DobeWan's First Grow! LA Confidential & 24K Gold - LED - 3x3 - Coco

[DobeWan]

I feel like I got a good deal on the bundle at the hydro shop - I got a Mammoth Propagator 90 tent, 2 6400k T5s, a mount for the lights, an extension cable to link the lights, hangers for the mount, and trays, all for $200 CDN all in.

The tent is 2' height x 2' depth x 3' width, so I could even make four 3 gallon Smart Pots fit if I wanted.

I now have the basic gear to start growing perpetually! I should have something new for the flower tent the second a spot opens!

 

[Lady Antheia]

You got an awesome deal! The cheapest 2 ft T5 that had the ability to daily chain was $80 on Amazon.

 

[DobeWan]

I'm thinking I'm going to head back down and get 2 more of those T5s once things get going. I'll be fine to start clones and seedlings, but it seems like once the plants get some size, 2 3' T5s won't cut it. I'd probably need 4 or more pretty soon.

 

[DobeWan]

I decided to take the clones. I took one from one of the oldest branches on the LA Confidential 2, from the lowest node. It was a little woodier at the base of where I made the cut so hopefully it doesn't take too long to get going. The 24K Gold cutting was from the first set of new tops coming off of first node of one of the lowest branches. As they'd been getting more light than the equivalent LA branches, they were more mature and thus more suitable to cloning. But this was a far more delicate stem, per the advice in the Jorge Cervantes grow bible that a less starchy cutting would root more quickly. We'll see how they go. I didn't trim leaves on either, although I removed the lowest set of leaves from the LA cutting entirely, again per Cervantes. Cervantes also says it's still a good time to take cuttings until about 2 weeks into veg, so worst case if these don't make it, I'll have a chance to try again.

 

[DobeWan]

The timer has been updated - lights out starts at 8:00 AM tomorrow instead of 2:00 PM. 12/12 is underway! Today is 51V - tomorrow is 1F!!!

Here's a shot of LA2 modeling in the new veg tent. I have a clone of it under there now - maybe my perpetual journal needs to get started soon?

 

[Old TimingMan]

Looks like you were busy the last couple days Dobe!

I have been out of town since Friday AM on a family matter, will be back Sunday afternoon so I don't know if I will make the light change as planned, it will depend on how the coco gals look with out their morning and evening watering skipped since Friday morning, I watered till I had a good run-off with just PH'd water, no nutes, and left the run-off in the catch pans so if they look good and not too droopy, I may also change lights.

All of the gals except one in the RDWC were poking up through the scrog Fri. morning, that one had a inch or so to go which hopefully should be through when I get back! (Now thinking up plan for emergency/automatic watering system for coco plants!)

Love your new veg set-up, and you are right on upgrading down the road, you may get a couple good uses out of it and sell it for close to what you shelled out for it now.

One suggestion I would make to you is rather than stick more $$$ into T5's and fixtures, consider moving your current LED into the veg tent after they get established on the t5's and concentrate your $$$ into a better more powerful LED flower light. T5's for rooting clones/sprouting seeds, a good low to mid power LED in the veg stage, and ass kicking LED or COB for flower/finish.

I plan on taking a few clones myself to learn the process from these plants, and will be looking at some of the other genetics to try like your 24K (love fat bushy look of that salad bowl plant!).

Hope your seeds are popping and your clones are making roots

 

[Canada Guy]

The timer has been updated - lights out starts at 8:00 AM tomorrow instead of 2:00 PM. 12/12 is underway! Today is 51V - tomorrow is 1F!!!

Here's a shot of LA2 modeling in the new veg tent. I have a clone of it under there now - maybe my perpetual journal needs to get started soon?

Looking very nice. She looks happy in the new tent. The fun is about to begin with flowering. .

 

[DobeWan]

Looks like you were busy the last couple days Dobe!

I have been out of town since Friday AM on a family matter, will be back Sunday afternoon so I don't know if I will make the light change as planned, it will depend on how the coco gals look with out their morning and evening watering skipped since Friday morning, I watered till I had a good run-off with just PH'd water, no nutes, and left the run-off in the catch pans so if they look good and not too droopy, I may also change lights.

All of the gals except one in the RDWC were poking up through the scrog Fri. morning, that one had a inch or so to go which hopefully should be through when I get back! (Now thinking up plan for emergency/automatic watering system for coco plants!)

Hope all is well - with your family and your plants. I'm thinking yours might need a day after getting upset from their regular schedule, but should be good to go soon.

Love your new veg set-up, and you are right on upgrading down the road, you may get a couple good uses out of it and sell it for close to what you shelled out for it now.

One suggestion I would make to you is rather than stick more $$$ into T5's and fixtures, consider moving your current LED into the veg tent after they get established on the t5's and concentrate your $$$ into a better more powerful LED flower light. T5's for rooting clones/sprouting seeds, a good low to mid power LED in the veg stage, and ass kicking LED or COB for flower/finish.

I don't disagree with you in concept and think the end state is probably exactly that - my current LED becomes my veg light and I upgrade my flower light. I just don't think I'll get all that sorted while my current ladies are in flower. 2 more T5s would, I think, give me enough to get plants pretty far along in veg - maybe not with results like my LED now, but not bad either. The challenge with my current LED is that it can't go into this small tent - it needs 24" from the plants. But it would be fine in a 3x3 veg tent as I already know. I'll do some thinking.

I plan on taking a few clones myself to learn the process from these plants, and will be looking at some of the other genetics to try like your 24K (love fat bushy look of that salad bowl plant!).

I'll definitely be following along if you do ever grow it! I have a few more seeds of it, so if my clone doesn't make it all is not lost.

Hope your seeds are popping and your clones are making roots

Jury will be out on my clones for a while yet, but those seeds I put in yesterday are already opened up. I'm going to let the taproot come out a little more but they'll be planted in solo cups and under the T5s tonight!

 

[DobeWan]

1F!!!

So far so good! Everything is looking happy, with the small exception of the light burned areas on the LA #1.

I've added a dehumidifier, and it's slow going. It doesn't help that it has been very humid outside and all through the house. I might have to adjust positioning, even clamping it to the frame, for best results in the tent.

Bonus shot: 1V for my 2nd / perpetual grow! From left to right - Kushy Kush seed; Chocolope seed; 24K Gold #2 clone; LA Confidential #2 clone.

 

[Old TimingMan]

The coco gals really surprised me when I got home this afternoon, no droopiness and they looked very happy so I gave them a good drink of PH'd only water and they will get a extra couple hours of darkness tonight with a good drink of transition nutes in the AM...12/12 is on schedule

I am in the process of filling 5 gal buckets for the RDWC gals res change as we speak...it takes 1 1/2 hrs for my RO system to fill a bucket x 5 buckets = 7 1/2 hrs and another 45 min to mix, drain, and change so it will be a late night but worth it.

I was going to ask you if you used a cloning gel or root stimulant for your clones? I need to order some, so it gets here by next weekend, have the rapid rooters already and will be setting up the shelf/equipment in the tent this week...exciting times ahead!

 

[DobeWan]

Awesome! Canada Guy just flipped too, and Lady Antheia last week, so a bunch of us are all flipping at the same time. Exciting times ahead!

I did indeed use Clonex. I just bought the smallest packet and clipped it shut again in case I needed to use it soon. I went into presoaked rockwool cubes and pushed down until I felt resistance, then stuffed a piece of rockwool into the hole to hold the stem in place and seal off any air from getting in. My clones are droopy but alive, so I'll keep them domed for a few days and see what happens. Worst case, I throw in another couple of seeds or take another cutting of clones in the next 2 weeks.

 

[Cheesecake]

Hey Dobe, glad I found your journal! I've had some IBS flare ups lately so I might have to look more into these strains. They're all looking nice and healthy by the way!

 

[Old TimingMan]

Awesome! Canada Guy just flipped too, and Lady Antheia last week, so a bunch of us are all flipping at the same time. Exciting times ahead!

I did indeed use Clonex. I just bought the smallest packet and clipped it shut again in case I needed to use it soon. I went into presoaked rockwool cubes and pushed down until I felt resistance, then stuffed a piece of rockwool into the hole to hold the stem in place and seal off any air from getting in. My clones are droopy but alive, so I'll keep them domed for a few days and see what happens. Worst case, I throw in another couple of seeds or take another cutting of clones in the next 2 weeks.

Great! I will get some on order.

I will have to find Canada Guys journal, been following LA's battle with the males and sounds like she is popping some seeds also.

My two strains run 8-10 weeks for flower so around the end of August will be tentative harvest for me barring no road bumps

 

[DobeWan]

Hey Dobe, glad I found your journal! I've had some IBS flare ups lately so I might have to look more into these strains. They're all looking nice and healthy by the way!

Thanks! Any time you want to talk about IBS I'm down. I've experimented with a number of strains - and a bunch of other techniques and approaches - with varying degrees of success over the years. Mine is IBS-D which seems to be a different beast entirely from IBS-C. At this point I'm trying to isolate triggers to some success but I still don't have it fully figured out.

 

[DobeWan]

My two strains run 8-10 weeks for flower so around the end of August will be tentative harvest for me barring no road bumps

8 weeks on the LA, 10 on the 24K for me. I'll be letting them go to the later side since the couchlock effect is usually what I associate with strains that give me relief. Either way I should be done by Labour Day.

 

[Canada Guy]

DobeWan, this is going to be a fun way to compare grows!

 

[TheBlaze]

Looking awesome in here my man, and I subbed at just the right time.

 

[Jdub95]

I've been so impressed with it since I got it going well! Can't wait to see what it gives me in flower.

How long did your seed take To sprout for the 24k gold

 

[DobeWan]

Looking awesome in here my man, and I subbed at just the right time.

Thanks Blaze, honoured to have you along for the ride!

 

[DobeWan]

How long did your seed take To sprout for the 24k gold

I used the paper towel method to germinate. Looking back it was about 36 hours from putting it in the paper towel to planting, and about 24 hours after planting that it broke the surface of the coco.