Pink's New Grow Room: Perpetual Fun and Games

just a heya and a pic,

i saw your tag and the pic seemed appropriate

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peace and love from canada
 
Time to put on the top net
This morning I installed the top net of my scrog. I've never done it this way before, which is to attach the nets with zip ties to the top CFM poles. It looks good, I think.
We are getting close to done on the tuck and weave. In a few days, I will let the canopy fill out completely. This shouldn't take too long, as the plants are growing fast.
Then I will let the shoots come up all over the canopy, until I have as many tops as I want. Usually this means as many tops as appear until the bottom net "disappears" under the foliage. The job was tricky, but I managed to do this by myself. LOL. I can't chew gum and walk, but you know. If I can do this, anyone can do this.
Here's some photos:




 
Clone School
(When I typed that title I immediately thought of "clown school." LOL)
Let's do clones! I'm going to show you what I do, with pictures and a few words.
First, clean your equipment. I started using 35 percent hydrogen peroxide for cleaning my grow items. The reason I hesitated is, it is dangerous stuff. Acid proof (latex is fine) gloves, goggles and if possible, an acid apron.



I measure out three or four ounces per gallon of cleaner, then pour it carefully into a basin of hot water, being sure not to splash it on skin. H2O2 is corrosive when it is 35 percent strength. But it is an excellent cleaner and disinfectant for cleaning basins, pots, and cloning collars. I reuse my items, so it is important to completely clean between uses.
Next, put the collars and cutoff net pots in the water/hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for a few minutes, then scrub them clean, rinse and put on a towel to drain.




Now it is time to harvest the clones. I prefer to take clones during the plants' vegetation period. The best shoots to cut are underneath the plant, where the light can't penetrate well.


Cut the shoot on a diagonal path, and trim the points off the leaves. This is important because it encourages growth of roots and keeps the plant from growing new leaves for a time. I dip the end in a cloning solution (for example, Clonex).
Then I insert it in the cloning collar and put it in the cut-off net pot, which keeps it from falling into the water.
Be sure that a node is on the stem below the water to grow roots from.
I made my DWC unit into a cloning unit. I put two large air stones in it and only five (instead of seven) gallons of water. It works by spraying the water on the stems much as a bubbler would. And since I already had the DWC unit, it was perfect for me. I cut off the net pots so the roots will be free to grow; when I transplant the shoot into coco/perlite for hydro, I don't have to worry about the roots getting damaged in the process.



Usually roots appear in five or seven days.

 
Rearranging my canopy
One of the things I love about my new grow space is that rearranging the canopy is possible, to get the most out of the tent. I have six plants in the tent; one of them is very small. But the plants around it are big. So I moved the small plant, putting it between the two big plants. I'm trying to fill the entire canopy before letting the shoots come up. Another thing I did was move the other plants to better arrange the space.
Once the canopy is full, I will stop tucking and let the shoots come up. I have more vertical space in this tent than I had in my other tent, so I can let the shoots get up a bit.

The grower has to know her plants. The six plants growing in the tent are similar in size and flowering time required.
Four of them are clones of a peppermint kush plant, one is expert haze, and the last one is blue dream.
The expert haze is supposed to be shorter than most haze plants, and it finishes quicker. So the haze, the blue dream and the peppermint kush will all finish in about 8 weeks or less.
I've never grown this much at a time; so my estimates are just that, estimates. Researching grow estimates, these are mostly based on square meters of space, in four dimensions. The number of plants you have are less important than the space and how it is utilized. So putting the small plant in the middle of two large ones allows each plant to achieve its potential size.
If anyone watching this thread has advice, please give it.
The first two pics are the canopy before I rearranged it. I'm not sure that these really show what I did; the last picture was taken after the manipulation.


 
Completely different!
:cheesygrinsmiley:
I really didn't expect that this grow would fill out the canopy in the same, exact time period that the smaller tent did. The difference in lighting is part of it, if not all of it. I have a Budget LED Series 3 Samsung LM301H 500 Watt Dimmable Grow Light; it is the right size for the tent.
I agonized over every detail in the new grow space. I was a wreck. Afraid I would make a wrong decision. LOL
 
If it's Monday, it's time for an update!
OK- we've got stuff to show you. First, all my tents are now in the grow room. We had a lot of fun moving the two small tents. The 2 X 2.5 X 5'7" was a bear. I know it says "Gorilla," but it was a bear. To take it out of the closet under the stairs, it had to come apart. This was fairly quick. Then we took it in the new grow room and the real fun began. It didn't want to go back together. The frame seemed large, the tent seemed small, and there were also other issues, such as this tent is on its last runs. We will be replacing it in January or February. This tent will be used to house my mothers. So for now, it is the Mom Tent. Here in its new home:


The last update post showed the cloning tent and the clones and seedlings. Here is a perspective to show where it is located in the room:


The distance between the flowering tent and the older tent:


Sunday I worked on preparing the Mom tent to take the seedlings I have prepared. I'm putting five Moms in this tent, which might be too many. But I will try it anyway. LOL. I prepared the three-gallon pots for receiving the new plants, by filling them up with coco-coir and perlite. Our Hydro guy, John, sold me on using bricks of coco coir. These bricks make a bunch of it. I have a picture below of the tub I used to put the brick in. One brick (shown) makes enough coco coir to fill up five of the three-gallon pots. then I add perlite. One bag of perlite will work for two separate bricks. I put the brick in the tub, then add about four gallons of water to start. Twenty-four hours later, check it and add more water if dry bits of the brick remain. Once this is all expanded, mix it up and let it sit for a few days. You don't want to make it too moist, but it needs to be wet enough to fluff up. Oxygen is key to this stuff in hydro. You fluff it so you know it will harbor oxygen well.
Then add perlite and fluff again.
I fill my pots but leave about two and a half inches. When I pot the plants, I will add a thin layer of expanded clay pellets on top. This stabilizes the pot and discourages mold growth.
The plants aren't ready yet, but I put the pots in and circulated the water for 24 hours to hydrate the coco coir somewhat. When I pot the plants I will completely drench the pot first. Coco coir holds a little moisture between floodings, so you don't have to worry about the newly potted plants dying or losing turgidity.






And now, see the six plants in the 5 X 5 tent. The canopy is now full and I am letting them grow upward. Once they get up to about 10 inches above the net, I'll switch it to 12/12.






 
Nothing nicer than a wall-to-wall canopy!

Congrats on getting that tent back together. Sometimes it seems like there was no way it ever fit :).

Did you pre-charge the coco with cal-mag? I'm pretty sure that's a thing but @Pennywise can fill in the details.
Uh, what?
I didn’t know about it. So, yeah, @Pennywise, please tell me.
 
I never did that with the other grow in the big tent Either. Sorry, I’m a bit stoned and in the middle of taking my night dose . But I am circulating the light nute regimen at the moment,and it contains cal mag.
 
Coco will grab and bind calcium so you want to hydrate the coco with a strong Calmag product. If you don’t you will typically see deficiencies in early veg.
 
Coco will grab and bind calcium so you want to hydrate the coco with a strong Calmag product. If you don’t you will typically see deficiencies in early veg.
Yeah. I’ve been reading about that. guess I’m lucky that no deficiency seems present in my current grow. If I add more cal mag to the coco mix in the pots in the mom tent, and saturate them, will that work? I’m not planting in them for several days yet. The only reason I potted them was to keep the new kitten out of the tub. I was afraid he’d use it for a litter box, LOL.
Maybe because we have hard water I’ve not noticed a deficiency.
 
Lol yes the coco will only bind so much calcium so once it’s at capacity then whatever calcium you feed becomes available to the plant.
Makes sense! I went down and buffered the mom tent pots. I found some instructions online through Google. Of course, the reservoir will be drained before planting. I love you guys for helping me avoid disaster.
 
You got this, no worries.
I’m glad you think so lol
Grateful that I waited a few years before getting a big grow started.
I can’t believe that the big tent uses 7 gallons of water in two days.
 
They can drink a lot of water if they’re healthy.
Oh, yeah, they are healthy. I’ve not had such enormous plants. Two weeks away from 12/12 and the main stems are as big around as a quarter. And the branches are also huge.
 
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