First Ever for GardensGrow

Hawk

Hawk

Well-Known Member
I replaced the soil. I started with Sta-Green potting soil that I got from the hardware store. I believe its time released fertilizer was harmful to the seedlings. I changed to Roots Organics soil that I got from a local hydroponics shop and I add extra perlite. The last of the three to break out of its peat puck never went into the Sta-Green, just the Roots Organics. And it was the only one that didn't show damage early on.

The Roots Organics is a peat based soil who's ingredient list does not include dolomite lime. And my pH measurements (possibly flawed) kept showing the runoff pH and the soil pH itself to be more acidic than I believed (not know) to be ideal. I wasn't sure if I should be adding dolomite lime to the soil to buffer the pH levels or if I should be watering with a higher pH to try and adjust, etc. etc. Eventually, I decided to stop obsessing over the runoff pH, focus on the pH of the water going in, and stop trying to correct problems that might not even really be there.
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Erysichthon said:
luckily cannabis is TOUGH
Click to expand...
That's what I keep hearing; which is good cuz I have a tendency to beat up on my plants accidentally lol. I'm getting better though. Thanks for stoppin by Erysichthon. I need to stop by to see how you're growin'

Hawk, I was just trying to figure out the basics of pH and lime and their interaction the other day. The difference was that I wanted to actually bring my soil pH down on my broccoli so lime wasn't the thing I needed. I think garden lime is a good way to bring up the pH but I believe it takes some time. There is some other type of "lime" that acts really quick but I think I read that it's easy to burn with it.
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Nothin' new really today. Just got tracking numbers and the air cooled hood should be in Thursday but I won't be able to install it until next Monday or Tuesday.
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Holy crap! The seeds just arrived today! It took twice as long to send the money than it did to receive the product... A+++ for hempdepot

Unfortunately I'll be leaving town the next two weekends so I don't want to germinate until after that. I need to be around every day during the germination and seedling phase. I'm still keeping my original plan of July 1st as my beginning date.

Quite the will power this will take haha
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Got back from my trip yesterday and started working on my grow op again. I have the SS2 installed with the filter half-attached.

One question I hope someone might be able to answer me is this: Are there any cons to bringing in air from the light-fixture-side of the SS2 hood?

As you can see in my picture below this is how I have it set up right now. This orientation works best for me but I can change it if necessary.

Comments, questions, answers, insults, etc. are welcomed

~GG

 
Hawk

Hawk

Well-Known Member
I've got mine running the other way. I'd be surprised if it made much difference though. I couldn't find anything in the manual that mentioned one way being preferred over the other. But just by looking at the hood, at the relatively low velocities and modest pressures we're dealing with, it's hard for me to see how it would matter. It's not like this is the intake port of racing engine.

A test might reveal one way being better. My guess is the difference is small enough that it wouldn't outweigh whatever other reasons you have to run it one way or the other. On the other hand, if every last CFM of air movement is needed, maybe it could make a large enough difference to have a practical impact. I have no reason to assume that the cooling effectiveness of a hood has a linear relationship to CFM. In other words, between 50 and 100 cfm the impact on cooling might be linear. But then at 105 cfm to 120cfm there's a large increase in cooling before before going back to linear beyond 125cfm. And then past 250cfm the cooling levels off completely. Or something like that.



So have you run it yet? I'm curious about what happens with the temperatures. How well you can cool a 400HPS in there might help me decide if I want to upgrade to 500w or 650w (i.e. adding another 250w or adding a 400w). I probably should have gotten the 400w from the get-go [shrug]. On the other hand, my current 250w might be exceeding my expectations at this stage. Not that I knew what to expect, really.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/80528-show-off-lst.html
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
I haven't run it yet. I just got back from another trip this weekend and all last week I was harvesting a different type of crop so that took a lot of my attention. But now that other type of crop is on autopilot so I should have the fan/light up and running by tonight or tomorrow night. I will post pictures and temp findings soon.

Also I will begin to germinate the seeds within the same time frame.
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Alright, after running my setup all night I woke up and the ambient temps were about 72-73 outside of the cab and inside of the cab I was running about 78-79. Not too bad, but still a little high for my tastes. I may run the setup without the filter and see what kind of temps I get. Maybe I can leave the filter off until it starts to smell...

One cool thing is that the radiant heat is almost non-existent. I can hold my hand directly under that glass/bulb and it barely gets warm.

Overall I think the purchase was worth it.

Mylar coatings and germination soon to follow!


 
ceestyle

ceestyle

Well-Known Member
Hawk said:
I replaced the soil. I started with Sta-Green potting soil that I got from the hardware store. I believe its time released fertilizer was harmful to the seedlings. I changed to Roots Organics soil that I got from a local hydroponics shop and I add extra perlite. The last of the three to break out of its peat puck never went into the Sta-Green, just the Roots Organics. And it was the only one that didn't show damage early on.

The Roots Organics is a peat based soil who's ingredient list does not include dolomite lime. And my pH measurements (possibly flawed) kept showing the runoff pH and the soil pH itself to be more acidic than I believed (not know) to be ideal. I wasn't sure if I should be adding dolomite lime to the soil to buffer the pH levels or if I should be watering with a higher pH to try and adjust, etc. etc. Eventually, I decided to stop obsessing over the runoff pH, focus on the pH of the water going in, and stop trying to correct problems that might not even really be there.
Click to expand...
Just throw a tbsp or two of fine dolomite lime per gallon of potting soil, set it, and forget it!
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Final touches are complete. I switched the fan around and removed the filter for now. Temp swings are about 5 degrees up from ambient. Mylar coating on the door and floor.

Also I germinated 5 of my 10 seeds! Placed them 1/4" deep into some Jiffy peat pellets with a CFL ready for when the seedlings pop.

I think I've decided to set up a SCROG grow in this cab but I'm still not sure. Any thoughts/suggestions?

 
Hawk

Hawk

Well-Known Member
Awesome man! Very clean.

I wish I had a different kind of door on my closet. I couldn't figure out how to set mine up without using a double door. Looks like yours utilizes the space better. Mine feels a bit cramped. But mostly, our space and equipment is similar. I like!





I can offer little advice on how to grow. All I know is what I've been doing. I read about SCROG before I started but it seemed too advanced for me as a complete beginner. I figured I'd have the best chance for success by keeping it simple. LST'ing seemed simple enough so that's what I did.

It's been working for me. However, I can certainly see why SCROG is a popular method and would like to try it at some point. Now that I'm in the 4th week of 12/12, I can see what my LST efforts actually did. And I'm happy with the shape and uniformity of my canopy. But it could definitely be better and I think that's where SCROG might come in.

I'm actually really excited about how things are turning out for me. I guess I'll have to wait for the final verdict....but I didn't start with high expectations so I'm pretty sure I'll have no regrets.


This is day 24 of 12/12:


 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the compliments Hawk. I do my absolute best to keep things clean.

Things are looking great for you! How long do you think you'll flower?

I think I actually like you're double door setup a little better though just for the simple fact that it's discrete. You mentioned that you're looking to go to 400 W and, considering I got my temp swing to 5 degrees, you might want to consider it. You seem to have the abilities to control that anyway so I bet you can do even better.

It's funny that you mention choosing LST for it's simplicity because, to me, the SCROG method seems a bit easier. To me, SCROG is basically LST without the strings/wire. Thoughts? I mean you definitely have a nice canopy going so LST obviously works well but I feel like tying the plant down (considering I'm pretty clumsy) could introduce a bit of trouble. Care to give me a "laymans" on how you did it?

Edit: I'm reading that SCROG isn't really a good method when starting from seed... I'm thinking LST is the way to go
 
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Hawk

Hawk

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure how long I'll flower. I figure I'm not quite half way?

I think my hangup on SCROG was my cab wasn't really put together at all when I started. I kinda started some seeds and built/added stuff around them as I went. I scrambled a bit to have something ready in time to flower before they got too big. Adding a SCROG screen to the mix just seemed like one more detail to work out that I didn't really have time for. Also, I've been removing my plants to water them. I'm sure there's a good way to water them in the cab--but again, one more detail to think about. And the other thing is removing males before they're all locked into the screen. I needed more time to figure it all out.

LST is simple to me because it's so darn flexible. It can be done here and there, as much or as little as you want. Since it's confined to each individual pot they can be moved around easily. I needed that flexibility since my space was in such limbo.

I didn't even start the LST with clear vision about how things would turn out. I just read a bunch of stuff about it and then went little by little. Ordinary string and folder clips were really easy to work with. I also used a large pair of tweezers to thread one end of the string through tight spaces. That made it easier to get the lines right were I wanted them without manhandling the plants much. I talked more about what I did in the thread I linked to earlier.



Your situation might adapt to SCROG better though. Your soil/watering system looks like it's pretty much gonna stay in place the whole grow (?). And you've got plenty of time to build a screen.

The advantage I see in a screen is it seems like you'd have better control of the canopy. I see that as particularly important for maximizing yield with a lower wattage lamp like mine. Probably a little less so with your 400 watter [shrug]. My canopy was fairly even but the bud sites have stretched at different rates since 12/12. But more than that, the plants are basically round--so it's the old round peg in a square hole problem. I've got brighter areas that could have buds in them and darker areas that do have buds in them since my canopy isn't really rectangular.

Just recently I some good pics of scrog setups. I'll see if I can find them.
 
ceestyle

ceestyle

Well-Known Member
Hawk said:
I'm not sure how long I'll flower. I figure I'm not quite half way?

I think my hangup on SCROG was my cab wasn't really put together at all when I started. I kinda started some seeds and built/added stuff around them as I went. I scrambled a bit to have something ready in time to flower before they got too big. Adding a SCROG screen to the mix just seemed like one more detail to work out that I didn't really have time for. Also, I've been removing my plants to water them. I'm sure there's a good way to water them in the cab--but again, one more detail to think about. And the other thing is removing males before they're all locked into the screen. I needed more time to figure it all out.

LST is simple to me because it's so darn flexible. It can be done here and there, as much or as little as you want. Since it's confined to each individual pot they can be moved around easily. I needed that flexibility since my space was in such limbo.

I didn't even start the LST with clear vision about how things would turn out. I just read a bunch of stuff about it and then went little by little. Ordinary string and folder clips were really easy to work with. I also used a large pair of tweezers to thread one end of the string through tight spaces. That made it easier to get the lines right were I wanted them without manhandling the plants much. I talked more about what I did in the thread I linked to earlier.



Your situation might adapt to SCROG better though. Your soil/watering system looks like it's pretty much gonna stay in place the whole grow (?). And you've got plenty of time to build a screen.

The advantage I see in a screen is it seems like you'd have better control of the canopy. I see that as particularly important for maximizing yield with a lower wattage lamp like mine. Probably a little less so with your 400 watter [shrug]. My canopy was fairly even but the bud sites have stretched at different rates since 12/12. But more than that, the plants are basically round--so it's the old round peg in a square hole problem. I've got brighter areas that could have buds in them and darker areas that do have buds in them since my canopy isn't really rectangular.

Just recently I some good pics of scrog setups. I'll see if I can find them.
Click to expand...
Check this out: https://www.rollitup.org/outdoor-growing/45900-fdds-starting-early-outdoor-08-a-125.html
 
GardensGrow

GardensGrow

Well-Known Member
Haha that SCROG grow picture is awesome! Talk about efficiency...

I think you're right though about the males. I'm starting from seed so SCROG is probably the worst thing I could do.

Even though my soil will stay in place the whole time I think I might still be able to manage a little bit of LST in the Earthbox. I'm imagining two females rooted at each end and then LST'd down the length of the Earthbox... That might be pretty sweet.
 
Hawk

Hawk

Well-Known Member
GardensGrow said:
Haha that SCROG grow picture is awesome! Talk about efficiency...

I think you're right though about the males. I'm starting from seed so SCROG is probably the worst thing I could do.

Even though my soil will stay in place the whole time I think I might still be able to manage a little bit of LST in the Earthbox. I'm imagining two females rooted at each end and then LST'd down the length of the Earthbox... That might be pretty sweet.
Click to expand...
Sounds good to me.

Seems like clones, hydro, and scrog are a marriage made in heaven. I'm sure scrog could be used successfully without clones or hydro but it seems like it'd take more planning than I'm ready for.

Here's a clearer pic of my canopy. I drew some boxes on there to better show where I've got space I'm not useing. Each plant is kind of crowded into one side of its rectangle. Individual scrog screens for each plant (but when put together make one big screen) might allow for easy removal from the cab. I don't know about transplanting though. Maybe I could just pot-up earlier than I might otherwise [shrug]--before they lock into their screen. Then again, after this grow I'll have a much better sense of how I should train them. I could have kept them more rectangular instead of round but didn't realize I should.
 

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