Vortex's Lab: 4x4 Secondary Garden & Experimental Thread

[multiVortex]

Well shit. Looks like I’ll have to be gone for 4 days in a couple weeks.

Going to have to figure out watering while away.

A timer, obviously.

Guess I will do an absolute full soak right before I leave, vac out the run off. Then set it up on Lemmy's water schedule and set the time for the length it takes to soak her without run-off. That will water her, and at least not over-water or drown the rest since their pots are bigger. Bump up the daytime temps 2F and maybe it will be enough to get by for a few days.

I think the time I have can hold 8 programs or something like that. So I can set it to soak for a minute or two, then wait 15-20min and do it again.

Thankfully there won't be any training missed, so that's good. The other tent? Well, that's another thread.

 

[multiVortex]

I didn't filter this one, so you get lemmy all weird green from being between the 2 lights.

Lemmy is stretching, and bushing out. She's not on the pedestal any longer, and actually Six is on it now. That evened everything up pretty well, all things considered. Blue and the Chica back there are a bit taller, but to be expected.

 

[multiVortex]

Oh yeah, I also have a new toy coming in a few days. I gave in and picked up one of those temp guns for $18. I "splurged" and spent the extra $3 to get the one that will go up to almost 1200F instead of 750F.

Going to get a lot of use out of it, aside from the garden.

 

[multiVortex]

I think this is how I'm going to solve my "problem" with space and blah blah blah for the bargain price of $115.

So what do we have here? A "lodge" or "propagation" tent. It's not 100% perfect, but it will get the job done. Overall it's 4x3x6. Would have been nice to be 7ft, but 6ft will do.

That makes for a main chamber of 3x3x6, and a 2-level side at 1x3x6.


I may throw together a 12" riser for the whole tent, or at least have an option for that.


What this will solve is several things:

- a place to sprout seedlings.
- a place for some mom's (at some point.)
- a place for a random plant that won't fit elsewhere (looking at you, GDP "runt")
- a place for early vegging of seedlings (with the aero setup from previous posts)
- a place for drying harvests


Initially this will give me a spot for the GDP "runt" that I didn't think was going to do anything. Of course just as she was stubborn to start growing, she's going to now be stubborn and thrive. lol

I'll use my "emergency" blurple for her, which will be enough for the small space. Not 100% perfect, but enough for now. It pulls just under 300w from the wall, so for a plant in the middle it should be alright for flower. At some point I'll upgrade it to something better, but for now it is what it is.


This will also give me a spot for drying. It won't be pretty, but I can rig it various ways with intake/exhaust to where one side feeds the other when needed, etc.

I can (and probably will initially) use the exhaust from this as an intake supply to the Lab tent, even.

Mainly so I can piggyback onto the carbon filter. Other option would be to get another 4" fan, but whatev.

 

[multiVortex]

Well, that's that. Be here next week some time.

 

[Dutchman1990]

I think this is how I'm going to solve my "problem" with space and blah blah blah for the bargain price of $115.

So what do we have here? A "lodge" or "propagation" tent. It's not 100% perfect, but it will get the job done. Overall it's 4x3x6. Would have been nice to be 7ft, but 6ft will do.

That makes for a main chamber of 3x3x6, and a 2-level side at 1x3x6.


I may throw together a 12" riser for the whole tent, or at least have an option for that.


What this will solve is several things:

- a place to sprout seedlings.
- a place for some mom's (at some point.)
- a place for a random plant that won't fit elsewhere (looking at you, GDP "runt")
- a place for early vegging of seedlings (with the aero setup from previous posts)
- a place for drying harvests


Initially this will give me a spot for the GDP "runt" that I didn't think was going to do anything. Of course just as she was stubborn to start growing, she's going to now be stubborn and thrive. lol

I'll use my "emergency" blurple for her, which will be enough for the small space. Not 100% perfect, but enough for now. It pulls just under 300w from the wall, so for a plant in the middle it should be alright for flower. At some point I'll upgrade it to something better, but for now it is what it is.


This will also give me a spot for drying. It won't be pretty, but I can rig it various ways with intake/exhaust to where one side feeds the other when needed, etc.

I can (and probably will initially) use the exhaust from this as an intake supply to the Lab tent, even.

Mainly so I can piggyback onto the carbon filter. Other option would be to get another 4" fan, but whatev.

Awesome new tent multi! That will definitely help solve some space issues with clones and seedlings! Looking forward to the setup and seeing how you like it

 

[multiVortex]

Awesome new tent multi! That will definitely help solve some space issues with clones and seedlings! Looking forward to the setup and seeing how you like it

Thanks, Dutch.

This is similar in configuration to a cabinet I'd thought about building. However the reality is time is getting short and solutions are needed in short order.

I'll need a few more odd and end supplies, but think I can get started with most of what I have on hand already.

I have some LED strip/shop lights that are 5000k (or maybe it was 6500k, can't remember now) that I can use on the split side, and a 300w (from the wall) blurple for the 3x3 side.

First upgrade (at some point down the road) will be the light on that side, but maybe not. I dunno. Need some smaller veg lights for the 12"x36" side at some point, but the strips should be ok in the interim.


The 3x3 side is big enough for one of the CC Solo Pro mods I picked up, so that's good (and kind of the point on the size of that side.)

The "biggest" issue will be getting the ventilation set up right. In the short term I have some basic fans that will work fine, and I've used on the other tents before turning on the big fans. Once something in there starts to get a little bit of funk to her, I'll have to piggyback another tent or get another fan. Not sure yet, but will figure it out before too long I guess.

 

[multiVortex]

UVB's showed up today, as did the temp gun.

Will be headed into the Lab shortly to see what's what.

 

[multiVortex]

Temp gun is fun. Wish I had a cat to chase the little laser.

Got the UVB lights out of the box and took a good look. They're intact, so that's good. I'm always worried about bulbs and shipping, so relieved they were in one piece.

I don't think I'll need to turn them on quite yet, but I'm planning on having them set up and ready this weekend. Will probably be a couple weeks before they see any real use, but I will test them out when I put them up to verify they work as expected. (Learned that lesson the hard way on the big light for the RDWC, just sayin.)


So how are we doing? Humming right along. I forgot to grab the filter, so the colors are a tick off.

Still in the same order.
TL: Mexican Airlines (Chica)
TR: Blue Dream'mattic (Blue)
CR: Lemon Drop (Lemmy)
BL: Six Shooter (Six)
BR: Green Crack (Crack Baby)


The back light is probably 6"-8" higher than the front. The back two girls are just taller, but that's alright.

Let's make the rounds:

Here's Six, puttin on some buds.

The crack baby doin the same, and damn is she super sticky.

This may be a bit of a surprise, but lemmy is finally putting on the flowers. I was a bit surprised, since she popped a week before the others (11/1), and really just started putting on flowers in the last couple days. The rest have had buds for a couple weeks or so. She's still pretty thick and bushy, and seems to be doing pretty well.

The Chica is well, and starting to flower too. Doing the skinny bitch sativa thing.

Finally is Blue. Stackin on the buds and building em up.


I will probably be digging into the girls tomorrow, and looking for any fans that are blocking flowers to snip off and open up for the light. I will say though that so far, these Budget LED's are doing extremely well. They were a great purchase.

You may notice a new trunk hanging down. I added another passive intake, and that was my best option to run it into the tent. I also have another one coming into the bottom port on that side (opposite side of the exhaust, which is out the top side port), but I also have the tent intake flap cracked a tick on that side too. I'm still researching the best level to pull your intake air from, so a bit of a mix of both as the two duct feeds have their (filtered) input ends about 5ft off the floor.


All the girls are now getting 6.5g/gal of MegaCrop, 5ml/gal of CalMag (1-0-0), and 5ml/gal of Pro-TeKt (0-0-3).



So where are all of these currently at in their life cycle? That's a good question.

Here is a list of the current week, and number of days since they each popped above the "dirt":

Lemmy: 11/1 (currently in week 10, day 64)
Blue/Six: 11/6 (currently in week 9, day 59)
Crk Baby: 11/9 (currently in week 8, day 56)
Chica: 11/18 (currently in week 7, day 47)




For reference, this was just a short 3 weeks ago:

Top Left: Six
Top Right: Blue
Center: Lemmy
Bot Left: Chica
Bot Right: Crack Baby




My how quickly things change when you stop to take a look.

Blue, Crack Baby, and Six have been flowering for just about 2.5-3 weeks now. All 3 started around 12/16 +/-. Not sure why, but seems like it's been more like 5 weeks, but hey, I'll take it with a smile. The pic right above from 3 weeks ago was right before they started to pop. There may have been tiny little flowers at this point, but can't really tell. I'll have to look back through pics to see. But for sure in the pics from 12/16 I see tiny flowers on all 3. (Yes, I need better notes. )

That being the case, let's review the breeder estimates for flowering times, shall we?

Breeder estimates, and approximate finish dates could be:

Crack Baby: 8 weeks (2/10)
Six : 9 weeks (2/17)
Blue: 9-11 weeks (2/17 - 3/2)
Chica: 9 weeks (2/27)
Lemmy: 9-11 weeks (3/4 - 3/18)

Wow. That seems like a good bit for auto's, but not overly I guess. Could be worse. So I guess that somewhere by the end of March there should at least be something cured and ready to sample.

 

[multiVortex]

Dano, I can't believe you just read through all this drivel.

Hope it helped (and continues to help) prep you for your upcoming round with Lemon Drop.

 

[Brett Blaze]

Dano, I can't believe you just read through all this drivel.

Hope it helped (and continues to help) prep you for your upcoming round with Lemon Drop.

I'm late but I'm here. Good info and well done.

 

[multiVortex]

I'm late but I'm here. Good info and well done.

Glad you are, and hope it really does help when you run your Lemmy. Mine is putting on flower sites and stretching right now, and vegged for 2 months. Not that it's a bad thing, but depends on your point of view. Really, with a 2 month veg, the "benefit" of an auto is out the window. You can do the same with a photo, and the only difference is an auto isn't as sensitive as a photo to interruptions during the dark period. That and I suppose height could be a positive in some cases too.


I came across some cams the other day, and may set a few up in the coming weeks. They were $20 a pop, and kind of a cross between a ring indoor cam and a web cam. Haven't thought it all through yet, but will be planning it out over the next few weeks.

 

[Brett Blaze]

Glad you are, and hope it really does help when you run your Lemmy. Mine is putting on flower sites and stretching right now, and vegged for 2 months. Not that it's a bad thing, but depends on your point of view. Really, with a 2 month veg, the "benefit" of an auto is out the window. You can do the same with a photo, and the only difference is an auto isn't as sensitive as a photo to interruptions during the dark period. That and I suppose height could be a positive in some cases too.


I came across some cams the other day, and may set a few up in the coming weeks. They were $20 a pop, and kind of a cross between a ring indoor cam and a web cam. Haven't thought it all through yet, but will be planning it out over the next few weeks.

I hope the veg is shorter since the whole point was to get a quick turn to beat the heat. This will be interesting. It's cool when there are unknowns and surprises though. Just like my strawberry scented C99. What a great surprise.

 

[multiVortex]

I hope the veg is shorter since the whole point was to get a quick turn to beat the heat. This will be interesting. It's cool when there are unknowns and surprises though. Just like my strawberry scented C99. What a great surprise.

That strawberry pheno was an awesome surprise. (Why am I thinking about Forrest Gump right now? )


Depending on how you train them, you shouldn't run into issues with long veg times on any of your autos. Mine we all topped before day 21, but the ones with more defol attention did veg longer. Once Lemmy finishes up her stretch, I will probably hit her one more time. As you can see, she's still awful thick. Totally taking over the center of the space now. (And all from a 3gal pot, too.)

The Mx Airlines received the least defol (one maybe two light rounds) and was flowering within 5 weeks. Has she not been touched at all (in terms of snipping), I bet she would have flowered 7-10 days earlier.

At some point, maybe Lab run #3, I may just do the bend and spiral around the pot LST style training. No clipping at all. Would have to be a less bushy strain though, so we'll see. Definitely won't be a Lemon Drop!

For run #2 I was thinking about giving even more trimming a try, with 2, if not 3, rounds of topping. That part I haven't figured out yet, but will in the next couple months. Probably won't be starting that grow until mid March when these are all fully finished.

Which reminds me, I need to get back to looking at seeds for that one.

 

[multiVortex]

Well tomorrow's the day, sort of. The multi-purpose tent will be here tomorrow according to FedEx. We'll see if they're liars or not.

It's only "sort of" the day, because I can't mess with it until Wednesday afternoon.

My goal will be to have it put together Wednesday, get the light put up, and move the GDP "runt" into the big side. This weekend I will most likely be moving her into a 3.5gal bucket. Hempy, dutch, bato, whatever you want to call it.

Not 100% sure what I'll use as a res for her yet. I would prefer something semi temporary, since it's just one bucket. I'd rather not run the full res that I will with the 4-bucket setup that will go in the Lab for the next auto run, but I guess if I had to I could. I'll see what I can come up with. Either way, it will be quick since I'll be leaving in about 10 days and be gone for 4.5 days.


On that note, a quick look at the girls today.

Not the greatest filter. My better "filter" was sitting upstairs where I took them off my head a little earlier.

Full tent shot.

Note the riser pipe there. For reference, it's 18" tall. You can see Lemmy taking over the middle, and pushing out to her neighbors.

Six

Crack Baby

Got an odd flower there at the bottom of the pic. I'm keeping an eye on it for now to see what happens.

Lemmy

From the top she doesn't look near as thick as she does from the side. Once she's done stretching I'm going to get a few fans off her to open up circulation as well as get more light to the lower buds forming.

Chica

She's in need of a little trim herself, as you can see a couple sites are blocked from above. She's still stretching too, so it will be a week or so before she gets a light trim. Doesn't need much, but every bit helps.

Blue

(Had to go around to the back to get a decent shot of her. )

She's doing well, and getting some nice flowers on her.




Overall we're in cruise and observe mode as they build and do their thing. I'm highly considering moving that intake trunk. It works, but would be nice to have that 1/2 square ft of space back, plus the reflection on the tent. The trunk does work, and its end outside the tent is about a foot above the dehumidifier, but if Lemmy is going to go all bush on me, space is going to be at a premium. I may need to adjust a few things, but that will be a little difficult with the drip lines installed.

 

[Brett Blaze]

Well tomorrow's the day, sort of. The multi-purpose tent will be here tomorrow according to FedEx. We'll see if they're liars or not.

It's only "sort of" the day, because I can't mess with it until Wednesday afternoon.

My goal will be to have it put together Wednesday, get the light put up, and move the GDP "runt" into the big side. This weekend I will most likely be moving her into a 3.5gal bucket. Hempy, dutch, bato, whatever you want to call it.

Not 100% sure what I'll use as a res for her yet. I would prefer something semi temporary, since it's just one bucket. I'd rather not run the full res that I will with the 4-bucket setup that will go in the Lab for the next auto run, but I guess if I had to I could. I'll see what I can come up with. Either way, it will be quick since I'll be leaving in about 10 days and be gone for 4.5 days.


On that note, a quick look at the girls today.

Not the greatest filter. My better "filter" was sitting upstairs where I took them off my head a little earlier.

Full tent shot.

Note the riser pipe there. For reference, it's 18" tall. You can see Lemmy taking over the middle, and pushing out to her neighbors.

Six

Crack Baby

Got an odd flower there at the bottom of the pic. I'm keeping an eye on it for now to see what happens.

Lemmy

From the top she doesn't look near as thick as she does from the side. Once she's done stretching I'm going to get a few fans off her to open up circulation as well as get more light to the lower buds forming.

Chica

She's in need of a little trim herself, as you can see a couple sites are blocked from above. She's still stretching too, so it will be a week or so before she gets a light trim. Doesn't need much, but every bit helps.

Blue

(Had to go around to the back to get a decent shot of her. )

She's doing well, and getting some nice flowers on her.




Overall we're in cruise and observe mode as they build and do their thing. I'm highly considering moving that intake trunk. It works, but would be nice to have that 1/2 square ft of space back, plus the reflection on the tent. The trunk does work, and its end outside the tent is about a foot above the dehumidifier, but if Lemmy is going to go all bush on me, space is going to be at a premium. I may need to adjust a few things, but that will be a little difficult with the drip lines installed.

Looking good.

 

[multiVortex]

Thanks. They're coming around and frosting up real nice so far. I'm waiting to see how they react to the doses of UVB that I'll start before too long.

I plan to hook them up the 23rd or 24th, and start turning them on for a bit in the middle of the day cycle. That will be right about 2 weeks before the breeder estimate comes up for the Crack Baby (2/10). A week from there starts the watch for blue and six (2/17). Chica 10 days later (2/27), and finally Lemmy starting on 3/4.

No real way to break it up, so if Chica and Lemmy get a little more then it isn't going to hurt. Doesn't really help until the last couple weeks, but doesn't hurt.

 

[multiVortex]

Well, if I could ever get anything besides a "Too many connections" regarding MySQL error page from Attitude, I have the following sitting in a cart for the next Lab Run:

- Blackberry Kush Night Queen (Dutch Passion)
- Durban Poison (Dutch Passion)
- Orange Bud (Dutch Passion)
- Cream Cookies (Fast Buds)


I swear most of these companies need competent programming/server people. They should hit me up. (Not kidding.)

 

[multiVortex]

Had to make a modification. Got my hands on Night Queen, and it's been on the top of my list (but unavailable any time I've looked) so off with the Blackberry.

Could have offed the Cream Cookies and run it too, but between the current Lab run and then the RDWC, then the runt GDP, I'll have more then enough knockout/late evening stuff. Could have offed the Durban Poison, but if I had it would have been for a similar energetic strain.

 

[multiVortex]

And just like that, order has shipped.

First time ordering through Attitude, but so far so good. Can't complain about an order being dispatched in less than 12 hours (during the week) from purchase.


And FedEx seems to think they're going to deliver to the house today. Even says it's on a truck.