GC's First Indoor Cabinet Grow

[Governmentchz]

Yeah, she's a little "leggy" and I didn't top her like I did her sister so she could catch up a bit. Their size is within an inch or two of each other.

 

[KingJohnC]

your plants are looking good.

 

[Governmentchz]

Thx KJC.

I only get a relatively short window to check them out and do whatever they may need done now since the lights go out at 5p. But I usually get home about 3p or so, and make sure to check them right away. Then I get a small window in the a.m. after they come back on at 5a. I can usually get in there for 15 mins or so before I have to get ready to head to the salt mines.

I intend to check them each afternoon and schedule a.m. feedings before heading out.

 

[Governmentchz]

A small update today. It's the start of day 5 after flip. I fed Thursday (3ML CaliMagic, 3ML FD Part "A", 5ML FD Part "B" in 1 gal RO water pH 5.8 with no adjustment necessary), and only turn them a bit and trim undergrowth here and there. Here are a couple pics:

and a couple of Little Sis here. She's caught up completely in upward growth but still is just a skinny girl compared to her chunky sister.

 

[EyeDooIt]

Looking healthy and lots of tops GC!

 

[bouncintiga]

looking great! lil sis doesn't look so little anymore. I'm interested to see how these panels work for ya. How high are you keeping the the LED panel from the top of the plants now in flowering?

 

[Governmentchz]

They are about 32 inches from the light right now and I expect to just let them grow to the light from now on. They've stayed about 28 inches most of their lives so far, with a shortest distance of 24" and a maximum distance of 36". I haven't experimented with distance too much and just used median distances as described by others with these lights.

They both started showing sex too. I'll try to get some pics this afternoon.

 

[bouncintiga]

They are about 32 inches from the light right now and I expect to just let them grow to the light from now on. They've stayed about 28 inches most of their lives so far, with a shortest distance of 24" and a maximum distance of 36". I haven't experimented with distance too much and just used median distances as described by others with these lights.

They both started showing sex too. I'll try to get some pics this afternoon.

cool! I've noticed you and some other LED growers have said to let the plants grow to the lights. are you going to move the lights up once they reach a certain threshold if they've grown significantly into the 32 inches? I'm somewhat height restricted and i'm worried if the 5w MARS 2 panels might be too intense. Been thinking of getting the 3W reflector series instead (been following buckshot's grow too). From the base of the plant (or top of the grow pot) to the the light i'm working with just under 4 feet.

 

[Governmentchz]

Nah, I have another 4 inches or so I can raise, but this strain is known to be on the shorter side (Jon705's results aside. He just screwed the bell curve for the rest of us... ) I still have over 2 feet of allowable vertical growth before they get into the dreaded ">15". Interestingly enough, Little Sis has caught and just barely passed Big Sis vertically (remember, I didn't top her), but the big girl's 2 main stems are starting to gain some momentum. The reservoirs indicated very close to empty this morning, but the medium was still damp so I plan to let them sleep tonight and check/feed in the a.m.

 

[Governmentchz]

I fed this a.m. with the same soup mix as before (~720 ppm with lean towards bloom nutrients Part "B"). I gave the entire gallon split between the two and after feeding there was no runoff which I felt a bit strange as I anticipated there would still be some water in the res. With no runoff though, they may have just started drinking more again. I'll have to check them, but they went from feeding every 6 days to every 4 days over the last week and a half, so this may simply be their growth spurt kicking in. I may have to up it to every 3 days soon. A few update pics on tap for this eve. Tomorrow marks 7 days after flip.

 

[Ripper0863]

loving being subbed to this thread. Love the clean closet you have. I havent started yet, but I am hoping to in the next little while. Led's, and a grow closet running a hydro setup. I have been hestitant about the LED's only due to the response from the readers saying that the yield is no where as good as with regular lights. Almost 30-40 percent less. Its hard to imagine it being that amount but what the hell do I know. I am a newbie...lol.

Keep up the good work. Your two little ladies look incredibly healthy and ready to start producing. Will be fun to watch them show thier buds...

Ripper

 

[Governmentchz]

Thanks Ripper0863. I'm certainly not in position to expound the virtues of LED's...yet, but there are some on here that can, and have, achieved incredible yields with LED's. Jon705 gets mad yields and BigIrishDoode has just finished a few that were the highest quality he's yet produced, and THAT is no small thing. I think as people learn more about how to use this technology it's production will be comparable in many ways. It's already comparable if you factor in cost savings and decreased nute usage. Personally, I'm only interested in supplying my own needs and fully expect this setup to meet those expectations. Since quantity isn't really "the" issue, it's my desire to produce the best quality stuff I can and exceed what is normally available around here on the street, and sparing myself the liabilities of acquiring it that way as well.

 

[Mars Hydro]

 

[Ripper0863]

hehe, its so funny for me. The more reading I do on the all the journals, look at the pics, the setups, etc. I get all starry eyed thinking about all the possibilities. Then I get brought back down to reality with having to deal with my own situation. I only have a small space to work with. I am not going to make thousands of dollars with it, so I have succumbed to the idea of perfecting a small grow to find out if I can even do this. I think with all the help, ideas, and overall camraderie on here it will not be difficult. Once I have the process down then I can look towards the future and see if it can be done on a larger more commercial scale. New rules coming into effect in Canada next year and with that comes opportunities.

So for now, I am going to perfect the process for myself and produce some killer bud. Once that is achieved the rest will fall into place.

Thank you for your journal. I am enjoying it immensely....

 

[Governmentchz]

Will have a pic update tonight. After 8 days in flower they have stretched some, but it's not the vertical that I'm concerned about. They have both bushed out so, that they are crowding each other a good bit. This weekend I will go in and do what pulling and moving I can to get some of those lower sites into the light. I still have that T5 panel I had saved back to put in there vertically for side coverage, but that was just an idea. One that I'm not sure about either.

This light seems to give quite good penetration and it's represented best by a view from the top which I will try to show this eve. I've adjusted their nutes to their flowering needs giving 1:2 on the Part A and Part B respectively. I've also backed down the CaliMagic to about half of what I was giving before. I've been using the GH feeding schedule recommendations as a guideline (Feedcharts) and have had very good results so far.

 

[Ripper0863]

I am looking forward to the pics. I was wondering seeing as this is not your first grow, what did you find was your biggest hurdle in getting to where you are now? You have had a lot of success it seems and I can only guess that it had a lot to do with the information found on this site. I have yet to start one but am ever so close to doing just that, and for me the biggest thing to get past is just the information overload. I imagine it is just like buying a Franchise business. Why reinvent the wheel if it keeps rolling along with no flats. Copy what those have done and the rest is easy....lol

Congrats so far. You certainly have a way with your journal and I enjoy them immensely...

 

[Governmentchz]

Thanks Ripper. My biggest hurdle? Probably just getting started once the decision was made to move forward with it. That and the prep to attain and maintain some reasonable level of stealth as it's not even close to legal where I am. It's easy to get caught up in all the different styles of growing, all the different mediums, all the different types of lights, nutes and all the other things, including those that might be mostly just gimmicks. I decided on one of the easiest methods, hempy. I also selected one of the best lights for the money that allows for less nute-usage, less energy spent, less heat to contend with thus less McGyvering needed on creative ventilation and such. I also decided on a very simple 2-part nute regimen. No additives (at least not this time), and try to trust that as long as I do my part things will not get out of hand.

So, hempy with a simple 2-part nutrient is about as simple as you can get IMO, which is a great thing because I'm lazy AND it eliminated a number of things that could go wrong. To make it simpler for me, I would research a few things and ultimately made a list of things I needed to get. I scratched a few items and replaced with others as I went, but I got everything on my list. Some of it, I'm not even using. I got a chiller and a 24/7 tri-meter, both of which I'm not even using since I didn't go with DWC. That's about $500 that was unnecessary for this grow. My only consolation there is I may use them later at some point. I would also sell them if someone were interested (and Christmas is right around the corner).

 

[Ripper0863]

I think the biggest fear is failing but honestly if you dont try you will never know. I just want to do it right so I try and read and read and read and then I get a headache because I have filled my head with too much stuff. Stealth is my choice as well as I live in a condo. Limited space available so one of the grow cabinets will have to be the choice for me. I guess that will be the cost factor as they are not cheap but I do know that in the long run it will pay off.

Hoping that it all comes together soon...

 

[Governmentchz]

Hoping that it all comes together soon...

It will man. Before you know it, you'll be looking at a pile of stuff that simply needs to be put into action.

 

[Governmentchz]

Good Morning all. I didn't get to the room before lights out last night (I checked them, but not enough time to shoot some pics) so I took a few this a.m. after I fed/watered. I fed with 1.5ML CaliMagic, 3ML Part A, 5ML Part B, 1ML KoolBloom in 1 gal RO water. Total ppm was ~700 and pH 5.9. For some reason I needed a drop of pH Lower as after mixing it settled at 6.1

Today represents day 10 since flip, and while I said I wasn't going to dick around with additives, I got a supplement yesterday and used it first time this morning. It's GH Liquid Koolbloom and is supposed to add weight in flower. 1ML doesn't seem like much, but we'll see. Baby steps on that stuff since everything else seems to be running well and the girls are happy.

So, a few pics:

I haven't run the humidifier in a week, but parameters are still stable

Little Sis showing some sexy