Hi there,
i've been reading you for a while, I thought it was time to also share some of my experience along with you.
I started in 2001 with some bagseed and a 70W MH that was more intented to light a shop than a plant but learned alot from it.
Then Internet and overgrow shew me the right path, and the growshop that opened in the city where I lived offered more opportunities : a magnetic 250W ballast with both MH and HPS bulbs.
After that, some vents made their way to my home, real seeds too (even if they were from nirvana, they really helped me to improve my gardening skills by training over and over).
All this stuff were in a wooden closet, that changed as I moved on.
Several years ago, I bought my first grow tent : a real Homebox, 80x80x160.
Close after this, a Secret Jardin Dark Street 80x80x160 was used.
After a quite long break, I've ordered a new Homebox, the twin release (big shouts to organicearth that sold them for a limited time 159€ instead of 239€ everywhere in Europe!), offering 2 areas :
- 120 x 80 x 140 for flower
- 120 x 80 x 60 for veg
I've been upgrading to a 400W digital dimmable ballast from Gavita and a Plantastar 400W bulb from Osram for flowering, cooled by a Vents TT 125mm fan (220/280 m3/h) with a carbon scrubber from CanFan. The ducting is isolated with rockwool and creates little to no noise. I also own a GSE Water Timer that will be used when all the electric is fixed (I'll build a full dedicated pannel, already own some parts for it like a 16A digital timer with 2 outputs). I also have an oscillating fan running on slow speed to keep the ladies dancing 24/24 and help to get some thick stem in early stage.
The veg area is lighted with 6 x 13W cool white fluoros, and running the same exhaust except the filter that's branded MaxFilter (way cheaper).
I discovered coco from bricks in 2007 and I've been really pleased with it's performances : it does well with a good taste and also forgives the little mistakes I can make sometimes. I rely on Bio Nova as they're cheap : 12€ for 6 bricks, each giving 10L of moist medium.
About ferts : I use the Bio Nova Coco A+B, Ph- from the same brand, and Buddy from Hydrogarden (old bottle of PK13/14 that I've laying around for... 7 years?!). Nothing more, nothing less.
The flowering is fed with 4mL of A and same amount of B per litter, Ph is kept between 5,8-6,2 using Adwa AD11 hardware. At week 3 or 4, I also add some Buddy (5mL for 10L) for 2 weeks.
The vegging is fed with the same stuff, with lower nutrients.
I also have 2 waterfarms that haven't run since 2007... great tools though! I may give them some more runs soon!
So here I am with introducing myself, let's talk about GROW!
I had some beans from Paradise laying around : 5x female WAPPA that I decided to plant when I received the new stuff.
They first started in root riots (even if I better like them for cloning and rather rely on straigh coco for seedling), then moved in small Teku pots under 250W HPS (my old digi ballast from GIB that still works very well 7 years after), and repoted them in bigger sized pots (around 3L of coco) with home made dripping ring build in. I was tired of hand watering everyday, twice a day so I bought some 4mm hose and dilled some holles in it, all connected to a 13mm mainfold powered by a little pump. I now just have to switch the pump on and look at the water flooding over the coco.
They've been planted around January 20th and brought to flower on March the 13th.
The stretch was kinda handable : x2 to x2,5 their size, and I prepared them with some LST.
Just before flowering, I tooked some clones from the two best looking ladies : out of 5 seeds, 3 were slow and were'nt cloned. The #1 labelled has the best looking bud so far, the #2 is has more internode space but could become nice too.
Cloning has been made under a dome, in root riots with some clonex rooting hormone on the cut stems, and have shown roots in 10 days maximum).
Right now, it's been 25 days since 12/12 and I'm impressed by the budding on the 2 girls. The 400W may explain why they look so nice.
The clones have been repoted to airpots yesterday and I may move them to the flowering area in 6 days, except one that will become a mother (the #1).
Here you are with pics
overwiew
some bud shots
stems from #1 in the front, #2 in the back
clones from #1 and #2 in their new airpots (3L).
i've been reading you for a while, I thought it was time to also share some of my experience along with you.
I started in 2001 with some bagseed and a 70W MH that was more intented to light a shop than a plant but learned alot from it.
Then Internet and overgrow shew me the right path, and the growshop that opened in the city where I lived offered more opportunities : a magnetic 250W ballast with both MH and HPS bulbs.
After that, some vents made their way to my home, real seeds too (even if they were from nirvana, they really helped me to improve my gardening skills by training over and over).
All this stuff were in a wooden closet, that changed as I moved on.
Several years ago, I bought my first grow tent : a real Homebox, 80x80x160.
Close after this, a Secret Jardin Dark Street 80x80x160 was used.
After a quite long break, I've ordered a new Homebox, the twin release (big shouts to organicearth that sold them for a limited time 159€ instead of 239€ everywhere in Europe!), offering 2 areas :
- 120 x 80 x 140 for flower
- 120 x 80 x 60 for veg
I've been upgrading to a 400W digital dimmable ballast from Gavita and a Plantastar 400W bulb from Osram for flowering, cooled by a Vents TT 125mm fan (220/280 m3/h) with a carbon scrubber from CanFan. The ducting is isolated with rockwool and creates little to no noise. I also own a GSE Water Timer that will be used when all the electric is fixed (I'll build a full dedicated pannel, already own some parts for it like a 16A digital timer with 2 outputs). I also have an oscillating fan running on slow speed to keep the ladies dancing 24/24 and help to get some thick stem in early stage.
The veg area is lighted with 6 x 13W cool white fluoros, and running the same exhaust except the filter that's branded MaxFilter (way cheaper).
I discovered coco from bricks in 2007 and I've been really pleased with it's performances : it does well with a good taste and also forgives the little mistakes I can make sometimes. I rely on Bio Nova as they're cheap : 12€ for 6 bricks, each giving 10L of moist medium.
About ferts : I use the Bio Nova Coco A+B, Ph- from the same brand, and Buddy from Hydrogarden (old bottle of PK13/14 that I've laying around for... 7 years?!). Nothing more, nothing less.
The flowering is fed with 4mL of A and same amount of B per litter, Ph is kept between 5,8-6,2 using Adwa AD11 hardware. At week 3 or 4, I also add some Buddy (5mL for 10L) for 2 weeks.
The vegging is fed with the same stuff, with lower nutrients.
I also have 2 waterfarms that haven't run since 2007... great tools though! I may give them some more runs soon!
So here I am with introducing myself, let's talk about GROW!
I had some beans from Paradise laying around : 5x female WAPPA that I decided to plant when I received the new stuff.
They first started in root riots (even if I better like them for cloning and rather rely on straigh coco for seedling), then moved in small Teku pots under 250W HPS (my old digi ballast from GIB that still works very well 7 years after), and repoted them in bigger sized pots (around 3L of coco) with home made dripping ring build in. I was tired of hand watering everyday, twice a day so I bought some 4mm hose and dilled some holles in it, all connected to a 13mm mainfold powered by a little pump. I now just have to switch the pump on and look at the water flooding over the coco.
They've been planted around January 20th and brought to flower on March the 13th.
The stretch was kinda handable : x2 to x2,5 their size, and I prepared them with some LST.
Just before flowering, I tooked some clones from the two best looking ladies : out of 5 seeds, 3 were slow and were'nt cloned. The #1 labelled has the best looking bud so far, the #2 is has more internode space but could become nice too.
Cloning has been made under a dome, in root riots with some clonex rooting hormone on the cut stems, and have shown roots in 10 days maximum).
Right now, it's been 25 days since 12/12 and I'm impressed by the budding on the 2 girls. The 400W may explain why they look so nice.
The clones have been repoted to airpots yesterday and I may move them to the flowering area in 6 days, except one that will become a mother (the #1).
Here you are with pics
overwiew some bud shots stems from #1 in the front, #2 in the back clones from #1 and #2 in their new airpots (3L).
