Back in the game... Blue Thai, Pineapple Express 2, Gigabud

Hey all not going to be much to show yet but I decided to start a grow journal when i started growing so I can document and learn more, (as opposed to starting halfway thru and trying to figure things out without a good history) . Haven't grown in a couple years, just got a place i can pick it up again.

I currently am running 2 LED UFO lights, one is an illuminator 90w from a couple years ago that worked great for me, plus i bought a cheaper galaxyhydro 180w, which seems to have alot more red than my other light so they should supplement each other well..growing in a box that is about 2x2x5.

I used my method of damp soil in solo cups and total darkness and as usual all 3 ladies came up within 3 days of planting. Now all 3 are up and are working on the first serrated leaf set.

Not currently sure what type of grow I want to do. I am considering using a screen and doing a full out scrog (probably with the best 1-2 plants since I only have a 2x2 area) or maybe topping all 3 for 2 or 4 mains depending on how they work out and just grow all 3. Could also do like 6 small plants in a sog depending on the outcome of the issue in the paragraph below.

Unfortunately I ordered all new strains starting out again and 2 of them are BigBud crosses and I happened to choose 2 of them for first grow, but now I'm really seeing on the forums how mediocre BigBud crosses sometimes are. The two i chose are pineapple express 2 and gigabud. Are these strains always fairly poor, or can you get ones that actually make good bud? I have 10 each of BF sweet tooth and pineapple chunk, as well as 5 dinafem blue kush,4 each of the ones already growing, as well as some single fem freebies (WoS amnesia auto,5th element,DNA sour kosher,g13 cheese, delicious seeds sugar candy), so i do have other options if these strains are unlikely to turn out well. I could start a few of the other strains and just do more plants/ less veg time and have alot of different kinds going or ride out what I have and see. One thing to keep in mind is I work out of town 3 days a week so I have a new partner in crime for when im gone. She has never done this before so maybe I will keep with the 3 I have and just be ok with not the best bud since first timers usually screw up something substantial first time thru anyways. I would be glad to have some input from experienced growers on this one.

Planning to use 5 gallon smart pots with foxfarms ocean forest, and foxfarms trio, with some perlite in the bottoms of the pots.

I will post pics in a short while, light time is in abot 20 min.....

Feel free to suggest changes or differences as we go if you think they will improve things, I am usually willing to try something new/different.

Reggae

still not a ton going on but here is an update almost a week later

Yo dude! Lookin fresh so far! Keep it up! Following for sure

Can't wait for that PE #2. I also got that one.

Here is an update from today, they look pretty pissed cause I just LST'd them, and they were all topped in the past couple days. I will post more pics tonight or tomorrow when they perk up. added a kessil 350 light to my setup (found a great deal)




bottom left is gigabud, right is blue thai, top left is pineapple 2

Installed a full motion wifi camera i found cheap for monitoring. getting to grow room is a bitch so this should be handy

Nice.

Lower Left Gigabud Upper Left Pineapple 2 Right Blue Thai

Gigabud
Pineapple Express 2

Blue Thai
Pineapple Left, Blue Thai Right, After more LST
Blue Thai

Setup

ok just bought a bigger tent lol. got a 4ftx2f so il run that as my flower chamber and my current 2x2 as a mother/cloner. also bought a 6 inch duct fan and filter combo to vent both tents with. still have a 4 inch fan as a spare. Im going to post some pictures , and I could also use some advice.

Since in a week I will continue in a 4ftx2ft tent instead of my 2x2 i would think i can continue to veg for a while without getting out of control in that space but I am not sure?

What size pots should these be in? Next grows I will probably do a bunch of 5 or 7 gallon plants but for now total tent height is about 58 inches with 3 plants, lights need to be about 1-1.5ft away, First grow in a while and was never great at it so I do want them to grow well but I dont need to bite off more than I can chew either. For lighting I have a 90w old ufo - looks bright but weak looking in camera compared to my 2 newer ones. I also am running a Kessil 350M and a Galaxy Hydro 180w. I am definitely going to buy more lighting now but it may not be until after this grow. this may be another factor that means I should just flower them now in the 5s or maybe 7s so they dont outgrow my lights.

Should I top my gigabud and pineapple 2 again? They have 4 tops, the blue thai has 8? Just not sure if the other 2 will get way taller since they have less main colas.

What size pot should I put my new mother in? I started a Barney Farm sweet tooth and pineapple chunk seed a couple days ago. root is poking out of the seed of the sweet tooth, looks like the pineapple chunk is about to crack also. I will veg these in my current 2x2 tent and one will get thrown in with the others at light switch to 12/12 and the other will be mom'd for the next grow. when it needs more than a basic light I will probably move my 90w light over here and replace it with another galaxyhydro light, hopefully a larger size.

front left is gigabud, back left is pineapple express 2, right one is blue thai.

I like to LST over top. If I was to top I'd FIM. Look into FIMing.

I'd tie them down more. The more light getting through to the bottom means denser bottom nugs.
I'd flower in 5 gallon pots. A bigger flower tent is good. Take clones before you flower and flower when you think you couldn't handle double the size of what you currently have. Some will stretch less, some may even stretch more but this will give you a good base for your next crop.

7 gallon pots are good too but 5 will be fine for your space. Could have gotten away with the 4" fan but I have a 6" and a 4" for back up as well so I can't bitch .

Good work.

Ok perfect. I was kicking around just buying a 4 inch filter but that was over half of the six inch combo with a controller so I just went for that. I will be gone working till the weekend so I was thinking about topping again on the gigabud and/or pineapple (maybe FIM) once I get back, then hopefully let them recover and give them maybe a week and flower. With another Top/FIM in the mix is a week or two till 12/12 realistic to fill my space. Thanks for the help!

Got my new tent set up today, now in a 4x2x5t. I also am now running a 6 in fan and filter ( it already needs it). I will be cutting down my old tent to fit next to this one in my limited space to use as a cloner/mother tent. fed fox farms grow big last water and they loved it, I also just FIM'd and did LST so they look a bit angry still. Just popped 2 barneys farm pineapple chunks which are now in the box crowded against the others. These will be chosen from and one will be kept and cloned, the other will flower with the rest. also planning to clone the blue thai and the pineapple express 2.


gigabud left, pineapple express 2 center, blue Thai right
gigabud
pineapple exp 2
blue thai

They look good, keep that LST up. What kind of LED do you have?

one is an old 90w illuminator ufo (which is much weaker than the other 2, you can see the diodes in the camera where you just see spotlight from the other 2). The other lights are a kessil 350m and a galaxyhydro 180w. I might buy another galaxy 180 for this grow in about a month and move the weaker ufo to my old tent for a mom. Beyond that I will probably eventually build a COB custom light or buy a serious panel, but its not it the cards for now.

OK a little update. Got my old tent set up with with a propagation dome and took 2 clones each of the blue thai and the pineapple express 2. The pineapple express has good side branching and seems to be fairly robust. The blue thai seems a touch slower growing and less big side branching but very tight nodes. Im not incredibly pleased with my gigabud so I am just gonna leave it in its 3.5 or so gallons of soil and see what happens. Also just moved my pineapple chunk seedlings into 5 gallon pots and into the big tent. Will move the delicious seeds one today or tomorrow perhaps. Also moved the Blue Thai and PE2 into 7 gallon pots, they were in 5s that had been cut down due to lst and settling,(when moved the blue thai had almost totally filled the 3.5ish gallons of soil in the old 5 gallon, the PE2 had used about 3 gal).

Gigabud left, PE2 mid, Blue Thai right, delicious seeds sugar candy in the gallon jug, the other 2 are pineapple chunk. The PE2 needs to be tied down more but it broke big time when I moved it, almost broke 1 of 4 mains all the way off and stripped down the trunk. I got it taped and tied together and a day and a half later it looks really happy so im gonna leave it alone for the week, but fortunately I think it will be fine.


Also I just ordered all the parts to build my own DIY COB LED fixture. The fixture will have 2 cxb3070 3000k, 2 cxa3070 400k, and 5 each of Luxeon Lux es 3w royal blue and deep red. All this is going on a 40 inch chunk of aluminum heatsink which has the capacity to cool 2 more cxb c3070 when I get around to adding more. taGyo - saw you were looking at LED and DIY - Have you looked any more into it?

updated pics and a question:



these look like hairs? is this thing starting to flower?

Packages for DIY light are starting to on monday so lights pics starting in a week hopefully!

White Light! Green Weed! Just built my new DIY fixture turned it on and went to 12/12. Moved my illuminator ufo and the sugar candy into the 2x2 to veg, flowering the original BT, PE2,GB, as well as 2 Barney Farm Pineapple Chunch that are much smaller.

looks glorious!, your gurls are gunna luv u so much