Let’s get this party started
Welcome all, to my second indoor grow
I’m nicely rested from the summer grow and have been slowly doing a few tasks over the last couple of weeks to make some refinements to my indoor setup and get everythingready. This is my second run inside with this gear, so let’s get the setup covered.
What am I growing?
Candida CD-1: Candida is so named because it is the Latin for Bright Light. It is a 20:1 CBD dominant plant developed and stabilised by Medical Marijuana Genetics which has fast become the most treasured chemovar in my garden. I use it primarily to make a dosing oil which I combine 1:1 with a variety of high THC oils at different times of day. This protocol, since the introduction of the CD-1, manages what were previously very high pain levels daily (both chronic and acute), assists with energy metabolism and eases some neurological symptoms while also relieving elements of depression and occasional anxiety. It absolutely feels like a magical plant. I recently grew it for the first time and did so outside where was sensitive to some extreme conditions, so I have moved it to the indoor roster, for now.
My Bright Light #2 burst through the soil yesterday
Bubba Hash: I’ve been in love with the visual of this chemovar since I first saw it in neikodog’s and Graytail’s journals. Also, I love hash and the BH is reported to be a very hashy strain. That, plus the visual appeal that kept calling to me made me certain I have to try it. I actually got the seed last year and have had to wait ‘till now to grow it. I’ve been very patient.
I only had one seed so i was super stoked when this one came up 2 days ago, one day ahead of it’s roommate above. It’s vigorous and sturdy already. Nice thick and straight stem for a little plant!
How?
I grow with Doc Buds High Brix Blend, ‘the kit’, which includes dry soil amendments, drenches and foliar sprays. The base medium for the kit amendments is PH buffered sphagnum peat moss, perlite and wormcastings. This all gets cooked with the dry amendments before growing and can be re-amended and re-used a few times. This is second run soil. The first run with this batch was somewhat thwarted by fungus gnats that came in with the SPM and which I’m fairly certain i have eradicated now so I’m expecting this run will be free of them. These plants will veg for as long as possible in 1gal pots and then get transplanted into 7gal pots for flower.
I plan to employ the Uncle Bens Topping method on both plants. This involves letting them grow to 5 nodes and then topping it back to 2 nodes, for 4 main colas and any number of central smaller ones. It’s early days in my ‘career’ doing much training to plants and this method seems a good fit for this grow.
I am fortunate enough to have rain water.
Where?
My tent is a 3’ x 3’ x 6’ Gorilla, which for this grow is being vented out the bottom with a Cloudline T4 extraction fan and a passive intake at the top. This is because it’s winter and I’m running the lights on during my nighttime and I want the light to heat the tent.
With?
My light is a DIY QB fixture that I will upgrade at some point during this journal. Currently it is 5 x 128diode Quantum Boards at 3500K. I am following the ‘efficiency’ approach to build these lights, following Graytail’s lead and mentorship
so I don’t run this hotter than about 170 watts (185 from the wall). I invested in a Lux meter ($50 AUD), as this is a use-able tool when growing with these kinds of LED diodes, and the seedlings are getting about 17,000 lux with the light a little over 3’ above (100mm).The planned upgrade will add 6 x 72diode Samsung strips (1 along each outside edge and one either side of the centre QB) which I will run off a seperate driver and up to 150watts or so. I don’t expect to be running either of them at those full wattages. I do expect to try a couple of different balances between them during this grow - without changing things up too much, just more 3000K in flower etc.
Running the lights-on period overnight and reversing the airflow like that is giving me a better chance at managing my environment. The tent is in my room, which is my bedroom as well as the room i spend most of my days in so I am always there to keep monitoring. The Cloudline T4 has a great temp/RH probe and I have the panel set so I can see it from my bed
Woke up at 430am last night and the tent was lights-on with 79-80ºF and 58% 
. The other advantage to running the light-dark periods like this is that it will keep me out of the tent which will benefit both the plants and the Gardner 
.The possible experiments:
1. I had originally planned to grow a Panama alongside the Bubba Hash for this grow and that had to be sidelined for the CD-1, which is a medical necessity! I actually suspect the Panama will also become a medical necessity once I try it so I have a plan to attempt some ‘mini brix’ in small pots. Again I’m following Graytail, who has developed the art of growing small, beautiful, high brix, untopped sativas in 3gallon pots using Doc’s kit. This is a super admirable feat because growing with the ‘kit’ is all about keeping the living soil alive and thriving, so the plant can take what it needs as needed. Maintaining a thriving soil community in anything smaller than about 7gal is much more challenging. I’m planning to grow the Panama this way during this grow, and maybe another. If I do, I’ll plant it 3-4weeks before I plan to flip to bloom lighting. It’ll be a high risk adventure!
2. In keeping with the ‘small pots’ experiments, I may also try an auto or 2 in little pots using an alternative fertiliser and maybe even in Coco coir. I’ve been reading about Canna nutrients (Bio range) and the grow shop local to here (100miles away) carries them. I’ll have a chat with the guy there and see what I think. I have all these auto seeds and some of them I quite like and I’ve made some excellent dosing oils from them so I want to be able to turn them out kinda quickly at times. Being able to run a few in little pots would give me some flexibility. I also physically can’t be wrangling big plants all the time so i need to develop the art of the small pot!
I like variety and I also need certain meds. I make topical oils as well as dosing oils so I think a few autos here n there, grown in a passive hydro setup like coco might be a good topical oil supply - plus, it sounds fun! Seeing as I’ve never done it. I might see about a sample size so i can see if i like it.
I’ll wind up this intro with a big thankyou to our competition sponsor seedbanks. In particular @SeedsMan for this grow as both these seeds came to me as prizes. Also Dope Seeds, Auto Seeds and Bomb Seeds as I have wonderfull seeds from all of them and some may get a run as the little experiementals. I’ll also thank Ace Seeds for just being brilliant and maintinaing these beautiful landrace and heritage genetics and for making their seeds available at Seedsman - which has enabled me to choose them. And not least, a very big thanks to @420 & @Teddy Edwards and 420 Magazine for the great forum and for running the contests. For me the photo contest has been an amazing treat that has enabled me to access seeds that I never would have been able to otherwise.
So that the setup for this round. I’m ready and raring to go
Seeds are up, environment is set, so for now there’s nothin’ to do! 
These babies won’t need a full watering for weeks... 
For now, enjoy some Candida from back in April:
...h00k...
Move the lounge where you like and send the snacks this way!
Gotta love the search function here and the way I can just find stuff posted by one person, and using the ## features can get quite specific results. You’ve been helping me prime my brain for a possible coco grow, so, thanks!
