JohnGalt's 2nd Grow (1st Indoor) - Soil SCROG

10/22/10 - Switched to 12/12; storm moving through so humidity is up, but can be kept under 80% fairly easily.

10/25/10 - Watered with 1/4-dose nutes (3/4 tbsp/gal Fox Farms Big Bloom, 1/2 tbsp/gal FF Tiger Bloom, 1/16 tbsp/gal SuperThrive, 1/2 tbsp/gal Molassas). Took a little over 5 gallons between all 12.

Due to house guests over the weekend wasn't able to do any work in the tent. Oh boy... they are even taller today... A couple were within 6" of the lamp, but didn't seem to be bothered by the heat of being so close. So, I'm WAY overdue getting this turned into a scrog.

Found out the $8 garden screen I picked up at my local hydro shop was nothing near what I needed. It was too elastic, broken in spots, and overall low quality. So, used some mason cord to make my screen... by hand... took about 30 minutes to weave it, but I'm happy with the results.

Also built a water delivery system (that's the fancy name I've given my contraption) - simply drilled a hole in the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket, attached a 18' of 1/4" surgical tube, and capped the tube with a valve and another 2' of hose. Really simple, and very effective. The tough part was securing it to the wall, but some screws and bailing wire fixed that.

Pictures coming up soon.
 
Overhead view of screen:
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Side view (after training plants under screen):
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Below the screen:
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Close up of tallest plant (before training this one was a good 6-7" above the screen):
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View from up against the inside wall (long-ways):
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Note that the 4 underdeveloped girls got put in the middle. This is mostly to keep them more directly under the light, and also to ensure the taller girls will fill in any screen left open by the runts. I wouldn't be surprised if they're choked off from the light completely within a week or two, but I'm fairly confident even the 8 tall ones alone can fill this screen fairly well.

Also note the screen is 15" above the tops of the pots (which are 9" tall). This is due to my delays in getting the screen in. They simply grew too tall for my original plan. Good thing my tent design allowed an extra 18" of head space.
 
10/25/10 - Got medicated and forgot to add... found spider mites on one of the plants in a corner where I sometimes have to leave the wall flap open to reduce humidity in the tent. Sprayed the plant and two nearby with 50/50 mix of water and "70% rubbing alcohol". Hopefully this doesn't lead to pinhole burns from the water drops acting as magnifying lenses.
 
Maffchew said:
Great idea on the pest control using rubbing alcohol mate, as for the plants there looking great ! very promising :D You should check out my grows and give us a feew pointers yeah? The links are in my signature below, goodluck all the best mate.
Click to expand...

Thanks for dropping by. I'm new to growing, but I read a lot. So not sure how much I'll be able to help. Would still be glad to come by and check out your grows.
 
Tmac12 said:
Looking good! I think your runts are gonna be in the jungle very soon! :smokin:
Click to expand...

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Took another picture of the runts almost exactly 24 hours after the last one, and I'd say there's been at least 2 inches of vertical growth - they're really racing for that light.

Even the tall girls stretched a solid inch or two!

(Sorry, no picture, my computer ate it. Will try to get another when the light comes on tonight.)


Weather is cold and getting colder. Storm is passed, so humidity is coming down a bit. This weekend we're supposed to see highs around 60F and lows around 35F, so I'm hoping cold is easier to fight than heat (keep in mind 10 days ago I was battling heat with highs around 90F and overnight lows around 70F)... crazy Cali weather.
 
10/27/10 - Welcome to the jungle. (For side-by-side reference, I've re-posted the last pics I posted which were taken almost exactly 48 hours before these. Pics will be in before-after order in case you can't tell.)

Overhead view:
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Side view:
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(Note the plants were trained under the screen 24 hours ago, so the difference shown above is just 24 hours worth.)

Side view after training tonight:
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Under the screen (a lot more going on; not the lower branches stretching to get to the light):
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And long view down runt row:
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Can't wait to see what they do on 1/2- or full-dose nutes...

Edit: Almost forgot to mention... lowered the light a few inches. Instead of using a tape measure and going by distance, I simply used a light meter to make sure a minimum of 1,000 lumens at the edges of the screen (my meter is maxed out at 1" in from the edge of the screen).
 
Looks like the fun is about to begin!

For your spider mites and other creepy crawlies, Hot Shot NPS strips work great - use them for a couple of weeks then put them away since the fumes are not good to breathe.
 
10/31/10 - Just wanted to share some pics since it has been a few days. Some of the bud sites are showing the first pistils. Just 1-2 on a few sites, but was still an exciting discovery.

Overhead view:
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Side view:
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Under the screen:
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"Runt" row (note that 3 of the 4 runts are almost touching the screen... that's over 12 inches of growth in 9 days):
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11/3/10 - Watered with 1/2-dose nutrients. It's been very humid the past few weeks. Trying to bring up the ambient room temp to reduce condensation in the grow tent. Got a small space heater (oil filled radiator from Wal-Mart - it's the best heater I've ever owned) and put it nearby.

11/4/10 - 14 days of veg, 14 more days of flowering. Just wanted to mark the milestone.

Still fighting humidity... I can see this will be an ongoing problem this fall/winter. Every time I open the tent the walls and leaves are coated with condensation. Other than further raising the heat and turning up the ventilator, I'm not sure what I can do... any advice would be helpful.

The good news is I can't find a single thing wrong with the plants, despite my inability to provide an ideal environment. I think we're due for some pictures!

A couple attempts at macro shots of the newly forming buds.
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Overhead:
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Above the screen:
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Below the screen:
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The shot formerly known as "runt row" (notice the bigger sister's attempt to block the shot... such a camera whore that one):
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Amazing how much they've filled in... I think I need to move some of the growing tips around a bit to more evenly fill in the screen. For some reason they're all growing TOWARD the light instead of straight up... imagine that!
 
"The shot formerly known as "runt row" (notice the bigger sister's attempt to block the shot... such a camera whore that one):"

Had a sister like that too! Plants looking good!
 
11/9/10 - watered with full-dose nutrients. Per the Fox Farms schedule I'm now also using Grow Big.

Plants are looking great, staring to smell great. Buds are filling in nicely; a couple bud sites directly under the light are looking particularly dense. Also, the first little sparkles of trichomes have formed.

It's been a challenge to adjust things under the screen lately. Accidentally "supercropped" a couple of the stems while trying to make minor adjustments to areas that were too crowded.

Will try to remember to get some pictures tomorrow night so I have some eye candy to post.
 
11/10/10 - Woke up to a power outage... lights went on at 9 PM as usual, and were on at least until 3 AM. So the girls may have got as little as 6 hours last night. Been a super stressful day waiting to see how they looked when lights went on tonight. Glad to report the girls look fine.

Sorry still no pics, gotta deal with a dead short in my electrical (very old wiring). Luckily I have a temporary power source (very long extension cord).
 
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