TGA Vortex 400W Stealth Grow in Supersoil

[ColoradoLove]

Congratulations!

4 for 4!

Good thing you played your odds and popped that 4th bean! Haha

And I repped you for the topping pics. So many times people just say they topped and I can't tell what or where exactly they cut. You have cleared it all up for a new grower like myself. It's kind of what I figured due to it's name but I'm not about to just start chopping stuff of my plants til I'm sure! Thanks!

 

[J.W.]

Yeah man, there's a couple ways to top, depending on what you're after. If you top just the meristem a node or two down, you will probably develop new growth, and those will be your grow tips. I topped three nodes down, which is about as much as you want to do. I mostly just wanted the nodes I left to be the new grow tips, and it worked out great.

 

[J.W.]

Well, today was not good. . .
I have been very busy with life lately, and I was in a hurry checking on the girls before I left this morning. . .
When I pulled the curtains back, I wasn't careful, and the cord for my carbon filter caught the removable wall as I pulled it out and it yanked my whole setup down!

The damage:
V2 and V3 are no longer candidates to finish. The wooden frame landed on those two and splintered the main stem and ripped a main shoot off of each of those. V1 went fairly unharmed, and V4 wasn't harmed at all, luckily. I made repairs to the setup and everything is good, but V2 and V3 are damaged severely enough to where they won't be the keepers to flower. I'm still going to veg them for another month so I can get good clones, so I guess it's good that the genetics aren't going to be lost. Also, I caught the frame as it fell, so the bulb and reflector are good. I suppose it could have been much worse. . .
As it is now, I'm thinking V4 is going to be the keeper. I'm upset that this happened, as it could have been prevented if I just would have been more careful, but I guess things do happen. . .
I'm transplanting tomorrow. I'll update with pics then. . . Oh well. I should still get a good finish!

 

[maidenmonkey]

man dude that really sucks, but accidents happen and at least the other plants weren't harmed.

 

[ColoradoLove]

Yea at least you didn't KO V2 & V3 or break any equipment. If you can still clone em all you really lost is time!

 

[J.W.]

Yeah guys, it's really not that bad at all. I didn't really lose anything, not even time. I transplanted all four today into the 7 gallon smart pots and cleaned up, disinfected, and tweaked the setup. V2 and V3 don't even seem stressed from the damage done. What's left of them looks great, and so do V1 and V4. The only aftermath is that I kind of only have a choice to grow V1 or V4 this time, but I'm going to clone each phenotype and grow them one by one anyway, so they'll each get their day in court!
Now that they're all transplanted and free to get a badass root system going and plenty of super soil, they should all start reaching for the sky. I'll update with pics in a couple days after I see more growth!

 

[quietgardener]

I started 4 Vortex 2-3 weeks before you did and got the same- all female! Anyway, they've been under 12/12 for 2-1/2 weeks now and moving right along. Slow flowering so far compared to my last few grows, but those were mostly if not totally indicas.

 

[J.W.]

Yeah, these Vortex grow nice and steady. It'll be cool to compare how our buds turn out! Here's some pics of the four.
I transplanted to these 7 gallon smart pots on Friday, and they've all adjusted well. V2 and V3, the ones that got damaged, are in the back there. They seem to be recovering as good as could be asked. If I wanted, I could even train the three main shoots that are left and make either one the keeper if I chose to do so, but I probably won't. I'll probably just clone them all and flower V1 or V4. After the accident, I trimmed off the severely damaged portions of the plants and saved what I could, and luckily, these Vortex plants were very forgiving! I sometimes forget how hardy cannabis is!
Anyway, the 2nd pic shows V1 and V4 up front, which will probably be the choice for my keeper. The next four weeks or so, I'm going to spot-crush and train, and keep an eye on each closely as I make my decision.

 

[TCurtiss]

Looking good

My Vortex just popped the other day so I am interested to see how yours are coming out

How do you like those smart pots?

I was thinking of trying some of these guys

http://www.botanicalbrothers.com/productinformation.asp

To see how well they work, if not I may go with those smart pots, can you lift up those 7 gallon ones without ripping it?

Keep up the great work

 

[ColoradoLove]

Damn JW you can barely tell those back girls even got hurt! Looking nice and green!

TCurtiss - you should try run some Airpots too. Check out Closetgrowths DWC grow journal. He's doing a DWC vs Airpot in the last couple of pages of it. They're crazy cool!

 

[J.W.]

Damn JW you can barely tell those back girls even got hurt! Looking nice and green!

Thanks brotha, appreciate that. They recovered quick, and now that they have plenty of root space and rich soil, all should be good. Yesterday morning after I took those pics, I supercropped each main grow stem on V1 and V4 in between the 3rd and 4th node. They've already pretty much healed and new growth is flourishing! I left V2 and V3 alone, as they suffered enough stress with that accident last week, and I'll have plenty of growth to clone from as they are. On V1 or V4, whichever is to be flowered, the plan is to leave all growth above the bondage site on each main shoot, and to trim off all except main fan leaves on the 3 nodes under the pinch before 12/12. I'll throw some pics up in a few days to show progress.

Looking good

My Vortex just popped the other day so I am interested to see how yours are coming out

How do you like those smart pots?

I was thinking of trying some of these guys

http://www.botanicalbrothers.com/productinformation.asp

To see how well they work, if not I may go with those smart pots, can you lift up those 7 gallon ones without ripping it?

Keep up the great work

Thanks for the kind words bro. Yeah, I like the smart pots alright. They work great, I just wish they were slanted and deeper instead of so squared up. I have 10 gallon smart pots as backup for future grows, in case I find that the 7 gallons fade too early. The smart pots are plenty sturdy, and I have no worries of them ripping when handled even after a fresh watering. I even put little holes in them near the lip to tie to when I start bending in flowering, and even then they don't rip.

 

[TCurtiss]

Thanks for the feedback, they have some at the local hydro store, but I have spent too much this week already on plants, dirt and other items so they will have to wait for a while and I am not planning to do anymore planting until my new seedling get bigger

I did manage to germ and raise all 3 seeds, 2 Chernobyl and 1 Vortex

It's going to be a great summer

 

[J.W.]

It's going to be a great summer

Indeed it is my friend, indeed it is.

 

[J.W.]

I supercropped the main stems on V1 and V4 a few days ago, and they've both already healed quite nicely and started reaching for the sky again and throwing out new growth. V1 in particular is throwing out some good growth adjacent to where I pinched, as you can see in the third pic. V4 (4th pic) took it equally well, but just kinda recovered stronger and beefier from the bondage and moved on rather than shifting growth too much. I left V2 and V3 alone to avoid stressing them any more than they already were from the accident, and they're filling back out nicely. They're all starting to take on a similar but equally unique scent, with V3 even smelling almost like really sweet hawaiian coffee or something. About three more weeks before I pick the keeper, take clones, and change bulbs and shift to 12/12. I love growing reefer

 

[J.W.]

I want to let everyone know just how great this supersoil is.

I was checking the ladies and lifting pots this morning to see if they need water, and I couldn't help but grab the camera and capture a few shots. These girls were all around 8" tall when I transplanted into the 7 gallon pots of supersoil just 10 days ago. They are now 18" bushes, and have grown 6" in height just in the past four days. Coincidentally, they didn't need water this morning; I've only had to water twice since transplanting, which has been about every four days, which is another nice thing about how trouble-free this method is. That's obviously going to change as they get bigger, but not by much.
Also, the bondage sites on V1 and V4 have healed into huge, bulbous knots, so that's good. I tried to capture in the third pic just how big the preflowers are on V1, but it's kind of hard to see. They're pairs of huge sepals with giant twin pistils protruding out. I'm liking how V1 is developing nice and full, and it's going to be a hard choice when I pick the one to flower. . .

 

[TCurtiss]

looking great JW

I have found it easy to water also, kind of strange where I was watering them once a day is now every other day for watering

Your plants look great, keep up the great work

 

[J.W.]

Okay, so we're getting down to the last week of vegging. . .
I'm going to clean up the lowers and remove the sucker shoots, and take clones off of each plant in a couple days. Once they're looking their best, they'll veg for a couple more days, and I'll have to decide which makes the cut . . .
This pic kind of sucks because you can't really see well, but I'll update with one last pic of all four after I take clones and clean them up. Then, for one lucky plant, it's on to the red spectrum for some buddage and some greasy pics!

 

[hybridbuds]

hey J.W., I'm a little late, but I did my homework and it looks like I'm just in time to see some buddage. Looks real good in there! subscribed

 

[J.W.]

Thanks man! Yeah, my domicile smells like straight dank, even with my carbon filter plugging away. I can't wait until the buds start forming!

 

[hybridbuds]

Yeah, my domicile smells like straight dank, even with my carbon filter plugging away. I can't wait until the buds start forming!

Gotta love the smell of cannabis in the morning