Me & The Mars Hydro SP-3000: It's The Cherry On Top

[Buds Buddy]

Bruce Banner at present but fixing to pop a African Princess in the next day or two. I have two partial underground rooms one is 15X15 that's like a jungle inside with tomato vines, wild ferns, herbs and some flowers, I do have a good many home type residential LED like fixtures mounted in this room along with the Bad Boy and the 600W HPS/MH and the other is 15X20 that is used for my 4X4 tent and Dab Press and other tool boxes for the collection of tools that I have gathered over the years. I am never under a time line with my growing, so I tend to veg much longer than many folks.

Them are some big ass rooms. I wish I had space like that. My Veg time depends on 2 things. The most important one is: Do I have weed or am I buying from the dispensary ? If I'm buying it's time for a quick grow before a good one.... lol.
And the other thing would be the Pot Size. I usually only do 5 gal. pots so a 6-8 week Veg is good enough. I did go 16 weeks once. Still got close to the same yield as an 8 week Veg so figured it wasn't worth the extra time.

 

[OilFieldTrash]

Them are some big ass rooms. I wish I had space like that. My Veg time depends on 2 things. The most important one is: Do I have weed or am I buying from the dispensary ? If I'm buying it's time for a quick grow before a good one.... lol.
And the other thing would be the Pot Size. I usually only do 5 gal. pots so a 6-8 week Veg is good enough. I did go 16 weeks once. Still got close to the same yield as an 8 week Veg so figured it wasn't worth the extra time.

The last strain I was growing was Green Crack, the mother plant got to be well over 6 maybe 7 feet tall, I will never do that again unless I go outside, which probably want happen in my lifetime. I have thought about growing in the ground in the 15X15 room because it has a dirt floor, I could dig down a couple of feet but I would be getting close to the underground water table. The room above is 15X30 so with a little work I could expand out another 15 feet but that portion has a concrete floor, I have most of the dirt floor covered with 16"X16" concrete pavers. I have thought about putting a water well in the portion that is dirt, I wouldn't have to go down but about 3 feet to hit spring fed water.

 

[Buds Buddy]

The last strain I was growing was Green Crack, the mother plant got to be well over 6 maybe 7 feet tall, I will never do that again unless I go outside, which probably want happen in my lifetime. I have thought about growing in the ground in the 15X15 room because it has a dirt floor, I could dig down a couple of feet but I would be getting close to the underground water table. The room above is 15X30 so with a little work I could expand out another 15 feet but that portion has a concrete floor, I have most of the dirt floor covered with 16"X16" concrete pavers. I have thought about putting a water well in the portion that is dirt, I wouldn't have to go down but about 3 feet to hit spring fed water.

Almost sounds like if you grew plants in the ground there the roots would end up in the water & you'd be Hydro.... lol.

 

[HappyHazmat88]

I guess I kind of slacked yesterday. I got all the holes cut out, but only have 11 out of 18 sanded & ready to go. Not having the right size Hole Saw Bit made this a lot more work. But between Snips, a Razor Blade & Sandpaper it's coming out OK. I don't really need it for a couple of weeks so no big hurry.

Anyway, just posting a couple of pics to show the plants are doing good since the up-pot a couple of days ago.
One of them still has the overwatered look to it. The rest all look good.

Nice neat organized....and looks like the up pot was a success...keep up the good work budz

 

[Buds Buddy]

Just 5 days ago VEG - DAY 1 (5-28-22) these ladies got up-potted from Solo Cups to 1 gal. pots. They've already doubled in size. @Mars Hydro , I'm loving this light. It's doing an amazing job so far. Now I'm starting to think the SP3000 is a little better than my TSL2000's. But those also do a fantastic job. That's why I now have 3 of them. Even my 2 TS1000's work great when you use 1 per plant. As I've said before, I've tried at least 20 different lights including Mars a couple years ago. Now I'm switching all my lights back to Mars. I guess you can say I've been to Mars & Back.... lol.
Anyways, here's a few shots of the lovely ladies at 5 days Veg. I don't count the Solo Cup Seedling stage as Veg anymore.
In the 1st 2 pics I have 3 of my Aurora Indica in the tent also. They just aren't ready to flower yet so I had to put them somewhere for the moment as 2 of my rooms will be in Flower come the 7th.

These are the 6 Cherry on Top girls (I Hope). That one plant just isn't losing it's puffiness. She wont be getting anything to drink for a while. I'm now feeding these gals at 3 gr. per gal. of MC with 1 ml. Cal-Mag & 1 ml. of Silica.

Say Hello to my little friend!

 

[Buds Buddy]

I did complete the Bubble Cloner & I'm pleased with the way it turned out (Other than drilling 1 hole too big... dammit).
So here's the little 6 site cloner I usually use.

But I'm wanting to do more cloning so I thought a Bigger, Badder Cloner was in order. So I bought the stuff to make one. I decided to go with a 10 gal. tote, 600 GPH Air Pump, 6 - 2" Air Stones, Some Hose & Clone Collars. I made an 18 site Cloner. Let's get started on how I made it.
This is the equipment I bought for it, plus the Tote.

I used a 2" Hole Saw Bit for the 1st Hole. Don't do this. The hole will be too big....ooops. A 1-7/8" Bit should be perfect.

I laid out my Clone Collars on the lid where I want each site to be & traced them with a pencil.

Drilled my holes with a 1-3/4" bit & then had to enlarge them with a pair of snips, a Razor Blade & then sanded the edges smooth. Would have been way better if I had the 1-7/8" bit & saved a lot of time.

Made sure all my Collars fit slightly snug. I have a Garden Tie Wire inserted in the one that's too big to keep the Collar in place.

Since I had these small grommets already I figured I'd use them for my Air Lines.

Then I placed my Air Stones in position. I used the 3M double faced tape that they use to hold car parts on to hold them in place. I'm pretty sure it will hold because I used this tape on my side window louvers on my Mustang & I've been through many car washes. They've been on the car about 4 years with no problem.

Connected everything to the pump.

It's now complete. Just Add Water & test this puppy out.

Yeah Baby.... Now that's what I'm talking about !

Got to call @Emilya to check this out since she was the one with the tutorial on making one.

 

[Emilya Green]

Great job! Now that's a cloner!

 

[Buds Buddy]

There is one thing I didn't think of in advance I plan to fix. I need to add a drain plug in the bottom of it.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Great job! Now that's a cloner!

So today I ordered some 2" net pots. I was thinking of putting them in the holes & filling them with Perlite to do the clones. Do you think it will work ? Also ordered a drain plug I can connect 5/8" tubing to for easy draining.

 

[Emilya Green]

So today I ordered some 2" net pots. I was thinking of putting them in the holes & filling them with Perlite to do the clones. Do you think it will work ? Also ordered a drain plug I can connect 5/8" tubing to for easy draining.

not sure in a bubbler... never tried it

 

[Buds Buddy]

It's been 7 days since I up-potted to 1 gal. pots. The plants have been growing really well so I went ahead & Topped all 6 & put them in my small cloner. I want to know the sex before I up-pot again. So now to wait for them to root so I can 12/12 them. Here's some pics of before & after the Topping.

Clones in the Bubbler.

Pics of what the tent actually has in it for now. My other 2 Mars Hydro TSL2000's are suppose to arrive Tuesday so I'll get the other 3 plants out of there then. Just holding these 3 back for more clones to go with the clones I'll take from the Cherry on Tops once I know which are female.

 

[Buds Buddy]

not sure in a bubbler... never tried it

I figured it would be about the same as DWC minus not having any roots yet. I'm going to try it since people root in Perlite also. I think it will work. Or I should say.... Curiosity got the cat again.... lol.

 

[Buds Buddy]

You all might have to excuse me if I don't get much updated this week. Wife will be in the hospital for a week due to some things happening with her lung transplant. She had a double lung transplant 5 years ago. Lately her lungs keep filling up with fluid. They drain it & in a day or two they are full again. They haven't found where it's coming from so they are putting her in the hospital. They're going to put a camera in through her chest to find where the fluid is coming from. Doesn't sound like much fun to me. So just bare with me & I'll update when I can until this is over. Thanks !

 

[Buds Buddy]

Went to see the wife this morning, picked up some things at the store & I have a little time to do an update.... yippee....lol ! Well it's been 2 weeks since Solo Cup to 1 gal. pot (Veg Day 1 : 5-28-22). As I thought would happen with this Mars Hydro SP3000, the plants are growing like crazy. Now this is the way I remember my plants growing in the past & the reason I'm switching all my lights back to Mars Hydro Lights. I'm very pleased with the results so far & I'm sure I will be all the way through the grow.
Unfortunately, I defoliated & LST'd the 6 plants this morning & forgot to take pics before I did it. So I only have the after pics. I had to do it as the plants were all laying on top of each other.

Our Clones are still alive & kickin. Should have roots in the next few days.

 

[Buds Buddy]

As you know I've been vegging 3 of my Aurora Indica's in the tent along with the 6 Cherry on Top & the Clones.
Here's a couple pics of the Aurora's. These will be coming out this week & going into the tent I ordered. I have extra lights so I'm good to go.

And here's what it really looks like with everything in there.

All 9 plants are currently being fed 4 gr. MC + 2 ml. Cal-Mag + 2 ml. Silica. Light is on 90%. RH is at 45% with tent zipped down during lights on & gets to 68% lights out. Temps 81 - 84F Lights on & 75 - 78F lights off. Small Humidifier running in the tent.

 

[Buds Buddy]

At night I've been finding time to get my lights all changed around. I had 4 - 150 watt Vipars & 1 - TSL2000 in my 4x8. I'm not a fan of Vipar. So I took them down & added 2 more TSL2000's.

For the time being I have to reuse the Vipars in my shed. I'm using 3 of them along with 2 Mars Hydro TS1000's in there. That will change again once I get a few more TS1000's.

Quite a lighting difference I think.

The tent I ordered is actually for the Cloner I built earlier in this journal. I'm still looking for a rolling cart the right size & height to set the cloner on for easy drainage.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I should be potting some clones real soon now. 2 of them had several 1/8" roots last night. The others still have nubs.
Sure will be glad when the other tent arrives to get the 3 Aurora Indica plants out of there. It's suppose to be here on Thursday. It wont be long till I have to up-pot since these girls are growing so fast. Trying to hold off on that till I determine the sex with the clones, but they may outgrow the 1 gal. pots before that happens. I'll post some pics when I pot the clones.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Wife is doing good (I think). At least it sounds that way from what she told me the doctors said. They took the suction thing off yesterday that drains the fluid from her lungs. They have been spraying some kind of stuff in her somehow that is suppose to stop the leakage. She had 3 treatments of that. If her C-Scan is good today she will get out today or tomorrow. Hopefully, all is good.

 

[Buds Buddy]

So, 2 of the clones were rooted enough for Solo Cups so I potted them this morning. My stems got all U-Shaped. I think it's because the water level was too high & the stems may have been in the water. First time I've had this happen & it happened to a few of them. Here's all 6 Clones. The 2 on the Top / Right (#4 & #5) are the ones getting potted.

This is the Clone from the #4 Spot. As you can see I'm keeping everything with corresponding numbers so I know which one goes with which plant. Don't want to throw out a girl.... lol.

#4 Potted, Numbered & Dated.

 

[Buds Buddy]

#5 Clone: I hope the roots will still grow downward with these U-Shaped Stems. Appears that they will..... but they're in soil now, so not sure what will happen.