briefly it looks like less than 20% cloudy Trichs. A guess would be 2 weeks to go at most.

If the bulk gets there, the yield on these 6 girls should be pretty good. 1# is my goal. That would be .75gpw and satisfactory for only my 2nd grow and less than optimally done because of the 3 plants per tub and light-area restrictions. Next grow goal is to equal or surpass that with 2 less plants. Might be hard because it's a different strain (Master Kush) and from seedling, so nodes are further apart. But with individual buckets and good training, it may happen.

On to pics: