KJ's T5/CFL 1st Time Grow

[KarlJay]

Well now I'm in a hellva spot. Most all of grow 4 is ready to start flower, the clone/teens in the cups are ready for 5 gallon bags, and my flower rooms is FULL.

For some reason, grow 4 started some rapid growth and are now as tall or taller than some of the ones in flower from grow 3.

Clearly my schedule is all screwed up. I've been taking clones from 2 grows ahead, in other words, I was taking clones from the plants just before going into flower... I need to hold off on the clones until the prior grow is big enough to clone from. This should spread things out by about 1 month.

1 month just happens to be about where the current ones are from harvest... Based on what they look like now, my guess is that the plants in flower need about 1 more month to finish. A few are ahead of that, a few are behind that, but that's about when I expect to start the next harvest.

Update on the new light layout, I can see the effect kicking in on the lower branches and the water usage is still faster than before, so it's clearly getting more heat down low instead of keeping it above. This should be ok once the outside temps start dropping.

As far as how much difference the lower hanging light makes, I think the current plants are at a disadvantage because of the lack of lower lights during the veg cycle. I should have better results with the next few grows because they'll have better developed lower parts. Also, I'm changing the per run number from near 30 to close to 20. That should free up some room and give better yields.

Thinking about getting a different strain, these are indica dominate, maybe I'll try a sativa dominate.

 

[Graytail]

As ugly as it may sound, you could top the ones in veg. How fast are they growing per week? You could take off 4 times that much, and let them regrow. You'd have very bushy plants with great root systems. Worth mulling over.

I got my journal started - come take a look! See what I've been up to.

Graytail's Cupwinners in High Brix Soil - 4x4 - 600W HPS - Perpetual

 

[KarlJay]

Update: Ran out of Biotanicare black strap molasses, so called around, found NOBODY had it, it was on back order. Someone said something about causing cancer but didn't have details.

Switched to EarthJuice Hi-Brix About $15/Gallon.

While there, talked to a local and she recommended KoolBloom to make the buds bigger. It's a 'bulking formula' 0-10-10 from GH. About $20/quart. We'll see if it makes a difference.

I don't know if it's the strains that I'm growing or the nutes, but based on some of the pics, my buds were a bit on the shy side.

The local was surprised I wasn't using anything for bulking, so maybe this stuff should be standard setup. Also, she said that I can kick up the molasses because you really can't overdose a plant with molasses.

So we'll see if this KoolBloom makes any difference. I expect to have some plant harvest ready in 2 to 4 weeks.

 

[KarlJay]

Update: The KoolBloom additive seems to be working, I've had several feedings with it and it does look like it's helping with the size of the upper buds.

Grow 3 is about 2 weeks or less to harvest, about 1/2 of them are about a month from harvest.

I couldn't hold grow 4 in veg any longer, room was getting tight and grow 5 is still in 18oz cups !!!! So I put 7 of the grow 4 into the flower room.

This should open up enough room to put grow 5 into 5 gallon bags.

Last time I put one of the HPS lights down low in the center of the grow, it seemed to help, but most of the plants weren't well developed down low, so the next grow should be better. I had to put the light back up top because of the extra plants.

The flower rooms is VERY crowded now. Grow 5 is a smaller number, so that shouldn't be a problem later.

I'm also NOT taking clones from grow 4 before they go into flower, I'll take clones from grow 5, this will help get the timing setup better.

Some of the bud pics turned out fuzzy, so I'll have to retake them, but they are getting thick, probably some are thicker than the last batch.

 

[Graytail]

It looks like you're going to get some serious poundage from the flower room.



And yeah, heheh, the veg room is a lil outta control! You should consider topping the ones in cups - would make the delay more productive, at least - bush 'em out more.

 

[KarlJay]

Thanks, it's been a real learning experience. If I had all HPS/MH type lights, I could have converted the veg room to flowering. That would have solved some of the problems. Taking clones much later would solve most of the space issues and limiting the number of plants so that I can get proper space/light to the plants will help.

 

[Graytail]

You have a surfeit of riches, KJ - too many clones, too many plants ... kinda like the sorcerer's apprentice, eh?

I just have a 4x4 and I'm still trying to work out the timing for a perpetual. It seems I can always start more than I end up having room for.

 

[KarlJay]

Thanks! I guess if I were to have problems, these would be pretty good problems to have

Given the fact that my 1st grow got Powdery Mildew and I haven't had any problems like that since then, I should consider myself lucky.

I think that now I finally have a good handle on the timing problem... Don't take clones until the flowering room is about 1 month or less to being cleared.

Now, just to mix things up, I'm looking at starting a new strain. Going to do some research on some and see what might be good.

 

[KarlJay]

Harvest Time !!! I'm doing a bit more flushing, probably 2 days, then I start harvesting. Best guess is that 3 to 7 are ready to go. That'll clear up some MUCH needed room.

The results of the new koolbloom is up in the air. Overall, they seemed to gain at the end, but don't seem to be any/much bigger than last time. Lower branches look like they'll produce about 50% more than last time, if only because I didn't trim them down as much.

At this point, I'm expecting about 1/2 way between 1st and 2nd harvest per plant yield... So it'll be better than last time, just not as good as the 1st harvest.

Next one should be better, fewer plants, more attention to lower branches. More in line with what was done the 1st time. The KoolBloom will be used for the whole process and more aggressive molasses. We'll see...

Pics of the harvest should be up late this week.

 

[KarlJay]

Update: So far I've harvested 9 plants from the 3rd grow. The buds do look bigger when cutting them down, but seem to dry out to about the same size as the plants before. So, I'm still up in the air about the effectiveness of Liquid Kool Bloom.

The flower room is completely packed and I didn't take clones yet for the next grow. Before, I was taking clones just before they went into flower, this time, I'm going to wait, this might mean smaller clones, but my schedule was completely screwed up.

Both the flower and clone rooms where packed and it's clearly having an effect on the plants.

The new solution:

I've got 2 more 600W HPS lights for a total of 6. I'm converting the drying/curing room into a veg room and converting the veg room into a 2nd flowering room.
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I'll be running two 12/12 flower rooms set up to share the same power lines. One on at daytime, the other on at nighttime.

This way I can give the plants more room, probably about 5 sq ft each vs being crammed in there like they are now.

The veg room will be much smaller, but I should be able to double stack them and if needed, convert one flower room into a part-time veg room.

I should be able to shut down the window a/c as the outside temps are starting to drop.

I'll post some more pics when I get things setup. After I get this setup, I should be able to get back to the yields I had with the 1st grow and maybe more.

 

[KarlJay]

Got the 2 new 600W HPS lights. I set them both up in the veg room for now. I'm going to clear out the clone/cure room so that I can use that for veg and then I'll have 2 flower rooms.

The big holdup is in the flower room. Not enough space, so I'll be able to spread things out a bit.

9 plants from grow 3 are now jarred up, the Mr Nice looks awesome, but the OG Rascal looks a bit on the smaller side. Should have about 4 more read for harvest in about a week.

They sent the cheaper cool tubes with these new lights. One is cracked and they have brackets for the reflector wings that I can't figure out how to attach to the tube, so they just rest on the top. Kinda sad, there can't be more than a $3 difference, but yet they send the cheap ones.

So now I have a total of 6 HPS lights and I'll probably run them one after the other (when one side is on, the other is off) This way I'll get some natural cooling by running at night because I don't have a separate A/C for the 2nd flower room.

I'll post some pics when I get things fully setup.

I'm pretty sure this will fix all the problems I've been having. More space for the plants, better light to the lower part of the plants. Now I just have to get the clone timing right.

 

[Graytail]

Hey KJ!

Yer due for an update. How's it goin'?

 

[Buckshot]

Came in to check it out... quite a room you have there. I will have to back up and give reps for that.

Good Luck with harvest

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us.

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