Hello folks. I got a late start this year due to some delays in the greenhouse construction and health issues but by memorial day I managed to have many wee ones popping up. I will be doing two scrog screens for this grow. It's been many years since I've grown at this level so this should be fun. This will not be my first scrog attempt. However, it is my first in a greenhouse. Last year was the first time I'd cracked a seed in over a decade. So, this will get interesting to see just how much I've forgotten and how much I will learn.
***A word on feedback. Please do not hesitate to tell me I'm wrong or have gone full blown retard. I'm learning all over again. Yeah, I remember how to do some things but I gotta humble myself and be open-minded. You experienced up to date growers have a lot to offer and I am thankful you are here and willing to share. Bust my balls if that's your style. I have a thick layer of skin and can take it.
My greenhouse is a diy 32'x14' hoop design with center being roughly 7.5' high. The front part is 20'x14' and contains a few raised beds for tomatoes n peppers. I'll add more to the front next year but for now it conceals my ladies from sight. A small divider separates and hides the rear 12'x14' section where all the fun stuff happens.
The sides roll up and the rear wall has two large windows. The front door is an old repurposed storm door with all glass removed. Air flow has been good so far even though it's been in the 90s lately and very humid. I am hopeful the humidity will taper off at least half way into flowering. I put a stand alone oscillating fan in there and it stirs up the whole area pretty good but I may opt for a second fan before they get into the 4-9 week bud stage. I hope they make it. I refuse to buy weed so it's this grow or nothing.
Here are the strains I will scrog this year. All seed is from Premium Seed Market out of Oregon. Decent prices and great service.
This is a list of what I started for the season but starting from seed will cut these numbers down once I weed out the boys and underachievers.
10 Blueberry OG Kush
10 Scooby Snacks #1
50 White Widow (seed from last yrs small seed grow. I cracked a high amount of that seed this year to choose the best 10 and cull from there.)
Medium: Baccto Organic potting soil. I used this on a few tobacco grows the past few years. Pleased with it's performance. It's not a fancy cannabis soil but it's doing okay I think. I've also added some
Earthgro organic hummus and manure to stretch out the soil.
Nutrients: FoxFarm Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, Big Bloom, Powder Beastie Bloomz, Cha Ching, Open Sesame, Sensi CalMag, Botanicare Silica Blast, GH PH down or Root Farm PH down
***Silica Blast...a word or two about this product. I have used this in the past for indoor grows but never a hot greenhouse. The description says it helps the plant in hot and cold environments. Is this true? I dunno but I'm gonna find out. I have good ventilation but southern heat is brutal. All I can do is pack in the mulch and hope this stuff can produce results as stated. I'm not naive enough to believe every word written on a label so I'd like some input from you guys.
***I am currently trying to read up on the organic grows posted here. I'm okay with being able to read plant deficiencies and stuff like that. I guess I didn't forget everything...lol. But eventually I'd like to cut down on cost and I'm guessing organics will...Am I wrong?
Next year there will be less plants since I can clone and know exactly how many ladies I'll have. I'll post my future plans for the gh later in this thread.
Upon starting this grow I had no nutrients so I made horse shit tea and let it soak with fresh grass clippings. With the shit tea, molasses, and pH down they stayed pretty healthy and green. Normally you gather all the material you need before starting a grow but I was pretty occupied with getting the gh up. Oh well, shit tea happens...right..lol.
After a short vegging I force flowered my young plants in order to cull the boys. Started on 6/6 and by 6/20 I had identified my males and culled out others that showed poor traits. Undoubtedly I will cull a few more as I go. I did it this way because I knew I was using screens and had to eradicate the boys before throwing them under there. I could have bought some fem seed but damn they are expensive. Once I get my winter box grow going I'd love to learn how to make some fem seed but until then it's reg seed or nothing.
7/4 the numbers below are what I will grow out for the remainder of this season.
Scooby Snacks#1 (7 total). 5 are under the large screen and two are stand alone grows.
White Widow (5 total). Three of the widows showing awesome traits are under the other end of the large screen and two are in a stand alone large pot .
Blueberry OG Kush (6 total) Four will be under the smaller screen and two will be stand alone grows. These are some beautiful and vigorous ladies. No doubt the fastest growers of the entire lot.
7/10 They have all fully converted back to the veg stage and in doing so they have exploded with growth. The widows seem to be a reveging slightly slower than the others but they are moving right along.
Let's talk about the screens. Two of them for this grow. One 6'x3' and the other is 7.5'x3.5'. They are anchored into the ground and roughly 18-20" from soil to screen. The light is positioned 94.4 million miles above the grow so I'm not particularly concerned with a light footprint...lol. My small screen is repurposed from a 4ton ac unit. The larger one is repurposed from an old dog pen the neighbor had. He was going to throw out a huge roll but I saved it from destruction. I now have enough to make a scrog 150' long. Wouldn't that be a beautiful site. Maybe someday but not today.
Typically my plant numbers under the screens would be much less. Usually I'd put no more than two under a 4x4 screen indoors but I've ended up with more girls than I bargained for and I refuse to compost a perfectly good girl. So, I'll make room and make what I have work. I am expecting a little overcrowding by the time I get into the flowering stretch but I'll just have to wait and see. Maybe by starting them a little late everything may work out fine. This outdoor growing is a learning curve for me. I'm guessing I have about one month before the stretch starts for my region. If they overflow the screen I have plenty of room to add even more screen if needed but this could turn into a shit show before it's over. Overgrow or not I should end up with some nice bud this fall.
I don't have any pic of early on but here's what my stand alone girls are looking like so far.
One was accidentally topped when a seedling. Normally I opt to bend, twist, and torture my ladies verses cutting off their heads. To me that slows the growth. I'd rather bend my girls over and let the hips get fat. Just my way of doing things. Nothing wrong with decapitation if that's your style...lol
7/18 Did I mention I got a late start? I just got my fox farm nutes and the Sensi cal mag today in the mail. So, since these ladies are pretty far along into the veg I'm mixing up a little over the normal weekly feeding of big Bloom, grow big, cal mag, molasses and of course a little pH down to start off. I will gradually up the ppm as I go. I've never used fox farm products before so I'm not sure how the girls will react. Kinda winged it from the chart they sent. Not sure why it said use Bloom for my veg stage but I figured a little flowering nutes wouldn't hurt. Learning as I go.
7/20 The feeding went well. No negative effects. Freaking hotter than hell today...94 but feels like 104 is what the weather man said. My poor ladies need a damn air conditioner..lol. But they seem to be doing okay.
Did some training in the screens today and removed a few large leaves blocking light. Normally I remove leaf on a regular basis on a indoor grow but have let them get a little shaggy out in the greenhouse.
7/23 This is a white widow and to me she looks like I didn't feed her enough. No burnt tips. Just lighter green coloration spewing from new growth. What's your take on it? I've since given her a stronger solution of nutes and await her response. I hope I did it right. I just couldn't wait around and let her go hungry.
Nothing new to report really. Did a little more screen maintenance today. Watching plants grow is like watching paint dry. Is it October yet?
Well, there it is. My 2020 project. Updates coming soon.
Would love to have this type of set up....maybe one day...;;AB