Buds Buddy's 1st Grow Journal

Buds Buddy said:
Guess I just expected more growers to visit & give me some tips on what I'm doing right or wrong & how to get the most out of it with what I have. At least that's what I was hoping for. I really want to learn how to get at least 8 oz. off a plant.
I keep trying & my yields do increase little by little each grow so I guess I am learning something as I go. But it's been 2 years & 5 grows later the biggest yield so far is 5.5 oz. My 1st 2 grows were all Photo's so they took longer.
As far as taking notes .... I have a binder with all the info from every grow in it & hundreds of pictures on my computer.
I think I learn more reading other peoples stuff than doing a journal at this point.
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You don't have much control over the autos. For the photos, it's just room, light, and nutrients. You need room in the container for a large root mass, so up-pot in stages to a ten gallon or larger container. You need room for a larger plant, at least 6 sq ft (0.6m^2) per plant, and a longer time in veg to grow into it. You need plenty of light, about 900ppfd or 60,000 Lux with a good spectrum - for your entire canopy. You need to provide an appropriate amount of nutrients and water to support the plant through its various stages of growth. All of this, and decent genetics will let you grow plants indoors that yield 8 or more ounces when dried and cured.

In my 2' X 4' tent the most I've harvested was close to 8oz under lights that didn't meet these criteria. My first harvest was 5.2oz. I'm looking for more from my next harvest when I have all the pieces in place. It will have taken me three years to get there. Don't give up on your vision, just soldier on and improve your knowledge and growing conditions until you achieve your goal.
 
I keep thinking about down sizing sort of. I think my 2 P900's would do exceptionally well in a 5' x 5' tent. And then get a 2 x 4 for starting seedlings or clones. Then I would just run 4 XL 6.6 gal. Auto Pots in the 5' x 5'. I have everything except for a smaller 6" Filter. I'm pretty confident it would be the perfect set up. I'd go with the Gorilla Tent since I can get the 12" extension. I believe it would give me the perfect amount of light, RH for the humidifier I have, Temps because it's a smaller area to cool with the house AC, etc. Do you think doing this would create a bigger yield per plant ? Your thoughts ?
 
That would take another $1050 Light + 2nd Humidifier + 4 more Auto Pots =$1400
5' x 5' Gorilla tent (Used) $250 & 6" Filter + 2 more Auto Pots = $500
There's the dilemma. Is it worth the $900 extra to have 2 more Auto Pots ?
 
The lights should be good in a 5' X 5' tent. You'll have over 40W / sq ft. If you have the autopot system, I'd give it a try. You may need bigger pots to get high yields. I couldn't use a 5' X 5' tent, as the pots need to be taken out for plant maintenance. Gorilla has the name, and was one of our sponsors. I'd have a look around. The 5' X 5' Gorilla tent with the 1' extension runs $388.95 USD. They're $750 CAD on Amazon's Canadian site. I don't know about shipping. I can get a clone here in Canada with free shipping for $230.99 USD. Being on a pension, money matters to me. I'd exhaust the tent to the outdoors in summer, and into the house during the winter. You'd save on the air conditioning in summer, and recover the heat in winter, plus you'd get the extra humidity in winter when most homes need it.

You should see increased yields with this setup.
 
Smokiemcpot19 said:
I'm saying to stick with the current setup you already have! Nothing seems to be wrong with it from my pov.. plenty of light and space.
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I need a 3rd light to make this 5' x 10' tent bright enough for the perfect grow.
 
Buds Buddy said:
There's the dilemma. Is it worth the $900 extra to have 2 more Auto Pots ?
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Only you can make that decision. I'd hold off until you've run a grow through the Autopots in the new configuration, and see the results. Do you need 4-6 lbs of flower a year?
 
Buds Buddy said:
I need a 3rd light to make this 5' x 10' tent bright enough for the perfect grow.
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Run a grow in half of your current tent before buying more equipment. You can use a 'space blanket' as a reflective low cost divider.
 
Actually, there's a guy real close to me selling a 48" x 50' Roll of 6 ml. mylar for $20. I work in printing so I have access to large sheets of that styrafoam poster board. Maybe I'll try that. But I really want a Gorilla Grow tent ...LOL. Mine is in great condition. It's just a cheapy though. I just don't like tents that have the rounded doorways. Always light leaks through the zippers. But with square doors you have a flap that covers the zipper & locks out light.
Anyway, I bout the 2nd Humidifier today. Exact same as the other one. 2-speed, 6 gallon tank, 2-moisture settings, $40 brand new in the box. These are usually around $100 so $40 was a good deal.
 
Old Salt said:
Only you can make that decision. I'd hold off until you've run a grow through the Autopots in the new configuration, and see the results. Do you need 4-6 lbs of flower a year?
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No, I think I could get away with just 3 lbs. if I don't share any. I smoke an oz. a week by myself. Been smoking that way for the past 20 years or so. It's hard to actually get high anymore. Now it just makes me normal. People wouldn't know what to think if they ever seen me straight. They'd think i was sick or something because they've never seen me that way.
I smoke with my morning coffee because I love the wake & bake. That's when I can actually feel something when I smoke.
 
Put the new humidifier in this morning. Put it on a timer so it goes off at light off because just 1 brings the RH up to 70% at lights off. But now with the lights on & both humidifiers going I'm at 55% - 60% (during past 4 hours) instead of 45% RH & the temp went down to 78 from 81 so it helped there also.
I'll post new pics on the 4th.
 
I do the minimum 18 / 6. I could probably yield a little more if I ran them longer but don't think it would be worth the cost of electric. The 6 hours I don't run are the On Peak hours at the Electric Co. & it costs about 3 times more to use electric during those hours. 10 weeks x 7 days = 70 x 6 hours = 420 hours of peak electric. I'd have to get an extra 6-8 oz. for it to be worth it. That might be possible; but until I'm that good I'll hold off on longer light hours.
 
Hey Buds, how ya doing man ? Your plants are sure looking good today, however it looks to me like the plants you trimmed up 4 days ago are in need of another defol. Looks to me like you'll be spending hours in your tent tomorrow feeding, tying branches back, topping photo's & another defoliation. You really should post some before & after pics for Smokey to check out though.
 
Sure thing Buds, I'll do that tomorrow.
 
Well it's Day 32 & my girls are doing alright. I just finished feeding them their last feeding of 1/4 strength nutes. I gave them all a heavy feeding of 5 - 12 oz. cups each because I wont be here to feed tonight. I'll mix enough 1/2 strength week 5 nutes to last 3 days before I start week 6 nutes which is the same as week 5 but I add Big Bud Coco Formula also.
I also raised my lights a few more inches as I need these things to start stretching some.
Pics & updates tomorrow.
 
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