Let's Find a Mother! Hiking Through a Field of Mary Jane

[Hiker]

reminder to self to read from start. I'm subbed hiker!

Glad you have you Bassman

awesome journal hiker im subbed

Thanks John

They look awesome man. I know how u feel o try refraining from putting up too many veg pics but then I stop and think. I can't recall how much time I spent looking over peoples veg pics to get an idea of how to train and defoliate. Noobs appreciate us being thorough.
They look great man. Looks like we use about the same techniques.

I will dig around for the post I made about my vent setup. Its essentially as u described. I have my veg fan always running to keep negative pressure. The flower tent kicks on at 79. My intake is passive but has a thermostat controlled inline set at 85. This way if something fails cold air still gets pushed in. (Lights run at night while I sleep so they may sit 8 hours before I discover a problem. U may have a look at my previous post and find it faster. I will dig around tho.

As for the accessory lights.. for me personally if it isn't green it gets taped up. But I am paranoid and run chemdawg hybrids (fire smoke but known for its instability in terms of hermie prone)

They look really healthy. I assume u got a handle on the yellowing issue u had?

Also u may try finding the rooms hot spots and cold spots and really arrange the Res and etc accordingly. A pita but it may help u get those few extra degrees ur shooting for

Thanks for all the feedback!

I just wrote a paragraph about ventilation but decided to just say, I'm not sure what changes I'm making, if any, to my ventilation system.

I want/need to be able to see the indicator light on my fans. I'll see if I can change the color of the light somehow. I have some green electrical tape. Maybe the light will be bright enough to shine through. Perhaps green Sharpie on some clear plastic taped over the fan's light? I'll come up with a solution before I flip to 12/12. The Ebb&Gro's indicator light is already green.

There is still some yellowing, but I think it's less. My water temps are hovering around 56-61F. I will be changing the reservoir tonight or tomorrow, so I'll be putting the foam board under it then. I think that will be enough to get me to 65F. Then I will have the problem of trying to keep it there. These cheap heaters only go as low as 72F, but I have to turn the thermostat all the way up to get to 61. I'll just put it on a timer if it gets too hot. If the foam board doesn't get the couple of degrees I'm looking for, I'll start warming the basement itself. If I have to do that, I'll have to revisit my ventilation, so we will see what happens. Baby steps!



I did work on the nursery area. I got the outlet in that area wired up and hung one of the shop lights. I have a heating pad with a thermostat, so I know I can get the media warm enough, but it's pretty cold above. I used some more scrap foam board along the sides and got it into the 60's, but it's still cold. I used a heater blowing on the babies when I had the seeds there, but that heater is in use elsewhere now. I guess I'll be going back to Walmart. :rolleyes3

Cannasensei, you said you have been able to just put a cutting into a cup of water to sex them? How big did the cutting have to be? Like something that would make a good clone? or could it be smaller? I don't have some of the materials I need to support clones I plan to keep alive, so I'd like to use smaller cuttings since they will end up compost.

 

[cannasensei]

Good call on baby steps. I never make more than one change at a time hard to know what went wrong /right.

I take 3-4 avg clone size cuts per plant. Half die using the cup of water approach so u want a few lol. U could still compost it just fine afte it showed sex. Or try keeping it alive til u can get it in the right setting. Ur choice lol

 

[cannasensei]

Double post

 

[TaylorMade420]

Nice setup mate, should get a healthy harvest from it

 

[Hiker]

Good call on baby steps. I never make more than one change at a time hard to know what went wrong /right.

I take 3-4 avg clone size cuts per plant. Half die using the cup of water approach so u want a few lol. U could still compost it just fine afte it showed sex. Or try keeping it alive til u can get it in the right setting. Ur choice lol

I guess I do have to try and keep them alive as if I planned to keep them. They probably won't show sex if they just die huh? I have cloned other plants in glasses of water, so I understand what you're saying.

I think I need to sit down with a calendar again. I'm going to hydro store on the 9th. I can keep the clones in their rapid rooter plug for at least a week. I can take the clones next weekend, the 2nd, and I flip to 12/12 that same weekend. Those clones should be big enough to provide 2-3 clones each by week 5 or 6 old. Those clones would be well rooted by the time I harvest. That timing should work fine for the next crop. It will just have more variety then future crops.

I remember seeing walmart has some little seedling trays. I don't have the plastic insert to hold the rapid rooter plugs, but the trays at walmart might work. That's the only thing making me unable to take clones right now. I have trays, domes, rapid rooters, gel, and an area ready to go. I don't have any pots or soil for them once they outgrow the rapid rooters though. I'll try building an aero cloner for the next batch of clones. This first batch is going into dirt, but I think I'd prefer to transfer bare roots into the hydrocorn, and I'm not wasting a rockwool cube on clones I throw out.

I keep thinking back to when I grew in the 90's and I think "it wasn't this much work!" I think it's because it was a slower progression. I started out with some bag seed, in dirt, under fluorescents (in fact I think one of the shop lights I have may be the very one!). How I grew evolved slowly over many grows. This time, I'm trying to get beyond where I was then in one shot. I think I've done it, but holy cow bigger rooms are a LOT more work. I try not to think about the fact that I'm probably only about 25-30% done building things out. I realize it's never "finished". I just look forward to when I have a veg/clone area, the mothers' area, the drying area, and the second flowering room all up and running. I haven't even finished sealing up the basement ceiling! Although that's gonna have to happen here real soon. This room is already starting to stink... BAD

Nice setup mate, should get a healthy harvest from it

Thanks TaylorMade!
I sure hope I do! Stay tuned!

 

[cannasensei]

It will all pay off man. Its a lot to take in but you've got the perfect mindset for it, I think ur gonna be showing a lot of us "vets" IP by ur second crop. Hell the way this ones looking u get the temps right and you'll do it this round lol. I've already got basement envy. I feel inferior lol

If u got everything else I'd just set the plugs in solo cups or the like to keep em seperate (just label each cup) and set them in the dome. Think outside the box you'll find something. The square egg crates could even suffice for a temp fix. Let us know what u decide.

Lets see how that Apollo vortex responded to the training
Nugbuckets loves this strain for training. I'm anxious to see how she turns out for you.

 

[Hiker]

Thanks for the encouragement. All I'm willing to agree with is I know how to build a grow room in a basement and I can veg plants. I've been trying real hard not to set too high an expectation for myself.

I'll take an updated picture of that TGA plant tonight. Ladies are sleeping for another 4 hours.

I've been thinking a lot about the proposed schedule I posted above. It should work out really well. I'm sort of glad I had some other influence pushing me to veg longer. I think they are the perfect size to fill the room if I flipped now. By the time the clones show sex, the room will be overfull of veg plants, but removing the males should free up enough space for the ladies to flower. Most of the flowering growth is straight up. So far, I've only raised the lights a few inches since I transplanted. Got lots of vertical left. If my trip to the hydro store for cloning supplies had not been postponed, I bet I would have flipped this weekend. I think one more week will be better.

 

[cannasensei]

Agree completely

 

[JB42]

Heeey Hiker Baby lol,
Sorry for confusion mate, im not stable lol. Only joking not that bad haha. Great setup , busy at min i'll follow through in morning . Thanks for reps, back at you for all that niceness and a great basement Peace Brother!

 

[Hiker]

Heeey Hiker Baby lol,
Sorry for confusion mate, im not stable lol. Only joking not that bad haha. Great setup , busy at min i'll follow through in morning . Thanks for reps, back at you for all that niceness and a great basement Peace Brother!

Thanks for checking out my basement laboratory!

Glad to have you here. Things should get a lot more interesting in a couple more weeks.

 

[Vick074]

Hey, thanks for the reps hiker!

 

[Hiker]

Last night, I did a res change and gave everything a good flush. I poured about a gallon plain RO water into each bucket, starting at the ends of the runs. Then I lifted each pot to drain the water that stays in the bottoms of the outer buckets. I just work my way down each row, making sure to "push" the water by keeping the tubing lifted as I move down the row. At the last bucket, I stick it under the tubing to hold it up. This keeps that branch empty while I flush the others. Since I have to remove the left 3 plants to empty those buckets. I took the opportunity to shift all the plants one site to the left. I also took all the pumps, tubing, air stones, heaters, etc and cleaned them in the sink. I washed out the reservoir as well. Since it was empty, I was finally able to do this.

After reading lots of journals, I've noticed we all focus on different details about the grow. I like to talk about grow room setup and operation, others talk about their feeding schedules, some talk about differences in strains, etc. Growing is a very complex and variable activity. That's why it's so fun! As a result of this realization, I'm going to start including some of the other details I see others sharing.

To that end, last night's nute soup was mixed according to the following recipe:
RO water 55g
GH Flora Gro 24oz
GH Flora Micro 18oz
GH Flora Bloom 18oz
GH Calimagic 10oz
That resulted in a ph of 5.5 and ppm of 1470
I think all these numbers are right. My journal is downstairs, so these are form memory. I'll edit the post if this doesn't match my notes, but I think this is accurate.


The ppms are about 200 more than the last res. I think they can handle it. Res was already at 63F this morning. I'm excited to see how they look when they wake up tonight.

Here is a shot of the girls last night as they were getting their first taste of the new nutes:

 

[cannasensei]

Looks awesome man. If it were me I'd take those (9-10?) In the middle. The smaller indica doms and move them to a veg area. Flip the switch on the bigger girls wait 5 weeks and throw the rest in. Two harvest and if something bad happens only half are lost. I miss hydro wish I could afford to do it.

 

[Muttt]

Looking good.

 

[cannasensei]

Nice sig Vicky. Not many people know.ignore mention Greg green. His grow Bible is my daily reading on he crapper lol. Love green candy press.

 

[Hiker]

Looks awesome man. If it were me I'd take those (9-10?) In the middle. The smaller indica doms and move them to a veg area. Flip the switch on the bigger girls wait 5 weeks and throw the rest in. Two harvest and if something bad happens only half are lost. I miss hydro wish I could afford to do it.

Thanks. I started another round of defol last night. I'll try to finish tonight. Moving them isn't an option. I only have one of these systems, and really don't have a veg area yet. The mix of sizes will be OK. Not ideal, but I'll make due. I have 3 lights, so I can accommodate them. The current placement was more a random shuffling. They get moved every week so far. They will probably get moved until well into stretch. I like to pull them out to inspect the roots.

I had some RL reason to delay heading to my hydro store, but those have changed. I'm heading down sometime this week or next weekend. I will flip as soon as they look recovered form the defol and bending. It takes a few days for the nuckle to form at the bends.

Looking good.

Thanks for checking it out Mutt

 

[JB42]

See now thats beneficial defoil. Nice plants Hiker, some defoils IMO are just a little too far. Yours is very good mate.

Bassman got a good technique with this and seems to be working great for you. Should be a big harvest!

 

[Hiker]

See now thats beneficial defoil. Nice plants Hiker, some defoils IMO are just a little too far. Yours is very good mate.

Bassman got a good technique with this and seems to be working great for you. Should be a big harvest!

I've always trimmed the fan leaves off. I think you get a "feel" for how much to defoliate a plant. If you watch enough cannabis plants grow through their life cycle, you start to get a feel for how a plant will respond to a given stress.

This is my take on defoliation... If you are not concerned about time, it WILL increase your yield. If you are more concerned about space, especially vertical space, and/or plant count, defoliation is a technique that could benefit your grows. If you're a commercial grower, and want to maximize yield on an annual scale, this practice may not improve your bottom line. It's not to say it can't help, I still think a more mild amount of defoliation, than I practice, can benefit the commercial grower as well, but they will have to experiment. There are just too many styles of growing, and this technique will not help all of them (SOG for example will have little benefit, if any).

This first grow is NOT the way I intend to run this room normally. I'm planning a SOG style grow once I have mothers that can produce enough clones. After seeing them nekkid this weekend, I'm very confident I will have enough clones ready to go when this room is done.

I'm going to take more clones then I originally planned. As soon as the plants recover a bit from this weekend, I am flipping to 12/12. I'll also take 3-6 clones from each plant. I have several hybrid strains that are much bushier than the more indica dominant strains. The bushy plants have several smaller, lower branches that will make excellent clones. My next crop will likely be dominated by these larger plants, but Hopefully I will have at least one of each mother candidate in there too. I'll take the clones next weekend. They will be much too big in 8 weeks, and I can't really keep that many clones alive that long. My plan is to take largish clones, then ~4 weeks later, clone them again. If I can get 2, great, but if not, that should be OK too. I'll taking enough clones now to completely fill the room at the end, plus a couple extras for mothers. The mothers won't be able to give a dozen cuttings each, after only 4-5 weeks, so I have to have to do it this way. Eventually I will have mothers and a dedicated veg area. I have room for at least 6 mothers, but I may have a dozen to start with. I'll keep at least one for each strain I started (9 total) and perhaps 2 mothers if I have 2 distinct phenotypes of a strain. I will whittle down that number after I see how they work in my hybrid SOG. (by hybrid I mean, I'm going to veg for a week or two and top the plant after a few nodes to create 4-6 main branches).

Anyone have suggestions about how to grow my veg plants? I'm leaning towards a flood and drain tray style with little netpots. This will make it easier to transplant them into the Ebb&Gro buckets. Any other ideas that would work well? The requirements I have are: needs to transplant well into the buckets of Hydrocorn, I need to veg the plants for about 2 weeks, after being removed from the cloner. My cloning method is still up in the air as well. I've always used little rockwools and put them in a seedling tray with a dome. I get pretty good results, and am fine continuing with that method. I plan to do this first batch that way, except I'll be using rapid rooter plugs instead of the rockwool. I'm also considering building an aero cloner. I like the thought of having bare roots to put into the buckets, but then how do I veg? I could put those bare roots into the netpots full of rock perhaps. I'm still pretty open about how to handle my veg space. Any ideas?

OK I've babbled long enough about the things on my mind. Here are some pictures.

Since I already posted some before and after shots of one of my TGA Apollo 13 x Vortex plants, I'll try to keep posting updates for this same plant. Here she is before defol.

Here she is after. You can really see how many nodes there are now.This plant will have at least a dozen main colas. I am hoping for at least 4 oz from this lady.

Here is the whole garden after defol. The previous garden shot was right before I started the defol.

 

[Bassman59]

Looking really nice man.

 

[Hiker]

Thank you sir!

Sometimes the after shots just look scary huh!

JBC, would you consider this defol too heavy?

Luckily I know how they will come back as this is about the same as the last time. In 2 days, they will be bushes again. Almost time to flip!