400 Watt HPS Soil Grow,4-XXX Skunks and 1-Green Goo

[theWOZZ87]

Thanks Guys, and buzzard that ozone thing looks pretty kool. Its a lot more expensive than what we got but you'll never need to change filters and it sounds like it's more of an effective and innovative method for removing the stank. I found it for $70 with shipping online too. You got a setup or a journal Buzz?

I'm also getting pretty excited, i've been a chronic pot smoker for the past 8 years and a conoisseur of the best green for the last 3-4 and I have never seen buds with this much crystal!!! Especially when you consider the plant is just past the half way point in flowering. The day is coming faster than you think too, today is Week 5 Day 4 of Flowering and this strain is early flowering and is finished in just 7-8 weeks. Now I know you can't completely trust the schedule and my girls went the whole week 4 without any HPS but either way i've got 17 days left minimum(Dec.8th) and 31 days maximum(Dec.22nd). Although i'm guessing(and hoping) they will be ready at the end of the 8th week(Dec.15th) because that will be just enough time for a week of drying, and a 3-9 day cure so I can smoke some of the smaller buds on Christmas and New Years.

Still so hard to tell what i'm looking at yield wise, my largest buds look like they will max out to be about 8-9inches long and about 3 inches thick(thats just over 3 bic lighters long by just over 1 bic lighter wide). Does anyone remember any of their biggest bud sizes and how much they weighed? I know this bud is going to be real heavy and dense, not many of the hairs have changed and the buds are already getting hard and crispy with massive resin crystals.

 

[theWOZZ87]

Just a little mini-update, I rearranged the plants today to give all of the lower buds in the canopy more light, as well as added a couple new CFL's. So the total lighting is 1-400watt HPS, 1-45watt halogen bulb, 1-30watt halogen grow bulb, and 3-15watt CFL's. I know the halogens and CFL's don't do very much compared to the HPS but I have them all down on the lower parts of the plants to help the sides of buds and the smaller lower buds.

I also setup a drying area in the same room and am in the process of making a small mother/cloning setup because i'm going to be buying some( XXL Big Bud ) Seed's soon. I'm planning on starting 5 seeds on a short two week veg and then taking the best plant and bushing it out in a separate grow for cloning, while I flower the other four plants on 12/12. I am really interested in trying the big bud on a 12/12 because it's an early flowering strain(7-8 weeks) and it yields up to 650grams per meter squared. That's about 250g's more than what my current grow can yield, after i'm going to compare the 2 grows based on time, cost, and yield and see whether the 2-month way or the 4-month way work better/produce better for me.

 

[DaBuzzard]

I have a setup going with 6 plants. I am in week 5 with the grow and just started flowering 3 days ago. They are just bagseed and hoping for a decent turnout.

 

[theWOZZ87]

They look nice and healthy man, might want to look into doing some super cropping to those fan leaves while your still in the early stages of flowering. They pinch the stems half way down on the fan leaves til you feel it crush a little and then move it down ward out of the way to allow light get to the other nodes. The leaf will recover right away and grow like that, it will lead to a lot more shoots coming out, your just not suppose to do it after the first week or so of flowering, it's actually recommended to be done all the way through the veg stage.

 

[DaBuzzard]

I was reading about super cropping today and was considering it. It looks like it might be worth the risk. Thanks for the advice. I am also a 400watt HPS soil grower, using my portable fish house as a grow tent. Seems to work out just as nicely for growing as it does for fishing. I post my progress in my photo album if you choose to check back.

 

[theWOZZ87]

Another mini update, pictures coming tomorrow!! I have recently taken 3 clones from one of my XXX Skunk plants and started my little mothering/cloning box. The little green goo plant is looking to be female and it will be going into the separate box as a mother once I know for sure. I am also ordering my XXL Big Bud seeds in two days and will have those up and running within a week or so. My current grow should be finished on Dec. 15th and i'm planning on having 4-Big Bud sprouts, 2-XXX Skunk clones, and maybe 3-6-Green Goo clones go into the flowering room right after my current XXX Super Skunk plants are harvested. The other XXX Skunk clone, Big Bud sprout, and Green Goo plants will remain in the separate box to be used as mothers for cloning.

My next grow is going to be all 12/12 from seed/clone in 1-gallon pots and i'll be doing between 9-15 plants depending on what I have available for clones. After comparing the yield/time/cost/quality of my current grow and my next 12/12 grow I should know what strain and method I want to continue on the larger scale in the future. I have been reading a lot of 4-month veg. grows and likewise a lot of 12/12-2 month grows and it seems that most people that veg for a month or two(like my current grow) end up with about 1.5 oz's per plant on average, the smallest yield being just shy on a oz, the biggest 2 oz's. I have seen several 12/12 grows that replicated just shy of an oz to an oz and a half per plant and doing it this way allows you to harvest 6 times a year.

Also the whole reason i'm buying the XXL Big Bud is because it produces up to 650grams per meter squared indoors, so based on what I get from my current grow I can figure i'd get 1 1/2 times more from the Big Bud. Even though Big Bud should be the big producer I figured since this and the next grow are test grows it wouldn't hurt to see how the Green Goo and XXX Skunk produce under 12/12 before I go all Big Bud plants. I'm trying to get some decent harvests through the next year so i'll probably go with whichever strain gives me the most per plant, hopefully the skunk and goo hold their own yield wise so I can have a constant variety. Thanks for following and check back in a day or two for the new pictures! They're soooo frosty!

 

[theWOZZ87]

Also, just wanted to throw out there that I got my Hamilton Beach 04532 Febreze True Air Odor Eliminator this last saturday. I was surprised because of all the things i've ordered lately it was the cheapest item, was the only one with free shipping, and shipped the quickest by far. I ordered it on a thursday afternoon and got it saturday afternoon!

It's very quiet and small but you can feel it pushing the air around and I must say it works amazing, especially for $16 and free shipping. My plants used to stink up the closet they're in and the smell drifted out into the next room a bit and that was week 4. I'm about to start week 6 and they should stinnnnk with only 2-3 weeks left! Since i've gotten the odor eliminator all of the smell in the next room is totally gone and it only smells a little in the grow area. I'm pretty confident that just this one by itself should contain all the smells of both my grow and the harvest drying.

I'm definitely going to purchase another one for my larger future grows and maybe a 3rd because I have bad allergies and it's great for that too. I recommend this big time to all growers looking to remove smell and not spend some serious cash. I mean for $16 it cost less than 1g of good bud, if it doesn't work, just smash it and move on.

 

[theWOZZ87]

Today is the end of week 5 and I will be posting new pictures for week 6 later today or tomorrow. The little green goo plant is doing very well and is about 6 inches tall now and showing what looks to be female calyx's on several nodes, i'll know for sure in a few more days. That would be sweet because if you have followed along I got that one seed from a bag of some INSANE buds called "Green Goo" that were just amazing all around and the seed was on top of a bowl that had 2 hits already out of it and it still sprouted! This will be helpful too in the way that I can fit up to 15 plants in my new setup "plan" but i'm not sure how many plants i'll have for this next time around. I know i'll have at least 3-4 Big Bud seeds sprouted and going as well as the 2-XXX Super Skunk clones I just took(if they make it). It would be great to get at least 3 all the way up to 8 clones from the Goo plant in the next 3 weeks or so but i'm not sure if it would develop enough mature shoots by then. Although I plan on topping it at least once and giving it all side lighting to bush out and give me some shoots.

Also ordered my XXL Big Bud seeds today, which is great because i'm actually ahead of my own schedule for once with something. These little babies will probably be literally my only Christmas present this year, other than my current grow harvest, but they are definitely a worthy, fun, and useful gift. They are suppose to be one of the highest yielding plants out there at 650g's per m2 and it's a good smoke i've had it from a grower several times before. So I have "high" hopes for my grow I will be starting in 3 months from now which will be a 15 plant 12/12 from clone setup. I've seen several other people recently yield a pound this way with 15 plants and had single plants up to 43g's dried and an average weight of 25-27g's per plant for all plants totaled together. These grows wern't using a high yielder such as Big Bud and still had some plants max out at 45g's dried, so it will be interesting to see what I get during the test grow(my next grow).

That's all for now, but crazy, crystally, busty, filthy budporn on it's way!

 

[theWOZZ87]

I have been doing a lot of journal reading here lately and it seems that more than 3/4's of the people that make it to the final stages of their grows are suffering from bud rot problems. It's effects normally ruin peoples harvests, i've seen a couple people that caught it early enough to remove just a few grams and then correct their airflow/humidity problem right away.

After the reading I have done on RIU and other non-marajuana related websites i've come to the conclusion that the two problems involved are the actual spores/fungus and moisture. Now you could argue that it's more humidity than moisture but in a 400watt setup like mine the temp. going up from the heat of the light is inevitable, which is just heat until it mixes with moisture and makes humidity.

Now the first and most obvious way to prevent the bud rot is to clean and disinfect your setup and surrounding area prior to start growing. This includes using only sterile products when you organize your grow, so don't bring anything in that's been exposed to the outside. By doing this your keeping the possible seed/spore from ever reaching the climate of your grow area and your buds.

Now cleaning and disinfecting is very important but lets face it, we all like to check our plants and we're not gonna walk in our grow rooms with a airtight lab suit on every time or anytime. So even just walking in your grow area with shoes on can attract a multitude of different kinds of fungus and spores you brought in from outside that will eat your buds for DINNER!

Now that we know this fact, the only true way to protect our plants 100% from bud rot is to remove the moisture from the air. Now the first thing that comes to mind is to go out and spend $20-50 on a dehumidifier, which i'm sure would do the trick. If you have been following my journal all the way through you'll remember that i'm poor and i'm growing to make/save some money. I've also already had several problems which cost me an extra $100 I shouldn't have spent. Another thing is I don't find my grow area to be very humid and also the humidity changes 4-5 times a day throughout the course of the day/lighting schedule. So i'm not really sure if i'm even going to need something to protect against humidity or bud rot, so not gonna really go out and spend more money.

I did however find this solution: (Damp Check Non-Electric Dehumidifier), which I think is great because A:It's Cheap,B:It will tell you if you do in fact need it/something stronger like a dehumidifier,C:It's non-electric so I don't have to find another place to plug it in, in my mess of cords, and D:It's safe around children and pets so its safe for my girls. All it does is attracts moisture with special pellets and then drain the moisture down into a small collector that you drain off as it fills. So if it doesn't fill up much you only spent like $17w/shipping and if it fills up a lot/overfills then you know you need to buy a dehumidifier or more serious climate control system.

Note: I have had several past grows and never had any bud rot and I've always used several fans, 3-4 during the day and 2 at night. Just having good airflow will keep the buds dry enough to prevent the start of fungus growth.

I also have a( carbon filter odor eliminator )that I recently bought for this grow and it removes odors, allergens, dust, and mold. I figure it doesn't hurt to have one of these pulling spores out of the air and it works great for the skunk stink, that's why I bought it. Also a cheap item so I plan on buying a couple more for bigger future grows. Hope this helps someone prepare for their big harvest day, i'm getting anxious for mine.

 

[OGPanda]

The more and more that I check on your journal, the more and more I get to like it. You do a great job of actually detailing stuff for people that read it.

On a side note is Green Goo(Green Crack x Afgooey), do you know what the genetics are if this is incorrect.... Sounds like some dank ass some!

 

[theWOZZ87]

Thanks Panda, I try to be as thorough as I possibly can and my setup's pretty simple and bare minimum so it's easy to explain. Most of the stuff i'm using for this grow I had either laying around the house or left over from past grows with the exception of my Fox Farm Big Bloom and the new bulb/socket for my HPS. In other words it should be pretty easy to imitate although i'm only growing so simple because i'm broke, so I would recommend putting more into your grow if you have the funds available. I probably would've gotten some Fox Farm Ocean Forest or equivalent soil, maybe get the whole Fox Farm or Equivalent three grow set, CO2 makes a huge difference if you can handle the sometimes dangerous setup, and as always if you want crazy yields hydro's the way to go. At least for now though this setup is ideal for me because it's cheap, low maintenance, easily replicated, and most of all it seem's to be making me some pretty dannk buds!

Also I didn't know the genetics of the Green Goo but upon your request I did some research and found that it is actually called "The Goo" and is not a cross-breed of any kind but it is actually a pure sativa and the seeds seemed expensive at $176-$180 on some weird sites i've never been too. All I know is I smoked that same bud for like 3 weeks and I never got sick of the amazing high it gave, which I guess makes me a Sativa man, haha. I love all types of green!


Just realized that my girlfriend took her camera while she is gone so there's not gonna be any bud porn for at least 5 more days. Suck's I wanted to show off some buds that are filling in and try to get opinion on what their weight might be. Right now there are several that are going to be about 7-8inches long and about 2inches in diameter as well as a few that will be as big as 10inches long and 3inches in diameter.

Has any one harvested a bud of relative size/proportion and know the wet/dry weight of it?? I have over 30 buds in the top canopy and they still have up to 3 weeks left.

 

[theWOZZ87]

Today is half way through week 6 of flowering and the girls are looking great. There has been another big growth spurt of calyx's and stigmas in the past few days and usually in sativa dominate strains the second growth spurt of bud is a sign that they are finishing up. I'm on a schedule to start new plants in a couple weeks, so in a few days when I start week 7 i'll be cutting the lights back from 12/12 to 8/16. The plants are an early flowering strain and with a lot of trichomes already turning cloudy/milky the 8/16 should help finish them on time for their 7-8 week flowering period.

Anyways on with the BudPorn!!!!!

Flowering Day 38 11-18 days left til Harvest:

That's all until next week, whats everyone think???

 

[OGPanda]

Your plants be lookin' real good.... Which picture is the Green Goo?

 

[theWOZZ87]

Thanks as usual man, this grow blows all my other ones out of the water seeing as I was using bag seed in the past to experiment. I'm just having a tough time figuring out what i'm looking at yield wise per plant. My research tells me that based on my 4 plants, just over 7 week veg., the strain's yield, and the 400w HPS plus 4 side CFL's, I should be looking at 1.5-3oz's per plant. The 30 something top buds in the canopy and their density/size, seem to coincide with these figures as well. I guess i shouldn't be so worried about yield since the buds are going to be so dank but the more I get the more I can save/make off it.

Anyways, the Green Goo is only in a few pictures, I believe picture #12 and #13 down in my last post shows it in the middle of the other four plants. It's the small plant thats only like 6inches tall with 4 leaf sets on it, I started growing it in with the other plants from seed when the other four plants were on their 2nd week of flowering. The other four are all XXX Super Skunk. The Goo has yet to show signs of being female but there are things developing near the nodes and I should know for sure soon. It's hopefully going to be one of the 3 strains I use for my next 12/12 from seed/clone test grow.

I'm going to do at least 8 plants this next time, maybe more if I have enough clones available because I can fit up to 15. I'm going to flower them all on 12/12 from the start in 1-gallon pots and shoot for an ounce or more per plant, which once I get enough clones going will be over a pound every 2 months. Also the majority, if not all of the plants i'll be growing will be XXL Big Bud which produces 2-300 grams more per square meter than the average strain. I've studied several other grows with much more low yielding strains and they had plants that ranged from 29-42 grams dried per and thats just on 12/12 for two months from seed/clone. Like this grow 12/12 From seed to Harvest (1 oz Honies) ) -which you can see the harvest figures of on the second post down on the link page.

Thanks for following along!

 

[theWOZZ87]

Also the strain i'm growing Early XXX Super Skunk is a mix of the best skunks of Amsterdam and I may have gotten lucky enough to get a few different phenotypes. One plant smell's like straight up eye watering skunk, another plant has a really sweet smell and fades into skunkiness, and lastly there is one that smells like straight up lemonade. They will all be tasty, mmmmmm

 

[OGPanda]

Also the strain i'm growing Early XXX Super Skunk is a mix of the best skunks of Amsterdam and I may have gotten lucky enough to get a few different phenotypes. One plant smell's like straight up eye watering skunk, another plant has a really sweet smell and fades into skunkiness, and lastly there is one that smells like straight up lemonade. They will all be tasty, mmmmmm

That's what's up... ending up with different phenos.... Its like growing out different genetics altogether.

 

[theWOZZ87]

Got some good news about the Green Goo! I was right with my guess and "it" is now officially a "she." Ms. Green Goo is still too small to be known as a "Mrs." but seeing as she went into the clone box today she will soon be a mother. Just going to have to top her and use a lot of side lighting to make her bush out some shoots for me to clone. I'm hoping to have a clone or two off her for my next expanded grow which is starting in just over 2 weeks.

All of my other girls are doing great as well. Their buds are looking very frosty and maturing quickly and ahead of schedule, I have a feeling this is mainly due to the 8 days that the HPS light wasn't running. This strain is early flowering and fully matures in 7-8 weeks. After doing some pretty weird math and bud comparisons I have figured out that the 8 days of no HPS(50,000 lumens), is roughly equivalent to an extra 6-8hrs of dark per day that week. I put a few extra cfl's in with them that week, but even with 5 cfl lights I was barely scratching 1/10 of the lumens as my HPS. Altogether, this works out to be an extra 2 days or more of darkness/lumens for the plants that week and thus explains why the buds might be ready a week or so ahead of schedule.

Regardless, from the look of the buds the lighting issues haven't ruined the potency one bit and the yield still looks to be promising. I also still have 2 weeks left on my current schedule and will leave them as long as they need in that time but I have a feeling that 1 or 2 of the girls will be pulled sometime in the 7 days which would be just a few days shy of starting the 8th week. No matter what happens I will probably be harvesting at least half or more of the plants by Dec. 8th and leave the remainder til about Dec. 15th to gain some more amber trichs.

Anyone ever notice that you always run out of bud/money or get low the sooner you get to harvest? I hate it, it's like a test or something, anyways my new perpetual grow will put an end to that with a harvest every 2 months.

Here's to the future!

 

[OGPanda]

Nice with the Green Goo being a female..... On that note, do you mean she showed here sex by flowering or showed pistils under 12/12? If that is the case and you revert back to vegging process of 18/6 or 24/0 it might take a while before you could clone her to make sure she is in veg mode and not flower. Hopefully she don't stress out from the process bro. Unless she was never in flower... I don't know to blowed....

 

[theWOZZ87]

She showed pistils under 12/12 and I now have her back on 24/0 vegging. I expect it to take a while to revert to veg. but even during the 12/12 the light was really close and making her produce some nice shoots. So I expect it to take at least a few weeks to get a clone or two but shes got like almost 3000 lumens of side lighting fixed on her so I hope that makes a difference. I only found two pistils at one node and everywhere else she's making leaves so I don't think she was quite into flower and won't stress out much/at all.

Also, nice to get some feedback man, I appreciate it, working hard on this grow and future ones. Take it easy, peace.

 

[theWOZZ87]

After much deliberation over what to do because the trichomes look so close, I decided to cut the lights back a bit ahead of schedule. I started them today on 10/14 even though my original plan was to cut them back to 8/16 in 4 days. I didn't think the trichs would be so far along so i'm hoping cutting the lights back will help finish off the majority of the hairs and swell the rest of the calyx's. If the girls respond like i'm hoping to the 10/14 over the next 4-5 days I will cut them back again to 8/16 and start a little bit of cold water flushing. Basically I just don't want to end up with too many amber trichs and still all white hairs, you can tell the buds have pretty much maxed out their "frame" size so to speak, they just need to finish filling in and dense up a bit more.

Anyways just over a week from now til I harvest at least the first couple, i'm an anxious person as it is, but waiting right now is making me crazy. Not to mention still all out of bud over here.