400w to 600w HPS Scrog grow

Hey peeps, been a while since I showed a grow. Done a few since my last journal, not as many as I would like, the stars must allign for my shit to happen the missus being the brightest star in the sky

So Ive gone through a few setups in the past few years, for this one I've built a cab as big as the law (wife) allows, 1.6m(5' 3")high X 1.6m wide x .8m(2' 8") deep. 2 cubic meters or 6.5 cubic feet. Twice the size of my last cab.

I am using 3 lights for the total grow, 250w MH to start, 400w HPS till 12/12 and 600w once 12/12. If I have heat issues late in the stage Ill go back to the 400.

Now this may sound crazy but I'm aiming for close to 2 pound dry from this grow, at least twice the amount from my last grow which was half the grow space. I got 13 zips from 2 plants, rock hard AK47 and one random that really didnt perform (crap in fact!) the AK47 was the majority of the weight. In that grow I let them be natural, for this I am going srog as you can see.

I have a new strain however, ditched the random in favour of a buddy's gift...G13. Not sure of its genetics apart from he is a trusted grower and knows his shit.

So 1 AK47 and 1 G13. Any comments sujestion's for this combo? Obviously I have experience with the AK but know nothing about the G13.

Nutrients are as follows

Budzilla 1 part veg... I find no real reson to use expensive nutes in veg.

Budzilla Headmaster for late veg to early flower. Doubles your bud sites, awesome!

Flower

Budzilla 1 part flower

Bloom Oooze...this shit is crazy doubles the mass and huge crystals!!

Bloom Final...this shit is crazier than the Oooze, doubles the size again in no more than 5 days!!

2 weeks of plain water.

Medium is Terrazilla dirt mix. Awesome in my opnion.

The only problem I seem to consistantly have with these small cab grows is mold. I gotta keep an eye out for early signs, lost at least an ounce to it in the last grow.

1 huge problem I'm facing with this grow is that I'm on holiday for 3 weeks of it so have to set up a reliable water system (also a reason I went Scrog, the screen should help with stability). Im a New Zealander heading to the mighty USA (Vegas, LA and Honolulu ) during what should be week 5 thru 7 of flower. It's a risk but I'm confident I can pull it off!

Time to upload

Thought I'd take the doors of my cab and show a full view. This is week three from clone by the way. The 4th pic is the G13 and 5th is the AK.

Looks like I may have a deficiency, not too concerned, will do some reserch but I find these things clear themselves up during veg anyway, flower is a different story. Any ideas I'd be happy to hear them.

Anyone have any tried and true automatic watering ideas? I'm thinking a largish drum (around 100 litres), a pump at the bottom with a timer that circulates the water once a day (to make sure the nutrients dont sit at the bottom), an air stone and pump to airate the water and a garden water timer valve to allow a specified flow of the nutrient mix to the plants once a day. Kind of a hydro setup I guess. Ive done a few DWC grows so fairly confident this will work. Just need to do some experiments on flow, obviosly the flow will slow when the drum gets low.
Like I said in the first post this is for a 3 week period while I'm on holiday so it needs to be almost fool proof

Im a little toasted at the mo but managed to upload a couple a pics....I think

I tried some of my old nutes this water. Wow Im blazed, cant even remember what I used Well just concerned about logging the change anyway so...old nutes 1.2c done!

Well things are looking good me thinks, starting to hit the screen, gonna let them grow through around 4 inches before bending them back through.
Pretty sure my leaf curl was heat related, raised the light a couple of inches and new growth looks better.

Colour looks good, getting close to its limit of nutes at around 900ppm, could probably go to 1000-1100. See how it goes, I might bump it up when I turn the lights to 12/12 and put the digital 600 watter in.
I always run veg nutes for two weeks after the light change along with Headmaster Growth Enhancer (helps achieve a lot more bud sites) this stuff works great. I have a local magazine with a write up and photos of a guy who grew a 3 foot high lady with around 5 main colas that pulled 2 pound dry using this stuff. No jokes, the plant looks insane, 5 2ltr coke bottles sticking out of a bucket

I also figure the 2 weeks after the light change is the fastest growth period so requires veg nutes to cope. Previous to doing this I would always have nute deficiencies and a lack of end dry weight.

If anyone has any coments or advise I'd love to hear it. It's far from my first grow but it is my first scrog so please jump in besides, everytime is different and we are all faced with new issues every grow

A few more clips for the archive. Should be able to take some better pics once I put the digital 600 in.
The ladys are already 1 week over what I vegged for in my last grow, I'm hoping to switch light cycles this Sunday (4 days away), should get around half this growth again by then. I normally get just over double the growth on the AK47 during the first 4 weeks of flower so should fill the screen perfect, might need a few toppings to keep the canopy even though, not really sure as it me first scrog.

Is no one interested in my grow Feelin a bit sad. Nevermind its all about keeping a journal right, it's funny you dont realize how quickly things progress until you look back at the dates and pics taken, 7 days and double the growth, feels more like 3 weeks

damn sub'd cant wait to see more lookin really nice

Thanks qaws, much appreciated

Just got a new camera today. A Lumix GX1, stoked! I'm most definately not a photographer but the camera sure helps.

It was 5 mins before the lights came on so got to see them in natural light for the first time since the Hps went in. Think there lookin pretty damn awesome . This is the first time I've kept my nutes at a consistent dose, around 900ppm. Normally Id keep it rising till I saw a little leaf burn (up 100ppm each water to around 1400-1500), I now believe in most of those grows this may have caused me nutrient issues done the track.
As soon as I saw the leaf burn I would hold it there alternating feed with plain water. I think the plants look really healthy now with good controllable growth so I'm not going to push it so hard and see what happens this time.

Hope ya like the pix

A few more pics to look back on.

Turned the lights to 12/12 yesterday when the pics were taken, I actually went from 22/2 to 12/12 over 3 days increasing the dark period by a third each day.

Decided to bump the nutes up to 1050 and started on the Headmaster additive at a 3.5ml dose, will put it up to 4 next water then 5 after that (the recomended max dose per litre)

They still look really healthy, no nute burn or irregularoties. I am a bit worried I may have turned the lights too soon to fill the canopy, time will tell. Like I've said before the AK47 will more than double in size and the G13 I'm not sure of but with this being a scrog I dont know if that will effect stretch. I can always do some late topping if it happens to get out of control but I really dont want it not utilize the space available.

There is always the next grow to improve on and this one to give me ideas. I love growing! Whether its this or the veges in the garden, you cant beat it for learning patience!!!

Oh yeah, the 600w is now in burning up 18 cents per hour, $2.16 per day, $15.12 per week, $166.32 for the rest of the grow Fuckas

A few more pics and a disgruntled grower.

Well I'm a firm believer of learning from your mistakes, there are many failures on the road to success etc etc. As much as the grow looks ok, plants are healthy but I definately turned the lights too early. Being my first scrog the stretch doesn't seem to have anywhere near the same effect under a screen. I even broke (clean off) one of the main colas bending it back through the net, shit I was pissed With that said though I'm sure the growth will redistribute to the other branches. I hope, well in honesty I know (just hard to accept)

Patience is still key. Looking at the positives...healthy growth, strong stems and branches, no signs of over fert and still 9-14 days of stretch to expect. While the 2 pound is a pipe dream on this grow I have learned a lot already!!!!

Ya know, I thought a couple of times in the past few days...screw the journal, how embarrasing. But how do you learn from that attitude, ya don't!! You will see this to the end and I will have an awesome record of my previos grow to learn from right here on RIU

Oh by the way, the pics were from last night. Not too much change from then except the snapped cola.

I would switch to 400w for the first 3 weeks of flower then switch to the 600 after the first 3 weeks dont need that much light.

or if you can keep the 400w 9 inchs from the tops you would recieve around hundred thousand lumens that be perfect for flower
as you only have 2 plants

Next time run 3 the same size on the 600w

Im hearing ya mate! Not so much on the 400w but def on the 3 plant scenario. That was the plan but I only had 2 clones at that time. The next grow will be 3.

Why do you say the 600 is too much? My temps are well within perfect with plenty of room to move when vertical growth starts happening. 9 inches with the 400 doesnt spread across the whole grow, I would miss a good 3rd of the outer limits (where im training the main colas). Please clarify. I really appreciate your input greatly!!!

full of purple said:

I would switch to 400w for the first 3 weeks of flower then switch to the 600 after the first 3 weeks dont need that much light.

Click to expand...

I know I made a point of power prices but too be honest it is extremely cheap when considering the possible outcome, just in case thats why you recomended the 400. Almost double the lumens with the 6 hundy and I dont need the light so close. Just sayin. I do value your opinion and if you can put up a valid argument I'm all for change