I'm feeling pretty good about the grow progress so far. With one grow under my belt I felt a little less anxious about the germination and seedling stages. My germination methods have worked 100% to date
for a massive total of 13 of 13 seeds popped
. I am seeing familiar and timely growth which is encouraging. Additionally, this is a photosensitive strain this time. I am hoping if I mess something up during veg I
might have a chance to recover by extending the 18/6 light schedule as needed.
I'm curiously waiting for the taproot to make it to the bottom of the bucket. Once that happens I'll sigh a bit of relief. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants regarding the feeding volume. Perhaps I should have went with smaller buckets. Currently these 5 gallon buckets seem really big but it's what I had on hand and went with it.
I have been gradually increasing the frequency of deep watering. The buckets are quite heavy now. I haven't had any run off yet but expect to see some within the next feeding or two. So far I've simply been dividing one gallon of water/nutes between the three plants and following a [feed][feed][water] schedule. I'll be getting in at least one plain ph'd watering each week now that they are established.
Speaking of being established, my watering technique for established plants is to saturate the area directly below the drip line and outwards until measurable run off can be obtained for testing or discarded. Once the plant canopy reaches the edge of the container I saturate the outer 75% of growing media working slowly from the middle towards the outer edge of the container. This seems to help the water and nutes penetrate the growing media rather than running down the sides of the container and right out the bottom. Hopefully this technique applies to this Perlite/Hempy method as well.
I'm about to lower the T5 a few inches to about 17in above the canopy. I would like to keep stretch to a minimum. Also, I will be adjusting the circulation fans to provide some turbulence to the leaves and help strengthen the stems.
I will be planning and building a SCROG framework in a few weeks. This will provide support for the plants (Perlite does not make for a sturdy growing media) as well as help me control the canopy height later in the grow.
Since we are on the topic of growth control I will also mention that I plan to top each of the plants once, maybe twice if one is racing ahead of the others. This will be a new technique for me and I'm looking forward to the task.
On the subject of veg time and flower time my initial plan is to veg for eight weeks flipping on or around October 1. I have allotted [time] for a twelve week flower duration rather than the seven to nine listed by the breeder and currently anticipate completing the grow and enjoying the harvest around January 1, 2015.
A quick tidbit regarding some goals for this grow. I would like to harvest 255g (about 9oz) of cured flowers. That suggests hitting about 0.64gpw. I think that is doable. I hit 0.5gpw last time with this light although that was with 7 plants. Additionally, I would also like to finish with a more potent harvest. I like the flavors and smells of the Northern Light Auto I grew last but I feel like it's on the week side. My learning curve is sure to blame for that.
I had plans to change to LED for this grow. That got moved to "when I flip to flower". Some unexpected bills popped up so I'm not sure finances will allow it right now. If I can make it work I'll switch to LED in October otherwise it will have to wait until early 2015. Prpbably 2015 if I'm being honest with myself. I want to pick up (2) Mars II 400 watt lights for my grow box. I think they will work really well for my space and help with heat and light output.
One last note: I removed the carbon filters on each end of the ventilation run. I wanted to increase the air movement and extract more heat from the grow box in a shorter amount of time now that we are in the peak summer months. There is no smell currently and I also want to swap out the 4 inch filter at the end of the run with a new 6 inch. The 4 inch is too small for the amount of air flow I'm putting through it. It's too restrictive.
Sorry for the wall of text :O
TLR
- Happy
- Excited
- Waiting for taproot to hit bottom
- Inside out watering technique
- Lowering the light soon
- SCROG in a few weeks
- Plan to top once
- Anticipate 8 week veg / 12 week flower
- Hoping for 0.65gpw or 255g
- Wanting more potency
- The move to LED this year is questionable
- Running wide open exhaust
Cheers,
/Obi