Baywatcher's Basement Blowout

This is my first grow since 1999. And it's *legal*. After 15 years of underground growing, I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be doing something where I'm not (as) worried about the cops kicking the door in.

How I Grow [Updated May 2013]

I grow in organic dirt, using homemade Supersoil. The only thing I add is a teaspoon of soluble Mycogrow to each pot. I use Roots Organic as my base soil.

I plant in Geoplanters. I use the 2-gallon size (with the velcro strips for easy re-potting) for the first 4-6 weeks of veg, and the 7-gallon size for the final 2-4 weeks of veg and into flowering (get the ones with handles).

I water with RO water.

I used to do scrog with LST, and I guess in some ways I still do. I've started mainlining my plants, and really like the results. See https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/632009-main-lining-showcase-thread.html] this thread for more mainlining porn.

The cages I use are peony cages I got from here. I cut the bottom 3-4 inches off each stake to make them a little shorter.

The green wire I use is tree training wire. If you get some, make sure you have wire cutters -- scissors aren't gonna work.

My veg tent is a Growlab 145L. It has two 900 watt Blackstar LED lights in it, and I can't say enough good things about how great they are for veg.

My flowering room has one 1K HPS light (soon to be two when I have enough plants in flowering) and an 800 watt Solarstorm LED light.

I use an EZClone 30-site cloner with half-strength Clonex in the rez, and a cheap $40 LED panel for a light.

I do a perpetual grow, which is still a work in progress at the moment. My goal is to harvest 2 plants per week.

I obtained my seeds from Attitude in three separate orders. All arrived within two weeks of order date.

Philisophically, I'm committed to organics. I don't spend a lot of time trying to baby a plant or strain. I'm looking for phenos that respond well to my system. If they don't like my soil, or my lights, or whatever, I'll move on to the next seed/strain. I'm kind of a strain whore anyway, so it doesn't break my heart to retire a plant for a new one. I still have seeds for around 70 different strains, so it will be awhile before I run out of stuff to try.

My grow is 100% compliant with my state's medical marijuana laws.

Thanks for taking the time to check out the thread. Please feel free to leave comments or questions.

It's ALIVE!

Germination of 3/5 LSD and 6/10 Hash Passion as of this morning.

Started mixing up the supersoil this afternoon. I've got it at 4x strength at the moment, I'll finish mixing it with the rest of the bags later today or tomorrow. My back is not enjoying the soil process, unsurprisingly.

sounds like a good plan.

I have described tomorrow to my wife as "an opportunity for a togetherness-based soil building project." She seems wary.

We have now had Quality Time Together, and there are four 32-gallon plastic trashcans full of supersoil in the boiler room (warmest place within a quarter mile... ) I added a gallon of water each to two of them and stirred. I'll do the other two in a few months. Also, the last two LSDs germinated, but one is iffy. It looks like 7/10 is what I'm going to get from the HP unless there are some late bloomers. My goal was to come out of this first batch with 3 viable females of each strain. Assuming I get a 50/50 sex ratio on the HP, it will be perfect.

Here's some background on what's going on, and where it's going.

I grew in Hotlanta from the mid-80s until 1999, starting with bagseed, ending up with seeds brought back from Amsterdam. My favorites were NL#5 and variations thereof (Shoreline, Oasis), plus Big Bud for pure yield. Sadly, I don't have any of those genetics anymore. We've now moved waaaay north (growing somewhere that heat isn't a year-round problem is nice).

I grew hydro for a couple of years, but switched to organic dirt at one point and I never looked back. I'm a big believer in LST and Scrog, and had planned to go that direction, but watching Nugz Mainlining Thread has convinced me to try his methods for canopy control.

I'm using Dr. Earth potting soil as my SS base, with the addition of 2T mycogrow as the only "nonstandard" item. I use RO water with GO Calmag+, and use compost tea throughout the growing cycle as both a foliar spray and soil additive.

In addition to the LSD and Hash Passion, the spring lineup includes Blue Hash, POW, Kosher Kush, Pineapple Express and White Widow. My goal is a perpetual harvest of 3 plants every two weeks, with each plant spending roughly the same amount of time in each phase.

This is my first LED grow -- I bought them when I lived in GA to try and get the heat down, but then we had to move. I've got the 1K in flowering room as insurance, and if at any point I decide the Blackstars aren't holding up their end of the deal in the flowering chamber, I'll add another one and move the LEDs to veg and clone duty.

Anyway, thanks for following along!

Spent some time tweaking a custom white balance profile that can shoot directly under the Solarstorm without extensive post processing, then did a stacked macro shot of one of the seedlings.

looking great so far

It looks like the final tally will be 100% germination for the LSD and 70% germination for the Hash Passion.

Baywatcher said:

It looks like the final tally will be 100% germination for the LSD and 70% germination for the Hash Passion.

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ya i started 20 and all 20 germinated 100% here are some of them

What strains? I hate the phase when they're in cups like this, I won't feel comfortable until they're rooted in 2 gallon geopots for veg.

I have grown the LSD before...it came out wonderful and was trippy for sure. Made some great bubble hash from it and the trim also produced some really strong edibles. I just put four barney's farm 8 ball kush into 5 gallon smartpots yesterday. I will be following your journal. If you get a chance check out my grow.

Good luck and happy growing!

Second set of leaves starting to pop.

I started getting some leaf curl yesterday that I was afraid might be overwatering, but after putting a soaking wet towel into the tent in the middle of the plants, I think it was just low humidity. They are much happier this morning.

Power out since nine last night. I'm going to be sad if I lose these.

Power back! They look fine.

Everybody looks pretty happy this morning. It's time to plant the next round of seeds, I'm torn between P.O.W. and Rocky Mountain High.

Sounds like its gonna be a nice grow man, I'm along for the ride. I've wanted to grow some LSD for a couple years, and its not one I've seen many journals on cheers.

I'm also eager to see what the solar storm does for you. I saw that in Hightimes a couple years ago, and it looked like one hell of a light.

Thanks for dropping in!

The main thing I've discovered about it so far is that it isn't very good for a rectangular space. I'm going to move one of the 900w Blackstars over into the veg tent as well as soon as the next round of beans pop so that I can get even coverage. This will eventually require putting another light into the flower tent to replace it, but it will be awhile before I need more coverage than I can get with a 1K hps and the other 900w Blackstar. When it *is* time, I'll probably go with another HPS of some kind, either 600 or 1K, depending on how heat management is doing.

I'd also recommend venting the Solar Storm fans out of the tent if you're using one. It puts off a ton of heat. I'll get a pic of how I do it tomorrow.